I Stole the Heroines’ Tragedy Flags

"Wh-What should I do…? The professor said she’d be here…"
Hella, holding what looked like a stack of papers in both hands, anxiously glanced around.
However, the professor she was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

‘...Professor? Is she talking about Professor Hellen?’
Only then did I realize why she was acting differently from the game.
Her magic tool class had been switched to Professor Hellen Ainer’s class.
It seemed that, at the professor's request, she had come to deliver those papers.
With Hella’s timid nature, she likely couldn’t refuse the professor’s request.
Now that I understood the reason, I sighed in relief.
I had been worried, wondering if some other unexpected variable had popped up.

‘For now, I should stay quiet until Hella leaves.’
I quietly hid behind the gate magic tool and took a deep breath.
The magic was still active, so my appearance and presence were erased, but it still felt uncomfortable to face her.
I peered at Hella from behind the magic tool.
She glanced around briefly before—
"…Wow."

She put the papers down for a moment and walked over to the scattered mage tools.
Since she was always obsessed with things related to magic engineering, she looked at them with shining eyes, filled with pure excitement.
‘As expected... she’s the same as ever.’
I couldn’t help but smile at her unchanged demeanor.
Watching her from a distance, memories of the past started to resurface.
Even the day we first met, when I was assigned to protect the princess, Hella had the same expression.

That memory was so warm.
But as I immersed myself in those warm memories, I was inevitably reminded of the unfortunate ending.
‘…This is why I hate reminiscing about the past.’
The good feelings quickly sank to the bottom.
Sighing inwardly and feeling sorry for myself, I noticed that Hella had moved closer while continuing to examine the mage tools.
When she finally approached the spatial magic tool, I found myself holding my breath, even though I didn’t need to.

Hella continued to admire the gate, checking it from different angles.
It was likely much rarer than the other mage tools, so her reaction was even stronger.
She looked like she was about to burst into stars from excitement.
‘Yeah, look at it for a bit and then hurry up and leave.’
Just as I thought that, something unexpected happened.

Whoooooooosh—!!
I felt an unusual energy from the object in my hands.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a book I always carried around.
It was emitting a strange black light, unlike usual.
‘What the hell…! Why now—’

Crackle!
The gate magic tool between Hella and I was suddenly illuminated.
A violet mist filled the entrance of the gate.
The loud noise signaled the activation of the magic tool.
Only then did I realize something and turned my gaze to examine the magic circle on the tool.
What I saw was an entirely different configuration than the one I had seen earlier.
It was a second magic circle cleverly hidden behind the original one.
‘A double magic circle... who the hell did this?!’

I cursed inwardly and was about to touch it, but unfortunately, it was already too late.
Crackle—BOOM!!
A loud explosion and a bright light engulfed us.

...
"…Ugh."
With a floating sensation, a shock hit my back.

When the light that had obscured my vision disappeared, what lay before me was a dense forest.
The strange thing was that the trees were a light purple and seemed withered.
Yet, the leaves grew thick enough to block the sky, making it all the more unusual.

But that wasn’t the problem.
The real problem was that this landscape seemed strangely familiar.
I had seen it countless times in the game.
‘…The Mage Tool Overload Incident. The place where the princess’s kidnapping takes place.’
It was commonly known as the "Mage Realm."
More precisely, it was a place where the demon realm and the human realm intersected.
Located in a rather ambiguous position, everything here felt out of place.
But right now, that wasn’t the issue.

‘Why the hell am I here? Where’s Hella?’
I looked around, but Hella was nowhere to be seen.
It seemed that during the teleportation, we had been separated.
I looked at the book in my hand.
It was glowing with a faint black light. The meaning was clear.

‘The trigger has been activated. …But why now?’
The trigger.
Simply put, it referred to the ‘conditions under which fate unfolds.’
Fate must unfold as it is meant to.
So, on the day fate is set, it will always follow the course it is destined to take.

There’s no way to delay that day.
The Mage Tool Overload Incident next week was also part of the set course.
That’s why I had been preparing for it.
But the event had been brought forward.
And it happened at an unexpected time, just between the princess and me.
The gate had suddenly malfunctioned.
Thus, the conditions had been met.
The princess, the arch-enemy, and the mage tool overload.
The trigger of fate was pulled, bringing the event that was supposed to occur next week right here, right now.
Fate couldn’t be delayed, but once the conditions were fulfilled, it could happen much faster.

‘But why did the mage tool overload right now?’
Normally, the trigger wouldn’t be activated if the princess and I were together with the magic tool.
Since I hadn’t modified the magic circle yet, there was no reason for an overload to occur.
I recalled the double magic circle I had seen earlier.
The hidden magic circle, which clearly felt malicious.
It was most likely the reason everything was happening now.

‘Who did this?’
Someone had clearly manipulated it on purpose.
It seemed like they were trying to interfere with my plans.
Thud—!

The sound of twigs underfoot seemed especially bothersome today as I ran.
Despite my growing questions about what was happening, I hurried my steps.
In truth, the most important thing right now wasn’t these thoughts.
‘I need to find Hella.’
Fate had been brought forward.
What this meant wasn’t just about kidnapping the princess.
The last key word of the first episode’s fate… was the mercenary hired by the Fourth Prince to kill the princess.

Of course, I had already killed both the Fourth Prince and the mercenary.
But that didn’t mean fate had disappeared.
Because the event had been accelerated, I couldn’t change the target of the mercenary keyword in time.
The role had now been left open.
So what happens now?

‘…If the mercenary meant to oppose the hero is missing, will a completely new Demon King be created?’

If there ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) was no mercenary trying to kill the princess, fate would break its causal law and create that existence.
It would create something from nothing.
"…Lilith!"

I called out her name, clutching my heart.
...
Thump!

The familiar pain pierced my heart in response to my call.
And soon after, a seductive voice echoed in my head.
[...Hmm. My dear? Has a week already passed?]
"A variable has occurred."
[By the look on your face, it seems things aren’t going well.]
"Please lend me your strength. Guide me to the one with the strongest magic nearby."
[Understood.]
Magic began to spill out from my body as I ran.
I suppressed the unpleasant sensation, concentrating.
If I delayed even a second, the princess would be in danger.

‘Please be safe, Hella…!’
Finally, having pinpointed the location, I began running at full speed.
***

"…Ugh…? W-Where am I…?"
When I opened my tightly shut eyes, a completely different view from the research lab unfolded before me.
I found myself in a place filled only with trees tinted in purple, standing alone in the midst of it.
Realizing the strangeness of this new environment, my body began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Hello? Is anyone here…?!"

Struggling to suppress my fear, I gathered my courage and shouted.
But no response came, and my own voice echoed back to me emptily.
I started hiccupping from the anxiety.
‘Wh-What should I do…? Am I really alone here…?’
I had felt uneasy since the light started pouring out of the gate, but it was only when I fully realized the situation that tears began to form in my eyes.
Above all, the thought of being alone, terrified and scared, was unbearable.

Unable to resist my instincts, I moved my body, trembling.
I hunched my shoulders and flinched at the sound of stepping on a twig, shouting as loudly as I could.
"Is anyone… there…?!"
"Someone… please, please answer…!"
"…Really, really, is no one here…?"

I shouted as loud as I could. But there was no response.
The more I shouted, the more my confidence slipped away.
It was in that moment, when I realized I was truly alone in this unknown place, that I felt the weight of despair.
—Rustle!
Step.
Step.

Footsteps sounded from behind.
"…! Who—!"
Thinking it might be a monster, I stepped back, but with a glimmer of hope, I turned around.
However, what approached wasn’t hope.

Step.
Step.
"…!"
It was something unknown.
A life form that didn’t fit into any category I knew.
It was clearly walking on two legs, with a sword strapped to its waist, but it was far from human.
A knight-like figure, dripping sticky black liquid, exuding a purple mist from behind its helmet.

"Ah, ugh…! W-Who are you—"
Scrape—!
Before I could finish my sentence, it closed the distance and swung its sword at me.
The intense pain, unlike anything I’d ever experienced, struck me.

"AAAHHH…!!"
All I could let out was a scream.