Vol 2 Chapter 19 – The Love Potion【Vol 2 — Youth in the Midst of Calamity】

War cries clashed, magic tore through the air, the ground shook, the air burned, light detonated, trees shattered — and the creatures hiding throughout the forest scattered in every direction.

Why were they fighting like this?

I was the one who had caused this situation.

Even so,

I didn’t regret anything I’d done.

I was going to get what I wanted in this world, no matter what. I would build my harem — absolutely, without fail.

That was what I had sworn.

Aria, Sophia, and Elena — all three of them getting along again like they used to, and on top of that, loving me. And I loved all three of them too, beyond comparison.

So it had to be me who put an end to this.

No complaining. Wring out an idea. It can’t be impossible. I’ve known them well since we were kids.

Even in a situation like this, their core selves hadn’t changed. I was certain of it.

So. What could I do?

In the middle of this battle raging beyond all control — what could someone with absolutely zero magical talent actually do?

What was my move, here and now?

I’d asked Lucas to knock them unconscious. To make that happen, I needed to get their attention.

Right. No need to overcomplicate this.

Simple was fine.

“——”

I stopped running and walked straight into the heart of the battle — bold as anything.

Come to think of it, the only one actually targeting me was Sophia. Aria and Elena would never direct their attacks at me — they’d protect me from Sophia’s.

But each of them was trying to keep the others from getting anywhere near me.

With slow, deliberate steps, I moved into the very center of the battlefield they had made.

They couldn’t tell what I was doing. Confusion spread across their faces.

The barrage of attacks gradually slowed and settled into a standstill.

“……”

Silence took hold.

By some strange coincidence, I ended up standing at the center of the triangle their three positions formed.

“Aria,”

“Will?”

“Sophia,”

“Will-kun…”

“Elena,”

“Onii… chan.”

I called their names one by one — measured, unhurried — drawing all three gazes toward me.

Right now, my words would reach them.

“Hey, so —”

Thinking it through carefully, that declaration I’d delivered to Sophia and Aria earlier — I love all three of you, call me the worst if you want — had been insufficient, to put it mildly.

And Elena hadn’t even been there for it.

So I was going to say it again — properly this time.

I wasn’t going to lie about how I really felt.

“— So. All three of you — Aria, and Sophia, and Elena. I love all three of you.”

Their confusion deepened.

“It’s not about who I love the most — I love all three of you. That’s not a lie, and it’s not something I’m able to change.”

I put my true feelings into words one at a time — even the parts I hadn’t fully understood about myself until now.

“The fact that all three of you — Aria, Sophia, Elena — say you love me makes me incredibly happy. Honestly, I feel like I don’t deserve it.

“But I can’t choose just one of you.

“I want all three of you to love me. For as long as we’re alive.

“But what I really want — I don’t think it’s quite this. It’s more like what things used to be — the four of us, each caring about the others, everyone getting along, just ordinary happy days.”

The air around us seemed to pull taut. An atmosphere where no one knew what might happen next.

“…If you think I’m the worst kind of person for saying something like this in a situation like this — I’m fine with that.

“If that’s what I am, then the worst kind of person will get what he wants by whatever means necessary.

“— I want to be together with all three of you.”

I cut off there and watched their faces.

Not one of them moved. All three of them were staring at me.

What were they thinking, having heard all of that?

In that instant —

The air seemed to shiver.

Something nameless crept through me, and my shoulders gave an involuntary flinch.

On reflex, I raised one hand into the air.

I mouthed the words — barely a sound.

“…Sorry. Just sleep for a little while.”

And then I shouted.

“— Dad!”

“…Man. This sort of thing really isn’t my style.”

Lucas’s voice came from somewhere I couldn’t place.

“—!?”

Before I even registered it, beneath Aria’s, Sophia’s, and Elena’s feet, magic circles were spinning — each one a complex spiral of patterns.

The next moment, columns of light shot upward from the circles and enveloped them.

When the light faded, all three of them had lost consciousness and were lying on the ground.

“……”

…Wait, they actually passed out.

They’re not moving, right?

I stood frozen for a good several seconds.

Then, having convinced myself they were really and truly unconscious, I let out a very long breath.

“Haaaaahhh—!! ……That was terrifying.”

Honestly thought I was going to die.

After saying something that brazen, I could have been hit at any moment.

The strength drained out of my legs and I sank to the ground.

The tension coiled tight inside me still had my heart —
ba-dump, ba-dump —
pounding and pounding.

“You… are the worst.”

Lucas came up behind me. His face looked like he’d bitten into about ten bitter bugs at once.

I had nothing to say to that.

“Worst I’ve ever seen. A waste of a man — no, a waste of a human being. I had some idea, but I didn’t realize you were this bad.”

Lucas looked at me with thoroughly exhausted eyes.

“You’re an idiot.”

“……”

I literally had nothing to say.

But even so, I had no intention of changing my mind.

This was who I was. I was going to do what I could — for my own sake.

But a new problem had surfaced. What was going to happen when Lucas found out what I was about to do?

I stood up and brushed the mud from my backside. At the motion, the red liquid in the vial stuffed into my trouser pocket gave a soft slosh.

The red liquid Sophia had been carrying — yes. The love potion.

That night — when I’d escaped Elena’s hold, fled from Aria, and ended up caught by Sophia.

And the morning after too — Sophia had made me drink this.

This was probably one of the forbidden concoctions Lucas had mentioned.

The other was probably some form of memory falsification.

Truly terrifying magic. The thought that something like this existed in this other world sent a chill through me.

I knew its effects from personal experience. I felt them to my core.

When these things had been used on me, I had loved Sophia.

Or rather — I hadn’t been able to see anyone but her. Every emotion in me had been pointed entirely at her.

That must have been this potion’s doing — the very one now in my hands.

The book of Lucas’s that I’d read back then had contained an explanation of love potions.

To complete one, you add a part of the target’s body — hair, tears, anything of that nature will do — and only then is it finished.

Whoever drinks it has no choice but to become obsessed with that target.

Which meant that back then, I had drunk a love potion containing a piece of Sophia’s body.

…I wonder what she used.

Well — let’s table that one for now.

“…Phew.”

I exhaled once and drew the vial from my pocket.

Lucas’s expression hardened the moment he saw it.

“Will, that’s —…”

“I didn’t make it. It was Sophia’s.”

I was going to use this.

And —

— make them fall in love with each other.

Aria, Sophia, and Elena — instead of loving me, they would fall for each other.

This was the method I had decided on. The path to a happy ending I’d thought through.

The reason they were fighting was that each of them wanted me to herself. Because the other two who also loved me felt like obstacles.

So all I had to do was make them stop seeing each other as obstacles.

If everyone loved everyone else, there’d be no reason to fight.

And then — like it used to be — ordinary days, lively and full of joy, could come back.

Honestly, I didn’t want to forcibly manipulate their feelings with something like this.

But I was going to do it.

Because I wanted what was waiting on the other side of it.

And besides, I’d made a vow to myself.

No means were off-limits. I would use anything available to get what I wanted.

Even if the potion was so powerful that they ended up not loving me anymore — that would be fine.

All I really wanted was cute girls around me and happy days.

Right — but before that, I needed a piece of each of them to put in the potion.

Getting them unconscious was half the reason I’d needed that done. The other half was, of course, making sure they’d actually drink it.

I moved toward them to take a strand of hair from each.

And then — exactly as expected, honestly — Lucas grabbed me by the shoulder.

“Hold it, Will. What exactly are you planning.”

“…You heard me, Dad. I want things to go back to the way they were. I’m sick of all this chaos…

“So for that reason — no means are off-limits.”

“But Will, that’s —”

“I know! I don’t actually want to do this either. But there’s no other way.

“And if they end up loving each other, I think every day will be even better than before. Honestly, things had been getting a little suffocating lately.”

“……”

Lucas looked at me steadily, visibly holding something back.

“Say you stop me here. Then they won’t stop.

“Even if I die — that’ll probably just become the reason for the next catastrophe.”

“……”

“I think it’d be easy for you to stop me here.

“But this is a threat. If you stop me — Aria, Sophia, and Elena, none of them are going to come out of this okay.

“But if I use this here, it ends cleanly!”

I shouted it and turned my back on Lucas. I had to hurry — they’d wake up.

“Hold on, Will…”

He held me back anyway. Whatever complex feelings were tangled up in that gesture — I couldn’t read them.

I bit down on my lip and turned around to face him.