Otome Game Mob Villain - Chapter 0

Prologue

Translator: mayora13

Having been continuously working at the computer, I couldn’t stop myself from stretching. I heard a familiar voice from behind me then.

“Kanda-senpai, have you finished working~?”

“I only just finished,” I replied, turning in the direction of the voice. There, I saw a woman who was smiling as I had expected. She was a junior at work who enjoyed games and anime as I did. We would often chat in the office.

By the way, I’m Hajime Kanda, an ordinary office worker who likes games and anime.

“Kanda-senpai, did you play the game I recommended the other day?　Did you clear it?”

I answered in a rather boastful tone. “Ahh… that game you told me about the other day. It was pretty fun for an otome game. I ended up doing a full clear it in no time.”

My junior continued to talk in a surprised but humorous manner.

“Oh~ I’d expect no less of you, Kanda-senpai!! For an otome game, it got a high appraise for its combat and territory development features. The story is kind of like an extra thrown in, so I imagine you would have enjoyed it, Kanda-senpai.”

“… An otome game with a thrown-in story… I did wonder about that.”

The game my junior introduced to me is called “Fluttery Cinderella!”, or “Flutterella!” for short. Well, that was the game.

I’d told my junior that the kinds of games I liked were the completionist type where you leveled up steadily, which was why I had no interest in otome games. Nevertheless, she undauntedly pushed me to try it. 

“This game’s main story is just an extra. The other elements in it are said to be the main part, so I absolutely recommend it to you, Kanda-senpai.”

I gave in to my junior’s urging and thought I may as well try an otome game too this one time, and try I did. Then I found that the game had a more interesting system than expected and, indignantly, grew absorbed in it.

The story was, as the title implied, an over-the-top Cinderella tale, but the elements of character development and territory development sandwiched in the middle were fun.

Upon fully clearing the game, you unlocked a Free Mode where you could enjoy a variety of different features such as training, territory development, territory expansion, territory war, dungeons, and so on. Not to mention, there was even a hidden boss that couldn’t be defeated unless you played the Free Mode.

“It certainly was as you said. The game system was to my liking, but it was quite hard winning over the male characters.”

“Well, I’m telling you that’s also part of the fun. By the way, there was a hidden boss you couldn’t beat unless you played the Free Mode. I gave up, but I suppose you defeated it after all, Senpai?”

“… I did defeat it, but it was quite hard. That difficulty in an otome game is out of place, in my opinion.”

I put on a wry smile as I continued talking to my junior about the game.

“Flutterella!”. The hidden boss in the game was one of the reasons why the Free Mode was considered the main feature. The overall difficulty was as low as you’d expect in a dating sim game and you could progress smoothly, but for some reason, the hidden boss alone was abnormally strong. It was set to a strength that couldn’t be defeated just by playing normally.

It was set up that upon encountering the hidden boss, you would collapse helplessly right after the battle started if you weren’t strong enough to a certain degree, and be rendered incapable of battle. The name of the technique the boss activated at that moment was “None Of You Are Qualified To Stand Before Me”. It was, to put it, awfully taunting. 

Even now, when I remember how I was downed at first sight, I feel a laugh rising out of me.

“I know right. I wanted to shine a little more light on the main characters of the story. Going down the villain route would’ve been good too.”

“I played nothing but the bonus features so I hardly paid any attention to the main plot. That doesn’t bother me all too much.”

Due to indulging in game talk with my junior, I was late in realizing that it was already past clock-out time. Since it was getting late at night, we ended the chat there and decided to return home.

“Well then, thank you for your hard work Senpai~”

“Yeah, good work today~”

I started walking after parting with my junior in front of the company. As I came to a crosswalk and waited for the pedestrian light to turn green, I suddenly felt something strange in my heart.

Badump!

“What the?” 

Just as I was wondering what was up, I felt a shocking echo in my ribs again. At the same time, I felt painfully suffocated like my chest was tightening.

I clutched at my chest, unable to bear the pain, but that didn’t do anything. By the time I snapped to my senses, I found myself collapsing from the knee.

I felt like I could hear someone screaming, but I didn’t know. As the shock in my chest subsided, growing darkness fell over my eyes. Was this the feeling of death?　

But as soon as I thought that, my consciousness faded.