SPTTF 02

Chapter 2

Who would have thought a trash novel would have a Part Two?

“Wow…… the author really has nerves of steel.”

So did that mean I had to stay here until Part Two ended?

When would it even end?

And what if Part Two ended and Part Three started?

What would happen to me then?

If the author were standing in front of me, I wanted to grab him by the throat.

Why won’t you let me go? Why?!

Anger surged through me like madness.

Undine, who was extremely sensitive to changes in her contractor’s emotions, clung to me.

—A-Adel? Are you angry? Why are you suddenly getting mad? Did I do something wrong?

“No, it’s not like that……”

I was so frustrated I felt like I was going insane, and I could barely get the words out.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

Then, against the pitch-black background of my vision, letters began appearing one by one, as though someone were typing them.

[Chapter 1: Three Men and One Woman, Each Seeing Things Differently.]

[Stage 3: After perfectly getting dressed as usual, Adrian went downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.]

It was a Stage 3 instruction.

One I absolutely had to follow.

I twisted my lips.

I’m not going to be a puppet anymore.

I’d rather die.

“Cough!”

The moment I refused the instruction, blood surged up from inside me.

Undine clung to my shoulder and screamed.

—Aaaah! Adel! You’re bleeding from your mouth!

“Hee…… hehehe—”

I laughed with my teeth stained red with blood.

Undine recoiled with a horrified expression.

I probably looked like some kind of evil spirit.

—A-Adel…… why, why are you laughing? Y-You’re scary……

[Stage 3: After perfectly getting dressed as usual, Adrian went downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.]

The Stage 3 instruction flashed again.

I glared at it and spat out the words through clenched teeth.

“I said…… I’m not doing it!”

—Who are you even talking to?! Stop! You’re scaring me……

Undine’s crying voice gradually faded.

Once again, pain came crashing over me.

“Y-You think you can make me…… huff, huff…… s-surrender with pain like this? D-Don’t make me laugh……. T-This much isn’t even clo—”

Huh?

Against my will, my body tilted backward.

THUD!

—Aaaah! Adel!!!

With Undine’s scream as the last thing I heard, my consciousness cut out.

A familiar ceiling.

A familiar bed.

“Where have I seen this before…… huh?!”

The moment I opened my eyes, I sprang upright.

“Ow!”

My chest ached dully.

The aftereffects of the penalty were still lingering.

“It hurts……”

I rubbed my chest and slowly got out of bed.

When I was a hero, I could easily endure two or three penalties a day.

Even if I vomited a bowlful of blood and felt as though my heart were being torn apart, I could grit my teeth and endure it through sheer stubbornness, and I would soon be fine again.

But I had passed out from just one penalty……

This body is ridiculously weak, isn’t it?

I even seemed to feel pain more acutely than when I had been a hero.

If I tried to endure things by gritting my teeth while thinking about Part One, I might actually die from shock.

But who was I?

Wasn’t I the stubborn, tenacious type who had survived a whole four years in the notoriously assignment-heavy architecture department?

When it came to sheer stubbornness, I was second to none.

Since things had come to this, I would endure it out of spite if nothing else.

[Ding—]

[<I’ve Become the Saintess Who Saves the World> Publication Event!

For all the hardships you endured in Part One, we have prepared some incredible benefits!

First, you have become the most beautiful woman in the world!

Second, you can continue using the spirit magic that belonged to the protagonist of Part One!

Third, a hidden ability has been added to you!]

“Forget it! How many times do I have to say that I don’t need any of this?! All I want is to go back to my original world! Please, just send me back! I’ve begged you until my hands and feet have worn away!”

My tiny studio apartment.

The desk covered with architectural mobiles.

Quiet music.

A single bed.

A table with glue scattered all over it.

The half-empty can of beer and bag of potato chips sitting on top……

And my parents, who ran an orchard in the countryside.

My mom and dad, whose fingerprints were practically worn away from packing fruit all day just to raise their late-born daughter.

All I wanted was to return to my ordinary daily life.

Was that really so difficult?

“Did you think I’d just keep moving according to your wishes? At least make me a promise. Promise me properly that you’ll send me back when Part Two ends!”

[Stage 3: After perfectly getting dressed as usual, Adrian went downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.]

So this was telling me to shut up and follow the instructions?

Fine.

Let’s see who wins.

“Fuck off.”

Throb!

The pain that had barely subsided started up again.

I opened my trembling lips and forced a smile.

“Stop clinging to someone who doesn’t want you…… and just…… get lost.”

My consciousness quickly began to fade.

I was exceeding the limit my body could endure.

Then, as though confronting me, the motionless letters slowly disappeared.

A new sentence appeared.

[Complete Part Two!

Whatever you want, your dream★ will definitely come true!

※Warning: Void if your identity is discovered. Non-human beings excluded.]

So if I completed Part Two without anyone other than non-human beings discovering that I was Adel, they would send me back?

“How am I supposed to believe that?”

[<I’ve Become the Saintess Who Saves the World — Subtitle: The Real Final, The Final of the Final, Absolutely No Part Three>

Now, shall we really get started? LET’S GIT IT!!!]

Were they seriously going to put all of that in the subtitle?

“Fine…… then I’ll let myself be fooled one more time.”

Good.

This time, I wouldn’t get screwed over like before.

I closed my eyes in satisfaction.

It was my second time passing out.

I had been an ordinary college student.

One of countless university students who had moved to the city from the countryside and barely managed to get by on the money my parents sent me.

There had been no warning whatsoever on that fateful day.

As usual, I finished class, went home, and worked on my assignments.

Then I drank a can of beer and fell asleep.

Or at least, I think that’s what happened.

But when I opened my eyes, I was inside a book.

At first, I didn’t even know that I was inside a book.

Of course not.

Who wakes up and immediately thinks, “Oh my! Is this the phenomenon of possessing a character in a book?”

Naturally, I thought I was drunk.

I got drunk from one can of beer? I really have gotten weak…….

I was thinking that as I tried to go back to sleep.

If only a long string of words hadn’t appeared in front of my eyes at that exact moment.

[Ding—]

[Welcome to <I’ve Become the Hero Who Saves the World>!

You are Adelra Helsington, the protagonist and hero!

Feel free to act however you wish under normal circumstances, but please follow the instructions at important turning points!

Instructions are divided into stages according to their importance. Stage 1 grants 100% freedom, Stage 2 grants 50% freedom, and Stage 3 grants 5% freedom.

The range of choices available to you varies according to your freedom level, and refusing an instruction with a low freedom level will result in a penalty.

Now then, until the day <I’ve Become the Hero Who Saves the World> reaches its conclusion, fighting!!!]

<I’ve Become the Hero Who Saves the World> was a fantasy novel I had been reading until recently.

It was a typical adventure-and-growth fantasy about gathering companions and defeating the Demon King.

But it was so damn boring that it flopped.

The being who dragged me into the novel was the ‘author.’

I called the bastard the ‘Trash Author.’

Normally, he left me free to do whatever I wanted, but whenever I seemed likely to stray from the original story, he would issue an instruction.

Depending on its importance, I had to either ignore it, adapt it, or obediently repeat it like a parrot.

And so, after becoming a hero, I rolled around like a dog for an entire year, saved the world from the Demon King, and met my death.

Waiting to wake up in my original world.

“But there’s a Part Two……”

I had at least forced myself to read Part One.

I couldn’t even begin to guess what Part Two was about.

Having regained consciousness for the third time today, I sighed and held out my hand.

“Undine. I won’t get angry, so come out.”

Undine cautiously poked her face out from my hair.

—……Really? You’re not going to talk to yourself like earlier, laugh all creepy, and scare me like crazy again?

“No. I’m sorry.”

I gently patted her as I organized my questions for a moment.

“How long has it been since I died?”

—Hmm. You went straight to the spirit realm after you died, so I don’t know the exact amount of time…… But in human terms, it’s probably been about five years?

It hadn’t been that long.

Then perhaps I might be able to meet my old companions.