Surviving as a Useless Bard in a Game

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I looked at the ceiling.

It was like a blue magic power was rippling, as if I were swimming in a tank.

Just moments ago, I hadn’t felt anything, but ever since I looked at the ceiling, breathing started to feel uncomfortable, like I was underwater.

I calmly took a deep breath.

Skylar seemed oblivious to the situation.

‘…insomnia, hidden text, status window, characteristics, secret of the eyes.’

Something unknown to me. A hidden aspect among the characteristics I had chosen. An ability that would blossom with ‘late bloom.’ This situation was probably something I created.

“Did I… do that?”

“I’m not sure either. That guy might know something.”

Skylar pointed casually at a cat grooming itself with its paw. A pale man with a face, one of the emperor’s subordinates, was watching us.

He probably knew I was suffering from insomnia and spending sleepless nights as well.

If that’s the case, he must also know the source of this magic power.

“Isn’t this a bit excessive? Can’t you just tell us this much for our safety?”

“Meow.”

The cat turned its head and ignored my words while mimicking a cat’s meow, not even embarrassed. It was ridiculous that a grown man could change into a cat and pretend not to speak human language—no amount of money could justify that. Does he have no pride?

Anyway, it seemed like he had no intention of cooperating.

Actually, there was no need for cooperation — the root cause of this situation was me. No need to think twice about it.

Skylar still seemed doubtful about whether I was responsible, but soon he’d be certain that I was indeed the one.

“Skylar.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know anything more about the eyes?”

“No.”

“…really? Why?”

“Even if I asked… they scattered shortly after I got the body, and there were some colleagues I wasn’t close enough to talk to, so there was no one willing to share their weaknesses.”

“Complicated.”

“And, I’m not even sure why you have eyes. Honestly, even if they went missing, you wouldn’t be someone who could just easily lose them.”

“Who took them?”

“Someone ordinary… I don’t really know. My memory’s a bit hazy.”

“You talked like you remembered just fine earlier!”

“No, um… now that I’m trying to talk about it, I don’t have anything specific to say. But I’m sure they wouldn’t fall to someone easily.”

“Is the speculation that someone implanted eyes in my body still valid?”

“Yes.”

If anything, I was probably just someone who suddenly ‘appeared.’

I created my body and character, and my mind was abducted by that body. Roughly this is the theory.

If the game’s system exists as an all-powerful entity in a place unseen, close to a god, then it wouldn’t be hard for it to incorporate curses, blessings, and a single missing body all into one.

“By the way, why… all of a sudden?”

“I was wondering if there’s an unknown ability attached to the eyes.”

“To be precise, it hasn’t even been a year since I got them. It’s possible there are features I don’t know about. Can you control the magic power that’s filling this room right now?”

“No.”

“…then it probably isn’t one of the functions of the eyes. Could one of your curses or blessings have gone out of control?”

“That’s a possibility.”

“The hypothesis of a curse or blessing inserted artificially has become more concrete. It’s still impossible to tell, though….”

“It’s okay.”

Skylar’s expression crinkled slightly.

…really, it’s fine.

I understood that expression well. It’s the face that says you don’t need to pretend to be okay and the face that questions why you are lying.

“There’s no need to say it’s okay. I know your condition better.”

“My condition?”

“Mentally unstable, two personalities, a curse and blessing forcefully injected to the limits of your body, health deteriorating from within, in a state so weak it could be beaten by a child, and when you took your first request near the Singing Forest… no, let’s save that for later.”

“Near the Singing Forest?”

…Did this guy perhaps know I was enchanted by the song at the Singing Forest?

I thought I was hiding it well until now. How did he find out? Should I apologize for hiding it up till now? Or not? Was he not really that mad?

My head was a mess.

The sudden disappearance of my narcolepsy, the words spoken by the status window, and the magic power filling the room all piled up in my mind.

It hurts. It throbs.

Anyway, it’s about time to set off slowly. Should I change the topic? That might be good.

“So, what’s our next destination?”

“…huh? All of a sudden?”

“This isn’t something we can solve by worrying right now.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Let’s decide on the next destination. If we push back Propertyius and Nisha like you mentioned, who’s the next body holder we’ll meet?”

“From a route perspective, the north should be the last to visit. First… we’ll meet ‘the Wing Bone’ at the Central Church in the south, and after moving to the Great Forest… it will be the final route north.”

“You plan to go all around the continent? That’ll take at least a year.”

“Yes.”

“…really?”

“The Emperor probably estimated it would take about a year when he suggested this to us in the first place. He stated openly that the Empire needed time to prepare for the war.”

“What about the person with the Wing Bone? Can we trust them? Are they going to try to kill us like Osidens did as soon as they see your face?”

“…Maybe?”

“Hey.”

Skylar made a troubled expression.

I glanced at the cat.

Honestly, I was dubious about whether it was okay to speak so openly in front of the Emperor’s watchman, but there seemed to be no means of contact.

Skylar probably had some awareness of this.

‘…the Emperor told us not to underestimate the Empire’s information network.’

The Emperor probably knows all the ins and outs of how we arrived at this location. She has the authority to view all the information of adventurer guilds existing in the Empire.

She might already know about Nisha and Propertyius, even about Osidens. No, she certainly knows.

‘That’s why she requested us…right?’

In the end, what we needed to do remained unchanged. To walk on until the end to survive.

“The plan is set, and now we should get going.”

“…That’s right.”

“If there’s something you can’t solve no matter how much you think about it, just push it to later.”

“That makes it easier.”

“Yup. Simple is always better.”

Skylar relaxed a bit and chuckled. I laughed too as I looked at his face.

Night fell.

I still couldn’t sleep. Once again, my narcolepsy wasn’t activating today.

No, even my usual clumsiness didn’t kick in.

It felt strange.

While it was good to be rid of that damned negative characteristic, my personality was slowly being manipulated by someone. I could feel the change.

Until now, I had merely suspected, but now I was certain.

My intelligence also remained in a vague state.

The status window, which had always caused me throbbing headaches, was now silent. For some reason.

The morning air was cool, and the wind blew in through the window. I heard the cawing of crows. The cat jumped onto the windowsill.

“Meow—!”

The cat sat on the window and chased away the crow. The crow, with its black eyes glinting, stared at me for a while before disappearing soon after.

No, that’s not the important part right now.

‘…the reason.’

There was no reason.

It started suddenly and ended suddenly. Everything was a total mess.

I value causation highly. Every event has a cause. No, it must have one. That’s how the world works, and that’s the truth.

When you input a specific value in a computer, the intended value gets outputted. Sometimes… no, quite frequently errors occur and I struggle to fix them, but anyway, there’s little that goes outside the intended outcomes in a completed program.

If something goes outside the intended outcomes, it’s no longer a completed program. Just a fool who released an incomplete program into the world.

Anyway, right now… to put it simply, I felt bad.

The plan was roughly established. I knew how to return to my original world. I gained a decent collaborator.

However, nothing was going the way I wanted.

Yeah. Okay. Let’s sort out my thoughts. Slowly… let’s think about what I need to do right now. Calm down, take a deep breath, and reflect on what I’ve done and what I need to do.

If there’s something I can’t solve by worrying right now, I’ll push it to later.

I’ll hand it over to my future self.

My current self already feels like my head might explode!

And so, I still couldn’t fall asleep.

Two days.

48 hours.

2,880 minutes.

172,800 seconds.

Still.

“Skylar.”

“…Selina, are you okay?”

“I’ve always been okay.”

Skylar frowned.

I sat up.

And thus, we set off to the south.

The next destination is the church in the south.

A place where Skylar’s acquaintance is, and where the body holder with the Wing Bone is staying.

Let’s move.

If we stop, it’s over.