Isekai Speedrun

On the way home, we stopped shortly at Map Village and checked one of our moorland mailboxes near watermill ruins.

The watermill mailbox was a metal lockbox hidden in a hollow tree. The trusted middlemen who checked the mailbox several times a day didn’t have the key to decipher the messages, but they had the key to open the box. The location changed every month, which made the current system a hassle, but over time we can hopefully create a network of open hubs that becomes the standard in the new empire.

I started reading the reports in the car, but then I stopped and put the letters in my bag.

Overwork kills you. I need to slow down.

Let’s take a few months off and let the new hires settle down for our unconventional organizational culture.

It was a long business trip, but we got the contracts and the future of the company looks bright and shiny. If we were modern CEO’s, we’d give ourselves hefty bonuses hundreds of times higher than average worker's salaries and vamoose before our risky short-term business strategies sink the ship.

During the months in the Sun Palace, I had time to read through Tze’s meticulous records of Strangers devices, apparitions and secret dungeons. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find particularly new info or surprising lore.

We did find the Sarcophagus Machine stored in a corner of the Strangers wing. When we found it, Rain circled the machine with a sorrowful look on her face and told me she wants to destroy it, but I said we should keep it as a memento, just in case.

I didn’t say the real reason aloud, but she and Mirim might actually lose their powers if we destroy the machine; you never know with Strangers. It’s a cruel and one-sided decision, but it’s better for everyone if the ladies stay in their cursed state.

I’d also like to do some experiments by putting things in the machine – random things like plants or small animals to see what happens to them... if I ever find a way to turn the machine on. It might be broken.

I don’t know when I’ll go back to Reignland myself, but from now on, some of us will start traveling back and forth routinely at least once a year. Macadaming the Palace Highway from Loönois to Sun City should be one of the first major civil engineering projects for Korryndin.

By the way, a common theory about the Sarcophagus Machine was that Strangers tried to create artificial apparitions – human-apparition hybrids – and the Seven Cursed Ones were successful only because they were forgotten in the incubator for a long time after Strangers disappearance.

What else? Yeah, Tze’s childhood friend Mireille in the prison dungeon. No dice – she was found dead, like practically everyone else down there. Whole generations of families were imprisoned in the dungeon for eternity because one hapless member of the family accidentally insulted a noble, and at some point after Tze’s death, the High Hats in the palace simply stopped sending food for the prisoners, so most of them starved to death in their cells.

I should’ve expected this outcome. It was a direct consequence of our ‘starve the beast’ strategy for whole Reignland. When there’s a food shortage, the first ones to lose their daily rations are the prisoners.

Crys wasn't surprised. He probably knew this would be the outcome, but didn’t say anything.

Anyway, since we couldn’t get info from the palace, I gave a new job for Dragon Messiah’s Archaeology Team: find the Pnath-Sora dungeon where Tze and his childhood friend grew up. That’ll keep Messy busy for a while. For all we know, Tze might have ordered the whole dungeon to be filled with rocks and sand and it’s impossible to locate.

As a final resort, I’m considering bringing Sorry Man to Reignland with us some day. I’d like to test his natural ability to find Strangers power spots; maybe he could locate the hidden dungeon mine. Well, even bringing up the topic with Rain is going to be hard.

On the way, we tested the Flame Tank in the Hidden Valley and other locations with chunks of Strangers tech. It didn’t start, as expected. Incompatible near-field energy transmissions. The tank was just dead weight. No hot killdozer joyrides outside Reignland.

But I’m not giving up. We might be able to convert the tank to run on black core crystals like other vehicles.

If the airship works outside its intended Cloudpoint roomworld, it should be possible to make the Flame Tank run outside its intended area.

Let’s also grab some aerosanis from the Winter Forest and try to convert them to work outside the forest.

It’’s all hackable tech in the end, no matter how complex and alien. If there’s a shortcut, I’ll find it.

---

Crys opened the moor door and we stepped in the familiar hallway of the Starfish Mansion.

It was well past midnight, but Mirim was waiting us in the foyer with a smile. And stone-faced spearmen from Pikatrate stood on the flanks as always.

For a moment, I imagined Sera welcoming me personally with “bath, dinner or bed?”.

“Welcome back.” (Mirim)
“Tell the messenger to come to my room immediately at dawn.” (Crys)
“Yes, understood.” (Mirim)

Crys didn’t say anything else when he walked past Mirim without stopping. Kimono tossed dripping raincloaks on the floor in front of the Pikatrate guards and gave Mirim a subtle nod.

“Yo, Mir-chan, we’re back. Sorry about the late arrival. The kids got grumpy in the car because they’re hangry.”
“Welcome back, big brother. Congratulations on your successful mission.” (Mirim)
“Thanks. Any problems while we were gone?”
“No, it has been peaceful.” (Mirim)
“Rain’s doing okay?”
“Yes, she’s with Sorry Man.” (Mirim)
“Good, good. Any strange developments in the Winter Forest? The tribes haven’t come out? Nothing weird has appeared?”
“No, nothing unusual in the reports.” (Mirim)
“Where’s Kurdt?”
“Ah, he drank too much and got sick yesterday. He opened a bottle immediately after messengers told us that you have returned to the moors. I quarantined him in his room, two guards are with him.”
“Okay. Any freaky dreams while we were away?”
“No, I don’t think so. He hasn’t mentioned anything. He’s been going to Pikatrate room a lot, the women of the court keep inviting him.” (Mirim)
“Understandable. Sera is okay?”
“Yes, I believe so. She’s mostly in the Pikatrate room, I haven't seen her for a while. Princess Achlop sent a message few hours ago, she wishes to host a grand victory banquet in the Pikatrate palace.”
“That sounds like a pain. Put it on hold for now.”
“I’ll tell her.” (Mirim)
“Speaking of pain, we need to expand the garage. We have too many supercars sitting in rotting catslide huts in the woods, we need a better storage solution. And we need to start building an actual airship hangar.”
“Was the mission really as easy as mentioned in the letters?” (Mirim)
“Yeah, it was horrible. A horrible massacre. So it went okay. Mostly. As they say, it’s a good thing war is horrible, otherwise people would do it all the time... But really, it’s good to be back home. I’ll do a full breakdown tomorrow after breakfast when everyone is present. Now I want to take a hot bath and sleep in an actual bed.”

---

After taking a long, warm bath, I returned to my bedroom and heard Sera knocking our signal (dudum dum dudum) on the door. She probably came here running after being informed that I was in the house.

I put on my wizard bathrobe and opened the door. Sera stepped in the room wearing a luxurious Pikatrate dress of wavy blue silk and white pearls in coral patterns. It was like a high-class mermaid cosplay from the ancient Mediterranean.

“What’s with the trad drip? Did Achlop start her victory banquet already?”

Sera knelt in front of me with a serious expression.

“Lord Uozewe, I bring important news.” (Sera)
“Why so formal suddenly?”
“Apologies. This one is pregnant somehow.” (Sera)
“...Eh? Who’s pregnant?”
“It is I, somehow.” (Sera)

Talking about process and dismissal, forced removal of the people on the corner –

– no, turn off the head radio, Qwerty. This is not the time to dissociate.

Cancel.

Abort.

“Master?” (Sera)
“Who could have done this? Netorare? Is this netorare? Was it Kurdt? It’s not mine, is it?”
“It is yours, lord Uozewe.” (Sera)
“It is? Is it?”
“It must be. Two months ago entirely.” (Sera)
“But it can’t be. We’ve been so careful every time, there’s no way... No, it's that, is it? Because of that time…?”

We did get careless that one night. After I returned from the Winter Forest.

I was glitched and out of my element. Sera helped me to cut off my clothes and then helped me to take a bath. Then we kino’d, pom’d and erp’d without a script.

One time. That’s all you need.

One time you get distracted and drop a coin in the vending machine. One time you press the wrong button and milk comes out instead of coffee.

You think the odds are less than one out of ten. You think a random throw from the center line can’t possibly go in.

Nope, it goes in.

I did not consent to this.

Damn it.

This wouldn’t have happened if actual rubber condoms existed.

“Lord Uozewe’s seed is powerful somehow.” (Sera)
“This is not a prank? No hidden cameras?”
“I haven’t bled. Palace midwife examined me, then court herbalist, and then court alchemist as well. It is true somehow.” (Sera)
“I see. Three independent verifications. So it’s confirmed.”

It’s abortion then.

…Or not?

Maybe not.

Abortion is a dangerous procedure here, even with the best healer candidate.

And it would ruin our good relationship with Pikatrate.

They are desperately trying to make more babies to preserve their tiny kingdom and keep the door open to our side for future generations. A child between Pikatrate court lady and a high lord of hallways would solidify the alliance for decades to come.

From their perspective, this is a golden child. An ultra-rare gacha pull.

I don’t even need to ask Crys what he thinks. It’s obvious that we need to keep it.

I need to take one for the team again.

“So… I guess we’re keeping it. Does it have a name?”

Sera giggled, then immediately looked horrified because of giggling. She covered her mouth and straightened her back, trying to look like a proper dolled up palace maiden.

“The name of our child is for lord Uozewe to decide. It is our tradition that father chooses the child’s name.” (Sera)
“Well, that’s just your tribe’s opinion. Where I’m from, names are usually negotiated between partners.”
“Lord Uozewe should somehow give a name to young lord Uozewe before I give birth so that it may be announced to the world entirely on the new child’s arrival.” (Sera)
“Young lord Uozewe?”
“Or young lady Uozewe somehow.” (Sera)
“It could be a young lady?”
“Yes, our child might be a girl or a boy.” (Sera)
“Mind blown. How about this: if it’s a boy, I’ll choose it’s name, and if it’s a girl, you’ll choose. If it’s a true neutral, we’ll call it L or E or D until it tells us what it is.”
“True neutral...?” (Sera)

Character names, huh. Joke names are not good in the long run. Something normal like Jake or John – no, those sound like fake names in this world.

What if we name it after Dancer or Test Subject to honor their memory? Saif Green Free Uozewe? Nah, that’s too kirakira.

By the way, is my family name Uozewe? Is that my forever name in this world? What kind of meme names I’m forcing onto my future kids?

Might as well name it Etaoin Shrdlu or something.

I shouldn’t deadname it in advance. Let’s find a name that works for both worlds. It can choose its own name later.

I’m calling my unborn child ‘it’ because it’s better to use species-neutral pronouns until we find out what type of demon king is born from this accidental mashup between an illegal isekai immigrant and a quirky palace maiden from Pikatrate roomworld. I was glitched when we activated this trap card. Is this new original character going to spawn into this world naturally glitched? Is my glitch a hereditary condition?

Is any of this actually okay? It might come out waving a burning flag and speaking backwards.

Young lord Etaion Shrdlu Uozewe...

No, don’t just settle on the first call sign that pops into your head.

“There is no need to worry, lord Uozewe. I will take good care of our child.” (Sera)
“Oh, I’m sure you will take good care of it. That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about everything else. What’s the expected delivery date? And who else knows about this?”
“Our child will be born seven months from now somehow. Those who know are her highness, my mother, palace midwife, court herbalist, court alchemist, and all the waiting maidens.”
“So I can assume pretty much every woman in the palace knows?”
“Lord Uozewe is the first person outside the palace to know. Her highness will make a ceremonial announcement during the victory banquet, if lord Uozewe approves it somehow.” (Sera)

Yeah, Achlop will certainly want to do that. A living symbol of unity and cooperation between a high lord of hallways and a Pikatrate roomworld court maiden. That’s a big win from their perspective.

Sera will probably get a royal title and they’ll adopt her into the Pikatrate royal family as Achlop’s cousin or something. They’re paving way for princeling Etaion to claim the throne in the future.

“Right, so, uhh… Seven months from now. So there’s time to prep for baby Etaoin’s arrival.”
“Etaoin?” (Sera)
“It's just a working title. Speaking of names, where’s my phone – phone, location!”

I realized immediately after yelling that my action didn’t make sense. I was in too much of a shock to realize where I was and what was happening.

Last time I was this confused and shocked was when I first arrived to this world.

No, I wasn’t this shocked even back then.

Guys, you need to understand where I come from.

I come from a world of telehaptics, AI vstreamer waifus and declining birth rates. The rare new humans in my first-world neighborhood usually come out of artificial wombs as gene-edited designer babies. Playing random human gacha without a single prenatal screening is seen as horribly irresponsible parenting from the perspective of my origin culture. What if it comes out prematurely and bugged beyond repair? I don’t even buy new neurogames without watching multiple playthroughs, but now I’m supposed to have a random offspring without checking it for congenital disorders.

On the other hand, Pikatrate is closer to mythical Sparta when it comes to perceived weakness in children, especially in royalty-aligned children. Any signs of developmental disabilities and baby goes to the necessarium with the bathwater. Court physicians perform multiple postnatal screenings for physical fitness and cognitive abilities, and if the new heir is not up to par, they are swiftly disposed or given to adoption. And just like in Caliphate aristocratic circles, children in general are kept out of public eye until they’re twelve or so and make their grand debut into the social circles in a ball.

I’m not prepared to deal with any of this. I’m not into this retro-subculture of traditional parenting.

No kids, no pets, no houseplants – that has been the content policy on my channel from the start.

I have to revise my own rules. This is a major, long-term, life-changing event.

I even forgot to say congratulations.

“Congratulations.”
“...Congratulations?” (Sera)

I guess this is my life now. I’m going to be a father for some random spawn I don’t know.

Is it even right to bring new babies in this crapsack world?

“Congratulations for your baby. Our baby.”
“It could be twins somehow.” (Sera)
“Two of them? At the same time?”
“It is possible. My late grandfather and his brother were twins.” (Sera)
“Double shock. Both hemispheres blown.”
“There might be more.” (Sera)
“Triplets?! Where does it end?!”
“I mean later. More children might be born later somehow.” (Sera)
“You mean Etaion will grow up and have children in the future?! And I’m going to be a grandfather some day?!”

Sera covered her mouth and laughed again.

“That too, possibly.” (Sera)

Am I saying something so funny?

This whole time all my plans have started from the narrow assumption that Sorry Man and machine!Mirim will live in the Starfish Mansion alone in the far future, just the two of them, carrying on and on indefinitely; like the mythological Lif and Lifthrasir of Norse mythology, the two who were foretold to survive Ragnarök.

There will be next generations. Our children’s children will be there with Mir-chan and Sor-kun.

How could I forget such a basic fact?

This is not a static game world with unchanging main characters. And it’s not my previous world of voluntary childfreeness. Main characters will get old and die, but at some point they’ll give birth to new characters, and eventually these new characters will become new main characters. There are no studios at the top insisting on casting the same old actors to play the same old roles again and again – in one CGI avatar form or another – until all freshness has been sucked out of all franchise multiverses.

You either get used to the new main characters or change the channel. That’s how the real world works.

It didn’t work for Mu-Ur Quincunx’s later seasons, though. Thinking back to those episodes, I now feel more sympathy for the pressing circumstances behind the directorial decision to shift the perspective.

Well, if your oshi is machine!Mirim, you can still follow her stunts for a long time. Mirim needs to turn into a cold automoderator matriarch and watch over the younger generations.

What about others? Will they summon kids? Will their kids play house with my future kids?

Rain won’t give birth in this timeline, that’s for sure. Even if she does, it doesn’t actually create a new person, it just re-skins same person. That’s part of Rain’s curse. When Rain gave birth in the original timeline – after being forcefully impregnated at the Bone Dune Station and escaping soon after – the episode turned into hallucinations, dreams and time travel shenanigans. They couldn’t show the gory details of what happened so they replaced the trauma-inducing body horror with surreal filler.

Mirim? She can’t give birth. Any alterations to her body will simply turn her into a machine faster. Let’s not think about the cursed implications of that.

Kimono probably won’t give birth, unless Crys orders her to do it. I don’t see that happening. She doesn’t care about kids, she just wants to run a hotel-restaurant with Crys and spend summers on a cabin in the Hidden Valley. For all her dirty swashbuckling and angry gunslinging, she’s still hopelessly purehearted deep down.

Will Crys summon babies with his paper wives? He might bite the bullet and impregnate an empress or two despite his apparent asexuality. Maybe he decides to continue his bloodline simply as a giant middle finger to Suleiman for trying to erase his bloodline.

It’s too early to tell. They are all still in their teens. Crys is still only 18 years old.

I’m the only responsible adult in the crew.

Kurdt doesn’t count, he’s already one foot in the grave. From Pikatrate’s perspective, he’s probably more like a servant or squire than a lord; an emergency backup plan, not a highly desirable partner. But what do I know? He might still be able to shoot live rounds.

In conclusion, if my glitch can’t tank aging damage and I can’t get any other type of immortality cheat, I have to settle for this classic ‘legacy hero’ route; the weakest, most common type of immortality available for everyone. My life will continue as random impersonal genetic aspects inherited by my direct descendants and become trivial in just few generations.

But my cultural heritage can live forever. What I create lives as long as there are minds capable of grokking it. My future kids can swear an oath to protect and serve my legacy while holding my smartphone like a human skull. They can use the alias Kit Walker when they go outside to chew xylitol gum and punch fascists (thumbs up in the chat for an obscure old comics reference).

Future doesn’t look too bright for my continued personal existence after all. If my glitched status runs out and I start taking serious addiction damage, my options are limited.

Quick-travel to Reignland and take my chances with the Reload Platform raw? I’ll probably die on the road.

Take my chances with Alphons’ coins and hunt the apparition before I turn to clay? Yeah, that’s probably my final fallback strat. Dash into Alphons room like a maniac, health bar red, and try to find a random enemy boss spawn from a haystack.

Sounds like classic Mu-Ur speedrunning challenge, doesn’t it?

“Master, would it be fine to announce our engagement tomorrow and start the preparations for our wedding ceremony?” (Sera)
“Wedding ceremony? No, absolutely not. Hard cancel on that. Tell Achlop there won’t be any such thing.”
“Oh… May I ask the reason?” (Sera)
“It’s not my style. It’s not our style.”
“The lords of the hallways do not get married?” (Sera)
“I mean royal ceremonies, magic rituals, that kind of thing. We don’t do that here. I’ve told you before, I don’t like pompous rituals and ceremonies. We just write a contract and that’s it.”
“...Ah, a contract! Yes, yes I will!” (Sera)
“Not a blood contract like Crys, it’s more like signing a mutual user agreement –“

Sera was blushing hard.

Oh. Naruhodo. She interpreted my words wrong on purpose and hopes I’ll play along with her faked misunderstanding of agreeing to marry her. Old psychological pressure trick.

Well, saying that we’ll just write a contract was technically a marriage proposal.

Ignoring her cute little scheme, isn’t prenup contract actually a good idea in this situation? Compile the terms and conditions of our relationship on paper and make it official.

The firstborn of House Uozewe shall inherit The Pruned Flagstaff and The Bricked Smartphone...

I should make it clear from the start that I’m going to take the role of mostly absent father when our child is still a baby. I can’t deal with the stress of constant crying, sleepless nights, diaper changes – definitely not a job for me.

I’ll leave all that stuff to my wife and the helpful handmaidens of Pikatrate. I know they won’t complain, that’s how they roll in Pikatrate anyway.

In their eyes, men are just sperm donors and subsistence hunters while women take care of home and raise children.

I obviously support equality instead of out-of-date gender roles, in the universal sense. But I also know myself as an individual; I simply can’t deal with babies or childcare. I’m the kind of doctrinaire who works overtime to make the world a better place for humanity while neglecting my wife and newborn at home.

This is why I was voluntarily single and child-free in my original world in the first place. I didn’t want to pile up all the domestic routines and burdens of a relationship on someone else.

It’s not an excuse to keep my options open for a harem route or anything. Or because I’m absolutely strict about monogamy either.

It’s just that one waifu is already too much.

The most I hoped for in my previous world was some type of long-term, drama-free, friends-with-benefits type of arrangement with someone who cares about intimate relationships the same minimal amount I do. We would mostly stay together because dating and building new relationships is too much of a chore and eats too much time from gaming.

Indifferent attitude and deadpan snark are my romance kinks.

Date through four seasons before marriage? That old rule of thumb doesn’t work in this world because there are no global seasons.

But I guess I’ve known Sera long enough. I’ve confirmed that we are sufficiently compatible both in hardware and software. The time has come to explicitly define the limits of our interactions.

This normie family route needs some serious calibration.

I didn’t choose normie life, I was railroaded into normie life.

Pseudo-hero gets the girl and everyone lives semi-happily ever after (terms and conditions apply).

“Sera, listen. We need to decide how long this marriage is, how we divide domestic tasks, what are our personal boundaries when it comes to cheating and so on, our yes-no-maybe kink lists – all that serious relationship stuff. I suggest we start with a three-year marriage contract and then renegotiate the extension terms when we know what works and what doesn’t. We already live in the same house, but currently in separate rooms, so cohabitation arrangement is already taken care of. And since we both have a high-level public sector job with a flexible schedule, we need to... Uh, I guess inheritance and family legacy is what Pikatrate really cares about, so it probably needs a separate contract.”
“...Too long, master.” (Sera)
“Am I doing it again? I’ll write this down later. We also have to decide where we’re going for our honeymoon.”
“Honeymoon?” (Sera)
“It’s like a trip you take together after getting married. A common ritual from the old world. I don’t care for most rituals, but I don’t mind this one. We could go outside together. You want to go outside?”
“I will go anywhere with you, master.” (Sera)
“There you go again, calling me master and trusting me too much. I could be taking you outside into some dark forest just to bury you there, you know.”
“Should I bring a shovel, master?” (Sera)
“...Are you blushing? Did you just think that it sounds romantic? You actually thought digging your grave together would be fun couples activity, didn’t you? Your idea of romance is messed up. It’s like isekai Addams Family over here, what will our child think about a mother who thinks like that?”

Sera giggled at my deliberate overreactions. Why are you so damn cute?

Fine. Let's do this.

Crush is a feeling, love is a choice, marriage is a political compromise.

What is order for a spider is chaos for a fly, and asking “do humans have free will” is like asking “do cars have speed”.

Turn manual controls off and autopilot assistant on.

Monogamous marriage contract done my way, childcare done Pikatrate way.

Don’t blame me if this chimera doesn’t work. This whole operation was your idea.

I’m not into nepotism, but Pikatrate court will definitely treat baby Etaion like a future philosopher-king of the ruling class. I need to make sure E doesn’t end up turning into some one-child policy spoiled brat and an entitled manchild dictator-wannabe as an adult because daddy was a high lord of hallways and mommy was BFF’s with the local queen regent.

Raising a kid is a decades-long project of repeatedly saying ‘no’ and seeing a crying face where you want see a smile.

If it’s a boy, I have to set an example of gentle masculinity. If it’s a girl, I have to counter the puritanical model of femininity.

And if it’s a glitchborn hellspawn... well, whatever it turns out to be, I must familiarize little Etaoin into modern ways of noblesse oblige when it’s old enough to play Tigris and Euphrates and –

– no, before classic tile placement games, I should first teach abstracts like Othello and Chess, or easy dice games like Can’t Stop. I need to make a standard 54-card deck to teach it popular poker variants.

In the absence of Internet and neurogames, the least I can do is to make sure Etaion grows up into an upstanding analog gamer.

“Sera, bring me my calligraphy set from the top drawer.”
“Are you writing our marriage contract immediately?!” (Sera)
“No, not that. I need to reinvent some tabletop games. I can’t remember the component lists of heavy worker placement euros from the top of my head, so I have to start with old abstracts.”
“...Ha?” (Sera)

People in this world know six-sided and eight-sided dice, but they are mainly used in saloons and inns for gambling in Glückshaus-style games of pure luck. Sultanate has some turn-based two-player puzzle games resembling ancient Roman games like Latrunculi where they move ‘nobles’ and ‘slaves’ on 8 by 8 grid, but those are trivially solvable and unbalanced with a massive first-player advantage. These type of games are mostly eye candy with intricate bronze miniatures and gilded game boards, and treated like background decorations rather than games worth playing.

“Miniatures... That reminds me, a kid definitely needs that colorful toy factor to keep playing. Maybe I should start with easy miniature skirmish games instead? Wait, is bronze the only available material here? Wood blocks are easy, but wooden minis… Sera, can the carpenters and sculptors in Pikatrate craft and paint miniatures in about thirty millimeter scale? I mean, crafting small dolls around half the size of – no, it would be better to make them bigger for a small child, like double or triple that size...”
“Do-dolls, master?!” (Sera)

Sera stared at me like a deer in headlights. What’s with that sudden reaction?

Was there some superstitious voodoo taboo related to dolls in Pikatrate?

No, she looks rather delighted instead of offended.

“Are you into handicrafts? We don’t have to worry about the manufacturing and shipping costs, but –”

I took the calligraphy set from Sera’s hands and tried to open the ink bottle by rolling it against my flagstaff hand. When I looked at Sera again to ask her to open the bottle, I was suddenly entranced by her enthusiastic smile.

What the hell am I doing right now?

My future wife is wearing a mermaid cosplay and I’m trying to remember the component lists of old board games?

You might be asking yourself: how did I end up in this situation?

“Scratch that plan. Come here, I’ll draw you like one of those French demimondaines.”

I finally realized that I don’t need to be careful anymore.

 

---

Thanks for reading!

This is the final chapter of Isekai Speedrun ~After Story~ for now. I ended up exactly where I wanted: at Chapter 100 before Midsummer 2024.

Is this the final chapter of the whole story? I don’t know. I thought I was done with the story five years ago when I wrote the first part, but new ideas kept coming and here we are.

It's over until it's not.