Miss Player, please don't cast spells on me.

Once a player leaves a very deep impression and shares their experience on social networks, it will inevitably become a hot topic among players!

That should attract quite a few curious players to come and play, and then...

Qingye Hui realized that his thoughts had wandered a bit too far. His priority now was to wait for the first lucky player who had been tricked to visit.

Fortunately, Kiyono Hui didn't have to wait long. After the launch of the otome romance game "The Tale of Farewell to the Rose Kingdom," the world quickly welcomed its first visitor.

…………

Late at night in a video game store in Shibuya.

A woman dressed in a blazer and carrying a handbag, who at first glance looks exactly like a sophisticated urban woman, is carefully selecting items from a shelf labeled 'new arrivals'.

Her name is Sakai Iori, she is 31 years old and unmarried. She works as a producer at an idol agency in Tokyo.

Having worked her way up from university graduation to where she is today, Iori Sakai can certainly be considered a super businesswoman.

This super-strong woman's hobby is playing 'otome games' after get off work, which her colleagues would definitely laugh at if they knew.

The reason why Iori Sakai likes this kind of 'game that only little girls would like' is quite simple.

She has been working in Japanese society for more than eight years and often suffers sexual harassment from different levels in the workplace.

Although Sakai Iori avoided all these sexual harassments with strong and clever methods.

But it also made her lose faith in men in real life, and even feel a subtle sense of disgust.

However, Sakai Iori's sexual orientation is normal, and even though she is now 31 years old, she still longs for a sweet and romantic relationship.

Therefore, Iori Sakai poured all her love into the world of anime, specifically otome romance games.

"Although the cover of 'The Tale of Farewell in the Principality of Roses' gives off a clichéd and overused vibe, I'll spend the whole night playing it and give it a try."

Sakai Iori picked up a newly released otome game from the shelf and went to the cashier.

Because the concept of AINP interaction has already become widespread in games, most games in this world have 'time-limited' playtime after release.

It feels a bit like a stage play; once the time limit is over, you can never play it again.

This game, "The Tale of Farewell to the Rose Kingdom," is only available for a limited time of two months. After the two months are over, you will no longer be able to access the game.

The official explanation is that AI resources are limited and need to be provided to other game developers.

But everyone involved knows that 'if the characters in the game are real people, then it's impossible for a real person to only play one game their entire life, right? Some long-running games might be possible, but a low-budget otome game like this is probably out of the question.'

Therefore, hardcore otome game enthusiasts like Iori Sakai will buy and play any new otome game as soon as it is released, regardless of its reviews.

"Huh? Ms. Sakai... I remember you're supposed to be at work tomorrow, right? Are you planning to spend the whole night playing through this new game?"

The shop assistants clearly knew this urban beauty and were quite familiar with Sakai Iori.

"Well, this one seems to be another cliché otome game, so I kept pressing the skip button while playing."

Sakai Iori didn't hide anything and told the shop assistant about her usual way of traveling.

"Is Ms. Sakai like that too? When I play, I also keep pressing the skip button, and I only stop to watch when there is an interesting part of the story."

The shop assistant was also a hardcore otome game enthusiast, so she kept complaining to Sakai Iori about how the tropes of otome games were becoming too common lately.

"These days, the characters and storylines in some otome games feel predictable; you can figure it all out after watching the beginning, middle, and end! The more otome games are released these days, the more boring they become," the shop assistant complained quietly.

Sakai Iori listened to the shop assistant's complaints with a smile throughout, but inwardly she was thinking, 'Young lady, you're practically insulting your customers and your products! If your boss hears this, you're in for a world of trouble!'

But Iori Sakai couldn't deny the shop assistant's complaint.

"So this game called 'The Tale of Farewell in the Rose Kingdom' is just something I bought to kill time. If you skip through the length quickly and only watch the interesting parts of the story, you can probably finish it in about two hours, right?" Sakai Iori said.

"Does 'uninteresting plot' refer to home run scenarios?"

"I don't know why this AINPC game company never releases 18+ romance games. The most they ever release are 16+ games with no main storyline. It's so boring," the clerk whispered to Iori Sakai.

In most people's eyes, the 'interesting plot' in a visual novel romance game is definitely the home run CG!

I wonder how many players skip the main story and go straight to the home run CG when playing a romance game!

Many players aren't even interested in playing the game; they'll go online and post things like, "Please, kind folks, give me a save file with all the cutscenes."

However, "The Tale of Farewell to the Rose Kingdom" is a 16+ otome game, which means there is no home run scene!

It's not just "The Tale of Farewell in the Principality of Roses".

Almost all AI interactive games on the market are limited to ages 16+, which is very healthy, to the point that countless players sigh with regret.

"What are you thinking, you little brat! I've always played these kinds of games for the feeling of romance. As long as the characters, story, and romantic atmosphere are well-developed, I don't need any home run CGs at all!"

Sakai Iori tapped the shop assistant's head, somewhat speechless.

"Oh, I was too talkative. The total is nine hundred yen! Thank you for your patronage! Please come again next time!"

The shop assistant quickly packed up the items, gave me the change, and handed them to Iori Sakai.

The total cost of 900 yen is only about 45 yuan, which is equivalent to the price of an indie game.

However, this game, "Farewell Story of the Rose Kingdom," can only be played for a maximum of two months, which is technically a rental game, so it's not exactly a good deal.

As Sakai Iori put away the game and was about to leave, she waved to the shop assistant and whispered something.

"And 16+ games can actually be 'used' as well, although I've never tried it."

"Wow!" Upon hearing Sakai Iori's words, the shop assistant's eyes immediately lit up with admiration.

As expected of a 31-year-old saintess who has never even had a boyfriend! She actually dared to say that even games for 16+ players could be used for spellcasting! This truly filled her with admiration and excitement!

Sakai Iori, of course, had no idea what strange questions the shop assistant was thinking. After leaving the store, she glanced at the packaging of "The Tale of Farewell in the Principality of Roses" in her hand and muttered to herself.

"I hope this game is as boring as the last one, so I fall asleep while playing it. I don't want to have to take sleeping pills again."

That's right, Sakai Iori never expected that this clichéd otome game, "The Tale of Farewell to the Rose Kingdom," would be any fun.

She's using this game as a sleeping pill! Right now, she's hoping the game will be so boring that she'll play it for a while and then fall asleep all night!

The more boring, the better! She has to get up early for work tomorrow; she has a big project to do.

Chapter 5: Knock out and take it back as part of Star Fury

After returning home, Sakai Iori quickly completed the three most troublesome steps for working women after arriving home: removing makeup, taking a shower, and drying her hair.

She changed into a loose and comfortable set of pajamas and sat in front of her computer, using a bunny headband to tie her somewhat unsightly bangs back.

Sakai Iori thus completed her transformation from a shrewd and capable urban career woman to a stay-at-home girl.

"I hope I can get a good night's sleep tonight."

Sakai Iori opened the packaging of "The Tale of Farewell to the Principality of Roses" and stuffed the game disc inside into her computer case.

Although Japan is a major console gaming nation, due to the nature of AI-interactive games, Japanese gamers in this world tend to prefer PCs with optical drives.

While waiting for "The Tale of Farewell in the Principality of Roses" to finish installing, Sakai Iori adjusted the beanbag chair behind her.

She can use this beanbag chair as a bed at any time. As long as the 'sleeping pill' of "The Tale of Farewell in the Principality of Roses" takes effect, she can fall asleep anytime and sleep until dawn!

Once the game was installed, Sakai Iori entered the game and just by looking at the main interface, she could tell that this awful game had an incredibly strong sleep-inducing effect, meaning its level of boredom was astonishing.

Because Iori Sakai was looking at the character designs of the six main characters on the main screen…

She could see a lot of strange déjà vu, it was like a product of pasting together the character designs, hairstyles, hair colors, and face shapes of male protagonists from otome games she used to play.

You can pretty much guess what the main character's story will be like just by looking at their character design.

However, Iori Sakai quickly spotted a character in the corner of the cover that caught her eye.

Does this game... have any shota (young boy) characters?

Iori Sakai has also pursued young boy characters in otome games before, though it is indeed quite rare.

But unlike the other five characters who occupy a large portion of the cover and strike glamorous poses.

This cute boy character is a tiny, curled-up figure on the cover, quietly watching the other male protagonists.

Overall, they give the impression of being pitiful and unloved.

"Your name is Shanor? Then you're the first one I'll try to win over."

First of all, let me state that Iori Sakai is not a boy-lover.

It's purely because I've played too many otome games that my sexual fetishes have become increasingly distorted.

Sakai Iori is no longer moved by the usual prince or duke personas, so trying something different with a cute little boy seems like a good option.

However, Iori Sakai did not have high expectations for this young boy named Shanor.

Since even the young boy character Sakai Iori has been charmed countless times, this change of taste is just like switching from soda to Sprite after getting sick of soda.

After deciding on her first target, Sakai Iori simply clicked the "Start Game" option with her mouse.

She quickly entered the very common character creation interface, that's right... character creation.

I don't know if it's because the game industry in this world is supported by gods, but the game industry in this world has become so developed that it's almost frightening.

Even a low-brow otome romance game like "The Tale of Farewell to the Rose Kingdom" can rival a lot of AAA titles from Kiyono Hai's previous life in terms of gameplay and scale.

To put it simply, the game features extremely detailed 3D character models with an anime art style throughout, and players control their characters to explore the game world from a third-person perspective.

Aside from dating, it has all sorts of systems, like learning magic and earning money through part-time jobs.

This would have been considered a high-quality JRPG in the world before Kiyono Ash, but in this world it's just a run-of-the-mill otome game.

Sakai Iori quickly grasped her role.

Then, the main stage of "The Tale of Farewell in the Principality of Roses" begins... Ignis Magic Academy becomes a freshman.

…………

"No wonder the gaming industry in this world is so developed; after all, the world players are playing in is a real alternate world."

At this moment, Kiyono Hai had already descended into the library of this magic academy under the identity of the pitiful little boy 'Xianor'.

The moment he descended, Kiyono Gray instantly realized that the world he was in was not some 'data world' created by gods.

It's a real, magical otherworld! Everyone living in this school is a living, breathing person from this other world!

"This so-called 'performance' election is far more terrifying than I anticipated."

Kiyono Hai never expected that... the organizers would actually use a real otherworld as the stage for the performance.

However, Qingye Hui didn't dwell on this matter for long. He lightly swiped his finger to check the number of players currently online.