Otherworld TRPG Game Master

268 – Double the Heart

Someday, the end will come.

For some, it may be long or short, but everyone eventually accepts their final farewell. I just happened to face mine a little earlier.

I suppose I should consider it fortunate. It’s not a parting due to some unfortunate event; we’re parting for each other’s sake. I will be absorbed into the main body and contribute to world peace, while the people of the Northern Duke’s family can continue living as they are.

Of course… it’s not that I don’t feel regret.

But I have no intention of throwing a tantrum. To suppress ‘that,’ even a little calculation power is important. If I were to escape, the happy ending with Yuri and Yuna would drift further away.

If I refuse my duty and others become unhappy, how meaningful would that happiness be? And, thinking coldly, my absence would likely be beneficial for the North as well.

The mad wizard, fully prepared, will resolve incidents and disappear like magic, so wouldn’t it be better for a subpar clone like me to vanish?

Yes, I will accept it.

It’s not even a lonely and desolate end. People leave their names behind when they die, so even if I depart, my name will remain. The memories shared with me will linger.

So… for them, the heart must be me. I hope so.

As I gazed at the main body through the gap in the window, I left a farewell that felt both right and wrong.

“Neriel, thank you for everything.”

“…What’s with that ominous line? Does it have something to do with that person? Should I run to Elbillion and chase them away?”

“No. I’ll go and have a talk. And… it won’t change much, so don’t worry.”

“So what does that mean?!”

I didn’t respond and boldly moved forward. I descended the stairs to the first floor. I could hear Neriel hurriedly chasing after me from behind.

Her concern was clearly reflected in her expression, which triggered my tear ducts.

What is this? I felt a slight surge of emotion. It’s a rule that a clone separated from the main body gets absorbed. Thinking rationally, I hadn’t been in the North for long anyway.

…Oh, I see.

I’ve already become close friends with Neriel. More than I thought, I didn’t want to let go of this daily life.

If I close my eyes, I can vividly recall it. The scene of drinking tea and chatting with her, or, though I feel sorry for her… the expression she had when I smashed the frame. It was amusing because she looked completely taken aback.

Hmm. It was fun.

—

—

Then, even more so, for Neriel’s happiness.

I opened the front door of the mansion and spoke confidently.

“Welcome, everyone… to the Northern Duke’s mansion. I am Hart, a lowly maid managing the estate. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“……..!!”

And then, I locked eyes with the original, disguised as Hart.

I am her, and she is me. We share the same mindset and flow. It’s only natural since we are the same person. Therefore… we can communicate without a single word.

With my appearance, I conveyed the information that ‘the fragment of Mima had been posing as Hart in the North.’ Now, the next step is the problem.

I judged that it wouldn’t be wise to speak the truth outright.

If I explain to Neriel that I am a fragment of the original, she would simply ask if we can’t just not merge. She would try to hold on to that idea.

I could hear the whispers of the onlooking maids clustered at the windows.

“What could this mean? Did Hart have a twin sister?”

“Then right now… isn’t the twin here to charm the Northern Duke?!”

“Oh no, Neriel’s standing has now dropped to 25%…!”

Two women who look exactly alike; it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think they are twins. But I don’t want to go down the path of a love triangle. I am here for Neriel and the Duke’s household.

So, in this situation, how should I guide the flow of the story harmoniously? The first thing that comes to mind is the doppelgänger tale. Let’s go with that.

The original must have thought of this much too. How about it?

“……..”

“……..”

Good. The theme is the doppelgänger. I confirmed it with a single second of eye contact.

For a clean farewell, it’s easier for me, the fragment, to take on the role of the villain.

Let’s set the scene. I am the escaped doppelgänger, and the original has finally caught me after a relentless pursuit. I thought I wouldn’t be chased this far, and now I am accepting my fate willingly.

After that, the original will explain everything well on her own. She’ll say something about how I was originally Hart, or that the doppelgänger was created from a magical experiment, and so on.

I’m done thinking. You’re done too, right?

Nod. A small nod, like the flutter of butterfly wings, to confirm. Good, let’s go. We’ll synchronize and do this in one go, original. Now, one, two, three.

“……..You’ve managed to find your way here quite well. I thought you wouldn’t be caught if you fled to the North.”

“……..Did you dig a trap and wait for me? I thought you wouldn’t be caught if you fled to the North.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

No. We overlapped. We both claimed to be the fake.

No, damn it. I’m supposed to be the one absorbed; it should be right for me to play the role of the fake!

—

—

No, please just stay still. Just stay still, Yuna.

The expression of the fragment of a heart was also filled with tension.

Think. A way to break through this situation. And… a way to stay one step ahead of that fragment of a heart’s thoughts.

If I think simply, I should attempt to change positions again. But if I do that and the villain’s lines overlap again, it will explode. In this situation… I need to break the game.

I bring out a gun, not a fist or a cloth.

It’s time to release the transformation!

I’m going to shatter the grand premise that there are two hearts. I came in this form to try to charm Daisy, pretending to be a heart. If the fragment of a heart has already done the charm work, there’s no reason to maintain this appearance.

If I return to my original form, as a man… then all the problems will be neatly resolved. I snapped my fingers to release the hologram.

Snap! Snap!

“Haha, I was just playing around with illusion magic…”

“It’s time to reveal my true self…”

And, at the same time, I and the fragment transformed into the mad wizard.

“Just, just stay still, will you?!”

“What are you even complaining about when I’m handling it myself?!”

The situation began to roll in a completely unexpected direction.

—-

Neriel, the second wife of the Duke of the North, was in a state of shock, unable to follow the situation where there were two hearts, a heart was a man, and there were two men.

“Please just stay still. I’ll keep up, so match with me!”

“Is it not enough that I’m being absorbed? Do I have to endure this kind of scolding too?!”

What on earth is this mess?

Wondering if it was just me who didn’t understand, I listened to the maids’ reactions.

“A heart is actually a man… then what about the Duke…? Could it be that the Duke was treating Neriel coldly for that reason…?”

“No, it’s probably that she was originally a woman due to transformation magic, and now she’s pretending to be a man. If she were a man, how could she have taught us makeup techniques in such detail?”

“I think it’s a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman pretending to be a man—”

The more I think about it, the more confused I become, and it’s just dizzying. But her close friend, Heart, had once told her what to do in such situations. First, grasp the core.

What’s important is that Heart is currently in distress.

Then it’s time to exert strength for a friend. Neriel clenched her fist with anger and a sense of duty. She needed a tool.

While the mad wizard and the mad wizard transformed Heart were fighting each other, she ran to her husband’s office. There would be tools there.

“Neriel, wait. Why are you picking up her portrait? That’s something I cherish…”

“I’ll just borrow it, Elbillion!”

—

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

I held the frame tightly.

The portrait of the smiling heart inside the frame gave her infinite courage. Yes, the frame knows the answer. She recited the spell of victory.

“Will this frame forgive you──.”

If this tangled situation were a frame, it would surely be resolved!

“Get away from the heart. No matter who you are—!”

“Wait a moment, ma’am, there’s a misunderstanding⋯⋯ A frame? A frame?!”

As Neriel rushed out holding the frame, the mad wizard, feeling threatened by her movement, clutched the waist of the Mima statue and hid behind it.

Then, the Mima statue heart let out a loud scream in panic!

“Wh-where are you touching, you b*stard!”

“No, seriously, what are you touching between men⋯⋯ Are you self-conscious like a woman?!”

“I told you to get away from the heart, you perverted mad wizard—!!”

“Ahhh!”

A chaotic game of tag erupted in the mansion’s yard. Neriel swung the frame while her dress fluttered, and the mad wizard ran away in terror.

Surely, Mima and the heart were in the same state, yet Neriel sharply distinguished them and aimed to smash the head of the real Mima. The fact moved the heart slightly.

Yuna was indecisive about whether to intervene, while Yuri thought she should save the mad wizard just before his head hit the frame.

Bennett seriously contemplated how to subdue the situation. With his sister’s life hanging by a thread, where would he find the composure to watch such a farce?

The one who quelled the chaos was the lord of the north, Duke Elbillion Julius.

He appeared, chasing after the frame thief Neriel, and with a quiet word, he calmed all the turmoil.

“Heart, and the person inside the heart. It seems this is not a problem that can be resolved by blurring the truth with lies, so how about we stop fighting and come in?”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”

It was a shocking statement that sent chills down to the marrow. The heart stuttered as it asked.

“D-Daisy-kun⋯⋯ uh, a-ah, did you know? My identity?”

“I suspected it in the holy city, and just now I became certain.”

The real Mima and the heart shrank back simultaneously. They had been discovered by the Duke of the North. He had swallowed the red pill that revealed the woman he had known all along, Heart, was actually a man.

Would he be angry? He would be. It wouldn’t be strange if a knife fight broke out upon discovering that a dark man was hiding behind the fantasy VTuber.

If they went into the mansion like this, wouldn’t the hidden assassin come to slit their throats? It was a serious concern.

But.

“When it comes to making friends, age or gender shouldn’t matter. What matters is how well our hearts connect, that alone.”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯!!”

“Is it that you don’t care…?”

Before the madness of the Northern Archduke, which knows no gender, the commotion had come to an end.

—-

Arte Ropelman, who had been deeply engrossed in alchemical experiments until late at night, finally rose with the sun high in the sky, still drowsy with sleep clinging to her eyelashes as she welcomed her guest.

“A friend of Hart’s…? Searching for a longevity elixir?”

“Friend, or perhaps himself, it’s a bit complicated and mysterious to explain.”

“I’m sorry, but extending one’s lifespan isn’t that simple. The ingredients must be tailored to individual traits, requiring at least five years of research on the subject, along with precise calculations based on that…”

“Oh, well. That’s fine.”

What is five years of calculations in front of a human computer?