This Eroge Won't Make Me Fall!

A manhole cover in the streets of the first district was pushed upward as I peered out of the sewers and onto the streets.

Wide roads of raggedy stones greeted me at eye level. Like a master straight out of a spy movie, I twisted my body and gazed in all three sixty degrees with the manhole cover on top of my head.

"All clear."

The manhole cover was pushed up, like a shadow stretching out of a person, I streamed out of the sewers. The manhole cover clanked back down and fit perfectly in the streets, and I was already behind a light pole.

Roads magnitudes wider than the ones in the outer districts spread all over the first district like the net of a spider. The walls separating the districts were lined with plants and flowers while gardens and greenery remained the companions of the open, spacious land of the first district.

Dozens of castles, all independent of each other, stood boldly in the first district with the biggest and most luxurious one at the very center of the city. That was the main palace of the Empire and the residence of the emperor.

More than five of the enormous castles in this place were empty guesthouses while the others were for members of the Imperial family. The splendor and scale of this place were already incomparable to anything I had seen before, be it as Yujin or right now.

"Hey, hey! I want to see these things closer."

I agreed with Titania. Infiltrating the main palace was way too risky, but some of the others could be checked out.

Like a small cat wading through a neighborhood, I stealthily moved around the streets of the first district, taking cover behind the many lavish benches and spots for rest when on the road and the occasional giant trees and bushes inside the gardens.

Not long after, I found a single knight moving toward an outpost of the Imperial Order.

A thread of mana stretched out of my fingers and slowly danced toward the knight. He didn't seem to notice it, so my mana went faster and wrapped around his feet.

A general idea of his strength was carried over to my head from the thread. This was a spell I had created together with Titania's observation abilities to get a clear idea of my opponents. It was still lacking to be used on strong people, but it could be a charm against weaker ones.

Slowly, I moved to a tree in the man's path. There weren't any other knights in sight in all directions.

Just as he approached the tree, I whistled.

Like a machine, the man brought out his sword and took on a stance. Great reaction time.

That was all I needed, though.

I snapped my fingers, and a black mask appeared in my palms from thin air. In a single breath, I pounced out from the tree and toward the knight.

"Ah—"

My palm covered his mouth, and with the other hand, I plastered the mask on his face.

The mask wriggled slightly and took the form of the man's face.

"Gweh! geh!"

"What's your fucking name and rank?" I asked.

"Gheh!!"

"I'll kill your wife, tell me now!"

"W-what!? My wife is long dead!"

"Tsk. Your mother then?"

"My mother died ages ago!"

"What the fuck, why are you so tragic? Answer me or I'll kill you too."

"Do it, scum!"

"I'll keep you alive and make you listen to mumble rap on loop."

"Gah!! It's Vren! Vren, third officer! Kill me!"

"Alright. Thank you~"

I slapped the man across his face and he fainted. He hadn't seen my face, so this was good enough.

"Good job!" Titania cheered as I picked the knight up and carried him away. "You are a natural at this."

"Hah, it's all the power of modern pop."

I dragged the man to the outpost that he was going to. Checking in through the windows, there didn't seem to be anyone inside. I jumped in and took off the mask from the man's face before it put it on mine. The mask adjusted a bit more as it made my face resemble Vren's as if it were magic, information courtesy of Titania.

"It would be easier if I could just see the faces."

The mask of many faces was an overpowered item in my books. Just knowing someone else's face was enough to change it per my will, but unfortunately, I was the person it suited the least. Titania had somehow helped me find a workaround by placing the mask on someone else's face, turning it into a wide mask, and then using my mana to get the feel of the person's looks.

I quickly changed up and donned the man's armor, leaving him alone in his underwear. For safety measures, I taped his mouth and tied him up before tossing him inside a closet.

"Hey, there's a marker here!" Titania said, pulling out a drawer.

Since there was a marker, I and Titania also drew on the man's face before setting out.

"Do I look the part?" I asked Titania as carried around the sword of the knight and moved toward one of the castles on the outer edges of the district.

"I think you need to hunch your back just a bit?"

"This much?"

Titania formed a square with her fingers and looked through it as if it were a camera. "Hmm, perfect," she said.

I traveled all over the district for the next two hours as not many people seemed to notice me. It was normal for knights to move around alone for now, so there wasn't much to fear. Though I doubted the same would continue when the adventurers and mercenaries were assigned their posts.

After seeing most of the district and its many landmarks, I finally found myself facing the castle that I was aiming to enter. It was the one with the least security, so there was a low chance of being found out.

I neared the doors of the castle and noticed that the ones guarding the gates wore different outfits compared to mine.

Going through the gate was going to be tough.

I held in my breath and went to the back walls of the castle. In a single go, I jumped up without making a noise and leaped over the castle walls, making my way inside.

"Let's party—"

"Eugy! Hide!"

Almost on instinct, I dived into the nearest bush and completely hid at Titania's urgent call.

"What? What? What happened?"

Instead of Titania, a different voice answered my question.

"Your highness, are you going to visit the outer districts now?"

"Yes, please do accompany me, Dawn."

Dawn.

My mind blanked at that name.

"Titania... don't tell me."

"Yup, you said to tell you to hide whenever I saw her, right? It's the same one."

I waited inside the bush for a while as the sounds of the two people talking disappeared.

Without wasting a second, I jumped over the walls as soon as those voices were gone and rushed out of the place, back to the sewers. I maybe heard a few knights saying something about an intruder and a tied-up knight and whatnot, but that didn't concern me. For now, my goal was to be as far away from that person as I could.

I dived back into the sewers and left the way I had come from.

"Guess who's never going back to that district? Yup, me."

"Seriously, what happened between you?" Titania asked.

I didn't have the heart to tell her.

What would I say in the first place?

I kinda sorta passionately romanced her for an entire night until she couldn't walk and then was taken away by the Branch Manager to train, leading me to not see her for two years after a one night stand?

Yeah.

As if I could.

***

Dawn held her breath as she entered the carriage of her liege.

This person with black hair as beautiful as the night sky was a thinker who would frequently harden her gaze and stare at the empty sky.

This person with looks so beautiful one would confuse her for a dream, was none other than the third princess of the Kingdom of Schwarz.

"Tsk. I remembered that bastard again..." the princess mumbled.

This person with a tongue drenched in poison and a heart full of blades.

"This year... I'll see you this year, Eugene Hall..."

Was one of the Regressors that Dawn had been searching for.