FILWTV 21st Update!

Akuyaku Reijou ni Koi wo Shite:
“Their thoughts”

Arnold was evaluated highly by others.

His grades were always the best. Even though his magic prowess was not up to that standard, it still placed in the elite category and, as if to compensate for that slight flaw, he was also blessed with a talent in swordsmanship. Being able to incorporate magic into his bladework with the『Blazing Sword』skill put him at the top among his age within the kingdom.

On top of that, he was already displaying the majesty befitting a future king and there was a growing anticipation that his name would most likely be etched into the pages of history.

This made him a capture target that was way above the rest. Although obviously, just like every other living being, he was not perfect. The Crown Prince did have a flaw as well.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to call it a complex rather than a flaw. It was something similar to what Vincent suffered from before.

An anger at people around him that only bothered to see him through a narrow lens of “excellent crown prince”.

Arnold had earnestly worked hard to become a fitting candidate to be the next monarch ever since he was a child. Although those labors brought fruit, he was convinced no one recognized the effort he was making.

Everyone only praised his excellence while saying that this much was expected from the next king. Every time he was praised like this, Arnold thought he did not excel because of who he was, he excelled because he worked hard for it. Although that was a peevish person’s way of thinking, it could be explained by the heavy pressure his role placed on his shoulders.

As the praise and stress continued to pile up Arnold developed distrust towards people surrounding him and began to treat them coldly without restraint.

But everyone simply took that attitude as dignified and, ironically, raised their evaluation of him even more which caused Arnold’s disgruntlement to grow.

Like Vincent, he was convinced people were praising the heir to the throne, not the person behind that title. Then, one day, an exception appeared.That was Maria.

Until that time, the only person who saw and treated him as someone to compete with was Lancelot. Lancelot’s age, social status, and abilities made him a worthy rival of the prince. With the two of them recognizing that fact, they acknowledged the fact by addressing each other informally. But even Lancelot did not show frustration whenever he lost at something, but rather complemented Arnold saying that the result was as expected of him.

Maria was different. Boldly declaring that she will never lose, she constantly and earnestly challenged him aiming to win. Her arrival made Arnold understand that Lancelot didn’t, and wouldn’t ever, face him seriously as a competitor which made him feel a bit down.

However, the pleasure from the arrival of a true rival, Maria, still overshadowed that sadness. He found competing with Maria every day enjoyable and that made the gloomy feelings fade away little by little.

The intensity of anger and rejection aimed at people around him was slowly channeled into a different direction. He also realized that his own prejudice warped the way he was looking at others. He finally grew aware of the childishness inside of him as well as the selfish fixation on how people treated him. It made him angry at himself. It also made him remember the lone girl that he might have hurt as a result.

His fiancee, Ariel Woodville Windhill.

He first met Ariel before their engagement ceremony, during the introductory meeting arranged because it was known at that point they would end up married. She made the worst possible impression on him. Even though it was their first meeting, she was too meddlesome and trying too hard to look good in other people’s eyes. And on top of it all, she was already acting like a queen even though they weren’t even engaged yet.

But the absolute worst thing was the tired expression she let slip in a single, unguarded, moment. It got him to realize immediately that everything she had shown on that day was merely a facade.

In that moment, Arnold identified Ariel as someone he could never accept and with that, he never met her again.

It was clear that Ariel was aware of his rejection, because even when she entered the Academy, she showed herself as little as allowed to a fiancee observing the bare minimum of etiquette and didn’t seem to concern herself with him anymore. Although there were times that they conversed, all she seemed to try to do in those situations was to irritate him even more.

Back then he thought it irrelevant. She might have grown beautifully since the last time he saw her, but her bearing was exactly like that of a high aristocrat. So just as he expected, that really made her a someone he would never accept.

However, now Arnold thought that he was wrong. It might be the contrast between the attitude she shows him and the people around her. The realization that Ariel, like him, might be playing a role too, one of a wife candidate capable of standing up to her husband.

And then there was that moment. When Arnold saw the shining, unguarded smile of Ariel without her masks.

A moment that planted a thought in Arnold’s mind. That he wanted that smile to be directed towards him. That those kinds of smiles should be pointed at him, her fiancé.

  

◇◇◇

Although from Rion’s perspective Maria’s conquests looked to be proceeding smoothly, in reality, that was not the case causing her to grow increasingly impatient.

The main cause of that was the Crown Prince Arnold. By following the capturing guide, she was able to close the distance to him. And although she really did feel that was the case, for some reason there was a line that she was never able to cross. That was not referring to the intimacy of the relationship, but rather the essential prerequisite for making Arnold’s cancellation of his betrothal with Ariel a reality. For the plot to start heading in that direction, Arnold must voice the desire of breaking off the engagement on his own.

After hearing that from him, Maria was then supposed to reveal all the chastisements and harassment she received and the possibility of Ariel being the culprit behind it all. Once that happened, Arnold with the cooperation of their group would start looking for a sufficient evidence of her involvement.

That was how the story was supposed to develop, but Arnold was yet to speak about the cancellation of marriage at all. Without that, Maria was not able to reveal the chastisements. Doing that prematurely would lead to Ariel being strictly rebuked and stopping of further harassment, however, it would not end with the cancellation of prince’s betrothal.

Tattling was not something that protagonist was supposed to do. She was supposed to reveal everything due to not wanting Arnold to marry a woman like Ariel. The game setting was strangely fixated on this.

( I guess I should make that woman’s bad side be displayed more.)

Maria knew why the matter of Arnold’s betrothal wouldn’t develop in her desired direction. For some reason, Ariel didn’t seem to want to go anywhere near Arnold at all.

There should’ve been numerous scenes where Ariel was clinging to the prince too much causing his displeasure but, in this world, the two seldom meet and even when they did, they only exchanged the shallowest of greetings.

Like this, they wouldn’t start to get along but their relationship wouldn’t get worse either. That was not something Maria wanted.

(Did I fail? Did the plot derail because I indulged in chasing the hidden character?.)

Maria assumed Rion was the reason why the whole situation devolved into this mess. Not because she realized what Rion actually is, though. She was suspicious of the relationship between him and Ariel.

She investigated Rion, as he was a capture target, and she didn’t believe that the relationship of the two was a mere master-servant one. Even without detailed detective work, just by listening to the conversations between the two anyone would arrive at that conclusion.

Of course, nobody could guess that the two we’re just that thick-headed and fail to recognize their feelings for each other. The nobles discounted those obvious signs, blinded by the assumption that something like love would never happen between an aristocrat and her valet.

Commoners that happened to interact with them were not so oblivious. But they, knowing that such a thing was forbidden, would keep their mouths sealed.

Not that Maria cared about any of that.

What was occupying her mind was the question whether the love that came to fruition between the two, was caused by her.

From Maria’s perspective, even amongst the rare characters, Rion might be the one with the highest grade of difficulty. And because of that, it would be natural for a rival character to appear. She was thinking that it might be Ariel.

Although Ariel was supposed to be the rival character for Arnold’s route, Maria suspected that this might have changed to Rion’s route when she set her sight on him as a capture target. Of course, this was just Maria’s own speculation.

However, having the world’s protagonist think like that, was bound to bring Rion misfortune.

(In other words, capturing Rion and Arnold at the same time is impossible, huh?)

All Maria’s assumptions led to this conclusion. And arriving at such a conclusion prompted Maria to make a choice.

(As expected of rare characters. I still kinda want to conquer him, but all this screams failure. And since I don’t get to replay from the start…)

Maria chose Arnold. What was waiting at the end of that conquest was guaranteed queen’s crown. Of all the possibilities, that was still the best prize.

Maria didn’t believe that she would return to her world when the game completed. That being the case, she wouldn’t recklessly choose Rion, a completely unknown route with uncertain rewards.

(I don’t think the plot will completely go back to how it was supposed to go… But to get what I need…  Yeah, I do feel sorry, but he needs to disappear…. And there’s a perfect event coming.)

The method Maria arrived at, in order to make Ariel return as the rival character for Arnold, was to lose Rion as a capture target. The only way to do that was to erase Rion, a hidden character, from the story.

Although she said that she felt sorry for him, Maria didn’t really feel a shred of guilt. After all, he was just a game character.

◇◇◇

Not everyone in Maria’s circle viewed her in good light. There was at least one person harboring outright antipathy.

It was Charlotte Lanchester of House Fatillas.

The reason she was not publicly complaining about Maria was because she was observing and waiting for Arnold’s reaction. And because the Crown Prince was not doing anything, the antipathy only grew.

She vented that irritation at Lancelot who was trying to pull Maria towards himself.

「Honestly, what are you trying to achieve with this?」

「With what?」

「Maria.」

「I don’t understand. Did she do something?」

「Do something……? Are you really fine with recent developments? She’s only getting closer to Arnold now, you know?」

There was no way for Charlotte to know, not that she would care for the reasons, that Maria’s current vigor was all due to her impatience with the prolonging conquest. She was simply displeased with the outcome.

「There’s nothing that can be done. Arnold is a good man, both in looks and disposition. Even I can see that.」

「Do you not favor Maria?」

Lancelot’s response was outside of Charlotte’s expectations.

「I do. But only a petty person would strike against his love rivals.」

「Does this mean that you will be fine if she ends up with somebody else.?」

「It would be troubling, but I do not believe it possible.」

「Oh?」

Charlotte didn’t understand why Lancelot was so confident. Not just that. If she was to be asked, Maria was a lascivious woman who would use any and all means to attract men. Of course, as an aristocrat, she would never put such shameless thoughts into her mouth.

Neither could she figure out why Maria was allowed to do as she pleased and why did all those men fawn over her.

「Simple, really. Arnold is the Crown Prince, Maria does not belong next to him.」

「True.」

「And all the other guys? Compared to me, they are nothing. So in the end, she’s bound to choose me.」

「…I see.」

Lancelot was an idiot, Charlotte figured that out during her first meeting. Other people were not aware of that was because he was always next to Arnold. And that comparison would humble anyone.

「I was the one who made her who she is. She is always thanking me, saying that I am the reason why she is where she is at today.」

Charlotte thought this just made him a convenient stepping stone that Maria merely used to be able to enter the circle of aristocrats. In order to get closer to the Crown Prince Arnold.

「Gratitude and romantic feelings are two different things, you know.」

「…Charlotte, what is your problem exactly? It’s not like it matters to you what happens to our relationship, does it?」

Indeed, the relationship between Maria and Lancelot was not a concern of Charlotte. What she wanted was that someone, no matter who it was, tied Maria down, so she didn’t intrude in their circle any longer.

「Are you aware that many people look at her actions unfavorably?」

Charlotte was too indirect, her question brought unexpected result.

「Yes, I did hear the dark rumors.」

「Eh?」

「All this is the work of that little, impertinent Windhill witch, isn’t it?」

「….Ariel.」

「Ariel. She’s so unhappy about Maria getting close to Arnold that she’s stirring trouble in the background.」

「She is his fiancee after all. Did you expect any different?」

「Charlotte, are you trying to defend that woman?」

「Rather than defending her, I find it strange that prince Arnold appears to be close to other women while being engaged.」

「That’s… Hard to argue against, but… These kinds of malicious tactics that woman employs, they just don’t sit well with me.」

「I am of the same opinion.」

「That little girl doesn’t fit Arnold at all. I want to expose her misdeeds and somehow put the betrothal of Ariel and Arnold to an end.」

「You want to cancel their engagement?」

Charlotte was surprised that Lancelot would go as far as this. This was interfering with the betrothal of the crown prince. That meant meddling with serious politics and country governance. Even if he was an heir of a marquess house, this was not something a student should poke his fingers into.

「Isn’t that obvious? Since she is marrying Arnold, she would be our queen. Like hell, I would let someone who commits misdeeds in the shadows take the crown.」

「That’s right… You’re correct. However, can you really achieve that?」

「If her malicious deeds become publicly known, even his majesty, the King, can’t ignore that. It would be a problem to have a queen that’s scorned by all nobility.」

「Indeed…」

「But for that, we must obtain evidence first. I can roughly see the outline of the matter, but concrete proof eludes my grasp. Won’t Charlotte cooperate with me in this? You are a lady, there are pieces of information that only you can get.」

「…So be it. I will lend you a hand.」

「I’m counting on you.」

This world was harsh on antagonists. Even if they were innocent, it would try to persecute them if that was their role.

On the other hand, the world was gentle to protagonists. Even if they committed misdeeds on the way to their goal, they would be protected by it. This was that kind of world.

And Rion was trying to oppose it, no matter how reckless it might seem.


HnM’s TL Corner!

There goes our update, It was supposed to be updated yesterday but I fell asleep, sorry bout that. The next chapter will be another event divided into two parts and will be released together as well. As for the releasing schedule, it will be on 12:00 pm UTC every sunday.

We’ll try to keep up with the schedule.
Thank you for following the HnM TL

-Enori

For comments, suggestions, inquiry etc, please get in touch with us through the contact us link found in the menu. For urgent inquiries, please head to our discord chat

71 Replies to “FILWTV 21st Update!”

    1. She is talking like the Spear, Sword, and Bow Hero’s from “The Rise of the Shield Hero”. Talking about the world they are in is just a game. And eventually they ended up causing major problems. And the Shield Hero has to go and fix their mistakes. It looks Rion will have to do the same thing. Thanks for the chapter.

      1. Interesting comparison but I think this is fundamentally different. Rion is not trying to correct anyone’s mistakes. Could they even be called mistakes as they are all events destined to be according to the world’s autocorrect?

        1. Well Rion is sort of trying to stop Maria plan to mess up everything in that world. In way he is trying to prevent trouble from happen. But you are right there is a difference between the stories of this one and the Shield Hero. The Shield Hero had to fix up things after the other Hero’s have made a mess of things. In this story so far there has being no major problems like there was in that story. Of course I am sure Rion is not sure what the true path of the events that are suppose to happen in that world compare to the game.

      2. They aren’t exactly autocorrected.
        They are the circumstances surrounding the politics and personalities of the major players. The sum result might be called “fate” or “the world” beating down Vincent and Ariel, but that’s just a convoluted way of saying that life dealt them a shit hand.

        The whole idea is that there is still no game logic. Since a lot of the setting isn’t detailed in the game, the blank spaces get filled in with reality and people actually have motivations. Arnold doesn’t keep his interest in Ariel because the Maria raised the Rion flag. Arnold does it because he thinks he’s been unfair to her, since he’s never seen any evidence that she’s actually a bad person.

    1. Sounds like Charlotte is an opportunist. It looks like she was waiting for something like this to happen. It does not look like is possess by a demon or has a magic device to stop the charm effect. It must really irritated her a lot just to around that charm effect.

      1. It has been mentioned that the charm effect only ever affects capture targets from the game. I also don’t think she is an opportunist as all we see is her dislike of Maria sure to her behavior. She doesn’t strike me as an ambitious scheming character.

        1. Have you ever read “Is it alright to pick up a girl in the dungeon”? The goddess Freya in the 1st vol tried to cause problems with Bell in the story by using her Charm power to control the monsters to go after him and attack him. In way Maria has that kind of power. She has already took control of Lancelot and who knows who else. Arnold is now in the process of getting out of the brainwash control. In this chapter she has made her decision she will become the next queen and she will do whatever it takes. Even if means to take Rion and of the story.

  1. Thanks for the update ~

    Maria is not dumb, but not the smartest cookie haha, If tackling Ariel itself is going into a stalemate, she should harass those close to her to get some reaction >.<

    Choosing to solely conquer Arnold and not Rion would not garner much reaction from Ariel (Cause Ariel X Rion is the only ship around that's not titanic). If she chose otherwise (AKA Rion), Arnold would probs land in Maria hand, but Maria might lose her life due to Rion killing her for ruining Ariel's engagement hahaha.

    Killing Rion seems extreme, but I would love to see how surprise she would be when Rion just waltz through her trap with no effort xD

    1. She’s not the only one that’s not smart…. deciding to ruin the wedding of ariel and the prince would make sure the heroine become the next to take the spot… LAncelot really have a 2 cells brains… and even that is generous for him

    2. Yeah, it would probably be smarter for Maria to try to push Rion and Ariel together and just be there for Arnold in the aftermath.

      1. Yaah….. if she pushes Rion and Ariel, then Arnold will actually jump in the middle (villain) and maybe kill (try) Rion…………
        If Maria attempt of killing actually just wounds Rion it may make Ariel desperate and perceive her feelings for Rion and she could end up breaking her engagement and throwing away her status, it may also cause Arnold to try to force himself on Ariel though….. and try to kill Rion……..
        If she actually didn’t try to make Arnold to leave his territory to widen his lands (go to cafeteria) and exposed Ariel’s “affair” she would be able to break their engagement easily

      1. The obvious people to hire would be assassins from that gang that’s rising so fast in the underworld these days, but that’s doomed to failure, because Rion. And besides, I don’t think it’s Maria’s way of doing things.

        To me this feels like she’ll manipulate some event to put Rion in harm’s way. Depending on the nature of the threat this may not work at all for her. Rion has faced a physical threat before, and that time he came out fine. A social move, on the other hand, or an event that needed a scapegoat, could be another matter.

        Soon, right? We’ll see it soon.

        1. I agree with you. It sounds more than likely instead of trying to kill him off. It would be better to plant something that could damage his reputation or spread a false rumor. Sort of like have someone plant stolen valuables from nobles in Rion room to get him kick out.

  2. Damn son… It’s getting complicated.

    Now Arnold yearn for Ariel. Maria wanted to kill Rion.
    Lancelot is slightly yan for Maria.
    Love it!!!

    Thank you for the chapters!
    Zu’u kogaan hi dii fahdon

    1. You forgot rion try to bring ariel and the prince togheter … charlotte is hating maria… lancelot is a really good vilain… and vincent is becoming more and more bright

      1. Lancelot can’t be a Villain. at most maybe can be a Mercutio-type from ROmeoXJuliet, with his specs I can’t say he can go far on the Villain path.

        1. To me he is more like mind control like how Freya the Goddess of Beauty from “Is it wrong to pick up a girl in a dungeon”. She used her charm power to take control of the monster in Vol. 1 to go after Bell. And during Vol. 6 she meet with Bell and he was almost had being taken control if not for the fact that his Goddess Hestia did not snap him out of it. And reveal to him about the power of her charm. The same thing was done in the movie “Batman and Robin” with poison Ivy. Of course her powers were more using pheromones to take control of the men. It was not until later that started learning more about who she is that they started to resistance the control.

    2. I don’t think what Arnold feels is love. Might be a temporary infatuation or just curiosity but if he even hints that he is love with Ariel I will immediately call bullsh*t.

      1. your probably right but he does want her smile for himself … he is jealous of other so it could be the start of a loves square …. heroine the prince rion and ariel. heroine love prince, prince love both heroine and ariel, ariel love rion, rion want to put back ariel with the prince but love her … and heroine think rion is in the way want to kill him… its only the start but the theory of rion opposing the prince could be cool….

      2. or maybe possession, but with his personality build(lonely prince who yearns for true companionship), I can say that maybe it’s true. If you know Yoshida Kazumi from Shakugan no Shana – that kind of ending would await Arrnold. hey we can use the theories channel at discord if you want to prolong this discussion as this comment system doesn’t really suit that function.

  3. HIdden boss, you can say that
    ice master, water and fire magician, sword master, jack of all trade, biggest brain of the school, and valet of two person…. normally there 10 valet per person and he still succesfully do his work …. i’M impress also we could say bedchamber master but that’s less impressive XD seriously is there something that he his not good at ??? It could be kind of nice to find out he his not a good cook or not good with insect or …. it would make him a little more human and also give a chance for Ariel to really shine more
    dont you thinkabout it ?
    but i don’t think there going to use this possibility …
    the story is not going this way…..

      1. I do think the chalanges is stacked againts him though. He so little time to do for all things that need to be done. It will be better if he get some additional sincere help for his quest. Help that know and realize the situation. Not to mention to fight againts thr plot armor. I wonder will the royals that’s not at there can realize that something is wrong with Maria? Also Maria is true dangerous i think, especially the problem is her way of thinking is all wrong with the time setting and her way of seeing everything as game. I think Lancelot, too, hopefully will not be broken and become worse because of Maria. I do hope Lancelot will not follow legend of Lancelot problem…. especially the one that “bring civil war”.

      2. Umh your right i guess… English is my second language and i was thinking jack of all trades mean good at everything … I guess this is what we call a translator mystake ….thanks for telling me

      3. Actually I think Jack of all Trades usually does have a positive connotation. Yes, there’s the saying “Jack of all Trades master of none” but that’s usually the exception not the rule, because even if there’s nothing they’re superior in, at least they don’t have any weaknesses and can usually out compete specialists by usually (but not always) having a skillset more useful for any given situation.

        With that said, Jack of all Trades has a significantly worse connotation within the Japanophile community, probably because of connotations of the equivalent saying in Japanese.

    1. You forgot his other acctuall job descriptions: The first and youngest lord of the underworld, the Don, Godfather, uniter of the slums and builder of bordellos.

      He who blackmails and guildmaster and founder of the assasinsguild.

      Yeah, he does have the qualifications of a boss for a sidequest

  4. ps: 12 pm does it mean midnight or dinner time ??? kind of hard since both can be writhing as such… (try 11h59.59 sec pm or am it does help give a better time image) also love the idear of relasing always at the same date … i dont have to look every day or twice per day if you did some transaltion… but you really did a great job hope you will continue like this

      1. thanks i ask because i worked in a shop that need to write time (for the food) and when i wrote 12h the 5 person that were there with me ask me f it was going to be noon or midnight… it was 2 vs 2 on each way so it was kind of hard… now i’m really carefull

  5. Oo bitch-chan, you don’t realise it isn’t just a game and the game just ends after they repel the demons in the castle~
    And that plot armor of hers will only last until there and some adult with authority and good sense jump into the situation~
    If she had read DD or Reincarnated as Love Interest she would know that the repercussion of her capturing targets left and right wouldn’t have a good end.
    Thanks for the chapters!!!!!!!!!!!!

  6. Pfft. Did they seriously think Maria will win? If you can’t win through the light side, then just go through the dark side. That guy literally control the entire city from the darkness. Considering nobles are usually corrupt, just bribe or threaten them.

    Moreover, I heard the dark side serves free cookies for newcomers.

    1. Umh was this not a t-shirt …. come to the dark side we have cookies… really love this comment make me laft a lot XD

  7. Random Remainder : Please be careful with your comments.

    Discussions are nice and fun but careful not to kill the fun of others with spoilers. Comments with possibility of spoiling others are strictly forbidden.

    But worry not, spoiler discussions are allowed on our discord’s spoiler channel: #spoiler

    Thank you very much.

    1. does theory count as spoilers ??? because i never did read the futur chapter but i do have a lot of theory so i’m wondering… if so i will ok to go to you spoiler channel to chat but i don’t really want the confirmation of my theory before the actual chapter …so i’m asking you before is it okay to put theory ???

  8. Lancelot must be an agent of the game’s autocorrect or something. Does the protagonist need an intro to the nobles at school? Glad to oblige. Does she need support for tearing down the villainess and ending the engagement? Ready and waiting–and he even enlisted Charlotte. Plus, he’s always available as a fallback capture target.

    I hope Maria ends up with him. She’ll get what she deserves.

    1. maybe but it could also be his grudge from the past… after all Vincent did steal his shinning moment when he was 4-5 so maybe he had a lot of pressure after that …. the society is evil here to much pressure on every noble

  9. Ah Maria, I’m so glad you have decided to do that. Your downfall is awaiting you. Did you really think the hidden boss is easy to target? If you hire assassins, they would not dare touching their boss but probs would kill you instead. Rion is, after all, the owner of the underworld. lol.

    1. At first I was thinking what you were saying by Hidden Boss, what? Would he not be a hidden character? But at the end you mention him being the Boss of the Underworld. Then I thought yeah he is the hidden boss of the underworld. Maria might be declaring war on the so Mob boss of the slums.

  10. translation team on fire wow 4 chapter at 100% can’t wait for tomorrow … umh that make me thinks … are you going to release 2 or 4 chapter tomorrow …. since you said 2 before im wondering ….yes you have 4 ready but they could be a security in case one week you got sick again …. (hope you stay in health but it is a possibility) so ??? that my last question on this chapter for you

  11. For thw first time on my life I fucking hate a god, I didn’t even hated on that Bitch from Tate no Yuusha but the God from this word…. I want him really so dead

  12. Holy crap, these characters are all asses… Maria being the biggest one out of all of them… Like what? Eliminate Rion? Just game characters?

    She’s been in this world for years, surely she has interacted with people enough to know it isn’t just a game? She’s either incredibly self-centred or deluded, probably both…

  13. Actually how can u be mad? Rion also wants to murder her lmao. But i get it her justification is retarded while rions is about protecting his loved ones life

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