Clearing this event isn’t even supposed to be Rex’s job...
Still, I couldn’t just ignore it. The reason this particular event chain was such a pain was it was really easy to not notice this event had started as the protagonist, and then by the time you figured out what was going on it was too late. The exact timing for the start of the event differed based on your level of progress, but generally after about half a year the lord of the mansion, Rose gets attacked. A few months after that, the Demon Lord revives completely, and three months after their revival the vampires hiding in the city rise up, destroying Freelea.
That being said, we should still have a bit of time right now... Because I know how the event’s supposed to go I was able to get into the basement already, even though I shouldn’t be able to at this particular point in time. But that’s precisely why...goddamnit!
I cursed again, this time out loud. If all I wanted to do was stop the revival of the Demon Lord, well that was easy enough. I didn’t need to resort to all of these roundabout methods—all I had to do was sacrifice a single person.
This is exactly why I didn’t want to meet her. I knew if I met her and spoke to her, I’d start sympathizing with her.
Which would mean I’d no longer be able to make the cruel choice of sacrificing her. That was why I’d tried avoiding talking with her as much as possible. I’d avoided meeting her gaze, and kept our interactions as businesslike as possible. Despite that, the sad expression she’d had when she’d told us she lived in the mansion all alone, the adoration she’d had in her eyes when she’d asked us to tell her stories about her adventures, they were all burned into my mind.
Just as I was having these conflicting thoughts, the very person I was thinking about called out to me from behind.
“Um! Are you one of the adventurers who came to visit me yesterday?”
God, this is actually the worst possible timing. I slowly turned around.
“You are, I knew it!” Rose said, smiling brightly at me.
Oh man... She was the one person I really hadn’t wanted to meet right now.
“Rose...”
Only I knew that this girl was fated to die, that she was doomed to be sacrificed.
❈❈❈
My main impression of Rose from the game version of BB was that of a sickly girl who could barely even get out of bed. Sure, she was healthy right now, but once the Vampire of Freelea event started, she was afflicted by the vampire’s curse, which left her bedridden. Because she spent most of her game time under that curse, that was the version of her that had left a stronger impression on me.
Once the event started, you needed to constantly keep an eye on her. The full event chain that was started off by the Vampire of Freelea was an extremely long one, and quite divisive among the player base. When the age marker was still at one—when the world was in its beginning, default state—you couldn’t trigger any events by visiting Rose Manor. All you could do was meet the girl living there, Rose, and go through a few dialogue options with her. However, by clearing any of the Twelve Ruins of Darkness or by completing enough events, the game age would advance. Once the game age reached two, a new event would trigger if you visited the Rose Manor.
This time, you’d see Rose’s uncle, who’d raised her since she was a child, trying to forcibly drag her somewhere. You could choose to stop him or to watch on, but regardless of what you picked, things ended up the same way. If you chose to stop him, you’d end up in a fight with her uncle, who was actually the Vampire Lord. Naturally, an early game party stood no chance against him, and even if you did somehow manage to beat him it didn’t matter. Because as a vampire, he was immortal. If you chose to watch on, he engraved the Mark of the Curse on Rose and leisurely walked out of the mansion, and if you fought and lost, he did the same thing. And if you fought and won...well, he just revived and then did the same thing.
After the mark was carved onto her chest, nothing changed immediately for Rose. But if you choose to spend the night with her to make sure she’s okay, at exactly midnight the mark would start to pulse, and Rose would start screaming in pain. After a few seconds, her eyes turn red, and her teeth elongate into fangs. She then attacks the protagonist, having completely taken leave of her senses.
“Umm... Mr. Adventurer?”
My memory of that attack overlapped with reality, and I reflexively took a step back from Rose. But of course, there was no need to fear. For one thing, there was no mark on Rose’s chest, and for another, her eyes weren’t red and her teeth were still normal. Besides, the first time she attacks you in the game, you can beat her pretty easily. The meat of the event started after she returned to her senses.
“N-No need to be so formal with me. You can just call me Rex.”
I shook my head to clear it, and Rose smiled at me.
“He he, if you say so. Thank you for finally telling me your name, Rex.”
I gave her a surprised look. “Wait, did I never tell you my name? But...”
“Of course, I know all about you. You’re famous. Even the children in the orphanage know about you.”
It was at that point that I remembered part of Rose’s background was that she helped out at the local orphanage before getting cursed.