The sky over Sardinia was a deep, brilliant blue, clear enough to seem endless.
At one particular train station, Rowan waited for what felt like forever without seeing a single train.
Apparently, the rumors about Italian trains constantly running late weren't exaggerations after all.
Erica sat beside him, while Rowan's attention was fixed on a black-haired boy nearby.
It wasn't Verethragna.
Rather, it was a boy who looked like an ordinary high school student, his face still carrying that uniquely youthful air of clear-eyed stupidity.
Following Rowan's gaze, Erica noticed the boy as well.
No—
more precisely, she noticed the backpack he was carrying.
A peculiar aura emanated from within it.
The aura of a grimoire.
"Who is he?" Erica couldn't help asking.
"Godou Kusanagi. The protagonist of this world."
Rowan answered calmly.
"Hah?"
Erica stared at him blankly.
Their world wasn't some light novel.
Why the hell would it have a protagonist?
"What exactly do you mean by that, Lord Rowan?"
"I think I was pretty clear."
Rowan glanced at her.
"The protagonist. Don't tell me you don't know what that means."
"No, I understand perfectly."
Erica replied.
It was precisely because she understood the meaning so well that she found the statement ridiculous.
"Why is he the protagonist?"
"Because he's about to kill a god."
"Hah?!"
Erica exclaimed again and stared incredulously at the boy called Godou Kusanagi.
Rowan continued,
"According to the plot, before long Godou Kusanagi will use the grimoire inside that backpack to steal one of Verethragna's Authorities."
"Then, while Verethragna is fighting the god-king Mekal, he'll use that Authority to kill Verethragna."
"Afterward, he'll become the seventh Campione of this world."
"And you…"
Rowan glanced at Erica.
"…will be the witness to that battle."
"Me?"
Erica pointed at herself in astonishment.
She was actually going to witness this boy slaying a god?
At that moment, Erica's eyes shifted.
She suddenly thought of something.
"Lord Rowan, according to what you're saying, if this boy is the protagonist…"
"Then what does that make me, the person who witnesses him becoming a Campione?"
"His first knight, one of the members of his harem, and the first heroine to appear in this world's story."
"One of his harem members?"
Erica couldn't help commenting,
"Looks like this protagonist has pretty impressive luck with women."
"He's a Campione."
Rowan shrugged.
"What's so strange about him having a harem?"
Hearing that, Erica actually nodded in agreement.
"That's true."
"If he's a Campione, having a harem really isn't unusual."
"There'd be plenty of people eager to send beautiful girl after beautiful girl straight into his arms."
"But what I'm more concerned about is what you said earlier."
Erica narrowed her eyes.
"Protagonist, heroine… Lord Rowan, you're not seriously treating our world like some light novel, are you?"
Rowan smiled.
Then he reached into his personal storage space and took out a copy of the Campione! light novel.
"Want to read it?"
Erica: "…"
Wait.
You actually have one?!
Erica stared coldly at the cover of the light novel and fell into deep thought.
At that moment, her mind was a complete mess.
But her right hand still moved almost instinctively.
She took the book from Rowan and started reading.
Godou Kusanagi traveling to Italy.
His encounter with Verethragna.
His meeting with Erica.
How he eventually became a Campione.
Everything unfolded before her eyes.
By the time Erica finished reading, she looked as though her worldview had suffered a catastrophic blow.
"So…"
"Our world really is a light novel?"
Erica looked at the author's name printed on the cover.
Jō Taketsuki.
Was this the person who had written their entire world?
Faced with Erica's question, Rowan calmly replied,
"If you think it is, then it is."
"If you think it isn't, then it isn't."
Erica: "…"
Suddenly—
Clack-clack-clack!
The noise of machinery interrupted Erica's thoughts.
A piercing screech of brakes followed as the train slowly pulled into the station.
Rowan stood up and boarded.
Naturally, Erica followed him.
After taking a window seat, Rowan looked through the glass at the scenery outside.
For the most part, there were endless grasslands.
Beyond that lay vast stretches of wilderness.
Several times along the journey, they saw enormous flocks of sheep grazing across the open land, accompanied by shepherds.
Sheep farming was one of Sardinia's major industries.
Among those landscapes, ancient stone fortresses could occasionally be seen—
Nuraghe.
These were ruins built by the prehistoric inhabitants of Sardinia before the arrival of the Phoenicians.
Nowadays, they had become one of the island's major tourist attractions.
Before long, the two transferred midway onto a train headed for Nuoro.
They had departed from Cagliari Station shortly after noon.
Three hours later, they arrived in Nuoro.
After that, they took a bus that rattled along for several dozen minutes before finally reaching Oliena.
By then, Erica had finally recovered from her existential crisis and stopped obsessing over whether her world was a light novel.
One light novel could never possibly summarize the entirety of the life she had lived for more than a decade.
Besides—
Rowan didn't appear anywhere in the book.
Erica trusted the life she had personally experienced far more than some light novel.
Still, there was something she found strange.
"Why is this Volume Three?"
She looked at the copy of Campione! Rowan had given her.
Godou Kusanagi becoming a Campione was apparently the content of the third volume.
Then what happened in the first two?
Erica was curious.
"It starts in medias res."
Rowan answered casually.
"It's a pretty common storytelling technique."
"In Volume One, Godou Kusanagi is already a Campione. His enemy is the Heretic Goddess Athena."
"In Volume Two, he fights another Campione—Marquis Voban."
"After using those first two volumes to hook the readers, Volume Three goes back and explains how Godou Kusanagi became a Campione in the first place."
Erica nodded in realization.
"I see."
"Starting the story in the middle certainly is a common technique."
"But I didn't expect Godou Kusanagi's life to be this exciting."
"Athena and Marquis Voban are hardly easy opponents."
"He actually defeated them?"
Rowan answered as though it were obvious.
"He's the protagonist. Of course he gets special treatment."
"Other people kill gods and receive one or two Authorities."
"But Godou Kusanagi practically obtained all ten of Verethragna's Authorities."
"If that isn't special treatment, what is?"
Erica nodded.
"That really is outrageous."
"If the King of Swords and Marquis Voban found out, they'd probably start cursing."
Both were veteran Campiones.
Marquis Voban in particular was the oldest living Campione.
He had already slain several gods.
Yet whether he even possessed ten Authorities in total was questionable.
Meanwhile, Godou Kusanagi killed a single god—
and received ten Authorities.
One job was worth an entire lifetime of work for Marquis Voban.
Who was he supposed to complain to about that?
All one could say was—
protagonist privilege really was unreasonable.
Rowan smiled and pointed toward Godou Kusanagi, who had also gotten off the train.
"Now that you know he's the protagonist, why don't you go flatter him a little?"
Erica sighed.
"If I had learned this before meeting you, I absolutely would have tried to get close to this future Campione."
"But since I've already met you…"
"I'm afraid I'll have to reluctantly give him up."
A sly smile appeared in Erica's eyes.
"In my opinion, rather than currying favor with a future Campione, it's far more worthwhile to curry favor with a god from another world."
"So…"
"Would Lord Rowan be willing to give me the opportunity to flatter you?"
"I already have women."
Rowan replied calmly.
Erica waved a hand dismissively.
"I don't mind."
"What greater honor could there be than becoming part of a god's harem?"
In the original story, Erica had no problem with Godou Kusanagi maintaining a harem.
Naturally, she wouldn't object to becoming part of Rowan's either.
Rowan couldn't help commenting,
"You really know how to take an inch and immediately climb the whole pole."
"Unfortunately for you, I've met plenty of heroines like you before."
"Oh?"
Erica immediately became interested.
"Who else have you met?"
"Nami, Nico Robin, Tsunade, Erina Nakiri, Erza, Lucy, Asuna… and quite a few others."
Erica's eyes flickered when she heard those names.
"I know Nami and Nico Robin. They're heroines from the world of One Piece."
"And Erza and Lucy…"
"Don't tell me they're actually the girls from the world of Fairy Tail?"
"Oh?"
Rowan looked slightly surprised.
"You even know Fairy Tail?"
Erica smiled faintly and held up two fingers.
"I've only seen a little of it."
"That's right. It's them."
Rowan nodded.
"But who is Erina Nakiri?"
Erica had never heard the name before.
"She's one of the heroines from the world of Food Wars!"
Rowan replied.
"I don't know whether your world has that manga."
"Then let's just search for it."
Erica pulled out her phone and searched online.
It didn't take long for her to find Food Wars!—
along with pictures of Erina Nakiri.
"She certainly is beautiful…"
Erica studied the image.
"But isn't that figure a little too unfair for a high school student?"
She couldn't resist glancing down at her own chest.
How should she put it?
Her development was perfectly respectable.
But compared with Erina Nakiri…
she was still somewhat lacking.
They were both heroines.
And Erica was even Western!
Why was she losing to a Japanese girl when it came to physical development?
That made absolutely no sense.
However, when Erica looked up the people behind Food Wars!, realization immediately dawned on her.
"Oh, the illustrator used to draw adult material before going mainstream."
"No wonder the proportions are so outrageous."
Rowan: "…"
For once, he genuinely had no idea how to respond.
Afterward, the two went to a restaurant for dinner.
Erica chose the restaurant herself.
The meal was extremely generous.
Prosciutto and an assortment of seasonal vegetables were served as appetizers.
The main dishes were meat-based—
slices of locally roasted suckling wild boar,
along with horse steak served rare enough that the juices still ran red.
Every dish was excellent.
Rowan thoroughly enjoyed himself.
The next day after dinner, Rowan and Erica arrived at the home of a witch.
And naturally, the witch in question was the one who lived on Sardinia—
Lucretia Zola.