Chapter 4

Unlimited Magic Academy, or simply "D-Magic," is a relatively standard dating simulation game.

The protagonist is from a commoner background and has been admitted to the magic academy as a special student due to his exceptional magical power. There, he meets his target characters, increases his skills, participates in conversation events and mini-games to become intimate, nurture love, and aim for a happy ending. Incidentally, there is no harem ending, and the routes are strictly branched.

The antagonist, a rival character in every route, is Dianah Elgrandark, Cain's younger sister.

To contrast with the protagonist, who is a commoner with a simple and gentle personality, Dianah is designed as a girl from a duke's family, with a high pride and a stubborn, headstrong nature.

In appearance, while the protagonist has pink bobbed hair, round and large droopy eyes, and a small, soft silhouette, Dianah has long, wavy blonde hair, a sharp jawline, slightly upturned eyes, and a well-endowed figure with curves in all the right places.

If Cain looks down, he sees his 2-year-old sister rolling around on the floor. Her limbs are short, and her arms and legs are chubby. Could such a cute, round little girl really grow up to be such a beautiful woman with a great body? Really?

In most dating simulation games for women, known as otome games, the target characters usually have dark pasts or troubles they can't confide in others. The protagonist's understanding and helping to solve these issues increase intimacy and make her the one and only in their hearts.

In Cain's case, these issues include "estrangement with his sister," "lack of affection from his parents," and "pressure from his position as the next duke." At the root of these issues is his dissatisfaction with his parents, who are strict with their eldest son while being overly indulgent with his sister, and his jealousy towards his sister for taking this treatment for granted.

Having the memories of a man in his thirties from his previous life, Cain realized that he wasn't being particularly mistreated or favored. Simply, a 2-year-old requires more attention than a 5-year-old, and he had to share his parents' love, which he had previously monopolized. This is a common scenario in ordinary families in his previous life in Japan, and most eldest children have experienced it. It's the typical "big brother, you have to be patient" issue.

Though his body is that of a 5-year-old, his mind is that of a 30-something salaryman. He doesn't sulk over losing his mother to his sister or feel jealous of her. Instead, he joins his parents in doting on Dianah. In fact, he is so involved that his parents are the ones feeling jealous, saying things like, "Cain, you're always paying attention to Dianah! Let me take care of her too!"

While editing playthrough videos for all the routes for a live stream, Cain noticed that this game, D-Magic, goes out of its way to torment Dianah. In every route, it prepares every conceivable "serves you right" scenario, and he often commented, "Do you really have to go that far? Haha."

When playing the game, you naturally control the protagonist. In the first two routes, he would say things like, "Serves you right, Dianah! Haha," and "You're getting in the way of my love life! (in a high-pitched voice)." By the fourth and fifth routes, he was saying, "Come on, isn't this going too far?" and "I want to choose the fourth option that isn't there!" and "Do you really need to go this far?" He found himself empathizing with Dianah rather than the protagonist.

Glancing down, he saw his cute little sister tying his shoelaces with great effort. It was wrong that such an innocent and adorable Dianah would be exiled, abandoned in a monster forest, married off to a man 40 years her senior, or executed.

At least, in Cain's route, Dianah wouldn't end up unhappy because he now has the mind of a 30-something salaryman. He is considering the option of making the protagonist fall in love with him and bringing him into Cain's route as a last resort. Since the current Cain doesn't have the distrust of people or the aversion to youth activities due to his intense pursuit of success, he doesn't have the kind of darkness that the protagonist could save him from.

If he raises Dianah to be a kind and good girl, she might not become the antagonist. Even if there is some kind of game-enforced power in this world, he could protect her from the lower nobles by keeping a close eye on things as the eldest son of the duke.

However, there is a prince among the target characters, and it's hard to defy the royal family, Cain thinks.

In the prince's route, Dianah becomes his fiancée before school starts. At the graduation party, instead of breaking the engagement, they have a paper marriage, and she is given to a noble in a distant region. She becomes a second wife to a man over 40 years older, taking care of him and being raped by his stepsons. The smug faces of the game developers, thinking, "Isn't this twisted!?" are infuriating.

In any case, he must protect Dianah. In the game, Dianah was indeed a nuisance, with her high pride and constant interference in the protagonist's love life. But this Dianah, who is now putting his shoelaces in her mouth and making them wet, hasn't done anything wrong yet. Most importantly, in this life, she is his sister, his family. There are still 16 years until the game's ending. There's still plenty of time.

He must protect Dianah, because she is so cute. Cain was determined.

"Hey, Dianah?"

He squatted down and stroked her head, and she looked up at him with the shoelace still in her mouth.

"Big bro... ehh"

It seemed she had put the shoelace in her mouth a bit too long. Dianah vomited on Cain's shoe.