That was a ruined future.
The Empire fell to ruin, tearing itself apart in endless internal strife.
Even after losing half of the imperial territory, humanity had yet to awaken.
Having obtained the Zork exoskeleton, I shattered the Zork Mother's brainwashing.
Comrades fell one after another.
Reduced to being entirely alone at last, I challenged the Zork Mother... and fell.
And then... I entrusted everything to a younger brother who was never supposed to be born...
"Wait, hold on! Having Edge be the savior is way better than that!"
The moment I shouted, I realized it was all a dream.
Were those my big bro's memories?
Was that guy looking like A Certain Rider my brother?
Isn't that way too cool compared to Space Kaiju Kawagon?
...I decided to stop thinking about it.
Whether it was Edge or my brother who succeeded, only hell awaited after defeating the Zork Mother.
The total eradication of all humanity by Fairy-san.
I used to think maybe we had a shot at winning, but my current impression as King is that even if we won, we'd still end up wiped out.
I honestly don't feel like humanity could survive without the Mother AI.
I mean, if the descendants of her clone are wiped out, Fairy-san loses any reason to protect humanity.
She's only putting up with us because the descendants of her clone sit on the imperial throne.
Of course she'd exterminate the humanity she resents.
...Wait a second.
Is the thing I've assumed to be a game just a catalog of possible futures?
Though if that's the case, its way of dishing out information is pretty weird...
Just as I was pondering that, I remembered I was sleeping alone.
Right... Until my cystitis fully cleared up, any and all hanky-panky was strictly off-limits.
It still stung every time I went to the bathroom. It burned...
Because of that, Melissa, who was in full-on baby-making mode, was utterly furious.
"Hurry up and heal so we can make babies!"
Telling me that with such hardcore athletic-club logic isn't gonna fix anything...
These things take time to heal; there's nothing I can do about it.
Since my body was still weakened and susceptible to infections, sleeping with Kinako was also forbidden.
Kinako was sleeping with Wifey.
I... am so sad...
The antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs were administered via machines.
Since an inflammation had flared up, medication was the only way to treat it.
Thanks to the spider-type drones, taking medicine had become dramatically easier.
The ones actually giving the injections were improved mosquito-type drones.
When medication time arrived, they flew over and injected it automatically.
There was zero pain, so I didn't even notice.
I decided not to think about how easily these could be used for assassinations.
Dr. Kevin hated that kind of talk anyway.
Dr. Kevin was a proper medical doctor.
Her job was saving lives.
Scientific technology had advanced this much in just two short years...
And yet, I still caught cystitis...
Honestly, I was pretty sure getting cystitis was entirely my big bro's fault.
We might share the same blood, but he was way too overly dramatic!
As expected, once the blood of House Kamishiro gets mixed in, you're doomed to handle the comedy.
Fairy-san was an ally, and Wifey was full of energy.
In that case, maybe being Space Kaiju Kawagon was fine after all...
Let's stop thinking about it.
The issue with Melissa's mother had been resolved.
Melissa's Papa would take full responsibility and keep her managed inside a private confinement cell.
She hadn't done anything bad enough to warrant criminal punishment, but she was definitely a harmful presence to the Chronos Royal House.
In a slightly more aggressive country, she probably would have been disposed of the moment she stepped forward.
In fact, Wifey had suggested taking care of her behind Melissa's back.
Her eyes had been dead serious.
To be sure, she couldn't complain if she were shot without trial... or rather, permanently silencing her would have been the easiest route.
Just being alive made her a nuisance, really...
It was just that killing a parent felt repulsive to me mentally, so I refrained.
Human rights?
That's a term you use when a nation is functioning normally.
In the first place...
It's doubtful whether the great historical figures who committed patricide or matricide actually came up with the idea themselves.
Did they simply have no other options when trying to save them?
Or did they merely go with the flow of the times without resisting, just like Wifey?
If my retainers brought it up, even I wouldn't be able to stop them.
They might even go ahead and do the deed on their own.
I mean, I didn't even know that Wifey had shipped my biological mother off to a frontier planet.
As King, I understand it was risk mitigation, so I'm definitely not complaining, though!
Anyway, it wrapped up without anyone getting killed.
I had Lu's Mom broadcast the whole thing without hiding a single detail.
After all, Melissa wasn't at fault.
We discussed it and agreed to go with the no-guard tactic.
It was a good thing we quickly deported her back to the Galactic Empire.
It wouldn't have been surprising if she'd been lynched by an angry mob at any moment.
We were truly saved by the chaos of the Calamity God showing up!
Talk about great timing! Bless the gods!
The one who launched the raid was the Star God, so while there were no favors owed, I'd at least offer my gratitude for now.
Thanks for turning into my nourishment!
Sent with all the cystitis-induced resentment I can muster!
Then, one day, I went to the hospital for a checkup with Dr. Kevin.
Urology?
No, that wasn't it.
It was an examination to check for any lingering effects from the divine curse.
"Dr. Kevin. Could the stinging every time I go to the bathroom be a curse?"
"That's cystitis. I'll pass that along to the urologist."
"How are the others doing? Like Suematsu-san?"
"He's finally perking up. It was awful for a while there, you know. His organ values were completely out of whack. The Chronos Religion's choir almost died, too!"
"So Tatiana was the only one unharmed?"
"And people who were physically tough saw less of an impact. Suematsu-san was right on the razor's edge of what he could fend off."
"Hey, Suematsu-san isn't physically weak. He's at least at the level you'd expect from a former Knight Captain..."
"True, but you and Katori-sensei were totally fine. Katori-sensei's injury was just trauma from getting slammed into a wall."
Katori-sensei was still hospitalized.
They told him that just for this occasion, he had to heal without relying on nanomachines because his immune resistance was down.
They feared the curse's influence might manifest otherwise.
Having a broken rib puncture your lung and that's all it gets treated as...?
Next time a god comes barging in, wouldn't it be fine to just blow up the whole room, no questions asked?
I was proposing this quite seriously.
"So... how much longer do I have to live...?"
Schwing!
Behold, the tragic hero!
"Cut out those tasteless jokes, you idiot! There's no lasting effect at all. Your red blood cell count is still low, though, so keep taking your medicine."
"Okaay."
In the end, it was just an infection following a serious plot development.
Wait, hold on.
"Um... what about that liquid stomach medicine that tastes like toothpaste plaster...?"
"Continue taking it."
"Waaaah! That stuff is ruining my appetite!"
"It's what works best, so deal with it!"
Sob!
"I want a giant mountain of fried chicken~!"
Ah, now that I'd said it out loud, I really wanted to eat some.
I'll prep it later.
I like mine heavily seasoned and extra crispy.
"Of course you can't have that! You've got a stomach ulcer!"
A condition discovered entirely unrelated to the curse.
"Waaaah! No coffee either?! Are you a demon?!"
"Quiet down! Eat your porridge! You can make a delicious bowl yourself, can't you, Leo?!"
Nothing to be done about it.
I'll add some chicken.
If I stew it until it's completely tender, it should be fine.
Maybe I'll ask the kitchen for some udon tonight.
Stewed udon.
"Sniff... Damn gods... I will never forgive you..."
"Just so you know, the gods had nothing to do with it. We just discovered what was already there."
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
And thus, the grudge born of food only continued to grow.
People call that taking it out on the wrong target.