How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game

Chapter 729: Festival Champion 7

"Fufu... don’t pressure Riley too much, Rose," Snow said lightly, her tone calm as always. "He only helped me out a little during our personal outing last time~"

The way she said it—

Casual on the surface, but just a bit too deliberate.

Riley didn’t react.

Rose did.

"What does that mean?" she asked, eyes narrowing just slightly.

Snow tilted her head, the faintest smile still on her lips.

"Just what it sounds like," she replied. "Riley helped me get stronger. I was actually planning to tell everyone about it sooner... but I thought it’d be more fun to surprise you all during the tournament."

A soft laugh escaped her.

"fufu~ I hope I did a good job"

"...Yeah," Rose muttered under her breath. "You did."

Although it was only slightly... Rose also felt a deeper resonance in Snow’s elemental control, as someone who has already reached the level of an Arch mage, Rose felt like Snow’s progress, was comparable to her now making her even more curious.

Seo, who had been quietly observing, stepped in again—this time without hesitation.

"It was more than surprising," she said, her gaze fixed on Snow. "The way you manipulate your mana now... it’s almost as fast as the moment my blade leaves its sheath."

That wasn’t a casual compliment.

Coming from her, it meant something.

"You may have surpassed us in that aspect, Snow."

Snow blinked once at that, then smiled faintly.

"I just wanted to keep up with everyone," she said. "And... I want to be someone Riley can rely on in the future."

Her voice stayed soft, but there was weight behind it.

"This is only the start for me."

It wasn’t pride.

It wasn’t showing off.

Just a simple statement of intent.

For Snow, standing beside Riley wasn’t optional.

It was something she had already decided on.

Even if she was the first one to be by his side, that didn’t mean she felt secure. Not completely. The others around him—Rose, Seo, the rest—they were all strong in their own ways. Reliable. Close.

And Riley himself...

He was hard to read.

Always moving forward, always carrying things on his own terms.

Snow understood that.

But understanding didn’t erase the quiet unease that came with it.

So if she wanted to stay beside him—

Not behind, not catching up—

Then she needed to grow stronger.

Strong enough that she wouldn’t have to question her place there.

That was the difference.

Alice, Rose—even Seo—had always made it look easy. The kind of growth that just happened for them, like it was natural. Like they didn’t have to reach for it.

Snow wasn’t weak. Not even close.

But compared to them, there had always been... something missing. A small gap she couldn’t quite close, no matter how much effort she put in.

At least—

That’s how it used to be.

Now, though...

The presence she gave off had changed. The way her mana moved, the way it responded—it wasn’t just refined, it felt authoritative. Like it carried weight on its own.

The gap that once felt so obvious?

It didn’t stand out anymore.

If anything... it might’ve flipped.

You could argue now that she stood on equal ground.

Or even higher, depending on how far she pushed it.

"Makes sense, hehe," Alice chimed in, stepping a little closer to Riley. "Riley does have a habit of doing random things on his own without telling anyone."

She leaned in just enough for her voice to drop near his ear.

"Even though we keep saying he can rely on us."

The last part came out softer—but sharper.

Riley felt it.

"...It’s not that I think you’re unreliable—"

"We know, we know~" Alice cut in with a small pout, though there was a hint of a smile behind it. "It’s for our safety, right?"

She looked up at him.

"But we can protect ourselves too, you know."

There wasn’t any accusation in her voice.

Just a quiet push.

Riley paused for a second.

Then... he sighed, just a little.

He couldn’t really argue with that.

At the same time—

He couldn’t help it either.

That instinct to keep them out of danger, to handle things on his own whenever possible—it wasn’t something he thought through. It just happened.

Almost automatically.

"...Yeah," he admitted quietly.

Alice’s pout softened when she saw his expression.

And just like that, the tension faded.

Riley let out a small breath, a faint smile slipping through despite himself.

She was... hard to deal with.

In a good way.

Still—

Even as he stood there, surrounded by them, he knew this wouldn’t last.

Not the way things were now.

What was coming next... wasn’t something he could handle alone.

Not anymore.

Act Five.

The final stretch.

And whether he liked it or not—

More people getting involved wasn’t just likely.

It was inevitable.

[Epilogue: Chaos Dragon of Destruction] [Completion Chance:50%]

- Failure of the Liyana route

[Epilogue: The Great Evil] [Completion Chance:1%]

- Harem route final boss

[Epilogue: A Broken Queen] [Completed]

- Alice route final boss

Right now, things were already moving ahead of where they were supposed to be.

Alice’s route had been completed—earlier than expected, at that. Under normal circumstances, that alone would’ve been enough. One clear path, one secured ending.

But Riley wasn’t aiming for "enough."

He already knew how those endings played out. Who got left behind, who paid the price, and how easily things could fall apart if he followed a single route to the end.

That wasn’t the future he wanted.

If he wanted everyone to make it through—to reach an ending where no one was discarded—then there was only one path left open to him.

The harem route.

Messy, unstable, full of variables he couldn’t fully control.

And at the center of it all... a route upon which he needed to clear as well.

Liyana.

Her route wasn’t something you could just brute force your way through. It was unpredictable, volatile—one wrong step and everything could spiral out of control. Compared to the others, hers was easily the most dangerous.

And it was where his fate was tied to.

Still...

Riley wasn’t the same as before.

Most of the people he would need later on had already been strengthened in advance. Their abilities refined, their limits pushed further than what they originally had. He’d made sure of that.

As long as nothing unexpected happened—

The future he was aiming for was still possible.

And as for himself...

Riley lowered his gaze slightly, his thoughts settling.

The power he held now wasn’t something he could measure the same way anymore. It wasn’t just growth—it felt like something beyond that, something that placed him far above where he used to stand.

Close to something else entirely.

Even so, he didn’t intend to carry everything alone.

Lucas.

The "protagonist" of this world.

At one point, Riley had considered shaping him more directly—guiding him, correcting his path, turning him into something closer to the ideal version he remembered.

But now?

There wasn’t much need for that anymore.

Lucas was already growing.

And not just steadily—rapidly. Faster than Riley had anticipated, faster than any version he’d seen before.

Which meant what he needed now wasn’t control.

It was a push.

A direction.

Something to make that growth sharpen even further.

That thought stayed with Riley as they walked away from the colosseum, drawing attention without even trying. People still glanced their way, whispers following them quietly, but none of it really mattered.

After a moment, Riley spoke.

"Hey everyone... can I ask you all for a favor during the next matches?"

That alone was enough to make the girls pause and look at him.

It wasn’t like him to ask.

Which made it stand out.

—

The matches didn’t slow down.

Only two were scheduled for the day, but with how quickly the first one ended, the schedule tightened almost immediately.

Snow’s match had barely lasted.

And before the crowd could even settle, the next one began.

[Felix Anders Vs Lucas.]

From the moment it started, it was clear how it would end.

There was no drawn-out exchange, no back-and-forth struggle.

It was clean.

Fast.

Over before most people could fully process what they were seeing.

"Lucas wins!"

The announcement echoed across the colosseum, followed by an explosion of cheers.

"WOAAAH—!"

"I told you he’s the best prospect right now!"

"He’s insane!"

"What did he even do just now?!"

"He didn’t even take a hit!"

The reaction wasn’t any less intense than Snow’s match. If anything, it built on it—two overwhelming victories back-to-back, both from names people were already watching closely.

But Lucas...

He didn’t react to any of it.

As he stepped down from the arena, the noise faded into the background. The cheers, the shouting, the excitement—it all blurred together, distant and unimportant.

His eyes moved through the crowd instead.

Searching.

Did you see it?

The thought lingered, sharp and clear.

Riley... that was my new technique...

You watched that, right?

His gaze shifted again, scanning every section he could.

Where are you...?

For a brief second, something flickered across his expression—uncertainty, quickly replaced by something more focused.

You saw me... didn’t you?

The intensity in his golden eyes didn’t fade.