Main Hero POV:


    Hi, my name is Kuro Aku.


    I was standing before the shelves packed to the brim with games and was looking for something new, without much interest I was pulling out the boxes just enough to have a nce at the covers.


    |I yed it, I yed it, I yed it, this one''s apparently a shitty one, I yed it...|


    The chain continued for some time, one could say I y way too much but how else I could rx after the stressful day? I want to y games! And don''t get me started about how high school boys spend too much time ying video games!


    |Oh? What do we have here?|


    I pulled out a game with the anime art style, and it instantly picked my interest.


    |This girl looks really cute!|


    The cover had a busty blond girl with blue eyes being courted by six men with various hair colors all wearing the same school uniform - but the one person I was looking at was the girl in the background. She had short ck hair and ck eyes and was frowning and squinting her eyes at the group in front of her while crossing her arms. She was also wearing the same kind of uniform as them, so this probably was some school setting jRPG if I had to guess.


    |...I like her design! I''ll buy this game!|


    One may say that buying the game just because of one character is a bit much but hey, I have watched shows over a hundred episodes long just because I saw one five-second scene on the inte!


    I took the game with me and brought it to the shop clerk. For some reason, she was looking at me a bit weirdly once I handed her the box.


    "Is there a problem?"


    I frowned and asked the clerk with a challenging look.


    "Ah...! No, of course not!"


    She hurriedly shook her head and sold me the game.


    |What''s with her?|


    I was wondering as I walked back home as soon as I could.


    Back in my room I inserted the game into the console and was greeted with a cutesy flowery main menu with the title: Kampf um die Liebe.


    |Wait a moment... This isn''t right...|


    I turned the box around and read the description on the back.


    "Otome game? Huh!? I bought a reverse harem game!?"


    I raised my voice in surprise.


    That was an unexpected development! I''ve never been really interested in that genre of games but I did hear about them...


    Thoughts of returning it to the store crossed my mind, but then I looked at the character I liked.


    |Hell, ying through it once won''t kill me...|


    I thought not knowing what I was getting myself into...


    ...


    One weekter I could clearly say how addicted to it I have be.


    The world was way more interesting than I ever could expect. The world of Kampf um die Liebe was that of an alternate reality – its setting was was simr to European middle-ages with the ss division but was at the same time very fairytale-like because of the addition of magic.


    Magic was divided into six elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, And Darkness. As far as I''ve learned it was a standard-setting for otome games – though that was the case for a lot of games, period.


    The main heroine, who was sadly the blond girl and not the cute ck-haired one, was amoner who enrolled into the school for nobility in the country of Bellcephora because she awakened for the gift of unique healing magic – hence she was a special existence known as a variant magician. Normally magic was something only avable for the elites asmoners had too little mana coursing through their bodies to go through the awakening.


    Therefore the yer experiencing the world through the heroines'' eyes had caused a stir in the hierarchical society.


    Then there were the capture targets. Six attractive young men of high status.


    First was the prince of the kingdom, Horeo Marets Bellcephora, a gold-haired confident youth who wielded the light attributemonly recognized as the strongest.


    Then there was his younger brother, second prince blue-haired Surou Delche Bellcephora who wielded a water attribute, a rtively mediocre attribute on the scale, Surou had an inferiorityplex towards his magically superior older brother.


    The third was a son of the general of the kingdom a red-haired Grazio Mera Victureo who wielded fire attribute, one only second to the light in terms of power. He was serious and upright but was hiding a ming personality and hot temper.


    The fourth one was the son of the country treasurer - a green-haired Reo Serentii Moyena, at first nce he had a very twisted personality and often used his wind attribute magic to cause many mischiefs and stir troubles just for fun.


    The fifth one was the son of a duke, brown-haired Xeonith Zarble Derizno, as you may already see a pattern here, he wielded the earth attribute that''s supposed to be rtively weak on the chart but that wasn''t the case in his case because of his unprecedented amount of mana necessary for casting magic, he was very proud and often shed with the prince Horeo.


    People who had more mana than average, like him, were known as transcended magicians.


    And the final capture target of the story was the son of the royal magician - Arisu Karde Lazaram. White-haired youngster of stoic personality, for some reason the creators decided that he should be a variant magician and wield special attribute allowing him to use almost any spell from any attributes as long as he had enough mana to cast it.


    Personally, I thought that having characters have color-coded hair and eyes – oh, by the way, the colors of the eyes had matched the colors of their hair – was a bit peculiar, but that actually had an exnation in-game.


    Mana of each attribute was greatly influencing the pigmentation of hair and yes – that''s why the only ones with mismatched hair and eyes weremoners.


    Anyway.


    There was a rather ring representation missing from the capture target list.


    For some reason, the darkness attribute was not represented at all.


    But once again – there was an in-game exnation for it too.


    Darkness attribute was thought of as a disgraced magic attribute only good for the perverts or assassins – that''s why there were no NPCs with ck hair and eyes in the game as none attended the school where the bulk of the story was taking ce.


    But back to the story.


    The heroine could get close to a single capture target or choose to conquer all six of them at the same time and achieve a harem ending.


    There were many masterfully crafted events with breathtaking illustrations that helped the yer stay immersed in the story....