Wand of Fortune – routes (part 2)

Second part! Finally managed to finish the second route.

Also, Happy Belated New Year!

I saved up Lagi’s and Bilal’s route for last since from what I read at the forum, their route sounded like the best ones…

Lagi

The best phrase to described Lagi is probably “village boy”. He kept talking about wanting to go back to his village too… despite that, he managed to be more manly than any of the previous 4 guys I finished, so… (<__<   )

Lagi’s at the academy not for studying (he skipped almost all of his classes…). One day his issue with transforming-when-hugged-by-the-opposite-sex started, and he thought he’d be able to find out the cause and a cure at the academy. Once that’s done, he planned to return straight to his village. He’s running out of time though… at a certain age he’d have to make a permanent decision on whether to be a dragon or human. Once he picked one, he wouldn’t be able to go back to the other. He’s 16, and the age to make a decision was approaching fast… Since he’s only a half-dragon, his transformation was to a mini-dragon, not a full-sized dragon. For the same reason he couldn’t use magic; the sword he had was given to him by Ivan-sensei.

This time the teachers gave the medallion to a salamander. While normally salamanders were small, weak and subservient to dragons, this one had grown big and powerful, and even attacked Lagi when he tried to command it. While Lagi’s all annoyed about the salamander, the report of the medical examination came in… basically, the doctors at the academy couldn’t find anything wrong with Lagi, and the cause of his transformations had all been in his mind. After he had calmed down, Lagi admitted that he already knew what was wrong with him, he just didn’t want to admit it and hoped that the cause was something else. Basically, all the uncertainty, anxiety, nervousness and fear regarding making that final decision that would determine the rest of his life served to unbalance his psyche, causing his transformations when hugged by females.

But, Lagi told Lulu, he made up his mind… basically, after the last encounter with the salamander, Lagi realised that as he was, he couldn’t do anything. But if he chose to be a dragon, then bringing down the salamander and taking the medallion would be an easy task… even if it meant he could no longer live among humans, or be near Lulu. Lulu decided that she didn’t want Lagi to make that decision just because he wanted her to pass her exam, and decided to try her best to give him more time to think about it… by going off to face the salamander alone. She tried her best, but when things seemed to go bad and the salamander attacked her, Lagi showed up in time to save her \o/ And apparently, seeing the salamander attacking “the woman I’d protect” really, really pissed him off that for the first time he awakened his full-fledged dragon power, turning into a full-sized red dragon. The match with the salamander was over before it started, really…

In the ending, Lagi’s still at the academy, and he’s somehow cured. He no longer transformed upon contact with females, except for Lulu… apparently with Lulu he started getting nervous or something and would still transform into a mini dragon. I’d say it’s the hormones XD

Best Event: One of the private events had Lulu seeing Lagi in the morning walking out of the dorm away from the direction of the school. Thinking he shouldn’t skip class, Lulu chased him up… called him too, but he didn’t seem to hear it. When she was nearby that he finally heard her calling, Lulu tripped and landed on top of Lagi triggering his transformation… and there’s this small icon of a red mini-dragon on the ground seemingly passed out.
Lulu: Lagi…? Lagi?! Oh no, Lagi, don’t die! D:
Lulu: What should I do?! What should I, maybe, will resuscitation work, or maybe, bring to the clinic, but what if there’s not enough time–” D:
Lagi: …oy. -__-
Lulu: Oh no, what should I do, it’s all my fault– D:
Lagi: …oy. -__-
Lulu: Ah, Lagi, I’m trying to think of a way to save Lagi, but it’s pretty difficult, help me think of something? D:
Lagi: DON’T JUST KILL ME OFF IN YOUR HEAD, YOU IDIOT! D8<

Bilal

Bilal’s origin country (Faranbard) in the game is probably a cross between mid-Eastern and India… At first I thought it’s more Persia/Arabian since any man aged 16 would be trained to be a soldier, females weren’t allowed to go outside of their house unaccompanied and all… but one of his country’s drink is Lassi, which is a drink from India. …no clue. Anyway, his country is a dessert country which frowned upon the usage of magic. Bilal came to the academy believing that he would be able to help his people if he learnt magic and could show his people that magic wasn’t all that bad.

Mid-game Bilal’s older brother (the crown prince) sent him a letter asking Bilal to return home. Something about the lack of rain and water worsening or something and that he needed Bilal’s help. So Bilal’s torn… on one hand, he’s at the academy because he wanted to help his people, on the other hand he also wanted to go back to help his brother and his people. …it boggled the mind. Because at one point, Bilal mentioned he had so many siblings that sometimes he had troubles remembering their names. With that many siblings, couldn’t his brother just, like, ask for help from one of the other siblings…? But well, moving on…

For the exam, the teachers placed the medallion in a spring where a Naiad had been sleeping, effectively waking her up. The spirit had been weakening and went to sleep ages ago, and would eventually disappear (but she’s content with it, not wanting anything else to do with humans). There’s a myth about how a certain flower would grow around where a Naiad resided, but that to pick the flowers would incur the Naiad’s curse… and Julius’ fangirls went to pick the flowers (for reasons I can’t be bothered typing), and as a result got cursed to sleep and never waking up.

At first Bilal asked Lulu to stay behind and let him solve the problem, since he wanted to protect her and made sure she’s not harmed etc. Lulu then pointed out that while Bilal was a man from Faranbard, she was not a woman from Faranbard and thus she didn’t have to stay behind and be protected and wait for the man to do everything. Bilal apologised for treating her like he would a Faranbard woman. Finding and talking to the Naiad, the pair figured out that there were only 2 ways to undo the curse: kill the Naiad, or wait until the Naiad go back to sleep… probably in 20 years’ time. Since the Naiad wasn’t a violent spirit who only wished to be left alone, Lulu was reluctant to kill it. Bilal said that there’s another method, but he’s reluctant to use it…

The Naiad actually used to be a guardian spirit for Bilal’s ancestors. She was in love with a human man, and even after the man’s passed away she continued to look after his family and friends etc. But over time they started becoming ungrateful, and when she realised how selfish they’d become she left them. If not mistaken this was also the reason Bilal’s country became the desert country it was now.

So the last available method was to forge a new contract with the Naiad, and made it a guardian spirit once more. But to do this Bilal would need a lot of power, of a capacity which he simply didn’t have. There’s a way around it though… in his country of origin, when a man found his soulmate and forged an unbreakable contract with her, he’d be granted a lot of power. …so then Bilal confessed that he loved her, and asked Lulu to be his queen.

…………………………BAAAAANZAAAAAAAIIIIII! \o/ When I got to this part the fangirl in me was jumping around in joy. Outwardly, I was grinning so much I was getting worried that people might think I was a lunatic asylum escapee. But after 4 routes of only hints of romance and 1 route with a somewhat-romance, the jubilation I got from playing this route was… delicious. I swear this route alone made up for the lack of romance in the other routes.

So then they said their oath, and the next morning went to the Naiad and successfully formed a contract with her and all was well. …note that I said ‘next morning‘. They were near the lake when they said their oaths, and the next part had Lulu waking up in Bilal’s arms the next morning, still near the lake.
…………Otomate, do you seriously, seriously expect me to believe that they just went to sleep after saying their oaths near the lake…? Surely there’s a reason why they didn’t return to their respective dorms…? Anyway, moving on…
Turned out the unbreakable oath/bond also meant that some things got shared… throughout the game Bilal always spoke in an accented Japanese, and sounded like he had a lot of trouble formulating sentences. After the oath, he could suddenly talk fluently and eloquently without an accent. Something about the bond enabling him to share the knowledge of language in Lulu’s head, and vice versa Lulu would be able to understand Bilal’s native language.

In the ending, they’re just spending time being a raburabu couple, with Bilal complaining that he found it odd that he had to sleep in separate rooms from his queen… while Lulu insisted that, no, no, it’s not odd at all and tried to change the topic. And since (I suspect) this route was meant to overdose me with fangirly squeals, he also stole a kiss from Lulu. Twice. …considering there’s barely a proper kiss in the other routes… *sob*.

Best Event: Most of Bilal’s scenes was squeal-worthy, but I picked an earlier one… in one scene, Lulu found a baby bird that had dropped from its nest. The nest was pretty high up, and seeing as there’s no other method Lulu resolved to climb the tree to return the chick to its nest. Bilal showed up then, and offered to help… by returning the chick with one hand, while he lifted up Lulu on the other arm. …tall bastard. Apparently his strength was normal as according to the customs in his country he was trained as a soldier when he turned 16, and his strength was normal to the men in his home country. Amusingly, when Lulu said that he should put her down since she was heavy, his response was “You’re not heavy at all… you’re about as light as that bird chick, and just as cute.” Cue in a speechless Lulu who wasn’t sure how to respond.

Quests

I’ve tried to do all of the available quests, and they ranged from serious to melancholic to hilarious. Posting a few of the ones I found hilarious.

• Unlucky Black Cat (Noel/Est): Some students had been viciously attacked/scratched by a black cat. Est pointed out that the cat was also wounded, but no one could tend to the wound since it didn’t let anyone touch it. To solve this quest, you need a Cat’s Ears item from the weirdo shop, since it enables you to talk to and understand cats so the black cat would let you approach it and tend to its wound. So Noel started…
  Noel: …m… me… me… meow… :-S
  Noel: ……AARRGGHH I can’t do this! D8<
  So then it’s Est’s turn to try…
  Est: ………meow -__-
  Cat: Meow?
  Est: ………meow -__-
  Cat: Meow.
  Est: ………meow -__-
  And Est pointed out in the end how unfair that Lulu was the only who didn’t have to do it… XD
• Mysterious Tea Party (Bilal/Lagi): There had been a rumour of the dining hall’s cutleries flying around at night… and at one point even attacked Lagi. They figured out that it’s the after-effect of a spell Julius had been experimenting with. Solution? Lock Julius in the dining hall with the wild cutleries until he could undo the effect *LOL*
  If you chose Lagi, he’d attempt to catch the flying cutleries using a butterfly net…
  If you chose Bilal… he’d talk the cutleries into behaving, which I found hilarious.
  Lagi: Oy, they’re all obeying him. …is he using a spell or something?
  Lulu: No… I think they’re just obeying his royal charisma…

Personal thoughts…

• Top 3 favourite guys: Bilal – Lagi > Est > Julius
• Top 3 favourite routes: Bilal > Lagi > Julius
• In each guy’s route, he would give Lulu a gift. I thought the gift was actually quite a good hint on what the guy’s personality was like.
  Julius: a bunny plushie which somehow looked like a cross with a sheep…
  Noel: a holly charm brooch to protect from mishaps/injuries
  Bilal: jasmine perfume
  Lagi: handmade mitten (made by his grandma)
  Alvaro: a pink silk scarf
  Est: a book… (to help her study, he claimed)
• At one point, Lagi called Bilal “nohohon-faced” *LMAO*
• Bilal’s ending was rather odd… after making the contract with the Naiad, the spirit then lived in Bilal’s amulet. In other words, she’s always there. So when they’re on a date, it felt more like a 3-people date… I wonder if the Naiad got to feel like a 3rd wheel…
  Also found it lol-worthy that the Naiad was the one who kept on telling Bilal to take it slowly since Lulu was still ‘young’.
• One weird thought I had… one of Bilal’s Memories had him thinking that he missed having Lulu asleep in his arms, and mentioning how he wished she could stay in his room (be his roommate) instead of Lagi. …the joker in me wished there was an event where he’d decide to try to hug Lagi to sleep to see what it’d feel like. …I wished such an event really existed, because Lagi’s reactions would be hilarious.
• The commentary to Bilal’s bird chick event was squeal-worthy. In the commentary, he apologised for his lack of understanding for the language, for saying Lulu was as cute as the bird chick… what he meant to say was that she was “…cuter than the bird chick. There’s no argument that you’re the cutest and nothing could compare to you. …I guess, until we have children.”

…damn that was long. Onwards to the fandisc!