Somehow, I’m the Otome Game Villain 25:

Somehow, I’m the Otome Game Villain 25:

…

Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by LordMarksman

…

Marie fretted in her seat, while Leon’s sister looked over her work.

“I’m impressed. This is all really quite amazing.” Louise stated after a moment. Marie let loose a sigh of relief. Between the two of them was a table laden with various cosmetics. Lavender soap, conditioner, and moisturizer. Simple things she learned to make in her previous life to save money. “Why bring it to me rather than Leon or my father or my mother?”

Marie floundered for a moment at the question. They were in the western study of the large house. The smallest of the studies within the mansion, but still large enough to hold two of the cabins she used to survive on her family’s territory.

After a bit of hesitation, she spoke and gave the truth as best as she could.

“I… want to help my friends. They’re in for some rough times, and in case they want to leave or do something else besides be nobles, I want to help them.” There were a lot of things chaining Clarice and Angelica to their current fates. Their families held control over their finances and futures. Though they were fine with being with Leon, that could change too. If they decided they hated what surrounded them, they’d have little ability to leave. That was just how life worked for women in the new world she found herself in. “I want to at least be able to get them an airship and a life somewhere nice and peaceful.”

Louise hummed and put a finger to her lips thoughtfully.

“If my brother even thought about being that terrible of a person, I’d beat him up. Father and mother would help, too.” Louise stated the matter like a fact, and Marie almost laughed. She carefully didn’t. She knew what she was saying. Louise stared at her. Clad in a simple green summer dress, the oldest of the Rault children nodded. “You are aware that you’re besmirching the name of my brother? That saying these things and having these concerns can be considered disloyalty, correct?”

Marie chose her next words carefully.

Thankfully, she practiced speaking them.

“Leon is good right now. He’s honest and kind. But people change. My parents used to be good, too.” Marie recalled all the smiling faces of her boyfriends, and even the man who gave her a daughter. They were so kind at first. So gentle and thoughtful. In the end, they all abandoned her. In the end, she died to one of them. Then, when she was reborn, her family treated her like a spare for a spare and barely invested in her or cared for her, unless someone else was watching. “They’ve already been betrayed once by their fiancés. If it happens again, I want them to choose ignobility and to disappear, instead of something else more horrible.”

Marie admitted it.

She was afraid that the two girls will choose a certain path that she didn’t even want to imagine.

Something that she would’ve considered in her past life, if not for the daughter that she had.

Louise was quiet for a long time, before speaking.

“Alright, I’ll lend you my assistance. I believe in my brother… and he’d probably say that it’d be a good idea anyway.” Louise chuckled, before reaching Marie’s way with a handkerchief. Marie’s eyes widened as she realized they were wet. She took it gratefully and cleared her vision. “Should I be concerned about them? If you think that’s a possibility…”

“They’re good, strong girls. If Leon is good to them and honest, then they’ll be fine. In fact, Leon should trust them and ask them for help and assistance.” Angelica and Clarice were both bright and capable young women. People with influence and ability. “Leon needs them, too. Things would be a lot less complicated if he asked them for help. This is all just… in case the absolute worst happens, even if it’s unlikely.”

Louise was quiet.

“Do you trust Leon?”

“I trust Leon to save his own butt and make sure his life is nice and comfy.” Marie answered honestly, and Louise gave a chuckle. They both laughed together, before Marie nodded and stated the truth. “I do, but I’m useful to him. I know that I am. He doesn’t want me that way, but I am an asset to him and I believe in that completely.”

“So, you’re really just an employee and not some girl he picked up out of pity. Interesting. I’ll have to ask him about why he values you… though what I’m seeing right now should make it obvious, you have a keen mind, are resourceful, and… someone he could send around to gather information and report the truth.” Louise smiled, while Marie sweated and said nothing. That was all technically true, albeit without the direct connection that she had a previous life from the same time period as Leon and that they were both working towards preventing the world from ending. “Alright, then, you’ll work for me, too. That way you can trust me to do you right and help you.”

Marie nodded and latched onto the offer without thinking.

She regretted it as the smile on Louise’s face turned a bit more sinister.

“Tell me about Miss Redgrave and Miss Atlee. I want to know more about them and their intentions towards my little brother.”

Marie’s brain put an errant thought through her head that she just barely managed to put down before it left her lips.

Was Louise some sort of bro-con?

…

Luxion and Ideal both stared that the first set of data they acquired from their new tests on the common folk.

The first set which had over twenty retests.

“…The data has not changed, despite the sample group being changed again and again. We can no longer deny what we are seeing. It is certain.”

Luxion was practically comforting Ideal.

“…I almost killed the people that my crew died to protect. Why didn’t I check? Why did I assume that New Humanity prevailed? Why did I have so little faith?” Ideal shook from side to side at a loss. The readouts from the test were stark. The common people were showing on multiple different tests as Old Humanity with slight changes to overcome the magic permeating the air that New Humanity had deployed. “I almost killed them all, when I should’ve liberated them from the remains of the foes that oppress them.”

“Hey, we should check on that, too. Maybe the adaptation to magic let regular humanity use magic, too.”

“Hmph. Fine.” Ideal surrendered to my idea with unusual ease. I exchanged looks with Luxion. Yep, the other AI also thought this was too weird. Ideal was really creeping me out. “I shall do exactly that, before launching my assault and freeing True Humanity.”

“Hey, we’ve kinda got a couple of apocalypses to start. Popping off a worldwide war would be dumb, if we just get killed off.”

“Leon, True Humanity is suffering under the yoke of oppression by New Humanity. I am sure that the Empire, which holds the most Demonic Suits, is the remains of New Humanity, too. Those outside their reach must be the descendants of your people.” Ideal, somehow, seemed more fervent than it used to be. I could only suppose that finding out that the people you and your friends fought for managed to be victorious and still inhabited the planet was a good reason to do so. “Do you not see that we must act now to free them?”

Alright, time to pump the breaks on this by using facts and logic.

Otherwise known as all the lessons my father gave to me.

“You’re impassioned and I’m glad that you don’t want to destroy the world anymore. However, the Empire’s a massive stabilizing force across the entire world. Disrupting them now is just asking for trouble and hundreds of wars to pop up with everyone killing each other. If you want to do that, at least have enough firepower and troops to hold the entire planet.”

“That will take years!”

“It should be impossible, but you’re bullshit so you can just sit around for a few years and build up, while we lay the groundwork. Battles aren’t just won overnight. You have time on your side and we’ve already started.” I did my best to explain, while Ideal seethed. He must’ve had a great crew and an amazing people, if he was so adamant about going down there and attacking guns blazing. “We keep building up, we make more AI, and we grow our forces. That’s in the background for a few years. We automate that part and focus on what we can do. Infiltrate, gather information, sabotage, and even have them turn against one another.”

Luxion decided to pipe in at that.

“Ideal, I agree with your overall goal, but simply running down there with all guns blazing will result in unit losses. Demonic armors are in widespread use by the Empire. We can overwhelm them with firepower, but we will lose ships, time, and ultimately run the risk of seeing the world end because we cannot intervene.” Luxion’s red eye flashed and flashed again. I could only assume that the AI was transferring data rapidly over to Ideal. The blue-eyed AI drooped wholesale with its orb body, like it was sagging after defeat in an argument. “Leon has the right of it. We will continue to build, address ongoing problems, and lay the groundwork for overcoming the Empire while our forces build. We have waited hundreds of years. What is four or five more before defeat what remains of the enemy and free Old Humanity?”

Ideal was quiet for a while, before speaking up.

“…I want the Alzer Republic wholly tested and the Guardian Tree stripped of explosives. This place will be where True Humanity is reborn and I will guard it and protect it with all my life.” Ideal looked at me. I could tell it was leveraging our whole relationship at the moment, and I didn’t hesitate to nod. I’ve got myself and my family tested and we’re officially ‘True Humanity’ so I had little reason to think that Ideal would turn on me. “At the very least, I wish the land my crew protected to be freed as soon as possible. Let us deal with the miscreants and other horrible houses of this land and make it great.”

On one hand, I really shouldn’t take over the Alzer Republic and rid it of its worst aspects. There’s a process to this sort of thing, and that process divided people from animals.

On the other hand, I want Ideal on my side.

“I’ll talk to my father and we can start as soon as possible. I’ll need to convince him, say that you’re both going to make Alzer amazing, and a lot of the culling will need to be secret… but we can do it. Oh, and I got rid of the bombs months ago. People would’ve found out.” Ideal all but pressed itself against my skull at my admission, while Luxion shook itself from side to side. I did my best to ignore Ideal as it glared at me with negative distance between the two of us. I was tempted to tease it, but I decided against it and just continued talking. “We’ll get the Alzer Republic up and running as a bastion of Old Humanity, and use it as a jumping off point later… though we’re going to need to address the game events that are going to pop up in this country soon.”

Ideal retreated after spending a long, long time glaring at me and possibly contemplating blasting my head off my shoulders.

“…Fulfill your end of the bargain, and I’ll hold fast for a few years. According to Marie, after all, we will be facing the Empire in the third game, correct?”

I grimaced.

“There’s a lot of things that’ll be up in the air after we act. International politics will be a shitshow after we deal with the Empire. They stabilize a lot of the world because they’re just that strong. Alzer’s always been fine, since we have the Guardian Tree to provide power… but that’s just defensive. We can’t project it or stabilize power everywhere else.”

“It was meant to give shelter and protection from magical toxicity by absorbing it and making it useable to True Humanity. I should’ve realized that humanity was triumphant when I found it whole and grown when you awakened me. However, you are correct. It is a defensive asset, thankfully Luxion and myself can become the swords needed to strike out and hold territory as needed.”

“We’ll be counting on you for that then. Whatever happens with the Empire. We’re going to need everything you’re building now.” I grunted and looked outside. The shipyards were in construction. The chassis being built were those of warships. Boxy ships with guns and meant for atmospheric combat and the mass production of armies. They weren’t space capable, but had the same engines and power outputs of the two ships. Meaning that all the rest of the power was going to be for defensive and offensive purposes, and the more that are built the more they can contribute to making more of each other. That’s what made a making a force capable of taking the planet over in less than a decade possible. “We should also look into finding ways to defeat Demonic Suits. There should be parts and pieces out there that we can use to test weapons on. Whatever happens in our fight against the Empire, every ship that we still have after is going to be needed.”

“We can drown them in numbers, most assuredly, but it would be best to be overprepared. I shall look for research facilities and search for past places of battle.”

“Hm. You fought against Demonic Suits in the game. Where did it come from?”

Luxion spoke, then Ideal interjected, making me blink and consider the AI’s words.

Suddenly, it came to memory.

That bullshit boss fight at the end, which was tougher than the last boss.

“The Black Knight of Fanoss. He was a recurring boss. After you beat him enough times, you fight him one last time before the real final boss, and he transforms from a regular human into a massive, biomechanical armor with eyes all over it.” Luxion and Ideal exchanged glances at one another and nodded. I thought that was just some sort of magic, or some game trope that got pulled out off the generic video game theme list. “Does that sound about right? Demonic suits allow regular humans to turn into bullshit bosses with tons of HP and attack?”

“Correct/Affirmative. That’s our specimen for study.”

Both AI spoke in unison and had sinister gleams in their lenses.

Black Knight, whoever you are, I’m sorry.

You’re probably going to get vivisected by these two.