Somehow, I’m the Otome Game Villain 18:

Somehow, I’m the Otome Game Villain 18:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by LordMarksman

…

Shit’s fucked.

“Shit’s fucked.”

“Indeed.”

If not for my status as foreign royalty (practically), and the implicit mission that I’d been given, I’m sure that my head would be on the cutting block for execution. In fact, according to Luxion, Cleare, and Ideal’s little helpers (drones), there was lots of talk about doing that regardless. A certain Marquis, Frappy or something, was really out to get me killed.

However, in the end, Olivia was keeping them all at bay.

Hard to argue with the Saintess who was keeping the Crown Prince alive.

Anyway, I was making a hasty retreat with all my staff and my ‘Ancient Airship’ hovering over the embassy/mansion. Everything was going to be sped away under the assumption that Holfort wasn’t going to be talking with my household very much. If not for our less-than-equal relationship with them, with us having the advantage of far stronger defenses and resources that they needed, we’d probably be at war.

Honestly, father telling me to do nothing but head straight back home as safely as possible was a light approach towards punishment.

My older sister’s letter, though, promised far harsher punishments.

So harsh that Ideal seemed quite happy reading the letter again and again.

“Look here. Do you think she’ll truly shove her shoe all the way up there? I’d like to watch.”

“Oi, I’m trying to ruminate on how fucked things are. Stop interrupting.” I grumbled, while Ideal just continued to amuse itself. I was on the bridge of the faked airship. As small and lithe as it was, it was fast, durable, and had a sizeable hold for supplies/cargo and enough room for a hundred people. Ideal had wanted something between a battleship and a palace, something that’ll ‘cast a shadow upon the New Humans as we lay waste upon them,’ but I shot that down. It was better to have speed and firepower and durability, first. Massive ship that can get me off the planet in comfort was for later. “Hey, how’s the prince?”

“Stable, but still unconscious. These new humans have poor willpower. A whole body and mind, if a bit weakened, yet unable to awaken due to trauma? Pathetic.” Ideal was more than happy to share the live feed of Julius with me. His room in the palace was hastily converted into a private clinic. It was agonizing to see his parents and siblings visit the room and beg for him to wake up. Now, though, was one of the rare quiet moments where he just slept under observation. Technically, there was just a male physician there, but we were keeping tabs.  “If we had anything like Olivia’s magic at our disposal, then new humanity would’ve perished against us.”

“You wouldn’t have taken Olivia or someone like her?”

“They are too mentally unstable and beholden to their emotions.”  Says the AI who wants to commit casual genocide on them all after losing a war against them millennia ago. I’m not sure you’re allowed to say that sort of thing, buddy. “Perhaps, if we took out the parts that were unnecessary and fitted all that is necessary into a body—no, that’s depraved even for me. I’d rather just kill them.”

“Glad to hear you’re not as bad as Cleare.”

“…I am, too.”

We commiserated for a bit, but eventually I had to breach the topic.

“With Julius out for the count, and the rest of the Heirs incarcerated, Holfort is going to lose. There’s no way that she can win this whole thing.” Not only that, but according to Marie, Fanoss had two flutes. One for this game and one for the third game. Both summoned the same final boss for the player to defeat, but with different MCs and parties. Sounded pretty lazy to me, but I guess sequels always try to be better than the original and there’s few ways better than making the same game, but better. Wait, a bad ending here meant a bad ending in both games? Was I going to deal with two end-of-the-world scenarios? Well… shit. “Looks like trying to play by the game’s rules will just get us killed. We need to move ahead and solve problems on our own.”

Luxion decided to pop up, literally from the floor, when I said that.

“The game has provided you with much information, but it seems that the actions you have undertaken have upset it to the point where its no longer much use. I agree that we need to move onward to other plans.” Luxion usually spent time around Marie, and I didn’t complain as long as it got its job done. From a quick comparison on its stats and Ideal’s, Ideal had better manufacturing ability and access to certain military designs, while Luxion was really meant to be a colonizing ship. He had loads of access to industrial tooling and stuff like that. Both of them working together sped up the timetables for our assets. “Thankfully, we will have two warships capable of holding the two creatures at a standstill, while the Fanoss navy is dealt with.”

“And, you’ll have no issue seeing those people dead, correct?” Ideal chimed in, it’s azure ocular sensor gleaming at me. I was tempted to say no, but this was going to be a war of annihilation. Fanoss was using legendary monsters capable of ending the world to kill Holfort, and their intentions were to destroy Holfort completely in a war of vengeance. Not killing them would just be passing the problem down to the next generation… or to me in the future. “Correct?”

“If the war happens, we’ll not hold back. I’ll act in the capacity of an ally and interested party from the Alzer Republic and beat them back to their borders.”

“You’ll need to destroy the vast majority of their army, navy, and officer corps to stop them, Leon.” Luxion advised me carefully, and Ideal just nodded besides its fellow AI. “People will die.”

I really didn’t want that to happen.

I’ve been raised differently in this world, so that I knew what they were talking about. Taking down an enemy country means more than just defeating their army. It requires damage to their people, the institutions, and their economy. These people aren’t raised on the principle of rebuilding your opponent after you bring them down. Their grudges are long-lasting, their ruling polities have blood feuds against other nations, and they’re all driven to wage war to expand territory and resources. You can’t help your foe up and turn them into your ally if you don’t have the manpower and money to do it.

Your own country will kill you, because you aren’t helping them first.

I was still thinking on the matter when both AI suddenly both turned as one to a single location.

My stomach sank.

I’ve just taken down a massive amount of Armors, brought low the next generation of rulers, and the Crown Prince just had his personal rebellion crushed.

I already knew what they were going to tell me before they said it.

Ideal knew this but reported with glee to me anyway.

“It seems that you don’t have a choice. The Fanoss Republic has already breached Holfort’s territory as we speak.”

Dammit.

…

Marie

…

“What do you mean he’s gone off to fight the Principality!?”

“That’s all that he said, before launching off with the spare ship!” Marie held out her hands and looked for help, while both Clarice and Angelica bore down on her. Her lack of height felt all too real as the other two ladies loomed over her and trapped her against a corner of a room. “Cleare, help me out, please!”

“Ladies, ladies. Please. Master Leon just heard that the Principality wanted to make use of the current chaos in Holfort and went off to solve it. It is partially his fault, after all.”

“Only a fool would think that! The actions of the Crown Prince, his entourage, and the Saintess were a product of Holfort. That he went to help and was unable to perfectly solve the problem is not his fault!” Angelica was incensed. Marie winced as she looked at the fierce anger and furrowed brow that the girl had, especially with how she snarled out her words. It was like when her brother died and her mother had thrown her out. She swallowed thickly at that memory and buried the building tears in her eyes. No. It wasn’t that bad. “Please, tell him that he can return! There’s no need for him to go to such lengths and bloody his hands against the Kingdom’s enemies!”

“Yeah! He doesn’t need to do any of that. We have our own army and our own people!” Clarice was less angry on the outside, but Marie could see that was because some hysteria and fear was creeping into the daughter of Earl Atlee’s eyes. She was less capable of processing all her emotions into anger, like Angelica was. “Please, Marie, call him back and tell him to return. There’s no need for him to do that!”

Marie tried to find a way to explain that he needed to go, in case Fanoss was coming forth with things that could literally end the world and ruin everyone’s lives instead of just waging war, but came up blank.

Thankfully, Cleare was able to reply for her.

“Ladies, this is a great way for Master Leon to make amends. It’s not him going out there to gloriously risk his life. It’s his way of showing that he can’t be trifled with and that he didn’t fail as some claim… and, of course, there’s the rumor around Holfort that he’s a coward who can’t kill going around that need resolving.”

Marie’s breath hitched at that… but her eyes widened as both Angelica and Clarice seemed to calm immensely.

She’d almost forgotten, especially with how modern their uniforms looked, that these girls were born into a world of feudalism and politicking.

“I see. Then, I suppose he has no choice in the matter if he’s working on regaining his reputation. This will dismay all his doubters and quiet all his opposition.” Angelica muttered, before nodding. A frown still played on her lips, but she didn’t seem that angered anymore. In fact, Marie felt like she could see a semblance of respect and admiration in the eyes of the heiress. “With this move, though it is very dangerous, he reaffirms the Alzer Republic as our ally and his capability, especially if he chooses to brandish his full strength.”

Claire’s reaction was even more overt. She seemed to calm down completely, before a light flush formed on her cheeks.

“Ah, I should’ve known. He’s always the type to be gallant, when he can.” Marie could only stare and do her best to control her features. Her mouth was moving and forming a combination between concern and disgust, while her eyebrows threatened to join the hair on her scalp. Cleare’s mentioning of New Humans being more prone to mood swings rang in her mind, as she looked at the two suddenly switch emotions so quickly. “If he said that, I would’ve hurried over to him and given him my favor. Couldn’t he have waited?”

Marie took the opportunity to leave the reach of the two and whisper to Cleare.

“What the heck is going on? They’re acting weird!”

“It’s a high stress situation, so their emotions are heightened. Naturally, the swings will be heightened as well. Let’s work together to get them to calm down and make reasonable decisions, m’kay?”

“That’s easier said than done! I’m creeped out!” Marie hissed, but stopped whispering to her sole supporter a moment later. She put her eyes on the two, as they both seemed to recall that she existed. “Y-yeah, I’ll be sure to tell him to stay safe, but keep in mind he has Ideal and Luxion with him! They’re very strong! The strongest, really!”

Marie almost sighed in relief as she earned herself smiles from the two girls at those words, then the door bell rang and she almost leapt out of her skin.

“I’ll get that!”

Marie desperately hoped that it was some news from the movers, but she could tell. This was going to be a bad day, and bad days were made worse by more people. A ringing doorbell was certainly a sign of that.

“Cleare, please tell me that someone normal is asking to be let in.”

“Unfortunately, it seems that the Saintess has arrived.”

“Dammit!” Marie cursed and bit the tip of her thumb. It was a terrible habit that carried over from her past life, but with most of her new childhood being in debt and working her butt off, it tagged along for her new life. “Why!”

“Unless you allow me to do some very experiments, I’m afraid that I don’t know.”

“Don’t do that. Just… just stay invisible and ready to slap a foil hat on my head!”

“Ah, fret not. I shall protect you from the depraved magics of the New Humans, despite my own desires to study them.”

Marie nodded and reached the door to open it.

She found herself swallowing dryly, as she looked upon the Saintess, the Protagonist of the first game, clad in all-black gown with her face covered in a veil.

Like a widowed woman in mourning, despite the fact the Prince still being alive.

Marie’s instincts screamed at her to run, but she found herself hiding half-behind the door ready to run, instead of actually running.

The back of her skull hurt a little bit from phantom pain, but she ignored it.

“H-hello, sorry, but my lord is off doing something in a hurry! He’s not here right now!”

“Oh, I’m aware Marie. That’s fine. I’m here to speak to Lady Angelica and Lady Clarice. Not Lord Leon.” Marie shivered. The words of the young woman reminded her of the most veteran and best of the hostess clubs she worked in until she died. This was a person who could get people wrapped around her thumb with ease. “They are here, correct?”

She was tempted to say yes, to get out of the way of whatever was going to happen, but instead she found herself… standing up for the two girls who already got too hurt by the woman standing in the doorstep.

“N-no! They left! They heard that Leon was going off to fight the Principality, so they went to ask their fathers for help!”

“Oh my… I suppose they’re more talented than I gave them credit for. Silly me. Well then, little helper, thank you for your help~.”

With that, Olivia left, yet Marie felt like their brief interaction had taken decades.

Cleare even stared at the door, as if ready to fight if it opened again somehow.

“What the hell is up with that chick?” Marie managed to whisper, before forcing herself to stand and walk to her two idiot friends. “No. That’s for later. Need to keep the girls safe.”

With those words on her lips, Marie moved.