Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 11:

Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 11:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by LordMarksman

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“What do you mean I need to be prepared if you die!?”

“In case something goes wrong in the Arena, you need to take Luxion and Ideal, go to my house, and tell my father that we’ve discovered a lot of horrible things are going to happen to the world.” Now, I had every belief that the Ancient Armor that I was going to be using was going to wipe the floor with the love interests. However, I’m also aware duels had a high chance of being fatal no matter the amount of preparation involved. “And, it’s not if I die, it’s if I accidentally kill one of them and have to go on the run, practically self-exiling myself. I’m not risking my family’s reputation for this.”

“A surprisingly admirable notion coming from scum like you.”

“Indeed.”

Luxion and Ideal both gave their opinions, but I felt like they were looking at me with more intensity than usual.

Kyah, don’t start at me, you perverts!

“I’m a foreign heir who might somehow get hurt the Crown Prince, even if it’s in an official arena and I’m fighting on behalf one of the most influential houses, a lot of things can go wrong.” I could get arrested right out of the arena. My assets could be seized and people imprisoned overnight. Slander and rumor travelled faster than the truth. If I didn’t escape, if my people were held captive, then my family might go on the warpath and Holfort will be confronted by the Republic right before the upcoming invasion. Not a good series of events. “Look. It’s just in case. This should be a sure win, since Ideal and Luxion are strong as hell, but it pays to be cautious. We can’t save-scum, after all.”

“S-so, you expect me to save the whole world on my own, if you die!?”

“Nah, just take my family with you while you get out of here. Dad’ll need to know what’s happening to buy time, though.” That took Marie aback. She was wearing the modified piloting suit made by Luxion. Unlike the ones used in the game, the ones we wore were insulted, black, and had important bits covered by vests and pants. No fanservice here. Augh, I just remembered all the dudes I’m supposed to fight are in skintight fetish wear. Gross. “Hey, I know the two of you hate me, but if things go sour, at least give my family a chance to prove they’re not the same bastards who killed humanity off, okay?”

Luxion nodded, but Ideal zoomed closer until it dominated my whole vision.

“Is that an order?”

“No, it’s a request.”

“I see.”

No confirmation came, but there was no refusal, and that was the best that I could get out from it.

Ideal’s hatred ran deep.

But that was enough preparations for now.

“H-hey, don’t you dare give up if you get hurt! I’ll heal you, even you turn out to be a vegetable!”

“Are… are you threatening me or telling me that you’re worried!?”

“Both!”

“At least lie about it!”

…

Atlee met with me near the garage where my Knight Armor was stored and with her was Redgrave.

Before Redgrave could speak, I raised my hand at her.

“I’m doing this for my own satisfaction now. Don’t worry about it. If anything, wrong happens here, it’ll be on my head.” Being of a noble house, I easily guessed what she came here to do. Convince me to stop, so that no one gets hurt. It was nice to know some young women here were normal and nice people, since Redgrave immediately turned red with embarrassment and stepped back. Yeah, I knew exactly what you were going to say. Still, there was a complication. “Yo, Atlee. I sent you a letter.”

“Unfortunately, that letter regarding staying away from you seems to have been lost in transit. It’s very unfortunate.”

“…I see.” My sister told me that I could score major points with a woman if I believed their boldest, most apparent lies. I’d thought that she was messing with me, but I guess this is what she meant. “It’s a good thing that it did. It’s nice to have some supporters around. My guards have been getting paranoid.”

That was an understatement.

Signs had been put up on the perimeter of my rented manor saying all sorts of profanities. A lot of the signs were done in the cover of darkness, so lots of people thought they got away with it. In truth, Ideal recorded them and shared the records with the guards without my permission. Now, Ideal had very large, very well-trained friends who I barely managed to stop from going out there to exact vengeance for my family’s honor.

That AI starting to connect with New Humans, even if it was only to use them, was a good thing.

On the other hand, I was sure that Ideal was going to give me no shortage of headaches.

It probably wants to shorten my lifespan via stress, in all honesty.

But, I moved on and stared Redgrave down as she tried to muster a retort.

“Redgrave-san, you know that there’s no backing down now. The heirs and the Crown Prince are here. The whole school is watching. Everyone worth anything knows what’s happening. We’re in the final stretch of the race. Not the start.” I decided to take off the motorcycle-esque helmet provided by Luxion to help with the fighting. It was supposed to integrate with sensors to allow me to see outside, so less room inside would be taken up by displays and emitters, and more armor could be fitted. Even if Luxion was doing it for Marie, I suppose that I appreciated the fact it was looking out for me. It was even air-conditioned and had loads of filters, just in case. “Redgrave, whether I win or lose, you understand that your family will be ostracized and fall from grace, right? That the moment the Crown Prince decided to do what he did, everything’s been put into disarray?”

I was setting her up for a good reason to get angry at me and storm off, but her downcast gaze suddenly turned piercing and I almost stepped back.

Jeez, this woman had a war face.

“You need not remind me of what has happened and what will become of my family. I came here to tell you that your heroics are unnecessary. My family… I… I will do my best to survive what is to come.” I could already see the plan forming in her head, as did Atlee. My upperclassman put a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. Redgrave was struggling to hold back tears, but the determination in her gaze and frustration welled up in her balled hands… the rest of her body was angry and determined. Not sad. Julius is an idiot. “But I can see that you intend to see this through, so, please… make sure to surrender if your life is in danger. Do not fight on for me. Fight on for whatever foolishness you’ve decided to endeavor.”

For the first time, with those words, Redgrave stood tall and imperious in front of me.

Despite all the horrible things she endured, she was still being brave.

No.

She decided to be brave.

“…Looks like Holfort still has some good people ready to take the reins in the future.” I nodded and put on my helmet. I was confident that my smile would just put the two off, so I put it back on, before giving them a thumbs up and looking at my guard. He took the cue and hit the switch beside him to open the doors to my vehicle. Atlee and Redgrave but took steps back in surprise at the sight of it. Their breaths were taken away, just I planned, because I’d made sure to have my armor evoke one of their most feared foes on top of being obviously of ancient, advanced design. “What do you think? Do you think they’ll take the wiser path and just surrender?”

Redgrave looked to the gate where the Arena led, where her former fiancé was, and she almost seemed like she’d yell out to warn him before she stopped herself.

Meanwhile, on Atlee’s face, a small, slow smile formed.

Scary.

Jilk really fucked up.

“Leon, if you can pilot this machine with half as much skill as you can ride your Airbike, I believe you should have no issues.” Atlee stated with that luxuriating smile. “But, just in case, why don’t you take this before you go?”

I wondered what she was going to give me when she reached out, took hold of my collar, and planted her lips against my neck.

What the!?

I felt a brief stinging sensation, before she pulled away.

Redgrave’s eyes were just as wide as mine as Atlee pulled away and I placed a gloved hand against my seemingly-electrified neck.

“T-that’s… you said you’d give him your handkerchief as your favor, Clarice!”

Atlee stuck out her tongue and gave a cute smile at those words.

“That’s when I thought he’d get beat up for me… winning for me means I have to do better, silly!”

Not knowing what to do, my mind utterly in ruin, I decided that the best course of action was simple.

“T-thank you!”

Return your appreciation, no matter how embarrassing… and run away.

Thankfully, the guard at the door had my back, and hit the switch the moment I crossed the threshold.

I’m giving that guy a bonus.

…

One on hand, Adventuring wasn’t as common of a hobby in Alzer as it was in Holfort.

On the other hand, video games didn’t exist in this world, and I’m a rich heir to one of the major families of the world.

You can see where I’m going with this.

“Fall, damn you!”

“I refuse.” Greg was the physical type and honestly one of the stronger ones at the very start of the game. However, since stats were mostly tied with equipment and he refused them until you reached a certain relationship threshold, he tended to use shit-tier equipment. He helps clear the first dungeon and the tutorial, but after that he’s a massive liability that you can’t pull off the field. “You fall.”

“Dammit!” I struck with an armored hand while blocking the massive two-hander greatsword his machine used. The small buckler-shield I used barely got scraped by the weapon. My unarmed hand then broke through his worn armor plating pushed through his shoulder. The audience’s volume spiked for a second, but I had them muted so I didn’t hear what they were saying. You can only be called loser so many times before it gets old “I’ll make you use that sword of yours, Rault!”

“Sorry, it’s too dangerous to use against people with my skill. Don’t worry though, I’ll give you a rematch when I’m confident enough.” I paid him respect and rushed him down. He tried to use his massive sword with one hand and failed, so he tried to use the arm that fell off as a club. I dodged it mid-attack and kept up the pressure by bashing through his unit’s head with the buckler. The machine’s head flew off and crashed into the shields of the arena. That was a textbook move for use against Knight Armors, since piloting them with solely human senses was an exercise in futility. “Yield.”

“NEVER!” Greg roared and urged his machine forward in a suicidal charge, which I sidestepped before bashing in one of his machine’s knees with a swipe of the small shield. It broke apart and he fell forward, going headlong towards the wall. The crash would’ve seen him dead… but I caught the other foot and pulled it back just enough. The rigging that kept him strapped into the armor broke, and he toppled out, though. He pointed at me, as small as can be from the floor of the arena, and hefted a large chunk of broken armor. “Fight me like a man outside of that damned armor, Rault! I’ll who you that you’re nothing without it!”

If he called me Leon, if he didn’t make the implication regarding my family name and my ‘unfair advantage,’ I would’ve ignored him and looked at the referee.

Instead, I chose to kneel down and open the chassis… and shoot at him with the carbine Ideal outfitted the cabin’s insides with. For an AI that wanted me dead, it was incredibly thorough when it came to life support systems. Must be part of its Transport AI programming.

“Damn, you Rault! Come down here-!”

“No. The high ground is perfectly acceptable as an advantage.” I shot at him with stunning bullets and throw several flashbangs his way. I entertained the thought of going down there and hitting him with my sword for implicating that my family was anything besides the picture of perfection, but I abstained. Mother and Father would fret about that risk. Hell, they’d probably tell me that I should’ve just caught him in my armor’s hand and forced him to surrender. My sister… my sister would’ve probably told me to step on him. Within my armor. “C’mon, fight.”

“Fu—” I cut off his curse with another shot, but just as he rushed away, one of the delayed flashbangs went off and blinded him after he thought it was a dud. The split second of hesitation allowed me to land a clean, stunning hit on him from the safety of my cockpit’s opening hatch.

“T-the winner is Leon Sara Rault of the Alzer Republic!”

Oi, you should’ve declared that the moment I broke his armor up, you know?

Oh, yeah.

Now I can hear the crowd.

“What the hell!?”

“He’s cheated!”

“This fool’s cheating!”

“He couldn’t have won! That wasn’t fair!”

Through the din of noise, and the referee declaring that I won with Greg knocked out with a magical pulse of lightning from my gun, I did notice another noise.

“Mweheheheheh! Money! So much money! Mwehehehehe!”

“Hey, didn’t you say that you don’t like gambling? You’re getting really happy over the winnings.”

“It’s not gambling if I know you’re going to win!”

I sighed and turned back to go into my armor.

One fight down, four more to go, and I was already getting bored.

At least, Marie and I were making a killing betting on me.

…