Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 6:

Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 6:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by LordMarksman

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“Idiot, idiot, idiot!”

“Once again, I must restate that this one will be spared from the coming tribulations that New Humanity has earned.”

“She is quite entertaining isn’t she?”

“Oi, can you get off my back already? I was just trying to stop someone from getting hurt, y’know?” I scratched the back of my head, while Marie followed me into my office. I had both Luxion and Ideal work on bringing it up to par, so instead of ledgers, journals, and books, I had an actual printer and computer at my disposal that only I could unlock. Marie whined until Luxion gave her a laptop. I saw whined, but she actually just complained once, and suddenly she had one. That AI doted upon her. “You know that none of the girls getting dumped because of the protagonist deserve it you know? Unlike most of the women at the Academy, they’re actually decent people.”

“If you said that without slobbering over their asses and tits when you first looked at them, I’d have believed you. But that’s not the case, is it?” Marie went straight for the jugular and both of my AI’s bobbed up and down at her assessment. These two really like seeing me get thrown under the bus. Also, for an employee, my fellow reincarnate was malnourished but she had plenty of energy. “You know what? I’ll stop tiptoeing around it. You want to see if you can get along with them, don’t you?”

I could’ve played dumb, but I decided against it.

“Absolutely. Angelica and Clarice are both smoking hot, smart, and normal people. I wouldn’t be a man if didn’t want to get along with them.” I admitted the truth, expected to be harangued, and received dull and blank gazes from all three of my subordinates. “What? I thought you guys were going to call me trash or something, like usual?”

“Trash has actual merit. It can be recycled and reused. You are simply waste for being unable to utilize the opportunity we have at our disposal.”

“Indeed. We have been wasting time, if that’s how you’ve felt all along.”

I was confused for a bit, until our resident fujoshi explained everything with a simple phrase.

“They’re right. If you’re willing to break up relationships and take responsibility, this would’ve been easier from the start. In fact, you’re perfect for the role we need to break the game over our knee.”

Eh?

“Indeed, we can make use of garbage, as I said before.”

Huh?

“I concur. The utilization of this man’s base instincts will be beneficial to us.”

I managed to find my mouth.

“Uh, guys? Can you explain?”

All three of them looked at one another, nodded as one, and Marie answered.

“It’s easy. The Protagonist winning destabilizes everything because she’s a bitch who hogs the guys and breaks all the alliances.” Marie gazed at me like I was worse than garbage. Oi, you know that you’re my employee, right!? “So, you’re going to do the same and round everything up and pack it all up to re-stabilize everything!”

Wait a freaking second…

“The plan is to have me clean up after the protagonist by making a harem!?”

I did my best to sound disgusted and appalled… but…

“Despicable, he’s smiling.”

“I would attest that this is a good sign. A motivated individual is best for harsh tasks.”

Marie had no mercy.

“You’re really lucky you’re rich and powerful.”

Man, I really couldn’t get a break.

…

Marie gestured towards a projected screen with a teacher’s pointer, while pushing up a false pair of spectacles. Luxion acted as an aide with a graduate’s hat, while Ideal manned the projector.

My employees had a lot of time on their hands.

“First thing’s first, we’re already behind because you’ve been hesitating, but you still have your appeal. First, you’re rich. Second, you’re famous. Third, you’re not handsome, but you’re not ugly. Finally, you’re somehow decent at being a decent person.”

“I pay you money so that you can live.”

Marie decided to ignore that.

Oi.

“The first target needs to be Redgrave. Her house falling out with the Crown will cripple the current royal house and give too much influence to the radical party.” Alright, now I was paying attention, because this was something I didn’t know at all. Marie providing information on her home, even if she used Luxion and Ideal to help her, was priceless. Pictures of the people she mentioned popped up, along with other influential parties, and they were segregated into different factions all beneath the Holfort Royal Crest. “Her house leads the more progressive factions that want to improve the social structure of the Holfort Kingdom, increase its military strength conventionally, and improve security and trade.”

“And, their opposing house?”

“House Frampton heads the more radical houses. They work with the more conservative houses that don’t want anything to change, while finding less conventional methods of overcoming current issues.” Frampton. The name rang a very vague and faraway bell, but I died after spending hundreds of hours on the game, so it still rang. Wait. Wasn’t that the? “Yes, it’s the noble that helps the protagonist rise up the ranks once she’s gained enough achievements. The Saintess is used to enforce the current hierarchy of women over men.”

“Well… shit, so if we deal with him by helping the Redgraves…”

“A surprisingly astute observation for someone of your intellect, but that is indeed the case. We will be opposing the Saintess in our path… but with the proper bribes and connections, we can still ensure that the Saintess will become influential and powerful enough in the Church.” Ideal obviously looked down at me. “It should be enough for her to gain access to the final weapons and equipment she needs for the final events.”

“Should doesn’t sound good. How’s the production on the fleet?”

“Given how things do not seem to be following the chronological pace you both anticipated, it is likely that it will not be finished before the Holfort Kingdom and any bordering territories are annihilated.” Luxion pipped up and wiggled a bit to fit its graduate cap on a bit better. Marie helped the AI out and it gave her a little bow. Dang, it must be nice to have an AI who just likes you and doesn’t follow you because you threaten everything it cares about. “Our scouts on the border already see increased dialogue between Frampton and the Principality. They are preparing to mobilize on the simple detection of a falling out of the Royal Crown and the Redgrave family.”

“Damn, that’s bad.” I was lucky to be brought up in a place where we could essentially fly the biggest ships we wanted and fire off the largest guns because of money. Is this what being American felt like? It’s kinda great. “Does doing anything we’re planning actually help fix things?”

“Plenty. The Holfort Kingdom desires strong relations with the Alzer Republic.” Luxion took up the mantle of explaining and Ideal helpfully put up my home nation’s situation. “Even with a purely defensive fleet, the Alzer Republic’s technology and economy is beyond that of Holfort’s. Having secure access to magical resources and material through heavily guarded trade lines is worth a fortune. Someone would go as far as to say it’s even preferable to having allies within your own country.”

“I don’t know much about economics, but even I know connections matter. Being the wife or really, really good friend of a foreign heir to a strong country is a pretty good fallback move.” Marie glanced at me and shook her head. “Powerful men are also expected to have concubines, so long as they can support them. You’re more than capable of doing that.”

“This Otome game world has some really strange standards. Or, maybe, they’re too advanced?” Men could have many wives. Women can have multiple husbands. Was this a female fantasy or just some harsh pointing out of how fucked up rich and powerful people are? As far as I know, regular people in this world had normal relationships. Wait, am I fucked up for not having an issue with having multiple lovers? Eh, questions for later. “Whatever. So, what’s our timeframe?”

All three of my subordinates looked at one another, then looked at me.

Then, they all started approaching me and a chill went up my spine.

They didn’t say a word, but I could tell what they meant.

We were starting now.

…

“Turn left. Clarice is currently at the café.”

“Order plenty of pastries, so that you can “accidentally share.””

“Get a refill for her tea.”

What is this a D*te-a-L*ve ripoff?

Ideal, Luxion, and Marie were all speaking into my ear, while I moved towards where Lady Atlee was. According to our information gathering drones (stalkers), she was meandering around trying to make sense of her situation in the many cafes in the capital. From the information we gathered on her, she was straying closer and closer to cafes where male slaves were for hire.

So, right after the meeting, I was dressed up and sent in to intercept.

“Only one of you speak at a time, you’re all giving me a headache!” I hissed at them, before entering the café. Usually, I had guards and looked the part of some foreign prince, but this time around I wore casual men’s clothes as expected for Holfort… for nobility. So, it was pretty much the uniform without any insignias or iconography. “I’m going in.”

I didn’t receive a reply from my communications back home, so I just did as I was instructed.

My plan was to be inconspicuous and not be noticed until I struck, but that plan went down the drain quickly as my “target” nearly bolted up her seat.

“Ah!”

“Hm?” I looked her way before I stopped myself. Clarice covered up pretty well. Subdued colors, tinted glasses, and a small hat. A passing glance wouldn’t draw any attention to her, but she wasn’t dressed so inconspicuously that she was fated to be found out. “Oh, it’s you, Lady Atlee—mmgrph!?”

I decided to greet her honestly, only for her to straight up pounce from her chair and cover my mouth with a gloved hand.

“Shhh, be quiet please!”

While I was wondering why she was so up in arms, Marie grumbled into my ear as the spokesperson of my personal peanut gallery.

“Dammit. She’s somehow more into you than we thought.” Isn’t that a good thing with our plans? “Just… just be gruff and an idiot, while vaguely trying to be nice, I guess. We’ll pipe up if you need to say something in particular.”

I didn’t know whether to feel good or bad about them trusting me to pick up another guy’s fiancé by acting like a thug.

But time was of the essence, so I tossed those thoughts aside for later and allowed Clarice to drag me to her table while some light murmurs went around the café. Most of the attendants were older nobility, and they were waited on by their personal slaves. We drew some glares as we were seated. Guess the old hags were bitter about having to pay for company, huh?

Clarice looked at me with a few sidelong glances, trying to find what to say, and I supposed that my supporting team were trying to get a handle on things.

Well, might as well just play for time.

“You look better now. Healthwise.” Gruff and blunt, but caring. I can do that. Marie said that I could, so I just worked on that angle. Need to mix it up a bit, though. I thought about asking about her fiancé, but I decided against mentioning the guy who dumped her. That seemed too blunt. “But that’s just how things look. Are you really?”

My questions caught the redhead by surprise, and I wondered where my support team was.

Guess they need time to come up with a game plan and I was doing fine.

“Um, yes. I’m a bit better now… not great, but better.” Atlee sat up a little straighter, after noticing that I was doing the same. It was subconscious. I wanted to slouch, but all I could get away with was crossing my arms while sitting with my back straight with my older sister around. She was pretty strict. “Why are you here?”

Good thing I looked up this shop on the way here.

“Their cakes are apparently popular. I wanted to get a few.”

“For the tea party?”

“What? No. None of my classmates appeal to me. I’m looking for things to buy and bring to my older sister.” It was, actually, kinda true. I did want to bring my sister something when I went back home. Now that I thought about it, this was an opportunity. “If you want a change in scenery and someone to listen to you, I’m sure she’ll be willing to help. She’s nice.”

Yes, the older sister card was a great play.

For some reason, Marie sounded like she was frothing at the mouth in my earpiece, but I ignored her… why was Atlee blushing so deeply?

“I-I can’t just accept an invitation like that!” I guess, I was technically inviting her over to my house, but I didn’t have any ulterior motives. To prove it, I coughed, suppressed my blush, and did my best to stare straight forward. That caught her attention and she froze. “O-oh, I-I thought—

“You’re attractive, but I’m not going after you while you’re like how you are.” Even with everything that was happening, I had standards. If I’m going to woo this girl to try and fix the protagonist’s mistakes, I’m going to do it right. Otherwise, father, mother, and everyone else would be disappointed in me. And, pretty importantly, I’d be disappointed in myself. “How about this: I have a private courier between me and my family. You can talk to her through letters. Get it off your chest and get advice. Between the two of you only. She won’t tell me a thing and you get the help you need.”

Atlee’s brow furrowed and her lips quivered, before a small, sad smile formed on her face.

“Okay, I’d like that. Thank you for helping me, Leon.”

Leon? Well, I guess she was from a pretty high-ranking family, so she could be that familiar.

Hm.

Where were my supporters, anyway?

I thought that they were going to give me advice for this whole thing?