Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain (Mobuseka: Alzer Republic AU)

Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain

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Wordcount: 2500

Commisioned by LordMarksman

…

Leon Sara Rault.

I’ll be honest.

I thought dying was great at first.

I was reborn into an aristocratic family with loads of money, a nice (sometimes too nice) older sister, and a doting mother and father. Not only that, but the Rault family line was one of THE families of the Alzer Republic. Of the sixth most influential families, they were arguably the most wealthy and politically capable of the six, too.

Sure, expectations were high for me, since I was the male heir of the family and Louise (no matter what she said to the contrary) was going to be married off.

However, with the advantage of having a whole other life where I went through college, I was ready to take on the challenge of becoming a decent heir. My parents, naturally, seized the opportunity to get me all the tutors that I needed, and my father was more than happy to show me the ropes at a young age.

After dying because of a stumble down the stairs, I thought that I was extremely lucky, and worked towards making the most of my situation and enjoying my life.

Industrial revolution?

Nah.

Political revolution?

Nah.

Becoming incredibly powerful and getting a harem?

Nah.

Unlike most individuals who were Isekai’d, I’d planned to achieve a nice, slow life as an aristocrat. The work was fulfilling, the accommodations were incredible, my new family was great, and I had time for hobbies.

Everything about my new life, even with the odd situation where my arranged fiancé disappeared was taken into account, was something that I was eager to enjoy.

Then, like a cruel joke, I caught the name of the Alzer Republic’s neighbor.

The Holfort Kingdom.

In an instant, my dreams of having a fulfilling life, with my only duty maintaining my family’s current status, was obliterated and I dove into looking for ancient ruins like a man possessed.

Why?

Because, the Holfort Kingdom was the setting for a shitty Otome game that was nearly impossible to win without walkthroughs and save-scumming.

But that wasn’t the worse part.

If the Holfort Kingdom was the only thing that went down if the Otome Game Protagonist failed, I’d me fine with letting the setting crash and burn for all the hours it made me waste, just so that the Vas would say my stupid little sister’s name.

No, I wasn’t lucky enough for that to be the case.

That’s right.

If the protagonist of the story failed, then the world was going be overrun by nigh-unstoppable monsters led by villainous empire she was supposed to defeat. The Alzer Republic was pretty strong, but I was sure that it couldn’t handle the bad ending of that game.

So, I had no choice, but to do everything that I possibly could to get myself involved in the shitshow.

However, before I did that, I needed an ace-in-the-hole.

Thankfully, doing multiple playthroughs of that shitty game gave me everything I required to get the ace-in-the-hole that I wanted.

…

The location of the secret ruins in the game, where the best equipment was located, was behind a “warp point.” The generic swirly-whirly tiles of golden energy were encountered while exploring. Once found, you put your airship on the tile, and then you proceeded to be sent high into the sky into a Dungeon where extremely powerful equipment was left behind. That equipment was defended by robots from a previous civilization, which were weak to Lightning Magic.

A player would have to raise and equip their reverse-harem of idiots to get to the place, since they were normally deathtraps and their goodies had to be taken by force. If you wanted it really early, then you’ll have to grind up money somehow, and get your hands on a ton of Lightning-based consumables while buffing yourself up, so that you don’t get one-shot and killed.

Being the son of a very influential family, I didn’t need to do either.

I convinced my dad that I made a discovery, he humored me until a scout confirmed my findings, and promptly gave me permission to go with the scouting team when I told them I could read the ancient letters they found.

Hooray for being born in an extremely wealthy and powerful family, which is helping me getting more powerful and wealthy for just being born into the family!

It’s the best.

Anyway, I told the soldiers and Knights my father sent the weaknesses of the enemy, and we cleared the ancient ruins thoroughly and safely.

However, while we were doing that, I carefully looked around and paid attention to my surroundings.

Unlike the game, the robots were larger and more militarized. One wrong move from the soldiers easily ended up with one of them dead, and without their magical ammunition, the enemy was outright invincible. The whole facility itself was filled with storage facilities, workshops, and docks. After consulting with a few of the Knights, I found that they also thought that it was a military facility from ancient times, too.

So, naturally, everything pointed towards the fact that the ace-in-the-hole that I was looking for, something along the lines of the Luxion in the cash shop, was going to be hostile to me.

That was a fight that I wasn’t going to win.

Alone, that is.

If I remembered correctly, Luxion was capable of taking on five groups of ten Air Battleships back-to-back before getting into the red and needing repairs.

Well.

I guess, I’ll need to have at least that many ready to fire at the same time to threaten whatever ship I found into working with me.

And, of course, I needed to find the power-source of the facility and rig it to blow.

The more leverage I had against the pay-to-win, cash-shop item the better.

…

After assembling the fleet, and clearing the reactor and rigging it to blow, I entered the final room of the facility.

Inside it was the computer terminal of the facility, which I told everyone else was a data hub which we could use later.

So, while everyone else was cleaning and fixing up the facility for the Rault Household, I snuck into the room and used it.

That was when the one enemy-type I hadn’t encountered in the facility revealed itself.

The “AI Core,” which was an extra boss in the game and nearly impossible to beat, because it healed and upgraded other robotic enemies, while also having a death-ray attack and a powerful stun.

Yeah, it’s a broken enemy type that you could only beat with RNG on your side, even with max level and your best equipment.

“New Human, step away from the terminal, and I will allow you a swift death.” It was different from the one in the game, which was a silver sphere with a red eye. This one had a spherical body and red eye, but its color was a blue fit for the skies and the large ship that was in the hangar. Good for hiding in clear skies, like military camouflage. “If you do not step away, I will extract all your knowledge through torture, and kill you slowly like the rest of the pests in my facility.”

I had a few electric grenades ready, and I’d left the door open so I could dash through it, but I took a gamble by pressing the Japanese language option on the terminal, and asking the AI a question in the same tongue.

“Hey, are you familiar with reincarnation?”

The lack of powering-up to fire a death beam and an electric shock gave me enough reason to access the command terminal some more, and when it asked me to present my biometric data, I pressed my hand against the scanner.

A warning flashed on the screen.

In Japanese, it said: “Mana detected. Medical treatment for human required.”

That statement had the AI Core immediately flow over to my shoulder and stare at the screen and my hand on the scanner.

The question going through it was obvious, even if it was unsaid, but I had my own question.

“I’ve been out of the loop for a few thousand years. I’d appreciate you telling me what happened and why everything’s changed.”

That got the AI’s attention immediately, and without a moment’s hesitation, it told me all that it knew.

…

Louise Sara Rault frowned as she watched her little brother continue to speak to that thing that he found from the ruins, before looking over her shoulder to her father, Albergue.

“I don’t like it, Father. You can tell that thing has some sort of hatred for everyone save Leon-kun.” Louise spoke only to pout as her father sighed from his desk. “I know, I’ve said it before, but I’m sure that you can tell that it’s the same as the other monsters the soldiers and Knights fought!”

“Louise, Leon’s the best specialist on the matter the Republic has ever seen, and he has promised that it is perfectly safe.” Her father looked over the numerous papers on his desk, before nodding with a satisfied sigh. The whole operation based off her younger-brother’s brilliance took incredible amounts of money, but the ancient ruins were a treasure trove of Lost Items. Powerful personal weapons, tonnes of materials for construction, and ancient knowledge filled the mostly-whole ruin. Most of it was staying with their House, despite the wishes of all the others, while what was unnecessary was sold off. “If you do not trust it, then you should trust in Leon.”

Louise’s pout intensified at those words and she glared at her father.

“That’s cheating, father.”

“Then, you should make it less obvious that you care so much about your younger brother, Louise.” Albergue chastised his daughter lightly, while clasping his hands. He closed his eyes and briefly contemplated his life in politics. His features hardened, before softening after recalling he was with his family. “In the future, you might find people trying to exploit that fact… well, that is what I would’ve said before Leon acquired such a powerful Lost Item.”

Louise found herself sighing at those words, her intense feeling of suspicion towards the orb that called itself “Ideal” abated with the knowledge that it was truly loyal to Leon.

It viewed everyone else as enemies, but the fact remained that it was incredibly protective of Leon, and that ensured his safety in the future against just about any threat.

If anything, she could trust it to take care of Leon more than anything else.

Still, though, she had another issue.

“Fine, but I don’t think he should ever go to Holfort, even if he’s interested in the ruins there!” Louise declared petulantly with crossed arms. This time, she knew that she had a point, as her father recoiled at her words. “You’ve heard the stories about how they treat young men over there! The Holfort’s Academy is filled with gold-diggers and women who own slaves… slaves, father!”

The thought of her cute, little brother being placed in a pit of vipers made Louise nearly bite her fingernails in frustration. It was a hobby in the past that she desperately did her best to let go, and she had mostly succeeded, unless she truly felt things were out of her control.

Like when her father didn’t immediately agree with her words.

“Louise, I’m sorry, but if what Leon-kun says is true, then the Alzer Republic will be in danger, if the Holfort Kingdom finds the same power within their territory. The fact that they respect adventurers and Leon-kun is sure there’s another is our best method of securing our flank.” Her father spoke to her softly, but there was steel in his voice that made Louise recoil as she knew that he would broker no further argument. “You know as well as I that the Principality relies upon us for their Floating Stones. If the Kingdom acquires a ship powerful enough to destroy our fleet, then it is a given that they will raid our caravans with the Principality. It cannot be allowed.”

Louise tried to come up with an argument, anything that could sway her father, before coming up with a solution.

“Then… then, if you’re going to send him away, at least allow me to accompany him for a year, so that I can protect him!”

The request was justifiable and decent on the surface, but her father just sighed and shook his head.

“Louise… I’m sorry, but if you leave for a year, you know what will happen to her.”

Louise’s shoulders fell and shook at that rejection.

“I’m already ruining my reputation for her, but now I can’t even protect my little brother.”

“Louise!”

Her father raised his voice at her for her words, but she just shook her head.

“I’ll stay put, father, but please protect Leon-kun while he’s away.”

Louise bit her lower lip as she left her father’s study, barely faltering when her father promised her that he would as she left.

It didn’t feel like enough, and she felt like something was going to go wrong in the future, but her hands were tied.

She could only hope and pray that her father would protect her little brother abroad.

…

“Let me kill them. They don’t deserve to live.”

“Jeez, calm down a little.”

“They are using her Tree in a way that she would never want it used!”

“I can make that stop by burning it down, y’know?”

“Damn you, I’ll never forgive the New Humans!”

During our little heart-to-heart, Ideal let something slip that it shouldn’t, which was that the Sacred Tree was a secret weapon designed to take in Mana and convert it into a power that Humanity could use. I praised it out of instinct from my past life as an office worker, and it told me that it was proud of it and that one of its friends created it.

Naturally, I held it hostage against the traitorous AI without a hint of hesitation.

The moment it goes against my orders the “energizing satchels” that I had knights spread around the tree’s roots will become very, very energetic.

They were bombs.

I lined the most sacred, cultural artifact of my nation with bombs.

It was better than letting a genocidal AI wreak havoc, of course.

“Whatever, now, what have you find out about the Holfort Kingdom.”

“It is a despicable place where slaves are a part of life, where the powerful oppress the weak, and it deserves to burn.”

“Sounds about right.” I agreed and Ideal spun around to look at me with surprise. I shrugged. It wasn’t wrong. “But, still, if we don’t do anything to keep it safe, then the world ends. Including your Tree.”

Ideal glowered at me, but eventually spoke.

“Just how terrible will the world become, if we do nothing?”

I considered that question carefully, while the AI looked down at me and searched me for lies.

Which was good for me, since I didn’t have to lie.

“All the Sky Islands get eaten by a giant monster that becomes unstoppable, until all life that remains is monsters.”

Ideal took a long time to check many, many times for any lies from me, until speaking again.

“That’s the ending for failing to seduce one young man properly!?”

“That’s what I said!”

I had no illusions about Ideal needing to be kept on a short leash, but at the very least the AI was somewhat fun to talk to.

Given the fact I was heading over to the setting of my most hated game, I took comfort in the simple fact that I wasn’t going to be alone… to suffer the shit setting.

Dammit, I want to stay home, but if I don’t make sure the protagonist wins the chances of them losing is too damn high!

I luxuriated in silence for a moment, before suddenly a pain spread across my right hand.

“Ah, what the hell?”

I raised it up to look at it and Ideal outright froze in place.

“No. No. How? You!? A NEW HUMAN!?”

The Seal of the Sacred Tree Guardian glowed on my hand.

Ideal went into a fit, fell to the ground, and started rolling around angrily, while I considered it with confusion.

“Wait, my fiancé is dead. How am I the Guardian if there’s no Priestess?”

I asked the question, but no one answered.