Episode 4
The entrance ceremony ended without anything noteworthy.
"Then, cheers!!"
What was noteworthy was the freshman welcome party held after the entrance ceremony.
Of course, the welcome party for commoners was modest and simple, but the welcome party for nobles was not.
"...This is Western Continent wine. 56th vintage."
"Veal tenderloin steak and foie gras. Please enjoy your meal."
While the imperial citizens are starving, young lords and ladies without even a title yet are spending enough money at a freshman welcome party to feed an entire village for months.
And I am the ringleader of such a group.
"Lord Frey! Please give a toast!"
"Oh my, just as the rumors say, how wonderful. By any chance, do you have time tonight?"
"Lord Frey, hello! I'm the second son of Viscount Ariel's family..."
Seated at the head of the table, surrounded by countless flatterers, I outwardly laugh cheerfully while downing alcohol generously.
Of course, inside, I'm worrying about how to survive the heroines and pondering how to exterminate the parasites eating away at this empire.
"So, do you know what that commoner bastard said earlier?"
"What did he say?"
"Well, he said his dream is to become a student council officer. Isn't that hilarious?"
"Guy's got a screw loose. Should we teach him a lesson?"
I'm pretending to chat happily with the women who approached me when I overhear the nobles' conversation nearby.
That's right. On the surface, Sunrise Academy aims for everyone's equality, but inside, it's nothing like that.
Most nobles implicitly ignore commoners, and some nobles openly torment them.
And it's the same among nobles. The greater the power, the more benefits and popularity one receives. And the professors turn a blind eye to these injustices.
In a word, it's a mess.
"...Not 'he,' but 'she'?"
"What? A girl? Then it'll be even more fun?"
The woman those guys are talking about right now is probably 'she' who will become the Empire's Archmage as a commoner in the future and command the battlefield.
During her academy days, she became a target of nobles for injuring three noble students who harassed her while drunk, so it's probably her.
"...Right? Sounds like it'll be fun?"
"Ah, L-Lord Frey...?"
"So, when are you going to take care of it?"
"Uh... well... it would be best to do it as quickly as possible... haha..."
"Is that so? Then good luck."
"Ah, yes!"
When I responded indifferently, the noble in the middle bowed 90 degrees, then left the banquet hall with his companions, engaging in heated discussion.
'Anyway, I haven't seen a single reliable one among those overacting bastards...'
I looked at the back of that guy who would soon be beaten to a pulp by the woman who would become the future Archmage with pitiful eyes, then fell into thought.
Once I start attending the academy in earnest tomorrow, I'll naturally meet the heroines.
Because all of the heroines and I belong to Class A.
Of course, unlike the five heroines who have innate talent for something or are just geniuses, I got in using connections... but actually, I used connections on purpose.
Honestly, I'm confident I could score a perfect score and tie for first place with my fiancée even if I took the exam right now... but I must be an incompetent, vicious, pathetic, and ugly person.
Of course, someone who doesn't know about the system well might ask why I don't just not stress too much, reveal to a few people that I'm a villain, and then selectively commit villainy.
That's what I desperately want too, but there's no way the status window that can deliver a happy ending to this hopeless world would be that easy.
"...System, Unique Skill Window."
[Permanent Debuff: Fate of the Villain]
Description) Every time your identity as a 'Villain' is discovered, your vitality and lifespan decrease.
That's right, with this absurd penalty, I can't commit selective villainy.
I'm already sharing my vitality with Kania periodically, and I have so much to do I could die, but if my vitality decreases due to system penalties on top of that, I'm done for. Therefore, revealing that I'm a villain is absolutely something I must never do.
'...Should I just quit being a villain?'
For a moment, my resolve wavered, but I soon shook my head and steeled my heart.
As the successor to the Hero who will appear in the world for the first time in 1000 years, I've been educated by my father since long ago. That if I don't step forward, the world will perish.
That doesn't mean my father is cold enough to push his son into danger knowing he'll die. If my father knew I was fated to die, he would have torn the prophecy to shreds.
The ancestor must have anticipated this, and placed magic so that only I, the party of the prophecy, could see the phrase 'The Hero and the Demon King shall perish fleetingly' written at the very end of the prophecy.
But this way, our ancestor who came from another world ends up becoming a heartless person who demands sacrifice from his successor 1000 years later.
"...System, Clear Bonus."
[Clear Bonus: When everything ends, you can make one wish to the Sun God.]
Not wanting to hear such evaluation, the ancestor made a deal with the Sun God 1000 years ago and left this gift for me, his successor.
Well, as the Sun God who is responsible for the light of this world, granting the wish of a mere mortal like me should be easy.
Anyway, my plan is this.
First, I'll steadily commit villainy while gathering evidence, and as the mastermind, I'll subtly eliminate the empire's evil customs and corrupt practices while simultaneously weakening the forces of evil.
Then, on the day of the final battle, I'll use the system to perish together with the Demon King... and after that, I'll ask the Sun God for resurrection.
For reference, the ancestor left a tip in the prophecy that the Sun God is surprisingly petty and despicable, so if I make a wish more demanding than resurrection, there's a high probability I'll be punished for being presumptuous.
The Sun God's religious order and the Saintess would immediately brand the ancestor as a heretic if they saw that content, but I'll trust the ancestor who was an imperial hero over the religious order that's all talk.
Anyway, after resurrecting, I'll reveal the information I've gathered to prove my innocence and spirit of sacrifice, and live the rest of my life eating well and living well as an imperial hero. Of course, while watching the cleaned-up empire as a bonus.
Honestly, it's going to be quite an intense journey compared to the reward, but what can I do? I'm the only person who can save the world from destruction.
And if I don't do this, eventually I and my family will also face death in a world that's being destroyed. In the end, this crazy thing is something I must do not only for the empire but also to save myself and my family.
"Hey, come here!!"
"L-let me go!"
"P-please save me!!"
"You lowly bitch... shut up and just follow me."
I was organizing my thoughts while drinking when suddenly the banquet hall door opened and commotion broke out.
Wondering what was happening, I looked closely and saw the drunk noble bastards had dragged commoner female students into the banquet hall and were causing chaos.
'In the previous round, I didn't attend the banquet because I was plotting to destroy the empire... so this kind of thing happened, damn it.'
While outwardly calmly sipping alcohol and inwardly thinking hard about how to resolve this situation, suddenly familiar cursing came from the distance.
"Fuck!! You fucking bastards!! Let go!! I said let go!!!"
"Stay still... you feisty bitch..."
"Lord Frey! We caught her! That manners-less bitch I mentioned earlier!"
".....Huk."
Eventually, when I discovered that the noble students who had left earlier had brought in a red-haired female student with fierce eyes and a scar on her face, I was so surprised my jaw dropped.
'...Irina Filliad was brought here?'
Called the Reincarnation of Hellfire, she lived up to that nickname, turning every region she went to into a living hell on the battlefield.
Moreover, she was a genius mage born to use magic, proficient not only in her specialty of fire magic but in all elemental magic.
With someone like her, she should naturally boast top-tier skills even in her school days... why did she let herself get captured so meekly?
'...Wait, is she planning to burn down the entire banquet hall and wipe out me and the nobles all at once!?'
The moment I imagined something terrible, I quickly manipulated the system window floating before my eyes and entered the shop.
[Shop / Beginner Helper Skills]
- Information Search Lv1 30pt
Description) Displays important information about the target you're looking at in a system window.
- Emergency Defense 70pt
Description) Protects the target once from a fatal blow. (Single use) (Purchase limit 0/3)
- Mind Reading Lv1 150pt
Description) Can read a person's emotions for a short time once a day.
.
Quickly examining skills that would be useful in the current situation, I urgently purchased 'Information Search Lv1' and 'Emergency Defense.'
"...Information Search."
When I muttered softly after completing the purchase, a window summarizing Irina's information floated before my eyes.
[Name: Irina Filliad]
[Abilities: Strength 3 / Magic Power 8 / Intelligence 7 / Mental Strength 5]
[Special Notes: Mana Exhaustion / Frailty / Weakened]
'...Mana exhaustion?'
Checking her briefly summarized information, probably because my level is still low, I was speechless when I saw the mana exhaustion part.
She already boasts an absurd magic talent of Magic Power 8 from the perspective of an academy freshman, and she has mana exhaustion? Does that even make sense?
"Fuck!! I'll kill you all. I'll fucking kill you all!!"
"...No manners, but her face is decent at least?"
"Same for the other girls, right?"
"...Hey, are you guys planning to do it with those lowly girls?"
"As long as it tastes good, who cares..."
I was tilting my head wondering what kind of situation this was when the noble male students started whispering while looking at Irina and the dragged commoner female students with lewd eyes.
"...I want the woman on the far left."
"I'll take the brown-haired one on the right."
"I'll take that manners-less bitch over there."
After whispering for a while, the male students raised the corners of their mouths and stood up one by one, heading toward the women who were kneeling and trembling.
"Kyaa, kyaaaah!!"
"Help us!! Please...!!"
"L-let go!! You bastards!!"
Eventually the women caught by the men's hands started screaming, and I, who had been watching the situation quietly until then, had no choice but to take action.
"Can't you stay still? Where do you lowly things dare to..."
- Crash!!!
"...Ptooey!"
I threw the large crystal wine glass I was holding at the male student who was walking while grabbing Irina's head.
"...Fuck, what the hell? Which bastard..."
The male student, hit by the wine glass and staggering, started cursing while holding his forehead, and I looked at him coldly and spoke.
"You fucking bastard, who are you to take her?"
"L-Lord Frey!!"
Since my drunken behavior is widely known for throwing wine glasses and causing trouble, the surrounding atmosphere turned cold in an instant.
"...Bow your head."
"Yes, yes!"
As soon as my words ended, the guy bowed his head so violently that a dull sound echoed through the banquet hall. But I still looked at him coldly and spoke again.
"Where are you bowing?"
"...Yes?"
"I said bow into those broken champagne glass fragments, you bastard."
"......!"
The guy rolled his eyes for a moment at my words, but apparently having quick wits, he bowed his head with all his might into the wine glass fragments and shouted.
"I-I'm sorry!! Lord Frey!! Please forgive me!!"
At that gruesome sight, the surrounding atmosphere became uncontrollably uneasy, and in that situation, I sighed, stood up from my seat, and quietly spoke.
"...Everyone except these girls, get out."
"...Yes?"
"Didn't you hear me? I said everyone get out."
"B-but..."
"I said get the fuck out so I can have some fun with them, you bastards!!!!!"
When my thunderous command fell, the students who had been watching for a moment hurriedly started going outside.
"P-please save us..."
Soon, when only the girls and I remained in the banquet hall, a delicate-looking female student on the left opened her mouth while trembling.
"...Let me see, what do we have here."
"Hngh, hnghhh...!"
I ignored that female student's appeal and started stroking her chin, and right at that moment when the female students started trembling in fear...
"R-run away!!!"
"...Uwaah!"
Irina pushed me over with all her might, and screamed at the children next to her.
"T-thank you...!"
"Hngh... hnghhh..."
Then the female students, who had been frozen in fear, all started running away at once, and Irina, smiling as she watched them, soon collapsed on the spot as if her strength had run out.
"...What a feisty bitch."
Confirming that the girls had escaped, I slowly stood up, picked up a wine bottle from the table, and started approaching Irina while drinking from the bottle.
"...Ha, you're pathetic until the end. You fucking loser."
"...What did you say?"
"You're going to be a corpse soon, and you only have your lower body alive, you wretched bastard. Human filth. If I knew it would come to this, I would have crammed the ultimate magic into you instead of the Demon King..."
"What kind of bullshit are you spewing... you crazy bitch..."
I desperately pretended to be drunk at her rapid-fire words about events from the previous round, making it clear I couldn't understand a single thing she was saying, and after arriving in front of her, I reached out my hand.
"...Fuck, should have saved some mana for suicide."
Hearing her somehow meaningful words while grabbing her collar, I closed my eyes and collapsed spread-eagle on the floor.
"Hrrn... hrrn... hrrn..."
"..........."
Normally, doing something this defenseless in front of her would be suicide, but she's in a state of 'mana exhaustion' right now. In other words, she can't harm me at this moment.
"........."
She, who had been looking down at me collapsed on the floor snoring, eventually staggered out of the banquet hall.
Honestly, I wondered how I should react if she even picked up a bottle to hit me with... but thankfully, she seems to have recalled the possibility that the men who were chased out by me might return, and the fact that if I die here, not only she but her family would be massacred.
[Villain Points 200pt acquired! (Savior of the female students)]
"Haah... this is fucking intense, seriously."
When the Villain Points appeared before my eyes and my tension released all at once, I sighed and tried to stand up...
[Notice!
"...What?"
[Target of use: Irina Filliad's Curse of 12 O'clock]
[Details: The Curse of 12 O'clock sentences unavoidable death to the target of the curse at 12 o'clock the day after the spell is cast. This destructive curse can be used once per year, and the person who activated the curse suffers from mana exhaustion for one year.]
I nearly fainted looking at the system window that floated before my eyes.
It seems I have a lot more fucked-up situations ahead of me.