Chapter 19 – My Master Plan is Working Perfectly

It had been three weeks.

Three agonizing weeks since I handed Mayor Pedro the key to my glorious betrayal.

I had practically gift-wrapped my entire revenge arc for him.

All he had to do was be the corrupt, greedy scumbag he was so clearly born to be.

And nothing happened.

No new, soul-crushing taxes were levied on the poor.

No protection rackets were started.

He didn’t use the Aethelgard Fruit to turn himself into a local tyrant.

Instead, the town just got… nicer.

The streets were cleaner.

The market stalls were busier.

The townsfolk actually smiled now.

It was disgusting.

My villain was failing at his one job.

I was getting desperate.

My attempts to nudge my party toward the dark side had backfired in spectacular fashion.

Last week, I tried to hoard the party’s funds, a classic betrayal flag.

Kenji just assumed I was creating a secret emergency fund for orphans and praised my foresight.

When I tried to take the last healing potion during a fight, Reina snatched it first and force-fed it to me, convinced I was trying to sacrifice myself again.

My master plan was stalling.

The hope for betrayal was starting to fade.

We were walking through the bustling market square.

The air smelled of fresh bread and roasted meat.

Kenji walked on my right, his brow furrowed in thought.

Reina was on my left, humming a cheerful little tune that somehow sounded vaguely threatening.

Then, Kenji spoke the most beautiful words I had ever heard.

“Ryuuji, you were right as always. Siegfried is no good.”

My heart soared.

My spirit ascended.

It was happening.

It was finally happening.

My carefully planted seeds of corruption were sprouting.

I fought to keep my face neutral, to maintain my persona as a meek, unassuming background character.

Inside, I was throwing a parade.

“I know.”

The words were a pathetic squeak, but they contained the weight of my absolute triumph.

Reina stopped humming.

She smiled sweetly at a passing merchant before adding her own delightful commentary.

“He has such a punchable face. You just look at it and you think, ‘that’s not right.’ It needs to be fixed. With a hammer, maybe. Or a very large rock.”

Yes.

YES.

This was the edgy energy I had been trying to cultivate.

She was seeing the world through the proper lens now.

Not with wide-eyed innocence, but with a healthy, violent cynicism.

I was so proud.

Kenji nodded gravely, completely missing the sheer, unhinged perfection of Reina’s statement.

“It’s not just his face. It’s his words. They’re hollow. When he talks about honor and justice, it feels like he’s reading from a script. There’s no weight to it. No soul.”

I could have kissed him.

They saw it.

They finally, truly saw it.

They understood that the “perfect hero” archetype was cringe.

It was lame.

Siegfried, with his polished armor and flawless smiles, was an example of a boring, straight-laced hero.

And they were rejecting him.

They were rejecting the path of light.

My hard work was finally paying off.

They weren’t being seduced by his Main Character Energy.

They were choosing the path of the anti-hero.

My path.

Soon they would see all heroism as a sham.

They would see betrayal not as a tragedy, but as a logical, even necessary, action in a cruel world.

It was time to reinforce the lesson.

“No matter what Pedro says, follow him.”

I pitched my voice to be as earnest and trusting as possible.

They needed to believe I was a fool, blindly following a corrupt man.

Their betrayal would be all the sweeter for it.

Kenji looked troubled.

“But Ryuuji, are you sure? Mayor Pedro still seems…”

I interrupted, my voice firm with fake conviction.

“He’s the one, trust me.”

He was the light.

The guiding star that would lead me to the glorious shores of my revenge plot.

He was the darkness I had been searching for.

Reina, my prized pupil in the art of darkness, patted my arm.

“If Ryuuji-kun says we trust the mayor, then we trust the mayor. Anyone who disagrees will have to have a little chat with me.”

Her smile was angelic.

Her eyes were not.

The rest of the walk was music to my ears.

They spent the entire time complaining about Siegfried.

“He tried to tell me that a hero’s duty is to the world, not to his friends.”

Kenji shook his head in disgust.

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

Incredible, I thought.

He’s rejecting the classic hero trope of sacrificing personal bonds for the greater good!

He’s choosing friendship, a bond that can be easily broken for maximum dramatic effect!

“He keeps trying to give me flowers.”

Reina looked annoyed.

“They’re ugly. I threw them in the river.”

Subarashii!

She was rejecting the advances of the handsome hero!

She wasn’t falling into the “heroine” role.

Instead, she was cementing her loyalty to me, the future betrayed loner.

The yandere flag was turning into a yandere banner.

Everything was clicking into place.

They hated the perfect hero.

They were developing a healthy dose of edgy cynicism.

They were placing their trust in a man I had designated as the villain.

My complex, multi-layered plan was working.

I was a genius.

A puppet master pulling the strings of fate itself.

Things were going well for me again.

Everyone hates Siegfried and loves Pedro.

My betrayal is practically guaranteed.