I Thought I’d Reformed the Villainous Heroine. But Their True Nature Remained Unchanged, and They Were Still Being Doted On—I Just Don’t Have Enough Lives. - Chapter 1

I Got Reincarnated as the Cannon-Fodder Villain

Plain. Ordinary. Peaceful. Those are my favorite words.

If you aim too high in life, or laze around too much, or let yourself go, things fall apart.

Everything’s best in moderation. Keep relationships calm, put in normal effort every day—that’s how you live a normal life.

――And yet, it looks like a chaotic isekai story just kicked off.

“What the hell is this?”

My room was full of magic books. I stood frozen in front of the full-length mirror.

The reflection showed a kid who looked about ten years old.

Fiery red hair, sharp eyes. His face was well-shaped but had a sneaky, mean look to it. He was dressed in fancy clothes, but I knew the inside didn’t match at all.

“O-ow…”

My forehead was bright red.

A huge pile of magic books had collapsed like an avalanche and the corner of one smacked me right in the head.

And right then, I remembered my past-life memories.

“My name… my name is…”

Two names floated up in my head and everything got confusing.

The kid’s name, and the name I had back when I was an ordinary salaryman. Peaceful but a little boring—that’s the life I remembered from my previous world, and I was totally satisfied with it.

Still, one day… nah, let’s not remember how I died in my past life.

If it was some freak accident, like getting hit by a truck, just thinking about the driver’s feelings makes me tired. I wanna spend my days peacefully without worrying about stuff like that.

But this body already knows it can’t live a normal life.

“――Young Master Gant, you sure do love mirrors as always, huh. Man, even I get mesmerized looking at you. I wish I’d been born with such a beautiful face too~”

A light, teasing voice came from behind me.

The old me would’ve probably thought she was actually praising me.

When I turned around, a girl with long black hair was standing there.

She had a pretty face, but there was something mocking in her expression. Her eyes looked like they never let their guard down, and her whole stance had no openings. She was about four years older than me. She was the maid assigned to me.

“What’s up, Young Master? You finally wanna stare at my cute face too?”

“…I was just checking my injury in the mirror, that’s all.”

“Oh, I see~. Didn’t notice that, sorry about it.”

She was totally looking down on me. I could tell now.

She was a new maid who had just come to the mansion recently. I thought she was interesting, so I made her my personal attendant. …Man, I really let compliments cloud my judgment.

Anyway, let’s confirm this.

“Hey, what’s my name?”

“Huh? …Is your head really okay? Should I call a doctor?”

“Just tell me! Say my name!”

“You are the eldest son of the frontier count, the great Gant Zie Eisenburg, sir.”

“Gant Zie Eisenburg!!!”

“By the way, I’m Myris Kulok. Shy like a flower, more delicate than any bloom. When I walk, I bloom more charmingly than any wildflower—that’s me, Myris Kulok.”

Myris struck a double peace sign while introducing herself.

This girl was showing off more than her master.

No, that’s not important right now.

“Gant Zie Eisenburg… and while we’re at it, Myris Kulok…”

“What! I’m just an afterthought?!”

I ignored the unhappy-looking Myris and kept thinking.

Both Gant and Myris—I knew these names from my previous life too. Even though they were younger than in the original story, I remembered their appearances, the place names of this world, the history—everything.

“Don’t tell me… it’s that game world…?”

[Yggdrasil Defense Battle Chronicle]

It was a fantasy adventure game where heroes fought against the darkness of the world to protect the great tree Yggdrasil that governed mana.

The game was split into an academy adventure part and a simulation part, and the scenarios were told in omnibus style.

Its biggest feature was having dozens of scenario characters.

Depending on which character you chose, other characters’ scenarios would change, and some scenarios only unlocked after reaching someone’s bad end. On top of that, each episode had completely different endings for the characters—it was insanely detailed.

The crazy flag management made even the users pull back in disbelief.

“Preparing dozens of patterns of endings for dozens of characters is insane.”

“There are joke endings too, but can humans really make something like this?”

“I thought I’d read all the scenarios, then a new one started—lol.”

When the official flag tree for the scenarios was released, it looked like a massive tangled tree and blew up on social media.

The simulation part was basically a mini-game.

You used characters unlocked through scenario progress to do tower defense. The adventure part was still the main focus.

That huge amount of content won over core fans, and the buzz pulled in casual players too.

I got completely hooked on the world and played it a ton.

“Of all people… why did it have to be Gant Zie Eisenburg…”

“Uh, seriously, should I call the doctor? It might already be too late though.”

One unnecessary comment! Sigh, I don’t even have the energy to retort…

Gant wasn’t a playable character. He was just a villain who got involved from the early stages in every episode.

And he was a total cannon-fodder villain.

Arrogant and haughty. The kind of jerk who abused his parents’ power to do whatever he wanted.

He was jealous of talented people, laughed at anyone weaker than him, and bullied others together with his hangers-on. He had no redeeming qualities at all—he existed just so users could feel better about themselves.

Yes, he was the villain who absolutely died in every single omnibus route.

The devs even straight-up said, “There is no survival route,” “He’s a mage who’s below average no matter what,” “We loaded him with every weak human trait,” and “His ressentiment is so bad there’s no awakening event.”

Well, I personally don’t mind not having talent, but…

“Young Master Gant~? Lord Gant Zie Eisenburg~? Oh right, I forgot to add ‘the great.’ Sooorry~”

“You don’t have to add it!! Being ordinary is fine!”

“…Huh? Gant… Young Master?”

“Ordinary! It’s great, isn’t it! Do you know how hard it is to live normally! How wonderful being normal is!”

Myris just stared blankly at my declaration.

Being ordinary comes from piling up personal efforts, but even so, with how developed social media is these days, there’s a rough standard. Staying inside the lines is hard work, and building smooth relationships is tough too.

I think you feel the gratitude of being able to enjoy a normal life more and more as you get older.

“Young Master, what’s really going on with you? You used to hate ordinary people so much.”

“…I just realized it, that’s all. My own position.”

Gant couldn’t live an ordinary life. He was a cannon-fodder villain.

In the original story, there was a true villain separate from him. That one was evil from birth with no room for reform, a viciousness that didn’t even see people as people.

Gant was the stepping stone for that true villain.

“Myris! What would you think if someone trapped only your consciousness inside a doll?! And you couldn’t even move!”

“Huh? Well, that’d be living hell, right? Pretty tragic and pitiful.”

“Right?! It’s hell! Yeah, you wouldn’t want that, would you?”

That’s exactly what’s gonna happen to me!!

Commonly known as “Gant, turned into a teddy bear.”

Most of Gant’s death causes were because of the true villain, but the famous one was the teddy bear transformation. His consciousness would be transferred, no one would know he existed, and he’d spend the rest of his life until his soul wore out.

“U-ughhhhhhhhh!!”

Just imagining it made my stomach feel like it was gonna explode!

And that wasn’t the only fate waiting for Gant!

“Turned into a living taxidermy and used as a conversation partner for the villain’s boredom.”

“Becoming the King of the Undead. He thinks he’s the king ruling the world, but everyone around him is just rotting corpses.”

“Everything except his head removed and turned into a specimen. Becomes a screaming ambient noise machine so the villain can sleep soundly.”

All of them caused by the same villain.

Because he received the devs’ twisted affection all at once, Gant had a rich variety of death scenes. On video sites, “Gant Death Compilation” and MAD videos were always popular.

I couldn’t cover everything in my own playthrough, so I watched the death compilation.

“Ughhh so tragic (lol). Poor Gant, poor Gant (lol). Ah, these chips are so good. Man, you really don’t wanna end up like that (lol).”

Aaaargh!!!

I wanna go back and tell my past-life self, “One day you’re gonna become that!!”

Of all people, why did I have to reincarnate into the guy furthest from safety?!?!?

Ah… the shock is making me wanna faint…

“Young Master, it’s almost time for sword practice. You gonna skip like usual? The excuse can be ‘A noble like me isn’t suited for dirty sword techniques,’ right?”

“You… you really just do your job so calmly…”

“Because I’m an adorable maid.”

Adorable my ass.

Myris didn’t seem to care at all about my change.

But still… Gant—I mean me—really refused to accept that he had no talent for magic… Even if I tried hard… magic was… what about things besides magic?

“I’m going! Today I’m taking sword training!”