Reincarnated as the Villain Who Experiments on Orphanage Kids – Why Are the Test Subject Girls Begging Me for "Night Experiments"? - Chapter 16-17

Chapter 16: First Battle

[Side: Priere]

People in this country can be split into two big groups.

—Those chosen by the Holy Sword, and those who aren’t.

We’re the ones who weren’t chosen, but the chosen ones basically all go to the academy.
They get handed a Holy Sword replica there and train to draw out its power.
The ones who manage to bring out every last bit of its ability get picked as users for the holy war.

On the other hand, people who weren’t chosen use regular swords instead of replicas.
They’re made by blacksmiths.

Compared to the Holy Sword replicas, these are considered weaker because they can’t wrap themselves in magic. But when it comes to actually clashing blades, it doesn’t make much difference.
No matter who the opponent is, it’s over once you stab them in the heart.

That’s why we basically fight in close combat. Sneak attacks and striking from behind are our usual moves.
Everyone except Fioraia has a fighting style that’s perfect for assassination.

So we hid ourselves on rooftops and in back alleys while we got into position.
I looked down over the city from the roof.

“Gyaaaaaaaah…”

“Monsters! Run for it!”

The monsters had already been released, and screams were coming from all over.
Stalls were collapsing, stuff was scattered everywhere, and people were running toward anywhere without monsters.

But the monsters were positioned to surround everyone, so running seemed pointless no matter which way you went.

“No… nooo…”

One girl who couldn’t escape in time had fallen in an alley.
Tears streamed down her face as she desperately scooted backward, but a low growl came from deeper in the alley at the same time.

“!!”

I quietly dropped down from the roof.
I stepped in front of the girl and stared straight ahead.
Debris flew as something appeared—

“…An orc.”

But it wasn’t a normal one.

Its build was a size bigger than a regular orc, its muscles were unnaturally swollen, and its skin had turned black.
Its eyes were cloudy red, and foam dripped from its mouth.

“A modified specimen…”

It was probably one of Rebellion’s test subjects.
According to the info, they were running experiments to strengthen monsters and make them rampage.

—How can anyone do something so awful?

I couldn’t hide my shock that people like this existed in the world.
The orc right in front of me looked like it was in real pain.

“Gugogagooooooo…”

It sounded less like a growl and more like a scream. It must’ve been suffering so much it couldn’t stand it.

—So that’s what’s going on.

I realized again just how smart Sai was.
He’d been so against the words “human experiments” probably because he already knew about Rebellion’s experiments.

—Just how far ahead are you thinking?

While my thoughts drifted toward the orphanage, I drew my sword.

“Please run.”

I called out to the girl, then readied my blade.
The orc charged with a scream, shaking the ground with how hard it was coming. But…

“You’re slow.”

I just took one step sideways.
The moment its huge body rushed past, I slid my sword into the side of its neck.

“Gugooo gah…”

Thud.
With a dull sound, the giant body collapsed.

“That’s one down.”

Right as I flicked the blood off my sword,

“!?”

A much louder roar came from farther away.
And it wasn’t just one.
Five of them were charging straight at me from the front—one, two, three, four, five.

They were the same kind of modified orcs and what looked like goblins.

“It’s a bit annoying, but…”

The numbers were definitely a threat, but individually they weren’t that strong.
No matter how modified they were, they were still just orcs and goblins in the end.

For us from the SJO Squad, we could clean them up in a flash.
When I glanced around, the squad members were already taking down monsters one after another.

So there was no problem. We’d keep the damage to a minimum.

“Gugogagooooooo…”

“It’s useless!”

I kept cutting down the monsters one by one.
It was weird that I didn’t see any Rebellion members, but right now the priority was taking out the enemies in front of me and protecting the people in the city.

That was exactly what Sai would want.

※

[Side: Sai]

In the original story, the Rebellion attack event mainly unfolds around two big points.

The first is releasing monsters into the city. They let out their modified monsters to throw everyone into chaos.
Adventurers and knights scramble to deal with it.
But that’s just a distraction. The real target is the academy.

That’s the second point.
Their goal is to kidnap the main heroine, the princess—Elina Yua Heart.

The protagonist gets caught off guard and ends up clashing with Rebellion to save her.

That’s pretty much how the scenario goes.
There’s some damage from the monsters in the city, but the adventurers and knights handle it, and the protagonist rescues the princess, so it ends pretty peacefully.

That’s why I don’t need to do anything.

“I wanna make some killer ramen, y’know?”

“Yes sir!”

“I wanna make some killer ramen, right?”

“Yes sir!!”

“I wanna make some killer ramen, yeah?”

“Yes sir!!!”

“I wanna make some killer ramen, right?!”

“Yes sir!!!!”

“Then put some volume in your voice! Ramen lives and dies by how loud you are!”

“Yes sir!!!!!!”

—

Chapter 17: The Abandoned Knight King’s Descendant

[Side: Fioraia]

The third squad’s destination is the church, y’know.

There’s a ton of kids at the church, so we gotta beef up our forces and protect them properly.

That’s why I got picked. Out of the three of us, I’m the strongest one.

Hmph, obviously. ‘Cause I’m the strongest, duh.

How strong? Like, seriously the strongest! That’s the kind of strongest I am.

What do you think? I’m the strongest, right?

“Fio-chan, you’re going way too fast.”

“Hmph, you guys are the slow ones. Hurry up already.”

As we were racing through the night streets, the other squad members called me out. Yeah, I know I’m the impatient type.

I’m hasty, a bit clumsy, and I make a lot of little mistakes.

But right now, there’s no such thing as going too fast.

‘Cause there are monsters all around the church, and I can hear the kids screaming.

I gripped my sword tighter and sped up even more.

When we finally reached the plaza in front of the church…

“…This feels gross.”

The whole area had this nasty vibe hanging in the air. Like it was murky or all damp and sticky, y’know?

I figured out why right away. The place was overflowing with monsters.

Orcs and goblins, obviously, but even rare ones like ghouls.

And some mutated types I’d never seen before.

“…There’s kind of a lot of them, huh.”

Way more than normal, clearly.

Monsters were causing trouble in other spots too, but this place was probably on another level.

‘Cause a massive wave of magic was pouring straight toward the church, enough to fill the whole plaza.

Even so, I wasn’t about to get scared. If anything, this felt like the perfect opponent for my first real battle.

“Hmph, this is just right.”

I slung my sword over my shoulder and kicked hard off the ground.

In a flash I closed the distance and slammed my blade into the throat of the orc at the front.

“Gu-ga-gooooohhh…”

An ugly scream rang out, and blood sprayed everywhere around us.

“Ugh…”

It smelled so bad I almost pinched my nose, and it was super gross, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that.

I spun around right away, slashing through the second, third, and every monster nearby one after another.

Still, more monsters just kept pouring in. No matter how many I took down, it never seemed to end.

“…Hah.”

But y’know, I don’t actually hate this kind of thing.

‘Cause proving how strong I am right here is the best kind of payback.

—Suddenly, a memory from when I was little flashed through my mind.

It’s true, I was abandoned.

They branded me as useless because I didn’t have the aptitude for the Holy Sword and kicked me out of the house.

But I’ll prove my strength right here.

I won’t let anyone ever say again that I’m worthless or that I’m tarnishing the Knight King’s blood.

“I’m the strongest!”

I swung. I kept swinging my sword.

My body burned with fierce emotion, but I never stopped.

“Guooooohhhhhhh…”

“Shut up! You’re in the way!”

While I kicked the monsters aside, my head was completely full of Sai.

—The day they declared I had no aptitude for the Holy Sword.

I was almost sold off to a slave trader.

They were about to erase my existence like I was the family’s shame.

That’s when he showed up. Sai.

“This kid has amazing potential. I’ll take her.”

The moment our eyes met, he paid the money and took me back to the orphanage.

Honestly, I didn’t get it at all.

The orphanage director buying kids from a slave trader? It seemed super shady.

But it was still better than getting abandoned, I thought.

And he… only Sai looked at me like I had real value.

So…

“Sai! Watch this!”

I swung my sword.

Even without the Holy Sword. Even without talent.

None of that matters.

For the guy who picked me up, I’m gonna prove my worth.

That way, this time… I won’t get thrown away.

So I just kept going, never stopping.

※

[Side: Rafal]

The second squad’s destination was the academy.

—The Royal Academy.

According to Priere-chan, it’s where people with Holy Sword aptitude go to school.

Honestly I didn’t care about the Holy Sword at all, but since Rebellion seems to be after it, there’s a good chance they’ll show up here.

That’s probably why we, the second squad, got sent out.

Fioraia’s third squad is packed with people strong enough to stop the squad leader, and Priere-chan’s first squad has a lot of assassin-like types, but we’re more the intelligence-gathering kind.

We’re better at getting information than fighting.

“…Hm?”

That’s why we were watching the academy from up on the rooftops.

The reason we weren’t jumping in to fight was simple.

“Taaaaaaaah!”

“Don’t underestimate the academy!”

The academy teachers were already battling the monsters.

—They’re pretty strong, huh.

There were tons of monsters, but the teachers weren’t fazed at all.

Just swinging their swords sent out blue light that mowed down monster after monster.

So these are the Holy Sword replicas, huh.

Magic-like stuff was shooting out from the tips of the blades.

The power varied depending on the teacher using it, but they all seemed to put out at least a certain level.

—This is less a weapon and more like military gear.

As long as you have the aptitude, anyone can reach a decent level of strength.

When it comes to training proper soldiers, it’s way more efficient than learning magic from scratch.

And since the same teaching method works for everyone, it’s super repeatable too.

—No wonder the Holy Sword faith is spreading so fast.

“Fuaaaaaah…”

While I relaxed my shoulders and analyzed the fight,

“Rafal? Aren’t we gonna fight?”

The other squad members asked, sounding worried.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I bet those people won’t lose.”

“But the order was to protect the city—”

“No need to force our way in. If the academy notices us, it’ll just get messy. Plus…”

I glanced toward the school gate.

A soldier came rushing out looking totally panicked.

He ran up to a teacher who clearly had high status, his face pale, and shouted,

“It’s terrible!”

Then he kept going.

“—The princess has disappeared!”

The second he said that, the teachers’ faces completely changed.

“See? We just got some interesting info, right?”

I smiled sweetly and ordered the squad members to start looking for the princess.

“This is getting fun.”

Fighting is exciting.

So many unexpected things happen, and you get to see sides of people you don’t usually see.

I probably have way more curiosity than most people. Borrowing Priere-chan’s favorite saying, maybe I’m the type who’s perfect for experiments.

“Speaking of which, I wonder how Master fights.”

In terms of curiosity, I really wanted to know more about Master.

Honestly, I can’t picture him swinging a sword at all.

“…Hmm.”

Still, spatial magic isn’t suited for combat, so he must have some other way to fight.

Maybe the Holy Sword? But I can’t really imagine him holding one.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out.

Even so…

I’m sure that person will fight in a way we can’t even imagine.

I don’t know why, but I just feel like that’s definitely true.

※

[Side: Sai]

“Listen up? Our weapons are our own arms. The speed of draining the noodles, the technique to line up the noodle strands. And the strength when kneading the homemade dough. Everything depends on these palms! If you get it, start moving your hands already!”

“Yes sir! I’ll line up the noodle strands with everything I’ve got!”

“Live by your arm strength alone, got it?”

“Yes sir! A ramen shop runs on arm strength!”

“Good! That’s the spirit!”