Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings - Chapter 65: Encounters

Chapter 65: Encounters

The entrance ceremony at the Magic Academy concluded without incident.

It began with the principal’s speech, followed by an address from this year’s main heroine, the first princess Asteria, representing the new students. The ceremony ended without any major events.

In the original game, Asteria would have glanced at Abel during her speech, but that didn’t happen since they haven’t met yet. Normally, after the ceremony, students would head to their dorms, and Abel would meet Asteria there. However, that didn’t happen either.

Well, it’s only natural.

In the game, Raymond’s faction, who are the final bosses of the second chapter, would appear while Abel and Asteria were chatting, creating a tense atmosphere. But now, nothing is happening.

Isn’t this making me just another background character?

Feeling somewhat let down, I started walking towards my assigned dormitory when I was suddenly addressed from behind.

“Hey, stop there, commoner.”

The voice was undeniably arrogant.

Here it comes! I thought, my heart racing with excitement.

This must be either Rofus or Raymond.

It seems that even if I deviate from the original storyline a bit, some sort of fate or storyline correction mechanism kicks in.

I turned around, excitedly.

Standing there was someone I didn’t recognize.

“…Who are you?”

“Who!? How dare you forget me after just yesterday, commoner!”

The man shouted angrily.

Why is he suddenly so mad? Yesterday?

‘He’s one of the noble boys who were surrounding the commoner girl yesterday. How could you forget…’

Fireball Abel commented in exasperation.

Oh, right, that happened.

It was dark in the alleyway back then, and I don’t remember every minor character’s face.

“So, you’re a new student! How dare you mock me like that yesterday.”

“Wow, such a cliched line. How scared were you to even run away yesterday? Do you still want to fight?”

“I wasn’t scared! Just because you have an attribute advantage, don’t get cocky, commoner.”

From behind the men, a particularly large man appeared.

He wasn’t in the alley yesterday.

He was wearing an upperclassman’s uniform, without the gold trim on the collar.

Is he a commoner?

“This guy’s from a knight family. He may not hold a title, but he’s quite powerful. And, he has a water attribute, which is strong against your fire attribute.”

“…I see.”

“And if you resist, we will also join the fight. You have no chance, commoner. But I’m not heartless. If you kneel and apologize for yesterday, I’ll forgive you.”

While the noble boy was speaking arrogantly, the large man interrupted.

“Wait, a large group against one freshman? I wasn’t told about this.”

“Silence, you knight! You are to obey us nobles! Don’t forget it is our viscount family that supports your family!”

The large man looked defeated, turned to me, and said, “…Please don’t hold me to this.”

Oh no, he’s one of those unwilling antagonists forced by higher-ups.

Despite being such a distinct character, he wasn’t even in the game, just a nameless extra.

Do they seriously want to fight me?

No way these extras can beat the protagonist Abel.

So, Abel, take it away.

“…Abel, switch.”

I whispered to Fireball Abel, who sighed.

‘Just this once. Stop provoking people unnecessarily in the future.’

As we were about to switch, a familiar voice interrupted.

“Quite the commotion here. I don’t appreciate such noise in public places.”

Brown hair and sapphire-like blue eyes.

It was Raymond, who would eventually be called the “Second Demon King.”

Behind him were his four notable subordinates.

The “Second Demon King” and the Four Heavenly Kings…

Really? They show up now?

The noble boy looked annoyed at Raymond and his group.

“Are you freshmen? Show some respect to upperclassmen. You have the gold trim, so you’re nobles, but surely you’re not siding with this commoner…”

“Idiot! They’re from the duke’s house!”

“What?”

One of the noble boy’s companions stopped him.

The boy stared at Raymond and his group, trembling.

“N-no way, the Galeon Duke’s family…”

The noble boy trembled as one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Rofus, glared coldly.

“You’re in the way. Leave.”

Intimidated by Rofus, the noble boys fled like pigeons scattering.

The large knight boy, left alone, bowed slightly to me and followed the fleeing boys.

He seems like he’s had a tough life.

“Rofus… you should be gentler. You’ve scared them away.”

“Don’t bother with such small fry. Let’s go. We have a tea party, remember?”

“How unusual. You’re so eager for a tea party.”

“…Just hurry up.”

Rofus seemed fed up, dragging Raymond along.

Wait, did they just save me?

“Hey, wait.”

I called out to Raymond and his group as they were leaving.

Raymond turned around.

“What is it?”

“Um, thanks?”

Raymond smiled kindly.

“You’re welcome. Try not to provoke them too much.”

With that, Raymond and the Four Heavenly Kings walked away.

Huh? He seems like a good guy.

Isn’t he supposed to be the main antagonist of the second chapter?

The one who leads the rebellion and destroys the kingdom?

“…Wasn’t Raymond supposed to be more hostile? Wasn’t he more antagonistic?”

I asked Fireball Abel in a whisper.

Fireball Abel groaned uncomfortably.

“That was… because of Asteria. At that time, I didn’t fully understand the situation either…”

“Oh, right. Asteria used to be Raymond’s fiancée. I guess it makes sense that he wouldn’t be thrilled to see her getting friendly with some unknown guy.”

So, since there’s no interaction with Asteria this time, Raymond is acting like this.

As I was convincing myself with the thought, “It must be something like getting NTR’d,” Fireball Abel groaned as if he had taken some damage.

While I was secretly exchanging thoughts with Fireball Abel, I suddenly felt a chill, a sensation that made my hair stand on end.

This was probably a feeling that only someone with Abel’s sharp senses could detect.

My gaze naturally gravitated towards Raymond and his group walking away.

Then, our eyes met—those of Rofus, with his black and jade-green eyes.

However, Rofus immediately looked away and turned his back to me.

Was that bloodlust just now? Why was he looking at me? Various thoughts crossed my mind, but the first question that came to my head was…

“Did Rofus always have eyes that color?”

“…No, Rofus’s eyes were both black.”

“Right.”

I felt a sense of discomfort and curiosity about the difference from the original story.

I started to walk to dispel these feelings.

“…Hey, what are you planning? Idiot, come back!”

Ignoring Fireball Abel’s voice, I hurriedly ran.

I grabbed the hem of Rofus’s uniform as he walked away.

“Wait a minute.”

I called out to Rofus.

“You…”

Rofus turned around, frowning in displeasure.

Ignoring this, I continued.

“You were looking at me just now. Do you possibly remember…?”

“…”

Rofus remained silent for a while, glaring at me with disdain.

Wow, that’s scary.

Rofus may seem gloomy, but he’s got a good-looking face.

A good-looking face can make just a glare more intimidating.

Fireball Abel was shouting in my ear, “Idiot!” and “Run away now!” but I ignored him.

Be quiet; I’m asking something important here.

After a brief staring contest, Rofus sighed as if he had given up.

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was looking at you because you were muttering to yourself, and it was creepy.”

“Muttering… Creepy…!?”

As I was feeling a bit shocked, Rofus roughly brushed off my hand that was grabbing his hem and turned his back again.

“If you behave strangely, people will think you’re a weirdo. Avoid actions that make you stand out—commoner.”

He spat out those words and started walking away.

“Could he be an acquaintance?”

“There’s no way.”

With that exchange with Raymond, Rofus and his group left.

Left alone, I tilted my head in confusion.

“Rofus is still a jerk. Was it just my imagination… Ouch!”

Fireball Abel headbutted me quite hard.

I glared at Fireball Abel with teary eyes.

“Hey, what the—”

“Why did you do something so dangerous!? Especially against Rofus! You could have died!”

Whoa, he was really yelling at me with great force (even without a face).

“Sorry, sorry… but dying is a bit of an exaggeration. If it came down to it, I could switch to you…”

“You always underestimate things! What happened to your ‘knowledge of the original story’!? How can you be so optimistic about dealing with Rofus!?”

Fireball Abel was really mad…

But come on, “that Rofus”? He may be one of the Four Heavenly Kings, but he’s the least remarkable, right?

Sure, he’s not weak.

He has a lot of magic attacks, and their power is decent.

Especially his dark scythe attack, Dark Scythe, which deals 9999 max damage to everyone—it’s a nasty surprise attack.

But if you prepare for that, he’s not too hard to beat.

Increasing your evasion can easily dodge it, and Rofus has clear weaknesses to fire and light.

Among the Four Heavenly Kings and the “Second Demon King” Raymond, who have no clear weaknesses, Rofus’s clear weaknesses make him less formidable.

That’s why Rofus isn’t considered that strong among the Four Heavenly Kings.

“But with your current state, you could easily handle Rofus, right? The Four Heavenly Kings battle is in the second chapter, and with your ultimate form after the final boss battle…”

“What are you talking about? We managed to defeat Rofus back then because he wasn’t at his full power. If he had been, we would have lost.”

“That’s such an exaggeration…”

‘It’s not an exaggeration. At that time, Rofus was using most of his magic power to control the black monsters. Listen, Rofus was significantly restricted in his magic power then. To put it simply, while dealing with us, he was also fighting the entire kingdom’s army alone…!’

“…”

That’s true, it was set up that way in the story, but it was just a game…

Wait, if I think about it realistically, that’s pretty insane.

In retrospect, Rofus being able to take on an entire kingdom alone is on another level compared to the other Four Heavenly Kings, isn’t it?

“So, does that mean Abel now can’t beat Rofus?”

‘…If Rofus is at his full strength, I don’t stand a chance alone. With the blessings of all six gods and fighting together with our former comrades, we might have a fair fight.’

“Seriously?”

That’s stronger than the game’s final boss, the ‘God of Darkness’.

And such a monster is attending the academy as a normal classmate?

You’ve got to be kidding me. What were the game developers thinking with the balance…

The second forms of Raymond and the Four Heavenly Kings, implemented as game DLC—the demon forms.

For some reason, only Rofus, the ‘Shadow Wolf’, wasn’t included, making him a joke as an unfortunate character disliked by the developers.

To think that Rofus, known as the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings on strategy sites, could be so dangerous.

In that case, Rofus could be a significant obstacle in aiming for a happy ending.

Maybe even more troublesome than the final boss, the ‘God of Darkness’.

If the scenario follows the original path, it should be fine to defeat him when he’s weakened by using a lot of black monsters again, but things are already different from the original story from our first meeting.

I might need to get close to Asteria again and correct the flow back to the original.

“The next event is the new student welcome camp. For now, I need to redo my meeting with Asteria there.”

As I was firming up my plans, for some reason, Fireball Abel, who usually had a lot to say, was silent.

Fireball Abel seemed to be deep in thought.

‘…’

“Abel? What’s up?”

‘…Commoner—Rofus called you that.’

“He did. So?”

‘No, it just felt off. Rofus always called me a lowborn.’

“Huh.”

He’s really fixated on the details.

“Could it be a matter of mood? Besides, our meeting this time was different.”

‘…No, more importantly, his eye color is different. All the subordinates of the ‘God of Darkness’ had jade-colored eyes. Rofus’s left eye is that same color… We should be cautious.’

…So my hunch was right.

And could it be that the ‘God of Darkness’ is also altering the scenario?

Well, since the Leopard King Ambre attacked three years ago, it’s not surprising.

Could there be other reincarnators besides me?

At the very least, the apostles of the other six gods, like Fireball Abel, seem to have memories of the game—or rather, the story.

“…I need to find the other apostles of the six gods quickly.”

I adjusted my luggage and hurried back to the student dormitory.