The Villainous Noble Tried His Hardest to Break the Original Storyline, and Now the Heroines Are Acting Weird - 4-5

Chapter 4

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Basically, she was dressed in maid outfit just because Rubest wanted to do naughty stuff with the maids, huh? Her words slammed me with the cold reality. I ended up letting out a silent scream inside. 

Arghhhhhhh!

In the silence, the dimly lit room was filled with a chilly atmosphere, which seemed to further amplify the pressure coming from Mea.

“There’s some money in your pocket. If you build your life around that, you should be able to return to your former way of living, right?”

“What… What do you mean by that?”

Mea didn’t seem to understand at all, since my demeanor had changed completely from just a moment ago. Her eyes were a mix of confusion and suspicion. I let out a small sigh, trying to imagine a world-weary expression, and struck a bit of a pose.

“…Right now, all humans are only allowed to exist as livestock for the Demon Lord and the demon race. People live clinging to the hope that one day a Hero will appear and defeat the Demon Lord and the demons.”

Yeah. That was how Dragonic Fantasy was set up. The storyline was pretty grim, at least from the human side. Since the Demon Lord and demons fed on negative human emotions, we were basically livestock, slaves, kept alive for that purpose.

“But… No one knows when that Hero will come.”

Well, actually the Hero would show up while Rubest-kun was still alive, but that prophecy hadn’t been made yet. Rubest-kun was currently fourteen and he would meet the Hero when he was twenty-five. We had eleven years left to go.

“I just… I can’t wait that long. As the heir to the Fortas family, even if it’s not much, I wanted to save as many people as I could who had been enslaved by demons.”

“…So that’s… Is that why you bought me…?”

Her earlier suspicion did a full 180. Mea now looked incredibly moved as she gazed at me. Her eyes were brimming with tears, and she wore an expression of disbelief. 

Nice. This might actually work.

“…That’s why I pretended to get along with the demons. Bit by bit… I thought I could help the slaves. But also, that means I need to wag my tail for the demons on the outside.  If I told my father or mother about this, I’d probably be condemned.”

“…That’s not… That’s not true at all.”

“And after I bought you, the demons kept me under surveillance for a while too… It was painful, but I had no choice… I had to play the part of a villainous noble…!”

I let out a breath and then sat down in a chair. The chill of the seat seeped into me. I didn’t know how far I could carry this lie, but since I’d chosen this route, I had no choice but to see it through!

“But now, finally, the demons have stopped watching me. Rubest Fortas, the villainous noble, was dozing off… So much so that he didn’t even notice a slave he had purchased escaping. And this whole thing was a despicable act done by Rubest Fortas alone. So there’s no one I can talk to about it. But if the runaway slave doesn’t tell anyone what happened, neither Rubest Fortas nor the slave he owns will be chased down or punished.”

I said this, then closed my eyes, as if to say, ‘Now is the time to run!’ Then, Mea stepped in front of me. I cracked open one eye and saw her bowing her head deeply.

“…Rubest-sama. I… I completely misunderstood you. I swear I will repay this debt… This kindness…Somehow, in some form.”

“…Snore… snore…”

“…Fufufu. It seems this foolish master who bought me is fast asleep. I’ll take this opportunity… to make my escape. Thank you. Truly, thank you so very much.”

Somehow… I pulled it off. From here on, Rubest-kun would keep buying up slaves under the guise of a villainous noble. He would add more slaves to his collection and… But! Fortunately, I was reincarnated as Rubest-kun right at his very first slave. Thankfully, Rubest-kun was a virgin and introvert.

Rubest-kun only did things like slime play and didn’t take things any further. He couldn’t. He was too pure. So yeah, that was probably why I was able to talk Mea down.

Alright… I managed to get past one big hurdle, but the real deal started now.

『Hey, Goddess?』

When I called out, the Goddess appeared before me like a hologram. She was in a position where she looked ready to prostrate herself at any moment. The Goddess looked fragile, and I could see anxiety and panic flickering in her eyes.

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Chapter 5

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『…The other people can’t see this, right?』

The image projected by the hologram was clearly out of place in this world. If people around me could see something like that, my position would definitely be in jeopardy.

『There’s no need to worry about that… U-Umm, what do you need?』

『Is it possible for me to be reincarnated into the world of Final Quest instead?』

I’d said it many times already—this world’s story was just unfair. If I were just a regular mob, I could probably just distance myself from the main storyline. But as Rubest Fortas, I would be involved at least to some extent.

I didn’t plan to do anything that would make the heroes target me, but I didn’t want to get dragged into things and end up putting my life at risk either.

『I-I think… That might be impossible… B-but I’ll check just in case!』

The Goddess began operating the computer. The soft clacking of the keyboard echoed through the space. But something was clearly wrong with her. Her fingers trembled, and her face gradually turned pale. 

Cold sweat streamed down her face. Then, suddenly, she clutched her head with both hands, shaking violently as she screamed.

『Aaaaahhh! I messed up againnnn!』

『…What is it this time?』

『I messed up just the attribute value partttt! No—wait, actually, it’s correctttt!』

『…What do you mean? Explain it so I can understand.』

Attribute value? What the hell?

As I tilted my head, the Goddess began to explain, sniffling and in tears.

『It’s just… It’s just your attribute value that ended up being from the Final Quest world…! W-what should we dooooo!?』

『So, wait… Does that mean I’m the only one who can use Final Quest’s skills and magic?』

『That’s right…! W-what should we doooo!?』

That’s… Honestly, that was a crazy mistake. The power of magic and skills between Final Quest and Dragonic Fantasy was totally different. If the damage from a low-tier spell in Final Quest was 100, then the damage of a low-tier spell in Dragonic Fantasy would be at 10.  In other words, even a mob character from Final Quest could become unstoppable in the world of Dragonic Fantasy, let alone the main character.

『…You can’t fix it now?』

『N-no-no-no-no, it can’t be fixeeeeed! Aaaaah! I’ll have to write another incident reportttt…!』

The Goddess clutched her head again, wailing in despair and flailing around. It seemed she already had plenty of problems on her plate too. 

But more importantly, what the hell am I supposed to do? At this point, wouldn’t it just be easier to die again and start over with new character data? I’m basically a bugged character, right? That kind of thing needs a hotfix patch ASAP.

『Wouldn’t it just be faster if I died again?』

『Y-yes, but… There’s also the issue of your little sister’s reincarnation…』

『Huh? What do you mean?』

『Your little sister… She said she wanted to reincarnate into the same world as you, without being blood-related, and in a way that she could always sense where you are… S she could go see you anytime, anywhere… And, um… That setting has already been set up, so… It’s irreversible too.』

『…Wait, so you mean she’s reincarnating into this world, too?』

『Y-yes.』

Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me. There’s no way I can just leave my sister alone in this world. Also,  her reincarnation conditions are kind of terrifying.

『…What kind of character was my sister reincarnated into? It’s not something weird, right?』

『Fufufufu! Don’t worry about that! You said it yourself, right? That your little sister should reincarnate into a favorable position?』

『Yeah, I did.』

『So, I reincarnated you as a noble who’s performing well in the game, and your sister got reborn as the safe and strongest character in this world… The protagonist! She’s someone who absolutely cannot die! …How about that!? I did a great job this time, right!? Praise me! Come on, praise me! 』

…Amazing. That’s the worst character!

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