When I Maxed Out the Zero-Star Saintess, a Yandere Confinement Life with Overwhelming Love Began - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Lyle-san, what do you think about the act of cutting off the crusts from sandwich bread?”

In the dim back-alley second-hand bookstore called Paper Fish, a customer in a maid outfit, Sizzle, called out to me while searching for a book from the top of a stepladder.

The smell of mold and old paper that filled the shop was the world’s best aromatherapy for falling asleep.

“…I don’t really get the point of the question. Is it from a nutritional standpoint? Or an aesthetic one?”

“It’s from the standpoint of human rights.”

Sizzle answered in a low voice without pausing her movements. Her black hair was neatly tied into a chignon at the back of her head, gleaming as though wet. The teardrop mole at the outer corner of her left eye stood out bewitchingly even in the faint light.

“Are you saying bread crusts have human rights? Not bread rights? The kingdom’s legal scholars would faint if they heard that.”

“The crust is a veteran that fought the open air and hardened itself to protect the soft white part inside. And yet people cut it away just because ‘it’s tough.’ Doesn’t that feel like a microcosm of our whole society?”

“…You might be right.”

“Then should we also praise that overgrown bangs of yours as a veteran protecting your eyesight? I think it’s unhygienic and should be trimmed.”

“This is a curtain. It’s necessary to block harmful information from the outside world.”

Sizzle looked down at my sophistry with cold amethyst eyes. She was the head maid serving Saintess Celesfia who lived in this city, and because of her perfectly chiseled features and flawless conduct, people called her the ominous nickname “Shadow-Stitching Executioner.”

I knew that not just because she was a regular here.

I have memories of my previous life. This world is exactly the same as the open-world action RPG I played until I dropped dead back then.

And I was reincarnated as a mob character named Lyle living in this world. My only home is this bookstore-slash-residence tucked into a corner of a medieval-European-style town that I could never even enter in the original game.

It seems God has absolutely zero sense when it comes to casting. What was given to me wasn’t the hero or the demon king, but the body of a mob character.

Combat power: none. Talent: zero. I’m literally a level-1 existence who might lose even to a slime.

That’s why I decided. I would stay completely out of the main story where the protagonists risk their lives, and quietly live out the rest of my days in this back-alley used bookstore covered in dust and mold.

I am the crust of the sandwich. If getting involved with named main characters means I’ll just end up thrown away, I’d rather dry up on the edge of the plate from the very beginning.

By the way, Sizzle is a proper “named character.” She was a limited gacha unit with a pretty high tier rank.

I switched gears and spoke to the SSR right in front of me. There’s only one reason an important person like her would visit a mob’s shop.

“So? What are you looking for today?”

I stood beside her and asked.

“Yes. It’s an urgent order from that honored person.”

Sizzle climbed one step higher on the ladder and reached toward a shelf near the ceiling.

“That honored person” meant Saintess Celesfia. She too was one of the named characters.

As usual, the book Sizzle was searching for on the saintess’s request was probably some happily-ever-after romance novel stuffed with a lethal dose of sugar.

“The title is ‘The Duke’s Daughter Loves Her Husband’s Abs More Than Three Meals a Day’… Do you have it in stock?”

“Yeah. Top shelf, third pink spine from the right.”

“…That’s a vulgar color.”

“Don’t tell me, tell the publisher.”

I swallowed a yawn and gazed at her back. For a split second, I thought I glimpsed a knife holster strapped to her thigh through the slit in her skirt, but I decided I hadn’t seen anything.

For a pacifist, the best policy is to treat weapons as if they don’t exist in this world.

Sizzle stood on tiptoe and stretched. At that moment, her body swayed dangerously.

“…Nh.”

A tiny gasp. She looked like a perfect superhuman, but I’d heard that for the past few days the saintess’s official duties had intensified and she’d barely slept. Even a near-level-50 master couldn’t win against the physiological phenomenon called fatigue.

She lost her balance. In slow motion, her body separated from the ladder.

I let out a sigh. Gravity is always cruel, impartial, and completely unable to read the room.

I hurriedly stretched out my arms and caught her.

It wasn’t some heroic motive. If the head maid from the royal castle cracked her head open and died here, the aftermath and interrogations would eat into my sleeping hours.

With a heavy yet soft thud, Sizzle fell on top of me. It turned into a collapsed version of the princess carry, sprawled on the floor in an embrace.

“…Guh.”

I grimaced as pain shot through my back from the impact. But the real abnormality wasn’t in my back—it was deep inside my eyes.

Beep, beep. Tiny strings of light raced across the edge of my vision.

『Contact Confirmed (ContactVerified)』

『Target: Sizzle (PlayableCharacterID:104)』

『Contact Depth: Level 3 (DeepHug)』

『Debug Mode Activated. Limiter Released… Approved』

I didn’t even have time to think. I clearly felt the body of Sizzle in my arms suddenly grow hot.

The instant she bashfully tapped the floor—

BAAAAAAM!!

A tremendous crash shattered the quiet of the old bookstore. It wasn’t an explosion. It was simply the sound of the floorboards screaming, “I can’t take this impact,” followed instantly by the foundation underneath going, “Yeah, no, I’m out,” and abandoning its job.

KABOOOOOM!

The floor gave way, dust billowed up. Bookshelves toppled like dominoes, priceless old books poured down like an avalanche. The whole building tilted sharply, and every window shattered and sprayed glass.

“…”

“…”

A few seconds later, I regained consciousness amid the rubble of the half-destroyed shop.

This time Sizzle was shielding me, holding me protectively against falling bookshelves.

I stared blankly at the ceiling. Where a roof should have been, there was now open blue sky.

“…Um.”

In my arms, Sizzle let out a bewildered voice. She didn’t have a single scratch. In fact, her skin glowed as if lit from within, and every trace of exhaustion had vanished completely.

“…This is strange.”

She murmured dreamily while opening and closing her hands.

“My body feels as light as if I’d grown wings. It’s almost as though the very concept of gravity is holding back out of consideration for me…”

She casually braced a hand against the rubble to push herself up. With a dry crack, the thick oak plank she touched crumbled like a soaked biscuit.

“…”

“…”

Sizzle slowly turned her gaze back to me. Those amethyst eyes no longer held the cold detachment of an observer. They burned with a feverish, dangerous light—like a lab animal dosed with an unknown drug, or a predator that had just spotted prey.

I have no idea what just happened… but more pressing than that—my house is destroyed.

“…Sizzle-san.”

“Yes.”

“Will the repairs be covered by expenses?”

“…Of course. If this power is real, one or two little shops are a bargain.”

Sizzle narrowed her eyes seductively, the teardrop mole shifting as she smiled. Then she dug her fingertips slowly into my chest. It hurt. My ribs creaked.

“I’d like to have a little talk. Would you mind coming with me to the grand cathedral right now?”

I clutched my head. It seemed I had picked up trouble far more unnecessary and far more dangerous than a sandwich crust.

My earnest wish for a peaceful life was pitifully scattered by the wind blowing through the gaps in my half-collapsed roof.