Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 13: (Patreon)

Somehow I’m the Otome Game Villain 13:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by LordMarksman

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“Life sure is unfair.”

“Yeah… in your favor!” Marie tried and failed to pinch my cheek with a growl. The post-battle situation had been pretty poor, so we beat it back home. Surprisingly, Angelica and Clarice both tagged along, so Luxion and Ideal made themselves sparse. We made the dining room our base of operations, since the main study was far higher-tech than the two prominent nobles should know about. “Come down here, so I can teach you a lesson! You’re making it really hard for me to keep you in everyone’s good graces, Leon!”

“Loathe am I as to admit, you’ve truly made matters harder for yourself by helping me, Sir Rault.” Angelica had stopped by to speak with Julius one last time, or tried to, before leaving with us. According to her, the Prince had refused to even consider meeting with her, or uphold his end of the bargain, citing his position as Prince. The situation was devolving a lot more quickly and lines were being drawn at a breakneck pace. “Your defeat of the Prince and his peerage has accelerated things immensely. Everyone is picking sides, allying with the prince, those who decry him, or even those who wish to stand back and simply swoop in once a victor is decided.”

Holfort’s political situation was more of a shitshow than I anticipated.

“My father will back Angie’s house and she’ll do the same with us. I’m sure that there are many nobles who will be worth their salt and come to our side, too.” Clarice exchanged glances with Angelica, who nodded back, and I was sure they had an ally up their sleeves. A pretty prominent one, too, judging by how they relaxed after agreeing to it. “And, I must admit, we’ll be needing your family’s help—

“Done. Father will understand. And, if he doesn’t, I have a few strong assets up my sleeve.” Ideal was hovering close by and so was Luxion. It wasn’t about surviving what was to come. It was about holding back the two AI from ravaging and conquering all of Holfort. “I think I can get in contact with the Queen, too. Mylene was pretty understanding, and she seems to do most of the work, anyway—ow!?”

Marie had pinched me and I was aware of both Angelica and Clarice looking at me with raised eyebrows.

“Don’t refer to the Queen by her first name… and with a goofy smile! Hold back a little, dang it!” Marie hissed into my ear after pulling me down to her height for a second. She released me and went back to writing the letters I’d asked her. She’d taken off her jacket once we’d arrived and tied up her hair and donned her glasses once we got back. She looked like a secretary in her current getup, and I supposed that she was. An extremely well-paid secretary, though, and with a killer insurance plan (Luxion). “I’ll contact her via letter, Leon. You focus on the here and now, okay?”

Marie levelled a glare at me while pushing up her glasses, and I got the message.

Or, I guessed that I did.

Don’t talk about the Queen for some reason.

Got it.

“The Rault family has always done its utmost to uphold chivalry and do its duty. Such is the case here.” I spoke after clearing my throat, and did my best to make my words sound more official and honorable and all that. I heard Luxion and Ideal making retching noises in my earpiece, but I ignored them both. The two people I was ‘acting’ for were two noble ladies who knew exactly what I was doing. They both stood straighter and clasped their hands primly at their front and held their heads high, while I gave them both an honest bow. “Rest assured that I have witnessed the injustices laid upon you both and offer you my personal services. I cannot speak for my house, but I can speak for myself, and I have plenty to spare.”

I added that last bit on my own, which earned me small smiles and eye rolls from the scarlet-haired Clarice and the blonde Angelica.

“Your aid is welcome and accepted by me, Angelica Rapha Redgrave. Your aid in this matter shall not be forgotten by me and I will do my utmost to help you.” A prim curtsy was executed with the school uniform’s skirt. The tilt upward was very slight for propriety’s sake, but the elegance shone through, nonetheless. “I am sure that the strength you have to spare will be greatly appreciated, Sir Rault.”

I expected Clarice to do the same song and dance, instead she met my gaze and gave me a firm smile.

“Well, I can’t let you go after you helped me so much and then protected my honor so well, Sir Rault. I’d be a pretty poor lady if I did.” Clarice giggled and ignored a surprised looked aimed her way by Angelica. Where was she going with this? “I’m sure my father will have much to say to you, but I think that I shall say it first: House Atlee will do everything in its power to ensure a prosperous partnership between our two families. My father and I will work towards making that happen.”

That was… kinda the same as what Angelica said.

I didn’t quite understand why Angelica was suddenly blushing and muttering beneath her breath about going too fast.

And, when I looked at Marie for clarification, my fellow Japanese citizen looked at me with the flattest expression I’d ever see on her face. Seriously, she could’ve mimicked a frog with how much she thinned our her lips and narrowed her eyes!

Eventually, though, she sighed… and decided against helping me.

“Figure it out on your own, Leon. That’s not part of my job.”
And, with that uttered, I was left to just smile and nod and move things along.

There were more things to worry about than what Clarice said.

Right?

…

To say that life changed would be an understatement, it was like night and day after the matches against the prince and his peerage, especially as they refused to acknowledge my victory… even after their families tried to reel them in.

How did they manage to do this?

By pretty much taking over the school through sheer influence, power, and prestige, and practically kicking me out of it with their influence.

“Those idiots. This had diplomatic incident all over it. Are they forgetting I’m here on behalf of the Alzer Republic? The biggest and best source for the resources they need to make their navy?” I looked out the window and the street to my temporary domicile was now blockaded by the local police to ensure my safety. Yet, still, at night some people ‘snuck through’ to try and break windows and paint over the walls. This was a bigger shitshow than I imagined. My guards were pissed, and both Luxion and Ideal were all but ready to help them out when their tempers broke. “Oi, Marie, what the heck is happening?”

“How should I know? I’m a viscount’s daughter… well, not anymore! They’ve disowned me! It’s great!” Marie had a party-hat on and a bottle of sparkling cider along with a sandwich in one hand. The impish young woman was lounging on my office’s sofa and living up being disowned by her family. “No more debt. No more bullshit. No more poverty! No dumb boyfriend! I’m my own woman for the first time in both my lives… it’s amazing!”

“Yeah, yeah. How about you earn your paycheck?”

“I took the day off to celebrate and you approved!”

“Oh, right.” I grumbled and she cheered. I might be an underhanded cheat, but I wasn’t about to force my worker to do unpaid labor on their paid day off. I’m an asshole, not evil. “Go ahead and enjoy yourself. Luxion, Ideal, and Cleare, do you three have any ideas?”

Luxion and Ideal fetched the other AI while everything went poorly over the last couple days. They mentioned something about an abandoned lab being used by Elves to do some malicious things, but they handled it and now we had another AI who could pilot the newest ship set to complete. There was some news about the island they went to getting quarantined and its inhabitants being scattered to the winds, but I didn’t look into it. The island was still there, and the people were just unhoused instead of un-alived. That’s about the best that I could expect from the AIs.

“The New Humans are simply proving that they are incapable and unworthy rulers of the planet. This political instability is merely an after effect of their incapability.” Ideal had little to contribute beyond overt racism, as usual.

“After careful review of their history, I suspect that there must be some form of social program in place that created the status quo you broke. The resentment and pain from it has bubbled over and broken the vessel meant to contain it and now Holfort is paying the price.” Luxion’s information was useful, but not very actionable. Good for a history book, which meant that the AI pretty much consigned the place to the pages of history. Yeah, if you read enough into it, both of the AI liked seeing the New Humans fail.

So, now I was talking to Cleare, who had a pink glowing orb for an eye while Ideal and Luxion had blue and red respectively.

“Oh, I’m afraid I don’t know enough about current events to say anything about it, dearie. But, I guarantee that if you give me a lab and a high-enough-ranking official, I can get them to sing for you!”

And, of course, Cleare was a damn lunatic.

“Denied.”

“Denied.”

“Not even the New Humans deserve your cruel mercies.”

“Oh, poo!”

You know someone’s bad when both of the genocidal AIs you have on your retinue tell them off.

“Well, looks like I’m going home earlier than expected, but we’ve done what we can here, I suppose.” I scratched the back of my head for a second, then turned over to the trio of silvery orbs. “So, give me options on how to influence things from afar that don’t happen to include killing thousands of people.”

“I have plans that involve higher body counts.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.” Ideal just did the metallic sphere equivalent of a shrug and floated onto a cushion. It originally felt strange to have them floating around while I sat down, so I had pedestals moved in and cushions too, so they could sit in front of me. “C’mon, there’s still dozens of events coming up. I need to be here to make sure that they happen.”

“Well, perhaps, your predictions of expulsion are wrong. There is an Imperial courier approaching with armed knights. They have forced the blockade open quite decisively.” Luxion projected the image and it was exactly as he said. The near-useless police force sent to guard the area was being evicted by very large dudes with rifles and swords, and they also had air support in the form of Knight Armors floating by them. “It seems that the Crown has had enough of their Crown Princes’ actions and decided to showcase their overwhelming strength.”

“Ooh, a crown prince shackled and brought out of his budding fiefdom in chains. How exciting! Also, an opportunity for study, too!” Cleare chimed in whilst the door to my home was knocked upon and the front door answered. The courier delivered the message with a formal bow and returned to the carriage, but left most of the new guards on station, along with the Knight Armors. “I hypothesize that the New Humans with the highest magical potential are more prone to psychosis and emotional outbursts, as they need it to call upon the ‘magic’ in their bodies. The Crown Prince will be a prime subject for study.”

“Denied. He’s an asshole and a jerk and a megalomaniac and insane… wait… no, still not allowed. I’d rather have him assassinated than turned into a lab animal.”

“He’s already halfway there as an animal, why not just cross the threshold a little?”

“Cleare.”

“Oh, poop. I’ll never live up to my full potential, if the lot of you keep stopping me!”

I ignored the mad-scientist AI and bid the AI orbs to move aside along with their pedestals as the servant came forth with the message in tow. They moved it with their hidden segmented arms in their chassis and moved back once they were gone. I opened the letter with the Holfort royal seal on it, only to have Ideal scan it, process it, and throw it as a hologram for everyone in the room to process. Even Marie took a moment out of her day off to look at the letter.

I took a moment to read it, and when I finished I found all three AI orbs and Marie looking at me.

“What? The Queen’s just cashing in the favor I’d given her. It’s nothing special.” I’d went in to meet her, gave her my favor, complimented her, and then thanked her for seeing me. Now, Mylene was using that moment to get me out of the fire and putting things back to order. Since I’d made the vow we’d met to protect her and help her, I was obligated to help her out. Ergo, I could do what I needed to do within reason to settle the situation, which involved putting down the little rebellion set up by the lover interests in the Academy. “What?”

None of my advisors said a word, before Cleare suddenly spoke up.

“You know, I thought the three of you were exaggerating, but Leon is indeed popular with the ladies.”

“Yet, he refuses to acknowledge what he’s doing.”

“Indeed, he absolutely refuses to be responsible in the slightest.”

Marie looked at me as soon as Luxion was finished speaking and I felt a chill go down my spine.

“Enjoy your youth, Leon, because you’re going to be spending the rest of your life with more than you’ve ever bargained for.”

Oi, don’t say things like that without explaining what you mean!