Chapter 5: Chapter 03 ─ Nightmare

The month was about to end, I had just left the hospital where Clovis was.

I visited him to tease him, even so, I delivered a gift so he wouldn't be bored.

As I left the hospital, a limousine parked quickly near me.

Did it just arrive or had it been waiting for me for a while?

The door opened and Sara got out.

"Rudel-kun, there's trouble!"

I told Sara that I was going to visit Clovis, yet I still wonder if she just arrived or has she been waiting for a while?

She came over and took my hand to make me get into the limo.

After getting in she said.

"Rudel-kun, you have a big problem. I want you to please tell me everything you did in the past few days since your friend's incident."

"Since the Clovis incident?"

I don't understand what the problem is, I tried to remember what I did two weeks ago.

At the end she sighed in denial.

"I see. I figured it was like that."

"What's wrong?"

I asked as I was getting restless.

Sara looked at me and my expression was horrified.

◇

"As I said, my lord is offended by this offense and demands monetary compensation."

Sara took me to the kingdom's embassy, there I met a lanky fellow who claimed to be an official of Herring Household.

The Herring Household is accusing me of violence and mistreatment against one of their knights, they demand a ridiculous monetary compensation of several zeros.

Aster's diplomat looked at me with a face that said "Why did you cause this trouble count!" and I wanted to reply "It's not my fault!".

But I feel ashamed for some reason to tell him that.

I went with Sara to confront the idiot, behind him were the trio of idiots that Ixion electrocuted.

They were wounded, with several bruises, broken bones and protruding teeth.

The guys pointed at me in fright.

"That's him!"

"That young man is the one who left us in this state."

"We just wanted to help him look for an address, but he was all wild, he beat us and stole all our belongings."

I started to get angry, Sara told me to calm down.

"Don't get angry, you'll only make everything worse."

I listened to her and just sat there where she said.

The guys and the official explained the details to me.

I'm basically being sued.

In my previous life I never received a lawsuit or even a call from government officials for not paying taxes.

Are you telling me that because of these idiots I am facing charges?

As the meeting ended, the idiots left, Sara sighed.

"Truly the Herring Household has fallen low."

"The Herring Household?"

"It's Derrick's family, those guys are no doubt from the Bartolini Family."

"The Bartolini Family is a crime family who have been living in the Herring territory for generations."

"Knowing all that don't the other great nobles!"

She placed her arms under her large breasts lifting them slightly, I swallowed saliva seeing that bounce.

"Each island has its own domain with its respective ruler. We are in the territory of the Vermillion, that's why the jurisdiction is divided into six parts to be governed."

"There is nothing I can do, besides the head of Herring Household is a great noble, I am far inferior to him."

It can be seen that Sara's political situation is very serious.

It is also annoying.

It's so annoying that for standing up for me I'm now getting in trouble for avoiding letting myself be robbed.

What a trashy world this was.

I put my hands in my pockets before asking Sara.

"Is there anything I can do to fix this?"

"The only solution would be to pay what they demand, but even for someone with money like me this is way over the top."

(Just like Alisa she acknowledges that she has a lot of money, she really is quite the ojou-sama type.)

"Another solution would be to go to your country, but anyway the kingdom's diplomats would be bombarded with demands, this could hurt your country as well."

"Can't you guys take it upon yourselves to keep them from getting their hands on the commercial stuff?"

"Sales of magic stones are negotiated between different officials of different houses, and to our bad luck, Herring Household is selling your country magic stones."

Magic stones, or orbs, are used to generate electricity and move airships, so not having orbs would be very serious.

I decided to get out of there.

"Wait. I told you I would help you."

She took my arm.

"I'll use my name so my father will have an obligation to help me."

My eyes widened like saucers, I asked her.

"Why do you do so much for me?"

She looked embarrassed and turned her face away.

"I-I'll tell you that one day. For now, just trust me."

I thanked her.

"Thank you so much."

For now, I'll leave it to her, but I have to figure out what to do about this problem anyway.

◇

I decided not to go to class so Derrick won't tease me.

It's been two days since then, I'm bored.

The current situation is not known to the kingdom, it would take too long for the information to reach the kingdom.

Besides, if I tell my girlfriends about this problem they would freak out, Alisa would certainly ask her father for help.

I don't want the Duke to tell me I owe him one.

I was playing on my bed with a bucket that looks like it's made of slime.

"O-O-O-Onii-chan, there's trouble!"

Erselica came running into my room.

She found out about my current situation yesterday, she came today to ask me for money because she no longer has it.

I told her I would give her a payment if she would clean up.

Ixion got angry as he left everything clean, Erselica would make it dirty.

I replied that was the joke, let her earn the money with work.

As I opened the door Erselica yelled something unexpected at me.

"D-D-D-D-Downstairs! Downstairs there's someone you need to see!"

"Someone came?"

I asked curiously, but the answer I got was most unexpected.

"A reincarnate! A girl who is a reincarnate like us came to see you!"

"How do you say!"

I was so shocked that I fell off the bed.

I went down immediately.

◇

As I went downstairs, I found a girl sitting as if she was the owner of the house.

She was shocked looking at Ixion.

"You really exist."

"Of course I exist."

She was a beautiful girl, with pink hair tied in pigtails and green eyes.

Seeing me, her gaze seemed to be very steady and sharp.

"So you're Rudel, right? Or should I say the person who was reincarnated as Rudel the villain?"

"Yes, that's me. And I'm not a threat."

In the game, I was a trashy character who annoyed the heroine, ultimately dying a pathetic death.

By telling her my situation, she understood everything. This girl introduced herself late besides.

"My name is Diana Algrand, but my real name is Diantha Liz Vermillion, the second daughter of the now extinct Vermillion Household."

By mentioning the name Vermillion, she means that this girl was the heroine, or at least I thought so until she said she was the second daughter.

"You're the second daughter aren't you? That means you have an older sister, right?"

"That's right. But first I want to explain how I heard about you."

"The day you arrived at the port I was spying on you, I was curious which capture target would come, there I saw you and all the capture targets without the heroine."

"I spent a whole month spying on you guys."

(Then it was you the feeling that someone was watching me!)

"That's why I also thought that girl was a reincarnate and in the end it turned out to be true."

Erselica told Diana about her situation.

In the end Diana gave Erselica a look of disgust.

Apparently Diana came since she heard about Derrick's and our situation.

"I ask you to please return home, the game is going perfectly."

"You can say that, but we have a big problem, or at least I have a problem with Derrick's house, I can't leave without solving it."

"I see. I'd like to help you fix it, but right now I don't have any power."

"My situation with Derrick aside, I'd like to know about the game, why do you say everything is going well?"

"Ixion's been finding things out, for starters, you're with that Lugh guy."

Diana blushed as she heard she was being spied on.

"F-For starters, my sister never saw Lugh romantically, she always saw him as a friend."

"Romeo is ruled out since he belongs to that house, both my sister and I will not accept him."

"Tom-kun is a playboy, that guy will never be with one woman, he's in my classroom and my sister mentions that he's not her type."

"That only leaves those three, but Zack is a pain in the ass, I won't consider him for her because it would give her too much stress."

"The former Professor Linus was always so serious that everyone told him he was married to his job, he was popular with a lot of girls, but my sister recognized that for handsome he had no use for that."

"That's why the best choice is Jude, he really loved her."

All this information was very interesting, but that only generated the same question for me.

"I understand what you're saying, but where is your sister?"

"Ixion said he can't find her anywhere and that made me think the worst."

Ixion after being quiet finally spoke.

"Everything you say is correct, but I've been looking for all the girls with the last name Algrand in Aster, you weren't a problem, but curiously in the student record, which there's one girl missing to check, and she's a classmate of the teacher."

"Really?"

"Yes. The name of the student who has missed a whole month of classes as well as having an unknown location is Lucy Algrand."

I looked at Diana to ask for details.

This made me uncomfortable.

Diana talks as if her sister is here, but Ixion acknowledges that she is not here.

Diana looked at me Erselica a little confused, no, it looked more like she didn't want to talk.

Why is she acting so strange?

Then...

"Master, I just detected an airship that is not part of the past airship registry has just anchored."

"What's odd about that?"

"It belongs to the Banfield Household."

"...!" (x3)

All three of us were surprised to hear that name.

"I'll project it now, this is live."

A holographic box manifested in the air.

There we could see servants bringing down several suitcases.

◇◇◇

Aster Harbor. A couple descended from an airship.

The boy was characterized by medium hair that was red and spiky. A tall and handsome young man who generated an image of elegance just by standing. Even the clothes he wears are made for him.

The yellow eyes are beautiful.

Such a boy is in a bad mood.

"... Again we couldn't find anything about the sapling, it didn't choose us this time either."

However, the yellow eyes begin to darken as his cheerful attitude.

The child's name is Jude Gaia Banfield.

A girl walking behind her shrugged.

"S-sorry."

However, that girl walking behind was in uniform.

She was the older sister of Diana, the main character in the sequel.

She has platinum blonde hair, twintails are slightly messy but fluffy reaching down to her shoulders.

With beautiful strong looking amber eyes.

At first glance, she appeared to be a strong-willed girl, but now she was looking down as if depressed. You can't see the strength and brightness that was originally there.

"Jude... kun, Emm, the sapling story has no basis. So..."

There is a legend that the fruit of the sacred tree ripens and falls on two people who love each other, and a jewel is given to them as a token of their love. That is the sapling of the sacred tree.

But it was just a legend.

Jude turns around and grabs the girl's chin delicately.

He smiled at the girl.

"Is that so? Maybe you don't believe in that and that's why we didn't find one? The whole first semester of last year we were fine, but then you avoided me, I had to cling to the story of the sacred tree sapling so as not to deny my love for you."

"You got caught up in the commotion caused by that idiot Derrick when you defended those foreign students, in the end they abandoned you and if it wasn't for me, you'd be in a ditch. That's why they told you to go back to the academy without any trouble."

The girl apologizes to Jude with teary eyes.

"I-I'm sorry. But..."

Jude pushes the girl to the ground roughly.

"Kyah!"

Then he starts kicking the girl like she was a sack of garbage.

"Don't answer anything I didn't ask you! Fuck, shit, damn it! I did it for you! And for you! And this is how you repay me!"

"Since January we've been looking for that damn sapling! If it wasn't for my father forcing me to go back, we'd still be inside the dungeon!"

Lucy was in a fetal position covering herself from the abuse.

When the girl feels pain, Jude runs to her realizing his mistake.

"Lucy! I'm sorry, I went too far."

The girl was looking down as she was shaking with fear.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. When I think of you, I get overly emotional. You understand how I feel, don't you?"

The girl nodded slightly.

"You must understand that this is also your fault for not responding correctly. I don't want to hurt you again, so don't make me angry again, understand?"

Lucy nodded still trembling.

(This is fine. Diana-chan also said so, it's better to bear it a little, and it's also for Diana-chan's sake.)

She said that to herself as blood ran down her forehead.

Jude makes the girl stand up.

But Jude was holding a chain in her hand.

The chain was connected to the necklace the girl was wearing.

"Well, let's go. It didn't work this time, but we have a next time. During the winter vacations, let's buy some gifts and get my parents to approve the marriage."

The girl who replied softly kept walking as they attracted attention in the harbor.

It was just like a master taking his pet for a walk.

(... If I endure it, everything will be fine. Even I'll be fine... Besides, Jude-kun is also kind when he says he won't hit me if I pay attention.)

A drone spying such a situation hovered in the sky.

◇

"Hey... What the fuck is this! Diana, answer me!"

I was trembling on the couch while watching a grotesque scene.

Even Erselica who was happy until recently was horrified.

"It can't be... that... that over there has nothing to do with going well!"

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"I remembered!"

"That way of acting, that's the route to Jude's bad end."

Erselica explained to me what that bad ending was.

"In the game, whether you chose Jude's route, the reverse harem route, or the route of any capture target. It always unlocked Jude's yandere route."

"The only way to avoid it was to never have any contact with him during the game, and even if you had contact with any guys during his route he would just go wild and tie you up forever with the collar."

"The only good ending with Jude is that no one else will have you. That's why the reverse harem ending never existed unlike the first game."

"Onii-chan, that girl is in grave danger. She'll really die if we leave her with him!"

Erselica's fear was so real, I couldn't take it as a joke.

"I understand."

I looked angrily at Diana, she answered me in a tone that showed she is not guilty of anything.

"My sister didn't make any headway with any of them, the only one who knew of her existence was Jude. That's why I had no choice but to tell him about us."

"And..."

"And?"

The next thing Diana said made me want to get up and punch her.

"He went to my sister to extort her while she wore the necklace, told her he would blackmail her out to the great nobles if she didn't listen to him. I told Jude that was extreme that, but he replied that it is necessary."

"I listened to him and my sister ended up like that since January."

"You..."

"You knew about this all along, didn't you?"

"You knew what your sister was going through and you didn't nothing?"

"You even allowed that piece of shit to humiliate her."

If it weren't for some Ixion wires holding me down, I would have stood up and been filling her with blows.

What she said is something a family member or anyone who appreciates you wouldn't do to you.

Seeing my angry face, she got up and walked to the door.

"W-Whatever the case. It's all good, my sister is just a little rebellious."

"Jude may seem pushy, but he's not a bad person. He's handsome, he's got money, he's an heir. My sister will live well if she'll just listen to him!"

"Take his place then."

I told her with my eyes full of fury.

"Take your sister's place then. If you say Jude is a good choice, take his place now."

She averted her eyes as she answered me.

"I, I already have Lugh, it's impossible that."

"Lugh according to the game was the easiest capture target of all. You went for the one guy who wouldn't give your sister any trouble, you always knew that didn't you?"

Even Erselica bombarded the girl with questions.

Diana turned her back on us and left the place.

"... What do we do now?"

She asked as she picked up her cup that fell on the floor.

"Onii-chan, that girl is in grave danger. If she is not happy nor gets to realize her true love, this country will be engulfed in flames by the monster tree."

"I know... let me think."

This really sucks. Now I have to solve the unhappiness of a girl I don't know.

What a grotesque life I have.

◇◇◇

Banfield Household Mansion.

Jude and Lucy arrived with a mountain of gifts.

A large man wearing a dapper suit which emphasized his muscles, including his pecs that could rip the front buttons off his clothes.

Red hair that matched his beard, green eyes and a big cigar in his mouth.

He is the head of the Banfield Household, Cliff Gaia Banfield.

Seeing his son with the chain connecting to the girl's neck, he immediately grabbed him and took him to his office.

The girl was taken to a guest room while they talked.

Cliff was very angry with Jude.

"Well? You found the sapling."

The sapling was a special item for Aster, the sapling meant that a second sacred tree could be planted.

The stories say that the actual sacred tree was planted by the head at the time of the Vermillion Household, which was with six other families as vassals.

Because they were all related to them, they founded this country.

Cliff understands that having a second sapling means more power for them, for their house.

The search for one took centuries, there was never any success, but no one was interested.

One day his son came to him and said "Father, I have found the heir of the priestess." Of course, Cliff was delighted and without proof gave his son his support.

Now that some time has passed, he realized how ridiculous it was to give him authority.

(I agreed only because this boy was finally showing interest in women, I didn't care how untrue what he said was.)

Cliff seeing that Jude had for weeks had a girl with a necklace around her neck ordered a vassal to investigate her origins.

If she was a commoner he could solve this, if she was from a noble family he would have to bribe them, only if she was a low status family, the problem would come if she was a princess.

The vassal did not discover anything.

From that moment on Cliff wondered if it was true what he said.

Jude told him her full name.

"Lucyelle Liz Vermillion is her name."

His cigar fell to the ground when he heard that name.

(No doubt about it, she's one of Beatrix's twin daughters.)

With that name Cliff could spread rumors that he'd found a survivor of that house.

The problem was.

(Why would Randolf leave her alive?)

Acting Chairman─ Sara's father, the head of the Rosenberg Household, would say it was a lie.

The current political situation was serious, the great nobles were divided into two factions.

The Acting Chairman faction and the Banfield faction.

Cliff knew he would lose pathetically if he presented her without evidence.

So he waited for his son to bring the sapling, but to no avail.

To make it all worse, he told several servants to make sure to protect the girl's chastity, even if they had to beat him, but that Jude should not try to overdo it with her.

He was informed by the servants something worse.

"Stupid idiot son, how on earth could you think of hitting the future priestess?"

After informing him that he couldn't find it, and glancing at the bruises on Lucy's face, Cliff took his son into a room where he threw him to the floor.

His son became angry with him.

"This is abuse of your authority, father."

"Shut your mouth. Tell me, why the hell did you manhandle that girl?"

"If she turns out to be who you say, we will be looked down upon by everyone, I won't be able to show my face if my heir mistreated the Vermillion heiress."

"But father, she wouldn't respond to me as I wanted, that's why I had to use a little violence."

"Are you out of your mind? Who the hell raised you like that to cut off her head right now!"

"You did that a long time ago and I'm just acting like a Banfield would act."

Cliff grew angrier at his son.

"Enough with this nonsense, I'll take it upon myself now to send people to look for the sapling, when we find it, we will be recognized by the sacred tree as the legends say."

"The girl will be looked after by specific maids and under surveillance all day, you are forbidden to see her in any way until further notice."

"That is unfair!"

"Shut up!"

◇◇◇

After arriving at the mansion, the maids took Lucy to the bathroom, they were horrified to see how her slender super model body and long limbs as well as her slim figure and great body attributes both upper and lower, were full of bruises.

They used a soap to gently touch her.

With every touch, Lucy trembled.

(It's okay.)

(If I don't do anything, and just nod to everything, Jude-kun won't hit me.)

"Lucy! Where are you!"

Both the maids and Lucy heard Jude's voice approaching.

"Young master please don't be foolish."

"Your father told us to avoid seeing you. Besides, she's bathing herself right now."

"Shut your mouths!"

"I'll have you executed for getting in the way of my love! Lucy is mine and I won't let anyone take her away from me!"

"Lucy! Where are you?! Answer me!"

Hearing Jude's overwhelmed voice, Lucy pulled herself into a fetal position, closed her eyes, her thoughts helping her escape from reality.

(Please... let this all end.)

◇

"Shoot them, don't leave them a chance to regroup!"

From the moment I saw that girl Lucy, I asked Erselica to give me all the information I required to know how to save Lucy.

She mentioned a sapling, that sapling I could use as a bargaining chip and demand Lucy.

She gave me the location according to the game.

Apparently it was in the deepest part of the dungeon.

Aster's dungeon is rated as the most dangerous dungeon in the world.

The monsters feed on its roots and get stronger.

After three days of entering here, we encountered the dungeon boss, a chimera commanding an army of chimera ants.

Why am I speaking in the plural?

Well, it turns out that even with Ixion by my side I can't go into the dungeon alone, I was planning to hire adventurers to accompany me, but none of them had made it in beyond some directions on the path we found.

As I was thinking what to do, the idiots came shouting.

"Bradford! Is it true what Erselica says, you're going to Aster's dungeon by yourself to conquer it!"

Liam is the main idiot in his entourage.

The prince's entourage was angry, apparently they want revenge for Clovis.

I told them to go with me.

They behaved very pathetically by pretending to reluctantly agree.

I told Liam to stay because it would be dangerous.

But somehow he convinced Chlust to stay and take care of Erselica.

Therefore. Me, Liam, Frey, Warren and Ixion at the top of the dungeon, we were fighting chimera ants.

They were giant ants, some with mutations of animal parts.

Thanks to Ixion and his missile and flamethrower attacks, it was easy for us to get in and take out almost all of them.

The problem is the dungeon boss who keeps calling for more minions.

"Shit, I'm out of ammo."

"Reload while I watch your side."

I told Liam to reload while I used both of my rifles to blow the heads off the approaching ants. Me and him were in the middle of everyone.

Frey was using his marksman skills in the rear and using magic bullets as explosives at the distant monsters casting magic spells.

Warren was the one in charge of the vanguard as he used his sword to cut off the heads and cores of the monsters.

"Master, we're almost done with them."

"Come on guys, we're almost done with them! Hang in there a little longer."

The battle was so intense that we had been fighting for two intense hours.

Before we knew it, the ants were extinct.

Only the boss remained.

Not weak, its appearance of a lion's body, a second ram's head, bat-like wings and snake-headed tail was no joke.

The wings helped it run faster.

The snake tail had the ability to melt anything that touched its saliva.

While the ram's head emanated from its mouth a methane gas which came into contact with the liquid spit out by the lion and this generated a powerful flame that melted even the rocks.

Of course we don't approach that thing carelessly.

Ixion made sure to immobilize it.

"Ixion!"

"It's done, don't yell at me."

Ixion released some kind of slime that made the ground melt and like glue stuck its legs to the ground, even using its wings it couldn't break free from there.

It was our chance.

"Frey!"

"Don't give me orders count. Everything is ready."

Frey from a distant position fired several bullets with electric attribute.

The bullets succeeded in briefly confusing the chimera, it was the end.

"Warren! Prince!"

At the shout, Liam and I ran, we fired all of the destroyer caliber bullets at the monster.

One bullet managed to make the snake tail head explode, while the ram head's jaw hung its jaw which caused the lion's mouth to explode from the smoke emanating from it.

This was checkmate.

Warren ran at high speed and sliced the monster diagonally in two.

"It's over!"

Exclaimed the four-eyed in confidence.

We watched as it drops a huge stone the monster body.

"Yes! We conquered an overseas dungeon!"

"Hmph, it wasn't a bad experience, I feel sorry for Chlust and Clovis for not being here."

"Your Highness, with this achievement surely their majesties will return the title of crown prince to you."

The idiots were happy, but I was not.

Ixion told me that what we were looking for was hidden behind a pillar of roots.

I pushed them all aside and there I found it.

A small sapling was growing in the dark, barely getting any sunlight.

"Master, use this, the sapling would wither the moment it had no contact with magical power."

Ixion handed me a capsule filled with earth from the dungeon.

"Magic power?"

"I was able to analyze it quickly, it seems that its roots use the magic power as nutrients and when separated from its food it ends up dying from malnutrition."

"So this sapling is the plant version of Erselica."

I laughed as I saw the comparisons between the two.

I opened the capsule and gently placed the sapling in and after putting a little more soil on it to make it comfortable I put it in my backpack.

"Alright, all set, let's head back now."

"Huh~. Can't we stay a little longer?"

"That's right count. We still have to reclaim the treasures."

"As descendants of adventurers we must take our rewards."

I turned to them very annoyed because they looked like children complaining in an adult problem.

"Shut your mouths, we didn't come on a hike. I'm up against time on a big problem."

The three of them looked at me in disgust.

Are they children?

"Master, the arrival vehicle will be late."

"Remember we trespassed and some knights almost caught us. Don't tell me you thought we'd come out through the cave we entered?"

"..."

"I knew it. So, investigate the dungeon while the ship arrives at the best location for us to leave."

"Maybe an hour or two will come."

"Wait─!"

"Well said, weird sphere!"

Liam suddenly grabbed my shoulder.

Ixion gave the prince a look of disgust.

"I don't know what you're thanking me for, moreover it generated disgust for you to do so. Don't you dare speak to me again being an old human."

Ixion's hatred of old humans, or perhaps Liam was so great that he did not hide it.

With that said, I was forced to hang out with these guys some more.

Well, a break after such a hectic time isn't bad, is it?

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