Everything was black. The last thing I remember was an out-of-control eighteen wheeler smashing into the driver’s side door of my car. Something had happened to the truck while going down the mountain road I was driving up. In front of his truck was a ski shuttle and to the side was a school bus, so he swerved to the other side of the road. Unfortunately, I didn’t brake in time.

 

Despite being killed by the collision, I don’t resent him. In the same situation, I like to think I’d have made the same decision, though maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. I doubt I have the courage to sacrifice myself.

 

I was… average. Not a loner, not a socialite. Neither strong nor weak, and with a perfectly normal amount of friends. I played games on weekdays after work, and went out on weekends. I’d had two girlfriends, but neither lasted more than a year. Down there… Perhaps average was being kind to me there.

 

That was my regret. I had always wanted to do something noteworthy in my life. I wanted to be the best, or at least among the best, at something. Maybe it was that regret, maybe chance, or maybe just a god taking pity on me, but I crossed over.

The black gave way to white, then blue, and I realized I was looking at a clear sky. Around me was loud talking, which slowly became understandable for me.

 

“--in to the river, what will you do if he dies!? Do you think your life is worth even one tenth of my son’s!?”

 

“My Lord! My Lord, Young Master Verzix has opened his eyes!”

 

The world went black again as I felt myself being hugged tightly, my face pressed into an impressive cleavage. No, that wasn’t the thing to focus on here.

 

“Zik! Verzix, are you okay? Do you have any trouble breathing?”

 

The owner of the voice was a beautiful woman in her thirties, with brick-colored hair and clear blue eyes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t concentrate at the moment, as pain began to wrack my brain so intensely that I nearly began to scream.

 

「Why do I have five years of a child’s memories in my head! Argh, it’s like being thrown into boiling water!」

 

「Why do I have thirty years worth of memories from someone else! This… this isn’t my world! So… so painful! Is my brain being directly hit by fireballs!?」

 

As my two sets of memories and consciousnesses blended, the pain became too much to bear, and I passed out again.

I don’t know how many days it has been since I died/nearly died. I am a person of two lives, which eventually fused together. I suppose it would be most accurate to say that I am Verzix Valrien, second child of the Valrien House, with thirty years worth of extra memories. My mentality has been the biggest recipient of this shift, and I have spent a lot of time going through my memories with a newfound understanding of subtleties.

 

The butler who is constantly exasperated by my requests, despite always having a smile on his face. My father, who seems cold and callous but is really seeking the best for me. My brother, who intentionally shows off to incite me to train harder. All these and more suddenly became clear to me.

 

As did one less fortunate realization I found when going over my memories:

 

I reincarnated into the world of an eroge as an antagonist.

 

The eroge in question is Magical Harem Academy, and I am among the first antagonists, a recurring character. In the game, Verzix Valrien may as well be the embodiment of all evil:

• He is rich, snooty, arrogant, and rude
• He treats women like dirt, but still gets girls because of his unrivalled looks
• One of the game’s main heroines starts off as his slave maid
• His first boss fight is a “supposed to lose” fight, frustrating players

 

Actually, the character isn’t that bad if you learn about his story, but who would be interested in some sausage in an eroge? It’s all about the waifus! In fact, my impression of his is probably better than most other players’ because I found his secret endings.

 

In the game, Verzix is always an inferior version of his elder brother. His academic scores, sword skills, and magic are all one level below that of his brother’s, so he develops an inferiority complex. He uses his charm to seduce women to gain a feeling of being loved. He picks a fight with the protagonist to try and secure his position in the school rankings and not lose the favor of his parents.

 

While trying to get a perfect clear of the game, I reset on the first Verzix boss fight nearly a hundred times. Finally, enough crits landed in my favor and I won, whereupon I found Verzix’s secret ending. Broken from his loss, Verzix lashes out at his slave maid, Nagami, and is thrown out of his House to cool down. From there, he disappears from the game entirely. Talking to his brother, Vincent Valrien, reveals that their family has created a search team, but hasn’t found him.

 

Finally, at the end of the game, he shows up again. The Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s Palace all have the Fear status when fighting them, and upon entry to the Demon King’s Throne Room, the player finds a decapitated boss, with Verzix standing in front of the throne. 

 

My past self left this message on a forum for the game: Whoever created the secret Verzix boss fight--fuck you. Ten minutes later a developer left me a message in return: Thank you for enjoying our game.

 

That boss fight is pure evil. I didn’t bother doing any special grinds for the final fight, because I knew all of the Demon King’s patterns and weaknesses, so I ended up getting walled by that fight. Gone are the sword and fire magic Verzix uses in his normal three boss fights, instead he uses twin daggers and the never-before-seen Moonlight Magic. 

 

Actually, Moonlight Magic is listed in the game’s files for three characters: Verzix and two capture targets. However, even by the time I died I never found out how to unlock it for the capture targets.

 

Upon killing Verzix in that ending, the player learns that he had all of the Four Heavenly Kings under a slave contract, and had already single-handedly destroyed the demon threat to the kingdom. Furthermore, he sent all of the wealth from the Demon King’s Palace to his family. Later I found out that isn’t his only secret ending though.

 

Once again beating him in his first boss fight, if the player is able to clear an extremely difficult dungeon within a certain time-frame, they find Verzix in it. He has repented for what he did, and agrees to whatever the protagonist wants if they can help him get a certain pair of daggers from the dungeon.

 

If the player agrees, the now insanely powerful Verzix is a permanent companion. There are even some yaoi scenes for him, and a massive quest chain the player can do that ends up with him genderswapped, becoming another waifu. Overall, he was the character that impressed me the most in the game thanks to his background lore and hidden questlines.

 

I write all of this information into a secret logbook, naturally in English instead of Tara, the language of the Taraske Kingdom that I (now) live in. While I’m at it, I also write down as much as I can remember from Harem Magical Academy. All of the information I can remember about the hundred plus dungeons, and everything I can remember about all of the characters and questlines. 

 

It took five days.

 

During that time, my family members visited me. Each time, I had to spend ten minutes reassuring them that I was alright, everything was fine.

 

My mother and brother were just happy I was fine. My father said, “No son of mine will die from some water. When you can walk again, you’ll learn to swim. No excuses.” He also told me the butler accompanying me that day was executed.

 

My past self seemed to find that strange, but I don’t think so. He endangered my life, and from the bits and pieces I remember, he wasn’t too enthusiastic about trying to fish me out of the river. In this matter, I feel my morality has shifted rather heavily from my past life.

 

Finally, after finishing my notes, I begin to make a plan. Obviously, I won’t be the same Verzix from the game. Being a jerk for the sake of it, like the game Verzix, was just idiocy. Naturally, I didn’t feel like I needed to be a saint either. Instead, what I settled on was the ever-boring and ever-ambiguous 「peaceful life」. 

 

For that, I would need the skills of the secret-route Verzix, trustworthy companions (waifus), and a certain something from my family.