“Hah~ are you holding back, Trash?”
Four days have passed since I met Queen Bitch. As sad as it is to say, I got used to her way of fighting quicker than she did mine.
It mostly involved outmaneuvering the enemy without any stance or the defense. Honestly, it suited the battle-crazy kid but wasn’t advanced enough to use on a battlefield. Or at the very least, anywhere with high ranked opponents but that’s me telling you that.
A fight-nut.
The thought bitterly comes to mind when I predict another strike from the right and parry it.
Using my foot to kick at her exposed stomach from a lack of a stance. She falls backwards, dirtying her frilly shirt on the sand of the training arena.
…..
Christ alive, she sucks without her equipment. Eyes narrow as the Villainess glares at me hard,
“Oi, you just thought something bad about me didn’t you?”
No.
“Yeah.”
Shit.
“Bastard!”
She leaps at me again but without her enchanted equipment, her speed is underwhelming.
She lacks power and as mentioned before, an actual stance which was probably why she dedicated most of her pocket money towards buying equipment to help her.
I groan a little as I jump forward with trained legs and I thrust, barely avoiding her throat with the tip of my weapon.
“Oi Bitch.”
“…what?”
“Use your equipment.”
“No. I have to get better without it as well. You never know when you’re going to get attacked.”
I place a hand on her shoulder and smile, “Violet. I promise no matter what, I’ll protect you.”
“...You’ve gotten better at lip service.”
“Is it working?”
She slaps my hand away with her blistered one and glares, “Not in the slightest. I know you just want to have a fun fight.”
“...a shame.”
“Stop holding back.”
“I would if you were strong enough.”
“I-!”
“Also. Stop trying to half-heartedly replicate how royal knights fight. I prefer your previous way of fighting, it was crazy as hell but it suited you a lot more than this. Christ on a stick.”
I let out another sigh as I checked my mental checklist.
I needed to figure out how to get the Princess into Topi’s route. Mentally and physically prepare for the terrorist attack and use the money I’m making from Queen Bitch to buy equipment for myself. Currently, I couldn’t soundly beat Bitch while she had enchanted equipment so I’d fare even worse against terrorists.
I still had two major ‘events’ to go through and roughly a dozen small ones.
Ahh dammit, why is life so busy?
I hate this world.
What God put me in here? Give me ten seconds in a room alone with them. I’d-
I shook myself out of those thoughts to find the villainess looking at me with slightly wide eyes, her pale face had a small blush and it looked like the edges of her lips were threatening to form a smile.
“..What? Did you notice how good I look?”
“Trash.”
“Bitch.”
“…..”
She continued looking at me, now with a complicated expression and her brows furrowed.
“Seriously, what?”
“…nothing. Let’s get back to sparring.”
“After a break, you need to rehydrate.”
“But I could get attacked when I’m dehydra-“
“Then drink water regularly, dumbass~”
She glares at me and returns my sneer with a polite smile usually only seen at balls and meetings between nobles.
Her eyes weren’t smiling though, and she spoke in a tone that sounded so polite it could only be mocking,
“I’ll smack that smirk off your face.”
At this I scoff, not bothering with a facade as I raise my middle finger in her direction.
“Right back at you, and try it please. I’ve been bored out of my mind.”
“Tch.” She clicks her tongue and walks away from the fighting area to grab her bottle.
It faintly glowed blue due to the magic inscripted on it.
Temperature control magic I think.
“What? Wish you had one?”
“Hah~? It’s almost tragic how dumb you are.”
“Says the guy with terrible grades.”
Shit. She got me there.
“..Let’s just get back to sparring.”
“That’s what I was waiting for Trash.”
I feel a smirk climb across my face, “Clever bitch.”
She returns one back.
And leaps forward.
Finally done, she hands me a bag of gold coins.
“F…for your work.”
I chuckle as she wipes the sweat from her face, with a smirk. Her muscles were also starting to get toned and she had tightly wound her hair into a bun, it wasn’t suited for a Duchess but it was for Violet.
“Welcome.”
I also wipe the sweat from my face and my casual shirt and trousers are soaked in the stuff.
“Ugh.”
I half heartedly wave goodbye with the back of my hand and leave the training room.
============================
My brother, Marcus, had gotten home late and we had to rush as we changed clothes: barely catching the subway.
I had to explain to my brother that it was magically operated, with magic crystals powering the entire thing.
I had stopped questioning his sudden complete lack of common sense and just answered whenever he asked. A kid even chuckled as he asked it.
As we enter the gates, we go straight to the cafe to ‘get some breakfast cuz I’m fuckin starving’ and begin walking through the enormous school; on the empty path ahead of us a green haired girl along with a small entourage stood in front of us.
I instinctively hid behind my twin who was barely taller than me.
“So, I heard you’ve been talking to Violet recently.”
“So what?”
My brother entered what I called ‘scary mode’ and he called ‘being himself’. His bored expression faded as his glare settled and a girl in the back even flinched at his tone.
“That bitch yelled at me a while ago. I just asked if she wanted to be friends but she still insulted me. Do you know how embarrassing that was for me!?”
She crossed her arms and as she spoke she glared. “So, why is someone from the trash house hanging around that smarmy bitch huh?
Are you trying to beg for money? Maybe if you go hump her leg like a good doggie, she’ll give you a gold coin or two.”
I look down and silence spreads throughout the air.
“Hmm? Nothing to say? Maybe your little brother has something he wants to whine abou-?“
“Hey, you shameless leech.”
I internally groaned but I was thankful my brother spoke up.
He might say something awful but at least he’ll fight for Mum and dad.
“How about you go xxxx a xxxx and xxxxx it’s xxxxxx and then xxxxxx. No. Better yet why not just xxxxxxx yourself xxxxx silly and xxxxxxx till the xxxxx sun comes up. Xxxxx hell, go xxx yourself, you xxxxx. Xxxx, why do I have to talk to this xxxxx so early in the xxxxx morning? You xxxx stop wasting my xxxx time. I have better xxxxx things to do than deal with your xxxxxx. xxxx you. Xxxxx your parents. Xxxxx your dog. You dog-faced xxxxx.”
My brother’s noble face had a twisted grin on it and the green haired noble had a blank expression as her mouth hung open.
Her friends who were laughing at her verbally abusing us had the same expression. I barely held mine back but internally I was doing the same.
“Hmph.”
My brother calmly scoffed, his expression going back to stoic before he smirked like a villain. “Well, that shut you up. Close your mouth, you look like a snake.”
He turned to me and with calm eyes,
“Come on Topi. I’m hungry.”
“I….okay brother.”
We leave the three still silent. They remained silent as we left.
“Pffftt GAHAHAHAHA”
My brother threw back his head as we sat down. “DID YOU SEE THERE XXXXXX FACES!?! Christ alive, that was great, holy xxxxxxx!!”
I thank my mental censoring for hanging in there and just weakly nod.
Some nobles are staring at my brother in disgust as he continues swearing up a storm but he didn’t seem to notice, or even care.
He wipes a tear from his eye as he genuinely smiles and nods at my food.
“Eat little brother. It’s good.”
I look down at my pork with potatoes, peas and gravy then at his pork and gravy.
He had been doing this a lot recently, buying himself something cheaper while spending more money on me.
Our parents couldn’t afford the lunches so he’d been making money from hunting monsters and sparring with the Duchess’s daughter.
I frown and open my mouth to speak when….
“Excuse me...”
A familiar voice rings out and I stiffen as I recognize it.
“P-Princess!”
I curse at myself as I squeak the words but I see people around me acting the same way. The only one not doing it….
Was my brother.
With pieces of pork in his mouth he halfheartedly side eyed the Princess, “Need somethin’?”
“Hey.” A deep voice rings out and I turn to find one of our seniors standing behind the Princess. “Don’t speak to her like that.”
“Ahh~?” My brother’s face contorts as he seemingly seems more interested in our senior than the Princess. “Oh. It’s you… Logan right?”
The grey haired student looked surprised. “You.. know about me?”
“Yeah.”
“I-I see.”
“Ahem.” We all turn our attention to the cool Princess who is just blankly waiting for her turn to speak.
“P-Pri-!”
“Your Highness apologies!”
At my attempt to speak, I’m interrupted by Logan who gets down onto his knee in a very knight-like pose.
“As I was sayi-”
“Oi don’t interrupt my brother, wannabe knight. You might regret it.”
Don’t interrupt the Princess, brother! You’ll regret it!
I kick his shin and he flinches then looks at me. “...my bad.”
He grumbles the word to no one in particular and clearly doesn’t mean it but the Princess clears her throat and speaks again.
Patience thin on her voice.
“…as I was saying, could you not use that language? This is a place for learning.”
“Yeah!”
“That’s right!”
“You tell him Princess!”
Random students around the cafe shout their cheers, I feel myself shrink a little and watch as my brother opens his mouth with a grin.
“AH!” The Princess suddenly shouted and then proceeded to blush and go back to cool.
Her blonde brows were furrowed as if just remembering something. “I-it’s not because I don’t like bars. Or hard working people. I just don’t like swearing.”
The cafeteria was silent as various students and even teachers questioned why she had said that.
Those from our class just quietly nodded as they understood.
The cafe was silent as they awaited a response but it wasn’t one they were expecting.
“Heh.. heheHAHAHAHAHA”
My brother slapped on the table as he laughed and spoke in a loud voice that didn’t suit his face. “YA GOT ME THERE PRINCESS!! HEHEHE, LONG AS YOU RESPECT BARS AND THE LIKE I’LL TRY TO STOP SWEARING!! PFFT!”
The Princess’s beautiful cool face seemed to be cracking as my brother sitting down in front of her was cackling.
“T-thank yo-”
“But on one condition.”
My brother’s eyes suddenly turned serious but he kept his smile, making him look like an outright villain.
If he just kept his mouth shut he could model, unfortunately his personality ruined his face.
The Princess cleared her throat and spoke in a voice drained of patience.
“...and that is?”
Everyone took a quick breath in as they waited for my brother’s words.
“Go on a date with my brother.”
what.
“What?”
“WHAT????”
The cafeteria blew up and a student even spat out his coffee at my brother’s demand. Go on a d-d-d-ddate??? With the Princess??}*%(%?£”)???/
In exchange for him not swearing as much?:{_”)£($@@”@??
=====================================================
I chuckle a little as I watch my little brother’s face blow up. The Princess was staring at me wide eyed, expression blank but a faint blush could be seen.
It was truly fitting for her ‘real’ identity.
As I mentioned a long while ago, she is boringly beautiful. And that’s why I found it funny to make her squirm.
Logan, the Knight, and more importantly one of the Princess’ romance options was glaring daggers into me.
“P-PRINCESS, A-ALLOW ME THE HONOUR OF SHUTTING THIS BOY UP FOR GOOD!!!”
The Princess clears her throat, a blush still evident on her face and a big grin on mine.
“W-...” She takes a deep breath as she tries to calm down, the cafeteria continues to have a ruckus but goes silent as the Princess raises a pale hand. “...w-why something like that?”
Hundreds of eyes are on me, including my brother who’s still a complete mess; blushing like it’s a competition.
I just shrug, keeping a neutral expression on my face as I do so.
“I want him to be happy.”
And I don’t want you to enter the Logan route.
My brother will tearfully accept his first love has her heart set on another if she does.
The rejection is played off as a big moment for him to grow up and begin thinking about his future.
I didn’t care. If he has 'that' face I don't want to see him sad.
My back twitches as I feel ‘something’ change in everyone’s eyes. My brother looks at me in happy shock while Logan is staring at me like I grew an extra head.
Wait, everyone's staring at me like I grew an extra head.
What happened?
Oh, the Princess isn’t at least. She’s got the same blank protagonist face she had on the concept cover art for… the game.
Christ, I still can’t remember it's name.
The attention shifts to her and she shivers a little as she feels it.
“...okay, I’ll accept. If you completely stop swearing.”
“Ehh~?” I feel a kick from my brother and turn to find him blushing with a determined look on his face.
I’m almost shocked at his resolution when it quickly melts as the Princess also looks at him and he stares down at his half eaten food.
I hear a small chuckle from the blonde haired lady and internally give my brother the thumbs up. “...Fine. Swears, curses and coarse language will be completely out of my vocabulary while I’m at school, Your Highness.”
She turns to me and I see a look of confusion on her face that quickly vanishes.
Pfft, her real emotions are showing.
I let out a grin and she nodded before turning to my brother.
“I’ll see you Saturday? If you’re free of course.”
“Ah bu-!!”
“Ahem”
My brother hesitates since we had promised to go eat some ice cream together so I choose now to kick his leg back while clearing my throat.
His face explodes with pain but he surprisingly doesn’t grunt and he nods his head, his face going about as red as our hair as it bounces around.
“Y-Yes! That..would be great!”
“So it’s a date.”
“Ahhh!”
My brother squeaks at her smile and I chuckle as I start enjoying my food. The brat did it. The Princess calmly turned to the cafeteria as if they didn’t just witness an amazing deal.
“I apologise for causing a ruckus.”
“I-it’s fine your Highness!”
“No worries!”
“It’s cool!”
All sorts of phrases come flying at her and I chuckle to myself,
“...ass kissers.”
“You say something?”
I turn to look up at the ‘wannabe knight’ who had just mumbled to my mumbling.
“What? You want me to repeat it?”
“I thought you said swearing would be out of your vocabulary.”
“Oh it is. I just wanted you to hear it.”
This guy was the one getting in the way of my brother’s happy ending. I wonder if that meant he was the ‘canon’ choice.
I’ll be damned if so, just means I need to try harder.
I continue chewing on my food and completely ignore the grey haired dumbass glaring at me, eventually the Princess waves goodbye and my brother speaks.
“B-Brother! You should’ve told me you had planned on doing that!”
“Hm? And spoil the fun?”
My face contorts into a smile and I smile wide.
“...you’re mean, Brother.”
“And yet I got you a date with the Princess.”
“NMM-!”
His face goes red again.
The bench I’m sitting on bends a little and a voice speaks, loud enough for it to be normal but quiet enough that under the chatter of hundreds of students; it wouldn’t be heard.
“Anyways eat. You have tomorrow to look forward to.”
