“Come on! Were you not the one that challenged me? Are you going to get into your stance or will you idle and delay like a coward?” The eyes of the hero seemed to burn like flames, a rage taking over seemingly. For all his barking, I was frozen still, trying to process the situation. What the fuck is going on? I know this place… It was what I saw in the reflection… It was that bargain bin game I played… Quest of Light… But this reality…? Why is he screaming at me to fight him…? Why do I feel this cold fury when I look at him…? Although it was obvious that I had reincarnated, I was in shock. Like ripping someone from their bed in the middle of the night suddenly, my brain was only operating at half capacity in a daze.
The hero, I assume his name is Justin (The default name for the English translation), grinded his teeth in impatience and stabbed his wooden long sword in the ground to approach me. Unable to react in time, he picked me up by the collar of my gambeson, letting my legs dangle in the air, to get in my face. It seemed I had shrunk in this new life to five foot six (Guess I am part of the five foot club now) while he towered over me at around six foot four. The mysterious foreign chilly rage I felt became like a blizzard. I felt like I wanted to make this goody-two-shoes taste the dirt, to humiliate him in front of the princess, to triumph. These emotions were not my own, at least they did not feel like it. I had no reason to hate him this much. Sure I was miffed that he was being a self-righteous asshole and getting all handsy, but not to this level.
My eyes drifted to the royalty watching over this “friendly” duel, the princess. It was her, a group of thuggish snobs throwing insults at Justin that Vir called his friends, and some curious bored strangers with nothing better to do. Although I was rather disinterested in her myself, my heart felt as if it skipped a beat on her sight. Sure she was pretty, with long flowing green hair reaching to her waist and piercing golden eyes with a polite smile, but I knew what existed underneath that exterior. I only knew because it affected battle mechanics, but she held an mad obsession for Justin. Her stats rose in Justin’s presence, making her rather strong in the early game, but her accuracy fell dramatically if another heroine interacted with Justin in battle, which in the teamwork based endgame, made her terrible. I always kicked her out from the party after she lived out her usefulness for characters with better abilities. Quite simply, she was there to fulfill the “yandere” quota for the harem and handle hold newbies for the starting of the game before being discarded when entering higher levels of play. Now a reality, my own aversion grew stronger. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I don’t associate with crazy. I don’t care if she only wants the hero to be her loyal puppy dog that only wags his tail at the princess, but the insanity is sure to bring out violent unpredictable behavior that may be hazardous to those around her.
Yet my body was rebelling against my mind, wanting her affections. Only then did I realize whose body I was in, Vir the Thug. Although technically a son of a count, he was practically of lesser nobility in the grand scheme of things. Lowly barons in the imperial center were richer than his own family was, coasting off the tourism of adventurers looking for materials from monsters in the desolate north his family ruled over. Funnily enough, if not for the monster infestation, we would have already been fallen penniless aristocrats. But what was more important to the moment was that Vir was the tutorial boss. Back when I had a modicum of patience for cutscenes, I skimmed the dialogue of the tutorial and got the general sense that Vir liked the princess, not only because imperial favor from her would be a godsend for his family, but also because he fell in love at first sight. Persistent in his attempts to win over the princess, he was continually cock blocked by Justin as the bodyguard to her royal highness. Growing into a mutual ire for each other, Vir believed Justin, a mere commoner, was the one stopping their love for each other, deluding himself into thinking that she liked him because she was nice to him. Thus they were to duel to decide whether Justin stops “preventing Vir’s accepted advances” or Vir stops harassing the disinterested princess forever. Of course, Vir would lose and drop out of school in shame, acting as a stepping stone to let the other character be aware of the hero.
But… What was wrong with that? It was just a free pass to retire from the dangerous academy that would soon be swamped with the machinations of the demon lord, the final boss. Why should I get involved? I was just a minor character meant to be a punching bag to start the snowballing of the fame he acquired over the course of the rest of the story. I get to chill and live life in my new home, he gets to play savior. Me losing here was best for both of us.
Noticing my change in demeanor, he took it as me being ready. “Finally! Seems like you are still a man afterall…” The condescension was clear in the tone of his voice, seeing me as nothing but a maggot. The muscle memory ingrained inside my new body took a standard posture, putting my left arm behind my back and outstretching my right arm, pointing my sabre at Justin. “I will let you make the first move as a handicap, commoner…” The voice that came out of my own mouth was low and extremely arrogant. Despite not needing to say those words, the provocation was only to satiate the desires of the lingering feelings inside this body. It felt… right. It felt correct. Unconsciously grinning, my perception was too slow to register the swing of Justin before I was knocked out from a blow that contained much for force than what was required for a duel like this.
Fuck, did I piss him off too much?
