Chapter two:

The Earl of Blackbridge

Let’s set the record straight: I wasn’t planning on avoiding my destructive end, or more accurately the downfall of my family. As I mentioned previously, my father – the Earl of Blackbridge – was one of the shadowy cabal members orchestrating the collapse of this empire, and that really wasn’t a goal I could sympathize with. It was true that my villainous role ends halfway through the story in order to progress the development of the main character, but I wasn’t particularly scared of that. There was no way I’d actually die. Since my numerical stats were the accumulated efforts of almost a hundred playthroughs it far exceeded any singular character by a long margin, though I couldn’t quite say how I’d stack up to the final bosses of the story: The Demon Gods.

On the topic of the story, there wasn’t much more to say other than it was a classic story of a young hero who manifests his destiny through divine powers and thwarts the Demon Gods who plot to take over the world. A simple, templated narrative. Still, I loved this story to death; its characters, its world, and my overall familiarity garnered through thousands of hours playing it.

“Hmm, I guess I should write it down before I forget.” There was little to no chance I could ever disremember the flow of this story; I’ve lived in this world for over 18 years and I can still recount all the events vividly. That said, despite playing it for so long it wasn’t as though I knew every minute details. Like for instance, I didn’t recall the princess’ maid being so boisterous during that scene, but it could also just be that I never got to see it. Since the game was played from the perspective of the hero I only ever saw what happened at the end of the confrontation between the villainous son of the earl and the princess.

In any case, the basic gist of the story was that there were four Demon Gods who were vying for domination over this world. These were known as the ‘four great evils’, though one of them was said to have already been defeated by the divine race over three hundred years ago, effectively meaning only three were in existence. Of the three, one of them was actually just an optional side boss which the player may choose to ignore altogether, and this shouldn’t have too big an impact on the main story. The most that would happen from ignoring the side quest was missing out on a few bonus items which would be of great benefit when facing the final two bosses.

Now then, the problem laid with the two remaining Demon Gods. As for why they didn’t just show up and start wrecking up the place, well they couldn’t because they were conveniently sealed away by the ancient divine race. The nobles of the Holy Pallasian Empire were divided into two factions each serving under a different evil god, but their ultimate plan of reviving their ancient evil deity and wreaking havoc upon the world was the same. Depending on the actions and choices taken by the hero it changes up the order in which these two gods appear, but other than fighting a few different mobs the combat portion doesn’t change much. The majority of the focus of this game was in dating cute girls after all. Still, that wasn’t to say the revival of the Demon Gods weren’t a threat.

As for my role in all of this world-ending threat… I didn’t have any. My father was one of the executive members of a cult worshipping the Demon God of the Abyss, ‘Samrain’, but other than me gaining a bit of demonic powers and fighting the main character a few times there wasn’t much in store for me. My fate was to ultimately die when I’m completely consumed by the evil energies. Supposedly I was jealous and frustrated that I could never defeat the hero and eventually sold my soul for overwhelming powers, and while ‘Charon Blackbridge’ was an entertaining mid-level boss, he didn’t amount to much other than allowing the protagonist to fully awaken to his divine blessings.

Of course, it shouldn’t even have to be mentioned, but I had no interest in being corrupted by the demonic powers. The problem was how I was going to avoid it. In the story, it was my father – meaning the head of the Blackbridge Earldom – who got annoyed constantly seeing his son fail time after time and posited for him to become a vessel of the evil god, to which he readily agreed. I don’t want to do that because of course not. Would you? Unfortunately, if I didn’t agree to give up my body and soul for a malicious god, it would be like painting a large target on my forehead for the entirety of the Abyssal cult to lynch me. Be that as it may; if push came to shove I had no qualms about leaving my family and living out the rest of my life on some backwater frontier in peace, but at the same time if I did that the story would be heavily derailed.

“…” I couldn’t really think of a good way to get out of this conundrum. “Guess I’ll just cross that bridge when I get there.” There wasn’t an urgency to this situation as it was something that would take place a year away.

Now, if we were talking about more current and upcoming problems it’d be about how I was going to bully Emilia. ‘Emilia Whitewater’, the third daughter of a no-name count from out in the middle of nowhere with very poor land. According to the script she would enrol into the Royal Pallas Academy and quickly be preyed upon by Charon – me – and his goon squad. Of course that’s when our dear protagonist steps in to protect her and a love story ensues, assuming he’ll take Emilia’s route instead of the princess’. There wasn’t anything like a harem route in the game to my knowledge, so I probably don’t have to take that into account.

Then there was Duke Silverlight’s daughter, Orchid Avon Silverlight, who would be princess Eurielle’s cousin and mortal enemy number one. A typical snobbish brat who takes everything for granted and wastes money as though it were made of tissue paper. Though, according to the hidden backstory of the game she’s like that only because of deep rooted family issues and really just wants a friend. There was apparently an accompanying short novel written about her from her perspective and how she redeems herself after the collapse of the Empire… whoops, did I forget to mention that? Point being, there’s no such thing as an ‘Orchid route’, but she does sort of help out the protagonist by the end of the game and semi-redeems herself to the main cast and her cousin.

As to why I was suddenly bringing her up, it was because in the game Charon was engaged to her. It was nothing more than a political marriage, but Orchid often used her fiancé as a sort of hired muscle to get rid of anything and anyone she didn’t like. It wasn’t that I hated her, especially after learning more about her past from the novel, but it was definitely going to be annoying to constantly keep up my villainous act around her. I just hope I still had a bit of time to prepare myself.

“Your engagement has been decided.”

Fuck.

The moment I arrived home I was hit by those words by my father. I was wondering why he called me up to his study so abruptly, but to think the story was progressing this quickly was out of my expectations. Since the game didn’t have a good track of time flow when it came to events outside of the school, I wasn’t really sure when things would happen. Even the event today with the princess was a pain to track down as I didn’t have any advanced warning of when she was actually going to secretly leave the palace. I had to have my [Watchers] keep her under surveillance for several months just to get the timing right.

What are ‘watchers’? They were small black birds I could summon to spy on people. Huh? Did I peek on her when she was bathing herself? What do you take me for? I am Charon Blackbridge, a man of culture! So… I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to whether I did or did not.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

In any case, my father was serious. He was quite the taciturn man and only ever spoke when he felt the necessity to. Tall and broad of shoulders, a chiselled face with a large scar running down the left side of his face, dark sanguine eyes that could almost steal a person’s soul… his whole ensemble made him look like a villain; you wouldn’t believe he was a noble of a ‘Holy’ empire. Not to mention his closet was filled with only drab military uniforms since he’s technically the head of one of the largest chivalric orders within the Empire. He definitely had the skills to back up his position in both the knight order and the abyssal cult. In fact, he was one of the end bosses depending on which branch scenario the protagonist chooses.

“I understand,” I replied. As much as I wanted to protest his decision it was wiser for me not to divert from the story too much just because of my preferences. “Then, am I right to assume it’s Duke Silverlight’s daughter? Miss Orchid?”

“You’re well informed,” he flashed a smirk. “Indeed, we came to a mutual agreement that your marriage would be of benefit to both our families.” By this really meant in regard to the abyssal cult. See, while the Silverlight Dukedom did outrank us in terms of nobility and prestige, my father technically had a higher position than the duke within the cult. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention but they were both part of the same underground cult.

“If that is your wish, father, I’m happy to oblige.”

“Good. That is all.”

As I said, he was a man of few words and once he finished his business with me I was let go.

‘Crash!’ The second I left my father’s study I heard the loud sounds of an expensive vase being smashed onto the floor from the living room. I walked over to see a few maids huddled over the broken decor, and one who was kneeling in front of it with an extremely paled face. When they noticed my presence they almost… had ‘involuntary bowel movement’.

“Yo- young master,” one of them called out. “This isn’t how it looks,” the maid at the centre of it hesitantly tried to deny the truth. “Please forgive me!” she bowed her head so far down that her bright red hair was practically mopping the floor.

Her name was Claudia, an incompetent maid who was often seen clumsily breaking a lot of furniture around the mansion… or at least that’s what I wanted everyone else to believe. In truth, she was one of my planted moles who worked directly for me and not the Blackbridge family. Her true talents laid in acting, among other things.

“Young master, it was an honest mistake. Please go easy on her,” one of the other maids tried to interject.

“Young… young master?” Claudia looked up, giving me the signal to proceed.

“You stupid bitch!” I took out a small metallic baton from my pocket… which doesn’t make sense if you thought about it for more than a second, but in the heat of the moment no one seemed to notice. What I really did was take it out of my inventory. I ominously crept up to the innocent girl and brutally smashed it across her face, but wait! Don’t take this the wrong way, this weapon was actually a sort of joke weapon from the game. It had a negative damage value, meaning whoever was struck by it would actually be healed a small amount! How does this work? I don’t know, magic, I guess… I assure everyone the girl was unhurt and this was all just part of the act. Claudia played her part well and flung herself in the opposite direction of where I hit to make it look extra authentic. There were hushed gasps from all the maids around us watching in abject horror as their colleague was about to be beaten to death or suffer permanent injuries. “You again?! Every! Single! Time! Can’t you at least do one thing correctly?!” I shouted and hit her over her head again with the baton. The girl was exceptionally skilled as an actor, masterfully preparing fake blood to vomit up and timed it perfectly with my attacks. Heck, she even prepared some bruise marks etched on with makeup.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” As if on cue she expertly turned on the waterworks and began to bawl her eyes out. “Please… forgive me.”

I crouched down and picked her up by her hair. This part couldn’t be faked easily, but I made sure to not hurt her too much doing this, and I had gotten her prior consent. I leaned in real close and looked right into her sparkling and bubbly eyes which weren’t really reflective of someone who was being beaten half to death. It was probably because I was paying her a premium for her services that she looked so exhilarated. “I told you before, didn’t I? One more mistake and you’ll definitely feel my wrath.”

“I… I…” she stuttered. It was almost convincing to me as well.

Some of the maids couldn’t bear to watch and left the scene, the others rushed to get the mansion’s doctor for afterwards. Basically, they all had a horrified image of me.

“Look here, bitch,” I pointed towards the broken vase. “That thing is probably worth more than your life.”

She glanced down and for a second she looked like she was actually calculating how much that vase might’ve been worth. I didn’t buy it, so I wasn’t sure either, but she had a knack for money. She was the kind of girl who’d do almost anything for money. Heck, the first time I met her was when she was working at a brothel, and not one of those classy ones either but the kind you’d find in the deepest parts of the slums. Apparently, she was trying to make money to afford her younger brother’s medicine and treatment. I felt bad for her and hired her on as well as sending her brother to a more professional hospital since what he had was an illness and not something my healing magic could cure. In any case, I heard she was receiving letters often from her brother and he was doing a lot better than before, so that’s all good.

“Umm… I’ll… I’ll pay for it…”

“How the hell do you think you’ll pay for it?” I shook my head. “…Actually, you’re right. Maybe I should just sell you off to a slaver to cover the cost, you dumb broad.” I then turned to all the other maids who were still looking. “What the hell are you all standing around for?! Get back to work!” when I shouted they all dispersed like rats.

*

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*

“Hehe! How was my acting, young master?” Claudia asked as she embraced me from behind. I could feel her bodily warmth permeating against my back and the softness of her breasts bouncing behind me. “I did good, right?” As I said, the girl wasn’t injured in any way and everything had been an act.

See, since I’m the eldest son of the ruthless Blackbridge family, I had to keep up my image as an arrogant and heartless young master in front of my family. My parents and siblings genuinely didn’t care I was about to kill a maid, in fact they didn’t even show up to defuse the situation. Suffice it to say, they weren’t very good people, and if I showed even a hint of weakness or compassion in front of them they’d no doubt cast doubt on me. It was no surprise, my father was an executive member of an evil cult, so expecting any sort of humanity from someone who was fully willing to betray his own race was a moot point.

I stopped thinking about such a depressing thing and looked over to Claudia who had a large smile on her face. “Yes, yes, you did very well,” I told her as I pet her head and handed over a small pouch of gold. Honestly, I don’t think she needed the money that urgently anymore since her brother was being looked after, but apparently she just also liked money in general. Well, money was also something I inherited along with all the stats of the game. I had so much money that I could probably destroy the empire’s economy with it.

“Oh, by the way young master, I heard you were getting married.”

I wondered when she even got the opportunity to hear that; I only heard it just a few minutes ago. Not only acting, but her reconnaissance abilities were frighteningly advanced as well. Maybe she knows all about how my family is tied to a dangerous underground cult too.

“Unfortunately,” I sighed.

“Then, does that mean I can’t work with you anymore?”

“Are you worried I’ll stop payment for your brother’s treatment? Don’t worry, I’ll keep going until he’s all better.”

“That’s not really what I meant…” she turned her gaze away and made a small but noticeable frown.

“Huh? Then what do you mean?”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, you dense idiot.”

“Huh?” I was so lost.

Disregarding the difference between our status of noble and commoner, this haughty little maid jumped onto her master’s bed without a care in the world. She flung her shoes off and sloppily left her socks hanging by the rails. “How lucky~ I wonder when I can get married to a rich, handsome young man~” she said sarcastically.

“I don’t know either, but you probably shouldn’t aim for any of the nobles in the empire. They’re all corrupt and have terrible personalities because of their upbringing.” When I said that Claudia gave me a dirty look like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Maybe go for a merchant? Preferably one who works outside the Empire.”

She let out a lengthy sigh and shook her head. “Stupid!” she threw one of her socks at me. “Forget it!”