Chapter three:

Did you think fate could be overturned?

The ‘Royal Pallas Academy’ wasn’t a place where one went to learn general knowledge, it was a more specialized institution – akin to a university - for the training of the next generation of knights, mages, and everything in between. Most of the students held aspirations to join one of the empire’s elite military order after graduation, while those who dropped out or just didn’t make the cut could still find work as an adventurer. Due to the relatively high hurdle of the entrance examination and the advanced materials they taught there, even people who didn’t graduate were still highly regarded within wider society.

On the exterior it was an institution which didn’t discriminate a person based on their status but judged them on their competency and talent. ‘Laughable’, I remembered thinking when I first heard about it, because it was pure hypocrisy and lies; almost 60% of the student body were made up of nobles who had vastly superior education from a young age, meaning the level of classism was quite severe. The commoners who got into the academy due to their sheer talent were often made for fools because they lacked the resources to properly train and direct those abilities, while the nobles who coasted off their parent’s money all acted like pricks. Of course, I was one of them.

It went deeper than just this though. The nature of nobility within the empire was inherently quite volatile; there were far more factions and interest groups than just nobles and commoners. The abyssal cult, the dread cult, the royalist faction, the commoners, the reformists, and what have you. The academy was a spawning pool of talent where each of these factions could harvest for their next generation of devotees while watching out for the movements of their enemies. In some ways it could be said that the academy environment itself was a microcosm of the empire’s predicament.

Now, none of this actually mattered for the time being as the academy was on break for the end of the year festival that happens… well, at the end of every year. The current date was December 15th, and normal classes were set to resume mid-January of next year. This gave me a bit of time to plan out my future actions.

… Or so I believed until I was called out to my father’s study once more. I always hated coming here due to the depressing smell and general atmosphere of it. Shelf after shelf of ominous looking books which gave off a dusty scent of aged paper, along with the foreboding presence of the master of the room. It genuinely impressed me how he could sit in here for days at a time working on who knows what – probably some future plans for taking over this empire.

“I have a job for you,” he told me as soon as I entered his study. There was no pleasantry in his voice, and whenever we talked it had always been about work. Personally, it was better this way as I didn’t want to view this man as my father or a human, and it’d make it much easier to do what I have to do in the future.

“Of course, father,” I promptly replied.

He then snapped his fingers and as if on cue a small, malnourished, black-haired child entered the room. He was all skin and bones and I could even see the outlines of his ribcage forming over his ragged clothes. The boy appeared to only be about eight or nine years of age. He looked at me… no, he looked straight past me with those dead eyes that seem to suggest no hope for the future – a ‘good life’ was likely a concept that probably didn’t exist in his mind. The boy said nothing and simply stared back quietly and creepily.

“I need you to deliver that thing to an acquaintance of mine on the western edge of the empire.”

“That thing?” I involuntarily repeated. At that moment, my father glared powerfully back at me for the slightest inclination of insubordination. His gaze was like that of a great dragon’s looking down upon an insignificant ant who had dared to question his choice of wording. I quickly backtracked and apologized, “my apologies, father. It was a slip of the tongue.”

He didn’t press me any further, but I could tell a noose was slowly forming over my neck every time I showed the slightest bit of defiance. The Earl of Blackbridge had always been a ruthless and heartless man; there was one story I heard of how he didn’t hesitate at all in cutting down a subordinate who refused to attack innocent civilians when they got in the way of their mission at the time. Or another time when he burnt down an entire village just to draw out enemy soldiers who were hiding amongst the populace. Suffice it to say, even as his son I didn’t believe there was any redemption to be had with this person. I would never see him eye-to-eye and just trying to wrap my head over how he could so easily steal the lives of other people was giving me a migraine.

I was then handed a small dossier on who I was going to be meeting and what I would have to do. “Your contact is Baron Redcastle, a small time noble who’s overseeing the war against the western barbarians. When you meet him you are to do two things: First, hand over the ‘package’ without incident. Second, take the opportunity to aid him in his ‘work’.”

By this point I had little doubts this 'mission' was something related to the Abyssal Cult. The problem was I never experienced any such events like this from the game, though it was reasonable to assume this was something which happened off-screen. That said, looking at this child felt somehow familiar to me. As someone who played the game so many times I could say with certainty there were no characters matching his description in any of the branching narrative paths, but like before it could be related to background events. Since the game took place from the perspective of Castilon it wasn't out of the question.

Looking at the depressingly skinny child I couldn't help but feel a heart-wrenching amount of pity. I definitely wanted to do something to help his situation, but doing it right in front of my father was just going to make things worse considering how he didn't even view this child as a human being. I temporarily swallowed my sympathies for the boy and acknowledged my father's commands. "Understood, I shall do as you will."

The man glared at me once more, studying me up and down from the tone of my voice to the minute mannerisms in my movement. I was being tested. As of yet I hadn't officially been told anything about the Abyssal Cult, so it was likely this was something of an initiation to see if I was worthy and could be trusted with the revelation. I briefly wondered for a moment if I even wanted to be a part of the cult just to see it from the inside perspective, or if I should just stay outside and watch the narrative from the villain's perspective. Even though the Charon from the game was technically a part of the cult, the reason why I personally didn't want to join them - aside from moral and ethical quandaries - was because it would tarnish my permanent record. The empire was most definitely going to collapse after all this was over, and the cults would also be destroyed, meaning even if I survived through it all I would have to bear the stigma of being one of the villains. There was a difference in being a small time bully and being a member of a cult who tried to kill everyone, one was far, far worse; at least as a minor villain I could just say it was a problem of my upbringing and that I'd fix my ways, the same can't be done if I were to be a member of a heinous cult.

"Do not let me down." That was the final thing my father said to me as I was let go.

*

*

*

"Erm, do you have a name?" I asked the boy as soon as we left my father's study.

"..." There was no answer as the boy looked at me and then turned away.

I wasn't surprised. Considering how he must've lived until now it would be very difficult to open his heart up for anyone, and I definitely didn't want to force him. The Blackbridge family may be made up of criminals and terrible human beings, but at the very least I wanted to be true to the values and morals I have known from my former life. The phrase ‘when in Rome do as the Romans’ was only skin deep for me, and if it came down to it I’d choose my own morals and principles every time.

"It's okay," I told him. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I won't treat you badly because of it, but I hope one day you'll be able open up for me." That day was probably a long ways away though.

"For now… why don't we fix you up first?"

"...?"

"First some food, then we'll give you a bath."

Obviously, we couldn't do it in the mansion since there were eyes and ears everywhere, but that didn't mean there weren't any blind spots around the mansion. Specifically, the small forest which constitutes as the Blackbridge family's 'backyard' was a place people rarely visited. However, I've frequented the place ever since I was young just to get away from all the negative feelings piling inside this horrendous house of horrors. There I made something of a small hideout without anyone's knowledge.

"...!" I picked up the boy in a sort of princess carry and ran out of the mansion before anyone could notice. Since my physical stats were transferred over from the game, it also meant my stealth skills were unparalleled. I could probably dance around naked in front of everyone without having them notice, but doing something like that wasn't the act of a sane person.

"Just relax and leave everything to me," I told the reticent boy.

Perhaps I was going a little too fast because he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Speaking of which, that was one of the things I had to learn the hard way when I realized the abilities of my character from the game was passed down to me. In truth, running extremely fast sounded good and all, but the amount of air resistance which gets into your eyes, nose and mouth makes it rather difficult to operate. I had to teach myself to subconsciously cast an invisible windshield in front of my face just so I could breathe and see properly. I really wished someone taught me about this beforehand. I still remembered the first time I rushed forward and almost killed myself from being winded.

It took me about ten minutes to run all the way out here, but for an average person it might take a few hours if they were to walk at a leisurely pace. Point being, it was far enough out of sight that no one would bother us. There was a steep cliff face which separated the forest into two elevation levels, but my secret hideout was at the base of the cliff where I dug out a small cave with my magic. While I was making it, I was reminded of playing a famous life simulation game and really got into making a small house for myself in this cave and went all out. There was everything needed for proper living conditions: a bedroom with a comfortable bed, a spacious living room, a bathroom which was connected to an underground sewage system - which I custom made using 'cleaner insects' which were large bugs that fed off waste products - and a kitchen with a refrigerator made out of stones and magic.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"This is my secret hideout," I told the boy.

"..."

"Well, don't think too much about it. It's just something I made for fun, but if we're all the way out here those people from the mansion won't notice us." I said, but I don't think he was thinking about that at all. Most likely to the boy I was the same as all the rest. "You're hungry right? Just sit tight and wait a bit; I'll quickly cook something up," I escorted him to the kitchen and sat him down at the dining table.

I pondered what would be good for a bit, but ultimately decided to go with something light. The boy probably hasn't been given a good meal for god knows how long, so feeding him heavy food was probably not good with his weakened stomach. I decided to go with a light vegetable soup and some bread.

After having lived alone for who knows how long in my former life that I had gotten cooking down to a science and was fairly confident in my skills. It took me no more than a few minutes to cook up delicious soup, though making the bread did take a bit longer.

When I placed the soup and bread before him he looked genuinely confused. "You can eat it,” I told him, but I could understand why he was wary. "Are you worried about poisoning?"

"..." He thought about it for a second but shook his head. It was probably the first time he responded to anything I said.

I suppose as an adult I should be the one to take initiative… or would it be better to give him time to himself? No, he's probably starving. I picked up the spoon and scooped some soup and slowly hovered it before his mouth. The boy hesitated for a bit, but after a while he couldn't fight against the smell and hunger. He was hesitant but eventually relented and took a mouthful of the soup which he savoured and swallowed. For a brief second I thought I could see life returning to his eyes, but it quickly faded, perhaps remembering he couldn't trust anyone from the Blackbridge family. I honestly believe that was the correct mentality to hold in order to survive.

"Take your time and eat. No one can hurt you while you're here."

Though he didn't say anything I was glad he could at least eat what was presented to him without being too much on guard. If I slowly increased the portion and quality of his food he should be able to regain his strength back within a month or two. Really, what did those bastards do to make this child so haggard?

It took a while, but eventually he was able to finish off everything. Evident by the empty bowl he was definitely hungry, though one could easily draw that conclusion from his general appearance. Not only that, it was likely the boy was barely given enough to keep himself hygienic and there was no doubt he was suffering from related diseases and illnesses. I wasn't a doctor and my magic pertaining to healing only reached the surface level. For the time, I could surmise the problem was most likely related to his weakened immune system arising from a lack of nutrition and proper care for the body. To start off, I needed to get him cleaned up.

I took the boy’s hand and led him to the washroom. It lacked much in comparison to a modern bathroom, and its size was nothing like the needlessly huge waste of space the nobles of this world used. It was a small, cosy space with a small bathtub carved out of polished stones that I cut with lightning magic. As for the water, there wasn’t a direct source but I could conjure as much as I wanted from ice magic and heating it up with flame magic. It was a bit homely, but in this world I managed to carve out my own small piece of heaven free from the obligations of the Blackbridge house.

“What? This is…” when I stripped the boy down to prepare him for the bath, his whole body was in shambles. Scars and bruises everywhere – I couldn’t even begin to fathom the horrors he’d been through - and there was only skin and bones; it was almost as though a light breeze could break him apart. “Does it hurt?”

“…”

That was a stupid question on my part. Of course it would have.

Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to, there was a limit to how much healing magic could do. It couldn’t heal injuries that have already long set in, and anything past a few days was also incurable. The most I could do was make him feel better with a warm bath and hope his natural regenerative abilities could somehow obfuscate these blemishes as he grew older. Looking at this child’s body, I was reminded that this was more than just a ‘story’, it was reality. It’d be a lie to say I hadn’t been taking things too nonchalantly; to me, this was a familiar story, and no matter what happened everything was predestined to turn out as a happy ending. However, I couldn’t help thinking it was a little naïve. Perhaps things will turn out fine in the end, but while the story was in progress it was all real to the people actually living in this world. The princess, the hero, this boy, even my father, they weren’t just characters and sprites behind a monitor, they were living, breathing entities with thoughts and wills of their own.

I let out a small sigh and helped wash the boy. I siphoned some soap products from the main house and brought it here. Despite being so dirty on the inside those nobles were people who ironically enjoyed keeping their bodies clean. I washed the boy’s hair, then gently cleaned his body, and once he was substantially cleaned up I slowly lowered him into the warm bathtub.

“…!” even this taciturn child couldn’t help but let the heavenly sensation of a warm bath get to him.

I let out a small smirk. “Does it feel good?” I asked from the side. It was unfortunately too small for me to get in with him, but seeing his relaxed expression was enough to make it all feel worth it.

There weren’t any clothes of his size here since I never anticipated this kind of situation, so he had to make do with one of my spare shirts. When fitted on the boy it almost looked like a dress. “Well, your clothes are being washed so you’ll have to manage with this.” At the very least, I didn’t think it would be uncomfortable for him.

I picked the boy up in a bridal carry and took him to the bedroom where a large, woolly bed had been prepared. I’ve personally never actually used it since the bed at the mansion was still more comfortable, but I could at least guarantee some level of pleasantness from this one. Ever since coming into this world my craftsmanship abilities had also improved remarkably if only because it was a hobby of mine from my previous life. I used to buy stuff from IKEA all the time and assemble my own furniture as a hobby, but combined with the strength and dexterity in this life it was made much more fun and efficient.

I placed the boy onto the bed. “It’ll be okay,” I reassured him time and time again. “Take your time and rest.”

“…” he glanced towards me. A small spec of life had returned to him, but I could still tell he was very unsure of the whole situation. If I were in his position I’d probably be rather confused as well. Why was someone from a family who had treated him so harshly suddenly shifted gears and began to treat him nicely? It was bound to be suspicious.

Perhaps he was too guarded to sleep around me, so I decided to take my spot next to him and lied down. “There are many sorts of people in this world. Some are cruel and black hearted, some are not. Me? I think I’m somewhere in between, but at the very least I want to live as a human. I understand if you can’t trust my words – I wouldn’t either – but for now sleep. Sleep and regain your strength. As long as you have strength you can find the will to fight against your destiny.”

Perhaps it was a little hypocritical coming from someone like me who had been born with a platinum spoon in his mouth. Still, I don’t think I was wrong. Even if it was only about as likely as winning the lottery, as long as you’re alive there was always a chance to fight against an ill-fated destiny.

I didn’t know how long it took but eventually the boy fell asleep. I pulled the blanket up to his neck and made sure he was as comfortable as possible. The future for this boy was extremely uncertain, and no doubt the place where my father wanted me to take him wasn’t somewhere he should be. The victory conditions for me this time around was to fool my father while ensuring the boy’s future. If this could be done then I didn’t mind it if the story were derailed a little bit.

Once I made sure the boy was truly asleep I returned back to the mansion.

*

*

*

“Claudia, did you know marriages are the graveyard of life?”

Why did I suddenly bring up the topic of marriage? After taking care of the boy I was feeling a little sappy about my own future and how I should proceed from this point on. I still didn’t figure out a good way to get out of the prospect of marrying into Duke Silverlight’s family. From the perspective of the game there was no need to worry about it since Charon Blackbridge was a character destined to die, but obviously I wasn’t going to off myself in this reality.

I sat at my desk blankly staring into a white wall for the past thirty minutes. Claudia was enjoying herself laying back on my bed while reading up on romance novels and munching down on cookies. No one would look at her and say she was the rumoured maid who’d get brutally beaten up by the young master. You’d think a servant who never did any work and was rarely seen around the mansion would be fired by the estate’s treasurer, but I thankfully managed to pull some strings and kept her employed. I requested under the stipulation I needed ‘stress relief’, and the corrupt people here found nothing wrong with that. There were rumours abound about how I dragged her up to my room to torture her for my own amusement, or how I used her as a punching bag, and all sorts of other terrible, baseless lies. Of course, I did nothing to defuse any of those.

“What are you on about?” she asked.

“Well, didn’t you say previously you were looking to get married?” Claudia was turning twenty this year, meaning she was already at the ripe age where she was starting to seriously think about her own future. “But you know, marriages aren’t all about fun. They’re quite nasty things that bind two people to a cursed life where freedom is non-existent and your hobbies are frowned upon.”

She let out a lengthy sigh. “Please, don’t attribute your corrupted political marriage system to all marriages. I assure you that the union between commoners are way more wholesome and based on mutual trust.” She says, but even amongst the commoners there were things like familial bond and duty to think about, and arranged marriages weren’t uncommon either. She then put the book down and moved over to me, seductively coiling her fingers, and gently caressing my face. “I know. If you’re really that worried about me how about you just take me for yourself?”

“Take you for myself?”

“That’s right. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you know? Here is a kind, beautiful, nubile young woman presenting herself before the young master who has no real prospect of getting a woman to genuinely like him.”

“Aren’t you being a bit too rude?”

“Nonsense,” she crawled closer and nibbled down on my left ear. “I’m being quite honest here.” I could feel the movement of her mouth directly and the warmth of her saliva permeating through my face. In the chaos of everything I had almost forgotten that this woman used to be a prostitute; her seduction techniques were second to none in this country. She moved even closer to embrace me from behind. Her supple breasts made contact with my back and the elasticity was something completely out of this world, to the point I began to doubt my own prior experiences with women in my past life. ‘Were woman always this… bouncy?’ I couldn’t help to wonder. “Well? Do you like it?” she asked in a whispered hush directly into my ear. “If you obediently promise to become mine I wouldn’t mind doing this to you every night,” she said while making obscene hand gestures.

“Stop teasing your master!” I shouted and jumped up. I managed to fight the urge to pin her down to the bed and do what I’d probably regret.

“So violent~ I don’t hate it,” she said as she fell to the bed.

I cleared myself of all wicked thoughts and tried to change the topic. “Anyway, Claudia, I need you to leave this mansion for a while.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I’ve been given a bothersome mission, you see, and I won’t be here for the next few weeks.”

She looked at me with a confused expression. “Okay? Then just take me along with you. There’s no need to kick me out.”

“I can’t do that. The place I’m going to will likely be a warzone, and I’m not confident in my abilities to protect you there.” It’s not that I couldn’t protect her adequately, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it whilst keeping a low profile. For example, I could just cast several layers of protection magic on her and be done with it, but if I did the cultists would definitely notice something was wrong right away. Also, no gamer ever likes escort missions. “Besides, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be separated from your brother for a long period of time either.”

“That’s… well, true, but…”

Claudia was the kind of person who made sure to visit her sickly brother at the clinic where he was being treated every three days. There’s no way someone like her would be fine going out of town for weeks just to tag along with me.

“I’ve rented out a small space next to the clinic for your own convenience,” I explained to her and also handed a large pouch of gold coins. It was about enough money for her to leisurely take a vacation for about a month or two and have plenty left over. “Just think of it as a reward for all the hard work you’ve put in for me.”

She took the money, because of course she did, but still didn’t seem satisfied with the results. Did she want more money?

“Just to be clear. You’re not firing me or anything, and this isn’t severance pay, right?”

“No, nothing like that. I just need to be sure you’ll be safe while I’m gone. To be honest, I don’t trust anyone in this house – not even the other servants – so I want you to stay near your brother.”

She seemed to relent with this. “Fine,” she told me in a pouty tone. “But be sure to come back soon, okay? I can’t have my piggy bank gone for too long.”

“Of course.”