The shield crumpled inward like crushed paper. Behind it, Steve coughed up blood and went flying.
With [Force Burst], which dealt damage to the inside of the body, and [Darkness], which doubled the final damage on top of that…
It was never the kind of attack some ordinary student could endure.
“Steve!”
“Selin! Watch out!”
“What…?!”
Crack!
Selin took my punch head-on and dropped unconscious on the spot. The most troublesome tank and the archer were dealt with easily enough.
All that remained were the swordsman and the dagger-wielding support dealer.
“Hmm… This fight’s already over, isn’t it? Could you maybe go easy on my friend?”
“Well, as long as she doesn’t resist.”
“Shut up and die!”
Then I can’t exactly go easy on you, can I?
Just as I dodged the girl’s charge and was about to counterattack, the boy rushed in and threw himself around her protectively.
“Lance! You…!”
“See you in a bit, Princess.”
Crack!
The boy took my punch and collapsed while still holding the girl in his arms.
As for the girl struggling beneath him, I finished her off with [White Lightning].
‘Well, I’d say this still counts as going easy.’
Now that the battle was over, it was time to collect the spoils. I walked around and gathered up their headbands.
They must have fought quite a few battles already, because they were carrying a surprisingly large number of them.
Ten in total. For the time and effort I’d spent, it was a very profitable fight.
“Keke, this doesn’t feel very good.”
Friendship, love, and sacrifice.
Maybe it was because I’d just watched something straight out of a youth drama.
My role here was… yes, wasn’t I the villain who made their relationships even stronger?
I stared blankly at the fallen students. Even unconscious, each couple was still holding hands tightly.
The sight made one corner of my mouth curl up on its own.
“And if I’m going to play the villain, I ought to do the job properly.”
Grunting with effort, I dragged the students around and adjusted their positions so their hands were linked together.
Of course, the combinations were different from before.
Steve was holding Fran’s hand, and Selin was holding Lance’s.
“Keke, now this is finally worth looking at.”
Netorare. More commonly known as NTR.
The genre that stands at the polar opposite of pure love, where your spouse or lover gets taken away by someone else.
Hm? You’re asking why I’m tormenting these innocent kids?
‘While some people are struggling to survive, you lot are busy fooling around and dating?!’
…No, that wasn’t it. This was all for the sake of supporting their pure and innocent love.
‘Love needs adversity, after all.’
The more hardship a couple overcomes, the stronger their love becomes.
That was all this was for. Much as I hated it, I was simply forced to take on the role of the villain.
“Kekeke…”
Wake up and despair! Let misunderstandings pile up until your relationship falls apart!
Maybe it was because I’d gotten too immersed in the villain role. Even my laughter and thoughts had started sounding like a proper bad guy’s.
I just hope no one misunderstands. I truly am cheering for their love from the bottom of my heart.
I was smiling to myself, imagining the future waiting for them, when—
“Urk…!”
I heard someone retching.
When I turned around, I saw a girl with one hand braced against a tree, dry-heaving.
“Miss Yuridia?”
One of the main leads of this game, and a magical genius.
She was someone who normally carried herself with a cleanliness and poise rivaling even Teron. And yet there she was, vomiting in front of other people.
Had she seen a giant cockroach or something?
“There are a lot of bugs in the forest, after all. I do have some bug spray… would you like some? It’s not free, of course.”
“Shut up! This is because of you!”
I see. So I was the giant cockroach. In that case, should I be the one getting sprayed?
Damn slit-eyed brat.
I was just pretending to spray myself when—
Yuridia, who had been retching for a while now, suddenly straightened up and shouted.
“How could you do something this disgusting?! Polluting pure love like that!”
Oh, so that’s what this was about?
Looks like she couldn’t handle the flavor of NTR.
I thought she was pretty well-versed in this sort of thing, but maybe not.
“Keke, to be this shaken over something so mild… you still have a long way to go.”
“You’re the weird one here, Zero! A genre like that should never be allowed to exist in this world!”
“You never know. Once you try it, you might find it’s got a certain appeal.”
“As if! I’m disappointed in you! I knew you were a pervert, but not this bad… Come at me! I’ll teach you the aesthetics of pure love!”
Yuridia pulled out her staff and took an offensive stance.
At a time when every extra headband mattered, she was really trying to preach the beauty of pure love to me.
She was troublesome in more ways than one.
‘I can’t afford to waste time here.’
I’d love to flick her forehead, but Yuridia was one of the main cast.
Naturally, she had a role to play in this episode too.
The moment I turned to head deeper into the forest—
Crackle!!
Sparks burst in front of me, and crimson mana took shape as a line of electric wire, blocking the way.
And it wasn’t just in front of me. A full ten-meter radius around Yuridia had been fenced off.
“Ohohoho! It may look simple, but this is a combination of no less than three techniques! Even you, Zero, won’t get through this easily!”
She was right.
Lightning, area control, and restraint. A magic spell that fused all three into one: [Electro Cage].
It was Yuridia’s exclusive magic, normally usable from level 30 onward.
‘That’s a spell she shouldn’t be able to use yet at this point…’
Looks like her level had risen quite a bit while we were clearing several hidden pieces together.
The first party members growing faster than expected was a good sign.
The problem was—
‘This is troublesome.’
[Wandering Storm] was a skill that nullified ranged attacks. It couldn’t nullify magic that designated an area like this.
Since this was a sustained spell, knocking out the caster would naturally make it disappear…
‘Even if I don’t take Yuridia’s headband, that doesn’t mean she’ll be safe from elimination.’
What if someone else stole her headband while she was unconscious?
That would be the end of it. But I couldn’t just stay here by her side until she woke up either.
Still, thankfully for me, I had a way to break through this kind of situation.
“Keke, how about we put this fight off for later? It seems a little too soon for us to be fighting each other.”
“This isn’t a fight. It’s part of your education. I’m going to teach you the aesthetics of pure love.”
“I see. Very well. To think you’d pick a fight with me over something so trivial… It seems you’ve forgotten who I am.”
The moment I activated [Eye Opening], Yuridia flinched.
Then I turned on [Ominous Aura], [Demon’s Blood], and [Darkness], which I usually kept OFF, and Yuridia began to tremble.
The signature trait—and greatest weapon—of the slit-eyed character: bluffing. Pure intimidation.
“I understand. I always play around, so I must’ve seemed easy to you.”
But—
“It would be a problem if you forgot that I’m strong.”
Not for my sake.
“For yours, Miss Yuridia.”
Maybe reality had finally sunk in, because Yuridia bit her lip.
If she stubbornly held her ground here and lost, it wouldn’t just be a simple defeat between faction leaders.
She’d be handing power over to the Teron faction and the Victoria faction, and on top of that, she’d score zero on the exam.
Even things within her family would become complicated.
‘Yuridia is a character who carries a burden of responsibility every bit as heavy as Teron’s.’
Which meant that picking a fight with me here just to teach me the aesthetics of pure love should have been unthinkable.
“Keke, the one fortunate thing is that you still haven’t crossed the line. In fact, you’re standing right on it. Ahh, what a relief, wouldn’t you say?”
With the trademark sly smile of a squinty-eyed character, I pointed at the electric wire blocking my path.
Clear this away, and I’ll let it slide—that was the message.
But the moment I heard Yuridia’s answer, my eyes widened.
“…I can’t back down.”
I couldn’t believe it. Yuridia was smart.
She was the kind of character who could throw away her pride without hesitation for the sake of something bigger.
So why was she being this stubborn now?
The reason was shocking.
“Because I… have a responsibility to protect Miss Luna.”
I see. So that’s what this was about.
‘If I back off here, I won’t be able to pry Luna out of his grasp. Something like that, I guess.’
Honestly, I was a little moved.
Yuridia was a character who always aimed for fights she could win.
If an opponent was even slightly stronger than her, she’d avoid the fight or redirect things elsewhere.
And yet here she was, challenging the impossible.
That meant she’d grown a step further, both as a character and as a person.
“Impressive. In honor of that resolve, I’ll let this one go. We’ll call it a draw.”
“…I don’t need that.”
Was she humiliated? Yuridia lowered her head as she refused.
How was I supposed to satisfy her and get out of this situation? I was mulling it over when—
“You’re going to force those perverted desires on Miss Luna too, aren’t you?!”
“Excuse me?”
“A harem would be one thing… but NTR?! As Luna’s best friend, I absolutely cannot allow it! I’m going to defeat you here and protect Miss Luna’s heart… her pure love!”
That’s why she wouldn’t back down?
All the emotion I’d felt vanished instantly. This wasn’t someone growing as a person.
She’d just grown one level deeper into being an otaku.
“Pure love is supreme! I’ll definitely win and tell everyone about this battle today!”
The moment I saw Yuridia’s proud smile, all sorts of memories came flooding back.
‘Come to think of it…’
The one who spread rumors that Luna and I were in a relationship.
The one who twisted facts and spread lies.
The founder of the “Love Aid Club.”
The academy’s rumor loudspeaker.
The academy world’s very own cyber wrecker.
Every single one of those crimes had been committed by the Yuridia standing right in front of me.
As I remembered all the humiliation and damage I’d suffered because of her, my fists clenched on their own.
She said she’d teach me the aesthetics of pure love, did she? In that case, I—
“I’ll teach you the aesthetics of NTR.”
The legendary geniuses of the academy.
The leaders of each faction.
The aesthetics of pure love versus NTR.
A battle with everything on the line, worthy of an all-out bloodbath—
Did not happen.
“Eek! That’s cheating! Fight me again!”
Bound in rope, Yuridia wriggled furiously.
That’s right. The fight had ended in my victory.
And it had been absurdly easy.
“[Wandering Storm]?! If you’d learned something like that, you should’ve said so beforehand!”
[Wandering Storm], the skill that nullified ranged attacks. For a mage like Yuridia, it was the worst possible matchup.
‘I kept turning [Wandering Storm] OFF from time to time too… so it took her even longer to notice.’
By the time she realized something was wrong, she was already out of mana.
And a mage without mana was weaker than a rabbit, so subduing her was easy.
“Fight me again. Uwaaaaaah!”
Yuridia started rolling from side to side, bawling her eyes out.
For a caterpillar, she had a pretty impressive cry.
“Sniff… the aesthetics of pure love… Pure love lost to NTR… this can’t beeeeee!”
…That’s why she was crying?
I’d wasted far too much time here. Before I knew it, the sun had already begun slipping behind the mountains.
“Uwaaaaaaah!!”
What am I supposed to do with this pure-love otaku?
–TL Notes–
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This chapter was well worth the wait!!!
Zero enjoying his academy life to the fullest! But what fearsome hidden liece did you trigger this time Zero!? The Live Aid club haven’t even reach it final form yet!