How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“Uh, what?”

Vinny was a little dumbfounded. How did it suddenly turn into his suite being invaded by this many people??

Aesphyra doing her usual rabble-rousing was one thing. But once Isatia heard, she said she was coming too, and even Mirexia—Mirexia, who had never liked joining in on crowds and had no idea what counted as a fun group activity—was saying she wanted him to teach her how to play.

“Is it not allowed?” Mirexia looked straight at Vinny.

“It’s allowed, of course it’s allowed. I just mean, Mirexia, you don’t really like these board-and-table games, do you?” Vinny asked, confused.

“I want to try.”

Faced with Vinny’s question and Aesphyra’s amused, sizing-up look, Mirexia turned her gaze away.

“Ah, well, in that case, of course it’s fine.”

Vinny counted heads. Five people. That was perfectly enough to play a full game.

Anyway, it wasn’t like they had anything better to do. And with Mirexia here, maybe he and Shicodale wouldn’t have to sit under low pressure the whole time, right?

“Hey, hey, excuse me, has this Princess been ignored or what?”

Milian stood with her hands on her hips, pink little mouth pouting, clearly unhappy about being collectively treated as air.

“What, you want to come join the chaos too?” Vinny glanced at Milian. “Your Highness the Princess, I should warn you, there are cockroaches in my room. Big ones.”

“Tch! Don’t try to scare this Princess. And so what if there are? You think this Princess would be scared of some chirping little bug like that??”

Milian’s whole body shivered, but she still forced herself to talk big.

“Oh? Sure enough, having classmate Dale around really makes a difference. Even Princess Milian isn’t afraid of cockroaches anymore,” Vinny teased, openly making fun of the real reason Milian was insisting on squeezing her way into the game.

“Y-you really are an ill-mannered guy!”

Milian’s cheeks flared red in an instant.

Vinny gave Milian a look, then walked over to his own door and opened it with his key.

He stepped out of his shoes and onto the soft carpet. Behind him, the girls all followed him in, taking off their shoes at the entryway. One by one, black stockings, white stockings, and white ankle socks padded onto the soft floor cushions.

Come to think of it, like this, he was actually the only boy in the room, huh?

Even if, on the surface, it was “two boys,” him and Shicodale.

Very soon, everyone was gathered around the low table in the living room.

“Everyone, please have some tea.”

The moment Shicodale stepped inside, he seemed to automatically realize his role. He found tea leaves, poured a cup of tea for each guest, and brought them over on a tray.

“Hehe, thank you, Dale,” Milian said as she took her cup with a big grin, radiating the smug air of a celestial mutt thinking, She poured tea for me, she definitely still has me in her heart.

“Hey, white-haired nutball, which game did you mean?”

Vinny had taken all the board and tabletop games stored in the cupboard out and lined them up together.

“Vinny, you’ve never played board games before?” Aesphyra picked up one of them, a game called Divine Authority Mission.

“Never.”

“Don’t you play cards with your buddies every day?”

“Being able to play cards doesn’t mean you can play board games, okay? They’re not the same thing at all.” Vinny shot Aesphyra a look. “You like this one? I really couldn’t tell you had this kind of hobby.”

“I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never played it.”

“You’ve never played it? You’ve never played and you’re the one who suggested it?” Vinny raised a brow.

“But I’ve watched other people play it a lot before. I’ve looked into the rules. For this kind of board game, you don’t need some special study. You look once and you know how, don’t you?”

Aesphyra hugged the game box in both arms, her tone pure “Isn’t that obvious?”

“Tch, that tone of yours really is as punchable as always.” Vinny pursed his lips.

“Mhmhmm.”

Aesphyra hugged the game and came back to the table.

Vinny glanced around and saw everyone had already picked their own spots and even started chatting among themselves.

“Long time no see, Princess Isatia,” Mirexia, who was sitting next to Isatia, greeted her.

“I’ve been well. But inside the Academy, you don’t need to address me as ‘Princess,’ Mirexia,” Isatia nodded and added.

The table was very low, and the sofas were designed low as well, so everyone was half-curled up into the cushions.

Shicodale had sat down next to Mirexia. Since Vinny and Aesphyra had gone to fetch the game boxes, the two of them were the last to take their seats, and Aesphyra ended up sitting next to Vinny.

“All right then, everyone should more or less know the rules of Divine Authority Mission, right?”

Aesphyra sat down, found herself a spot, and set the game box on the table, opening it.

“This Princess hasn’t played before and doesn’t really get it. Could you explain it in detail?” Milian raised her hand.

“Me neither,” Shicodale also raised his hand weakly.

“Of course. But if I only explain it in words, it might be hard to grasp. Rather than that, I think the professional written explanation is more precise.”

As she said this, Aesphyra took the little instruction leaflet that came with the game box and handed it to Milian and Shicodale.

Seeing that it was just a small sheet of paper, the two of them were visibly relieved. But when they unfolded it—

They realized that this “small sheet” had been folded several times. Once spread open, it was not small at all, and the text printed on it was very fine, crammed edge to edge, so dense it made their scalps tingle just to look at it.

So the rules were that complicated?

Vinny felt like this instruction sheet was more terrifying than a textbook. Just looking at it was enough to make a person feel dizzy.

“Vinny, you’re not all that familiar with the rules either?” Aesphyra asked.

“They’re... fine. I only know the most basic rules.” Vinny pressed his lips together.

“In that case, everyone, it’s all right even if you feel the rules are too complicated. Once we start playing, you’ll get it as we go.” Aesphyra chuckled softly.

“So, let’s begin. We’ll pick our roles first.”

Saying that, Aesphyra began taking the pieces out of the box one by one.

The shapes of these pieces looked a little similar to chess pieces: the upper half was a small statue, and the lower half a cylindrical base.

“All right, pick your roles, everyone. Take a look and see which one suits you better. Each role has its own skills and opportunities,” Aesphyra said as she laid the pieces out in front of them.

Isatia seemed more familiar with the rules. Without even really looking, she chose the piece whose figure was that of a grand duke leaning on a sword.

“Ah, excellent eye, Isatia. That piece represents the Guardian. Its original model is the Protector Grand Duke of the Tyrelis Empire, Flaret Lanteville, your ancestor.”

“At the time, thanks to his outstanding military achievements, Grand Duke Flaret was called ‘the Fortress Wall of the Tyrelis Empire,’ so the Guardian’s image was modeled after him.

“Looks like you’ve played Divine Authority Mission quite a bit, Isatia. You went straight for Grand Duke Flaret as if by habit.” Aesphyra smiled with narrowed eyes.

“Mm. I’m used to it,” Isatia said, not bothering to elaborate.

“Then I’ll pick this one.”

Vinny watched as Aesphyra picked up the piece of a burly man wearing a crown and holding a scepter.

Vinny knew the piece Aesphyra had taken. It was called the Supreme God-Emperor, modeled after the eternal great emperor of the Tyrelis Empire, Lexius Carillian.

For this white-haired nutball to pick that one—yeah, that was definitely on purpose.

If you asked how he knew, it was because he’d played this game before with Ferdi. Ferdi was a genuine professional player—Divine Authority Mission included. Ferdi was the one who’d introduced it to him. That guy played everything, from cards to board games; there was nothing he wasn’t proficient at.

Well, aside from studying. Outside of studying, he seemed to be very accomplished in every kind of eating, drinking, and fun.

On the other side, Milian and Shicodale had, at first glance, both taken a liking to the two beautiful elves holding the sun and the moon in their hands—respectively, the King of the Golden Elves and the King of the Moon Elves.

...Huh?

Vinny was a bit taken aback.

Was that a coincidence? How were all of them managing to pick the most on-the-nose roles for themselves??

“Vinny, can I pick this one?”

Sitting beside him, Mirexia hesitated for a moment, then turned her gaze toward a duke with dragon wings.

“Of course,” Aesphyra said with a bright smile. “That piece is called the Dragon King. It’s modeled after your ancestor, dear Mirexia, so it suits you perfectly~”

And with that, only Vinny hadn’t chosen his role yet.

Vinny glanced over the board. A few roles were still left, but the first one his gaze landed on was the girl with pure, spotless angel wings, hands clasped in devout prayer.

The others also noticed that he hadn’t picked a role yet. They all turned their attention to him—and, following his line of sight, saw the piece he was looking at.

“The Dawn Saintess. Vinny, are you going to choose that one?” Aesphyra suddenly asked.

Vinny didn’t know why, but when he heard that question, his heart thumped sharply once. He couldn’t tell if it was something in Aesphyra’s tone that was off.

What made it feel even more meaningful was that, when Aesphyra asked that, Milian and Shicodale still looked fairly calm, but Mirexia and Isatia’s gazes instantly shot toward Vinny.

All at once, Vinny felt like cold sweat was pouring down his back and the pressure on him had spiked. It was obviously just a board game, yet he felt as if his entire life was being cross-examined.

“It’s fine. I think that piece suits you really well, Vinny~ That way everything will line up perfectly,” Aesphyra said, resting her chin on one hand.

“Uh, I... ah, I think I’ll pass, actually, haha. I don’t think it really suits me that much.”

After a brief silence, under the three girls’ stares, Vinny tried to laugh it off.

“How does it not suit you?” Mirexia asked. “You’re a descendant of House of Facilis.”

“It’s not that it doesn’t suit. It’s just... I feel like that piece has a really high difficulty curve. I can’t handle it,” Vinny said with a smile, declining as he reached toward the other pieces.

“I’ll just play something else. Another role fits me better. The other pieces aren’t as hard to pilot, haha.”

Right then, the lights suddenly went out.

“Eh?!”

“Waa—what’s going on??” Milian and Shicodale’s twin yelps followed right after.

The two of them had shouted so loudly, and the sudden plunge into pitch-black had been so abrupt, that Vinny also jumped. His hand slipped, his body jolted—and he heard a clack and a crack in quick succession.

“What the hell?” Vinny felt just as baffled.

“The mana supply must have been unstable. The magic-element feed cut out,” Isatia analyzed calmly. “There’s no need to panic.”

Sure enough, almost as soon as Isatia finished speaking, the lights flicked back on and resumed their normal glow.

Vinny could now see Milian across from him, huddled like a little kid seeking protection, as well as Shicodale, trembling.

On the other side, Mirexia, Isatia, and Aesphyra all wore composed, calm expressions.

They’d gotten this scared over a power cut?

Vinny had no idea what to say to that. But it was probably just a small accident. The game could continue.

He went to choose his role again—only to realize the piece he’d been about to pick had disappeared.

“Wait, where’s my piece?” Vinny froze.

“It’s right here.”

Aesphyra picked up several pieces from under the table, all of which had been broken into multiple segments, and held them up. “Vinny, are you that afraid of the dark? When it went black just now, you slammed the table too hard and smashed all these pieces to bits.”

“Eh? No way, these things break that easily? They’re that flimsy?” Vinny complained.

“There’s nothing to be done. These are all magic pieces. The internal workings are very delicate. The more precise something is, the easier it is to break,” Aesphyra explained. “Who told you to be so scared of the dark?”

“Don’t talk nonsense, I’m not scared of the dark! I just— the lights going out like that all of a sudden was too unexpected!” Vinny protested.

“How’s that any different?”

“Fine, fine. So what do we do now?” Vinny said, black lines all over his face.

“What do we do? Vinny, you’re out of options. Isn’t there still one piece left on the table?” Aesphyra looked at the single remaining magic piece that Vinny hadn’t sent flying.

“Ah?”

Vinny noticed it too. Just now, he’d somehow managed to slap every other piece clean off the table. The only one that had stayed put, unbroken, was the piece of the Dawn Saintess.

“...What?” Vinny was stunned.

Okay, this was way too much of a coincidence. Why??

How had he not managed to slap that one away when the lights went out just now??

“There’s no helping it, Vinny. You don’t have any choice now.”

As she spoke, Aesphyra deftly moved her slender, jade-like fingers and gently set the Dawn Saintess piece down in front of him.

“This is your only option.”

Vinny fell silent. The piece was facing him head-on. He stared at the angelic girl in front of him, silently praying with flawless white wings, and only after a long moment did he resign himself and pick it up.

...Hm? Wait. Didn’t this Saintess look kind of familiar?

“Vinny, your piece is modeled after the Dawn Saintess, Selena Facilis.”

Ah.

So that’s why she’d looked familiar.

It was Selena.

The game began.

Once Aesphyra set up the board and flipped the magic switch, an image appeared floating over the board.

After everyone placed their pieces at their starting positions, the projection displayed the “true forms” of their roles. The others couldn’t help calling it high-end—this was practically the same as those projection games from his previous life.

Each role had its own entrance animation. For example, Isatia’s Guardian role had an animation where a city was gathered into his palm as he drew his sword and appeared. Mirexia’s Dragon King descended from the heavens through a storm of dragonfire.

Only Vinny, watching the projection of a spotless Selena bathed in holy light, radiating flawless sacredness, untarnished by even a speck of dust, fell silent.

He couldn’t help thinking: who even was this “Dawn Saintess” supposed to be?

First of all, you could rule out Selena. There was no way Selena was like that.

All he could say was: a game was still just a game. Its authenticity was highly questionable.

Aside from looking like Selena, did the girl in that projection have anything at all to do with the real Selena?