Survival Strategies of a Corrupt Aristocrat: Volume 3 (eBook)

Wanta (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-0550-2 (ISBN)

Infos

I defended Fourth Village, dealt with traitors, and got myself a fiancée, but my life as Jack Girard, the protagonist of Survival Strategies of a Corrupt Aristocrat, is still full of problems. Even as I resolve issues in my territory with the help of Adele-the strongest supporting character in the game-and Julianne-my fiancée, who isn't a character in the game-the threat of Baron Dulac's invasion still looms over us. To counter it, I decided to ask the hero (Seravimia) to send me some help, but she just ended up coming herself! A brutal war is about to begin, but I'll survive no matter what. Just you wait! I'm definitely gonna live a life in the lap of luxury!

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I defended Fourth Village, dealt with traitors, and got myself a fiancee, but my life as Jack Girard, the protagonist of Survival Strategies of a Corrupt Aristocrat, is still full of problems. Even as I resolve issues in my territory with the help of Adele-the strongest supporting character in the game-and Julianne-my fiancee, who isn't a character in the game-the threat of Baron Dulac's invasion still looms over us. To counter it, I decided to ask the hero (Seravimia) to send me some help, but she just ended up coming herself! A brutal war is about to begin, but I'll survive no matter what. Just you wait! I'm definitely gonna live a life in the lap of luxury!

Textauszug

Prologue: The Only One Who Can Understand Me

Although I’d been born with a weak body and spent most of my time in my room, my past life before becoming Seravimia had ended up being longer than everyone had expected. It hadn’t been fun, though: My body always hurt because of my chronic illness, and most of my days were spent on round trips between my home and the hospital. I did have some acquaintances on the net, but we only talked once every few months, so I wouldn’t really call them friends. Not only had we never gone out somewhere together, we’d never even met in real life.

Anyway, because of this, when I died, I thought I would finally be free, but instead I woke up once again. At first, I despaired at the thought of having to live another harsh life, but that attitude changed completely when I saw my reflection in the window.

That was because the girl reflected in the glass looked like a popular idol.

I touched my hair and enjoyed its silky smooth feeling. I’d lost my hair around half a year before my death because of the chemotherapy I had to go through for my treatment, so I couldn’t stop myself from crying, overcome by emotion.

“I’ve become Seravimia.”

There was no way I would mistake the appearance of the girl I had spent dozens of hours designing. And thanks to that, I immediately understood I had come to the world I had created—the world of Survival Strategies of a Corrupt Aristocrat.

I had made the game to escape from my suffering, and now I had reincarnated as a character from it...or maybe that wasn’t the right term, considering my soul had just entered a soulless husk. Maybe it was more right to call it possession? Either way, that wasn’t important. What was important was that I went from a weak, withering body eaten by illness to a wonderful one, with beautiful skin that was smooth and pale like porcelain, slender but powerful muscles, and an overwhelming amount of mana that simmered like magma inside me.

Not only could I now run without getting out of breath, I could even reach the second floor of a building with a mere jump. While surprised by how light my body felt, I thought about the fun days that were awaiting me in this world.

Unfortunately, my expectations quickly turned to disappointment.

Every character I met acted just like how I had designed their personality, replying exactly how I expected them to, and so I couldn’t bring myself to consider them actual people. It was because I had created them myself that I felt so disgusted. I could only see them as puppets doing as their programs instructed, and my initial exaltation vanished.

However, it was thanks to that that I quickly noticed Baron Girard, who acted differently than I expected and did whatever he wanted. When I realized that he was just like me, someone possessed by a soul from another world, my entire body trembled from the excitement I felt. I was certain that if I were with him, I would be able to enjoy this world. And for that, I needed to make him mine—no matter what.

＊＊＊

I was on my way back from meeting with the king, where I’d told him to stop meddling with Baron Girard behind the scenes, walking down the main street of the capital together with the elf sisters of the Verdant Wind. The street was filled with people and full of life—but none of them had a soul.

“Say, Lady Seravimia. Why are you helping Baron Girard?” asked Lily, the little sister, with a perplexed expression.

In order to show them how important Baron Girard was to me, I had brought the Verdant Wind sisters to my meeting with the king. That meant they had also seen me threatening him with my sword, so of course she would wonder why I would go so far for Baron Girard.

“You’re curious too, Olivia?” I asked the older sister.

“Well, just a little,” she replied. Her words made it look like she didn’t particularly care, but it was obvious that she was actually very interested from the way she was staring at me to hear more.

I could tell them why Baron Girard was so special to me, but they would never understand. There was no way they could. So I decided to answer vaguely without telling the true reason. “Let’s just say that I’m interested in him.”

“What?!” Lily exclaimed. “Do you like his face or something?”

“Not at all.”

“Then why are you interested in him?!”

“Because he’s the only one who can understand me.”

“What does that mean? Can you explain?”

“Nope. You need to think about it yourself.”

“Hmm...” Lily put her hand against her chin and started to ponder.

I knew, however, that she would quickly give up—I’d created dumb characters that weren’t able to think about complex things. No matter what, she would never try to get smarter. I’d even tried to give her books, but she never read a single line. I’d also thought that maybe making her stronger would make her change, so I had her fight against monsters to increase her mana and taught her advanced spells, but her core personality—the very nature of who she was—never changed.

As for the people walking in the street, while I hadn’t made a detailed setting for them like the elf sisters and other named characters, I had made a general outline for the population. Mob characters followed that outline as they lived, so they weren’t that different from the rest—moving dolls.

I really want to see Baron Girard again as soon as possible.

“I still don’t get it, but I do understand that he’s important to you. Are you closer to him than to us?” Lily asked.

“No, but I want to get closer to him,” I replied.

However, despite my wish, I had a big flaw: Because of my shut-in life, I didn’t know how to make friends. Just how could I get closer to Baron Girard?

Our meeting had gone rather well, in my opinion. I had slowly cornered him during our conversation, then acted as though I truly wanted to kill him, which must have left a deep impression on him. Moreover, I had talked about my perfect world to draw his interest and withdrew without making a fuss to preserve his dignity, so he should think highly of me as a mysterious and tactful woman.

Thinking about it, it didn’t just go “rather well”—it went perfectly. Yep, I’m sure of it. But... I don’t know what to do after that. Just how do I get closer to him? I need to know.

“Say, how do you think I could get closer to Baron Girard?” I asked Lily the chatterbox. She might only be acting as I had designed her, but her knowledge should still be useful, and it was better to ask someone than try to search for an answer I couldn’t find on my own.

“Personally, I think it’s better to not be too polite. It’s easier to feel close to someone when you speak to them less formally!” Lily suggested.

I see. Didn’t expect such decent advice from Lily.

I didn’t want him to hate me, so I’d been pretty polite during our meeting, but I should be less formal if I wanted to get closer to him. I could try being more casual next time, since it wouldn’t be our first encounter.

“You can also try depending on him! You know how weak men are to requests from women!” she added.

“Really?”

“Yep! If you ask cutely, he should agree to just about anything!”

“That only works for women who behave innocently,” interjected Olivia. “I don’t think it’d work for Lady Seravimia, considering how she usually acts.”

I hadn’t been sure about the advice, so I was thankful for Olivia’s intervention. Indeed, I was different from Lily, so I didn’t think asking for something cutely would work for me.

Yeah, I shouldn’t do that. It would be too unlike me.

“Ah, yeah, you’re right. If Lady Seravimia tried to ask for something, it would sound like an order,” Lily agreed.

“You need to be careful. If you give advice that doesn’t suit the person, it might have the opposite effect,” Olivia warned her sister, who pursed her lips, sulking.

“Then what should she do? She can give a crazy oppressive feeling when she stays quiet, and her heart is a little ug—”

“Lily?!” Olivia quickly covered her sister’s mouth in panic.

I didn’t hear the last bit, so I wondered what the issue was. “What were you saying about my heart?”

“That you have a heart of gold, so I’m sure he will notice your good points if he spends time with you!” Olivia said instead of her sister.

“Really?”

“Yes! Don’t you think so too, Lily?”

Lily nodded repeatedly, her mouth still sealed.

Well, if the two sisters with distinct personalities thought I was fine as I was, then I supposed there shouldn’t be a problem if I acted true to myself with Baron Girard. Now I wanted to see him even more. But I had to endure the urge. I was the hero, so anything I did would cause him trouble. If I wanted to meet him, I needed to do it in a way that nobody would notice.

I’m in a really constrained position...

“You sure it’s fine to say something like that, Sis?”

“If I didn’t, it would have ended badly...”

“Well, that’s true, but...”

...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.7.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Survival Strategies of a Corrupt Aristocrat
• Illustrationen: Wanta
• Übersetzer: Wanta
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: Antihero • evil nobility • Master and servant • morally ambiguous protagonist • Reincarnation • Video game world
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-0550-8 / 1718305508
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-0550-2 / 9781718305502