Rumors
The evening of that day, after I’d finished my thorough information-gathering and returned to the dorm, I was greeted by Yas, who had come to visit, and Kenneth, who was currently being harassed by him.
“Hey, buddy. If he’s your roommate, that basically makes him our friend too, right? Don’t you think, Abel?”
“Ahaha… Yas, he looks really uncomfortable. Maybe we should just leave him alone? He might have something urgent to do.”
“Oh, really? Hey. Your name’s Kenneth, right? Am I actually bothering you?”
“…….”
It looked exactly like a group of bullies cornering some timid kid. The crazy bastard who had rampaged like a lunatic in battle was nowhere to be seen. Kenneth stood there tense and silent. Of course he’d be flustered—his room had suddenly been invaded by the protagonist’s party.
I stood by the door, quietly lost in thought, when Abel finally noticed me. He jumped up with a bright smile.
“Luan. You’re back?”
“What!? Luan? Wait, when did you get here? Why the hell do you move around without making any sound?”
“Sigh…”
Only after Abel spoke did Yas finally realize I was there. He made a huge fuss as he rushed over. Kenneth, finally freed, let out a pitiful sigh.
“Why are you blaming me for something you didn’t notice? Anyway, what are you guys doing here?”
I already had a pretty good idea. They must have heard the rumors currently circulating around the academy. And just as I expected, that was exactly why they’d come.
“Luan, we heard some nasty rumors about you. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, dude. Who the hell started spreading crap like that? No matter how much of a scumbag you are, you wouldn’t do something like that. If I catch the bastard, I’ll beat his ass!”
Ever since he’d gained enlightenment back in his hometown and awakened his sword aura, Yas had grown a lot more confident. He was even throwing shadow punches in the air, acting all tough. But… sorry, man. It wasn’t exactly like the rumors said, but I really had already raped seven women. And I’d even killed a few of them. If Yas—who spent every damn day screaming about sex—ever learned the truth, he’d be absolutely horrified. Not that I’d ever let that happen.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing serious.”
“How can we not worry? They’re even spreading weird stuff about you being a transmigrator or whatever.”
“Exactly. I could believe the other stuff—knowing you, it might be possible—but that one came completely out of nowhere. What evidence do they even have to call you a transmigrator?”
“What the hell, man?”
“Whoa, whoa, calm down. I meant it in a good way.”
“Bullshit.”
You look like the type who’d commit rape. What kind of twisted logic made that count as “a good way” to say it? I cursed him out thoroughly before calmly stating my opinion.
“They’re just throwing every dirty trick they can at me to bury me. There’s no evidence to begin with.”
“Luan’s right. When you think about it, they never even named any victims. And the description of the perpetrator’s face is super vague too.”
“What the hell is that? So it’s just bad luck? Dude, maybe you should’ve done some good deeds once in a while.”
Yas glanced at me. The meaning behind that look was crystal clear. It seriously pissed me off.
“Hey, this bastard’s been—”
“Come on, why so mad? Honestly, you’re not exactly a good guy. Am I wrong?”
Yas puffed out his chest proudly, completely shameless. If I let this guy keep running his mouth, I wasn’t going to live a long life.
“No. You’re not wrong. So take this.”
THUD!
Having agreed with his statement, I gladly proved it by slamming my fist into his stomach. I casually ignored Yas as he clutched his gut and collapsed, then turned to continue my conversation with Abel.
“Anyway, I’m already looking into the source of the rumors. I’ll catch the culprit soon. Besides, they can’t actually do anything to me with just gossip.”
“Then we’ll help too. We can catch them faster that way, right?”
“No thanks. Why don’t you focus on studying? Didn’t you bomb your midterms last semester? If you fail again this time, you’re screwed.”
“Ugh! Luan, that’s so mean. Bringing up grades like that…”
We kept chatting about random things until curfew finally arrived.
“Luan. We’ll head out now.”
“If you need help, just say the word. Got it?”
“You get the hell out of here, you bastard. See you later, Abel.”
“Yeah. See you next time!”
Click.
Once Abel and Yas left the room, I felt a cold sensation on the back of my neck and turned halfway around. Kenneth, who had been silently doing something on his bed the entire time we were talking, was now pointing a sharp sword at me.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He gave me a savage grin.
“Hah! What am I doing? You already know the answer, don’t you? I never imagined you’d be a transmigrator. Never even crossed my mind.”
“Transmigrator? What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Don’t play dumb! I know everything.”
His blood-red eyes gleamed with murderous intent and absolute certainty. I suppressed my emotions and kept acting.
“Are you seriously doing this because of some stupid rumor?”
“You think I’d be sure from just a rumor!? Of course I have proof!”
“Proof?”
“Yeah! There was never supposed to be someone like you hanging around Abel! And you two seem pretty close, don’t you? You still gonna deny it!?”
My expression hardened. Was I shocked by how logical his argument was? Not at all. I was just dumbfounded.
Is this guy actually stupid?
The current situation had already diverged massively from the game’s original plot, yet here he was, deciding I must be a transmigrator just because I was friendly with Abel. Suspicion was one thing, but charging in like this was basically suicide. I decided to exploit that opening.
“I was never supposed to be around Abel? Doesn’t that mean you’re the transmigrator?”
“That’s right! Same goes for you, bastard.”
Kenneth admitted it without hesitation. The guy who always got called an idiot was now completely off guard, drunk on his own ridiculous deduction. I couldn’t help but smirk.
When he saw my face, Kenneth looked slightly flustered. He thrust his sword closer and shouted.
“What are you laughing at!?”
“It’s funny, so I’m laughing.”
“What’s so funny!?”
At that point, he finally seemed to realize his theory might be wrong. He started stuttering. When he moved to swing his sword, having apparently reached some conclusion, I spoke.
“Stop.”
The blade froze just inches from me. I stared into his violently shaking, blood-red eyes and asked,
“Do you really think you’ll be fine if you kill me here?”
“…What?”
“Can you dispose of my corpse without leaving a single trace? The Empire’s forensic team will investigate. Earth mages and spirit users will read the building’s memories and find the culprit immediately. Got a way around that?”
“Ugh! T-that’s…”
As expected, this idiot had made the decision impulsively without thinking about the cleanup. It made all his previous caution look ridiculous. I shook off the wave of secondhand embarrassment and continued.
“And even if you get caught, you think it’ll end with just you?”
“What?”
“Your parents. Grant, who runs the inn. He’ll be in deep trouble too.”
“H-how do you know about him!? You really are a transmigrator!”
Kenneth had jumped to the wrong conclusion again. I picked at my ear and casually lied as if it were nothing.
“Don’t you even know who’s standing right in front of you?”
“Huh?”
“I’m Luan Priulri. The eldest son of a marquis family. These days, noble houses make it a point to thoroughly investigate their children’s roommates. You need to know what kind of person you’ll be living with for a whole semester, right?”
“W-wait, what!?”
If other nobles heard that, they might raise an eyebrow, but Kenneth—who had spent his entire life wandering as a mercenary—wouldn’t know any better. And judging by his current state, he probably wasn’t some highly educated person before transmigrating either. As expected, he couldn’t refute me and just fidgeted awkwardly.
That was when I made my offer.
“So, shall we make a deal?”
“A deal?”
“Yeah. What do you think would happen if I ran to the church right now and told them you’re a transmigrator? Hm?”
“U-uh, that would be…”
Kenneth’s eyes darted around, desperately searching for an escape. After staring at me intently, he suddenly let out a gasp.
“Ah! That’s right! I-I had that!”
“Found something?”
“Yeah! You don’t have any proof! What are you gonna do without evidence!?”
I never expected him to bring up evidence. He’d been in this world for at least half a year, yet he still hadn’t adapted. I decided it was time to teach him properly.
“Who says I need it?”
“What?”
“How much do you think this world cares about the human rights of invaders from another world? They’d just stab first and investigate later. Evidence wouldn’t be necessary, would it?”
“Y-you’re lying. There’s no way that’s true!”
“Still can’t accept it? Then I guess I have no choice.”
This argument was going to drag on uselessly. To save time, I pulled out something I’d kept hidden in my pocket.
Click!
When I pressed the button, a voice flowed out.
“Does that mean you’re the transmigrator?”
“That’s right! Same goes for you, bastard.”
Kenneth’s face turned deathly pale as I played back only the parts that were most damning to him.
“W-when did you…”
“From the moment you pointed that sword at me, obviously. So, are you ready to make a deal now?”
“This can’t be…”
Having completely lost the will to fight, Kenneth finally lowered his sword. I lightly stroked my neck and stated my demand.
“From now on, you will obey my orders. If you do, I’ll keep the fact that you’re a transmigrator a secret.”
“…You’re going to use me as a slave?”
“Well, not quite that far. I’m just securing a useful card. So what’s it going to be? Make your choice.”
Kenneth’s current combat power was still too low, but there were other ways I could use him. Turning him into a subordinate seemed like a good idea. After thinking for a moment, he must have realized he had no way out. He nodded.
“I’ll become your subordinate. But you have to keep it absolutely secret. Understand?”
“Of course. Then I’ll give you your first order. Tell me every piece of information you have.”
“Right now?”
“Right now.”
Over the next hour, I squeezed every last bit of information out of Kenneth. And my conclusion was simple.
This guy is completely useless, isn’t he?
His information was so pathetic that anyone who had played through the game even once would already know it all.
No wonder he’s so weak.
Instead of going after the truly valuable hidden pieces that only became known after at least three playthroughs, he had only taken the obvious, easy-to-upgrade specs. All the good stuff had already been snatched by the other transmigrators. No wonder he couldn’t grow. He even admitted that nearly half the dungeons he’d visited so far had been complete wastes of time.
“Hoo… This won’t do.”
“What?”
“You’re way too useless like this. First, you need to get stronger. And stop saying ‘And now what?’ every two seconds. It’s getting on my nerves.”
After scolding Kenneth, I pulled out a piece of paper from my subspace pouch and wrote a letter of introduction.
“Here, take this.”
“…What is it?”
“A letter of introduction. Take it to the Priulri family mansion. They’ll assign you a suitable knight to train you.”
In truth, it wasn’t purely out of goodwill. The bigger reason was to keep Kenneth under easy surveillance. This way, I could eliminate as many variables as possible. Since I’d be able to monitor his entire growth process, it wasn’t a bad deal for me either.
“Are you really okay with giving me something like this?”
“Did you not hear what I just said? You’re too weak to be useful. So hurry up and get stronger.”
When I shoved the letter into his hand, Kenneth looked up with a touched expression.
“You… You’re actually a good guy, aren’t you?”
“Good guy my ass. I’m doing this so I can use you later.”
“Still, thank you! I’ll train hard!”
Kenneth’s eyes burned with motivation, as if he had finally caught a glimpse of hope. In my heart, I wanted to hand over all the hidden pieces in my head to him, but doing so would risk exposing my identity. So I couldn’t.
I’ll have to wait until I’ve built up enough trust.
I had no idea when that day would come. After nodding in satisfaction, I suddenly remembered one thing I’d forgotten to ask.
“By the way, what did you do back in your original world? From what I know, all transmigrators are supposed to be criminals.”
I casually slipped in a fact that hadn’t been revealed yet, but Kenneth didn’t seem to notice. He confessed his identity without hesitation.
“Me? I was a serial killer.”
“…What?”
“I killed a lot of people, so I was in prison.”
I really shouldn’t trust this bastard.