Lora, You'd Be Perfect as a VTuber
My cousin looked me dead in the eye and said, “Sister Lora, you’d be perfect as a VTuber.”
“What on earth are you talking about? That came out of nowhere.”
“That way of speaking. You know perfectly well you’re not normal, right?”
My cousin—Rion—said exactly that. Of course I knew I was unusual. But it could not be helped. I had spent ten full years living inside the body of a villainess, after all.
Ten years is more than enough time to reshape a person. Shaking off lessons carved into your very bones is no simple matter. From the beginning, I had never once considered abandoning the proper conduct of a noble young lady. I intended to go on living this way forever.
“There is nothing wrong with being extraordinary, is there? On the contrary, I would like to ask you something. Where else in the world would you find a person who carries herself with as much dignity as I do?”
“That’s exactly why you should become a VTuber, sis. What was it again—the marquis’s daughter?”
“It is a ducal house. The difference between a duke and a marquis is as vast as the heavens and the earth, so remember it well. Otherwise you will become the laughingstock of the world.”
“Yeah, that damn concept-obsessed freak…! Why the hell haven’t you become a VTuber with that ridiculous concept until now…!”
Rion was practically foaming at the mouth.
“You can’t clean, you can’t cook, your life skills are absolute zero…! There isn’t a single man on earth who would take a woman like you…! You can’t even style your own hair so I have to do it for you every single day! You’re only pretty on the outside!”
“Oh my, Rion. Have you ever seen a noble young lady cook and clean for herself? My lack of domestic skills is not a flaw. Rather, it is proof that I am the treasured jewel of an honorable ducal house.”
“You say that with a straight face! Your parents are ordinary salarymen!”
“Hmm.”
I lifted the black tea to my lips. A faintly bitter flavor bloomed alongside the rich aroma inside my mouth.
“And you dropped out of university, sis.”
“That I did.”
“So become a VTuber already. Sister Lora, being a VTuber is your calling. You were literally born for it, you know?”
My cousin was treating me like some concept-obsessed lunatic. But the accusation felt unfair. After all, I really had been the young lady of a ducal house.
Of course, it was only natural she could not believe me. Explaining that I had been possessed inside a game world for ten years was no easy task.
Lofty Villainess Lora Iris
The jewel of the Iris Ducal House and an unrivaled beauty of a young lady. Having inherited her ancestors’ blood more thickly than anyone else, she possesses outstanding talent and never loses her grace for even a moment.
Labyrinthos was an action RPG set in a medieval fantasy world. I had simply chosen the character “Lofty Villainess” Lora Iris from the selection screen, and that was how I ended up like this.
For ten years I lived as Lora Iris, conquering countless dungeons and, in the end, defeating even the hidden boss. Only then was I allowed to return to Earth.
Oh Lora.
When I returned, my name had been changed. I had already been born with the surname Oh, but my given name had been neatly swapped for Lora. My family and relatives had known me as Oh Lora from the start. Every official document—resident registration, family registry, everything—listed my name as Oh Lora.
I suspected it was the reward for defeating the hidden boss. Since my previous life had already been ruined, living as a beautiful girl instead was nothing but profit. And so I had been living quite pleasantly as Oh Lora.
Perhaps because I originated as a game character, Lora Iris’s body was impossibly healthy and overflowing with talent. No matter how little I slept, I never felt fatigue. I always woke refreshed. I never caught minor illnesses like colds, nor did I suffer from anything like irritable bowel syndrome. My appearance needed no explanation. It was only natural for the villainess who served as the heroine’s rival to be beautiful. Having inherited the ducal blood so thickly, one could call this body truly blessed.
Yet that did not mean I was without problems.
“…I’m bored.”
I slumped deep into my chair and muttered. The monitor displayed the word VICTORY in enormous letters. When I pressed the confirm button, the game result window appeared, and I watched my rank points climb. After clicking a few more times I returned to the main screen and checked the real-time rankings.
1st — DucalPride — 3129 pts
It had risen a little since last time. Still, the gap with second place was already so wide that I felt almost nothing. The season was almost over, so defending first place would not be difficult.
When I closed the ranking window, I saw dozens of friend requests. The message box was also overflowing with exclamation marks.
I pressed the bulk-delete button at once. And then I realized it.
This game no longer held any interest for me.
“Is it time to move on to a different game?”
The thought crossed my mind. It might sound like a spoiled complaint, but this body was simply too gifted. It was probably because Lora Iris was designed as a villainess. A villainess existed to appear as the heroine’s rival and create as much crisis for her as possible. Such a character could not be untalented. Especially since Lora Iris had inherited the blood of a ducal house, her latent potential was exceptional. As a result, she could master almost anything with ease.
Gaming was the same. In the end, the skills a game demanded came down to three things: reaction speed, adaptability, and brainpower. Having spent ten years cutting down enemies, Lora Iris possessed excellent baseline reflexes. Her mind was sharp, and with practice she could develop decent adaptability as well. I had conquered many games this way, but the moment I reached rank one, I would always fall into a sudden slump.
Winning all the time simply wasn’t fun.
“Hmm…”
I closed the game and opened the internet. I searched for popular titles and upcoming releases, then wandered through community sites reading recommendation threads. Some people might say that if a game is no longer fun, I should simply find enjoyment elsewhere. They would be right. The world is full of different pleasures. Watching dramas or reading novels could be entertaining. Exploring gourmet restaurants in search of culinary delight would also be acceptable.
Yet those were all fleeting pleasures.
What exactly is a villainess? The antagonist who torments the heroine in romance-fantasy stories? Or the symbol of defeat who loses the male lead to another woman? Neither answer is entirely wrong, but I believe the true essence of a villainess is this: a greedy craving for victory.
The world I had lived in was a monster-infested medieval fantasy. Whenever a gate opened, entire territories were often devastated. A sheltered ducal lady like myself needed no great reason to draw her sword. I had lived there for ten years. The number of times I had soaked my dress with blood and sweat was beyond counting. Cutting down enemies on a battlefield where lives were wagered was my true satisfaction. Forging that victory into honor was the destiny of nobility. Claiming glory and rewards was the joy of my house.
In that sense, this world was peaceful—almost lukewarm. The mercenary soldiers who had finally found peace must feel exactly like this. That was why I played games. This body’s specs were far too high for sports. The only place where I could still taste the joy of victory was inside games.
I had satisfied my greedy craving for victory by playing all sorts of titles, but now… what next?
This was already my third year since returning. I had more or less tried every game worth playing. Finding a new one had become surprisingly difficult. Should I revisit old games I had dropped? Or join a professional league with some random title and look forward to high-level competition?
“Hm?”
While I was pondering, a certain post caught my eye.
“VR games, huh.”
VR. The abbreviation for Virtual Reality—in other words, virtual reality games. For the past three years I had stubbornly played only PC games. The reason was simple: my body originally belonged to a game character. I had no idea what might happen if I entered VR. I sometimes wondered whether, just as I had suddenly been possessed as Lora Iris, I might possess someone else. Or whether, just as I had suddenly returned to Earth, I might wake up one day and find myself transported to yet another world.
But these three years I had been eating well and living well. It seemed unlikely I would ever return to my pre-possession body. It also seemed unlikely I would ever return to that other world where I had lived for ten years. So I could be confident now. There would be no problems.
“Then shall I give it a try? A VR game.”
Even if something did go wrong, it could not be helped. My life was far too boring to avoid taking risks. In fact, shouldering risk was the greatest entertainment of all, was it not?