The Villainous Aristocrat's Efforts Led to a Genuine Harem - Episode 8

Episode 8

“I understand. Shall I go ask?”

“Yes. If we’re going to conduct training, I’ll be at the training grounds as usual. So please call out to me.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Zangell bowed his head deeply and quietly left.

Now then… how should I act around Reem?

Scratching my head, I headed to the entrance.

… I’m a bit nervous. Well, I am about to meet a character I liked from a game, after all.

Suppressing the slight nervousness in my chest, I headed to the entrance.

…There she was. Her beautiful silver hair shimmered as it reflected the light from the magic lamp in the room.

Holding her hair in place—which reached down to the middle of her back—she looked in my direction.

She was smiling… but there was no light in her beautiful blue eyes.

This might be the first time in my life I’ve seen such an emotionless smile.

…And just like in the game, her body is remarkable.

Reem had a full chest, and memories of her swimsuit outfits in the game came back to me. So I took a deep breath to calm myself.

Reem stepped in front of me and bowed politely.

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today.”

Reem’s family had received a title for military achievements.

I don’t think she received much formal noble education. But her mannerisms were quite refined.

Her behavior was so flawless, it felt like she was wearing a mask of a smile. And it made me feel a bit lonely.

…Well, I do need her to keep disliking me. So I guess it can’t be helped.

“It’s been a while. Was everything alright getting here?”

“…Huh? Yes. Thanks to the teleportation stone… And it’s been a while for you too, Lord Reis.”

She seemed a bit surprised as she responded.

…A teleportation stone, huh?

In this world, those are used like fast-travel in games.

Because you can teleport between towns, there’s rarely a need to use carriages or the like.

She was probably surprised because I asked about something so obvious.

“In any case, I’m glad nothing happened. Now then, getting right to the point…”

As I said that, Reem tightened her lips with a wary expression.

…Maybe she thought I was going to sexually harass her again.

I could tell she was desperately trying to suppress her disgust.

It’d be great if she just glared at me outright… no, wait, that wouldn’t be great.

…I took a deep breath and calmly continued.

“Lately, I’ve gotten into exercising outdoors…”

“…C-Could it be…!? You mean outdoor play…!?”

Reem’s face went pale.

What the hell is this girl talking about…!?

T-That kind of outdoor act, getting whipped in public—

No, what am I even thinking!? Dammit!

Now that I remember, even in the original story Reem sometimes went off the rails.

There were scenes in the game where she misunderstood something and blushed furiously out of embarrassment.

It was cute in-game. But being on the receiving end in real life is just confusing.

Anyway, I didn’t expect to get hated even more over this. So I quickly corrected myself.

“…I mean combat training. I was just about to start in the training grounds next door. Sorry to ask out of the blue, but would you like to come watch for a bit?”

“…I-I see. So that’s what you meant. …Will you be the one doing the training, Lord Reis?”

“Yeah, I will. Is that weird or something?”

I gave her a slightly stern look. I was trying to mimic the usual attitude of Reis.

“N-No, not at all… It was just unexpected.”

“I see. Well, there’s no particular reason.”

With that, I walked out ahead of Reem and headed toward the training grounds next door.

Within the walled area, the soldiers were training as usual.

At the edge of the field, Zangell was observing them. But when he noticed us, he bowed lightly.

“Lord Reis, Lady Reem. Good morning.”

“Ah, morning. Like we discussed earlier, I want the usual training.”

“Understood.”

Zangell bowed respectfully.

I then took the short sword I had equipped into my hand and faced Zangell.

And with that, the training began.

…As always, Zangell’s movements were flawless.

No matter how many attacks I threw at him, he countered every one of them.

There aren’t many people I can go full-force against. Which reminds me how lucky I am with my current environment.

I kicked the ground hard and used my agility to deliver a flurry of strikes toward Zangell.

…Thanks to my recent running, I’ve built up some stamina.

Now, even if I move a bit recklessly, I don’t run out of breath so easily.

As I landed multiple attacks, Zangell swung his sword strongly.

I saw an opening.

I accelerated, kicked the ground again, and closed in on Zangell’s blind spot.

He looked surprised. But he immediately swung his fist at me.

That attack was unexpected.

I took the blow head-on and was sent flying.

“L-Lord Reis!?”

That shocked voice—was that Reem?

I quickly got up and glanced at Zangell.

He also looked surprised. But when our eyes met, he rushed over with a potion.

“A-Are you alright!? I-I’m terribly sorry! I couldn’t stop myself…!”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I always tell you to go all-out, don’t I?”

Besides, I had buffed my body enhancement. So it didn’t hurt that much.

In fact, this is a good thing.

Getting hit raises my defense-type stats, after all.

If I want to become the strongest character, I can’t avoid this kind of training.

Also, I actually have decent endurance.

Probably because I’ve been doing whip play for a long time.

I waved off the potion Zangell offered and faced him again.

“We’re continuing the training. I’ll use the potion after I’ve taken more hits. So don’t worry about it.”

“…Understood.”

Zangell nodded slowly after hearing that.

He almost looked happy… maybe it’s because he legally got to beat up the son of the Validor family he hates?

Well, I don’t know the reason. But this was a good result for today.

I got to see Reem, and I showed her a pathetic side of me where I got beaten.

Zangell probably felt great when he hit me, too.

In her heart, maybe Reem even thought something like “What a loser! Gross!”

Ah, just imagining it is getting me excited… no, bad! Don’t get excited about that!

…Anyway, this should’ve made her hate me even more.

I didn’t need to directly do anything to her—just use the people around me to lower her opinion of me.

This way, I don’t have to hurt myself emotionally either.

Perfect.