The Villain's Reincarnation – Tired of Working Hard, I'm Slacking Off! The Peacefully Oblivious Slacker Avoids Ruin! - Chapter 22

“Today… the world… was not at peace…”

Lying atop a flying bed on the rooftop of the estate, I stared up at the night sky and muttered to myself.

Under normal circumstances, I would’ve spent the entire day napping, and by now, I’d be relaxing in the secret hideout I painstakingly built, enjoying a feast I’d stealthily gathered.

(A secret base… a party… the stuff of manly dreams…)

I shed silent tears for my shattered dreams.

Right about now, I should have been savoring the forbidden bliss of skipping work—indulging in the pleasures of male fantasy as the just reward for my hard-earned effort.

“…How did it come to this?”

I mentally retraced the day’s events.

My brilliant plan had been crushed not by a mischievous princess, but by a mischievous maid.

Before I knew it, I’d been roped into a duel with said maid, accidentally made her cry her eyes out, and broke her to the point she looked like some hopelessly self-loathing child.

Naturally, if I sent her back in that miserable state, I’d be on the fast track to the Execution by Wrath route—guaranteed.

That was something I absolutely had to avoid. So I poured every ounce of my previous life’s experience into consoling her and convincing her that things would be okay.

Thanks to that, I managed to survive—if only by the thinnest thread.

But my ordeal was far from over.

Now I had to help that rambunctious maid bounce back somehow.

Easier said than done.

Sure, people can change drastically from just a single trigger—but finding that one trigger? That’s the truly difficult part.

At the very least, since everyone had worked hard preparing not for the princess alone, but for her entire entourage, I couldn’t let that effort go to waste. I brought the maid along, gathering information so I could offer decent advice and, if I was lucky, somehow stumble upon the trigger she needed.

Thanks to a stroke of genius I had mid-way through, I managed to minimize direct interaction with her. But the time I saved by not dealing with her was completely spent setting everything else up.

(Even skipping properly takes effort…)

There’s a right way to slack off.

Those who slack off carelessly, without planning for the future, usually end up with every inconvenient job dumped on them—and a one-way ticket to ruin.

I’ve seen plenty of people go through that in my past life. I can say with confidence:

When things are going well, skipping duties is seen as a harmless quirk. But when things go south, people despise you for it.

It’s only natural. If someone’s suffering and they see another person coasting by, they’re going to be pissed. And if they think that person is making things worse, the hatred can reach “avenge-my-parents” levels.

When a sacrifice must be made, that carefree slacker becomes the unanimous choice—and straight to hell they go.

I do want to slack off as much as possible, and I don’t want to work hard. That’s a top priority—but not an absolute one.

My only absolute is: do not get destroyed.

That’s why—even in this case—I’m always flying just above the danger line, staying barely safe.

(So yes… this is a necessary sacrifice.)

I told myself that over and over again, trying to justify it.

Ever since that princess entered the picture, I’ve been working way too much.

(I should’ve just coasted through this. Trying to be clever backfired hard.)

Every move I made just ended up making things worse.

(And the maid—seriously, what’s her deal? Why does she keep asking that every single time?!)

“Why do you go so far for me?”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

She’d started asking those questions with an intense sincerity, every time we spoke with the townsfolk.

Of course, I couldn’t just say, “Because I don’t want to be executed” or “If you want to repay me, help the heroes and save the world without involving me so I can retire in peace”—so I brushed it off each time with a vague, half-meaningful reply.

(I mean, come on—I haven’t even done anything for you people!)

All of this is just because I don’t want to die. There’s nothing deeper than that.

In this life, I just want to relax. I don’t want to think about complicated stuff.

That’s why I move through life with a ridiculously lighthearted attitude.

(Could it be… she’s saying those things to punish me for trying to slack off too much?!)

What a terrifying thought!

Am I destined to never slack off in this life either!?

“…No, no. That’s ridiculous.”

I sighed. I was clearly exhausted.

(That’s it. From now on, she’s getting a forehead flick every time she asks that.)

Having run out of decent excuses, I added that question to the official “forehead flick” list.

The maid wore a deeply dissatisfied expression, but I didn’t have any explanation that would satisfy her either. It was an unproductive exchange, through and through.

So really, it couldn’t be helped.

Yes—that’s right. It couldn’t be helped.

“Do you seriously think that excuse is going to fly?!”

The furious shout echoed throughout the entire mansion, loud enough to shake the walls.

(Yeah… I figured this would happen…)

I averted my gaze from reality and looked up at the night sky.

The voice belonged to one of the princess’s party—a woman named Yamamoto-san.

(For now, let’s just cast a soundproofing spell…)

It wasn’t exactly ideal to have yelling like that ringing through the estate, so I activated a silence barrier around the rooftop.

(Forgive me, Captain…)

The reason that shout erupted just now was because I had the knight captain inform them that I had, in effect, “borrowed and kept” the maid without permission.

There was no way I could let her rejoin the others right now. Not while she was still emotionally unstable.

Sure, I’d been managing her during the day with some strategic forehead flicks, but it wasn’t like the core issue had been resolved. She was a little better than at her worst, but even spending a few minutes with her made it obvious—she was still brooding.

If I sent her back like this, there was no doubt someone would notice—and I’d be on the express route to execution.

Better to endure a bit of collateral damage than end up on that ride.

That’s why I had to notify them that the maid would be staying with me for the duration of the inspection.

Normally, I should’ve been the one to send the message—but right now, I was hiding behind the excuse of being “unavailable due to prior commitments.” Not to mention, I was the one person they were on maximum alert around.

If I showed up in person, things would’ve gone way worse. So I bowed down and begged the knight captain to handle it for me.

(I prepared everything carefully—it should be fine… right?)

As I waited anxiously, the knight captain finally returned.

“Young Master, the persuasion went smoothly. There was some resistance, but the handwritten letter from the maid helped tip the balance.”

“I see… Thanks. I owe you for this.”

“No need to thank me. It’s only natural for one who serves the Young Master. Besides, I’m sure this too holds a deeper meaning, doesn’t it?”

“Uh, well… I guess… yeah.”

He looked at me with such pure trust that I felt genuinely guilty.

(There’s no way I can tell him the truth—that I made her cry by accident, and if I sent her back like that, I’d probably get executed…)

Once this is over, I’ll definitely owe him a special reward.

(Ughhh… There goes my emergency stash…)

Wiping invisible tears from my heart, I had a brief discussion with the knight captain about what comes next, and then we parted ways.

“Ughhh… Once this is all over, I’m gonna slack off so hard…”

Resolving myself with that firm declaration, I gazed back up at the night sky—my personal escape from reality.

“…At least the stars are still beautiful tonight.”