The Villain's Reincarnation – Tired of Working Hard, I'm Slacking Off! The Peacefully Oblivious Slacker Avoids Ruin! - Chapter 7

“Another peaceful day.”

Lying on a floating bed, I basked in the sunlight in the garden.

It had been more than half a year since the bandit subjugation, with various things happening in between.

Strange incidents still occurred from time to time, but in the end, things always worked out somehow, so there was no problem.

And so, I was now eleven years old.

Since I was a year older than the protagonist, the story would officially begin when I turned sixteen.

In other words, five years from now.

Well, since my ultimate goal was to avoid attending the academy, everything would be decided at that point. That meant I had roughly four years left until then.

With that in mind, I decided to review my grand retirement plan leading up to four years from now.

First, finances.

Going smoothly! That’s all.

I had no intention of splurging during my retirement. My plan was to live a peaceful and quiet life, so I didn’t need an excessive amount of savings.

At this rate, I was about to reach the minimum amount required.

Since I had been saving up steadily and cautiously, there was nothing suspicious about my finances. It was perfect.

Next, my retirement base. This was also mostly settled.

Now, I was focusing on making it more comfortable and enhancing its concealment—things I had been working hard on recently.

All in all, things were going well.

As for my reputation, it remained unchanged—I was still seen as a lazy slacker lost in a peaceful haze.

I hadn’t used my powers openly, and in front of everyone, I always appeared lethargic and indifferent. My reputation remained unaltered.

Yes, this was a wonderful trend.

And lastly, Yuki and Satsuki.

After the bandit subjugation, they had become even more dedicated to their training and were rapidly improving their skills.

Not to mention, they were accumulating achievements along the way.

Meanwhile, I was known as the lazy, peace-loving slacker who did nothing, whereas they trained relentlessly every day, growing stronger and earning accolades.

At this point, it was obvious who was more suited to be the next head of the family.

Even now, I could naturally step down as a successor candidate without raising any suspicions.

Yes, excellent.

Thanks to my persistent spoiling of them, my relationship with the two wasn’t bad at all.

All my efforts had paid off.

Thus, my retirement plan was proceeding flawlessly.

However, the world was not so kind as to let things end neatly.

A problem had arisen.

That problem was—Yuki and Satsuki were getting too strong.

Huh? What’s the issue with them getting stronger, you ask?

Since Yuki and Satsuki were part of the protagonist’s group, the stronger they became, the stronger the protagonist’s side would be. And on top of that, it would make it easier for me to hand over the position of the head to them. Wouldn’t that be a good thing?

Yes, if that was all there was to it, then it would indeed be a positive outcome.

However, I had forgotten something important.

What was my backup plan in case this carefully crafted—or rather, carefree—scheme failed?

That’s right. Violence.

Believing that violence solves everything, I had planned to escape using overwhelming force if worst came to worst. I had always thought, If things go south, I’ll just brute-force my way out! That’ll work!

But recently, after witnessing Yuki and Satsuki’s growth, I began to realize something.

Wait… What if I can’t escape? Huh?

It wasn’t that I had lost in terms of speed. If we only compared raw stats, I was still superior.

However, Yuki and Satsuki were now strong enough to qualify for a hellish game of tag.

In other words, the possibility of them catching me was no longer zero.

This was very bad.

I want to live my second life leisurely, so even if I end up being pursued, I have no intention of going on a rampage like, “If you’re coming after me, I’ll just kill everyone!”

Because of that, Yuki and the others will have multiple chances to challenge me.

Human determination is an incredible thing. No matter how slim the odds, as long as they aren’t zero, people will use every method available to grasp their goal.

I’ve experienced both sides of this struggle in my past life, so I know better than to take it lightly.

A person with strong willpower is dangerous in many ways. They will go to unimaginable extremes to achieve their goals.

(If I were in my past life’s full-power mode, I wouldn’t even think about losing. But using that would basically mean I’ve already lost.)

If I approached this game of tag with the same mindset I had when climbing the ranks in my past life, I was confident I wouldn’t lose under any circumstances.

Back then, I was insane.

I truly believed that success would bring me hope, so I gave it my all.

Since I had no innate talent, I couldn’t afford to waste even a second. I even devised obsessive strategies to make each second more valuable than anyone else’s.

As a result, I developed an ability to extract tenfold information from the smallest details. At my peak, people called me a monster, saying I could see the future.

If that version of me had been reborn in this naturally gifted body, I would have evolved beyond imagination.

However, in the end, I found no value in the view from the top.

For me, living lazily—finding joy in trivial things like I do now—suits me much better.

So, to avoid being caught by Yuki and the others, I had to increase my secret training.

I work hard so I can slack off in peace.

Logically, it sounds utterly stupid, but I had no other choice.

I abandoned all further thought.

(Seriously, I don’t mind them trying hard, but I wish they’d tone it down a little.)

I could only sigh at how I had ended up tightening my own noose in such an unexpected way.

(And lately, Satsuki’s words seem a little off… Something feels strange.)

There was a subtle difference in nuance, but thinking too deeply about it was a hassle, and since it wasn’t an immediate problem, I decided to ignore it.

“The world is at peace once again today.”

With that, I attempted to drift back into another nap—only to be interrupted when one of my officials approached me.

“Lord Kaito, a letter has arrived from the main family.”

“Hm? Thanks.”

After handing me the letter, the official promptly returned to work.

“A letter from the main family, huh… I have a really bad feeling about this.”

Between my retirement plans and matters concerning Yuki and the others, my relationship with the main family was rather complicated. I had rarely ever received good news from them.

Honestly, I wanted to just rip it apart and pretend I never saw it.

But ignoring it would likely cause even more trouble later on.

Reluctantly, I opened the letter and read its contents.

**”Her Highness, First Princess Liona Justina, has decided to conduct an inspection of our territory.

The location of the inspection will be the lands governed by Lord Kaito.

The inspection will last for seven days.

All preparations regarding her arrival and itinerary are to be overseen by Lord Kaito Mitsurugi.”**

“…Huh?”

Reading such an absurd message, I let out an incredulous gasp.

I was unable to process the sheer ridiculousness of the situation.

“The world… is… peaceful… today…”

And so, I continued sunbathing as if none of this had ever happened.