The Main Character is the Villain

“A-Are you talking to… me?”

The guard looked at me with a bewildered expression. I clicked my tongue and looked around. At my shout, a few soldiers were looking this way. Calm down. I had to calm down. I couldn't forgive a pedophile, but nothing was confirmed yet. There were several possibilities. Matilda, who had skipped a grade, could be a mature student, or the two could genuinely be in love.

Murder was something that had to be committed with great care. Otherwise, there would be unintended victims.

“Guard. Is it possible to meet Matilda right now?”

This was a very important matter, so I had to know the full story. Having a pedophile living next door was just as much of a fucking awful situation as having the blond, tanned NTR Lord, and a pedophilic criminal was an even more fucking awful situation than the blond, tanned NTR Lord.

To use a fishing analogy, these bastards were the type to catch even the fry. Just as those bastards dry up the potential of the fishing grounds by catching young fish, these were trashy bastards who snatched away the beautiful women who would one day grow up to be mine.

“I'm sorry. For the high school division and below, academy visitations between opposite genders are not permitted.”

“It's a very important matter, can’t you make an exception? Someone's life might be at stake.”

I pressed the guard once more. Since the difference in our social standing was clear, the guard couldn't easily give a firm refusal. I recalled the nobles I'd seen following the students during their commute a little earlier. I said.

“P-Please wait a moment.”

It seemed this wouldn't be a simple matter either. The guard asked for my permission and quickly left his post. He didn't go through the main gate, but a small side door. It looked like that was the way to the girls' school. I watched the door the guard had disappeared through, then spoke to the coachman.

“Coachman. Is it a trend these days to date young kids?”

“Such a trend has never existed.”

“I see.”

The coachman spoke resolutely. I was inwardly relieved. The coachman's statement told me that this world hadn't been corrupted down to its very core. As I passed the time fiddling with the handle of the mace I had carefully set aside in the carriage, the guard came running back, out of breath. He seemed to have rushed here.

“I-I will guide you to the meeting room.”

“Yes. Please lead the way.”

The guard led me toward the meeting room. He opened the side door he had entered earlier and guided me to a small building inside the academy grounds. The building, about the size of a corner convenience store or a comic book cafe, had a large window. Through it, I could see a beautiful woman with delicate features sitting inside. The building's sign read [Meeting Room 5]. The guard stopped at the door and said to me.

“Well then, I will be waiting here.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Only after opening the door and stepping inside could I properly observe the woman. She was wearing a nun's habit. A follower of the Archdeity Church? Just as I was looking at her with a surprised face, the nun also looked clearly flustered to see me. She shot up to her feet and spoke to me.

“Ah, hello. Um… High Priest, why are you…”

“Please sit. It's nice to meet a fellow believer here.”

Her discomfort was palpable. Why was a believer here as Matilda's guardian? Just what kind of child was Matilda? When I sat down, she showed her discomfort, fidgeting with her fingers. I ignored her discomfort and stared intently at her face. She was a beauty, like a figure from a Western painting, with a high-bridged nose and striking eyes. The nun couldn't bear my gaze and turned her head away as she spoke.

“W-What business did you request a meeting for?”

“The lord of the Delmon Territory. You know of him?”

At those words, the nun's shoulders trembled, and she bowed her head low. Her body shuddered intermittently as she took deep breaths. The nun said.

“...Yes.”

“He sent a gift and a letter in Miss Matilda's name. Do you happen to know what the contents were?”

The nun kept her lips pressed firmly together and nodded. I could see the muscles in her neck tense as she swallowed. I said.

“I'd like you to explain the relationship between the two of them. You see, I'd rather not misunderstand the lord of Delmon Territory.”

“Uh, um… You don't know?”

The nun looked up at me and asked back, as if bewildered. I couldn't help but tilt my head at her words.

“What is it that I don't know? Does the lord of Delmon Territory have some connection with the Archdeity Church?”

“Miss Matilda is a beneficiary of the sponsorship program run by the Archdeity Church's Central Headquarters and is receiving sponsorship from the lord of Delmon Territory.”

“Is it just a sponsorship relationship? When I opened the box, the items didn't seem to stem from simple goodwill. How did the sponsorship program end up with that lord?”

“It was originally a project led by the northern Grand Duke, Grand Duke Rubicon, but after he passed away, no one wanted to take Matilda on. So, Matilda was about to return to her hometown and I was to return to the church, but that lord offered to continue the sponsorship.”

“So, you accepted the sponsorship?”

“Yes. But he's not simply sponsoring her; h-he's constantly harassing and making advances toward Matilda… I've tried to stop it on my end, but it's difficult. He's threatening to cut off the sponsorship if she continues to be 'ill-mannered'.”

“So, you're saying this is a gift that neither Matilda nor you wanted.”

The nun nodded. Seeing her large eyes welling up with tears made me want to have sex with Sieri. I suppressed the thought of Sieri and asked again.

“Then why didn't you report it to the Central Headquarters?”

“...If he doesn't sponsor her, there's no one else left. I don't mean to insult Grand Duke Rubicon, but there were so many dishonorable rumors surrounding his death that the nobles were reluctant to get involved in anything related to him. So Matilda and I agreed to endure it just a little longer, but that…”

The nun's voice broke.

“It's a shame. Why did he have to act like that when he died…”

It was a tragedy that wouldn't have happened if Grand Duke Rubicon hadn't so disgracefully denied his defeat as he died. I clicked my tongue and shook my head with a sense of pity. The nun said.

“Matilda is a very talented child. This year she was the top student in the middle school division and skipped to the high school division. She could have a bright future if she could just study a little more, but I don't know why she was given this trial. Matilda is brilliant, but her family has no means, so she can't afford academy life without sponsorship. High Priest. I… c-can you help? I can't let Matilda be harassed by that filthy man's hands any longer.”

“For nothing in return?”

“What?”

A flustered expression was plain on the nun's face. I asked again.

“Finding a new sponsor and replacing the lord of Delmon Territory is no small effort. Are you asking me to help for nothing in return?”

“Ah, no, that's…”

With a flustered face, the nun reached her hand toward me, then lowered it back under the desk and shook her head. She had clearly frozen at how brazen I was. I looked at Sieri's body measurements that I had written in my notebook. Then, I fiddled with the papers holding the body measurements of my women inside my coat. I took out that page from the notebook and the papers and held them out to the nun.

She took the papers, looked back and forth between their contents and me, and asked.

“W-What is this?”

“It's paper with body measurements. I heard that school uniforms can only be custom-ordered by an insider…”

“Yes. B-But why this…”

“Order school uniforms with these measurements. Bill the cost to the sponsor, the lord of Delmon Territory.”

“What on earth are you going to use the school uniforms for…”

“I'm going to have my wives wear them.”

“...”

The nun's expression became very strange. I asked.

“What? A man can't have his wives wear school uniforms? Is Matilda more important, or are the school uniforms more important?”

“…I understand.”

The nun nodded and took the papers. I watched her organize the documents and said.

“Don't worry. I always see a job through. I'll probably be staying here for about a week, so let me know if there are any particular changes to the plan. And, right.”

I took a blank piece of paper from the meeting room and created a testimony record on the spot. I created a basic format and had her write down the details of the lord's harassment and threats she had just testified to. Looking over the lord's atrocities once more, it was quite the spectacle.

He had sent lingerie and told her to wear it on more than one occasion, and he had even demanded she send him a nude painting of herself, or call him ‘Daddy’ and kiss him when he came for a visit. He had also tried to lure her to his mansion during the vacation, and sent letters containing things like, ‘I want to marry you. You'd like that, wouldn't you?’

On top of that, he had prevented her from reporting him by threatening that if she revealed any of this, he would spread rumors in noble society that Matilda was an ungrateful piece of trash and a slut, and that no one should sponsor her. I made a signature line at the very bottom and said to her.

“Nun. The moment you sign this part, the liability becomes clear. If this testimony turns out to be false, I will have to formally apologize to the lord of Delmon Territory, and you will be sentenced to the death penalty for the crime of deceiving a noble. Is all of this testimony true?”

“Yes. It is. I have the letters as evidence.”

The nun signed the written testimony without hesitation. I added my own signature and said to the nun.

“Then bring that evidence now.”

It didn't take long for her to bring the evidence. A box was filled with numerous letters bearing the lord's official seal and even drawings the lord had made depicting his own naked body. The nun's eyes were burning with rage. I took all the evidence and left the meeting room. The guard, seeing me carry out a box, looked at it with a curious expression. I took one of the drawings from the box and handed it to the guard.

“Want it?”

The guard looked at the drawing of the lord's naked body, retched, and put it back in the box. The coachman was smoking tobacco in the coachman's seat of the carriage parked on the side of the road. He spoke to me, as I had taken longer than expected.

“You took quite a while.”

“Were you waiting?”

“So, where to now? Will you be heading to the boys' school academy?”

I tapped the box and said.

“Let's go to the royal palace.”

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