The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 155

The former head of the family, Brahms Rothstaylor, was poisoned while seizing the position of second-in-command after the imperial family.

His brother, Baine Rothstaylor, was slain by a non-human after being abandoned in a battle that was bound to be lost. And his lover, Marie Rothstaylor, was assassinated by a rival family.

Aside from them, many others had died while fighting for the control of power. Thus, the throne of the head of the house, where Krepin sat, was stained with blood.

Nevertheless, he never resented or felt anger towards anyone, nor did he lose his sense of reason… He sat quietly on his throne as he watched the world.

He had risen to the position of second-in-command after the imperial family, punished hooligans who tried to take advantage of his house, and destroyed rival families that fought against him.

Gradually he had become less afraid of killing others. Shortly after, taking advantage of others became the norm for him. He hid his true self as he walked around the estate as a benevolent duke, but the path he walked was always stained with the iron stench of blood.

From the moment he was born to the present day, he had become a villain to survive, and he never tried to justify his actions or be understood by others.

The words his forefather, Brahms Rothstaylor, had whispered to him when he inherited the seat of head of the house still remained in his heart.

There were only two types that could survive for a long time in the world of schemes and secrecy.

Either a hero or a villain.

If you could not be a hero, then be a fully-fledged villain.

Don’t rationalize and don’t feel guilty. Simply live a life reigning as a pure villain.

On the roof of the annex in the Rothstaylor Mansion, a heavy load weighed on Krepin’s shoulders as he stood by the railing, looking down at the estate.

Nothing was light.

Once the sacrificial magic circle was complete, more than half of the gathered guests would die. With that, Mebula would feed on the souls of the nobles and grant Krepin the power to wield its strength for the rest of his life.

“……”

He had many excuses he could make.

There were many ways he could justify himself becoming a villain, and multiple reasons to explain how he became who he was.

For example, the trust and faith that was put into Krepin.

The faith of Arwen and his closest vassals, who trusted him until the very end, even after being dragged through the dirt. They had complete trust that Krepin was making the right choice… An unbelievable sense of trust, without any reasoning.

One could say that the weight of trust made it difficult for him to go back on his choices, only pushing him further and further into the darkness.

—Just like the situation with Act 1’s boss, Yennekar Palerover, who was currently running towards Ed’s room.

Or it could have been remorse for what he lost.

His mentor, Brahms, who had died in the process of trying to obtain power. Or his lover, Marie, who had died in the battle for power. If those he lost remained in his heart, whispering into his ears to not compromise and become a fully-fledged villain… That would be reasonable.

—Just like Act 2’s boss, Glast, who ended up dying after falling into remorse over the daughter he lost.

And if it was not that, it may have just been emptiness.

Climbing to the top, killing countless others, he reached a great level of power and authority. However, in the end, all that was left was a large mansion and estate.

All of his family members had died or fallen apart. Even Arwen, who had followed him to the end, was now a half-monster created by his own hands.

In the end, all that was left in his life was authority and power. So, if he borrowed the powers of an Evil God, he would only continue going further down that path… And that wasn’t all that bad.

—That… Was just like the circumstances of Act 3’s boss, Lucy, who had lived as a powerful individual her entire life yet had lost her will to live after losing Glockt.

Whichever reason he chose, it wasn’t all that bad.

Even though Krepin believed those words, he never ended up making any compromises or moving in any particular direction.

The half-broken railing was like a King’s throne.

Sitting firmly on it, he lowered his head, waiting for the right time.

Born as a villain and dying as one even in his very last breath.

He was considered pure evil, someone that didn’t change even when facing his end.

That was the type of attitude he needed to survive through his life.

As long as he was a fully-fledged villain, nothing could ever shake him.

Act 4’s final boss.

The head of house, Krepin Rothstaylor, watched over the world with heavy eyes.

* * *

The dagger cut through the tentacles.

A spiritual skill was cast as flames burst out. The tentacles were completely cut in two. The moment Ed grabbed his sword, leaping back, Mugg burned the entire hallway with his flames.

As he was hoping that the servants who were under control had been swept away by the attack that cleared the way, suddenly gremlins broke through the window.

Kyaaaaaghk!

The monsters made horrendous sounds as they ran towards Ed, holding their knives, but the wind suddenly flew by as it smashed the gremlins against the wall.

A girl with white hair suddenly manifested behind him in an instant, waving her hand in the air. The gremlins, who were crushed by the pressure of the wind, were then burned by Mugg’s flames.

And like that, Ed ran across the hallway of the first floor.

* * *

Yennekar and Clarice were also running down the hallway. The two of them ran across the hallway of the central mansion as they arrived at Ed’s room. They quickly smashed open the locked door as they went inside.

They planned on quickly grabbing Ed’s wand and leaving, but the room was bigger than they thought. Because of that fact, they were confused about where to start looking first.

Ed’s wand was rather big, so only after searching under the bed and in the closet were they about to eventually find it under the large desk.

Yennekar quickly grabbed the wand and handed it to Clarice.

Yennekar needed to stay in the central mansion to escort the distinguished guests to safety. It would take too much time for her to go directly to Ed after helping all the guests leave.

Plus, Saint Clarice had the Holy Blessing that could protect her body from any sort of attack. As she was always safe, she was the perfect person to deliver the wand.

Clarice nodded her head as she turned around, holding the wand tightly. At that moment, Yennekar called out to Clarice.

Clarice turned her head, puzzled to see Yennekar looking at a bunch of letters spread out on Ed’s desk.

Since there were so many, she couldn’t read through them all. However, there was a feather that had fallen out from between the letters that caught Yennekar’s eyes.

She picked up the feather, grabbing it by the tip and flipping it around… She then handed it over to Clarice.

Seeing Clarice look puzzled, Yennekar told her to give it to him as well.

On the first floor of the central corridor, Selah was running out of the mansion with Dest.

The garden in the front of the central mansion was already full of corpses of all sorts of monsters. It was the trail Ed left behind as he ran desperately towards the annex.

Princess Selah frowned as she looked around. Rothstaylor mansion, which was now destroyed, was still teeming with monsters.

Dest tried to dissuade Princess Selah, telling her that it would be dangerous to go any further. Selah pondered for a moment before shaking her head, continuing to walk through the garden.

On the other side, Sinir Bloomriver was leading a group of distinguished guests to safety as she breathed out a sigh of relief.

Thanks to the spirit corps that Yennekar brought along, she was able to protect the lives of the nobles who remained. Plus, thanks to Yennekar making a hole through the corridor in the central mansion, a route was secured to escape from the mansion.

Sinir hurried out into the corridor, leading out a group of guests. Carefully and calmly, she slowed her breathing as she made her way across the corridor to the exit.

Still, outside the window there was a group of spirits fighting against a group of gremlins. The guests swallowed their dry saliva as they tried to hold back the urge to run away.

Everyone was running towards their own destinations, and as they ran towards their goals, time continued to steadily pass.

Perhaps the one who was in the most difficult situation among them all was… Tanya Rothstaylor.

Slam! Slam!

“……”

The servants that were being controlled kicked on the door of the food pantry. Tanya hugged her shoulders as she trembled.

In the storage room located in the spire at the center of the mansion, Tanya was blocking the door shut with furniture.

Craaaaaack!

Thud!

The wooden door was pierced by a gremlin’s dagger and a creepy eyeball appeared through the hole.

“E-Eughk…”

Tanya quickly reinforced the door as she ran further into the storage room.

* * *

Boom! Clang!

Breaking through was easy.

Using both Mugg and Lacia, I was able to save the majority of my consumables and magically engineered equipment.

It was also necessary to save my magic power, so Merilda was only partially manifested and utilized.

Thanks to them and my beginner elemental magic, we could make a clear path running up to the second floor of the annex.

The second floor of the annex was filled with more horrific monsters. Even the slippery tentacles now had strange-looking flesh attached to them as they attacked with a greater force. The red-skinned gremlins threw their daggers with berserk magic applied to them.

Kyaaaah! Kyaaaaahk!

The servants gave unusual screeches, no longer appearing human. It looked as if their limbs were attached to those lumps of flesh.

It was a sight that made me feel nauseous just looking at it. However, I clenched my teeth as I cast magic to subdue them all.

[Young Master Ed! Now that we’ve cleared a path up the stairs, let’s head straight up! This worthless Mugg of yours will cover your rear!]

“If we don’t clean up the hallways as well, I might get attacked from behind!”

[Then, instead… wouldn’t it be better to break the entrance to the roof after we head up top?]

“…Yeah, that makes sense!”

Agreeing with Mugg, I quickly ran up the stairs.

[Ooooh! My words were of some assistance! I have become a dignified mid-ranking spirit and I can now even be of strategic assistance… I am quite proud of myself…!]

In reality, if I just thought things over calmly then I would have also come up with the same plan without much difficulty. However, I didn’t bother to point that fact out and ruin Mugg’s fun when he was acting all excited like that.

[Young Master Ed. A horde of gremlins will be coming from above.]

Lacia calmly reported the situation upstairs to me. I gathered magic power as I cast Wind Blade.

Crack! Fwooosh!

As I watched a group of gremlins be swept away, I realized that the firepower of my beginner magic had risen quite a bit.

No matter how much experience one had fighting against gremlins, it still wasn’t an easy task to sweep them all away with a single attack.

Stepping on the corpses of the defeated gremlins, I climbed the stairs higher and higher. My body was already covered with the blood of my enemies.

As I walked up the stairs of the mansion, I avoided the horrific looking swollen piles of flesh that were all over the place. Finally, I came to a wide-open hall.

The stairs ended there. The third floor of the annex consisted of a singular large hall.

So, to get to the roof, I needed to run all the way across it and up the final stairway.

That hall was the largest area in the annex. It was named ‘Rothstaylor Hall’ after the house’s name… But now, nearly all of the exterior had been blown away.

It was cool as the air passed through. The starry sky was also clearly visible.

In the distance, I could see Lucy, who was striking and trading blows with Mebula, as well as the impressive view of the spirit corps facing off against the gremlins in the night sky.

Then, the moment I was about to cross Rothstaylor Hall…

Kekeuk, Keukeukeukeuk.

In the center of the hall appeared a strange body that was twisted all over. More than half of its body had been covered in horrific flesh, and it seemed that it had lost all sense of reason.

Looking at its face, I could only frown. I didn’t have all that great of a relationship with him, but we were still acquaintances.

One of the two knights who had come to Acken Island to kill me on orders from Krepin Rothstaylor.

The Eagle Knight, Kadek, glared at me with pure white eyes.

At that moment, huge tentacles burst out from every corner of the hall, breaking the floor.

* * *

“It suits you, Tanya.”

“What is this feather, sister Arwen?”

“It’s the feather of a wild bird of the Pelvelo region.”

It was now a hazy memory.

Tanya, who was sitting on the terrace being held in Arwen’s arms… She smiled innocently as she touched the feather accessory that Arwen had placed beautifully on her hair.

“It’s really pretty…”

“Sometimes I like to decorate my hair with it like this, or even hang it on my collar. Men also sometimes put them in the front pocket of their suits.”

“You also put it on your blouse. It suits you too, sister.”

“Yeah.”

Arwen gently wiped Tanya’s face as she suddenly had a sad expression.

“The wild birds of the Pelvelo region are rather colorful. A feather from one bird is rarely the same color as a feather from another bird. That’s why it’s said that there is a custom of wearing and sharing feathers of the same color among family members.”

“Wow… Really…?”

“I also gave one to Ed and Father… Though, I’m not sure… if they will also wear them.”

Hearing Ed’s name, Tanya’s expression darkened.

It had been a week since Ed and Arwen parted ways on the terrace.

Afterwards, Ed seemed to be greatly troubled as he locked himself up in his room alone, not talking to anyone.

Tanya, who was young and ignorant, had become afraid of Ed. That was why she stuck to Arwen.

“I wish that you and brother would make up quickly…”

“Tanya. Perhaps Ed and I will never be able to reconcile again for the rest of our lives.”

When Tanya heard that, she started to cry.

Arwen had a feeling. From the moment she accepted Krepin’s plan, she had already passed the point of no return with Ed.

Having lived her whole life as Krepin’s successor, Arwen had a deeper understanding of Krepin Rothstaylor than anyone else. She completely sympathized with him.

Perhaps Krepin Rothstaylor would end up using Arwen until she was no longer worth anything. He was a man who would use any means necessary to get what he wanted.

Even if Krepin considered Arwen nothing more than a means to an end, she was still prepared to accept him, as his daughter and a member of the family. Arwen was such a person.

Krepin’s life was full of blood.

He had a life in which he had built up himself as a villain. All for the sake of standing on the throne by himself.

Without anyone understanding him, he would live alone as a villain until the day he died.

Thus, the only people who could ever acknowledge such a horrific man were members of his family.

As she was one of the only people who could understand his blood-stained path, she was willing to go to the very end of the darkness for him.

However, she couldn’t force that decision on her younger siblings.

Ed, who lived by his own thoughts, was Arwen’s beloved younger brother. She couldn’t ever force him to make such a sacrifice.

Krepin was a dedicated, stubborn, and cruel man.

If Arwen died or was no longer worth using… That monster would eventually reach his hands out to Ed and Tanya.

So, no matter what happened, she needed to clench her teeth and bear with it.

In order to protect her younger siblings, who would walk a different path and follow their own choices, Arwen herself must never die first.

“Tanya… Listen to me well.”

Arwen hugged Tanya tightly as she spoke.

“Father may always seem detached, but on the contrary, he is a lonely and pitiful person. Probably, no one else in the world will ever understand him.”

“Sister…”

“Both Ed and you… are my younger siblings, who I also love dearly. And since I’m greedy… I want to take care of all of you…”

Tanya could definitely feel Arwen’s arms becoming tighter and tighter around her.Crash!

Tanya suddenly returned to her senses as she lifted her head.

She had lost her mind as she leaned against the shelf in the storage room.

Slam! Slam!

The gremlins were slamming against the door. Tanya went deeper into the storage as she opened up a window.

She was quite high up, as she was in the middle of the spire. There was no guarantee that she would be safe if she jumped from so high up, and there was also no guarantee that she would be safe from the monsters if she managed to land in the garden with wind magic.

Tanya, who was looking out the window at the wind blowing in the sky, swallowed her saliva. She suddenly turned her gaze towards the annex.

The exterior walls had collapsed, completely revealing the inside of Rothstaylor Hall.

She was familiar with the man who stood there. Tanya swallowed her dry saliva as she climbed up on the windowsill, gathering her magic power.

Her legs began to tremble.

* * *

Ack, Kaak! Kaaaaaak!

Crash, Sheeeeek!

Something in the shape of a human was revealed in between the tentacles that rose up. The girl, who had come from underground, protected by the tentacles… She looked familiar.

She had an arm that shouldn’t have been there. The same went for her leg.

However, compared to her slender limbs on the opposite side, those ones were quite strange. Rather than skin, it looked more like patched pieces of flesh. That was also part of Mebula’s power.

Her fluttering blond hair was similar to Tanya and Ed’s. I’d already seen her once in the basement.

The girl who had shown up, surrounded by tentacles, held a sword in one hand. It was the greatsword ‘Dawn’s Blade’ that had been pierced through her body just before.

And behind her waist, she had another sword that was about half the size. It was one of the swords used by the Primordial Swordsman, Luden. ‘Condemnation.’

The girl jumped out from the tentacles as she landed in the center of Rothstaylor Hall. And… the Eagle Knight Kadek was completely sliced horizontally.

Slice!

Kadek’s head rolled on the floor a few times before it disappeared into ash. So did his body.

It all happened in an instant.

“Mebula’s power comes with the cost of mental suffering. It was better that he dies sooner than later.”

In the center of Rothstaylor Hall, the slender girl that stood under the moonlight put her sword down on the floor.

She then got on her knees towards Kadek, who had disappeared into ash, quietly putting her hands together to pray under the moonlight.

“Kadek, you have dedicated yourself as a vassal of House Rothstaylor for a long time. This is the only thing I can do for you. Though, I will probably be punished severely in the afterlife.”

“Sister Arwen.”

“I’ve already put it all down, Ed. I went the opposite way of you. Even if he commits every sin in this world, I’ve decided to acknowledge our lonely father until the very end. Even if the road he takes leads to darkness.”

As she knelt next to her sword praying, she looked rather holy. Even though one of her arms and legs looked horrific.

“That’s the conclusion I have come to while living as Rothstaylor’s successor, watching over Father, and being with you. Father probably doesn’t care about me. I will probably be abandoned after being nothing more than a worthwhile sacrifice.”

“……”

“Nevertheless, I decided to acknowledge Father until the very end. Otherwise… Father will only die in loneliness in the end.”

Arwen stood up again.

“So, I can’t let you pass me. For Father and for you.”

Magic power wrapped around her body and gave her strength. With all sorts of defensive magic wrapped around her… she slowly lifted her upper body.

In one hand, she held the greatsword ‘Dawn’s Blade’, and on the other hand, she pulled out Luden’s holy sword ‘Condemnation.’

These were the two swords that symbolized the time when she lived as the heir of the esteemed Rothstaylor House.

“Go back.”

“……”

“This is the end of House Rothstaylor. Go and live your life now. I will stay here and come to my end with it.”

In , she was a person whose existence wasn’t even revealed in the original storyline.

Neither as a main boss, nor hidden boss. She was nowhere to be seen.

However, after I became Ed Rothstaylor, a character in this shitty world, it felt as if I were facing my fate.

A girl standing in my way.

The forgotten heir, Arwen Rothstaylor.

In the center of the hall, she stood under the moonlight with her eyes bright and wide open.