Chapter 1

Thank you so much for coming to "Novel Writer"!

The story has slight differences between the web version, the novel version, and the manga version, gradually becoming more comedic and milder (though still questionable). (The basic flow remains the same.)

I hope you enjoy the web version with this in mind.

"Yumiera Dorkness, the eldest daughter of the Dorkness family... L, Level 99."

In the grand hall of the royal academy, when the teacher announced my level, everyone present was speechless and stared at me.

Realizing that my goal of staying as inconspicuous as possible was impossible, I recalled the events that led to my Level 99 status, as if to escape from reality.

I realized I had memories of my past life and that I had been reborn as the villainess in a dating sim when I was five years old.

The trigger was the sense of unease I felt when I noticed that the person in the mirror in my room looked young.

The face in the mirror was doll-like, with hair and eyes much blacker than in my past life, as if they absorbed all the light. Combined with my straight hair, I might have looked like a Japanese doll if I had worn a kimono.

Thinking about my appearance, I realized I knew words like "kimono" and "Japanese doll," which I had no memory of hearing before.

From there, I began to recall my past life's memories.

I remembered being born in Heisei-era Japan, being an indoor-loving college student, and being hit by a car that had veered onto the sidewalk, likely dying.

Twenty-some years of memories flashed through my mind, making my breathing heavy and my heart race.

I squatted down, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths to calm myself.

Once I had calmed down, I began to think about my current situation but realized I had very little memory.

I only knew my name, Yumiera Dorkness, that I was five years old, and that I was a noble. I had almost no memory of leaving my current room or meeting my parents.

The maids seemed to avoid me, only providing the minimum care and having little conversation. I didn't even know the name of the country I was in.

With no memories or knowledge, I looked around my room for any information.

The room's furnishings and the clothes I wore gave the impression of medieval Europe. There were no modern electronic devices, and the lighting came from a magical device the maid had called a "magic tool." It glowed with a sparkling, scale-like substance, resembling a lantern but something that couldn't exist in my past life.

Considering all this, I concluded that I was in a different world from Earth and decided to start gathering information.

The first thing I did was bombard the maid with questions. She was surprised by my sudden chattiness but answered my questions properly.

The country's name is the Kingdom of Balshain, and I live in the manor of the Dorkness family, the lord of the Dorkness estate. I am the eldest daughter of the family. My parents live in the capital and have not returned to the estate since before I was born.

I was sent to the estate alone because my black hair made my parents dislike me. In this country, black hair is considered ominous and a symbol of evil.

Incidentally, it took a lot of effort to get this information from the maid. The battle between my direct questions and her indirect answers will be a story for another time.

No wonder the servants in the manor treated me coldly. With my black hair and quiet demeanor, I probably seemed like a creepy child, and my parents, who disliked me, were their employers. It was understandable that they treated me like a sore spot.

Understanding my situation, I decided to learn to read. When I told the maid I wanted to learn to read, a tutor was quickly arranged, and lessons began.

Once I could read, I spent a lot of time in the manor's library, reading everything from picture books to history and political texts.

As a result, I became convinced that I was in the world of a dating sim I had played in my past life. The game's title is "The Light Magic and the Hero," commonly known as "Hikayu."

It's a world of swords and magic where a heroine with light magic, despite being a commoner, enrolls in the royal academy, works with the love interests to become stronger, and finally defeats the demon king—a classic, if somewhat cliché, story.

The story progresses by alternating between the school part, where you increase intimacy with the love interests, and the RPG part, where you fight monsters with them.

I had suspected this might be the case from my name and the country's name, but I never thought it would actually happen.

In Hikayu, I, Yumiera Dorkness, am the villainess. I appear occasionally in the school part, causing minor trouble for the heroine. As the story progresses, my appearances become fewer, and by the time the party sets out to fight the revived demon king, I am forgotten by the player.

However, Yumiera's story doesn't end there.

Hikayu has a bonus feature where, after the ending, if you return to the demon king's castle, a secret boss appears. When players see the secret boss, they probably think, "The secret boss is you?!" Yes, the secret boss is none other than me, Yumiera Dorkness.

As a secret boss, of course, I am stronger than the demon king. Most players, even with a party that barely managed to defeat the demon king, are beaten up and flee.

Even with the strategy of using light magic to reduce dark magic, which was effective against the demon king, you die from physical attacks. Conversely, if you focus on defending against physical attacks, you die from high-damage dark magic.

Hikayu, for a dating sim, has a well-balanced RPG part. Enemies have weaknesses to physical, magical, and elemental attacks, and exploiting these is key to success. However, for the secret boss Yumiera, the only way to beat her is to level up and brute force it.

Players call her a balance breaker, a personification of unfairness.

According to the developers, "After the game was completed, we added the villainess because she had few appearances. As the final enemy, we made her so strong that you can't beat her unless you max out your level." Incidentally, the recommended level for the demon king battle is around 70.

The reason Yumiera appears as a secret boss in the game is "out of hatred for the heroine, who is getting along with the love interests, she awakens to dark magic." There's no deep reason; it's just an afterthought bonus feature, and the developers probably didn't think much about it.

In my past life, I liked leveling up and managed to clear the game. Yumiera, who could fight on equal terms with a party of four Level 99 heroes, was something more than just a villainess.

Realizing I might be a balance-breaking secret boss and that I could potentially use dark magic, which was only available to enemy characters in the game, my gamer blood started to boil.

I had to level up.

I read the magic textbook in the library and started practicing by following the steps to sense magic.

Thirty minutes later, I could use dark magic.

I didn't expect it to be so easy. Yumiera must have a natural talent for dark magic. It seems the hatred for the heroine was irrelevant.

The morning after breakfast, I decided to leave the manor to practice magic in a wider area.

The night before, I had hinted to the maid that I wanted to go outside and learned that my father had strictly forbidden me from leaving the manor. He must have wanted to keep the existence of his black-haired daughter a secret.

After finishing breakfast, I pretended to go to the library as usual and left the manor. I easily climbed over the wall surrounding the estate. It seems I had abnormally high physical abilities. Even at Level 1, I was a balance breaker.

I hid my hair with a hat and headed out of town. There were no walls around the town, so I could easily leave. I entered a nearby forest and started casting larger spells that I couldn't try in the library.

Lost in casting spells, I realized I was getting hungry. Looking up, I saw a beautiful sunset. If I started practicing around 9:00 AM, it must have been around 5:00 PM, meaning I had been casting spells for nearly 8 hours.

Not only my concentration but also my endless magic power surprised me. Bosses don't run out of magic power, but I didn't expect it to be infinite. At Level 1, this was indeed the power of a secret boss. I was truly formidable.

Rushing back to the manor, I thought about what to do next. I doubted I could hide the fact that I had left the manor, but I ran, jumped over the wall, and returned to the library. The lunch that had been prepared for me was still there. Unable to resist my hunger, I ate the cold food hurriedly.

As soon as I finished eating, a maid came in to say that dinner was ready and cleared the dishes. She seemed no different from usual and didn't appear to know I had left. I had been having lunch delivered to the library since I started hiding there.

Perhaps they thought I had just been in the library the whole time, except for the lunch delivery. I was grateful that the servants tried to avoid contact with me.

From the next day, I asked for a packed lunch so no one would enter the library, and I continued to leave the manor daily. I practiced leveling up by defeating monsters in the mountains near the Dorkness town. I also prepared clothes that could get dirty with the money from selling monster materials. I was probably overcharged by the merchants, but as a suspicious child, I couldn't do much about it.

At the age of seven, I started receiving lessons in manners and history from a tutor three times a week. With less time to leave the manor, I focused on efficient leveling up.

After such days of leveling up, when I turned 15, I received a letter from my father. It was the first message from my parents in my 15 years of life. The letter essentially said, "Attend the royal academy. Try to befriend the sons of high-ranking nobles. You can marry into the family, even if they are not the eldest son."

What do they think of their daughter? Well, this is probably how nobles think. But if they want me to marry into a high-ranking noble family, shouldn't they have socialized me more?

So, I set off for the capital by carriage. Officially, it was my first time leaving the manor, so maybe I should act surprised. However, the carriage was slow and uncomfortable. Running would have been faster.

After a two-day journey, I arrived in the capital and went directly to the academy dormitory without stopping at the Dorkness family manor. Is this okay, parents? I don't even know what you look like.

All noble children attend the royal academy for three years starting at age 15. The academy focuses more on combat than studies, as it was founded by the hero and the holy maiden who defeated the demon king. Therefore, in this country, nobles are expected to lead in times of crisis. However, this seems to be more of a formality now.

I arrived at the academy just in time, as the opening ceremony was the next day.

Wearing my new uniform, I headed to the hall but felt many gazes on me. I should have learned enough manners not to be laughed at, and my face, while a bit sharper, wasn't that scary.

Soon, I realized the gazes were focused on my black hair. Some people openly showed their disgust, making me anxious about my future school life.

I planned to keep a low profile at school, hide my strength, and avoid the heroine and the love interests. I intended to let the heroine and the love interests defeat the demon king as the story dictated. If that failed, I would kill the demon king myself.

The opening ceremony proceeded smoothly, and the level measurement began as part of the self-introduction. I had no idea such a thing existed, and I felt my world go dark.

One by one, the new students came forward, placed their hands on the magic tool, and had their levels measured. Most were in the single digits, and only one person exceeded Level 10. I had no idea what my level was. I had never been measured, and I was strong even at Level 1, so it was hard to guess.

When my turn came, I stepped forward but froze in front of the magic tool. The elderly principal kindly told me that it was nothing to be ashamed of to be Level 1 at the start. That's not the issue.

Determined, I wished for a convenient malfunction of the magic tool and placed my hand on it.

However, my wish was not granted, and the story returned to the beginning...