Chapter 1
A final boss every man has admired at least once.
Utterly evil, absolutely invincible, and
uh...
I couldn't think of a four-character idiom that could describe it further with my limited knowledge, but, well, more or less that sort of thing.
I, Duke Urwick, realized I'd been given that opportunity when I opened my eyes.
Why I was reincarnated wasn't particularly important.
It wasn't because I didn't want to recall the embarrassing memory of electrocuting myself by spilling Coke onto an outlet while playing a musou-style game.
Anyway, that's not it.
I, Duke Urwick, am a man who doesn't dwell on the past.
Instead, I decided to focus on the present.
This world, which shared a setting with the game I was playing right before I died, operated on a scale utterly incomparable to Earth's, thanks to magic's low barrier to entry.
To put it into perspective, imagine each territory being about the size of South Korea.
I never learned Earth science, so I can't even guess the planet's size, but it was at least so vast that comparing it to Earth was meaningless.
The problem was that magic being available to everyone meant, in other words, that everyone possessed the potential to become a tyrant.
Imagine it.
A world where one exceptional individual could replace an entire nation, and everyone could carry a handgun on them.
In such a world, could equality, laws, and morality have any meaning?
‘Of course not.’
Just as a red dragon and a goblin could never be placed on the same scale, this world was profoundly unfair.
It was even a world where killing people allowed you to steadily advance your realm, making it perfectly normal to stab the person next to you in the back for that purpose.
That was the world I'd been reincarnated into.
Ordinary people wouldn't choose a world like this as their reincarnation destination. (Assuming they had a choice.)
But I was different.
‘This is an opportunity. A chance to become the strongest being in the world.’
It was my chance to become the kind of final boss I'd seen in games, movies, and so on.
With even laws and morality so lax, I could grow without restraint.
Of course, I did consider using the opportunities that came my way to enjoy a peaceful, slow-paced life.
But...
‘Honestly, it'd be a lie to say that, as a man, I'd never imagined something like this.’
I was simply a man with slightly higher levels of adrenaline and testosterone in his blood than other people, and more than enough drive to act.
‘Four hundred years from now.’
If you broke through a certain realm through training, you became a superhuman.
And as you became superhuman and advanced to higher realms, aging slowed further, so it was fair to call it something akin to the process of becoming an immortal.
After cultivating for around 800 years while slowing your aging that way, you would generally reach the ranks of the strongest in the world.
That was the standard for ordinary natives.
But I was a reincarnator, equipped with a knowledge cheat and a bit of talent. (I have no evidence for the latter.)
If I monopolized the optimal growth routes and fortuitous opportunities, 400 years—half of 800—would be more than enough to become a final boss.
Honestly, 400 years would be more than enough, even without pushing myself.
“Wait for me, world!”
After childhood role-playing at the playground, the heart of a man who hadn't run even once since then began pounding, heedless of his age.
- “Duke!!! Come eat!”
First, though, I needed to grow up properly.
*
Year 30 of my training to become a final boss.
I acquired information that would change my life from the ground up.
According to that information, the premise underlying my goal was slightly mistaken.
No, “mistaken” didn't begin to cover it.
It was spectacularly wrong.
The world I'd reincarnated into wasn't simply the setting of a game.
'No, it wasn't not a game setting, but... it wasn't not... Argh, this is giving me a headache.'
After pulling my mind back together from the shock-induced bug, I organized my thoughts again.
This world wasn't ’only’ the setting of the action game I'd been playing.
More precisely, it was the world 200 years before the novel I'd been following began.
The novel was titled <I Don't Want to Be Emperor?>
As you could tell from the title, the protagonist was an emperor who wanted to retire.
He didn't start out as an emperor; it was the sort of novel where he started as a commoner with no backing and rose to become one.
The reason I realized this world was the setting of <I Don't Want to Be Emperor?> was absurd.
Because I discovered that my longtime partner—someone I'd relied on for around ten years—was the person who appeared in the novel as the Old Man.
‘Why of all names did that guy have to be Peter?’
I've met more than ten Peters in my life.
It was such a common name that I didn't even suspect him during the ten years I knew him.
After realizing the shocking identity of Peter, who was an old man... no, a young man right now, I returned home and clutched my head in bed.
Then I punched an innocent pillow and directed my resentment at the author of the novel.
‘You never explained any of this!!!’
I was innocent.
The game had contained absolutely no explanation connecting it to the novel.
No, strictly speaking, that wasn't entirely true.
The author of the novel had made this action game after getting a job.
But inferring a connection between the two works from that alone would have been pure delusion.
‘It wasn't as if there were no references, of course...’
The game mentioned it once or twice as an Easter egg, while the novel did so in a gag line that broke the fourth wall.
Naturally, no fan took that element seriously enough to connect the two worlds.
‘Who would seriously treat that as a clue?’
So my grievance was justified.
But being indignant about it now wouldn't change anything.
I quickly pulled myself together and took stock of the situation.
One. I had reincarnated into the game world.
Two. From my current point in time, the period when the novel's protagonist would transmigrate here was far in the future.
After thinking over the above information for a while,
My deliberation was brief, and my decision came quickly.
‘If you can't beat them, join them.’
My original goal had been to become the strongest person in the world, beyond anyone's ability to oppose, and rampage all over the place.
I planned to reign as the final boss, then lose to any protagonist I took a liking to, change identities, and go looking for another concept.
But things were different in the world of a misunderstanding-driven protagonist.
‘Scrap the plan to make my main persona the Demon King.’
If I made the world my enemy and accidentally messed with the protagonist, it would all be over.
Misunderstanding-driven stories were a kind of divine power.
No matter how hard I worked, planned, and built up my setup, everything would crumble before the protagonist's luck.
Besides, there was another reason.
‘Bitcoin is at rock bottom. How could I not buy it?’
With a moonshot guaranteed, how could I stand by without buying?
I wasn't that kind of gay.
Honestly, claiming I was afraid to oppose the protagonist was just an excuse; this was my true motivation.
I had no intention of abandoning the final-boss concept, only the Demon King position that was doomed to be destroyed at the end.
‘What I was aiming for was the protagonist's ultimate weapon.’
And an absolutely trustworthy second-in-command.
‘The protagonist needs martial power, too.’
The original protagonist was at the pinnacle of domestic affairs and strategy and tactics, but his personal combat ability was nothing special.
Someone like me—a monster of martial prowess—was indispensable to him.
‘The goal is to become the second-in-command.’
The protagonist's first companion, the explanation that makes everything plausible, and a supporting character who would deepen the misunderstandings even further.
‘This kind of final boss could be fun.’
Wasn't there a term for that—an inverted hierarchy?
Come to think of it, in most works, it's the second-in-command, not the leader, who appears on-screen more often.
Thanks to that, there are even works where the second-in-command is more famous.
Since my goal was a cool final boss who appeared often, this could even be considered an improvement over my original plan.
‘Once I make it big, I'll just sit there with my arms folded during cabinet meetings.’
I could leave the domestic affairs and headache-inducing paperwork to the protagonist and focus solely on cool theatrics whenever I felt like it.
The concept was decided.
A dignified, perfect, flawless second-in-command shrouded in mystery.
‘Ah, I can't forget the utterly evil part.’
And make him an utterly evil figure brimming with charisma.
Satisfied, I revised my plans and went to bed.
***
From that day on, I got to work at once.
The plan was solid.
‘201 years.’
That was the time remaining until the novel began, as deduced from the Old Man's age.
‘I have to be fully prepared before the original story begins.’
Once the original story began, the original protagonists would grow at an unimaginable pace by his side.
They were already overflowing with talent, and thanks to the protagonist's misfortune, his ability to turn it to his advantage, and various fortuitous opportunities, they would grow at a mind-boggling rate.
‘Compared to them, my talent is...’
I don't overestimate my own talent.
If I started from the same line as them, I could say with certainty that I wouldn't even make second-in-command; I'd be lucky to take the lowest seat.
‘Two hundred years...’
Dangerous.
It was a ridiculously short period compared to the 400 years I'd originally planned.
Four hundred years was comfortable, but two hundred was a span that required taking a few reckless gambles.
Gruesome effort would be the bare minimum, and I might even have to risk my life.
I pondered it for a moment.
‘Is it worth it?’
It was.
This was a man's second life; it was worth risking my life for something like this.
‘I might as well throw myself into it.’
I had no intention of compromising.
I had no time to waste deliberating, so I got moving immediately.
The process of growing stronger was extremely painful.
Since I went around claiming all the game's fortuitous opportunities for myself without touching the novel's, I accumulated a lot of debts and grudges in more ways than one.
Once I'd become a well-known superhuman in less than 100 years, I had to endure all kinds of jealousy and obstruction from the superhumans who were already established.
- “I'm sorry, Duke. But didn't I warn you? In the world of superhumans, you have to be able to kill even your own child for the sake of advancing your realm. Don't resent me too much.”
- “Duke, you wicked bastard! You killed your master to advance your realm! Can you still call yourself human after that?! I'll kill you and avenge my master's death!”
- “Your realm is high, but the time you've spent building it is short. Where did such a delectable morsel come from, I wonder? You said your name was Duke Urwick? Consider yourself unlucky.”
Anyway, since people who had lived longer than I had kept trying to kill me so they could extend their own lifespans, even sleeping soundly without worry was a luxury.
My relationships grew somewhat complicated and I accumulated plenty of backstory while washing blood with blood to stay alive, but I didn't particularly care.
In a world where people would do anything to advance their realms, I had no desire to waste emotional energy on shameless people like that.
‘Positive mindset, positive mindset.’
I decided to regard it as little more than seasoning for the complicated backstory I would give my future second-in-command.
Once I thought of it that way and went around dealing with my enemies, I felt better than expected.
Another hundred years passed.
It had been 200 years since I'd made up my mind.
At last, only one year remained until the original story began.
*
With one year left until the main story began, I launched the <Becoming the Original Protagonist's First Companion Plan>.
‘It absolutely has to be me who meets him first and becomes his companion.’
First experiences mattered to everyone.
And the title of first companion carried enough narrative weight to offset a difference in strength.
So I made meticulous plans.
‘There's... no way to meet him before the main heroine.’
I knew the protagonist's past, but that route was too uncertain and risked disrupting the original plot, so I rejected it.
To meet him without disrupting the original plot or introducing variables, I had no choice but to meet him around the same time as the main heroine.
‘Sorry, friend. I can't give up the second-in-command position.’
I had no choice but to compromise on this point.
Originally, the second-in-command position belonged to the main heroine.
But the moment I took the second-in-command's seat, she would naturally be demoted to third-in-command.
‘As an apology, I'll play matchmaker for you.’
The timing was settled; next came the location.
‘It definitely started in the mad scientist's laboratory.’
The protagonist's story began when he somehow got dragged into the laboratory.
After escaping, he would search high and low for the main heroine from the room next door, who had gotten out first—that was the beginning of his adventure.
I planned to insert myself into this narrative.
‘I'll become a test subject first.’
The plan was simple.
Before the protagonist entered the laboratory, I would become a test subject first and serve as the lab's senior test subject.
I would build a bond with the protagonist inside and escape together.
Simply obtaining the title of first companion this way would mean the second-in-command project was already half successful.
‘I'm sorry, protagonist. I regret that your first companion won't be your main wife.’
It may not quite make up for it, but I'll make you emperor.