Became the Villainess’s Guardian

Let me tell a story from the past.

Five years after being reborn in this modern fantasy world, it was then that I realized something was amiss.

Mentally, I was healthy, but physically, I was just a five-year-old child.
The children of that age would often run around tirelessly, perhaps knowing that in a year or two, they would have to join the child labor force.

This didn’t apply to ordinary families, but I was living in an orphanage.

“Let’s play tag!”

“These brats whose heads are still soft, playing so cutely.”

“Edan, you’re like an old man…”

“Hey, let’s play together!”

-Poke!

One of the children playing near the stairs poked me as I was watching them.
I staggered and grabbed the railing, but the old railing of the orphanage creaked and broke.

If I had just fallen down the stairs, I could have overcome it with a child’s resilience, but the problem was that I had been standing on the third floor.
My short five-year life flashed before my eyes like ending credits.

I had known that railing would eventually cause an accident. But I never thought I would be the victim.

“Oh, wait-“

“Kyaaah!!”

Was this how my second life would end too?
I curled up and squeezed my eyes shut, at least hoping to avoid landing head-first.

And then.

-Thump!

“What was that noise?”

“Edan! Are you okay?!”

“…Huh?”

Nothing had happened.
No impact on my body, no pain to follow.

The kids who had run past me came back down the stairs and stared wide-eyed.
Until the orphanage director came over, startled by the commotion and dispersed the children, I patted myself here and there, dumbfounded that I was perfectly fine.

‘What’s going on?’

I don’t have particularly exceptional physical abilities.
Just a few days ago, I eagerly joined a fight to determine the dominance hierarchy at the orphanage, but ended up retiring early after flailing my feeble arms and legs.

Wondering if the shock had somehow awakened some latent power, I tried summoning a status window and lifting a boulder in front of the orphanage, but to no avail.

Still, this was a fantasy world, so I shouldn’t judge it by the common sense of my previous life.
The physics engine of this other world could be different from what I knew, so I immediately asked the nearest adult.

“Teacher.”

“Yes, Edan. Did you finally find a factory you want to work at?”

“No, I was wondering… does gravity sometimes not work properly… or something like that?”

“Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep.”

The orphanage director just laughed it off as a child’s wild imagination.

But thanks to that, I learned that surviving a fall from a height was not normal common sense.

I had suspected it as soon as I heard the name of this city.
And at that moment, my suspicion solidified into certainty.

“…So it seems.”

It appears I have been born into the world of the game from my previous life, [The Londinium Survival Log].

The game called [The Londinium Survival Log] is a god game.

Since players don’t take fall damage, I’ve decided to call it a god game from now on.
If fall damage existed, I might have been preparing for my third life by now. Or maybe it would have just ended there.

And as games usually have certain systems in place for convenience’s sake, like clichés, this one was no exception.
For example, eating food heals wounds, and there’s an inventory system.

When I started investigating, I soon discovered that eating bread when injured would cause new flesh to sprout, and to confirm the lack of fall damage, I jumped off a wall and verified that theory as well.

Good.
At least I didn’t end up in this modern fantasy world empty-handed.

But my joy at having access to the protagonist’s abilities seen in post-apocalyptic games, such as exceptional crafting skills that made sewing seem easy even from childhood, was short-lived.
I suddenly realized there was a dark cloud looming over my future.

[The Londinium Survival Log] is not a game about a hero’s adventure to defeat the Demon King.

Instead, after the Demon King and the hero engaged in an existential death match for the survival of their respective races, ultimately destroying each other in a grandiose manner, it becomes a post-apocalyptic survival game set in the city of Londinium, which has crumbled amidst the war.

In other words, the destruction of the capital is a foregone conclusion.

“Status window. Is there really no such thing as a status window?”

“Director, look at this.”

“It seems his head got messed up after falling down the stairs. Poor thing……”

“Wow, no inventory either.”

With each passing day, as humanity hurtled towards destruction with its broken brakes, I could only wake up from my sleep, twisting and turning every morning.

I knew this because a few days after starting the game, an event celebrating the player character’s 32nd birthday popped up.
We had barely over a decade left before annihilation.

Should I move far away? No, if the capital ends up like that, nowhere else would be safe either.
Above all, [The Londinium Survival Log] is a game without an ending.
The sole objective is to survive for as long as possible. So there’s no hope of rescue.

The idea of emigrating is the same. If this is the state of the most powerful Glassgow Kingdom of the time, what chance would other places have?
Living as one with nature in a remote wilderness devoid of humans might offer a better chance of survival.

Moreover, all my knowledge would only be useful after the kingdom has already fallen into ruin.
In other words, the tactical advice about the Londinium Parliament Building being a good farming spot, and how to fend off raider groups by kiting them around, is of no help to me right now.

So…

“…I can’t just stay like this.”

“Huh? What are you going to do, Edan?”

“Get a job.”

If I just remained idle, I might really end up like in the game, alone in a cave, surviving on canned food with holes in it.

Of course, one might think, “What kind of job can a five-year-old get?” But the setting of this game is the modern era.
As the developers said, “We tried our best to recreate the conditions of the late Industrial Revolution era,” in this romantic age, it wasn’t exactly illegal to put five-year-old children to work in hazardous facilities!

Of course, being a mere factory worker wouldn’t change much. Naturally, I had to aim for a higher social standing.

And although it may seem I have nothing but this pitiful body that doesn’t take fall damage, I did happen to have one more asset.

“Edan, my toy is broken…..”

“Let me see. If I adjust this part a little… There!”

“Woah! I thought I’d have to throw it away.”

It’s the protagonist’s special ability seen in post-apocalyptic games – exceptional crafting skills. I wondered why I didn’t make use of it sooner, as sewing had been easy for me even from childhood.

Of course, I initially needed to build up some proficiency.
But later on, I could make guns from scrap, craft magic tools, and even learn magic from dusty old tomes, really taking off.

And the game’s setting is roughly the mid-19th century.
The era of religion and superstition was fading, giving way to an age of reason and rationality brought about by magic and engineering.

“The metal rod is spinning on its own!”

“Magister, what is this…?”

“Ah, as I thought, non-mages wouldn’t know. This is called a ‘motor.’ It spins around and around.”

And it was the dawn of electromagnetism in that time period.
Even though it was a fantasy world, since they were dealing with the force of electricity, there were aspects that overlapped with science to some degree.

“So, you wish to walk the path of electromancy?”

“Yes, sir.”

“But didn’t you say you’ve never received any formal education before? It will be difficult to keep up.”

Fortunately, I had an aptitude for electromancy, the cutting-edge trend of this era combining magic and electricity.
Even in my previous life, I had achieved master craftsman certification from the industrial workforce agency. It’s not like I lacked talent.

After painstakingly acquiring tickets to the Royal Academy’s magic demonstration,
and pestering a renowned professor there incessantly, I managed to avoid a future as a mere laborer. My current profile was as follows:

A candidate on the verge of joining the Royal Academy.
A young 22-year-old magician named Edan.

For someone who had just come of age, being accepted into the royally-sanctioned mages’ academy was an unparalleled honor.
Especially considering I started out as a mere orphan.

Anyone would nod in acknowledgment at such a socially recognized achievement.
It would have been even better if humanity wasn’t facing imminent annihilation, though.

There are few names mentioned when discussing why humanity was pathetically destroyed by the Demon King.
As is typical of such apocalyptic games, the worldbuilding had to be pieced together bit by bit from fragmented item descriptions resembling torn newspaper scraps revealing the backstory.

And among the few names sandwiched between illustrious figures like the Queen, Prime Minister, and the Hero, was Freugne, who held the position of the Black Veil.

‘She conspired with the Prime Minister to make us surrender to the Demon King’s forces!’

‘Facing humanity’s crisis, she reduced the Parliament to a worthless body engaging in endless circular debates.’

‘By leaking information, she caused the Hero to be defeated before even glimpsing the Demon King’s castle.’

This was the extent of the colorful information I had about her.

The Queen, Prime Minister, and Hero were people whose identities I was largely unaware of, or whom I could never easily encounter in any case.

But Freugne was different.
At the very least, there was a story about her being an ill-fated girl who had lived in Londinium, and relying on that one lead, I followed the trail of information.

“Teacher, I’ve found the person you requested.”

“Really?”

“Yes, she’s at an orphanage in the East End. I don’t know why you’re looking for her, but she didn’t seem particularly special.”

“Then you’ve found the right one. Here is the compensation I promised.”

And a few days ago, after being told they had located a girl matching her appearance and name, I came to this place.

Before visiting the orphanage, I made one resolution to myself.
Under no circumstances would I let misguided sympathy cloud my judgment.

I had certainly resolved that.

‘I’ll do my best again tomorrow!’

But seeing this girl more concerned about getting food in her mouth than any thoughts of betraying humanity, Black Veil or not… I feel my sense of humanity being chipped away.

“Have you seen enough?”

“Yes, the child seems very happy.”

If I had proceeded according to my original plan, I should have met Freugne, pondered how to best assassinate her stealthily after that first encounter.
Insofar as the game information I knew was accurate, that would have been the easiest and cleanest method.

But no matter how I thought about it, if there was something wrong, it seemed to be this world itself rather than the girl. So, without really thinking, I blurted out an option I had never considered before.

“…Orphanage Director.”

“Yes?”

“Do you also accept regular donations?”

“Of course we do.”

The reason for her eventual distortion seemed abundantly clear.

So then, if I just… help nurture a healthy mindset from a young age, wouldn’t that work?