Point-of-View: Luell Rouge

  ———————————————————————————


  This has, uh, kinda gotten way out of hand. I was just trying to be spiteful and take my frustrations out, I didn't mean for things to go this far! And at this point, it kinda feels like it's too late to try and back out now.

  My name's Luell Rouge, I'm what you'd call perfectly average……I've got an average height and build, medium-long straight black hair that frames my face, covers my forehead and eyebrows in the front and goes down past my neck at the back.

  I've resisted Demonic possession, so my irises turned red, while the whites of my eyes have several black streaks in them. I've got pale skin and a Demonic horn on my head, starting from the top of my head at the spot where my hair swirls and curving forward with the tip of the horn about an inch in front of the spot between my eyebrows.

  I have a porcupine Anima, and can form spikes all over my body, which I can either detach and use as weapons, or use as a form of defense, or fire them out like projectiles. I'm twenty-five years old……physically speaking, that is. Mentally, I'm over sixty. Yeah, I'm a Reincarnator, one who'd been living in Bronztan before everything went to shit.

  I was a computer programmer in my old life, and not to brag, but I was pretty damn good at my job. Unfortunately, that meant that I always had a ton of work piled up on my desk, and I ended up literally working myself to death.

  What a shitty way to go, death by overwork. But it is what it is, and after I died, I found myself given the option to reincarnate with my memories intact. Naturally, I went for it, and decided to live a quiet, peaceful life in this world.

  I reincarnated to a noble family in Bronztan, and the first twenty or so years of my life here went just as I wanted, nice and peaceful. Sure, it wasn't perfect, like how sexist towards men Bronztan was and all, but men weren't exactly oppressed, so it was easy enough to ignore.

  I made a point of staying under the radar, but as a programmer, I couldn't help but feel interested in creating spells. After all, I was pretty bored in this world that had no digital entertainment, so I needed a hobby. I kept it to myself once I got the hang of it though, making sure that no one knew that I could create spells, since I didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention.

  I also messed around with my Earth Magic to entertain myself, along with keeping myself fit by exercising regularly. That said, I had absolutely no intention of becoming an Adventurer or whatever, I was fine with mooching off my family fortune until I die.

  I wasn't exactly accomplishing anything, but hey, I was enjoying this slow life, so what more could I ask for? I had zero interest in taking the spotlight……I'd probably have been worked to the bone if people found out that I was good at spell creation, so I never told anyone. And as a result, I had a relaxing, uneventful life. If only those peaceful days had lasted……

  A Demon tried to possess me, which I managed to resist, just barely. I gained physical strength and whatnot, along with Alchemic Magic and this annoying horn that really gets in the way. Seriously, it's so hard to lay my head down because of this stupid thing!

  And then, after Bronztan was wiped off the map and we were all forced to move into the Rustlands, things were never the same again. The luxurious mansion I grew up in was gone, and I had to live in a regular apartment. But I didn't complain, the excessive luxury was nice while it lasted, but losing it wasn't the end of the world.

  Unfortunately, right as I started adapting and getting used to the downgrade to my living situation, non-stop war broke out. Honestly, after I gained Demonic powers, it felt like things kept getting worse. The Rustlands had lost all of its strongest Adventurers thanks to their stupid-ass king, and to make matters worse, the Rustlands then teamed up with the enemies that were responsible for all the recent violence.

  I mean, come on, who the hell does that? But I didn't want to waste any energy complaining about it, so I just kept quiet and tried to go on with my life. But that wasn't so easy when more and more violent battles just kept taking place.

  And then, finally, once peace was returned……all the former enemy nations had formed alliances. What?

  Not gonna lie, that really pissed me off……I wasn't especially close to any people in this world, including the family I was born into, but still, all that death and they were just going to sweep it under the rug?

  If I'd been a casualty, I'd have definitely wanted whoever was responsible to be held accountable. I mean, that's only natural, isn't it? But, no, Belia Lasmodeus, the Elemental Sages and the former people of Silvland, they were all walking freely.

  In fact, regarding those that came from Silvland, they'd basically segregated themselves in a section of the Rustlands, and kept a distance from everyone else. Many of them still blindly cling to religion despite everything that's happened lately, and in their eyes, the rest of us are all blasphemous heathens.

  Anyway, not long after the war ended, I was at a bar, and having gotten a fair bit drunk, I ended up in conversation with some of the other customers. The memory's kinda blurry, but I remember venting and complaining about all of the above.

  And, well, I guess I must have struck a chord with most of the people there, because the next day, as I woke up with an excruciating hangover, I found myself the leader of a protest movement.

  After thinking it over, I decided to go with it, just out of spite and in the hope that I could inconvenience the leaders that allowed the events of the past three or four years to happen.

  Yeah, my motivations were as petty as you can get. And I don't know why, but everyone who followed me seems to idolize me now……am I a natural leader?

  Actually, I don't care, because it turned out to be a ton of work and really stressful……stress and exhaustion killed me in my old world, so once the higher ups began cracking down on the protests, I decided to pull the plug.

  I'd say I'm pretty good at stuff like strategizing, but I don't really enjoy stuff like that, so I didn't feel like it was worth the trouble. And so, I held a meeting one night and brought up all the difficulties we'd have in continuing to do this, and I think I was starting to sway some of them.

  And that's when I fucked up. In an attempt to further demotivate them from keeping this up, I said something like 'we'd have to leave the Rustlands and form an independent group that'll slowly but surely cripple the nations, and that would take a lot of time and effort'……unfortunately, that backfired, as they all seemed to love that idea.

  Before I knew it, I found myself leading a group of what's effectively bandits. And since I was enjoying creating new spells to help keep ourselves hidden, I ended up going with the flow……and now, things have gotten way, way out of hand. All the nations are targeting us for elimination.

  Goddammit, I just wanted to cause trouble for all the overpowered idiots that ravaged this world in the last few years, it was nothing more than petty revenge that I wanted, but……this is a few steps above that, things have gotten way out of hand!

  At this point, everyone here idolizes me, and I'm sure they have no doubt that I'm just as invested in revolution as they are. When, in reality, I'm easily the one who's least invested.

  I tried suggesting disbanding and slowly joining up with the trade centers or other nations, but the others interpreted that as me telling them to infiltrate those places as spies. When I tried again, I somehow ended up inspiring them even more and some of them even freaking offered to sacrifice themselves for our cause!

  Which ended up happening, despite my efforts to try and prevent it. At this point, it feels like it's way too late to even attempt to pull out of this now. I mean, now that some of us have been captured, possibly even killed, the others will probably riot if I try to end this.

  They might even kill me. So……yeah, I guess this is my life now. I just wanted to live peacefully. Is that really too much to ask for, huh!?

  Fine, then……if I can't live peacefully, then I'll make sure that no one else can either……!

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

  Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

  Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

  https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP