I'm the Bad Guy

by Kenneth Arant

“Push as much mana into the machine, as quickly as you can without stopping. Our resident healer will make sure you don't overdo it.” The last examiner explained while motioning to a kind looking lady in her thirties. She wore a heavy white robe with the symbol of the emperor embroidered on her left shoulder.

  I waved at her to be polite, then placed my hand on the sphere. I once again focused on the sludge inside my chest and forced it into the machine as fast as I could.

  ...

  Seconds turned to minutes as I pushed Mana into the machine. The machine must have been faulty, however, as the back side of the machine shattered. Causing glass shards to rain down on the tent behind the stage.

  I jerked my hand away from the machine in surprise and dropped my head.

  I screwed up.

  “I'm sorry about the machine.”

  “What are you talking about?” A voice said from behind me.

  I turned to see the man I thought to be the arch-mage standing behind me with a perplexed look on his face.

  “Arch-mage, this child, he—”

  “It's fine, I saw what happened.” He looked down at me with a kind expression on his face. “Did the glass cut you?”

  “N-No? I'm fine?”

  “Good, you're free to go get your results now.” He replied while giving me a gentle nudge towards the stairs. “Will someone get this cleaned up and bring out the backup capacity orb already!? We got kids to test!” He ordered in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

  I walked down the stairs to the whispers, accusatory looks, and snide remarks of 'Cheater'...

  I ignored them all and pushed my way through the tent-flaps to see my father and the emperor bent over a desk at the back of the tent. My mom came running up to me and pulled me into a hug so tight I thought my ribs were going to break, then she whispered— “I'm proud of you.” into my ear.

  I looked under her arm to see my father with a proud smile on his face as he handed me the paper he and the emperor had been whispering over.

  Density

  1,200

  Flexibility

  10

  Capacity

  900

  Total

  2110

  Strongest Affinity

  Summoning

  100/100

  Weakest Affinity

  Arcana

  0/100

  “Aside from your flexibility, which is atrocious by the way, you have the MP level of a low leveled expert.”

  ...

  Thanks for the back-handed compliment dad... Means a lot.

  “So... That's good?”

  “That's great!” The emperor said in my father's place. “Having the MP of a low-level expert, at your age, is almost unheard of! In fact, I can only think of one other person to get close to such a grade.”

  “Who?”

  The emperor slapped my dad on the back and pulled him into a side-hug—” Your father. He scored an eighteen-hundred on his M.P. exam.”

  Take that, dad! I did better than you! 'We'll just have another son.' My ass! Good luck replacing me now!

  “Cool!”

  “Right?” The emperor laughed. “Now, come on. I'll throw a feast tonight to celebrate getting two geniuses in the family!”

  ...

  “I'm still not marrying her.”

  “Hahaha... Don't worry. There's time for that later. For now, we feast!”

  * * *

  Chapter 6: The Summoner's Gate

  * * *

  The seconds between the minute you first wake up and the moment the gears inside your head start turning is agonizingly slow when you've been force-fed enough rice wine to knock out a horse...Especially when you're twelve years old.

  But I should've known something else was off the instant I smelled flowers right beside my nose and felt a source of warmth in bed beside me. However, a still mostly asleep and slightly drunk twelve-year-old mind isn't exactly the connect the dots champion.

  When I felt a chill in the air from the lack of blankets over my body, I snuggled into the pleasant smell and pulled the source of the warmth into my naked chest. I felt the soft touch of silk tickle my skin and two extremely soft, if small, mounds press into me.

  "Mm..." A girlish voiced moaned into my neck.

  ...

  Hey, that sounds almost like...

  My eyes snapped open and I stared horrified at the luscious brown hair that smelled of floral shampoo just below my nose. My first instinct was to shove the person away and hop out of bed, so I could ask them what the hell was going on... But my self-preservation instincts were screaming— "Move and you die!"

  A troubling situation, indeed.

  On the one hand, I could attempt to push her away... Which would probably wake her up and cause her to kill me. And on the other hand, I could just lay here and enjoy this until she inevitably woke up and killed me anyway.

  ...

  A truly tough decision and one I should carefully think about before deciding...Nah, I like living too much.

  I carefully pried my arm loose from her grip, because at some point since pulling her close she'd wrapped her arms around my forearm and hugged it to her chest.

  While incredibly cute, it made me feel uncomfortable for two reasons. One, she was an eleven-year-old girl. A pretty eleven-year-old girl that would eventually become one of the most beautiful women on the planet, but an eleven-year-old, nonetheless. And two... This body had apparently decided that now was a great time to start going through puberty.

  God is either laughing at me or just hates me. There is no in-between.

  Successfully prying my arm loose without waking her up, I carefully slide away from her towards the edge of the bed. Then, I rolled off the bed, directly into a crouched position on the floor, and waited for the screaming to start.

  ...

  After a minute or so of listening to the sound of her steady breathing. I carefully duck-walked my way through the dark bedroom to the door and crept out like some pervert who'd successfully stolen panties. Luckily, whoever decided to play this little prank on me had saw fit to leave my pants on. Otherwise, I'd have a little bit of trouble explaining why I was walking around the palace in my underwear.

  I eased the door shut and only after hearing the soft *click* of the door latching into place did I sigh in relief and stand up.

  That's when the handwritten note on the door caught my attention. It'd been penned on a piece of white parchment bearing the emperor's seal and read— "Son, assuming it was you that woke up first and no one else has informed you of this already, your mother and I, with the emperor's blessing, have decided to allow you to move into the palace while we return home for the time being. Don't worry, His Majesty has promised to see to it that you get all the resources and education you need to become a mage worthy of the Ulvani name."

  "Don't disappoint me."

  "—Your Father"

  ...

  Did they ditch me?

  ...

  No, they didn't just ditch me. That son of a bitch actually threw me into the lion's den, then ditched me.

  I exhaled, tore the paper from the door and rolled it up into a little ball, then tucked it into my pants pocket and started the long walk back to my room so I could get dressed and ready for the day.

  After a few minutes of walking, I arrived back at my room and slammed the door shut behind me with enough force to shake the nearby end-table and almost caused the vase sitting on top of it to fall onto the floor.

  I walked over to the wardrobe, grabbed the first shirt I could find, slipped on my shoes and left the same way I came in.

  With a bang.

  If my parents wanted me to stay here enough that they'd ditch me in the middle of the night. Then the least I could do was take advantage of the situation and make use of the resources at my disposal.

  Namely the royal library and the 'too eager to get me to join the family' Emperor.

  It didn't hurt that, since before I came to this world, anytime
I was stressed out or bored I would study. So... I'm hoping to make this little vacation of mine as productive as possible.

  Getting ditched might just be the blessing I've been waiting for.

  I stepped into the library and started grabbing books from the various shelves that lined the three-story room's walls. Anything that I believed could help me in the future was stacked onto the table I'd claimed on my first day in the castle. By the end of it all, I'd grabbed three books on magic, a book detailing the complete history of the Ziral Empire from its foundation until the ascension of the current Emperor, and an Atlas of the known continents.

  Since I could, for some reason, both read and understand the Ziralian language, I didn't have to worry about not understanding the people. But if someone asked me about anything from before the events of the anime, I would be completely clueless...A weakness I intended to remedy as soon as possible.

  Minutes turned into hours as I closed one book after another and slowly the stack of books grew from five, to eight, to ten. My eyes were burning from the constant strain, but that was negligible in the grand scheme of things. My continued survival in this strange world was worth much more than this small amount of discomfort.

  By the time I closed the final book in my pile, it was nearing lunchtime. I grabbed a sheet of white parchment from one of the nearby desks and, after putting each book back where I got it, I wrote down their names and locations for future reference. Then I left the library in search of food.

  I cheerfully greeted the servants buzzing around the palace like a group of worker bees and headed in the direction of the dining hall.

  "Ah, master Ulvani!" Lucian, the head server exclaimed as I walked into the room. He was a lanky, balding man in his sixties with gray eyes, silver-white hair, and black rimless glasses perched precariously on his nose. Like most servants of the emperor, he wore what would have been considered 'upper class' clothing back on earth. A crisp white long-sleeved shirt beneath an embroidered red and gold vest, tailored black slacks, and dark leather shoes.

  "How are you today?"

  "I've been better."

  "Ah, yes, I heard about the Duke and Duchess departing early this morning. My condolences."

  "It's fine. I was half expecting it anyway."

  "Well, be that as it may, it is still a sad thing to hear. If you would require anything then please, do not hesitate to ask."

  "I... Thank you."

  "You're most welcome, sir." He cheerfully said as I slid into a chair.

  The servant that came to take my order for a moderately sized breakfast consisting of over easy eggs on top of rice, and a bowl of that delicious soup we'd had the other night.

  As I sat at the table eagerly awaiting my food, I recalled something I'd been putting off until I'd gotten home. However, since I had no idea when I'd be going home, I needed to do it while my memory was still relatively fresh.

  I asked Lucian if he'd be willing to go into town to pick up an empty journal for me to write in.

  "Ah, I too used to keep a diary in my youth. Don't worry, sir. Your secret is safe with me." He said with a conspiratorial wink at the end.

  "Ah ha... Thanks."

  My food arrived a scant few minutes later and I happily dug in with the gusto of a starving wolf.

  I finished my meal in peace, then began the long trek back to the library to continue my reading... Or I would have, had I not run into a disheveled and half-asleep princess. She'd clearly just woken up, since she was still wearing the blue-silk nightgown I'd seen her in when I woke up. Her normally luscious brown hair was sticking every which way but the direction it was supposed to and the half-glazed look in her eyes completed the 'just woke up' look.

  "Morning Princess." I greeted as I gave her a wide berth in the hallway.

  "Mornin..." She yawned as she continued to half-stagger towards what I assumed to be the dining hall.

  I silently thanked God for allowing me to witness such a scene and picked up my walking pace as I rounded the corner in time to hear her scream my name in anger.

  Hey, don't get mad at me, I'm not the one walking around the palace in my pajamas, princess. You wouldn't blame a lion for eating the meal presented to it, so you can't blame me for looking.

  ...

  I stepped into the library with a smile on my face and happily went about collecting an entirely new stack of books to read until Lucian returned with my journal. One such book was 'The Fundamentals of Summoning Magic.' written by Mi'aque.

  I didn't recognize the name, but that's not much of a surprise.

  The book detailed the basic law's and fundamentals of the summoning school of magic and even gave detailed instructions on how to create the 'Summoner's Gate'. A lucky find, but it did make some sense since the emperor prided himself on knowing everything within his empire. He would need to have at least a basic understanding of the magic that passed through his borders if he wanted to stay ahead of his enemies.

  I moved my little study session over to an empty space in the center of the room and began following the 'Gate Construction' instructions.

  Which wasn't nearly as easy as I hoped it would be.

  The book described the gate as a metaphysical representation of my own mana core that I've brought into the physical world in order to use my magic. It also went on to use a bunch of confusing magical lingo that gave me nothing but a headache.

  Long story short, from what I could decipher, I needed to form houses or storage rooms within my core in order to store my summons within them. They didn't need to be fancy, or in a particular shape. But they did need four walls, a floor, a roof, and at least one doorway for the summons to be pushed and pulled through as needed.

  While objects such as weapons, armor, or equipment could be stored in a single room. The book advised that it would be better if living creatures were separated for their own protection. Especially if the summons were particularly vicious or dominant creatures. Because, while they were under the summoner's control, some creatures have been known to kill other creatures within the gate.

  Luckily their bodily functions were stopped for so long as they were bound to the gate, so I didn't need to worry about them dying of hunger, thirst, or old age.

  That would have been a pain in the ass.

  The book went on to describe that usually a summoner's gate was a reflection of their personality and the insides were framed around that personality. A particularly savage person might have a torture chamber, a wealthy person might have a high-class suite, and a person seeking justice might have a prison.

  However, growing up in a densely populated city on earth, I knew exactly what I wanted to create to house my summons.

  An apartment building.

  Specifically, I hoped to create my apartment building.

  ...

  I might be stuck here, but at least I could bring something from earth to remember it bye.

  I scrunched my eyes shut and tried to remember as many details as I could.

  Starting with the outside, I pictured the dark-red color of the bricks, it's slightly L-shaped form, and the onyx black color of the roof.

  Then I pictured the layout.

  Each floor had ten apartments, five small apartments on the western wall, three medium-sized apartments on the eastern wall, and two large apartments on the northern wall with one of those protruding out to form the slight 'L' at the back of the building.

  The real building was four stories tall, but since I doubted my gate could hold a building that large, I was hoping for two stories, maybe three if I got lucky and had a particularly large core.

  After maybe an hour or so. I felt a *click* inside my core, which the book described as meaning my gate had taken shape and was ready to be opened.

  I positioned my hand as it said in the book, with my index and middle fingers together in the twelve o'clock position while facing away from me and the other three curled into my palm, then rotated my hand clockwise while twisting my hand so t
hat by the time I returned to twelve o'clock my fingers were facing me.

  I practiced this motion until I could do it smoothly, then I started pumping mana into my fingers causing an extremely dark blue, to the point of being almost black, outline to form around them. As I rotated my hand, the mana in my fingers left a trail floating in the wake of my fingers. Once my hand returned to the twelve o'clock position and the trail was complete, a dark blue/almost black portal floated in the air in front of my hand. The portal itself was perhaps slightly taller than I was, but not quite as wide and It was entirely flat and smooth, almost like a sheet of paper.

  I was so excited about performing my first magic spell that I giggled maniacally.

  Completing the motion described in the book, I pulled my hand down and away from my body to fully open the gate.

  For future reference, to close the gate I needed to repeat the above motions, but in reverse.

  The gate, that appeared to be a flat oval-shaped disk grew to about six feet high and four feet wide, then it stopped growing and hung in the air to await further orders.

  "Open." I commanded.

  The center of the gate shimmered and quickly became translucent while the outermost edges remained that dark blue color. Since the book said a summoner could enter and exit their own gate at will, I eagerly stepped through and was rendered dumbfounded.

  ...

  I was clearly standing outside the building, so I was incredibly happy the spell worked. But the apartment building was nowhere near as tall as I hoped it was going to be... No... It was bigger.

  Much... Much bigger.

  I lost count after fifty-two stories and just gave up. It was taller than I'd hoped and that was all that mattered. Getting an accurate floor count could wait. To make matters worse, or better depending on your point of view, I still had room outside the apartment building to build even more structures and, while I wasn't sure how much room I had left due to the excess space being a black void of nothingness. I wasn't overly concerned about it. It was just excess space I could use after I filled up this mammoth apartment building, after all.