Torina arrived fashionably late after changing her clothes.
She had switched to her monster-hunting gear: a black corset dress embroidered with intricate runes, with a skirt hem decorated with lace that was uneven in length—short enough in the front to almost reveal too much, and long enough in the back to nearly drag on the ground.
Over the dress, she wore a silver gauze shawl that occasionally sparked with electricity, emitting a crackling noise.
Her arms were adorned with long, seductive gloves, leaving only her index and middle fingers exposed.
She wore semi-transparent black thigh-high stockings embroidered with runes, and on her feet were pointed high-heeled boots that seemed easy to twist an ankle in, but were actually as stable as tank treads thanks to rune magic.
Is this really the outfit for a dungeon raid? If you think so, you’re mistaken.
The Deville family’s rune technology is truly astonishing: the fabric, infused with ancient rune magic, has defensive capabilities that belie its appearance.
The gauze shawl and gloves woven with elemental magic efficiently transmit magic power, and even the scandalously short front skirt has a powerful anti-exposure function.
Seeing the leader arrive, the team members greeted her, with the most enthusiastic being the sycophantic duo of Marian and Lilia.
“Good morning, Senior Torina!”
“You look beautiful today!”
“Are you leading the team into battle?”
“Great, the report card after returning to school will surely have a brilliant entry!”
“Do you need me to massage your shoulders or legs?”
“No need…” Torina replied absentmindedly.
This was her first time meeting all the team members at once since returning to Garden Town.
After awakening memories of her past life, her perception of these people had completely changed.
Each of them was a potential ticking time bomb because the author, to make the Protagonist’s explosive battles a bit more challenging, had given the team members who were to be defeated by the Protagonist many forced power-ups.
Additionally, their names were conveniently borrowed from the Protagonist of an old book, so each of these people actually possessed unique skills.
She could now match the team members to the original characters.
Milora, the original Protagonist, needs no further explanation.
Anna-veil corresponds to the original vice-captain Ankweir, who will be possessed by a demon dragon in the future and massacre innocent civilians.
Patty corresponds to the original Elven Prince Pat, who appears innocent but is actually a bloodthirsty assassin.
Marian and Lilia correspond to Maroan and Leia, typical bullies with family bloodline support.
Naji corresponds to the original Bad Priest Nak, but here is a spicy female priest who will become a terrifying angel of judgment.
Lanifi corresponds to the original Shield Knight Laimofi, a social Darwinist who will awaken ancient demon blood.
Lindas corresponds to the original Metal Sorcerer Lintans, a rare but lazy character who will become a high-difficulty living labyrinth after a failed experiment.
So the question arises: why do these minor antagonists, meant to be defeated by the Protagonist, each have their own power-ups? Of course, it’s because of the genius (or foolish) author’s arrangement.
Firstly, at the point when the original Protagonist returns to defeat them, the team members’ original strength is completely outdated, making the battles uninteresting and lacking even the satisfaction of a one-sided crush.
Secondly, if the story ends with a few sentences of the Protagonist defeating one minor character after another, how would the author fill the word count?
So the genius (or foolish) author suddenly introduced a deus ex machina just before the explosive battle plot began, revealing that each teammate had hidden power-ups, each possessing unique skills, but they just hadn’t awakened or been exposed before.
Brilliant.
And the original team leader had no power-up.
Why? Because the leader was the first to be defeated, essentially being killed in the prelude battle by the Protagonist.
The author only realized the problem after writing this part and patched the others! So everyone here has a power-up, except Torina!!
(Oh my god, what’s with this discrimination… Forget it, don’t think about it for now, let’s see who else…)
The next team member, Wenren Ji Xue, corresponds to—huh? Wait a minute.
Wenren Ji Xue…? Torina had been preoccupied with Milora since returning, not paying attention to others, so she only now noticed something was off.
(Wenren is an Eastern surname, and Ji Xue is clearly an Eastern name, but… there were no Easterners in the original adventure team, right? The Eastern country is supposed to be the setting in the later stages of the story!)
Judging by Ji Xue’s good relationship with Milora, she should correspond to the original “only friend of the Protagonist who also came from a commoner background,” but the original friend’s name was Valeto, which has nothing to do with Wenren Ji Xue.
She also doesn’t recall anyone with a name similar to Valeto.
(It seems there was no ‘Wenren Ji Xue’ in the original either, but since she’s an Easterner, she should appear in the later stages of the original.
Now she’s not only appeared early… but also taken the original friend’s place? What’s going on?)
Could she have remembered wrong? Torina thought as she looked at the last person, the pink-haired Holy Word Mage Laxis—
At this moment, she finally realized a more shocking fact.
(Wait, the numbers don’t add up!? Including the Protagonist, there were 10 people in the original adventure team, but this…)
Torina, Milora, Anna-veil, Patty, Marian, Lilia, Naji, Lanifi, Lindas, Ji Xue, Laxis, a total of 11 people.
There’s one extra person.
Who is the extra one? Ji Xue? Or… Laxis?
In the original, there doesn’t seem to be a character with a name similar to “Laxis” either.
Like Ji Xue, she’s a character that doesn’t exist in the original, but at least Ji Xue took the original friend’s place, while Laxis has no corresponding character at all.
“Leader? Why are you staring at me like that? I’ll get shy.” Laxis said with a smile, looking completely normal.
“…It’s nothing, ahem, let’s get down to business.”
These troublesome matters can be thought about later.
The urgent task is to deal with Milora’s crisis of leaving the team.
“I have an important announcement to make today.
There have always been many conflicts within our team, and you should know what I’m referring to.”
As soon as she said this, everyone looked at Milora.
Except for Ji Xue, who looked worried, the others were either indifferent or gloating.
Everyone knew that the leader never thought highly of Milora.
Everyone knew that the leader’s two classmates and followers disliked Milora.
Everyone knew that the vice-captain always lost her temper with Milora.
Everyone knew that anyone could order Milora around.
Everyone knew that Milora was introverted and got along poorly with everyone.
Everyone knew that Milora was of average strength, just a small role responsible for scouting or odd jobs.
Kicking her out wouldn’t cause any loss.
“For the development of the team, I think it’s necessary to ask certain partners to leave the team.”
“““““““““Hmm.”””””””” Everyone waited for Torina to continue, as if they already knew the outcome.
“Well then, Marian and Lilia, you two can pack your bags.
I’ve left your departure notices in your rooms❤”
“““““““““Hmm… hmm?””””””””
——————————
Last night, Torina spent the whole night thinking about how to change the fate of being defeated.
She had read some transmigration novels in her past life, and if you transmigrate into a villain, there are basically two choices to avoid being defeated by the Protagonist:
1. Strike first, take down the Protagonist before they develop.
2.Win over the Protagonist, turn them into an ally, or even make them your top enforcer.
Both approaches have their merits, and Torina is a civilized person.
In her past life, she was a law-abiding good person (supposedly), so she would naturally consider the second option first.
However, the original book is a mindless power fantasy.
Whether it’s the opening plot or the characters’ initial behavior logic, there are many inconsistencies created just to create conflict, with many missing details and forced plot progression.
In simpler terms, the characters’ personalities are all very awkward, especially the original Protagonist.
Choosing to recruit them might lead to some bizarre plot branches.
In that case…
(Anyway, let’s try to win them over first. If I can turn the Protagonist into an ally, there will be great benefits. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll turn against her.)
