Chapter 4

An Ominous Skill
A faint, translucent blue window floated in midair.

In this world, everyone had a status from the moment they were born, at age zero.
That said, while they were still babies, everyone started at level 1, and it was normal to slowly raise your level over the course of ten-plus years through education and experience.

But I was different.

“Hmph. Well, obviously. There’s no way the perfect little me would have some mediocre growth rate.”

I puffed my chest out slightly as I sat on the bed.

I didn’t need a mirror to know. Right now, I was surely wearing the cutest, most smug little grin imaginable.
I checked my own “build” again.

—
Name: Alice von Kleinert
Level: 6

……

…………

“… Yeah. Even looking again, that’s pretty impressive.”

Level 6 at just six years old.
Even digging through the kingdom’s history, only a handful of prodigies had ever reached that.
It was probably proof that the me from before regaining my memories had unconsciously pursued “efficient growth.”
On top of that, having two combat-type skills as a matter of course, I had been receiving almost excessive expectations from Father.

… Or so it should have been.

“… Huh? What’s this? There’s something here I’ve never seen before.”

My scrolling finger stopped at the very bottom.

There sat a sinister icon with a gold trim, something that definitely hadn’t been there during my previous status checks.

The special gift for the Savior that that infuriating Pyupyu had mentioned.

“… Hmm. I see. So they’re stacking an AI-approved cheat on top of an already genius me.”

I curled my lips upward in a calculating grin.

On top of my potential, which had skyrocketed me to level 6 at a terrifying speed, now a strongest skill.
This is basically a guaranteed win, right?
The devs must’ve been expecting big things from my player skill and prepared a special “Savior set” just for me.

“Now then, show me! The ultimate gift that’ll leave every other player in the dust!”

Heart pounding with anticipation, I firmly tapped the icon.

―JARARARARARARARA!!

A flashy electronic sound suddenly echoed inside my head.
The icon began spinning violently, like a slot machine.

“Eh, what!? Random gacha!? You even went to the trouble of adding a hype tune, nice touch!”

It spun and spun.

Red, blue, green, skill names of all kinds flashed by at high speed.
[Blessing of the Sword Saint], [Blessing of the Saintess], [Blessing of the Sage]…
Every single one was considered legendary-tier in this world.

―Pang.

The spinning stopped.
And the moment it locked in, what appeared there was…

Pitch-black, viscous-looking letters, sinister to the extreme.

“………… Huh?”

My thoughts froze for a moment.

Blessing of the… murderer.
… Huh? What does that even mean?

I doubted my own eyes.
No matter how many times I looked, it clearly said “Blessing of the Murderer.”

“N-no way…? What is this, a bug? Or some kind of AI harassment?”

As far as I knew, skills reflected a person’s way of life and aptitude.
I had been born into the noble ducal house, raised with love, and had honed perfectly orthodox skills at a ridiculous pace.
So why would an aptitude like “murderer” sprout in someone like me?

Even as a joke, it wasn’t funny.

―Jiji… jijiji…!

That was when it happened.
Violent noise tore across the status window in front of me.

“Eh!? W-what!? It broke!?”

The window flashed red as warning sounds blared.

―Error: Attribute contradiction detected.

―“Blessing of the Mage” and “Blessing of the Warrior” cannot coexist with “Blessing of the Murderer.”

―Forcibly deleting existing skills.

When the noise subsided,
I looked at what was displayed, and this time, I truly screamed.

“… T-they’re gone!!???”

The words [Blessing of the Mage: Level 3] and [Blessing of the Warrior: Level 3], my pride and joy, had vanished without a trace.
In their place, only a single entry remained, emitting an eerie black aura.

“… No way. My six years of effort… My brilliant future as a magic knight… It’s all… gone…?”

The shock was so great that my perfect-lady mask peeled right off.
Technically, as Alice, my level was still 6.
But my skills were empty.
I couldn’t use magic, couldn’t swing a sword, just a little girl with a needlessly high level and zero actual ability.

“D-don’t mess with me! This is completely useless! Like hell I can say ‘my specialty is murder’ at a ducal tea party!”

I buried my face in the pillow and kicked my legs in a fit.
This was the worst. Not the strongest, I'd been slammed to just short of a total dead end in an instant.

No, wait. Calm down, Alice.
Regain the composure of a top-tier gamer.
This “Blessing of the Murderer” that forcibly overwrote two skills…
If this really is the “strongest”…

I cautiously pressed and held the screen to check the skill details.
What appeared was even more despair-inducing text.

“…………”

Speechless.
I’d lost count of how many times today that had happened.

Cold moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating my small, pale hands.

With these hands.
These soft, six-year-old hands meant for eating sweets and hugging dolls…
You’re telling me to kill someone?

“… Impossible. Absolutely impossible. Who would ever do something like that!?”

I shook my head violently.
Sure, on the inside I was a gamer, but in the real world I’d been just an ordinary citizen.
Unless your sense of ethics had completely logged out, there’s no way you could clear this!

But.
The unreasonable death game, where failure meant having your brain fried, had already begun.

For example.
What if it was someone truly awful… like a death-row criminal?

“… No, no, Alice-chan. You’re thinking something seriously messed up right now.”

I slapped both my cheeks and forcefully shut those thoughts down.
No. That’s not something a “perfect lady” would do.

But.
If this skill is the only key to clearing this god-awful game…

In the darkness, I quietly stared at the palm of my hand.

―Thump.

In the silent bedroom, only the sound of my heartbeat echoed.

Hopeless.

Yes, objectively speaking, the current situation could be called a dead end.
All the skills I’d painstakingly built over six years had been confiscated, and what I’d been given instead was a dangerous skill that would stain a young lady’s record forever.

A normal child would probably be crying their eyes out by now, throwing themselves into Papa’s chest.

“… F, fufufu…”

But.
What escaped my lips was an uncontrollable laugh.

This is ridiculous.
There’s no way this isn’t ridiculous.

And yet, from deep inside me, a rush of exhilaration overflowed, drowning out the fear.
With trembling fingertips, I traced the pitch-black letters of the skill.

Kill.

In the real world, just hearing that word would’ve made my face go pale.
But now…

I’m the strongest gamer, Mirai.

“What am I even hesitating for…? In games, I’ve killed thousands, tens of thousands.”

That’s right.
Landing headshots in FPS games, swinging swords in action games, trampling enemy lines on MMO battlefields.

“Well, either way, it’s not like I’ve got any other options. Guess I just do it.”

I lifted the corner of my lips in a calculating grin.
I didn’t need a mirror to know.
Right now, I was surely wearing the most wicked smug grin imaginable, an angelic face paired with pure evil.

“First things first… information gathering, I guess.”

I fixed my gaze on the darkness with predatory intent.
While wearing the skin of the perfect ducal lady Alice, the cold, calculating circuits of a top-tier gamer ignited inside me.

I slipped deep under the covers and quietly closed my eyes.
From tomorrow on, I’d have to play the role of a “perfect lady” even more flawlessly than before.

As my consciousness sank into drowsiness, what surfaced in my mind was a cold, detached curiosity, about “who” I should kill first.

What do you think about this chapter?