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There's a video game series called First Fantasy. It's huge worldwide, not just in Japan. They're up to the 15th main title, plus double that if you count spin-offs. Each sells tens of millions of copies. It's insane.

They even made an anime adaptation, streamed in limited form on some famous platform, called First Story. It flopped hard. The main characters die with zero redemption, so reviews were all over the place—mostly negative, though.

Fans hated the endless bleak storylines. Every episode was so depressing, even longtime FF fans got turned off. People started saying, "This isn't even FF," and called it FS.

In that anime, a villain named Arc Noyadarma shows up. His name practically screams "evil overlord," but he's just a generic baddie. He was once a noble, but his house fell when he was fifteen, and he joined some dark group. His final scene was so gruesome it traumatized the audience. That's Arc for you.

But now, a totally different soul has ended up in his body. Nobody knows how this will change his otherwise doomed fate.

◇ ◇ ◇

Lampard watches his young master sipping tea.

—He's truly a miracle, Lampard thinks.

The Noyadarma family was at rock bottom. Corruption, illegal slavery, unfair taxes, reckless conscription... The domain was a complete mess. The previous lord only cared about squeezing every coin out of the people for selfish pleasures, then doubling down when the money ran out—seizing property and livestock.

Lampard thought the territory would collapse any day.

Then the old lord died, and Arc inherited the title of Count Garm. Lampard had zero hopes. Arc was raised by those awful parents, plus he was only eight.

But when Arc took over, he immediately got rid of all the corruption and even used the family fortune to compensate people. He sold off Noyadarma property, canceled crazy taxes, freed slaves, and scrapped unfair laws. He also hired back those who'd lost their livelihoods. Land and livestock were returned to their owners, who cried tears of joy.

Sure, a lot of them still hated Arc. In fact, most did, but it was really his parents' fault. Blaming an eight-year-old for his parents' sins is cruel. Still, Arc told them:

"I'm not asking for forgiveness. I don't expect it. Hate me if you want; that's your right. But hate alone won't fill your belly. You can scream at me all day—will it make your life any better? You have two choices: One, hang on to your hatred until you die. Two, live and follow me. Your call. If you work here, I'll guarantee at least the basics."

To Lampard, Arc was this kind master who accepted people's hatred yet still cared for them. Arc even paid decent wages—though Arc himself called it "bare minimum." For a commoner, it was actually pretty generous.

That's why Lampard totally misunderstood Arc, thinking he was kind. The one thing that surprised him was cutting the military size. Bandits are everywhere, and monsters are on the rise. A kingdom was destroyed by monsters just a few years back. Arc's parents died because of one.

Still, Arc said, "Is this so-called army even protecting us from bandits or monsters? Obviously not. No point in throwing money at something useless. I won't waste cash on incompetence."

Lampard found some logic there, so he obeyed. In his mind, he thought Arc really meant, "Use fewer soldiers but make them stronger." He couldn't imagine Arc being reckless enough to slash the army in these dangerous times. So he believed Arc wanted an elite force.

In reality, Arc just wanted to save money. But Lampard never realized that.

"Ah, this tea is wonderful," Arc murmured.

Glancing over, Lampard saw Arc watching the servants work. Lampard believed Arc was worried about them. He silently thanked the gods for giving them such a "caring" master.

And so Arc's purely self-serving actions kept getting misread as noble.

◇ ◇ ◇

I have a bratty younger sister who inherited all the worst traits from our parents. She's rude, arrogant, and super annoying.

While Mom and Dad were alive, they spoiled her nonstop. I ignored it because it didn't affect me much back then. But now she's messing around in my house. Everything here—staff, resources, all of it—belongs to me. I won't let her waste it. If anyone's going to be spoiled, it'll be me.

Besides, looking at her reminds me too much of my awful parents, and that kills my mood.

So I decided to "educate" her—basically "tame" her.

First step, lose weight. She'd gotten huge, so I made the servants control her meals and forced her to run around outside every day. She whined a bunch, so I cut her food even more. She also liked to slap servants around, so whenever she did that, I punched her right back.

She bawled her eyes out, saying, "Father never hit me!" I just laughed.

"Hurts, huh?" I said. "That's what you were doing to other people."

It felt pretty good to lecture someone like that.

I also made her do fieldwork with the peasants, and I forced her to study (which she hated). Thanks to all that, she's a lot more tolerable. She doesn't remind me of our parents anymore, so I'd call that a success.

Power is seriously amazing.

Maybe I went overboard. Now she's some weirdo who loves farmwork, jokes around with the servants, and even says she finds studying fun. Maybe I scrambled her brain. Oh well.