"Viktor, you've really made yourself famous!"
From the study came a woman's furious shouting.
A beautiful woman with short black hair was holding a newspaper, angrily pointing at the magically printed image on it.
"Are you trying to completely disgrace the family name of Clavenna!?"
Smack!
The newspaper hit the man's face.
Expressionless, he took it off his face.
His obsidian-like eyes quietly glanced over the contents of the newspaper.
The man in the printed image had well-defined features; even though the newspaper could only print in black and gray, one could still see that he was excessively handsome.
It was a face capable of stirring the hearts of countless girls.
But that clearly didn't include the girl standing before him.
In the image, the man's gesture looked like he was inviting the girl; the girl in the image smiled and refused him.
That smile seemed to carry a hint of disdain.
Bang!
A loud noise pulled his thoughts back.
The woman before him, Liya Clavenna, had slammed the desk hard.
"I told you to represent the family at the banquet, and you actually confessed to the duke's daughter in front of everyone!?"
"She's not even of age yet! Are you insane?"
Indeed, that was what the newspaper said.
[Shocking! The Clavenna Viscount Actually Did That at the Duke's Daughter's Banquet!]
One had to admit, this newspaper really knew how to grab attention.
If he himself had seen a headline like that, he might've tossed a few coins to buy a copy for a bit of afternoon entertainment.
Unfortunately, the person serving as that "entertainment" on the front page today, was him.
Viktor Clavenna.
He looked into the mirror sitting on the desk. The reflection staring back was identical to the handsome man in the paper.
As someone who had just transmigrated today, without even a shred of the original's memory, Viktor really didn't want to take this blame.
Still, facing the furious woman before him, he could do nothing but remain silent.
If a lunatic kills someone and claims they were mentally unstable, can they avoid the death penalty?
Actually… yes.
Provided you have a certificate for it.
Viktor didn't.
So he could only keep his head down in silence while being scolded.
But that "in one ear and out the other" look of his only seemed to further fuel her rage.
Finally, when she ended her tirade with a "I must have been insane to think you'd actually listen," the one-sided verbal beating came to a close.
During that long scolding that lasted for tens of minutes, Viktor did his best to organize all the information he could gather.
Judging from the arrangement of the study and the appearance of the short-haired beauty before him, everything matched perfectly.
It matched with a certain MMORPG game he had played in his previous life.
An adventure-type Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game.
In this world of swords and magic, players could customize their faces, play as different races, experience various professions, explore all kinds of storylines and challenges.
As for his profession, he was a power-leveler.
That game also required grinding levels; and unless you were a paying player, you had to spend huge amounts of time farming materials.
Players who didn't want to spend money but had no spare time would need a power-leveler's help.
Likewise, in PvP (Player vs Player) ranked matches, if a player wanted to reach a rank beyond their skill, they'd also hire power-levelers.
That's what Viktor did, and he was quite famous in that circle.
Just yesterday, after not eating or sleeping for seven days straight, he had finally finished his seventeenth order of the month.
And right when he was about to get paid...
Smack!
Sudden death.
His transmigration couldn't have been any more plain and simple.
Back to the main point, his current body's name was Viktor Clavenna.
His rank: Viscount.
In the Kingdom of Calencia, a nation where social status was strictly divided by noble titles, a viscount's rank was more of a symbolic identity.
Aside from owning a small territory, there weren't any particular privileges.
In the eyes of commoners, Viktor was certainly a powerful man.
But… he had offended the duke's daughter.
A viscount couldn't possibly compare to a duke.
"No wonder he's the villain boss, starting right off at hell difficulty." Viktor muttered to himself.
"What did you say?" Liya's voice rose several pitches, half in confusion, half in anger at his indifferent tone.
That naturally drew Viktor's gaze to his so-called younger sister.
Liya Clavenna.
In the game, she was Viktor Clavenna's younger sister.
With her high beauty, she was one of the few female NPCs whom players constantly called "wife."
Her popularity was inseparable from the fact that she had a "villain brother."
Viktor Clavenna was the boss enemy players had to defeat in the midgame.
Because of his series of actions, the Calencia Kingdom was thrown into turmoil.
The current Empress even issued a quest, calling upon players to defeat Viktor Clavenna.
And that villain ended up gaining all sorts of titles, High-speed, high-damage boss, handsome face, scumbag mage.
For some reason, his popularity was absurdly high.
Normally, being transmigrated into a familiar game world should've been exciting.
But Viktor's mood wasn't so good.
Because... Viktor had far too many enemies.
Maybe it was because success invites jealousy, or maybe the writers simply hated handsome men.
In the game, practically every NPC the player met had a grudge against Viktor.
It could be a magic academy teacher, an old man from a village, or even a random dog on the street, Viktor might have kicked it before.
More ridiculously, even several heroine characters wanted to kill him.
Among them were Viktor's fiancée, his younger sister, and the duke's daughter.
That's how the title Scumbag Mage came about.
There were only a few beautiful major female characters, and Viktor had managed to offend more than half of them.
The fact that he was still alive was practically a testament to his skill.
And now, having replaced the original Viktor…
Just the accumulated hatred from before was enough to drown him.
'I wonder what point in time this is now…'
After being questioned earlier by Liya, he didn't mutter this aloud, just thought silently.
But even that quiet thinking seemed like deliberate arrogance to her, making her even angrier.
"Enough! Viktor, do you even realize what kind of situation you're in!?"
Fuming, she pulled a document from her designer handbag and slapped it on the desk.
"If I hadn't used my connections to contact the Academy and get them to immediately assign you a professorship, the duke's private guards would've already surrounded your manor!"
"And yet you're still sitting here leisurely in your study, drinking coffee and reading books! And after all that, you can't even say a single word of thanks!?"
"Thank you."
"I hate you like, eh?"
Liya's words stumbled; she blinked, momentarily forgetting her anger.
Viktor, sitting there, picked up the document and said as he looked it over, "Thank you for handling these things for me. Next time I'll be more careful with my words outside."
"..."
It seemed she wasn't used to hearing gratitude from her notorious brother. Liya's finger absentmindedly twirled a strand of hair, her feelings a bit complicated.
"In any case, I only did this so the family wouldn't be shamed. Besides, I can only buy you some time. You'll have to apologize to the duke yourself."
"And don't just thank me, think about how you'll deal with Miss Gwen."
"Gwen Delin?"
"Yes. My nomination alone wouldn't have been enough to make the Academy agree, so I asked Miss Gwen for help."
At that, Liya's eyes turned even colder. She looked at Viktor as though staring at an insect.
"You already have a fiancée, yet you still go around flirting."
"No wonder, it's so like you, Mr. Viktor."
Viktor filtered out the latter half of her words.
"I don't know what you might've misunderstood, but I'll be sure to thank her personally."
In his mind, a name surfaced, 'Gwen Delin.'
The second daughter of the knightly family that guarded the northern borders. In the game's story, she was Viktor's fiancée.
A true knight of justice, and a knight of justice was destined to stand opposite a villainous mage.
In the game, though she was Viktor's fiancée, they were never allies.
Even in the final "Defeat Viktor" storyline, it was Gwen who arrived and ended his life with a single thrust.
Their relationship was more like a forced political marriage, utterly devoid of affection.
Gwen the Knight personally stabbing Viktor also indirectly confirmed what players suspected.
Unfortunately, the dog of a game developer never released any prequel explaining their relationship, so it remained forever unconfirmed.
'Another dangerous character added to the list…'
Sighing inwardly, Viktor felt life was difficult.
Gwen Delin was no minor character.
As the strongest knight of the Calencia Kingdom, even during the late-game chaos of gods and demons, her combat strength remained terrifyingly high.
In those late-game stages, Gwen even appeared as a boss herself, her might etched vividly into every player's memory.
Viktor knew her strength well.
That woman, absolutely couldn't be provoked.
Otherwise, he'd truly die.
Even though he'd transmigrated, it seemed he didn't have any "cheat system" to rely on.
Seeing him so subdued, Liya felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
She had thought his pride simply wouldn't allow anyone to help him. In truth, Viktor was just busy thinking about how to survive in a route that led inevitably to death.
"Hmph, I still have matters to handle back in the territory. I'm leaving."
Liya gave a cold laugh, picked up her bag, and headed for the door.
"Oh, right."
Just as she was about to leave, she turned back, glancing at Viktor with a pitying look.
"You actually keep a crow as a pet, a one-eyed crow, at that."
"Your taste is just as awful as ever."
Bang!
The study door slammed shut.
Outside, a maid's voice could be heard, "Miss Liya, shall I prepare your carriage?"
But Viktor's thoughts were no longer on the departing Liya.
He turned his head and saw, in the corner of the desk, a blob of pitch-black living matter.
It looked like a crow, but slightly larger.
And just as Liya said, it had only one eye.
That single eye rolled about with an almost human gleam.
Finally, it met Viktor's gaze.
Then it smiled, a distinctly human smile.
"Hello. I am the Evil God, Habika."
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