Oneshot POLL: Villainess or Isekai

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by zloi medved, Mar 21, 2019.

?

Which story should I pick up?

  1. Reincarnated as a Villainess

    68.9%
  2. Summoned to Another World

    31.1%
  1. zloi medved

    zloi medved Well-Known Green Tea Bitch

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    By "pick up" I mean "pick up the story thread of" not "pick up for translation". These are original pieces of fiction I've written myself, not translated work. I sincerely apologise for my unclear wording.

    Hello, I'm getting slight burnout from working on my current story (obligatory advertisement), so I wanted to pick up a couple of old story drafts I had lying around and work them into some side projects I can work on to wind down from my main story.

    I figured I'd take a poll on which people might be more interested in seeing expanded upon because I'm naturally indecisive myself.

    Title: (Working) I Was Reincarnated As A Villainess, But All I Wanna Do Is Sleep

    Synopsis: Here is a story for you. In a fairytale-like world of magic, a lovely young woman with a disadvantageous background is discovered to have a rare or powerful type of magic, and this allows her to rise above her station and attend a prestigious academy for nobles. While there, she encounters a lineup of many beautiful men with tragic pasts, as well as their hateful, antagonistic fiances’ who look down on the young woman due to her background. Over time, the young woman charms the various gorgeous men and they fall in love, all while overcoming the evil bullying of the discarded fiances who receive their just desserts, and the beautiful young woman lives happily ever after.

    All right, stop me if you’ve heard this one before then. Once upon a time, there was an ordinary girl living in the modern day who loved fairy stories. One of her favourites was about a young woman with a disadvantageous background… well, you know. Tragically, this ordinary girl dies abruptly, yet miraculously wakes up to find herself in the body of a character from her favourite story. Not just any character, but in fact the most evil, most overbearing, most hateful villainess from the story, who meets a tragic end! The reincarnated young girl, not wishing to go through another death, decides to change her fate using her knowledge from the story she finds herself in. Unknowingly, she charms the beautiful men around her who were originally meant to despise her, and finds that the heroine of the novel is a greedy and evil-minded girl and the true villain in this new retelling. Naturally, the villainess-turned-heroine overcomes hardships and finds her own happily ever after.

    Fine, fine. Then here is one last story for you. A tired out middle aged woman dies and finds herself reincarnated into the villain character of a magical romantic story… which she has never read. With no idea of her fate, no clue of the upcoming events, no prior understanding of the world she finds herself in, the woman simply desires a restful, quiet life.

    A harem of love interests? A villainous transmigrator heroine? No thank you. Just pass me a pillow!

    Genre: Fantasy, Villainess, Slice-of-Life, Adventure, Comedy, (Maybe) Romance

    — Chapter One —
    I Awoke To Find Myself A Child
    There were three remaining ducal families in the kingdom of Afallon: the Afora family, the Ilyn family, and the Grandespark family.

    The youngest family was the Afora family, the founder of which had once been a prince of the royal family, twin to the man who would later go on to be crowned king. Upon losing the fight for the throne, out of respect for their close fraternal bond the then-king awarded him the title of Duke. The Ilyn family was the oldest noble family in Afallon, having been integral to the creation and continued existence of the country, and was said to be more loyal to the crown than any other. The sons of Ilyn commonly took high office in the royal courts, and many a prime minister of the kingdom carried the surname Ilyn.

    These two families, young and old, had been created upon a foundation that gave them worrying power in the kingdom, and it could be said that the royal family continued to give them each favour, for their interests were always at odds and they could be relied upon to keep the other in check.

    It was the final family, the Grandespark family, with its proud military history, that caused the royal family the most headaches. Perhaps the only reason it was allowed to continue to exist to this day was because the Grandespark fiefdom was located on the very edges of the kingdom, and the Duke of Grandel was apathetic to political scheming after the passing of the Duchess, nowadays only concerned with overseeing the security of the kingdom’s borders.

    — Excerpt: “Melodies of the Heart” - Chapter Twelve: The King Presides

    Right now, above me was a wooden ceiling with ornate and delicate carvings of flowers and vines. I could barely make out the finely carved reliefs, as extremely heavy velvet curtains completely encircled my four-poster bed, blocking out all light but for a tiny sliver peeking through a gap in the material. Still, it was enough to understand that the level of craftsmanship on display was quite high.

    My head feels heavy and slow, like all my thoughts are wading through a bog. I’m extraordinarily thirsty, but I don’t even have the energy to call out for water.

    Recently I almost died.

    The snow had finally arrived, and the lake on the estate had completely frozen over. That kind of freshly frozen surface was extremely alluring and I’d begged and cried until my maids agreed to allow me to go skating after checking the sturdiness of the ice. I had thought the ice was solid. Everyone had. But as I skated too close to the reeds, where the ice layer was thinner, unexpectedly it had cracked beneath me and I feel through. Because it was cold, I was wearing too many layers of clothing, and my feet were bound to two heavy pieces of metal, so naturally, I sunk.

    Even when I struggled, even when I managed to reach the surface, my position had shifted. There was only solid ice overhead. As despair filled me in that moment, and I began to black out as the cold overwhelmed me, an exceedingly strange thought drifted through my mind: Ah, I’m going to die again.

    When I woke up I was in my bed, but while I had been unconscious all sorts of odd things had trickled into my brain.

    The person I am right now, Miss Olena Elewisa Grandel, is a six-year-old child. When I’m ten, I’ll become Lady Olena Elewisa Grandel, then depending on whom I marry my title will likely change again.

    But there is another person, and that other person is still “me”, in the exact same way Olena is “me”. I don’t know her name, but I know she led a shockingly miserable life. In many ways, we’re similar - her mother passed, her father became withdrawn in his grief and more or less completely ignored her presence. She has many siblings, but where she was the eldest child, I am the youngest. Her relationship with her siblings was also somewhat strained. Her life feels familiar to me beyond the fact that I can instinctively understand we are the same. My current life is very reflective of hers.

    In the end, she died all alone while in her thirties from overwork.

    Right now, I am a six-year-old child, but you might have already noticed that my thought processes have changed, having become coloured by the echoes of this previous life.

    Or maybe I’m just tired.

    Even though I’m extremely thirsty, to a point where it feels like my tongue is made of cotton, I’m too weak to make a noise. I desperately want to call out, but feel like I’m locked in my own body, unable to move.

    I voice, both inside yet outside of my head whispers to me, Sleep.

    Despite how awful I feel, I somehow manage to fall asleep again.

    When I awake, the velvet curtains of my bed have been drawn open, but the semi-opaque organza curtain layer remains closed, softening the harsh sunlight into a gentle glow. Someone must have fed me water in my sleep, because I’m not longer thirsty, and my head seems to have cleared up.

    I’m still too weak to move, so to entertain myself I go over the new memories in my mind. Even though I’m no longer sick or tired, there’s no feeling of shock or disbelief at discovering my previous life. The previous “me” has now fully integrated with the current “me”.

    With my new maturity and perspective, I’ve come to understand a few things. The identity of “Miss Olena” is a pitiful child. The Grandespark family is a martial house who have spent generations guarding the borders of Afallon. In this kind of family, it’s only natural to value men, who can carry on their proud heritage, over women, who are barred from learning martial arts. I’m the only daughter of this family. When I was growing up, I didn’t understand why my father and older brothers were so cold and distant, but now I do - because of my gender.

    In the Grandespark family, a daughter is a burden.

    Growing up in this kind of emotionally empty family, where my upbringing was more or less neglected and fobbed off onto the help, previously my personality was immature and demanding, prone to throwing all sorts of tantrums in a desperate bid to gain the attention of my family. Needless to say, such behaviour just made my disciplined, stoic older brothers and father put even more distance between us.

    Maybe this near death experience and reawakening was my salvation, to prevent me from walking an irreversible path.

    A blurry silhouette moves on the other side of the curtain, and the fabric is gently pulled aside to reveal my personal maid, Claudia - though that title was just to appease my childish ego, in actuality she’s more like a nanny. She seems relieved to see that I’m awake, and previously I might have mistaken that for care, but now I’m too aware of too many things, like the fact that if anything were to happen to me, as my nanny and caretaker she would undoubtedly be punished. That expression of relief is more likely for herself.

    “Miss Olena, it’s good that you’ve finally awoken. The doctor said if you didn’t wake up by today…” Claudia’s voice trails off fearfully.

    I open my mouth, trying to say something to reassure her, but my voice doesn’t come out. Well, its for the best, since I didn’t even have any words prepared.

    “Ah, miss must be thirsty. Let me fetch some water, and I’ll call the doctor while I’m at it!” My maid bows rapidly, then hastily leaves the room.

    I’m not that thirsty…

    I struggle to shift into a sitting position in my bed, and barely manage to do so by the time the door opens and three figures come striding in. Claudia leads the charge, holding a pitcher of water and an ornate crystal cup. Behind her is a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair, wearing a fine pair of half-moon spectacles, and carrying a fairly typical doctor’s bag.

    The last one is a male of fifteen years, with blood red hair and bottomless dark blue eyes, slightly slender but with widened shoulders and facial features halfway between the softness of a boy and the hardened lines of a man. His name is Beralt, and he is my eldest brother. His thin lips are drawn into a tight, angry line, and his brow is slightly furrowed.

    For as long as I can remember, I have been most afraid of this eldest brother of mine. Although my father is a bear of a man, who has likely killed countless people over the course of his life, he’s so absent from my life I am left with very little impression of him. But Beralt has always been an overbearing presence in my life. As the first-born son of the fief, he was groomed to be the heir to a military family since he could walk. He’s always been more strict than a parent when it came to his younger siblings, but especially so with me: the weak no-good daughter of the family. No matter how hard I tried to please him, he would always look at me with the same cold, detached, vaguely disapproving gaze. No matter what I asked of him, he would deny it. No matter what I did, he would chastise me. My entire existence seemed to be an ongoing disappointment to him.

    Just like now.

    Claudia immediately starts fussing over me, chastising me for moving and offering me water to drink. It’s slightly warm, probably boiled and then left to cool slightly to help ward off any remaining chills. The doctor is already launching into this and that sort of question - “how do you feel”, “does anywhere hurt”, “can you please focus on my finger”, that sort of thing. But Beralt is completely silent as he stands by the foot of the bed, merely casting a slightly angry look over the three of us.

    “I’m fine.” I cough out, pushing away the water.

    “Do you not feel content if you do not go a single day without causing some kind of trouble?” Beralt sighs, his gaze locked on me. “Maybe being stuck in bed for a while will calm you down.”

    Gulp.

    The doctor gently chimes in, “Although bedrest is important, staying cooped up and breathing in stuffy air will also be poor for her ongoing health. I can order a child’s wheelchair for her. Taking her for a stroll through the conservatory should be beneficial for recuperation.”

    Beralt frowns deeply at being contradicted by the doctor, but after a moment of thought he turns to Claudia, his soft voice sounding extremely dangerous as he slowly spits out the words, “Are you capable of at least this much?”

    Claudia’s face goes ashen, and she bows her head, shoulders trembling slightly, squeaking out a soft, “Yes, my lord.”

    Sorry for not speaking up for you, Claudia. He scares me too.

    Beralt turns his dark gaze over to me, and his final words have a special chill to them. “Don’t let me catch you where you shouldn’t be again.”

    When he leaves, poor Claudia practically collapses, and even the doctor mops sweat hastily from his brow. When he turns to me, he gives an awkward laugh.

    “Military men are so imposing even at a young age.”

    No kidding.

    The doctor gave me a thorough check, making sure there wasn’t any long lasting damage, and prescribed me medicine to help with the fever shortly before leaving. Claudia was told in no uncertain terms that although I was out of the woods, I still needed peace and rest, so she tearfully left me too.

    Ah, I’ve been left all alone again.

    You’re not alone.

    This room seems far too big for a child.

    Did you not hear me? I said, you’re not alone, I’m right here.

    Perhaps that doctor was a quack. He said I didn’t need to worry about any long term damage, yet I feel like I’m hearing voices?

    Over here by the central window!

    I sleepily raise my head and peer over at the bay window in the centre of the wall. A few small stuffed toys have been arranged on the seat, but in the past I rarely played with them. Although I am a lonely child, I’m not desperate enough to retreat entirely into fantasy.

    Yet, my stuffed rabbit is standing up on two legs and waving at me.

    Ah, finally! I was worried for a second you had brain damage or something.

    The rabbit leaps off the window seat, outside of my vision, but I hear the soft thumping of its feet as it runs across the room toward me. It feels sort of like a horror movie. The sound pauses right beside my bed and I hear again that voice that is both within my head yet outside of it.

    Lift me up! My hands can’t grip!

    Dazedly I crawl to the side of my bed, peering over it at the rabbit. It is the same stuffed toy that it has always been - charcoal grey, with floppy ears and floppy arms and legs, and a faded blue ribbon around its neck. But previously, the rabbit never moved, not an inch. Yet right now it is standing there staring up at me with its black glass eyes.

    Huh. Eh? Although this world is different from my own, things like a talking, walking stuffed toy is still weird, right?

    It raises its arms toward me expectantly and shouts, Okay! Now lift me!

    Scary! I shriek, grabbing my pillow and swatting the rabbit as hard as I can.

    Like hell I’ll touch you!

    Title: Summoned to Another World, But How’d I End Up…?!

    Synopsis: Class 1-C has been summoned by a buxom goddess to save her world!

    Yoshida Nao has only one hobby in life, and that’s people watching. He doesn’t have any ambitions of being the hero to his own story, he prefers to sit quietly in the corner and watch the small interpersonal dramas of the people around him. So naturally, when he is summoned alongside his classmates and told that “one amongst them has the destiny to be the hero of this world”, he immediately crosses himself off the list. His only goal in this dangerous new world of swords and magic is to kick back and watch his classmates compete for the position of “hero”.

    But what’s this? Something went wrong with the summoning! Eh, eh, what’s this? Why does he have the status ailment “Curse of the Demon King”! What happened to his lackadaisical life in another world!

    Genre: Isekai, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Comedy, BL

    i.

    As someone who has read a lot of web novels about transmigrators out of desperate boredom, I pretty much know the template, so I also know that right about now you’re expecting the prologue. But to be perfectly honest… that sort of thing is just boring! Admit it, they’re all the same. Blah blah, I’m just an ordinary person, oh no, it’s truck-san! Dun dun dunnnn. Or maybe a magic glowing circle? Either way, prologues never have anything new to say, so here’s the cliffnotes:

    • It seems a classroom of students was summoned to another world. To be specific, just the students.
    • After arriving in a white space to be greeted by a Goddess-sama we were given a crash course on otherworldly summoning and the state of the world we had been brought to, as well as being told very frankly there was no way to go back home.
    • This and that happened and then everyone was forwarded to a labyrinth and told to fight our way to the surface.
    Hmm, that’s too condensed? Well, that’s true, but these things are pretty formulaic you know. A demon threat, special unique skills, save our world; you can’t say you haven’t read the same thing a hundred times before, right? I’m just saving you the trouble. So, you’re welcome! (ノ´▽`)ノ♪

    Not that there wasn’t a bit of a hiccup near the end of the meeting where I really feared for my life, but… well, it’s all fine now, no need to go into it!

    Huh? Who am I? No one important, just your trust narrator. ╭( ・ㅂ・)و ̑̑ "

    ...Tch, fine. Hello, I am Yoshida Nao. If I had to describe myself, then hmm. If we have Male Lead-san, Female Lead-san, and Villain-san, then I would… not even be Mob Characters A or B! Those characters might get a name and some character development, you know? But not me. I’m not even Mob Characters C through E, the sort that only get their faces drawn on 50% of the time. Even they get speaking lines occasionally, you know? Rather, I’m a scenery character! Yep, no matter how many times you press A in front of me, I’m not going to respond, okay? Yep yep, I’m just here to bulk up the crowd.

    Right now we’re desperately running around in the labyrinth we arrived in, but to put it in modern terms, it’s a tutorial dungeon. We were given an information menu with some further info that Goddess-san didn’t have time to tell us, which is how we know there are ten floors to this dungeon. Just for getting through a floor alive we are guaranteed 1 level gain, but for “actively conquering” the floor we get 1.5. In other words, everyone without combat skills can still be carried through the dungeon and will leave here at least Lvl. 10, but the combat classes actually defeating monsters could leave at a maximum of Lvl. 15. Yes, it’s really a tutorial dungeon.

    I‘m saying, it’s yet another fantasy world story with levels and stats as well as skills and dungeons.

    ...Not to ruin the excitement of the fantasy, but I don’t really get how a world can have something like levels. I don’t think something like wisdom or experience or vitality are things that can be quantifiably measured with a simple numerical value. Does something like disability or dementia affect your intelligence or strength stat, or is it like an always active debuff? For me, it makes no sense, but the otakus seem to have quietly accepted it - well, even the more popular boys and some of the girls have played some video games so they at least managed to come to terms with this nonsensical reality eventually. Or more like, they had no other choice but to accept it.

    “All right, that’s another one! With that, everyone should at least be level five, right?”

    That loud voice belonged to the glittering Class Prince that had naturally taken a leadership position in the panic after we were summoned. I wasn’t really paying attention, but it seems like the labyrinth mid-boss has been defeated.

    It has nothing to do with me. Because I’m in the “non-combatants” group. Still, go team! (ノ゚▽゚)ノ

    “Mm, since we’re at the halfway point, there should be a safe point between this floor and the next.” Our formally elected class representative beside him commented, dutifully checking the info in her status window.

    So goes the cutscene from the real heroes. The Prince-san in question is a tall athletic pretty boy who even manages to wear the school’s outdated gakuran with great charisma. Even though he captures the hearts of girls everywhere, he’s not conceited, and apparently his grades are pathetic, which makes it easier for the boys to get along with him without resentment. It seems he’s considered to be very approachable to everyone around him. I think I’m the only one in my class - no, the whole school who dislikes his presence.

    Standing by the side of Prince-san is a tall girl with long silky black hair in a sensible ponytail and sharp eyes, the so-called “cool beauty” type. Not only is she the class representative, but also one of those respectable ladies from a traditional Japanese family - ah, they do archery or something. A lot of the boys like to admire her from afar, but when I see her all I can think of is… the motherly sort. If you’ve ever had your mother storm into your room wearing a scowl and holding a slipper, you know that sort of feeling of fear. She gives that out. A stern motherly sort you can’t stand against. I once saw her slam her textbook onto a cockroach you know. It was a cold-blooded midday murder. ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )

    As far as her relationship with the boy besides her goes, it seems she’s been friends since childhood with Prince-san. A cliche development, but I’m somewhat interested in watching it from afar at least. This has discouraged girls and boys alike from approaching either one of them, as their hot and cold temperaments seem to make them an ideal gap moe couple, but I think they’re just taking advantage of it to keep away insects…

    “Okay, let’s head down to the rest stop below and regroup. According to the information that dodgy Goddess left us with there’ll be food there, though not a lot.” Class Rep-san commented, glaring dubiously at the information. Not much food huh. I guess the hidden implication is that we should get off our lazy butts and go get some ourselves.

    The status information (hmm, let’s just call it the “instruction manual”) left to us by Goddess-sama included things like how to disassemble monsters for parts since despite this game-like world, something as convenient as disappearing in a puff of smoke and leaving behind loot drops doesn’t happen. I think that was another hint to become self-sufficient. Using the information, the non-combatants had been disassembling monster parts that were marked as valuable, but also easy to transport - by which I mean things like claws and fangs. Organs and meat and anything that dripped were a strict no. This separation of duties - combatants doing the fighting, non-combatants doing the disassembly and carrying - wasn’t just decided on in order to get everyone to contribute. This world had some tough survival rules. We didn’t have the luxury of being summoned by some royal family who had a squad of knights who were willing to train us in the basics, so at least by getting the classmates who couldn’t fight to do the disassembly work, it would give them skills to help them get by in the world once we left this tutorial dungeon.

    If you’re asking why I’m explaining this as if it also has nothing to do with me… that’s because it doesn’t! Sorry, but going and hacking open the skull of an oversized rat so I can pull all its teeth out is out is off the table for me.

    Not only do I simply not want to do that, but it seems I’m just no good at it either. Tehe. (。•̀ᴗ-)✧

    In fact, out of the whole class I’d been doing the least work. Though I’d been given a fair amount of luggage to carry, it still wasn’t as much as some other people were carrying. Despite this, no one was looking at me with envy.

    When we finally arrived at the rest stop midway through the tutorial dungeon, the door rumbled shut tightly behind us - seemed like this was a point of no return. According to my internal clock it was approximately midday of our third day inside. Since we’d been transported in the morning during home class, that meant we’d spent almost two and a half days inside this place. Considering most of the first day had been spent by the class just trying to adjust to their new reality and get a handle on how to use skills, it really took us about a day and a half to reach here. We’d all just relied on our packed lunches for food, as no one had the guts to try out monster meat so far, so by now we we all tired, hungry, and grateful for the rest. Sleeping without having to take shifts would be mentally resting too.

    The Goddess-sama did a pretty good job designing the “rest stop”. A stone room about the size of our classroom, meaning there was just enough room for everyone to lie down, and in the middle was a fountain that gurgled refreshing, clear water that gave off sparkles of light, signifying it was probably magical. A shabby looking chest was beside it that presumably contained food. There was nothing else in the room at all.

    Everyone else was huffing and puffing and collapsing onto the ground as soon as they arrived, but thanks to the fact that I hadn’t done much work, I was doing fine. Well, I better at least pretend to make them all feel a little better.

    As I squatted down and began to sort through the loot I had been assigned to carry… dun dun, the dreaded Prince-san materialised beside me. I did my best to ignore him, but he barged into my vision, giving a dopey, puppy dog smile.

    “Yoshida-san, um… are you holding up okay?” He kept his idiotic expression fixed in place as he stared at me expectantly. I squinted my eyes to keep from getting blinded by that shitty pretty boy aura, and to try to hide my expression of distaste. Because I didn’t really respond though, he seemed to get antsy, adding, “H-how’s your body? Uh, I mean, your bruises? Kazumi said the fountain probably has healing and purifying effects, s-so-”

    Eh, which one was Kazumi? As I wracked my brain trying to assign the name to the right face, a bunch of yelling broke my thoughts.

    “Why the hell should I believe you! You might just be trying to keep all the food for yourself!”

    The shrill voice surprisingly came from one of the boys, glaring and squatting next to the chest. Standing with her hands on her hips was a chubby gyaru-ish girl, giving back a way more intimidating glare. Maybe because what the boy said sounded a bit like a dig against her weight, many of the girls watching was giving the boy a cold gaze.

    “Fine, if you want to eat it and die, do it! Like I give a damn!” The girl huffed back.

    As for names, I have no idea. Yeah, sorry, I’ve never bothered to learn my classmates names, just watching is enough. Although I recognise the gyaru because she has a particularly loud voice, so I always end up overhearing her talk to her friends in the classroom. But the boy gives off no impression, a total mob type. Ganbatte, fellow mob-san. ╭( ・ㅂ・)و ̑̑

    Actually, thanks to the two of them Prince-san had no time to keep hovering around me. He immediately leapt over to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately he was a really good mood-setter, which meant my opportunity to watch these exciting interpersonal conflicts had basically dropped to zero since being assigned to the same class as Prince-san.

    Right, that was basically it. The reason why I didn’t like him. Because as an eager people-watcher, he had gotten in the way of my number one hobby. Thanks to my mother I’d gotten hooked on soap opera dramas, but since discovering just how exciting high school was I’d completely stopped watching television. Teenagers were all by nature emotionally volatile and melodramatic people, and originally I’d been excited to get front row seats, but some shitty luck got me landed in the one class that was eternally harmonious and devoid of juicy drama.

    All because of that shitty Prince-san.

    Even now, he was quickly calming the two classmates down. In another situation, this may have devolved into a straight out fistfight. Battle of the sexes! Man versus woman! Unfortunately now though… although they were still hissing and throwing glares at each other, they’d already completely backed off.

    “I tried to tell him. I don’t know about the meat jerky, but some of those plants are definitely poisonous. Hell, those dark purple blueberry looking things, they’re even in the information panel, you moron! And thanks to my passive skill, I can immediately identify any plant and their properties, so I’m saying, about a third of the plants in there are poisonous. At best you’ll be stuck with stomach cramps and blowing out your ass for days, but at worst, you could seriously die!”

    She crossed her arms and raised her chin defiantly. When the class was sent over, everyone was assigned to have two unique skills based on their real world talents and temperaments: a passive skill and an active skill. So, it meant this girl was probably an avid gardener back on earth if she ended up with a horticulture skill. That was probably why people seemed doubtful.

    But at the same time, I don’t think she was lying. If I recall correctly, that girl had the kind of personality that was honest to a point of stupidity. The type where, if you asked her how your new haircut looked, she would earnestly declare, “Wow, that’s ugly, it doesn’t suit you at all!”

    Prince-san had a conflicted expression on his face. Although he was pretty good at setting the mood of a room, at the end of the day he was an idiot. Luckily for him, however, he wasn’t the type to go solo. That’s right, the childhood friends tag team gooo~

    “I doubt she’s lying.” Class Rep-san coolly cut in. If only she wore glasses, now would be a great time to adjust them with a knowing look, a flash of light perhaps bouncing off the lenses and making them glow. Tch, what a shame for perfect 20/20 eyesight. “What she said about those berries was true, they’re listed under the information panel as being poisonous. Though they closely resemble an edible berry, their size and colour are slightly off.”

    “S-so, that’s just one…” The boy tried to argue. Uwah, mob-san is unexpectedly brave. I don’t think there’s another boy in the class who could stand up to Class Rep Secret Weapon #28: Ice Beam Stare. In any case, Class Rep is correct. Besides the fact that the gyaru is an extremely (stupidly) honest type, there’s another reason to trust she’s telling the truth. That’s because...

    “If there’s one that’s poisonous, there are probably others.” Class Rep announced.

    The class let out a groan, and many people surrounding the scene started to pale. Because of course I don’t like being left out, I approached the chest to take a peak. Ah, I get it now. The problem is…

    “There’s not enough food.”

    A voice in the crowd shouted it, but everyone else started wailing. Well, at the end of the day they were all a bunch of teenagers. In our own world we’d still be considered children. So far we’d been running on nerves and fumes to keep ourselves together, but now that we had found a safe rest stop, everyone had the time to stop, catch their breath - and allow the full weight of the past two and a half days to settle in.

    Not just the girls, but even the boys were sobbing. Many were shaking, and a few were throwing up. Though the first time we’d been attacked and forced to kill monsters, it’d initially been hard, but it seemed like many had managed to overcome that mental hurdle. But in fact, they’d just been forced to bury their horror because of the circumstances. As for disassembling monsters, it wasn’t until we got to the fourth level of the tutorial dungeon that we had begun to even try doing that.

    So that was the hidden test of the rest stop. Don’t trust that something is safe just because someone told you so and don’t trust that things will be provided for you. And of course, after two nights of barely sleeping, days of traversing a dungeon and having to kill to survive, now that you’re “safe”, how many people would give up at this point? Although teenagers were at an age where their thoughts and emotions were always quickly changing, making it easier to adapt to circumstances, right now the class was mentally and physically exhausted, hungry, and scared.

    Class Rep had her arms crossed and was frowning.

    “If anyone here has skills that can analyse the fountain water, get them to do it before anyone else drinks it. As for food… even idiots should get the message loud and clear, right?” She looked directly at Prince-san when she mentioned “idiots”, and he grimaced in response.

    Prince-san sighed, then stood up on the side of the fountain so he was above everyone, raising his voice to gather their attention.

    “For now, everybody don’t panic. I know, everyone is tired and scared. And I know, I should probably be brave and say don’t worry, we’ll get through this somehow. But, I can’t say that for sure. Because to get everyone single one of us through here alive, I need everyone’s help. Right now, getting into fights with each other, getting scared, giving up, none of us can afford to do that. I don’t want… I don’t want anything to happen to any of my classmates. As for the food - we all knew we’d have to start hunting to get through this dungeon sooner or later. At least now we have a chance to rest beforehand and collect ourselves, and leave everyone who can’t fight somewhere safe. Um, so I need… eight members of the attack group to volunteer. I’ll make one, so we need seven-”

    “Six other people.” Class Rep declared. I see, with the two of them going the party leaders are more or less decided, and there’s sure to be some decent results. Class Rep continued, “I’ll be going too, and while I’m gone… Saitou-san, please be in charge.”

    I followed Class Rep’s gaze to a girl standing nearby. Though she was quite short and had a spacey expression on, I immediately approved of the choice. That was our honourable class mascot. Short, fluffy brown hair and big doll eyes, as well as a bouncy personality and bouncy… eh, well, she was popular amongst the boys for a reason. She gave off the cute, harmless feel of a small animal that also made the girls want to spoil her. Most people viewed her as having a fairly calming personality. Though she looked shaken and pale, she hadn’t seem to have fallen into complete despair like other members of the class. Perhaps they think it’s because of her dogged, optimistic personality. But let me tell you, don’t let appearances fool you. If there’s anyone in this class I’m most afraid of, it’s definitely this Class Idol-san! I know this because I saw something I shouldn’t have~ (ノ´▽`)ノ♪

    “I-I understand, I’ll try my best.” Idol-san nodded, giving a small fist pump.

    Her name? Sorry, I barely remember the class introductions.

    Prince-san just seemed to nod. “Okay. Saitou-san is in charge. For the hunting party, we’ll be going up to level six to hunt. I’d prefer to have scouted ahead first, but… well, I don’t think we have the time. So please remember, this is just a hunting trip, the goal is to make it back here safely and with food only if possible. We’ll split into two groups of four to cover more ground. As long as it seems edible, bring it back. If it seems tough, just back away. ” He leapt down off the fountain and looked around. “We’ll rest for twenty minutes before going.”

    Class Rep paused, and then added a sentence that would have raised an uproar if anyone else had said it, but thanks to her icy, authoritative demeanour, everyone just meekly agreed: “Please share some of the edible food with the hunters. As for the rest, it looks like preserved food rations. If possible it would be better to save it.”

    Class Rep and Prince-san made their way to the stairs leading up to the sixth floor and sat down. Maybe she meant it partially as a bribe, but the more obvious answer was that it was better for the hunters to not go on an empty stomach. Besides, bribe or not, not many people wanted to hunt and risk putting themselves in danger. That’s why it took a while before there was any kind of response.

    Although everyone seemed to just stand around glancing at each other at first, maybe because he was roused by that touching (cliche) speech, one of the stockier guys in class who was in a sports club (and also part of the never-had-a-girlfriend club) stepped forward, patting his chest. “I’ll go too!”

    As was human nature, once one person stepped forward, others began shuffling forward. Three more boys and two girls who were had gotten attack skills made up the rest of the hunting group. Prince-san looked over the two teams, then nodded at the rest of the class.

    “Okay. Everyone, let’s rest."

    Okay, that's it. Just so you know, the theme of both stories is: unreliable narrator.

    Thanks for any feedback. Whichever I write, I'll end up publishing chapters on a "whenever" schedule as they're meant to be side projects to help me avoid burnout.

    ETA
    I'll give a broader outline of the story concepts too:


    Both of them are semi-meta responses to the beats and cliches of their archetypal stories.

    The villainess story is basically a mixture of "wow it's really lucky that all these high school girls/young women happened to transmigrate into the fantasy world of a book/game they literally just finished reading. I bet it'd suck to be transmigrated into a fantasy story you've never even heard of so you don't even have any cheats, especially if the world still functioned under the screwed up, nonsense rules of the fiction" as well "it's kind of frustrating how many of these obtuse villainesses work to "alter their bad ends" while ignoring the simple fact that merely by existing as a different person, with a different personality, it has already created a butterfly effect that will change their ending". The latter is a complaint I've seen and felt when the obtuseness of villainesses reach a point of farce (coughBakarina).
    The story of the reincarnated villainess is a typical one where she diverts her future by trying to avoid becoming the prince's fiance, but being so odd and "interesting" she falls into the role anyway. But he won't be the ML. And the novel heroine won't be what you probably expect her to be. And there will definitely be larger political intrigue working in the background.
    Just don't ask me about the rabbit. It serves a technical and narrative purpose okay.

    The isekai story is kind of a very direct response to and subversion of isekai tropes, beat for beat. I don't ever want it to feel mean-spirited toward isekai stories, because I genuinely like the genre and just feel frustrated because I feel like a lot of potential is lost in the repetition of certain tropes of the genre that really derail stories (big finger guns towards "let's make miso" and "I'm going to amaze people with curry despite curry being actually an incredibly old dish dating back to at least 2,000 BCE so if these people have invented "stew" they probably should have invented "curry" by now too" plot diversions, but others too). The MC starts off at a disadvantage but becomes OP, because like all things in the story, the disadvantage is not what it initially seems. The romance will be very slow burn, or a "late romance" as some tag it, and probably partially open ended to boot, but I just noted it down because I didn't want people to feel tricked into it since people can have... strong feelings about BL.
    Basically I want to write a LitRPG with a snarky protagonist and lost of adventure that doesn't get bogged down in trying to invent miso or starting a laundromat, and maybe some dumb boys hold hands suggestively, let me be okay.
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2019
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  2. Flufflebutter

    Flufflebutter Well-Known Member

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    I was excited for the first one, but after I read the second half was immediately turned off. We could definitely use more villainess stories to fuel the craze, but this one is ...off
     
  3. Shio

    Shio Moderator Staff Member

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    The best one is "I am the daughter of..." trope.

    But if I have to choose between the two, villainess with unreliable narrator is a better match. Especially if it has drama and tragedy tag.
     
  4. Hoshiandme

    Hoshiandme A Wandering Star Who Watches From Afar

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    I see BL.
    I vote BL.
    Let’s go with BL!!
     
  5. Glint

    Glint 『Waifu』

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    I support the Villainess! Down with BL! :sneaky::blobcheeky:
     
  6. Hoshiandme

    Hoshiandme A Wandering Star Who Watches From Afar

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    And, about your issues with the prologue thing. Though it’s annoying and tedious.
    It really is needed.
    No one world is the same, hence why everyone does an introduction of said world.

    And it’ll show off your skill as a writer if you can somehow make something boring and tedious into a good read.
    My advice is to use expressions and a lot of descriptions.
    Since most prologues are rather literal. Blah blah blah. This happens. You have a status. I can see your status. There’s a demon king, and a hero needs to save it and “you’ve been summoned” help us.

    If you use some similes and expressions, it’ll make it look more elegant and give your novel a rather magical feel.
    Though, you could change the style if you’re entering into an industrial world to give it a more stable and mechanic feel.

    Prologues, though tedious when writing in a genre where many other before you have written, is boring. If you can do it well, it’ll really show off our skill with words.
    So my advice is to not skip the prologue. Since not every world is really the same, and not everyone is the same. That’s what being a writer means. You have to make it unique and yours.
     
  7. Beer_Kitty

    Beer_Kitty Just a very very drunk kitty that likes beer

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    I prefer villainess.

    Die off BL.
     
  8. Delusion

    Delusion Dark lord

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    i prefer villainess from non-standard perspective.

    Like from viewpoint of her brother

    OR where she is so manipulative that she is OP against all prince-like characters without relying on any other male (eg: slow prison life or Otome Game ni Tensei Shita ga, Watashi wa Akuyaku ni Nari Sugita)

    Or villainess in xianxia world(not the wuxia)
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2019
  9. morticia_addams

    morticia_addams Well-Known Member

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    How can i change my vote to bl:cry:
     
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  10. morticia_addams

    morticia_addams Well-Known Member

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  11. SeiraJLoyard

    SeiraJLoyard Well-Known Member

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    Me too! LOL >^<
     
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  12. Zhen_Qing

    Zhen_Qing <<Danmei Sect Temp. Summoner>>

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    This is a poll for original stories, not translation. :blobconfused:

    p.s. great writing style.
     
  13. zloi medved

    zloi medved Well-Known Green Tea Bitch

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    wow haha i didn’t expect any actual responses to this thread to be honest let alone so many. i’m currently on phone while i’m picking up dinner so i won’t respond to all of these immediately but i will just quickly reply to this one:
    you have clearly misread or misunderstood these teasers. i don’t have an issue with prologues. these are story chapters written in the first person perspective of the main characters, and it is the character of the story (nao) who expressed a boredom with prologues. as i said, the theme of the story is “unreliable narrator”, as these are first person not third person stories l some of that will come from the information provided in the narration being untruthful, or a fractured or misinterpreted version of the truth as interpreted by the character. but another aspect of the unreliable narrator is that the narrator literally cannot be relied upon to give a full, comprehensive explanation of events. the same way when a friend of yours might tell you a story, they skip over parts they don’t feel is relevant even though it might be, or they circle back later telling you “oh, i forgot to say this earlier, but...”

    prologues are great scene setters and a good way to quickly impart information to the readers before the story starts to avoid breaking the flow, and my tongue in cheek poking fun of the cliche prologues of many isekais isn’t a dismissal of prologues altogether. the same way a prologue can set a mood or pace of a story, i had the mc and narrator skip the prologue in such a way as to clearly broadcast to the reader that:
    1. the narrator does not pay attention to or at least lend much weight to details others might consider crucial
    2. the narrator cannot be relied upon to give you, the reader, the full truth or story of any situation, and you should take almost everything said with a grain of salt
    so i always appreciate feedback and advice on stories, but in this case i really feel you misread the teaser chapter as my real legit personal thoughts. i am not my characters. some things that feel like a mistake may be a calculated choice to mislead the reader.
     
  14. Hoshiandme

    Hoshiandme A Wandering Star Who Watches From Afar

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    Oh sorry. I did misread, I thought that piece of you and hating prologues was you actually writing lol.
    I didn’t see that the story excerpt and the. Teaser for it already started!
    Sorry if I sounded rude or anything. I really did not mean to!
     
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  15. zloi medved

    zloi medved Well-Known Green Tea Bitch

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    not at all! like i said i appreciate any feedback and advice and i really do wanna thank you for speaking up and giving me truthful advice. i didn’t think you were rude, and if anything it tells me that i failed to immediately the voice of my character since you misread it, which is a failing on my part, so it was still helpful.
     
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  16. zloi medved

    zloi medved Well-Known Green Tea Bitch

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    Okay, I'm home, back on PC, and will be responding to things that I think could do with responses. Sorry if you didn't wanna be quoted, these are just posts I feel brought up points I could respond to with replies others might appreciate too.

    I'd love it if you could expand on or clarify what you mean by "off". These are drafts/story ideas, and still in a stage where they are open to fairly broad edits based on feedback, so I don't mind changing my approach if you feel I've faltered somewhere.
    I didn't tag it with drama and tragedy but... I gotta be honest, it'll probably end up having it because my writing, unless I'm consciously reeling it in, almost always skews toward drama and tragedy... sob...

    At the very least, Olena (the narrator/MC) is a naturally gloomy and morose person, and the way she views and interacts with the world will inevitably lead to drama and self-constructed tragedies.
    But who knows what the truth is... these darn unreliable narrators with their distorted view of the world really cannot be trusted.

    The only other point I'd respond to is that these are original works of fiction, not translation, thus why they're posted in the community fiction sub. But someone else already pointed that out, haha.
     
  17. scriptor

    scriptor 『Sigilmaster』 『Immortal Sage』

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    Tbh I like both the Villainess and Isekai ones. Both are good.

    Villainess pro: Transmigrator is a middle-aged woman with zero idea she's in an otome setting
    Villainess con: ...I hate reverse harems nearly as much as I do harems

    Isekai pro: BL I like the narrator's internal commentary and emojis
    Isekai con: Isekai trope can be done badly very easily
     
  18. Lukha

    Lukha Well-Known Member

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    Oooh bb, more stories! Excitement! You're an amazing writer, so I'd be pretty excited to read whatever you dish out, but honestly, slow burn BL isekai has won over my heart because there's just something so satisfying about slow burn BL! Much too often, I've read the stories where the romance starts too abruptly with BL stories, and I just want some of that slow burn baby, and combined with the isekai, ooft :blobnosebleed:
     
  19. Anonymous Reader

    Anonymous Reader Well-Known Member

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    Honestly, I think both ideas are interesting so I'm not really sure which to choose.

    On another note...
    I think something that would be tricky to write for the villainess concept would be the incorporation of the original novel. In your idea, we, the readers, know that the MC reincarnated into a novel, but she doesn't even know anything about it. If there aren't really any hints of the world being that of a novel, then there's not much point to the fact that the MC reincarnated into one.

    And onto a comment for the BL isekai...
    For some reason, I think the class prince has a crush on the MC. He seems to be too nervous around him. That, or it might just be me reading too romance and BL.
     
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  20. GonZ555

    GonZ555 What i want for christmas is you

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    *reads at the end that this is about BL*
    ...
    *retract typed comments*
     
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