The Tale of Gerald Vader, the Heretic Knight’s Rampage Through Another World
Hey there, gentlemen who love games above all else.
My name is Gerald Vader.
Sorry, but I’ll refrain from mentioning my name from my past life.
Right to the point, I have a question for you all.
If after death, you could be reborn into the world of a game you’ve played… which game would you choose?
It could be a big-name RPG or a bishoujo game.
A slice-of-life crafting game? A working simulator?
Of course, a sophisticated, gentlemanly doujin game would be fine too.
So, what game would you choose?
Yeah, yeah, definitely a game where the heroine is cute and you can live a leisurely, noble life—a sexy, slow-life game!
I get it, I get it! I think so too!
“RIghttt!!!!?????”
After confirming my condition was stable, everyone left the room.
I pulled the blanket over my head and screamed.
The reason goes without saying.
Why?! Why the hell did I have to reincarnate into the world of Blaze of Glory?!
Not some epic, ring-based apocalyptic open-world RPG! Not some RPG where you hunt dragons or don’t hunt dragons! Not some fantasy where the protagonist and their entourage are all hosts!
I’ve been reincarnated into a depressing game where every route, every character including the protagonist, ends in death! Sure, it’s technically a gentleman’s game so it’s fully equipped with erotic elements! But I don’t give a damn about that right now!!
And to top it off, I’m Gerald Vader, the ‘Heretic Knight’!
Not particularly strong, with a bitter, twisted personality. Driven purely by jealousy over the protagonist and his sister getting close, he pestered the protagonist relentlessly, even sabotaging her. Then, after getting beaten to a pulp by the awakened protagonist, he was devoured whole by monsters while incapacitated. That’s his role.
Story-wise, he’s basically the ‘serves you right’ character, but I’m not exactly thrilled to be reincarnated as such a guy.
If there’s one good thing, it’s that this guy is technically a ‘pretty boy’ character, so at least his face isn’t too bad.
Other than that, he’s got nothing going for him, and even if he’s somewhat good-looking, getting eaten by monsters doesn’t change.
“Haa… Seriously…”
Shouting out loud seemed to bring back some clarity, and I was starting to feel lightheaded from lack of oxygen, so I pulled my head out from under the blanket.
Maybe everything up until now had been a dream, and stepping out from under the blanket would reveal the cold, harsh LED light of my tiny, cheap, one-room apartment… but reality wasn’t that kind.
Glancing to the side, I saw the fireplace still burning brightly.
Cheap one-room apartments don’t have fireplaces.
Even if this were a European hotel, that would mean the real Alyssa couldn’t possibly be here.
Which means this world is a game world, and this is my ‘reality’.
Proof complete. It’s the worst.
“Did I… die?”
Honestly, I don’t remember a thing about that moment.
But other memories from my past life (?), game knowledge, and everything since being born into this world remain fairly intact.
…Given the circumstances, I should sort things out before my memories fade.
First, I’m currently in the family home of Alissa Vader, one of the heroines from Blaze of Glory.
The Vader family is a line of knights who have served the Horace Marquis, guardian of the western border of the story’s setting, the Kingdom of Silvazard, for generations.
The family consists of Aaron, the current head and my father, my older sister Alissa, two years my senior, and me.
Sadly, my mother is no longer with us.
Shortly after giving birth to me, she fell ill before her strength could return and passed away.
Though, if you ask if that makes me sad… well, it happened when I was just a newborn, so honestly, I feel no particular sentimentality about it.
Well, that’s probably partly because my parents from my ‘previous life’ were still alive.
In that sense, I might have been incredibly unfilial to that father and mother of mine.
Ah, well, I already have twelve years’ worth of memories from this world, so it’s too late now…
…Besides my blood relatives, the estate has Head Butler Bernard, several maids, and one chef.
My father is primarily serving as the Knight Commander under his lord, the Earl of Horace, so he rarely returns home. Therefore, in practice, Alissa is currently the head of the household.
Beyond that, about ten men and women serve as the Vader family’s private knightly order.
The broad outline of Blaze of Glory’s story is as follows.
The setting, the Kingdom of Silvazard, had enjoyed peaceful times until several decades ago.
However, at one point, a religious group operating secretly in a distant land summoned an ‘Evil God from Another World’.
Their goal was to kill that country’s king and usurp his power.
The cult was indeed a wicked group worshiping the demon god, but the king of that country was a despicable tyrant who ruled through terror. So, it was essentially evil trying to destroy evil.
As the cult intended, the demon god slaughtered the king and all those involved in the country’s politics.
The cult’s leader then planned to take the king’s place.
That was the plan, but it failed.
The evil god who killed the king did not return to its own realm. Instead, it took the throne for itself.
Furthermore, the evil god killed the cult’s leader and transformed the loyal executives into ‘demons’.
It even turned the people and animals of the land into monsters, using these armies to invade neighboring countries.
The demon god’s forces were formidable, swiftly subjugating neighboring nations. They plundered wealth and resources, slaughtering or transforming men into monsters, raping or transforming women into monsters. They then used these victims as disposable vanguards to invade other lands, steadily expanding their domain.
Naturally, the kingdom where we lived was no exception to their conquest.
The Demon God’s forces carved away at the kingdom’s territory with overwhelming military might, shrinking it to roughly half its size by the time I was born.
The reason the kingdom has held out this long is because the royal family, nobles, and key knights receive ‘blessings’ from the ‘Core’ within the dungeon existing within the kingdom.
These dungeon blessings essentially mean military strength.
That is, it enhances physical abilities, accelerates weapon mastery, enables magic use, grants resistance to poison and curses… essentially boosting an individual’s combat prowess.
And the Vader family is a house of knights.
Meaning they can receive ‘blessings’ from the dungeon within their domain.
Of course, Gerald in the story also received a blessing.
Well, it was only enough power to get beaten up by the protagonist, but…
So, I know the time, place, and cause of my death.
I die three years from now, at age 15, during a class at the Royal Knight Academy where I’m attending.
The class is what you’d call practical combat training or something like that, when suddenly a massive horde of monsters invades.
It’s a brutal event where the monsters slaughter the students, who still lack combat experience.
And then I, Gerald, for some reason, see this hellish situation as an opportunity and try to kill the protagonist.
But he is the protagonist of the story.
Just as I corner him to the absolute limit, the protagonist buff activates.
The previously useless divine protection awakens into the strongest form, beating Gerald to a pulp.
Still, that doesn’t mean I have the option to not enroll in the Knight Academy.
Because it’s wartime, the children of royalty, nobility, and knight families are obligated to attend the Knight Academy.
And of course, the option for me to flee to another country is impossible.
Even the neighboring countries that remain safe are under attack by the Evil God’s forces.
A child from a knight family who fled another country without connections would be nothing more than a convenient pawn.
They’d likely be thrown into the most dangerous battlefields as a top priority.
There is nowhere to run.
Therefore, what I must do for the time being is clear.
First, I must train myself relentlessly over the next three years until that fateful day arrives, receive the dungeon’s blessing… and then train even harder.
Ideally, I’ll maneuver to avoid a confrontation with the protagonist, but there will likely be times when a showdown is unavoidable.
For that reason, I must at least build up enough strength to fight on equal terms.
After all, if I lose, becoming dungeon fodder is a certainty.
“Alright, starting today: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats… and a 10-kilometer run every single day!”
It goes without saying that with my current scrawny physique, I’d be kicked out the moment I entered the Knight Academy, let alone get beaten by the protagonist.
If that happened, forget knighthood—I’d be kicked out of my own house and end up job-changing into a mountain bandit’s errand boy.
What use is a scrawny bandit errand boy?
Not even cannon fodder—he wouldn’t make a decent meat shield.
He’d either be bullied to death by his own crew before turning twenty or end up dying alone in some wilderness.
So, first things first: I had to build up my stamina.
I climbed out of bed and got into push-up position.
“…Guh.”
And collapsed.
Hey, Gerald before you got your memories back!!
You’re way too weak, even if you’re recovering from illness!!
Sure, I said 100 reps with that certain manga’s momentum, but at least try for 10!
…But that doesn’t mean I can give up!!
“Guh!!”
Gritting my teeth, I forced my body—heavy as lead—upward.
But that was all I could manage.
“Haah, haah… Just one push-up…!”
Exhausted after just one push-up, I flopped onto my back on the floor.
My back was drenched in sweat, and I could feel the cold, hard texture of the wooden floor beneath me.
But right now, it felt good.
Just one.
But this one push-up was the first step toward avoiding a death end.