The Survival of an Inferior

================================== 

[SUMMARISED PLOT RECAP]: Samuel cleared a notoriously difficult game, "Elvis Arcane", and found himself inside the game minutes later, overtaking the character "Arsto" existence. Arsto is a scoundrel brat illegitimate child from a noble family. From there, he cleared a dungeon and visits his mansion, where he meets Arsto's, now his, mother and prepares to head to a town to meet a dwarf alchemist.

The town was under attack upon arrival and Samuel repelled the attack despite his weak stats using the power of muskets and strategy.

To gain favour from the dwarf, he agreed to find the root cause of the attack and encounters the elves who tricked Samuel into a deadly dungeon. 

Unfortunately for them, Samuel is the protagonist and clears the dungeon. Threatening the destruction of the elf's land, Samuel manages to obtain two sets of valuable artifacts. One which saved his life later on. 

The elf gave false information to Samuel and the siege on the town was worse than Samuel thought but through wits, they were able to make a solid defence. At least until the arrival of a high demon forcing Samuel to use the last resort that destroyed everything and killed him. 

The Pill of Life revived him and turned him into a demonic human, allowing him to trick the world with his death. His biological father was sad from hearing the news but not his stepmothers, who celebrated his death. One even went to his funeral to belittle his mother. His mother Maile, enraged and about to go bat shit crazy, found a note by Samuel that indicated his survival, calming her. 

Samuel then went on to steal Arsto's name due to lack of originality and created another person to go to Rodgof since it is the first kingdom that fell. The first thing he does upon arrival is to check out the black market and hit the jackpot upon finding the hero's broken sword and meeting his sister who never appeared again in volume 2. 

Next, Samuel noticed the suspicious couple that brought him into Rodgof scheming something and did an uno reverse by using their scheme for his scheme. He meets Liam. 

There was an attack on the city of Ikas, Rena was part of the defending forces and met several demons, one called Lei. 

After that, he manages to get a clue about Despair and attacks the orphanage that was cultivating demonic children, saving a bunch of people that pledged loyalty to him. 

Stuff happens and Haren infiltrated Rodgof. For some reason, he painted eyes everywhere. Somehow those eyes collect Mana and fuel a pyramid device that shot fountains of red worms into the sky. 

People become crazy and kill each other when infected by the worms. Samuel used Rena to take down the source as he go for Haren and humiliates him. Afterwards, Samuel mind controlled him. 

Samuel used Haren to join the Bureau of Virtue as a contract mercenary and was invited to the banquet. He saved Botev and allied with potentially strong allies. 

Lastly, he attended the banquet and met Rena who flirted with Samuel and bamboozled Prince Armin. 

End of recap. 

================================== 

One would expect something big to happen after the barrage of events and pretentious displays during the banquet. But nothing major happened. Large-scale investigations were launched after Prince Armin's banquet utilising The Royal Army and the BOV and one year passed. 

Nothing is found and all evidence led to suspicions of suicide. It made no sense to Armin. 

The Royal Army had another agenda which is to find Rena alongside investigation. That, likewise, resulted in failure. She completely disappeared after the banquet. 

Prince Armin, a man with blonde hair and jewel-yellow eyes, sits in a red luxurious chair with his legs crossed under a desk. 

He taps his finger on the desk and glances at the stacks of paper. 

A bearded servant in a suit kneels on the floor beside Armin, trembling. 

"How was the investigation?" Armin asks, despite already knowing the answer. 

"I..."

Armin frowns, his eyes furrowing as he glares at the servant. 

"Answer me!" He shouts and releases a wave of bloodlust. 

"I-I...found nothing. The Knight of Justice was nowhere to be found and...we couldn't stop the leakage of information." the servant says. 

Somehow, many people came to know of the evil deeds of those nobles that died one year ago and whose heads were showcased marvellously at the banquet. The Prince previously supported those people. 

Someone behind the scenes was sabotaging Prince Armin's reputation. 

As a result, there are now many clusters of distrust and discontent among people, including some nobles and organisations. 

Prince Armin's mana discharged from mere anger. 

"B-But we did find her origin! She was from Elvis!" The servant says. 

"Elvis...it's Elvis again!" Armin exclaims. "They were supposed to fall! How are they still standing!!" 

Prince Levy from Elvis did a scheme that forced the demons to retreat. He sent a team of magicians and knights to erupt the volcano of ice, forcing beasts to migrate to the demon territory and enraging a mythical dormant beast within the volcano. 

The demons had to retreat and reorganise their forces for defence. 

But that is only one issue. It has been a year and a few months since the snow rains. Recently, the snow died down but no signs of sun are shown. Elvis is the most vulnerable to this. Yet they are thriving. 

Somehow, they were able to make a deal with firms in Rodgof, sharing magic agriculture technology amongst many of the deals that pushes them through the endless winter. Magic is truly a miracle.

Thus, the state of Elvis bought some time and things were ordinary as they stabilised.

War did come across Armin's mind but the drawback of it outweighs the pros. In the end, he has no choice but to wait for Elvis to fall by itself. 

He sighs and grabs his forehead. "Hah...fine fine. Let's look at things on the bright side. At least I have more time to prepare." Armin mumbles. 

He pulls a drawer under his desk and sees a yellow file. 

"Right, report about the mercenary Arsto."

The servant looks up. "So far once again, nothing out of place. He diligently trains with another mercenary and patrols around the streets at night." 

Intelligence officers have been spying on Samuel's movement for the past year. 

Armin pulls out the yellow file and passes it to the servant. "We've observed long enough, retract all operations. Instead, focus on finding Rena."

The servant tries to say something until he sees Armin's frustrated expression, his face contorted with rage. 

Prince Armin places his hand on the servant's shoulder and whispers "I don't care how or what. Find her. Even at the expense of sacrificing a few lives. I have never suffered such gruesome humiliation in my entire life, especially at the hands of a mere woman. Find. her." 

"U-Understood, your highness." The servant replies. 

Armin smiles and taps the servant's shoulder. "Leave." 

The servant bows and quickly leaves the room. 

Suddenly, someone barges into Armin's room without knocking. A man in purple wizard robes with a long grey beard wearing spectacles enters. Behind the magician is a priestess in a long white coat. The majority of her silver, curly, shoulder-length hair hides under a white cap, a veil conceals her eyes. 

"Lady Joana and Master Isop...what about manners?" Armin says. 

Isop, the bearded condescending man, gaze at Armin. "There is no need for the likes of you. Despite all the support and effort, you still failed."

The priestess, Joana, walks up to Armin. "You cannot blame Sir Armin. Unexpected variables showed up after all."

...

"Get to the point and fuck off," Armin says. 

Isop furrows his brow. "..."

"The Order had commanded you to eliminate Arsto. Leave Rena to us."

Armin's eye twitches. "You...I have observed Arsto for a year. We can leave him for later."

"Absolutely not. He was able to capture Haren Demiuscra and sabotage our entire plan. Eliminate him using whatever means to prevent further complications. Years of effort will soon bear fruit, we do not want to risk it." 

Armin glares at the two people. He clenches his fist tightly and releases mana bloodlust. Both easily counter Armin with their outburst of mana. 

Two sides of mana waves clash haphazardly in the room, sending tornadoes of paperwork flying around and furniture apart. 

...

"Do you want to go against The Order?" Joana asks. 

"No. But that bitch Rena is mine. Don't touch her." 

Isop grits his teeth and pours out oceans of mana, crushing Armin to the ground and dissipating his aura. 

"You, a mere lunatic, and your damn ego! We have no desire to help you but orders forced us. Do not push us!" He exclaims. 

Armin smirks under pressure. "Kill me then. If you don't, I will make you regret letting me live."

In Armin's eyes, there is no sense of danger or fear of death. 

Isop clicks his tongue and releases the pressure. 

"I don't care what you want. We are simply going to do as told." 

Both Isop and Joana head for the door. 

Armin's smirk widens. "Hen Ophelia." he blurts. 

Joana freezes. She couldn't believe her ears. 

"You should recognise his name, no? He is your lover, Joana, and the one who took your virginity. I wonder what people at the Church of Axis when they find their dear Apostle sullied." Armin says. 

"Scoundrel rogue!" Joana exclaims. 

"And Isop." Armin continues. "The Primordial Stone." 

Isop widens his eye and perspires. 

"W-What about it?"

Armin smiles silently at Isop. 

...

Isop grits his teeth and lowers his gaze. 

"Fuck...we can't do anything about this! It's an absolute order!" Isop says. 

"No no, I did not mention rebelling. I simply want a swap of tasks. You handle Arsto, I handle Rena, capiche?" 

Joana exchanged glances with Isop. They have no choice but to oblige. 

"Fine. Don't mess up." Isop says and both leave the room. 

...

Armin is left in his wrecked office. He pulls the desk back to its position and picks up a clean sheet of paper and some ink and a quill pen. He scribbles something on the paper and folds it inside an envelope with the royal stamp. 

"T18." He says. 

An elf assassin dressed in full black materializes from the shadow. "By your order." 

Armin passes the letter to the assassin. 

"Protect mercenary Arsto." 

The elf seems puzzled by the contradicting order but regardless accepts it. "For the empire." 

And the elf disappears back into the shadow. 

Armin turns around to look out of the window. He grins upon seeing beautiful towers and countless dots of people roaming. 

"How peaceful~" 

Many subordinates of The Order come from different organisations such as The Church of Axis or The Magic Tower but affiliation does not beseech cooperation.