The Master of the Tutorial is Overpowered in a New World

As the days had pressed on, Olivia had been feeling more strained than she desired. Most of it was the seemingly constant pressure by the prince to witness her abilities and get her ready for the expedition. She still had no intention of going on the expedition, regardless of what anyone said, but she was running out of reasons to reject training. It was then that idea hit her.

“What sorts of… people… are going to be on this expedition?” she asked during one of the prince’s garden rendezvous.

“Well, I intend to go by your side personally. We will have my personal guard with us. They’re the best knights and mages in the empire, hand selected by myself. There will be a number of nobles leading their territory armies. The rural militias will be under the organization of the generals. Then there will also be the numerous adventurers that join the cause. They are more of an independent structure, but most will probably assist their home regions or territory armies in some capacity.”

“Are there any really strong adventurers?” Olivia pressed.

“There are the Purple ranks. Individually some are as strong or perhaps even stronger than my knights. Why do you ask?”

Deception kicked in.

“I was thinking that we should have those… you called them Purples… adventurers work with us directly then. If all of us that are strong work together, then it will be an easy victory.”

By easy victory, she meant that all the pawns would do the actual fighting. By leaving her surrounded by competent fighters, it would be easy to not be involved were she still forced to go. Her lack of contributions would also be easier to dismiss in such a case.

The prince contemplated the idea. It had merit, but Purple ranks were more expensive than soldiers. Any that were already coming on the expedition likely were doing it out of some obligation or were going to be compensated in some other way. That did not even account for the potential political ramifications of stealing those Purples out from under the nobles whose territories they may represent.

“Please,” Olivia begged with faux sympathy, sensing the prince’s hesitation.

“We can see if they will join us,” the prince finally caved.

That was how the banquet came to be. Olivia was proud of herself for getting a party thrown in her honor, all for the purpose of convincing a number of morons to guard her and such should she get dragged out of the palace. That situational outcome only grew more likely with each day, so now she needed to do something. Perhaps she could frame one of those Purples as an assassin trying to kill her? Though from what she had heard so far, many seemed to likely know each other. That was until just a week before the banquet that news flew about a new Purple. A solo Purple. A perfect target to frame. It did not matter who they were to Olivia.

The night of the banquet, Olivia had toned down the exotic nature of her dresses for the event. She had gone with a white dress with gold and silver trims. She wanted to highlight the position she had received as the Champion of the Goddess, leaving no room to question her word. She moved with reserve and grace, seeming to glide across the polished floor.

Olivia entered the banquet after some of the invited Purples had arrived, much to the chagrin of the servant’s etiquette standards once again. She wanted a chance to sow the seeds of her coming discourse. With her appearance, charm, and a little help from Deception, Olivia found it almost too easy to manipulate those early arrivals.

As she engaged in small talk, dropping the hints of threats to her life, she gazed around for the next target of her scheme. It was then that she spotted the woman entering the banquet. It had taken a moment to recognize her, given that it had been several months and she was wearing a blue dress with her hair down. Olivia could not believe that she was here, let alone alive. The shock had caused her grip to slip on the plate she was holding, sending it crashing to the floor. The noise had attracted everyone’s attention in the room.

“YOU BITCH! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?!” Olivia screamed.

Tess was not terribly surprised by Olivia’s outburst. It would have been more surprising to her had Olivia said nothing. As she took in the elaborate garment that Olivia wore, Tess made her own move.

“Olivia! It is so good to see you again! How have you been? Have you been lying about, taking no responsibility for the position that you received?” Tess called out across the silent hall.

The fact that Olivia’s eyes bulged ever so slightly told Tess she hit it right on the mark.

“I see. So you have been taking advantage of the royal family? How horrible a person you must be to do such a thing. I understand that his Highness, Prince Layton, is a very kind man. I’m certain that such a man would find your actions atrocious.”

“SHUT UP! You are an enemy of the goddess herself!” Olivia shouted back, pointing an accusatory finger at Tess.

There were a number of gasps and murmurs that sprung up at Olivia’s comment. Tess felt a strange surge coming from Olivia as she had spoken, but had no idea what it was.

“Yes. You see, she was perhaps originally meant to be the Champion of the Goddess,” Olivia proclaimed, regaining some apparent bravado as she began to circle through the hall, “But she rejected the goddess! Even attempted to kill her! When the goddess chose me, I was able to convince the goddess to not kill her outright. Instead she was thrown out to the farthest reaches, after the goddess even stripped her of power!”

Tess felt another of the strange surges, but put that to the side again. She heard Shadow mutter something about her being even stronger before.

“Yet here this fraud stands, acting as though she has a place here.”

“She does have a place here,” Shadow interrupted.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“I am Shadow. I tested this woman for her promotion to Purple rank myself. She is more skilled than I.”

“Then you are a weak man,” Olivia countered.

Tess felt it again. Olivia turned away dramatically.

“You see. I have learned of a plot to assassinate me. I learned that the assassin had achieved Purple rank to attend this very banquet. And now it is clear to me who the assassin is. The one who seeks vengeance against the goddess herself!”

Tess thought the accusatory point was a nice touch, but still had not figured out the reason behind another surge. The silence was broken by the applause that Tess broke out into.

“Bravo! A splendid performance, Olivia,” Tess said.

“How dare you…” Olivia started, but was interrupted by the sudden restraint of a binding spell that happened to also obstruct her mouth.

“Everybody! As you can see I have nothing up my sleeves,” Tess said, pulling on her sleeves for effect.

She approached the bound Olivia. She placed her hand against the other’s forehead.

“Show them what you really think of the goddess, Olivia. Mental Image!”

An illusionary image appeared above both of their heads. It showed the same two women, yet in a much different position. The trees at the edges of the images had strands of the moon spider’s webbing tangled around Olivia’s limbs, holding her upside down. The Magical Girl uniform defined every feature with its snug fit and the oversized blue ribbon did little to divert attention. Tess’s form was back in her simplistic looking leathers.

“Why would I believe in some stupid deity?” asked the illusion version of Olivia.

“I was just curious as to what you thought,” answered the illusionary Tess, “A lot of the ones that pass through here have a lot of different beliefs.”

“You abducted me and did something to me. Not some imaginary old sky dude. Once I get out of here, Daddy’s going to have your ass for hurting me.”

“I told you, I didn’t do this to you.”

Tess released the illusion. The congregation of Purple adventurers seemed to have a myriad of reactions. It was difficult to say exactly who was affected by Olivia’s words the most, but those who seemed to have the viscerally negative expressions were likely religiously oriented. Considering the citizens of this world considered the System to be from the goddess, the fact that they did not all turn away from Olivia immediately was interesting.

“Is that true Lady… no, Olivia?” said a voice breaking through the silence.

Tess turned to see a young man in a set of fine garments that had not been there previously. He was flanked by two individuals who, while lightly so, were armed and currently held their hands over their respective blades. Tess allowed the chains binding Olivia to pull back from her mouth, giving her freedom to speak again. She felt a stronger push from the strange force than any previously.

“Your Highness I…” Olivia started, before the chains clamped her mouth shut again.

“Your Highness? Excuse me for interrupting her statement but I believe she might be attempting to utilize some type of Skill to influence you. I ask that you remain skeptical of her words,” Tess said.

The prince looked frustrated, which Tess could understand. A strange woman had appeared in the palace, been shouted at by the Champion of the Goddess, then immobilized and humiliated that same champion without breaking a sweat. She waited until he nodded, then once more loosened the chains. The strange force blasted out from Olivia.

“She lies. Have you ever seen such awful attire? It is nothing I would ever wear. That magic has created nothing but a fanciful story. I was chosen by the goddess and this heathen,” Olivia shot the words at Tess, “Dared to try and usurp her will. The goddess cast her out to die, yet she lives and stands here now. It is clear by her attempt to defame me that she seeks vengeance on not only me, but the goddess herself!”

There were shouts of dismay and anger. Despite her warning towards the prince, it seemed that a number of those around them had not been able to resist Olivia’s skill. While the uproar around was slowly growing though, Tess remained focused on the prince. He seemed to be struggling. She spared a glance at Olivia, noting that her captive seemed more focused on everyone else’s growing agitation. Why was she gauging the other people? She should be focusing her efforts on the prince, yet was not.

“The Lady Champion is right,” the prince finally said, silencing everybody else.

It hit Tess why Olivia was focused on the others. She already had the prince so twisted in her lies that what was one more? She needed the others around the room on her side. Why? To subdue her, of course. She may be Purple rank now, yet every other adventurer here had been Purple for far longer than she had. She would succumb to the number of Purples here.

“Five times your weight in gold for the heretics head!” Olivia crowed.

It was like time had slowed itself down in order for Tess to process everything. The first strikes were magical in nature, coming from every direction and in multiple elements. Some she deflected, others she shielded against, some she countered directly. But the initial volley was just the beginning. Another volley of spells were accompanied by improvised thrown objects. Plates, forks, but especially knives were aimed at piercing or distracting her from avoiding the spells.

The gap was closed as the prince’s knight guards and some of the faster adventurers closed in. Now she found herself blocking punches, kicks, and other unarmed strikes while weaving around several blades. Combined with some more careful aimed spells, this flurry of activity was enough that she started taking some hits.

As she did her best to dodge and deflect, she recalled one former apprentice talking about a movie about a chosen one in a computer simulation. Tess wondered how much her actions right now mirrored what that ‘one’ could do.

The center of the hall was a bad position to be in, yet she found she could not do anything to change her position as she was. There were simply too many opponents right now. A brief thought occurred to her to simply destroy everything and everybody present with some massive spell. Just as quick as the thought appeared, she dismissed it. It was not most of these people’s fault that they had been deceived by Olivia if she used a skill to do it.

Wounds, small as there were, piling up began to take their toll. Tess felt her movements slowing just a fraction, and the punch she should have deflected over her shoulder connected instead with her shoulder, spinning her around. The slash across her back from one of the knight’s swords caused her to stumble forward as she tried to escape the burning sensation. The dagger, somehow smuggled into this protected hall, plunged deep into her stomach, but she managed to rip it out of the adventurer’s hand without removing it from herself. The blood loss started to make her vision go hazy, and she fell to her knees in disorientation.

“Stop. I will deal with her.”

The prince came around in front of Tess. She forced herself to look up at him, seeing something strange about him that she could not place at the moment. He gripped one of the swords taken from his knight.

“Any final words?” he asked, placing the tip at her throat.

“I forgive you,” Tess said through a mouthful of blood.

The words seemed to catch the prince off guard, but the world for Tess went black.

Elsewhere over Iriea

“Why is it taking so long to get my blessing off of her? Can’t you see that the one that needs it is heading to the castle?” Oena demanded.

The lesser deity gestured at the code in front of him.

“Does that look easy to you?”

Oena was not sure what she was looking at, but as a named goddess she probably should.

“Yes.”

“You’re lying and I know it. It flashed through your eyes.”

“Fine. No.”

He changed the color of the code for the blessing to make it visible as he explained. It now appeared as a golden series of threads that twisted and connected to the green code of the profile. Except that all of the threads were simultaneously twisted and knotted throughout the profile as though they were a ball of loose string that had just been pulled from a pants pocket.

“As you can see, I’ve managed to detach about thirty-seven percent of the blessing’s connections so far. It’s hard as it is woven in so tightly, I have to isolate each connection before I detach it, then ensure that it doesn’t affect the remaining connections, while also making sure that the ones I’ve already detached don’t reattach.”

“Can you do it faster?”

“The only faster way to do this would be for you to bring them here and do it yourself. You put the blessing in, you can take it out.”

“But your System prevents me from summoning from my world. I can’t do that.”

“Yeah. So we’re stuck doing it this way,” he grumbled.

“What was the thing you did to the hero’s profile here?”

Oena pointed at a little addendum she just noticed.

“That? I boosted her ability to sense skills being used close to her. It should only work around your demon lord and this one due to the mana output they have,” he replied with a gesture towards the profile he was working on.

Oena seemed satisfied for the moment and went to sit down. Out of nervous energy, she pulled up the observation window she had on the hero. She had to admit that the blue dress looked nice.

Oena watched in rapt attention as the hero and the liar met for the first time since being here. The exchange of words went fast, and Oena was happy that the hero had quickly stopped the liar, but the happiness faded quickly. She witnessed the liar’s statement, projected by the hero’s magic straight from the minds of both. It made her question again just how the liar had tricked her.

“NO!” Oena shouted as the liar’s words seemed more powerful than the resistance.

The fight was intense and Oena wished that she could intervene now more than she ever had. The entire situation was her fault, and the hero that would save her world was going to die because of it. If the hero died, her world would die. Oena shut off the view before she could watch the consequences of her own actions.

Oena placed her head in her hands as she silently wept.