TESTC 03

The Evil Scientist Is Too Competent – Chapter 3

The reason I ended up fixing a toy robot went something like this.

After sleeping in a room that could rival a five-star hotel, I enjoyed a luxurious breakfast and was immediately summoned by Regalia. Of course—it was only because of her curiosity that I was allowed in this mansion in the first place.

In her room, I told her stories of Earth: a world with no superpowers, no demi-humans, nothing but science and ordinary humans.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a great storyteller. And a mundane world with no powers must have sounded boring to her.

“Hmm… that’s no fun. Don’t you have any interesting stories?”

“Well… there was the time the president was shot and nearly killed.”

“Shot? You’re telling me a president could actually die from something like that? Absurd. Are people from your world that fragile? Or are your heroes so weak they can’t even stop bullets?”

“…Both, actually.”

“Ugh… I thought another world might be exciting, but it turns out there’s nothing special about it.”

Clicking her tongue like an old lady, Regalia turned her gaze elsewhere, clearly losing interest. My heart skipped.

As her bodyguard had warned yesterday, the only reason I had a place here was her curiosity. If she lost interest, I could be tossed out tonight.

Thankfully, instead of kicking me out, Regalia brought out a pile of toys from somewhere and said:

“Stories are boring. Let’s play house instead!”

“Uh, wh-what? Oh, sure.”

“You’ll play the hero robot who lost his powers, retired, and now suffers revenge from villains. Got it?”

I glanced at the toys in disbelief. No dolls in dresses like girls her age would usually have—just piles of robot toys that boys would normally play with.

It wasn’t that she was secretly a boy. I remembered clearly her bodyguard calling her “young lady” last night. No, this was simply her taste.

“You don’t play with dolls?”

“Dolls? Why would I play with something so weak? The trend these days is robots! Super robots! Isn’t that way cooler?”

“Ha-ha… my nieces are into dolls, so I just assumed.”

I realized then—Regalia’s taste wasn’t strange at all in this world. When you lived in a place with heroes, villains, and supernatural powers, it was only natural for a girl’s interests to lean in that direction.

I looked at the robot she handed me. It fit in one hand, but was absurdly detailed. Its arms and legs moved, its armor could be detached, and its eyes even had tiny reflective lenses.

It was too finely crafted to be dismissed as a mere toy.

“That robot has a tragic backstory…”

“…Excuse me?”

“Curious? I’ll tell you. It happened at my fifth birthday party.”

‘…That’s only a couple years ago, isn’t it?’

I nearly laughed, but forced myself to listen. After all, she was my only means of survival.

“On my birthday, government officials and even heroes I’d only ever seen on TV showed up to pay their respects. Some even brought gifts to win my favor. That robot was one of them.”

“A gift?”

“Yes. It used to shoot beams from its eyes and hands, but it stopped working about a year ago. Too precious to throw away, I kept it, hoping I could ask the one who gave it to me to fix it someday.”

“…I see.”

So that’s why it was so well-crafted. For a girl of her wealth and power, gifts had to be made with utmost care—value didn’t matter, craftsmanship did.

I recalled her saying it had stopped working a year ago. Turning the robot over, I began inspecting its inner workings.

‘Ah, found it.’

“…And what exactly are you doing?”

“Mind if I try fixing it?”

“You think you can?”

Her suspicious eyes quickly turned curious again. She smirked, clearly amused.

“If you break it, you’ll take responsibility.”

“I might not fix it perfectly, but I won’t break it. Probably.”

“Very well. Kitty? Bring him some tools.”

“Yes, my lady.”

With tools in hand, I opened the robot’s casing. Inside was a battery, surrounded by rusted and dusty circuits.

‘Stopped working a year ago, huh. The battery still seems fine… The beam output must’ve fried the circuits.’

I trimmed and restructured the circuits, reusing parts from the robot’s exterior when needed. After some tinkering—

Bzzzzt.

“Oh, it worked.”

“What? That’s…”

After reassembly, the robot stood up on its own. Just as Regalia had said, it raised its arms and fired a beam from its eyes.

Zzzzzzzap!

“It’s moving! It’s moving!”

Regalia shouted with delight, eyes sparkling. Seeing her smile made me feel good too. If she saw me as useful, maybe I could stay here longer.

But the moment I saw that beam cut straight through the sky, my joy vanished.

“…Wait, what.”

“Ha-ha-ha! Rdx-13! Fire again!”

FIRE.

Zzzzzzzap!

The robot unleashed another beam, scorching the garden.

I was speechless. I’d expected some harmless toy light—but this?

‘No wonder the powerless have no place in this world…’

As I stared blankly, the bodyguard gasped.

“How in the world…?”

Why are you surprised?

.

.

The bodyguard scowled as he watched me standing close to his young lady. For some nobody stray of unknown origin to be this close?

‘A useless powerless wretch…’

If the young lady weren’t kindhearted, if she didn’t have an innate gift for reading people, that man wouldn’t even be here. She would’ve tossed him back onto the streets.

But instead, because she sensed his unease, she humored him with old toys.

“…This was from when—”

“Ah, I see…”

‘Did he just ignore her words—?!’

The bodyguard grimaced as I fiddled with the robot. He was sure it was impossible to fix—it wasn’t just a toy, but a handcrafted masterpiece, a pseudo-weapon created by multiple ability users.

And yet…

“It’s done.”

Somehow, unbelievably, I fixed it. Even Regalia blinked in shock—though she looked adorable while doing so.

Then she burst into a wide smile, clutching the revived robot. Seeing that, the bodyguard knew: she would never let this man go now.

Name: Rdx-13
Ability: Crystal Energy
Description: A model of the giant robot from the TV anime Titan Dydis Wars. Unlike the original, this one actually fires beams from its eyes and hands.

After I fixed her toy, Regalia’s eyes sparkled as she looked at me.

“You—are you a scientist!?”

“Huh? Not exactly. More of an engineer, really.”

But she ignored me, flailing her arms excitedly.

“The eighth! I shall give you the eighth seat!”

“…The eighth what?”

“I mean I’m inviting you to my secret organization!”

I didn’t have time to ask what that meant. I had a good sense for these things, and I knew exactly what to say.

“—I look forward to serving you, Boss.”

“Oooh! You do understand!”

I’d just secured free food and lodging. How could I refuse? I had no ID, no powers, and no legal status.

Grinning, I asked my new boss:

“So, what kind of organization is it?”

“Eheheh—an evil one.”

“…Excuse me?”

“An evil organization.”

She wagged her finger left and right.

“A villain group, in other words.”

…Maybe I should’ve thought this through before agreeing.