Sometimes you can't beat a good bastard in a story, someone who will do underhanded tactics to win, kick a defeated opponent when they are down or is always about the reward after they complete a quest/job.
Been reading The Greatest Estate Developer and it's your standard Isekai tale, guy wakes up in the body of a lords eldest son he read a fictional story about and knows they are in massive debt, all die to be the catalyst for the knight that serves them who's the MC. So he uses his architectural knowledge to change their fortunes but does it in the most bastard way.
He'll bitch slap an entire college full of stuck up nobles because he can get away with it, kurbstomp his opponent after he wins a duel to then trick him into exile, force a water contract on a rival noble that essentially binds his future generations to pay him extortionate fees and much more. This series jusy passed 100 episodes and has some of the best faces I've seen from a series.
So whether it's Leon from MobuSeka or Amos from The Expanse, who's your favourite fictional bastards?
Obviously it's got to be Kazuma from Konosuba lol the way he just does not take any shit especially from women is hilarious. Also I liked Seiya from Overly Cautious hero. It's interesting as well how the bastard MCs tend to be the most well written ones because the writers don't let them fall into the typical MC tropes and part of their clever writing is mocking the usual stereotypes all the other story writing relies on.
You could even argue Goblin Slayer falls within that category as well, he has to be convinced by the supporting characters to fight more 'honourably' when on an adventure when he just thinks about killing goblins in the most efficient way possible and doesn't fuck around in combat.
Honestly a really good character and the worst I'd say about him is that he's very pragmatic. Goblin Slayer does a very good job showing that the goblins absolutely deserve to be annihilated en masse.
Yeah, that's another case of good villain writing, yes the things the goblins did to women in the anime are horrific and hilariously triggered the SJWs, but that's the point, it gives you a reason to hate the bad guys and treat them as the bad guys. Thanks to triggered retards we don't often get proper mature storytelling anymore.
It's like when Game Of Thrones had the amazing writing up to about I think the battle of the bastards then it all just went to shit. However what kept me hooked and clearly everybody else was the villains especially were so well written. You wanted them fucking dead when their stories were introduced, the writers made you hate them and everyone celebrated when they were killed. On the opposite end though I really appreciate well written villains that can not only do horrible shit but are capable of convincing you they might actually have a point about what they're doing but I think those are rarer and more difficult to write.