The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

16 – Birthday Gift -3-

“A villain? No, I am an artist.”

With a sardonic grin, the adventurer hunter drew a slender dagger from his waist. His narrowed eyes, glinting with a blue-tinged blade, thrust towards Hannah and me, reminiscent of an insect preparing to strike.

“I’m fighting an insect for the first time.”

“I’m not an entomologist. I’m an artist who sculpts people with the beautiful magic created by the gods.”

“No matter how you look at it, it seems right… Split head, chest, and abdomen. Ah… Perhaps it’s because I don’t have six arms.”

Perhaps realizing he was insulting himself, the adventurer hunter opened his eyes and asked me, “Where do you see that?”

A man staring at me with his narrowed eyes. If someone had offended his sensibilities, he seemed ready to plunge his dagger into my neck at any moment.

I shrugged my shoulders.

From his hunched posture to the way he held two reversed daggers while moving cautiously toward me, it was the epitome of a crow.

Despite my resolve not to judge people based on appearances, the man’s face was overly reminiscent of an insect. Calling that a human was almost an affront to humanity’s dignity.

To uphold human dignity, I uncomfortably revealed the awkward truth to him, “Your appearance resembling a crow led me to mistake you for an insect.”

“Pardon?”

“Your appearance is so feeble that it seems one strike might kill you, yet oddly, there’s a filthy insect-like nature.”

Seriously, you’re quite ugly.

“You resemble a crow over there.”

Cracks slowly formed on the man’s face. Perhaps it was because he was facing an uncomfortable truth. His mother had always told him he was handsome, for no reason, and he had worried that speaking uncomfortable truths would make him a disobedient son.

But what could he do?

He really did resemble a crow.

The man forced a bitter smile. It seemed he didn’t want to appear as a narrow-minded person, so he awkwardly smiled and chuckled, “Ahahahaha”… It felt satisfying.

“So you’re saying I resemble a crow?”

“Yes.”

“hahahahaha… This is driving me crazy. You’re the first person to talk to me like this.”

“You’ve had really good friends.”

“…Do you want to die?”

My sincere words did not reach the crow who had discovered his mother’s lies.

I have seen the scene where Mikhail is trampled by this guy in the novel.

-The Bishop of Madness…! Do you know how many innocent people died by your hands?

-Kishishisit… I only created works of art. I simply purified the filth that destroys the world by means of death.

-I will kill you…

-You said the same thing before, didn’t you? But you couldn’t kill me, how regrettable. Mr. Mikhail… You also want to become a piece of my artwork someday, don’t you?

Demonstrating true madness, overwhelming Mikhail. He displayed his dominance at the heroine’s party.

But now it was different.

Now he was nothing more than an insect-like performance artist.

I spoke to him seriously.

“It’s also the first time for me.”

“…”

“I mean, meeting someone who resembles a crow. If I were an elementary school student, I would have put you in a bug collecting jar and tried to raise you.”

The adventurer hunter’s smile gradually dried up. Was it because he had realized a truth he had been unaware of for decades? If there was a mirror at home, there was no way he wouldn’t know.

I wonder if he really didn’t know that he resembled an insect, or perhaps he had mistakenly believed that he was good-looking. The novel didn’t mention such a setting, so I didn’t know, and I felt truly sorry for unintentionally launching a personal attack.

“I’m sorry. I still apologize for offending you by remarking about your resemblance.”

“I…”

The adventurer hunter, mixed with frustration.

His voice trembled, implying that he was starting to question his mysterious birth.

Even antagonists can be pitiful.

My heart ached.

If it were a modern era, I could have borrowed the power of medicine, but blame your misfortune for being born in the wrong time, Samael.

“Je-ega…”

A dark energy began to gather on Samael’s dagger.

Ominous and chilling energy.

It was black magic.

Samael spoke as he opened his eyes suddenly.

“Are you trying to resemble that ugly existence?”

I said as I drew the dagger at my waist.

“Yes.”

In an instant, Samael’s body flew towards me. The black energy, like a scorpion’s sting, quickly covered the field to strangle me, but…

Poof. With a sound, it disappeared, leaving only a powerless residue.

[‘Dark Magic Resistance’ counters ‘Pascal’s’ magic.]

I wore a villainous smile.

Cruel yet overwhelming, a pure white smile that could dominate the opponent.

“What’s this? Are you shooting poison at me right now?”

A provocation stronger than any mental magic reached Pascal.

“I thought you were Samael, but you’re a different insect. I apologize for the misunderstanding.”

Pascal’s reason flew away after that.

***

“Huh… Huh…”

Rowen rushed quickly.

The destination was the source of the ominous noise coming from the mountaintop. Along with the ominous feeling, a strong smell of blood rushed in on the wind.

Strangely, his heart became anxious.

He thought there was no way it could happen, but the ominous thoughts seemed relentless.

The image of his youngest daughter dying continuously played in his mind. He imagined her desperately searching for him, and his own image hugging her cold, lifeless body seemed to appear.

“Damn it…”

During his run to this place, he had various thoughts.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“If my youngest daughter dies, will I be able to bear it?”

“Do I have the confidence not to regret?”

One thing is certain.

If his daughter were to be found as a cold corpse, Rowan would not be able to think rationally as he does now.

If even one of the countless worries that come to mind becomes a reality.

If such a thing were to unfold before him, Rowan knew he wouldn’t be able to maintain his composure.

He might wipe out every orc settlement in the Hamel Mountains. Or perhaps even drive the orc species to extinction in the Empire. He would find any excuse to do so.

Because he was certain that if there were no orcs, he wouldn’t have to confront the fact that he provided the cause while defending the excuse that his daughter would not have died.

Rowan, he knew he was an ignorant, stubborn, and hard-to-convince perfectionist himself.

“A foolish man.”

The source of the noise began to become apparent little by little.

Through the trees, bodies of people were visible. Some of the corpses clearly bore the marks of orcs, while others showed signs of human struggle.

Rowan gripped his sword tightly.

He was impatient.

Because the fallen bodies appeared to overlap with his daughter’s appearance, his determined heart shook like a reed.

He thought of himself as insensitive to death, having roamed numerous battlefields and created and witnessed death. But at this moment, he was more frightened than in any war.

A familiar sight came into view.

– Father….

The habitat of the orc where his daughter was dying began to appear in the hallucination.

Rowan pounded the ground. He was convinced that his daughter would be there to check. But unlike Rowan’s wishes, there was a thick cloud of dust in that place.

He couldn’t see anything ahead.

“Jegiral.”

He had a premonition.

He was already too late.

In the hallucination, his daughter’s last sight was a thick cloud of dust. In the dust cloud where nothing could be seen, his daughter’s breath had come to an end.

Losing his composure and walking aimlessly through the dust cloud.

Clang.

A familiar sword struck at his toes.

A bright golden handle with a finely crafted golden ruby in the center. And the family emblem engraved on the blade.

It was a long-standing memory that Hana had given him when she first appeared in the world, telling him to build a name for Histania with this sword.

“Still, I had this sword.”

The day had almost gone by.

A sword that had been used for a long time, with fingerprints engraved on the hilt.

A sword that had been given countless times to other children, but for Hanna, it had only been given once, like a thorn in her heart.

Above all, it was sharp. It pierced deeper into the heart than any other sword and left more severe wounds than any swordsmanship.

The sword he had given now lay coldly on the ground.

“…”

Blood was flowing profusely on the floor.

Most of it was the green blood of orcs, but there was also a fair amount of human red mixed in, creating a murky color.

Rowen said, as if in a daze.

“…No.”

A denial emerged from his mouth instinctively.

It was unbelievable.

It couldn’t be believed.

His father was a swordmaster.

He himself was a knight of the empire.

He couldn’t accept dying so ignominiously.

What was the purpose of wielding the sword?

What was the reason for treating his daughter, whom he had wanted to be recognized by, so harshly?

Rowen couldn’t find the answers in his mind.

Now, only now, Rowen remembered the line of text written on the blue plaque.

‘Sinner.’

That’s right.

He was a sinner.

For the first time in a long time, Rowen called out an unfamiliar name.

“Hanna, where are you?”

Towards the billowing, dark clouds. In a trembling voice, he spoke.

“We have to spar. You promised…”

She didn’t respond, but he couldn’t help but despise himself for how callously he had treated her on her birthday that day.

“When the smoke clears, what tragedy awaits me?

Could the nightmare I saw in my dream be coming to life?

Rowen was frightened.

“Dad….”

Now, it seemed he could finally admit.

“Dad, I’m sorry….”

That was when it happened.

Whack…!

“Hanna, you’re not supposed to hit there. You should target the areas covered by armor.”

“Oh…! Am I a perfect criminal?”

“That’s right.”

Between the dust clouds obscuring the sight of her daughter beating someone with a wooden sword, Hanna’s expression appeared to be the happiest Rowen had ever seen.