The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

32 – Unexpected Encounter -4-

Ricardo’s voice came through again.

“Did you close your eyes?”

Yuria’s heart raced at the question seeking confirmation.

A gentle voice.

Hearing the soft unspoken words in her ear, Yuria tightly sealed her lips.

“Yuria, did you close your eyes?”

The voice asking for confirmation was heard once more.

Whether Ricardo knew her curious nature or not, he asked multiple times and she didn’t reply.

Because her voice wasn’t coming out.

Her lips didn’t falter knowing that she would have died if she had been even a little late.

-Thump. Thump.

And her heart pounded uncontrollably.

Whether it was due to the near-death threat she experienced or because she was seeing Ricardo again, she didn’t know. But one thing was certain, her heart was beating madly.

Ricardo spoke again.

In a calm voice.

Yuria felt her heart waver, sensing a faint hint of worry in his voice.

“You have to close your eyes. It’s a bit unsightly to see.”

The situation is not good.

There is someone behind me.

And there’s a bothersome moth that can only annoy me, right next to me. I couldn’t fully concentrate on the battle.

As I skillfully deflect the heavy sword that comes crashing down, my eyes meet Lune, who is fidgeting with his fingers.

– Mumbling, mumbling.

“Lune.”

“Why.”

I called out to Lune.

Next to me, Lune is mumbling and preparing a large-scale magic. Despite reciting a high-level incantation, reciting it with trembling hands was not helping at all.

“If you don’t want to get killed, stop using useless incantations.”

Lune snapped at my words.

“What?”

To argue about usefulness in front of an opponent of immeasurable size would make anyone angry. I know it too. I want to show off a cool appearance in front of the girl I like.

But right now, Lune is weak and scared. I had to let go of minor desires for a moment.

Otherwise, we would really die.

The aura emanating from the man in front of us is overwhelming.

A sinister sense of intimidation.

And the blood stains on the greatsword.

And even the black aura.

Just by looking at it, my skin felt prickly.

Moreover, the man is a disciple of a cult who is known as a madman in the world.

A fanatic group that causes countless casualties with a mindset of killing those who don’t believe.

A black priest’s robe.

A black Bible.

Lune, who is seeing a cult member for the first time, is unable to control his emotions and will have a hard time summoning his original strength.

As Lune, who was casting spells with a serious expression, sees me easily deflecting the man’s sword, he says,

“hehehe… So you can handle this? Young swordsman?”

“I’m pretty versatile, you know.”

“hahahahaha…!”

Ruin, who believes that they can do it because I can do it.

Kindly said to Ruin, who sends a challenging gaze.

“Ruin, listen to me. I can’t fix your broken arm.”

Ruin may not understand me.

Because Ruin is not as strong as me.

“Just shut up, Ricardo.”

So Ruin thinks my actions are arrogant, and asks, “Who are you to say this and that, expelled from the academy?” They must be thinking.

After all, we are just classmates at the academy.

Ruin doesn’t know much about me.

They probably can’t imagine how dangerous it is to assassinate Mikhail in an unofficial gathering. With a wizard’s mind, it’s unimaginable.

Yet Ruin, who mistakenly believes they are on the same level as Hanna or Mikhail, said to me.

“Don’t fool around. Do you know how different we are.”

I said to Ruin like that.

“Oh. Then do it yourself.”

Ruin completed the spell.

The strongest spell they can perform.

‘Explosion’

As a hot wind indicating the successful completion of the spell swept through their hair, they smiled.

“Watch carefully. I’m not the old me anymore…”

The moment when red flames rose on Ruin’s hand. Boom. With a loud noise, a blood-stained greatsword quickly moved to sever Ruin’s arm.

I didn’t notice Ruin.

Until the greatsword made contact with their arm.

“Look. You’re going to die.”

I struck Ruin’s abdomen with all my strength.

Crack. With a sound, Ruin, who was impaled on a tree, lowered their head.

They seem to have lost consciousness due to the strong impact.

They’re not helpful at all.

“Yuria, keep your eyes closed.”

“Because it’s going to be unpleasant to see from now on.”

Swish. With a sound, a red trickle appeared in front of Yuria’s eyes.

Taking a vacation.

All sorts of things happen.

Is the whole world against me?

The possessed person who’s messing with Gyeon seems to be in a bad mood, and the incidents just won’t stop. My head throbbed.

I tried to raid the dungeon secretly, but who do I run into on the way? The protagonist.

I finished raiding the dungeon and on my way down, I run into the heroine who almost got killed by a cultist.

Even if the protagonist is always on the go with incidents, they should take it easy once in a while.

Yuria, who never has a moment of peace, was quite a nuisance in many ways. But what can you do? You can’t just let it slide.

Besides, this man in front of me might be the biggest possessed person I’ve met this time.

I looked at the man in front of me.

A tired man.

[Rolac Lv. 71]

[Occupation: Archbishop of Despair]

[Favorability: -50]

[Favorite conversation topics: Daughter/Health/Confrontation with the Strong/Bladesmanship/Big Swords No Matter What]

[Hated conversation topics: Daughter’s illness/Nobility/Small blades like daggers/Murder]

Rolac is one of the antagonists in the novel.

There’s a backstory to calling him an antagonist, but he’s done a lot of bad things, so he can’t be called anything else.

A person like us.

Rolac is affiliated with the cult for his daughter’s illness.

He has a daughter.

The only daughter left by his deceased wife.

The sick daughter was Rolac’s only treasure, even though the doctors gave up on her, and even the church advised him to give up.

Rolac was cheated by the doctors dozens of times, and he kneeled and prayed to the goddess’s words that said she would get better, but there was no progress.

When the money he had earned as an adventurer ran out.

One day, he heard a religious speech on the street, saying that an incurable disease could be cured if you just believed. That’s when Rolac’s downfall began.

At first, he hesitated to swing the sword with a guilty conscience, but as time went by, his conscience grew lighter as his daughter’s condition improved.

His daughter tried to stop the transformed Rolac.

But Rolac, who had given up on being a good father, silently raised his sword.

Towards the end of the novel, he learned that the heretics had lied when his daughter died, but it was already after they had been defeated by the main characters.

The unfortunate villain of the novel.

He is the Balak right before my eyes now.

Fortunately, he has not committed any major misdeeds in the early part of the novel.

Even now, he probably tried to scare Uriah and drive her away.

At this point, Balak is at a crossroads between his conscience and his daughter. It’s a time of wandering between these two paths.

I wanted to meet him someday, and now I was meeting him in this way. I was somewhat pleased.

I confronted Balak.

As I thrust the sword into the ground and looked at me with suspicion, an awkward smile crossed my face as his piercing gaze penetrated me.

Balak spoke to me.

“Are you a monster?”

“Oh, come on. Surely not.”

“hahahaha… otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.”

Balak said sincerely to me. He was a monster in his own right, and he shook his head, saying he couldn’t match up to me.

I said to him.

“Look at my body. I’m just a ragpicker like you.”

“Compare it properly.”

I, like Balak, was not in good condition. My trembling right arm had been deeply cut by Balak’s great sword, and blood was dripping from it.

Balak was the same.

Covered in small scars all over his body, he was covered in blood and was kneeling on one knee on the ground, breathing heavily.

After winning victory in hundreds of clashes, I humbly said.

“I am a monster.”

“Huh… crazy. You’re crazy. Writing your will at that age.”

Balak got up heavily from his seat.

With the clattering great sword in hand, he slowly walked towards me, and I shook my head and said to him.

“Stop.”

“Why?”

“There are more behind you.”

I looked behind Balak.

Countless heretics seen through the thick underbrush. They must have come here to explore the dungeon.

They must be the elite members selected.

In the novel, the heretics were the first to raid the dungeon and leave. Afterwards, Ruin awakened while fighting the remaining remnants.

Valak must have come here with the intent to raid the dungeon along with the people behind him.

I saw Valak.

Valak looked at me with eyes full of ambition.

If I were to kill Valak here, it would certainly make things easier for the latter half of the novel, but I couldn’t bear to confront him while also taking responsibility for Uriah and Ruin’s safety.

Let’s stop the fight here and go our separate ways, I said with the intention.

“We’ll just leave, so you should also go on your way.”

“Why? If we fight now, I’m pretty sure I can go back with your head.”

I clapped at his words.

Don’t lie like that.

Even if I fought against a nobleman who tried to take away at least one of Mikhail’s arms, I’m not confident I’ll be able to go back safely.

And Valak, the more blood he sheds, the more explosive power he unleashes, like a monster.

Even his current weak appearance could be a disguise.

“Well, a good thing is a good thing, isn’t it?”

From Noble mtl dot com

“That’s right. It was an interesting fight, so it’s a shame.”

Valak smirked elegantly.

Because it’s a shame to just leave. I took out a paper and pen from my pocket. Quicklly, I wrote something on the paper and handed it to Valak.

“Take it.”

“What’s this?”

“It’s my autograph.”

Valak chuckled softly and put the paper I wrote into his pocket.

“Check it in a place where no one is around. It’s something hard to come by.”

Leaving Valak, who chuckled softly, behind, I crouched down and lifted the exhausted Uriah onto my back.

“I’m going. Don’t forget me.”

That’s how we parted ways.

***

The way down.

Uriah didn’t say a word.

Silently riding on my back as we descended from the mountain, it felt so awkward that I thought I might die.

Yuria asked me, “Did you plan this too?”

“Of course not,” I replied.

We descended in silence, unsure of what to say. Yuria, maintaining her silence, spoke to me.

“But really, does Mr. Ricardo do this every time?”

“What do you mean?”

“Every time there’s danger, he appears, rescues us, and then disappears as if nothing happened. Why does he do that?”

“Well… it’s just how it is.”

It wasn’t something I could explain easily, given that only the dangerous parts were depicted in the novel. I hesitated to speak, fearing I might be perceived as a stalker if I admitted to watching her closely, wondering if Yuria could handle it.

Am I really a stalker?

Come to think of it, maybe I am.

I felt a twinge of guilt for various reasons.

Yuria spoke again.

“You know, Ricardo.”

“Yes?”

“Do you realize you’re mistaken every time?”

“What do you mean?”

Yuria bowed her head deeply.

“Are you really a phantom?”

She murmured softly.

***

The mansion came into view.

A mansion that seemed to exude a ghostly presence.

Yuria, dozing off on my back, asked, “Um… why are we here?”

“We need to have dinner,” I replied.

“What?”

I looked at Ruin, who I dragged along the floor, and said, “If this guy hadn’t passed out, I would have just left him behind.”

Ruin, who didn’t seem to be getting up anytime soon.

I had no choice but to bring Uriah to the mansion because the security at the inn in Hamel was not good enough to leave her there.

I stood in front of the mansion and looked at the window.

-Thief.

The silhouette of a person visible on the second floor.

The person seemed to be lurking, either because it was getting dark and we couldn’t be seen properly, or the lady was constantly sticking her head out.

I left Ruin on the floor and waved my hand.

“Miss!”

The lady finally realized that I had arrived.

“Ohhhhh!! Riccardo!”

And then.

When I saw Uriah coming down from behind.

“Huh…?”

It was Olivia, wearing a turned-over blanket.