I'm in Love with the Villainess!

*** Days Later

[Frozen Vector]

From Eryndor to Berian, a thin line of frozen air streaked across the land, piercing through mountains, rivers, flora, and every organism in its path. Only one person could manipulate ice at that level—someone capable of creating ice as thin as a string that could travel across entire regions.

Azrael.

CRASH!

A burst of ice exploded in front of Evelina’s and my mansion, and from it emerged Azrael and the two of us. The temperature around him plummeted as he brought us here.

Ice magic wasn’t even supposed to be capable of something like this. Unlike light and dark magic, ice magic never had its own teleportation spell.

What Azrael did was simply the result of manipulating a mobility spell to absolute perfection, turning a mere speed boost into pseudo-teleportation.

Apparently, after the examination, Azrael didn’t want us riding an aircraft back to Berian. The operating costs were getting too high, apparently.

So he decided to escort us himself.

How kind...

"So... what made you decide to escort us yourself? You seemed busy a few weeks ago."

"Just something concerning some border disputes. Nothing that includes you."

Azrael replied, but I knew for a fact that he was lying. Nothing that includes us? He was obviously talking about the elves, and Evelina knew it too.

Unlike me, who was only guessing, she had full confirmation through her magic. By absorbing the latent magic used during our teleportation, she could access Azrael’s mind non-intrusively.

Only she would know how to use succubus magic like that.

"So, will you finally be helping us?"

I asked, but Azrael didn’t reply at first. He only looked around, checking on our progress, and after giving everything a full sweep, he finally answered.

"You two seem to be doing fine on your own."

He pointed at a roaming G-32.

"Too fine, in fact..." Azrael said with a nervous chuckle. "Where the hell did you two get the funding for them?"

"Look around."

Evelina answered for me, a confident, prideful smirk playing on her lips. She was obviously lying, but it should be enough to convince him.

Like me, Azrael wasn’t exactly an expert in economics. He was a nuclear-precision weapon with a brain, but not enough of one to make him a one-man army. Even he had weaknesses.

"What about Julius and the others?"

"Corvus has them handled, for now. You two go do your own thing while I talk to the inquisitors here."

"You were here for them, not us, weren’t you?"

"I’m not answering that, Arden."

***

"So... about what you discovered from the High Inquisitor."

The two of us wasted no time. As soon as we entered our bedroom, we blocked out every sound. What Evelina told me after that... passionate day was not something to joke about.

Because if the information she had obtained was correct, the entire pantheon could already be on the brink of war. And if the elven dispute were to worsen, Berian would definitely be caught in the crossfire.

"That... beast you made a contract with effectively ruined their plans."

"What’s with this Jayden guy, anyway?"

"Apparently, he’s an actual chosen of Elion. I don’t know the details; even that High Inquisitor had incomplete information. They really made sure to hide everything well..."

"An actual chosen?"

"Yeah. And apparently, he was supposed to be erased from existence."

"So... with everything said, what should we do? Azrael is already in the city to deal with the inquisitors for us. Should we still interfere?"

"In all honesty, it’s not our problem. The only reason I interfered back at the academy was because your student was the main target. Right now, we should just ignore them."

"Ignore them?"

"You still have that hydra thing, right? If push comes to shove... you know what to do."

Evelina snapped her fingers, removing the cloaking around the room, then cleared her throat.

"Anyway, just act normal."

"One more thing..."

I tapped my fingers together and gave her a knowing look. I mean, it had been a while since we’d been here, so it wouldn’t hurt to do it for old times’ sake, right?

Y’know... to properly welcome us back in?

"Really, you’re in the mood?"

"Are you saying no?"

"Obviously not."

*** An Hour Later

Berian was thriving. Even with the two of us gone and unable to rule our lands for at least two weeks, the place had somehow managed not to collapse the moment we left.

In fact, by the time we returned, even more businesses had already been established. Multiple abandoned buildings were finally being put to use again, most of them rebuilt into hotels as the population began to settle once more.

And while there were tensions with the G-32, most people seemed willing enough to tolerate them, and it wasn’t as if they could complain, either.

[Darkfire Step]

I teleported across the rooftops, taking note of each inquisitor still stationed there. What struck me as strange was that none of them were the same inquisitors Evelina and I had seen before we left.

All of them had been replaced.

And these ones were far less friendly.

[Darkfire Step]

But what I found even more interesting was that none of them seemed willing to go near the inner district, though it clearly wasn’t by choice.

All it took was one question for a perimeter guard to tell me why.

The last inquisitor who tried to enter the inner district had been gunned down before he could even step inside.

That was interesting...

BEEP!

The transceiver in my pocket suddenly rang. That’s odd. Before I left, I was sure Evelina was asleep. Did she wake up already?

Hopefully, she wanted to ask for round two.

"Hello?"

"It’s me, Marcellus."

Huh...?

"How did you get this number?"

"That’s not important. Can you head toward the inner district? Right by the comfort district."

"What’s this about?"

"I’d rather not blow my cover. Let’s just say you’ll get to kill a lot of people who are crossing Evelina."

Well... he makes a good argument.

"Sure, I’ll be right there."

"You really need more self-respect—"

BEEP!

Please, self-respect? Who does he think he is, lecturing me? Does he still not realize that I’m happy where I am right now?

Maybe I should find him a girlfriend. It’d probably make him change his mind.