I Am a Villain, So What?-Chapter 160: Karma for the future

"Who are you to interfere—oh..."

The arrogant shouting that had shaken the diner stopped abruptly.

Julian Vance, who had been sneering down at the waiter, froze. He stared at the blonde girl approaching him, his eyes slowly widening as he recognized the Imperial crest embroidered subtly on her summer collar.

"Do you know who I am, Lord Julian?" Princess Celestia asked, her voice soft, yet carrying a pressure that made the air in the room feel heavy.

Julian Vance grimaced as if struck by a physical blow. All the color drained from his face.

"Y-Your... Royal Highness?!" Julian stammered, his knees buckling slightly. He hurriedly bowed at a sharp, painful angle. "Haha... m-my deepest apologies! I didn’t know you were gracing this establishment with your presence!"

As he tried to awkwardly slink away, bowing obsequiously toward the door—

"Stop."

"Y-Yes, Your Highness?"

"Go fetch your father, the Marquis Vance," Celestia commanded, her blue eyes colder than ice. "Tell him we will be raising this issue of gross misconduct formally with the Imperial Court."

"What?!"

Julian Vance, entirely at a loss, dropped directly to his knees right in the middle of the dining room. His practiced groveling suggested he’d had to beg his way out of trouble often.

"P-Please forgive me! Please, Your Highness! I just lost my temper over a simple dessert! Please, don’t tell my father...! He’ll cut off my allowance! He’ll exile me to the border!"

Celestia looked down at him with undisguised disgust.

"Why act like a tyrant when your desired dish is simply out of season?"

"I-I’m a noble!" Julian cried out, his twisted sense of entitlement momentarily overriding his fear. "A noble with the divine right to rule over commoners! When I make a request, how dare a peasant—"

SLAP!

The sharp crack echoed through the silent restaurant.

Julian Vance’s head snapped violently to the side. He tumbled to the floor, a bright red handprint instantly swelling on his cheek. Bordon stood over him, the massive Vanguard lowering his hand, his usually cheerful face darkened with genuine anger.

"If you actually knew a noble’s duty..." Bordon growled.

Julian held his cheek, trembling. "...Y-Young Lord Eisenwald..."

"...You’d know that your actions right now were anything but noble," Bordon finished, stepping closer. "Nobles protect the weak. We don’t throw tantrums over tarts."

"I-I’m sorry..."

"I don’t believe you’re truly sorry," Celestia said smoothly, stepping up beside Bordon. "But remember this. We are letting you go today without a formal royal decree. However, the moment we hear of you abusing your status again, you’ll face something far worse than your father’s scolding. The eyes and ears of the Four Great Ducal Families are everywhere. Do not forget."

"T-Thank you! Thank you, Your Highness!"

The incident was seemingly resolved quickly. A bully’s power play met with overwhelmingly greater power—it was only natural he’d be rendered helpless. Using one’s authority to crush a tyrant was a fine, heroic strategy.

But... sitting in the booth, I felt uneasy.

I was in a position much closer to Julian Vance than the shining heroes standing over him, wasn’t I? The ’Trash’ noble.

’I don’t pull melodramatic, pathetic stunts like that, though,’ I rationalized, taking a sip of my iced tea.

Still, I couldn’t just let him walk away.

Protagonists grew stronger through solving incidents. The Vance Marquisate was a key villain faction in the upcoming mid-game arc, designed to push the Protagonist Party toward their political awakening.

But I couldn’t afford to wait for Kael to slowly uncover the conspiracy over the summer. I needed the hidden pieces now.

As Julian Vance scrambled to his feet, awkwardly dusting off his ruffled clothes to flee the restaurant, I stood up from the booth.

I intercepted him right at the door.

"Sorry," I said, my voice deadpan. "But I can’t let you go just yet."

"Eek! I-I’m sorry! Please forgive me—" Julian started to beg, but then he looked up and realized who was blocking his path.

His fearful expression instantly contorted into a snarl of indignation.

"You... you’re the disgrace of nobility! Lucien Ashborne!" Julian barked, pointing a shaking finger at me. "Get out of my way, you exile! You have no right to—"

Clack-clack.

I drew my customized revolver from my waist holster and pressed the cold steel barrel directly under his chin, forcing his head up.

The effect was immediate. The color drained from Julian’s face for the second time, his breath hitching in his throat.

"Cadet Lucien!" Elisha shouted from across the room, alarmed by the sudden, aggressive restraint. "What are you doing? Put the gun down!" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"He’s going to answer a question," I said coldly, ignoring her. "Not me."

With my free hand, I grabbed the collar of Julian Vance’s overly ruffled shirt and tore it open.

The buttons popped, scattering across the floor, revealing a dark red, crystalline necklace resting against his collarbone.

Necklaces worn over clothing are decorative accessories meant to display wealth. But a heavy, magically enchanted artifact worn underneath the shirt? That meant it was meant to be hidden. It held a dark purpose.

"Answer me, Julian Vance," I whispered, pressing the barrel slightly harder against his jaw. "What is this?"

"I-I don’t know!" Julian squeaked, his eyes darting frantically. "I don’t know anything about it! It’s just a gift!"

"Oh... you don’t know." I tilted my head, pulling the hammer back with an audible click. "Well, my finger is feeling a bit heavy. What do you think will happen if I accidentally pull this trigger? Will it make a mess on my pristine floor?"

Of course, I had no intention of blowing his brains out in the middle of a crowded restaurant. It would ruin the lunch rush. But others might not think so. The ’Trash’ of Ashborne had a reputation for madness.

It was enough to motivate those far more righteous than me.

"Stop!" Elisha quickly intervened, rushing over and grabbing my wrist. "I’ll interrogate him, so put the weapon away, Cadet Lucien! You’re scaring the patrons!"

I lowered the gun slightly, letting her step between us.

Elisha glared at the trembling noble. "Julian Vance. What is that necklace? Tell the truth, and I promise we’ll let you go safely."

While Elisha stepped forward to question him, I moved slightly behind her, glaring sharply at Julian over her shoulder. I silently mouthed the answer I needed him to say.

Black. Market. Pass.

"I-It’s, uh... it’s a ’pass,’ of sorts!" Julian stuttered, reading my lips and terrified of the gun still resting by my side.

"A pass? To where?" Princess Celestia asked, her eyes narrowing at the dark aura radiating from the crystal.

Oh, selling out his family’s dark secrets that easily to save his own skin? He really was worse than the original Lucien. My self-esteem was rising—a good thing.

"Y-You’ll let me go, right? You promised!" Julian pleaded, looking at Elisha.

"I promised," Elisha affirmed sternly. "So what is it a pass to?"

"I-It’s... a pass to the Capital’s Underground Black Market."

Gasps rippled through the Protagonist Party.

’Well, except me,’ I thought boredly. I had already visited the Black Market once, which was where I had bought the slave contracts for Lily and Alicia. I hadn’t needed a physical pass back then; I just used my game knowledge to speak the secret entry phrase to the bouncer.

But high-ranking nobles associated with the Syndicate held these encrypted necklaces for easy, VIP access and authority over the illicit merchants.

*****

Once Julian Vance spilled the secret about the necklace and the Vance family’s involvement in illegal artifact smuggling, our lighthearted club activities were urgently halted.

The Protagonist Party immediately shifted into ’Hero Mode.’ They began fiercely debating how to investigate the necklace and the market.

Assistant Professor Amy, sensing the danger, decided to head back to the Academy to report the incident to the faculty, accompanied by Ariana, who had zero interest in underground syndicates. Clara, complaining about missing dessert, was escorted back to the Marigold Marquisate by her guards.

I stayed behind, claiming I needed to "help the staff clean up."

But the moment they were out of sight, I slipped out the back door.

Julian Vance stumbled backward, his expensive shoes slipping on the damp cobblestone. He fell hard onto his rear. Behind him was a dead end—a towering brick wall.

"Y-You said you’d let me go!" Julian cried, holding his hands up to shield his face.

"That was the Princess," I said, stepping out from the shadows of the alleyway, my face obscured by the hood of my Shadow-Weave coat. "And Lady Elisha. I never promised you a damn thing."

You really should listen to people until the end.

"Just think of it as karma for the future," I muttered, pulling a cloth from my pocket and wiping down the muzzle of my customized revolver.

As I slowly approached, my boots clicking against the stone, Julian Vance frantically scrambled backward, clinging to the filthy alley wall.

"S-Save me—!"

BANG.

The gunshot echoed briefly, muffled by a localized silencing barrier I had cast moments prior.

Julian Vance’s head snapped back, and he slumped against the wall, lifeless.

I stood there for a moment in the dim light, the smell of gunpowder and copper filling the air. I felt a cold, detached thrill. This was it—the grim reality of eliminating someone far more wicked, yet far weaker than me. Playing the dark hero.

I reached down and ripped the blood-stained Black Market Pass from his neck, tossing it into my inventory.

If someone called this execution excessive, they didn’t know the truth. If they knew the atrocities this vermin was scripted to commit in the coming months—the kidnappings, the financing of chimera labs, the torture of commoners—they would realize this was nothing. I was being generous, granting him a quick, peaceful death before he could ruin countless lives.

A punk who flaunted his father’s status to bully minimum-wage workers in the open... what did you think he did in the shadows?

’Time to catch up.’

The Protagonist Party was likely working hard right now, gathering clues to slowly find Marquis Vance’s hidden ledgers. But the Marquis was cunning. They wouldn’t find him easily.

’I need to take him out before they do.’

The mid-tier villain of Asteria Online, Marquis Vance, ran the capital’s underworld with the immense power of his Ducal-adjacent title. In the original story, Kael and his friends spent weeks unraveling his schemes, fighting through his assassins, and ultimately triumphing in a massive, destructive battle.

’It’ll wrap up much faster than the original if I just assassinate the mastermind tonight.’

Knowing the culprit from the start completely twisted the story. It was like a cheat code.

Obviously a good thing. A good thing.

A good thing... but honestly, as I looked down at the body, I wasn’t entirely sure.

’Ugh, this is tricky.’

They were the ’Protagonist’ and his party. I figured they’d handle it fine on their own, growing stronger through the struggle as they were meant to...

’...I really hope I’m not breaking the balance of this world.’

But then again, things never went smoothly when I got involved.