I Am a Villain, So What?-Chapter 166: The Falling Ashes
[System Notification]
[The terrorist plot by Marquis Vance has been neutralized. The catastrophic damage to the Capital was significantly minimized by your intervention at the Grand Square.]
[You and the Protagonist, Kael Ardyn, clashed with true killing intent. Regardless of the interrupted outcome, the relationship has severely soured.]
[However, the Protagonist Party will vividly remember and engrave this day of failure into their souls. Their growth rate will accelerate.]
[Hidden Scenario Cleared: The Falling Ashes]
[You have acquired 5,000 Points!]
"Ouch. It stings."
"Ah! I-I’m sorry, Lucien!"
I opened my eyes, wincing at the sharp pain at the corner of my mouth. Looking up through blurry, sleep-heavy eyes, I saw Ariana leaning over me. She was holding a potion-soaked cotton ball with a pair of silver alchemical tweezers, fidgeting nervously. Her usually immaculate ivory hair was slightly messy.
"D-Did it hurt a lot...?" she asked, her violet eyes swimming with worry.
"...No. Keep going."
She dabbed the cotton onto the cut on my cheek again. It stung. It burned like hell.
’I guess I lost, after all,’ I thought, staring up at the ceiling of my bedroom.
To call our fight in the alleyway a ’fierce battle’ would be generous—I was at an overwhelming physical disadvantage. Kael, driven by grief and blind rage, was an absolute monster. Even with [Sixth Sense] and a point-blank gunshot, his golden aura had deflected the blast just enough to let him close the distance.
If Princess Celestia hadn’t arrived with her Royal Guards and cast a high-tier binding spell to forcibly separate us, things might have ended much worse.
I had passed out on the carriage ride home, my head ringing from a direct, aura-enhanced strike to the jaw. My last memory was the summer downpour washing the blood and soot into the cobblestones.
’I just want to sleep for a week,’ I groaned internally.
Still... how could I turn away Ariana, who had clearly stayed by my bedside all night tending to my wounds?
"Lucien, I am incredibly upset with you," Ariana murmured, her brows furrowing into a cute, angry pout.
"...Huh? What’s wrong?"
"How can you keep getting injured like this?" she demanded, applying a soothing salve to my bruised ribs. "You own a restaurant. You fund my research. You are supposed to be a wealthy, comfortable noble! Why are you always returning home covered in blood?"
"I don’t get injured every time I go out."
I answered reflexively, but then I actually thought about it. The slums chimera. The Theme Park terror attack. The Primordial Treant. And now, the Black Market bombing.
It kind of felt like I was getting injured every time.
The potion-soaked cotton rubbed harshly against a deep scrape on my shoulder.
"Ugh! Ow!"
"Stay still, Lucien!" Ariana scolded, her eyes flashing with a mix of anger and affection. "I am not going to let this slide this time! You are going to rest!"
After enduring the rough, emotional nursing from a pouting Ariana, I managed to sleep for a few more hours before finally forcing myself out of bed.
My body ached. It wasn’t just muscle fatigue—my very bones throbbed with the lingering shockwaves of Kael’s aura. I endured the pain, changed into loose clothes, and made my way downstairs.
When I entered the private dining room adjacent to the kitchen, five people were already waiting for me.
"Boss! Hurry up! The food is getting cold!" Irina cheered, her purple twin-tails bouncing as she waved a fork.
"Boss Lucien, you woke up quite late today," Merle smiled, the refined white-haired alchemist sipping his morning tea.
"Oh, Master! Are you feeling okay? Does your head still hurt?" Lily rushed over, her sweet face pale with concern as she pulled out a chair for me.
And standing right behind my chair, holding a silver tray with perfect, lethal posture, was Alicia.
"Master," Alicia said, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly as she inspected my bandaged face. "If you are going to engage in mortal combat, please take me with you next time. I can easily sever his Achilles tendon from the shadows before he even draws his blade."
"No assassinating my classmates, Alicia," I sighed, sitting down.
"As you wish. But I will prepare a slow-acting poison for his tea just in case."
And then, sitting quietly at the far end of the table...
"...."
Nero. The ten-year-old boy, his scrawny frame now dressed in clean, oversized clothes, sat perfectly still. His black hair had been neatly washed and trimmed by the maids, but his deep crimson eyes were completely devoid of life.
...It felt like the number of heavily traumatized freeloaders in my house was growing one by one.
Lily bustled over, setting a steaming bowl in front of me.
"Here, Master! You get the special restorative porridge."
"...?"
I looked down at the bland-looking bowl, then up at Lily, dumbfounded.
"Lily? Why am I getting porridge? Merle and Irina are eating truffle pasta. Alicia literally has a medium-rare steak."
"It’s Lady Ariana’s strict orders," Lily said, putting her hands on her hips. "You’re a patient with internal bruising. You need to eat soft, easily digestible foods infused with healing herbs."
"I’m fine," I grumbled. "And since when did you two start taking orders from Ariana in my own house?"
"Since you kept returning home half-dead!" Lily shot back, her eyes watering slightly.
"She is correct, Master," Alicia added coolly, cutting her steak. "Do you know how worried we were when you were brought back unconscious by the Royal Guard? If it happens again, I will lock you in the basement for your own safety."
I looked at the fierce, protective glares of my two maids.
"O-Okay. I’ll eat the porridge."
Rather than watch Lily cry or have Alicia actually chain me to a radiator, I picked up my spoon. Reluctantly, I took a bite.
A savory, rich, and slightly sweet aroma filled my senses. It was actually delicious. Merle must have used some high-grade alchemical broth. There was none of the blandness typical of sick-ward food.
"Mmm."
"Does it suit your taste, Master?" Lily asked, her expression brightening instantly.
"It’s really good."
"I’m so glad!" Lily smiled brightly. It was a precious reward for just a few simple words.
After the meal, Merle and Irina began gathering their coats to head to the Kitchen 21 storefront.
"Boss Lucien, we’ll likely have a massive influx of customers today," Merle noted, adjusting his tie.
"Hm? Why’s that, Merle?"
"It seems today is the opening of the Midsummer Festival. Many shops in the lower districts burned down yesterday, and others are closed in mourning, so the safe zones in the Academy District will be packed."
The Midsummer Festival. It sounded familiar... an event that usually marked the beginning of the Protagonist Party’s summer training arc.
I turned my head and saw Nero peeking out from the hallway. When our eyes met, he flinched violently and tried to hide behind the doorframe, like a frightened mole.
’I brought that kid here... but what exactly should I do with him?’
The original fate of the Phantom Sword, Nero, was as tragic as the kingdom he helped destroy. He fought like a rabid dog for Princess Rumina, living in the shadows, stained with blood, but never once truly connecting with another human being. He was a weapon, nothing more.
’Is there a need to raise the Phantom Sword as a killer in this life?’
I stood up and walked purposefully toward the hallway. Nero flinched again, pressing his small back against the wall.
"Nero."
"...Yes, Master," he replied, his voice a dry, scratchy whisper.
"I may have bought your contract, but don’t think of it that way. Think of it as me just pulling you out of a burning building."
Even if it hadn’t been me, he was destined to be dragged out of there. Right after Marquis Vance’s death and the bombing, the Imperial Knights had raided the Black Market, tearing it apart and confiscating the slaves. I had just fast-tracked his exit before the royals got their hands on him.
"Forget the ugliness you saw down there. I won’t force you to do anything violent," I said gently.
Drugs, human trafficking, slave duels... a ten-year-old shouldn’t have those memories.
"So, Nero. If you want, you can leave. I’ll give you money. If you want, you can stay and work here. If you want to just rest, I’ll support you until you’re an adult."
Even after offering him the world, Nero’s expression didn’t change a single degree. Would talking to a corpse feel like this?
"Master. Please give me an order."
"I’m not your commander, kid."
There was no light in his crimson eyes. No hope. No fear. Just a terrifying, profound emptiness.
"Master. Please give me an order."
"...."
Even searching through the dictionary in my mind, I couldn’t find a word to describe the sheer void in this boy’s soul.
"Master. An order..."
"Find freedom," I said softly.
"...I’m sorry. I do not understand the parameters of that order."
Poor child. To him, servitude was inevitable. He couldn’t compute existence without a master pulling his strings.
"Something you want to do, a wish, a desire... I want you to figure out what you want to do."
"I... do not understand."
Nero, a boy with unparalleled SS-Rank talent, had lost his entire humanity to the harsh storms of the underworld.
I looked at him, and I saw a dark reflection of my past life. I, who had been born with inferior talent, had thrown my passions away to slave at a corporate desk just to survive, despite having food and shelter.
We were kindred spirits in a twisted way. Destined to understand the absolute rock bottom of despair.
"Right. Vague concepts like that won’t work on you yet," I sighed, rubbing my bandaged cheek. "To learn how to soar, you need to learn how to walk first."
I placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and led him toward the kitchen, where Alicia was polishing glasses.
"Let’s start by giving you a task."
At the auction, he was a commodity. But here, he needed a purpose that didn’t involve drawing blood.
"Alicia. Get him a fitted uniform. Something comfortable."
I looked down at the ten-year-old empty vessel.
"Nero. Your new order is to learn how to brew coffee. Watch Alicia and Merle. Learn how to make something that brings people warmth."
"Brew... coffee?" Nero blinked, the first sign of genuine confusion breaking through his dead expression. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
"Yes. Try it. It doesn’t matter if you fail. Just try."
I entrusted Nero to Alicia and Merle. There was no one better suited to teach a broken child how to act normal than a retired assassin and a disgraced alchemist.
I wanted to stay and watch him learn, but my body was screaming at me, and my mind was racing.
’I need to train.’
I had gained a lot of power so far. I had the System, absolute memory, and lethal firearms. But I wasn’t truly skilled at wielding my power in close-quarters combat. I relied too heavily on distance and tricks.
I felt that absolute weakness most acutely during my clash with Kael Ardyn.
