The Villainess Returns with a System-Chapter 119: My Murder Santa

The time has finally arrived; Vivian is meeting Al-Kabal.

She was wearing dark clothes, as she had only two individuals with her: her usual partner in crime, Voros Goldheart, and her newly appointed sniper-in-chief, Esmeralda.

It was safe to say that Esmeralda was shaking in her boots, but Vivian made it clear that she would stay a fair distance from any fight and only observe Vivian from afar with her scope and rifle. Esmeralda wasn’t sure why Vivian was bringing her out at such a late hour, since all she was training for was self-defense, but it seemed that Vivian had different plans in mind.

She even attempted to ask Voros, but it seemed the dwarf was already in league with Vivian regarding everything, and this wasn’t their first time sneaking out together while armed to the teeth.

"Don’t get me wrong, Esme. Some matters need attending to, and right now, only you and Voros are the ones whom I can trust."

"But... why? Sir Logan could have been of more use than any of us," Esmeralda asked.

"Logan is good at what he does, which is protecting me, and then reporting back to Father. Everyone else can also be reporting back to Father, but not you, not Voros. Of everyone else, you two are truly my people, Vivian’s people, not House Moore’s people. Understand now?" Vivian replied in kind words but with a solemn face.

"While flattering, I hope you know what you’re doing, my lady," Esmeralda replied with a bashful smile, but her heart was still racing.

"Girl, when have I ever not known what I was doing?" Vivian replied cheekily before the carriage came to a halt.

From outside, Voros opened the door and exchanged a nod with Vivian.

"Chief... before you... Voros made something..." he said as he pulled out a small box from under his seat.

As Vivian received the box and opened it, her eyes went wide from the surprise, and she looked at Voros with wild amazement.

"Oh! Voros, that’s so kind of you."

"The best for chief! Always!"

"You’re such a nice guy. Esmeralda, isn’t he so nice?"

Esmeralda looked between the box in Vivian’s hand, seeing what looked like a weapon, and looked back at Vivian with unamused eyes.

"He scares me," she replied.

"Why? He’s such a softie who brings gifts. He’s like my murder Santa," Vivian said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Voros Murder Santa! Very nice!" Voros raised his arms proudly.

"Do you even know what that is?" Esmeralda asked.

"Voros doesn’t know... but chief said it... chief is good person... she kills baddies!" Voros replied with simple logic. freewēbnoveℓ.com

"You’ll make a good maid, Voros," Esmeralda said and closed the door of the carriage just as Vivian was ready to leave with the new toy Voros gave her on her belt.

Now, all alone on the dark street at such a late hour, Vivian had only a few minutes before the meeting, and she had no idea whom she was going to meet. Agatha Moore, most likely, but one doesn’t meet the big shots from the next meeting, and a name like Ravenheart is obviously a big shot.

She flipped the mithril coin she had and looked at the other side of it. Once she used the other side with the sunlight contraption in her mother’s study, she realized it was a map for a safe house in the city.

This led her to one of the new districts at the edge of the city, a place where the wealthy folk reside and build high buildings overlooking the Great Ralin. Such a place was barely touched by the plague of Blackthorn, but it was still guarded with many watchful sentinels, the thing that made it hard to move under the cover of darkness if not for Voros’s excellent skill that allowed for the making of a soft metal that muffles sound, something out of the realm of science fiction. It was possible to use it for horseshoes and carriage parts, but it was too soft to endure the thunderous boom of a firearm; thus, it wasn’t used to create quieter ones.

As Vivian walked through the streets, she crossed every hurdle stealthily, and...

« Trait Level Up: Novice Thief? → Apprentice Thief? »

"Well, well, well, these traits are taking their sweet time, I see."

With a little bit of cheering up from the system, Vivian braved the dark streets like the professional thief she was until she reached a place called Stanley Plaza. There, she was to count seven houses from where the shadow of the moondial is cast at midnight, and then follow along, revealed beyond two buildings, to reveal the final alleyway that leads to the hideout of Al-Kabal.

Vivian wasn’t really familiar with that part of town, but she knew that she was being watched. Still, she wasn’t worried, since she had Esmeralda stationed three blocks away on a high building to watch her with Voros. They were both her backup and getaway assistants.

For now, she braved the iron door that appeared in front of her, and as she was about to open it by the knob placed outside, she turned back and looked around one last time. She felt that the place was well hidden and whoever thought of it was good at hiding their tracks, but she could have done a better job still. Either way, there is some real spy work behind the scenes here.

Once she walked inside the building, she found a beautiful interior decorated with expensive wooden wall panels, which had a rustic and cosy feeling to it. The place was well-maintained and, despite being old, felt like she was on the right track.

As she took a stroll inside, with her hands hidden behind her cape and feeling her gun, she noticed a bit of ruckus from the room at the end of the hallway she was in and walked over there, skipping a couple of doors and a stairway.

There, there was a room with four individuals inside: three gentlemen and one lady, all of their faces were covered in masquerade masks, and as soon as Vivian revealed herself, they all tensed up and turned to her.

"Good evening!" Vivian said, realizing she was in the right place.

"..."

The group seemed nervous as she approached them; the first of them to stand in her way and speak to her was the lady in the middle.

"If you are the one we are expecting, please show us the Proof of Passage," the woman spoke.

Vivian chuckled and looked at the three nervous young men behind her.

"Big words, huh? Proof of Passage, you say? Alright."

Vivian seemed agreeable, but as she offered it up to the young woman, she didn’t extend her hand fully, making the latter take a frustrated step toward Vivian, but then her vision started to shift all over the place.

Vivian suddenly punched the woman’s face with extreme ferociousness, breaking the woman’s mask and nose, and sending her backward with two trails of blood as she was flattened to the ground.

The three young men were too slow to react, but Vivian was nowhere to be seen. She spread her tactical umbrella, hiding behind its camouflage function before moving like a ghost behind the first young man. She kicked his feet and sent him toppling to the ground, attacked the next with an aura power attack right to his guts with a straight kick, and last took the pommel of her umbrella to his teeth and was brought to the ground.

Those who were barely conscious were the first and the last young men, while the young lady and the second young man were already seeing stars. All Vivian needed to do was hold each at gunpoint.

"What manner of tawdry spectacle is this? How dare you summon me at this ungodly hour, only to comport yourselves with such unwarranted arrogance? Do you presume to test my patience, to the point where I might be inclined to rearrange your facial dentition with extreme prejudice?"

Held at gunpoint, the young man who got his teeth hit was bleeding all over and seemed to be unable to speak, even though he really tried to:

"I... I..."

"You? You? What were you about to say? Choose your words or remain silent!" Vivian showed no mercy as she pressed him down with her gun and looked at the other one, "Do you imbeciles even comprehend the gravity of your actions? I have crushed fools twice your size beneath my heel like insects! Did you truly believe this young woman was some fragile flower, ripe for the plucking?"

"Wait! Just listen!"

"As if I would deign to heed your words! By what twisted decree do you imagine yourself worthy of my attention, you insignificant scavenger of dung?"

Vivian’s bully mode was at full throttle, towering over the four young fools like a true menace to society. She, who was a bully in one lifetime and a secret agent in another, had the right toolset to ascend the pyramid of secret societies in one big step.

Overwhelm the bottom feeders; that’s how you infiltrate any syndicate the right way upon recruitment. Don’t sell yourself short; rather, sell yourself big. Make whoever is behind the curtains lose all their marbles and come running out to handle you themselves. Whoever manages to deal with you will be your level of clearance, and the right way is to get as high as you can get from the first meeting.

That’s why Vivian needed to do what she had done. She was a lady known for violence, but the true depth of her skill was kept hidden. Three young men were indeed enough to intimidate her alone, while one young lady of her age group would be the voice of reason. Of course, she was instructed to come along in the message, but this was just way out of this syndicate’s prep work.

Indeed, as she was talking all sorts of crap with a haughty, noble tone, the wall panel opened like a secret door, and Vivian put her total guard up for whoever comes from there.

This will be the difficult part, the higher level of clearance, the one who is holding the strings of...

"Pro... Professor?"

"It’s been a long time, Vivian."

Yet out of all the faces she expected, it was this particular man, the one who was dear and near to her heart.

It was none other than Professor Amos Morgan of the Great House of Morgan, her class’s supervisor in the academy—a homeroom teacher of sorts. While Vivian was the aloof type in her days in the academy, she would always seek this man for guidance regarding any sort of academics. After all, he was a known genius, a sorcerer, and a proper gentleman.

But seeing him here after that time, she almost thought she saw him in the Party. Vivian realized many things all at once, the first of which was that Amos Morgan seemed to have strayed from his House and was now acting on his own. The second thing was that Al-Kabal had been keeping an eye on her for some time, and who knows who else was infiltrating her house, along with many other things.

Vivian was pleased to finally see the man she had wanted to speak with for so long, though his presence disrupted her plans. She felt safer around him but still needed to discern his intentions. Fortunately, he seemed straightforward, and she believed she could learn a great deal from him if she chose her words carefully.

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