How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“Vinny, I’m very sorry, but I have other matters to attend to, so I have to head back early. I won’t be able to guide you there myself or personally bring you into Eternity Forest.” Ronilei spoke softly. “We won’t be traveling together on this trip.”

“I see. All right, I understand. Thanks for making the trip out here and bringing this golden leaf to me, Ronilei.” Vinny nodded.

“Mm.” Ronilei gave Vinny a small nod, then looked at Shicodale one last time and respectfully said, “I’ll take my leave now,” before finally departing.

“Vinny, are you heading to Eternity Forest now?” Shicodale watched Ronilei leave.

“Yeah. The sooner I go, the better,” Vinny said as if it were only natural. “I’ll have to trouble you to watch the house for the next few days, Dale.”

“Mm, I understand.” Shicodale nodded. “Vinny, you need to be extra careful too.”

Vinny acknowledged him, and just as he was about to head back inside, he saw Shicodale come out of the room carrying his travel bag. “Vinny, I already packed your things for you.”

“You packed it already? Thanks, Dale.” Taking the bag from him, Vinny was still a little slow to react. He had been planning to pack it himself now, but Shicodale had already gotten everything ready for him in advance.

He really did give off the feeling of a good wife and mother.

“A few days ago, didn’t you say you were going to Eternity Forest, Vinny?” Shicodale folded his hands together in front of his apron. “So I kept thinking about what I could do to help you.”

“Vinny, I’m leaving it to you.” Shicodale lowered his gaze slightly. “I hope you can help Milian. And I hope she’s safe.”

“If possible, I’d like to go with you.”

“I know. It’s fine, don’t worry.” Vinny picked up his luggage. “It’s not like I’m going off to war. You saw it before too. The Golden Elves’ attitude toward me isn’t that bad.”

“Vinny...”

In the past, whenever Vinny was about to leave, he was always the one giving Shicodale endless instructions, the way someone setting out on a long trip might worry about a child left at home.

But this time, it was Shicodale who kept reminding him of one thing after another.

Vinny nodded, and at the same time thought to himself that over the past year, Shicodale had changed a lot.

Strictly speaking, Vinny should have rested for a day before leaving. But it was still early, and Shicodale had already packed everything for him, so there was no reason to keep waiting.

Vinny boarded a unicorn carriage whose final stop was relatively close to Eternity Forest. This time, he was traveling alone too.

He put on his icy-crystal earring, slid the flame revolver into the holster strapped to his thigh, then carried his luggage onto the carriage.

“Huh? Look, isn’t that Vinny?”

“Oh, wow, I think it really is him??”

After Vinny showed his student card and boarded the carriage, he caught quite a few students in the cabin whispering among themselves the moment they saw him.

“Didn’t you hear? In this practical combat exam, his opponent was Eric Zarniman, the talented Camella Kingdom noble ranked in the top four of the year, the eldest son of the Zarniman Family. Vinny was completely out of his league. It was basically a one-sided stomp. He won without even breaking a sweat.”

“Looks like all those people who kept shouting that a one-star Magus didn’t count as a real Magus were just sour grapes after all. This Vinny really does have the skills.”

Over the course of the year, Vinny had thoroughly proven his strength through his performance and his actions.

When he first advanced to Magus, there had still been plenty of gossips muttering about the fact that his Soulcaster was only one star. After all, if Vinny really had what it took to place in the top five, then why had he never gone out and taken that rank?

Now, those rumors had collapsed on their own, and Vinny had become a celebrity at the Academy.

A real celebrity this time.

Not in a negative sense.

After Vinny beat Eric so easily, quite a few students even started to believe that Vinny genuinely deserved to be ranked in the top three of the year, instead of merely having a realm that looked impressive on paper. Milian probably wasn’t his match either.

When you’re weak and down on your luck, everything you do is wrong.

When you’re strong, people will naturally come out to justify everything for you.

A lot of people were curious. If Vinny really had top-three strength, then why hadn’t he claimed that ranking all along? By ordinary logic, wouldn’t anyone have done that?

Quite a few students couldn’t make sense of it. They thought it over and over, couldn’t figure it out, and in the end all settled on the same conclusion:

He must have his own reasons. If ordinary students like us could understand it, then what would be the point??

Even though Vinny’s reputation had been terrible before, it had to be said that his story was deeply inspiring. It made many students with mediocre talent feel their blood boil.

A villainous young master whose magical aptitude was only one star, mocked by everyone, written off by everyone, and dealt a hellish opening so hopeless it was practically a death sentence—yet he had forced his way upstream by his own power, entered Carillian Academy, and in the span of a single year fought his way into the top three of the year.

If even someone with one-star magical aptitude, with no resources and no family backing whatsoever, could reach this point through relentless effort alone, then what right did they have to keep hanging the words there’s nothing I can do on their lips?

The students whispering among themselves thought their voices were low enough that Vinny couldn’t hear them.

But Vinny was an Intermediate Magus now.

Not a single word escaped his ears.

Suddenly, he thought of something he had heard in his previous life.

Now it felt painfully real.

When no one treats you like a person, then you had better make sure you treat yourself like one.

“Even if he does have real skill, his character still sucks. Fighting like that without leaving the other side any face at all—it was way too humiliating. It’s only because Young Master Eric is such a good person that he didn’t hold it against him.” Of course, Vinny’s old notoriety still couldn’t be washed clean completely. There were still plenty of people looking at him through colored glasses. At most, they would admit that he really did have something to him, and that his strength really was solid.

Vinny felt nothing about that.

His only thought was this.

This is bad.

His reputation was improving now. It was developing in a healthy direction.

That would definitely reach the ears of the upper ranks of the Church.

No—it had probably already reached them. The situation was just even worse now. He had shown his edge too openly, and that would only make the Church even more certain that he was not some useless fool who had gotten into the Academy by luck.

And if Vinny wasn’t the fool, then who was?

Naturally, it was the people who had been fooled by the false image the fool had deliberately put on display.

The Church would realize that soon enough.

And once that happened, he probably wouldn’t have many peaceful days left.

Besides, there were Church forces inside the Academy too. The people there were practically the Church’s eyes and ears. Bringing news out of Carillian Academy would be far too easy.

Vinny found a quiet carriage compartment and sat down. He had assumed no one would bother him here, but then a somewhat timid voice called out to him first.

“Um, excuse me... are you Vinny?”

“Hm?” Vinny, who had been resting with his eyes closed, turned his gaze toward the boy sitting beside him, who was looking at him nervously, his whole face tight with tension.

“I’m Vinny. What is it?” Vinny had sensed the boy’s presence a long time ago. He had assumed the boy was calling out to pick a fight, but from that tone and posture, it was obviously nothing like that.

“H-Hello! Vinny, my name is Kero. We’re in the same year—my class is the one right next to yours.” As soon as Vinny’s gaze settled on him, the boy swallowed hard, as if completing that self-introduction alone had already used up all the strength he had.

“Mm. Kero, was it? Do you need something from me?” Vinny asked.

Kero instantly choked on his words, as if Vinny’s tone had frightened him.

Vinny was baffled. He was already speaking in as mild a tone as possible. How was he still managing to scare people?

“What’s wrong with you?”

“As expected of you, Vinny. Your tone is so calm and composed, and your voice is full of strength too.” Kero looked terrified, yet at the same time full of admiration.

Full of strength??

Was that really the kind of thing worth pointing out?

“If only I could be like you, Vinny... Ah! Sorry, I just started saying strange things on my own. I’ve disturbed you!” With that, Kero immediately started to get up and leave.

“Wait. Didn’t you say you wanted to talk to me?” Vinny asked.

“Ah, no, if I disturbed you, Vinny—”

“Do I look like I’m doing anything important?” Vinny asked in confusion. “How are you disturbing me?”

“But just now, you had your eyes closed, Vinny. That had to be the meditation everyone always talks about, right? The thing people do to improve their focus and gather mana more efficiently. I’m really sorry—I didn’t mean to interrupt you!”

“......” Vinny’s expression turned strange.

For some reason, the tone and posture of the boy in front of him made him think of Shicodale back when he had first enrolled.

But Shicodale, despite looking like a boy on the surface, was a genuine girl.

“It’s nothing like that. If you need something from me, just say it.”

“Well... Vinny, when I saw you on the carriage just now, I got carried away and thought maybe I should ask you for advice.” Kero scratched his head and gave a bitter smile. “To tell the truth, I lost my practical combat exam again this semester... I just thought, if only I could be as strong as you, Vinny.”

“Do you get nervous every time it’s time for a practical combat exam?” Vinny glanced at Kero and asked without even thinking.

“Huh?! Vinny, how did you know that??” Kero’s face was full of shock. He clearly hadn’t said anything about that.

“Your expression already told me.” Vinny glanced at Kero’s face. “You just said you lost again, which means you lost last semester too. If you keep losing, you’ll just get less and less confident, and the worse your confidence gets, the harder it becomes to perform. On top of that, Kero, you already look like the type who doesn’t have much confidence to begin with.”

“I...” Kero fell speechless. After a moment, he could only smile helplessly. “As expected of you, Vinny.”

“My strength is still too weak. Maybe getting into Carillian Academy in the first place was just a stroke of luck.”

“If you put it that way, then isn’t the start of everyone’s life a stroke of luck?” Vinny raised a brow. “Otherwise how exactly did you and I manage to get born into this world?”

“Kero, sometimes it may not be that you haven’t worked hard enough, and it may not be that your strength isn’t enough either. Don’t treat everything like it’s so difficult. Why not try giving yourself a few more chances?”

“...Thank you, Vinny. I understand now,” Kero said gratefully.

At first, he had thought Vinny was the kind of person who would be hard to get along with.

But in truth, Vinny didn’t put on airs even toward commoners. He treated everyone the same. Compared to those nobles who always looked down at people through their nostrils, he was better by who knew how much.

Not that every noble was like that—but most nobles, the moment they heard you came from a commoner background, their gaze would turn subtly strange, and their tone would pick up that same faint shade of condescension.

If anything, whether someone was a noble or not was something you could often feel just from their bearing alone. Plenty of nouveau riche people fought desperately to imitate noble grace just to squeeze their way into noble circles.

By comparison, Vinny seemed completely unconcerned with any of that. He wasn’t affected by those people or that atmosphere in the slightest. He just went on doing whatever he pleased.

Because he himself had been excluded by most of the nobles from the start.

So he simply wasn’t afraid of it.

And he wouldn’t lose the talents that were already his just because nobles chose to reject him.

Kero stared blankly at Vinny, and the more he looked, the more he felt he could never compare to him.

Several days of travel passed.

During those days, Kero kept coming to Vinny for guidance, and as long as it was something he could answer, Vinny responded patiently every time.

As for why?

Vinny thought it was probably because he was just that idle.

Or maybe because, in that timid boy, he had seen the person he used to be.

Just as isolated and helpless.

Bullied by everyone.

Written off by everyone.

He wanted to hold up an umbrella for someone down on his luck in the same way he once had been.

Not until Kero got off the carriage and thanked him before leaving did Vinny watch that departing back and fall into thought.

But in this world, how could there be only one person who got bullied?

On a larger scale, weren’t all those living beings deceived by the Church people who had been bullied too?

Vinny sat inside the carriage and fell silent.

The days on the carriage had not felt particularly slow, but not especially fast either. Yet by the time a person came back to himself, he had already arrived at the destination.

Dragging his luggage behind him, Vinny stepped down from the carriage to the words of the accompanying mentors:

“You’re home. Have a safe journey.”

He made his way out of the remote little town and arrived before a wooden suspension bridge.

The bridge had long since fallen into disrepair. The ropes looked ready to snap at any moment, and the planks in the very middle were already missing entirely.

This was the road that led to Eternity Forest.

The only road.

And yet this suspension bridge had already been ruined for a long time.

That alone was enough to show how tense the relationship between humans and elves had become. Even trade between them was on the verge of ending.

Ever since the fall of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire, the humans living along the border had gone uncontrolled and begun capturing elven slaves again. On top of that, tribes no longer restrained by the Empire had destroyed and occupied Mistmoon Forest. In less than a hundred years, the friendship between elves and humans had fallen to freezing point.

Things had still been manageable while the Dawn Saintess was around.

After she was gone, the situation worsened further.

Now even the suspension bridge had been destroyed.

An ice chain shot out from Vinny’s palm, anchoring itself to the far end of the bridge and dragging his body across.