How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“How disappointing. I thought that, given our relationship, you’d tell me where that person is right now.”

Vinny regarded the cowering Shicodale with eyes full of disappointment.

“But Vinny, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shicodale forced the corners of his mouth into a smile. “I don’t even know who ‘that person’ is. How am I supposed to tell you where they are?”

“Oh? Do you truly not know, or are you only pretending?”

Vinny pressed forward, taking another step toward him.

“I really don’t know.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Vinny suddenly burst into laughter without warning.

The next moment, he looked at Shicodale with icy eyes, making him feel as though he had been thrown into a frozen cellar.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” Vinny insisted.

Shicodale fell silent.

“My, my. It seems that even in another world, you and I still don’t get along very well, little tagalong.”

Vinny pulled his stiff lips into a shudder-inducing smile uglier than a grimace.

“Honestly, I’ve never understood why so many people protect you. That white-haired bastard of a Hero included.”

“Vinny, what are you even talking about?”

This time, Shicodale truly could not understand a word.

“Isn’t it obvious? You’re nothing more than a schemer who goes around telling everyone the tragic story of your fallen kingdom so the powerful will pity you. Whenever danger comes, you let other people face it. You’ve never once considered relying on yourself.”

“Vinny, you...”

Shicodale knew that the Vinny before him was not the one he knew.

Even so, hearing those words spoken in Vinny’s voice and with Vinny’s face still hurt unbearably.

“I didn’t. I never used any of that to gain sympathy. I haven’t told anyone!”

Shicodale bit his lip.

“Oh? Whether you said it aloud or not, the result was the same.”

“I didn’t!”

Shicodale snapped back.

He had truly lost control of his emotions.

He had never told anyone about the destruction of his kingdom or the deaths of his family.

For one thing, his identity was sensitive. More importantly, it was his deepest wound—the deepest wound of the entire Moon Elf people.

He had lost the family he treasured most, his people, and his homeland. He had wandered through foreign lands and endured every hardship imaginable, heartbroken and so utterly hopeless that he had not even had anyone to pray to.

Had the unbearable responsibility on his shoulders not sustained the last shred of his resolve, he would have taken his own life long ago.

For Shicodale, dying would have been easy.

It was continuing to live that required extraordinary courage.

And now, someone was mocking that agonizing wound as a tool he used to win sympathy.

They were accusing him of using his father’s death, the deaths of his people, and the destruction of his homeland as a shield to secure advantages for himself.

Shicodale had always been mild-tempered. Kicking him was like kicking a bundle of cotton; he had almost never become angry.

This time, however, he truly was furious.

So furious that he lost control.

Vinny fell silent.

He watched the elf before him pant with rage, then suddenly grinned.

“So what? I only care about the result. You’re still exploiting the deaths of your people and your father to win sympathy. Tsk, tsk. How tragic for the Moon Elves. Imagine if they learned that their princess was using their deaths as bargaining chips. That truly would be—”

Before Vinny could finish, Shicodale raised his hand and swung it at his face, unable to bear another word.

Naturally, the slap never landed.

A shadowy tendril rose from the ground and bound his wrist.

“L-let me go!”

“What’s this? The little tagalong who has always relied on others and watched them charge into battle on his behalf has suddenly found the courage to fight back?”

Vinny sounded delighted.

“You—you vile bastard! You’re not Vinny at all! Stop using his face to say such disgusting things!”

Shicodale struggled to wrench his hand free, cursing him as he pulled.

It was extremely rare for Shicodale to insult anyone. Given his upbringing, something like this had almost never happened before.

Vinny released him and gazed meaningfully at the Moon Elf as Shicodale retreated against the wall.

“My, how boring. I thought this little game of assuming an identity might last a little longer, but you’re already done playing? What a disappointment.”

“It wasn’t entertaining in the slightest. In fact, now I feel like killing someone to mark the occasion.”

Vinny flexed his hands and clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.

“So you really were impersonating Vinny!”

“Impersonating?” Vinny’s voice turned cold. “Little tagalong, I said I was assuming an identity. I never said I was playing a role.”

“I never impersonated anyone.”

“No. You’re a fake!” Shicodale insisted.

“Ha. Haha. Then who is real?”

Vinny spread his arms.

“Go on. Tell me. Who is the genuine article in your mind?”

“Vinny may enjoy insulting people, but he never truly uses vicious words to hurt them or deliberately tears open their wounds. He is kind, helpful, and righteous. He would never look as vicious as you do.”

Vinny fell silent after hearing that.

“What kind of evaluation is that? Listening to it makes me want to tear my own ears off. All that nonsense about flowers and grass growing toward the sun.”

Vinny scratched his ear.

“The Dean said the same thing. So did Kero. Even you, the Hero’s little tagalong, are saying it.”

“Kero? The Dean?”

Shicodale hesitated.

“Seriously, little tagalong, I don’t actually dislike you that much. You’re a bastard like the rest of them, but your past at least makes me think you might still be redeemable.”

Vinny’s mouth curved strangely.

“Unfortunately, you chose the wrong path and sided with the wrong people.”

“If you had agreed to work with me, restoring the Moon Elf kingdom would have been as easy as snapping my fingers.”

“But you refused to stand with me. You refused to break completely with that white-haired Hero just because she helped drive those tribesmen away for you.”

“??”

The more Shicodale listened, the more certain he became that the person before him was mentally unstable.

At the same time, he grew increasingly confused.

This Vinny seemed to know many things that were true, yet much of what he knew was also strangely wrong.

Who was this white-haired Hero?

She had driven away the tribesmen for him?

Who?

Was he referring to the incident at the opening banquet?

But the one who had helped him then was Vinny.

This person clearly knew Shicodale’s identity and history in perfect detail. Certain events matched as well.

Yet whenever he reached the crucial details, everything became completely different.

“Honestly, if you hadn’t remained so stubborn in the previous world, I might still have spared your life,” Vinny said meaningfully.

“The previous... world?”

“Come with me, and I could even make you stronger. You could reclaim everything that belongs to you with your own power.”

Vinny folded his arms.

“Who... are you?”

“I already told you.”

Vinny grinned.

“I am Vinny.”

“The real Vinny.”

“All right, little tagalong. I’ll ask you one last time.”

Vinny’s eyes filled with bloodshot veins. His emotions were unstable, as though his patience had finally run out.

“Where is that damned white-haired woman?”

“This time, I won’t let her escape. I’m going to torture her until she wishes she were dead, then carve her into pieces!”

“Are... are you talking about Aesphyra?”

“That’s right. Now you understand.”

Vinny sounded pleased.

“Stop pretending to be stupid. It will be better for both of us. And this time, don’t protect her just because she once did you a favor.”

“Think about yourself.”

Vinny resembled a maddened beast that had briefly regained its calm.

“I really don’t know where Aesphyra is.”

“My, my. Still refusing to see reason.”

Vinny shook his head regretfully.

“As expected, you’re still—”

Dale, remember this: don’t always try to fight everything head-on. A man must know when to bend and when to stand tall! A real man understands when to yield and when to push forward. A single victory or defeat means nothing. Do you understand? Stop being so honest. Learn to use a few tricks!

Vinny’s familiar, drawn-out voice echoed through Shicodale’s mind.

“But I know where she lives!” Shicodale blurted out. “I can take you to her residence!”

“Oh?”

Vinny smiled.

“I’m glad you’ve finally come to your senses, little tagalong.”

“After all, this is your only chance to survive.”

“Just think. If you die, who will save your people who are still suffering?”

“I know.”

Shicodale lowered his head.

“So please, don’t kill me. I’ll take you to her.”

“That’s more like it.”

Vinny grinned.

He was not worried that Shicodale might try anything.

This was nothing more than a game of cat and mouse.

He was the cat.

A cat did not fear a mouse. No matter how the mouse resisted or what tricks it attempted, nothing would change the outcome.

*****

“Fuck.”

Fecolin clicked his tongue around the pipe clenched between his teeth as he surveyed the Academy.

“How the hell did the place end up like this?”

“The Academy has been cut into separate pieces. If something happens in one section now, no other instructors will be able to see the signal scrolls.”

“What exactly is this gray-black fluid?” one of his colleagues complained. “Was this also caused by the traitor who infiltrated the Order Spire?”

“No. This may have nothing to do with that traitor.”

Fecolin stared at the Academy grounds, now riddled with black and gray.

“The chaotic black cloud and the filthy blood pouring from it are clearly different in nature from the invisible wall we encountered before.”

“Different how?”

“With the invisible wall, I could at least vaguely sense that it had an upper limit. This filthy black water is different. I can’t sense the limits of it at all. It is utterly unfathomable.”

“Unfathomable? Does that mean a Demon Pillar is involved too?”

“It’s too early to say, but something tells me this has nothing to do with a Demon Pillar.”

Fecolin glanced at the other instructors, who were still working desperately.

Some agreed with him. Naturally, others did not.

“We still can’t reach the upper administration. Stop wasting your effort. Things have deteriorated to the point that even a blind man could see what’s happening, yet the people above still haven’t said a word. That alone tells us plenty.”

Fecolin looked up at the chaos in the sky.

“Respect the facts. Accept reality.”

“But Lord Fecolin, if we can’t even contact the upper administration, then we’re in serious trouble,” an instructor said anxiously. “We have no way to enter ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) the Order Spire.”

“Exactly. All the core nodes of the Academy’s magic array are inside the Order Spire. Besides, that array was established by someone at the Purgatory tier. Could it really be altered so easily?”

“Why do you think it’s called a magic array?” Fecolin glanced at the instructor. “The entire array is constructed around its central node. You could call that node the heart of the whole formation.”

“Furthermore, because the principal is away from the Academy for most of the year, the Academy’s magic array was deliberately adjusted to make modifications easier. Otherwise, if the array malfunctioned while no one could find the principal, the upper administration would be unable to make any changes themselves.”

“The issue isn’t that the magic array was altered.”

Fecolin’s expression turned grave.

“The issue is how the person who infiltrated the Order Spire knew precisely how to alter Carillian Academy’s array.”

“Even two arrays of the same type will differ slightly according to the habits of the person who drew them. Usually, anyone else who wants to modify an array must be taught directly by its creator.”

“Accurately transforming this array into another one with similar runes would be extremely difficult without personal instruction from its creator.”

“That is why I concluded that the person behind all this is a traitor within the upper administration—and not merely some insignificant member.”

“This traitor was personally taught by the principal how to modify the array she created. Whoever it is, they possessed her absolute trust.”

“This...”

The instructors stared at him dumbfounded.

They wanted to object, but everything Fecolin had said was logically sound and perfectly matched the present situation.

“So is that person still inside the Order Spire, or have they already left?”

“I don’t know.”

Fecolin raised his head.

“But if I were them, I doubt it would matter anymore.”

“What? Why?”

“Because they’ve already won this game.”

“And it was an overwhelming victory.”

*****

“Little tagalong, you wouldn’t happen to be deliberately stalling and leading me in circles, would you?”

On a ruined street tangled in black and gray, the blue-haired young man walking behind the silver-haired elf suddenly spoke.

“N-no,” Shicodale hurriedly replied.

“Then why do you keep taking detours? You’ve lived at this Academy for so long, yet you still don’t know your way around?”

Vinny’s questioning made the pressure on Shicodale spike.

“That isn’t it. The Academy is covered in these gray-black walls now. They’ve cut everything into pieces. A lot of roads that used to be open are dead ends now. There’s no way through them. I can’t help it—that’s why we have to keep going around.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

Vinny smiled inscrutably.

Several spikes made of shadow erupted from the ground and pierced the street beside Shicodale.

The blood drained from Shicodale’s face.

The shock nearly sent him collapsing to the ground.