Chapter 309: Villain
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
“Archmage Sandro, the second of the Sword of Order’s four vice leaders. On the surface, he’s a windstorm archmage, but he’s secretly the leader of the Soul Demon Association and a Myth-ranked undead archmage. He doesn’t have an Emblem of Endless Truth in undead magic, but it’s only because he’s never published any research results. After all, nobody is more qualified to receive the Emblem of Endless Truth in undead magic than he is.”
“…Also, Sandro just happens to be my junior under the same teacher. Harloys, you really taught so many excellent disciples.”
“No, I met him before I met you. That technically makes him your senior.”
The silly cat before me still pretended to be a ditz, but since she was once one of the core leaders of the Sword of Order, it would be only natural for her to recruit fresh blood into the Soul Demon Association under the Sword of Order In a way, she was an even greater veteran than Sandro.
“How’s your relationship with that leader of the Sword of Order who never shows himself around?”
“You already mentioned how he never shows up so how could I possibly have any relationship with him? Don’t even mention Blackeye, that Sword of Order leader who always hides in the shadows. Even my disciples are probably being spied on ever since my identity was exposed. Blackeye probably fears I’ll usurp his authority. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have forced me to leave back in the day. Heh, what would it matter to us if one of us became undead? It was just an excuse to chase me away.”
“…So, it means that without a miracle occurring, you’ll never be able to surpass the SemiGod-ranked Blackeye in your life.”
“Can’t you say it in a nicer way? That’s right, hurry up and improve your personal power level. The contract limitations on a magical pet is so painful— being unable to surpass the master in strength. I want to experience what it feels like to become a SemiGod undead as well. As long as I can regain the peak of my strength, how could I, the All-Knowing Harloys, possibly be any weaker than you little brats?”
The silly cat seemed to get angrier and angrier as she spoke.
“…Even if it’s easier for the living to surpass the Myth rank, are you that confident that you’ll be able to break through the Three Heavy Doors?”
“Ridiculous. Back in the day, I was already at those doors, but I didn’t even have a physical body. How could I possibly break past those doors as they required the body and heart to be one? I finally found a suitable physical body, a high elf with ancient divine blood, but I used it for less than one day before you and that Adam sliced it up… the more I think about it, the angrier I’m getting. I really feel like biting you right now.”
“Whoa there, you’re already biting me! Why are you saying you want to bite me still?”
“Don’t you dare move! Let me take a few extra bites to vent my anger!”
I felt rather helpless as I let the silly cat bite me from my chest all the way up to my neck and then even on my face. It gave me a rather numb and itchy sensation. I wanted to laugh, but I knew that if I really did laugh out loud, Harloys would truly become furious.
Just when was it that this undying queen of grudges was trained into becoming a tsundere house cat?
Was it from the day she signed a magical pet contract with me so we mysteriously managed to get used to each other somehow?
Or was it Lorci’s death that finally gave her hope that her journey of revenge could finally end one day? At the very least, she finally had something other than revenge in her heart right now. She no longer sealed off her heart in her own little world.
Or was it because we were now fated to be together forever, with her being immortal as long as I lived? From a certain standpoint, the magical pet contract was indeed something way overboard as it forcefully tied two different souls together for a lifetime.
Or was it that Harloys, who had always been alone, was now always connected to me via our souls? Soul communication was far more effective than any verbal communication could ever be in transmitting what we really meant. The lonelier someone was, the more they would actually desire to communicate with another.
Or was it that she unknowingly got used to my warmth? Perhaps she got used to me saying good morning to her every day when I woke up? Perhaps she was treating me less and less like an outsider since that day?
Fine then, I should stop thinking so much about this. Judging by how her bites went from numb, light bites to painful tearing, this silly cat was acting like a tsundere again!
“Hey—hey—hey—don’t go overboard. I still need to meet with others later. What am I supposed to do if I have all these cat bites on my face? People will think that a pile of furniture collapsed on me.”
“You can just tell them the truth, that your pet cat gave your face all these nice scratches and bites.”
“Does that have any difference from saying that furniture fell upon me? They’re all excuses typically used when a woman scratches your face! You’re doing this to me on purpose so that I’ll be too embarrassed to meet with others!”
Alright then, when the top-level archmage Sandro’s horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of us, Sandro had a look of stunned amazement as he watched me who was trying my best to remove the stubborn silly cat from my head.
“…Second Senior Brother, I’ll have a discussion with you later when I finish beating up my teacher.”
“Ptui! If you can’t win, you’re going to depend on others to help you? Such a useless man!”
However, the later developments completely ruined my image as a mysterious archmage of darkness that I had carefully cultivated… After all, if you saw me fighting with my own pet cat, rolling all around on the floor for more than half an hour and even losing in the end—with the result being covered in claw and teeth marks—there would be no way for you to respect me, would there!?
“My image! My image! We’re supposed to be archmages that represent wisdom and knowledge! Can’t you have some sense of shame at all?”
“Ptui! Shame? Can I eat it? Ever since I started hanging out with you, I feel like I’ve played every type of embarrassing cosplay there is. You always force me to transform into this and that. Are you actually into animals? Now that you’re supposedly famous and known as a major personage, you intend to put on your pants and forget about your past? Let me tell you: don’t even think about it!”
“…Don’t intentionally word things like that!? Just look at Second Senior Brother and how icy his gaze is when looking at me now! It’s almost as if he’s looking at Beifeng! My reputation!”
“Actually, there are plenty of warlocks that take their own succubi as lovers. I’m not biased against such things. Even if archmage Roland’s interests are somewhat unique—okay—extremely unique, that’s still his personal freedom. Yep, yep, I perfectly understand.”
Alright then, Sandro’s polite words, emphasizing that he understood, as he backed up ever so slightly was the perfect salt on my wounds. Fortunately, Harloys finally recalled that now was the time for serious business.
“Hmph, Roland, just forget about your reputation. It’s long been unsalvageable. Sandro, long time no see. I think it’s been about two hundred years. By the way, can’t you change your name to something cooler? Your name Sandro sounds like it came right out of an undead magic textbook.”
“…This soul wavelength? Harloys! Teacher Harloys!”
Alright then, the appearance of the All-Knowing Harloys finally helped me to somewhat save face. With this “Demon Professor” taking the part of a connection between me and Sandro—we were fellow disciples of the same mage teacher—it was much easier for me to have a conversation with him.
“Sandro, would you like to become the leader of the Sword of Order? Would you like to make the Sword of Order into a completely lawless holy ground for heretical mages?”
That was the first sentence I greeted Sandro with for our formal negotiations, as well as the main topic of what I wanted to discuss with him. I spent quite a lot of time, in fact, and both sides walked away having gained much from the conversation.
Sandro hurried off at a greater speed than when he arrived. It seemed that he was indeed delighted with what he received. After all, both of us had benefited more from this discussion than we anticipated.
“Will it actually succeed?”
However, I was no longer acting as confident as when I was trying to convince Sandro. After all, nobody would have a one hundred percent chance of victory when dealing with an old fellow like Blackeye who had been the leader of one of the strongest mage organizations for the past three or four hundred years.
“If he’s the only one we were relying on, it would be impossible. He’s too stupid. Sandro’s intelligence is probably the third worst out of all the disciples I’ve ever taught.”
I suddenly felt a twinge of pity for the archmage Sandro, who happened to be bald. Even though we had such a friendly discussion just now, teacher and student seeming so harmonious, Harloys even said several times how Sandro was “the future leader of the Sword of Order” “my most trusted disciple” and so on, which really made him happy.
“He’s that stupid, yet he still made it to become one of the vice-leaders of the Sword of Order?”
“That’s because the ones that aren’t stupid were all killed off by Blackeye. Even though there are clearly so many heretical mages in the Sword of Order, and even though there are clearly no taboos whatsoever in what the Sword of Order mages are learning, the Sword of Order is still slightly behind the other top-level mage organizations because Blackeye is intentionally keeping the leadership under him weak.”
“And yet you still called him your most trusted disciple?”
“Heh heh. Of course he’s my most trusted disciple. After all, all my other disciples are too sly and untrustworthy. Especially a certain person I know. If only he hadn’t sold me out.”
When saying this, the silly cat even glared at me. It was obvious who she meant, but I merely looked at the sky and pretended not to understand.
“In that case, it means we can’t count on Sandro.”
“Still, only by convincing him to become the vanguard, which will attract Blackeye’s attention, will we have some hope of succeeding.”
“…In that case, this means you have other plans set in motion as well.”
“Yep. The Sword of Order has quite a different structure from other mage organizations since more than seventy percent of its members are considered heretical mages. Their way of distributing resources and research funding closely follows the law of the jungle, and there are plenty of members that have ambitions about their status. It’s a powerful organization that can be taken advantage of. Back in the day, I really wanted to obtain this mage organization for myself.”
“Which is why Blackeye exiled you—”
“But nobody truly knows how many disciples I left behind and how many are actually working for me. Nor do people know how many top-level archmages like Sandro I have under me. Actually, one of the other vice leaders of the Sword of Order is one of my subordinates as well. She’s also a much smarter person than Sandro.”
From a certain standpoint, the fact that Demon Professor Harloys was able to enter the Calamity Rankings wasn’t because her own personal existence was dangerous. Apart from her desire to take revenge against the Elven Gods, she could be considered harmless.
The most dangerous part about her was that she often taught forbidden, dark knowledge to geniuses that walked extreme paths. Perhaps nothing would come of it in the short term. Yet akin to a farmer who casually tossed a handful of seeds into fertile soil, there would always be several dangerous seeds that would manage to sprout even if most of the seeds would simply hibernate there for a long period of time. This naturally caused much trouble for everyone else.
Back in the day, Amelia was like this as well, and so was I. Sometimes, I would ask my conscience: if I hadn’t met Harloys in this city back in the day, would that mean that I wouldn’t have learned the taboo knowledge, that I wouldn’t have become Emperor Yongye, and that my life would have turned out utterly different?
“No. I’m quite clear of my own personality. Personality determines one’s fate. Back at that time, I never would have let go of my desire for revenge. Even if I didn’t meet Harloys, perhaps the process would have been different, but the result would have been just about the same.”
I was no fool who would blame my own wrongs on others. I shook my head and decided to stop thinking such unnecessary thoughts. Right now, the most important was the present. If I wanted to influence the Truth Symposium conference’s final conclusion, I really did need the support of multiple large mage organizations.
“So you think we have a good chance at being able to get the Sword of Order fully under our control?”
“No, since Blackeye has already controlled this organization for several centuries. I think that no matter what we do, our plan will have at most a thirty percent chance of succeeding. But, as long as we prove that we have the ability to majorly shake up the Sword of Order, Blackeye will surely make some concessions to us. Besides, our goal won’t be asking for all that much from him so he’ll surely be able to accept them.”
The silly cat jumped on my shoulder and chuckled in delight. Apparently, she had seen through to what my real goal was.
“Heh, indeed. After all, no matter if our plan to take over the Sword of Order succeeds or not, there’s no loss either way. The worst result still ends in him being forced to support us at the next Truth Symposium conference.”
“…Actually, I originally thought that you would oppose my plan.” Harloys was hesitant about saying this.
“…Why would you think that? Your recommendations helped greatly increase the success rate of my plan. I’m actually quite grateful to you.”
“After all, back at Sulfur Mountain City, you invented the Concept of Law and the legal process, which kept emphasizing the fairness of justice and the importance of following the rules. I thought that you were someone who cared about the means more than the end. No matter how you look at it, usurping someone else’s mage organization and making an originally stable mage organization split up into factions and have internal conflicts aren’t actions of justice at all.”
“No, it’s actually the exact opposite. Of course, I highly value the means. After all, that’s what everyone sees, and rules are there to give people feelings of trustworthiness and safety. But sometimes, one must make a choice between the ends and the means. If I’m in a situation where I can only choose one or the other, then of course I’d be the type that would say the ends justify the means. As for me? I’m simply a villain.”
I wasn’t lying at all. Not to mention, it was impossible for me to lie to Harloys about anything as we had a soul connection. Back when I was in Sulfur Mountain City, my personal jail was filled with incredibly villainous bastards that couldn’t be judged with only the law. Even if the process wasn’t all that honest and correct, I could accept it as long as the result was justified. However, I knew that I wasn’t foundationally different from those villainous bastards that only did as they pleased. I was a villain as well, one who did such things only for my own self-satisfaction.
The silly cat seemed to be quite satisfied with my reply.
“…I don’t care if others die for my cause. As long as I achieve my goal, who cares about everyone else’s lives? We really are such excellent villain partners.”
“Of course there’s no difference between us. No matter what the reason is, some things that we’ve done can’t be described as anything other than villainous. I’ve never denied this part about me.”
“In that case, my fellow villain, when will you give me my freedom and release me from jail?”
“I truly apologize. After what just happened, I have reconfirmed that you simply are too dangerous. The verdict is that you shall still be locked up for eternity with no chance of an early release.”
“…How terrible. Well, since there’s no helping it, I’ll be counting on you in the future, my dear jailer.”
“…I suddenly understand how helpless Adam and the others felt when they were locking me up. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call us jailmates? After all, I locked myself in here together with you.”
“Is there any difference?”
“I think that there is at least a difference. After all, there isn’t much difference in treatment between jailmates, while a jailer has plenty of opportunities to bully someone he’s jailed that he’s displeased with, and the jailer can even take away the jailed’s basic rights, and the jailer can even go on vacation… I suddenly feel like I want to be the jailer after all. Can I change my mind?”
“Don’t even think about it! We’re destined to be eternal villainous jailmates. Since you’re a man, make good on your word…”
I continued to chat and joke around with the silly cat in this spooky and remote mountainous area, discussing calamitous and nefarious schemes. It seemed like a scene right out of a ghost story, but only we knew that this was a rare time, a time both of us could truly have fun.
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