Hear Me, Villains
“The one who stirred up all this chaos.”
With a soft shing, a straight, unblemished blade slid free from the rags covering his hip.
Unlike the man’s battered armor, the sword was meticulously cared for. Its edge was honed to a razor’s keenness, polished so brightly it caught and flung back the sunlight in a clean flash.
“Kwahahahaha!”
“Oh, for crying out loud.”
“Puhahaha!”
The men clutched their bellies and roared with laughter.
“What, some kind of champion of justice?”
“Looks like the guy’s got a few screws loose.”
“Did he just finish reading some cheap adventure novel?”
Every last one of them mocked him without restraint.
And why wouldn’t they? Setting aside the man’s shabby appearance, there was not a single flicker of presence about him. No mana at all. He was a complete nobody.
For someone like that to shuffle forward, draw a sword, and act as if he meant to do something—it was simply ridiculous.
Clank— clank—
Even so, the man kept closing the distance, step by unhurried step.
“Ah… still, it’s been a while since I laughed this hard.”
“You gave us a good show, so we’ll send you off clean.”
A short man stepped forward, still snickering, wiping tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes.
He drew a throwing knife from his coat and said,
“Next life, try being born with a working brain.”
With a sharp flick, he snapped his arm and sent the blade spinning straight at the man’s forehead.
The motion was practiced and economical—the product of long hours of training.
“Let’s go.”
The men turned at once and fell in behind the orc column. There was no need to watch; they already knew the stranger would drop dead from the knife. It was a foregone conclusion.
And yet—
Clank— clank—
“““……?”””
The metallic scrape of armor plates still rang out. Closer now. Much closer than before.
“Hey, you bastard, what the hell are you doing?”
“Can’t you throw straight for once?”
Reproaches slammed into the short man at once.
“Shit, I threw it clean! Must’ve been laughing too hard and slipped up…”
His pride stung, the short man twisted his face into a scowl.
Whish!
He yanked out another throwing knife and hurled it at the man, who had already closed to within thirty paces. This time he put real force behind it.
Thirty paces. Close enough that even the rearmost orcs were beginning to notice the stranger. At that range, missing on purpose would have been harder than hitting.
But—
Clank— clank—
The knife sliced empty air. The man walked on, expression unchanged.
“““……?!”””
The men’s faces hardened. This was no longer a matter of their comrade’s skill.
As one, they laid hands on their weapons.
“You… who the hell are you?”
“…….”
The man’s crimson eyes did not so much as twitch.
He simply kept coming.
A chill swept through the air. The earlier merriment vanished as if it had never existed.
In its place a taut, strangling tension filled the men’s chests—like someone had looped a noose around their necks and pulled it tight.
Clank— clank—
That measured tread and the steady clatter of armor.
The calm, unreadable face.
The clean sword dangling loosely from one hand.
All of it suddenly felt lethally threatening. Their hearts lurched; fear rose in thick, choking clouds.
“I asked who you are!”
One man shouted, half in frenzy.
Clank—
A single long stride closed the gap again.
The man’s mouth opened, slow and deliberate.
“Villains, hear me.”
The voice was firm, clear, absolute.
The moment it reached them, the men felt their entire bodies seized. They could not take a single step. It was as if a colossal serpent had coiled around them and squeezed.
Sweat slicked the hands gripping their weapon hilts. Their heartbeats thundered inside their skulls.
Clank—
“I am a wanderer who pilgrimages the world, a seeker of purpose, a swordsman who walks alone.”
“……?”
The bizarre self-introduction made the men furrow their brows.
“……N-no way!”
One of them, however, seemed to grasp something. His face drained into pure, horrified recognition.
Clank—
The man arrived before them.
He stood with the sun at his back.
Backlit, his face was cast into shadow; only a pair of crimson eyes glowed quietly within it.
“I am the wandering knight, Limon Crusif.”
In the next instant, the sky fell.
"Vondeum- dus carelon."
⟨ High-Voltage Lightning Spears ⟩
Dozens of high-pressure lightning spears answered Aria’s elegant gesture and streaked forth.
Position, power, timing—every detail was flawless.
KRA-KOOM! KRA-KRA-KRA-CRACK— CRACK!
The bolts that slammed down were more than enough to turn the lizardmen into charred lizard kebabs.
Having expended a large surge of mana in one go, Aria stepped back for a moment, cooling her core and beginning to prepare the next spell.
Riana took her place at once.
"Bisan, soltran- gaos!"
⟨ Golden Butterflies ⟩
Fwaaaaash—!
From her fingertips burst a swarm of golden butterflies. They fluttered outward in a wide, glittering cloud.
The butterflies soon circled the heads of the enemy ranks.
At once the lizardmen staggered, losing all sense of balance. They could no longer stand upright, reeling like drunkards.
Slash-slash-slash-slash—!
Carotin, Esabel, and Celia’s weapons carved through the helpless foes in moments.
“Hehe.”
Apparently quite pleased with her spell, a smile curved Riana’s lips.
“…….”
Watching from behind, Aria’s mouth twitched once. From her perspective there were more than a few points that still needed improvement.
She gave a small shake of her head and dropped two more lightning bolts. The half-dozen enemies trying to slip away from the rear simply vanished.
It’ll be over soon.
After a brief survey of the battlefield, Aria thought as much.
The clash between the lizardman colony and Leon’s party looked set to end in a clean victory. From the start, this party’s combat power far exceeded anything expected of first-year students.
Even with the lizardmen’s little tricks to enhance their bodies, it made no real difference.
Aria’s eyes narrowed.
That elixir, though… it looks a lot like the kind that demon took back then.
She was thinking of Belger, the one she had seen in Pribil. The effects of the drug were strikingly similar.
It was strange enough that mere monsters would possess such high-grade medicine in the first place. Someone had to be supplying them.
Hmm… the Gonghyeol Group’s handiwork? Or some other faction? Master seemed to know something already.
"Ardes, per Belium."
⟨ Azure Mana Barrage ⟩
Even while her mind wandered, Aria continued casting without pause. Blue mana streaked through the air and smashed the remaining enemies without mercy.
Her gaze followed Leon.
He was in the thick of the enemy lines, locked in combat with the Lizard King.
No—calling it a “duel” would be generous.
Leon was simply toying with his opponent.
Slash! Shhhk-shhk—!
Every time Leon’s sword vanished, a fresh cut appeared on the Lizard King’s body.
Yet the wounds were shallow, only deep enough to part the scales and draw a thin bead of blood.
He was deliberately holding back from delivering a fatal blow, even though he could have ended it at any moment.
— Come on, already flagging? Put some spirit into it.
— Kiiiiiiiii!
A sparring partner.
That was all. The creature was nothing more than a living training dummy for Leon to adapt to a new technique.
……Magnificent.
A strange heat kindled in Aria’s eyes.
Which first-year student could fight like that? Even among the upperclassmen, few would manage it.
A Lizard King that had swallowed an elixir was no easy opponent.
When it swung its great spear, the ground split and the surroundings were laid waste. Its speed was sharp enough to bat flying arrows out of the air.
On top of that, its intelligence was high; its spear work was first-rate.
And Leon was grinning as he played with the thing.
Even setting pure martial skill aside, the sheer composure he showed in a real fight where lives hung on the edge of a blade was extraordinary.
Most first-years would freeze in terror just standing in front of such a monster.
Leon’s nature—never tense, never afraid, no matter the situation—was the true mark of a born warrior.
This should be… enough.
Aria halted her chanting. The battle was winding down. The remaining stragglers would be cleaned up by the martial students.
They had not wiped out the entire lizardman colony. A fair number had fled midway.
Even some of the royal guard, seeing their king completely helpless, had chosen to desert.
But that much could be left as practice material for the other students.
Or—
The ones who took the drug might simply melt from the inside on their own.
Judging by Belger’s case last time, the side effects were severe. The body had literally collapsed from within.
The escaped royal guards stood a high chance of self-destructing once the drug’s effects wore off.
But with medicine like this circulating so openly… is the Empire’s intelligence bureau even doing its job?
Aria clicked her tongue at the incompetence of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau.
She turned her head and spoke to Riana.
“Lady Riana. It looks like we’re finished here. Shall we go as well?”
“Ah, yes!”
Aria shifted her gaze forward again.
Huh?
A moment later her eyes went round as she caught sight of something.
Clank— clank—
In the distance, a man with long black hair and battered armor in places, looking thoroughly disheveled, was walking straight toward Leon.