36
My Villains Chapter 36
10. Underground Floor 4 (1)
A narrow room with dim light from halogen bulbs and a gloomy chill flowing through it.
My tailbone is throbbing.
Ah, this chair is so uncomfortable.
"When was the last time you saw your niece?"
"What conversation did you have with Ms. Han Ji-won before parting?"
"Was there anything unusual that stood out in your memory around that time?"
I don't know.
I don't know, you bastards. I don't remember anything.
Everyone, please stop staring at me.
I want to go home. I want to hide under the blankets.
A short ringtone.
The text on the screen says - Go back to school? Huh, what nonsense.
Creeeak.
Ah, that sound again. A sound I hate to hear.
A blood-curdling sound.
They should oil those hinges.
Huh?
"Hey, Kim Seung-soo."
"Noona?"
"Kim Seung-soo."
"...Noona."
"You, you-"
Stars are flashing.
Wow.
My sister is still young. Her slap still packs a punch.
"Honey, stop it."
"Let go! I knew this would happen someday! I'm going to kill him!"
"It's not your brother-in-law's fault, please."
"This isn't the first time, every time we get involved with him this happens! How is it not his fault?"
"Stop it! Let's get out of here first. Brother-in-law, I'll call you later."
No, brother-in-law. It is my fault.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
The sky and ground flip upside down.
A mattress with blankets sliding off and a computer desk with photos displayed.
My familiar room.
No, familiar?
How could a room I moved into right after being discharged from the military be familiar?
I dragged a notepad file to the center of the empty desktop.
Alt+Tab.
A face like an angel with brilliant blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes.
A girl who hasn't yet blossomed becomes blurred by moisture.
Ji-won, I'm sorry.
My trembling hand fumbles for the rope support. Beyond my blurred vision, the knot is completed.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
Muttering like an idiot.
I kicked away the chair.
"Huk!" I jolted awake as if struck by lightning and quickly looked around.
It was a narrow room.
Chirping bird sounds coming from the ceiling, a damp bed with straw poking out, luggage neatly arranged in the corner, a faint smell of gunpowder, pale dawn sunlight streaming through the window.
And on the opposite bed, snoring softly in her sleep, the girl, Ellen.
Seeing her peaceful expression, a sigh of relief escapes me involuntarily.
"Phew."
But why does my head hurt so much? I feel like I had a dream, but I can't remember it at all.
Judging by the heaviness in my heart... I must have had a nightmare because of what happened the day before yesterday.
Is it guilt about the people I killed and those who died because of me belatedly stretching its legs?
A thought suddenly occurred to me - could it be that I can't remember my dreams because of the character sheet?
Ever since I fell into this world, the character sheet would appear before my eyes every time I fell asleep. It was a bit different from dreams; my consciousness was clear and the memories were vivid.
So I suspect that because of the character sheet, other dreams are erased from my memory.
Ah, speaking of the character sheet, I just remembered.
Thanks to the battle two days ago, I reached level 12.
This was really strange. By my rough calculations, my experience points after leaving the sewers were barely 2,000.
Calculating Poison's experience points as 700, no, 420 since I shared it with Ellen, and adding up the experience points from the other thugs, it was far short of 3,000.
Considering that 3,600 experience points were needed to reach level 12, I was short by nearly 1,000 points, but my level increased unexpectedly.
There was another strange thing.
One free point was added to the passive skill, 'Flowing Blood'.
On top of that, with the skill point I gained from leveling up, the proficiency score of 'Flowing Blood' had already reached 5 points.
Nearly 1,000 experience points from an unknown source and the automatically enhanced 'Flowing Blood' skill.
These were things that could never happen in a game.
Why did these things happen?
After pondering this problem alone, the temporary conclusion I drew was 'growth through training'.
First, the experience points.
The reason I expected my current experience points to be less than 3,000 was because I only calculated the points gained from killing.
In other words, I didn't calculate the experience from sparring with Grania or beating up thugs.
But seeing that I leveled up, maybe I gained up to 1,000 experience points through such activities.
And the 'Flowing Blood' skill.
Since 'Flowing Blood' is a passive skill, it was the most used technique.
Especially during the battle with Poison, I actively controlled the blood in my body to expel the poison.
Considering that 'Flowing Blood' promotes life recovery and controls one's own blood, it's possible that proficiency was built up through the battle with Poison.
Of course, this is just speculation, and I couldn't know exactly why these strange things happened.
"Besides, I'm not the only one strange things happened to."
I muttered as I looked at Ellen.
Snore, snore.
Indeed, when she's not speaking, she's nothing short of an angel.
It would be nice if she could be a little more docile normally. Well, her fierce personality is helpful in some cases, so I guess I have to put up with it. Still, it would be really nice if she could speak more kindly.
...What am I thinking? I'm not her father.
Anyway, Ellen awakened to magic during the fierce battle two days ago. I was curious about what triggered her magic awakening, but that night the question was immediately answered.
Her level had risen to 13.
I don't know the exact mechanism, but some of the skill points and stat points I had allocated were reflected as her level increased.
But the problem is that only 'some' were reflected.
What I had allocated was 35 stat points and 11 skill points.
However, the points applied when Ellen leveled up this time were only 16 stat points and 6 skill points.
The remaining points were not applied and returned to the surplus points.
I immediately reallocated them, but just like when we first met, there was no change.
The reason for this phenomenon - this is just my guess - seems to be that realistically, stats or skills cannot grow explosively overnight.
To explain with an extreme example, what would have happened if I had poured all 35 points into strength when I first met Ellen?
Then her strength stat would have exceeded 20 points, so she should have gained superhuman strength in an instant.
But how could a teenage girl just over 150 cm tall suddenly exude such terrifying strength overnight?
In other words, my conclusion was that the level-up points are distributed over time for realistic changes.
Ellen's overall stats had evenly increased. Strength increased by 3, Agility by 1, Health by 3, and Magic by 1, so there was no noticeable change in appearance.
It must be due to gradual growth over time.
Whatever the reason, there doesn't seem to be much to worry about. After a few more level-ups, all points will be applied.
And now, Ellen has become a proper mage, handling a total of four spells: 'Flame Arrow', 'Burning Weapon', 'Wind Fist', and 'Frost Burst'.
Thanks to her magic score of 22 points, innate talent, and the training and knowledge gained at the La-Palais Palace, she quickly became familiar with the spells.
Hmm, kid. You've finally shed the disgrace of being a wand stand. I'm happy, of course, but deep down, I'm a bit disappointed. It was quite fun teasing you.
As I was grinning, remembering Ellen's whimpering face.
"Mmm."
A small voice and long eyelashes slowly crossed.
Her sapphire-like eyes were tinged with a pale gray in the morning sunlight.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Uh—"
Ellen, who was blinking blankly, suddenly startled and hurriedly covered her face with her hands.
Then, after shaking off the sleepiness that had been hanging in her eyes, she let out a shriek.
"Wh-what are you doing!"
"Shouting in the morning will hurt your throat."
She cleared her throat a few times after hearing my words.
"Ahem, ahem."
"Oh, good girl."
"Why are you staring at someone's face first thing in the morning? You scared me!"
In response to Ellen's indignation, I yawned and answered honestly.
"I was in a bad mood *yawn* because of a nightmare, but seeing your face made me feel at ease. So I was just spacing out for a moment."
"Wh-what are you saying? Are you still half asleep?"
She pulled up the blanket, leaving only a muffled voice, and covered her face.
"Going back to sleep? You should get up soon."
"Am I a child? Leave me alone, I'll get up on my own."
What are you saying? I can only hear muffled sounds because of the blanket.
I left Ellen alone and put on my breastplate and backplate, hooking them at the sides.
Then I put on the shoulder guards and tightened the straps on the greaves over my leather boots. By then, she finally got up from her bed, stumbling.
Ellen, brushing her messy hair, glanced at me.
"...Did you have a nightmare?"
"Yeah."
"What kind of nightmare?"
I shrugged and shook my head.
"Don't know. Can't remember."
"What? How do you know it was a nightmare if you can't remember?"
"Well, you know."
I continued while tightening the other greave.
"A dream where you don't remember the content but the emotions remain."
"What's that?"
"I don't know either. Maybe I had a weird dream because the sleeping place changed. Haven't you ever experienced that?"
She fidgeted inside the blanket and changed from her nightgown tunic to a shirt.
Then, after brushing her hair out of her clothes and pondering for a moment, she answered.
"I'm not sure about dreams where only emotions remain. I hardly dream because of meditation."
"What's that supposed to mean? You don't dream if you meditate?"
"Meditation is the act of self-observation. Dreams occur when the unconscious seeps into the conscious. It's natural that dreams decrease when you meditate because the gap between the unconscious and conscious narrows."
...There she goes again with weird talk about meditation and observation. Is this some Damn world or what?
"Isn't that just you falling into a deep sleep because you're tired from meditating?"
"...Let's just stop talking."
She shook her head and picked up the folded pants.
Hmm. I guess I'm getting used to that dismissive look too. It doesn't feel too bad.
"Get out now. I need to change clothes."
"Wait a moment. Let me put on my belt."
At my answer, Ellen started grumbling for no reason.
"This is annoying. What is this every time? How long are you going to stick around?"
...I've gotten used to the condescending looks, but I still can't adapt to that petty way of speaking.
"What's with the sudden nonsense? When did I ever stick around?"
"It's not nonsense - I'm saying it's uncomfortable sharing a room with you!"
Ha, someone might think I crawled into her room forcibly if they heard this.
"Why the sudden change of tune? When did I ever force myself on you?"
"It's not a change of tune - I'm saying it's uncomfortable rooming with you!"
"The second floor burned down completely so rooms are scarce, and accidents keep happening when we're apart, so we agreed to stay together."
"Still, there's no need to go this far."
"Do you think I'm doing this for no reason? I'm doing this because I'm worried about you."
When Ellen just pouted her lips instead of answering, I added with a sigh.
"Haa. If you really hate it, why don't you sleep in Grania's room?"
"...How can I sleep with those mercenaries? They might hold a grudge against me."
"Why would they hold a grudge against you? Well then, how about Daria-"
Before I could finish, Ellen shouted loudly.
"Don't even mention that whore! Why do you keep bringing up that bitch?"
"Okay, okay. Then what should we do? If it's uncomfortable with two people, should we ask Mr. Luke if we can stay together-"
"No! He smells like rotting corpses!"
"Hey, watch your mouth!"
Haah.
She'd be an angel if she just kept her mouth shut. But when she opens it - she's quite spicy, very spicy.
"Why are you being so rude to Mr. Luke?"
"Who brought in someone without discussing it first? Bringing in some weird old man-"
"Stop! If you call Mr. Luke a corpse or an old man again, I'm really going to get angry."
"What?"
For a moment, Ellen's face contorted dramatically.
"Are you taking that old man's side now?"
"I'm not taking sides. I'm saying you should show basic courtesy. And didn't I tell you not to call him an old man?"
"What courtesy to someone who follows a doctrine like the Golden Gate?"
Really? Has this kid gone mad?
I hesitated for a moment before getting angry. Maybe the Golden Gate has a really bad reputation in this world?
"What's wrong with the Golden Gate?"
"Are you asking because you don't know? Those who follow the Golden Gate are all steeped in pessimism and a sense of being the chosen people, while irresponsibly running their mouths. Plus, they're the kind who play with corpses and practice ominous spells."
"...But Mr. Luke isn't a Necromancer."
Ellen snorted at my rebuttal.
"It's just the church's stupid idea that it's okay as long as they don't deal with undead. How can he not be a Necromancer when his body is seething with evil energy?"
Hmm, I didn't know she disliked it this much...
I'm not sure how to respond.
"Ugh. Anyway, since we've agreed to travel together for a while, watch your words. If you talk to him, you'll see he's a really nice person."
"How would you know he's nice when you've just met him?"
"You can tell just by talking to someone once, can't you?"
"Ah."
Ellen raised one eyebrow and nodded.
"I see, so he's the new spell user you've recruited."
"What?"
"Hmm, it's a good thing I've awakened to magic. I was about to be treated like luggage!"
Wait, how did the conversation suddenly turn this way? And speak properly.
"Not treated like luggage, you were actually a lump of baggage."
"...I can hear you, you know?"
"I meant for you to hear it."
"You-!"
Furious to the point her head was about to explode, she bit her lower lip hard. Then she suddenly stood up, strode towards me, and kicked my shin hard.
"Ow!"
She then sat down, clutching her own foot.
Come to think of it... This kid seems to get a bit stupid when she's angry.
"You, you! How dare you-!"
"What. You kicked me, didn't you?"
Hmm. Seeing her teary-eyed face makes me feel peaceful.
"The greaves are worth their price. Well, I paid four silver coins for them, so they should at least do this much."
"Y-you stupid jerk-"
"I'll go down first to wash up, so come down quickly."
"I won't go!"
Instead of answering, I left the room with just a fresh smile.
"Hey!"
A sharp shout behind my back.
A cheerful humming naturally flows out.