Future Villain, Present...?
“Turning people into bloody pulps by swinging them around? Where the hell did you learn such a cruel trick!?”
Jenas's irritated voice struck his ears.
“Fear, suppression, effective.”
“Luna!”
When Luna, who had been on his side, made a sullen face at the sharp scolding and hid behind him, Tiny awkwardly smiled and pointed at the unconscious Raphtan.
“I only knocked out the regular soldiers. Everyone except this guy.”
“We could've solved it with words from the start! With words!!”
“Aw, come on, you know how complicated noble procedures are...”
“But that doesn't mean you go charging in recklessly like that! What if His Excellency ends up having to apologize to Viscount Fortran...”
“Hm, but didn't I stop that bastard who was impersonating me from causing trouble first? I saved face, right?”
“Saved face? You shattered it to pieces! Just think about the aftermath for once before you act. You should've at least told me...”
Jenas's nagging was about to drag on endlessly when—
“Groooan...”
A groan leaked from Raphtan, who looked half-dead, saving Tiny from ears that felt like they might bleed.
“Ha. This guy's got one tough life force, as expected.”
“...Tiny, do you know this man by any chance?”
“Yeah, I know him well. In a bad way.”
Tiny briefly recounted Raphtan's misdeeds from his previous life.
The leader of bandits who turned the already chaotic western empire—devastated by imperial rebellion, civil war, and orc invasions—into utter hell. And a spirit user who dragged the reputation of spirit users through the mud.
Luna's reaction was immediate.
“As expected, gotta kill him...”
A black dagger appeared from nowhere and was about to plunge into Raphtan's forehead when Jenas moved like the wind to block it, letting out a deep sigh.
“Hey! Are all you Morse bloodline folks like this, acting first and thinking later!? What kind of assassin family does that!?”
“That's why... they failed...”
“Cough.”
“...Sorry.”
While Luna and Jenas bantered, Tiny grinned as focus returned to Raphtan's eyes.
“You're back to your senses?”
“Kuhak!?”
Of course, the victim convulsed at the sight of that smile.
“Explain yourself now, or I'll bury you right here.”
At the calm addition, Raphtan widened his eyes and clung to his fading consciousness.
Once those eyes sharpened, Tiny tossed out casually,
“Tell me why you were impersonating me here, from start to finish. Be honest. If anything seems off, that'll be your last words.”
The man's body was a total wreck, and the shock made clear thinking difficult.
Watching Raphtan's blue eyes shake like a ship in a storm, Tiny smirked.
'That's why asking now matters.'
He hadn't planned to kill him right away, even without Jenas's urgent intervention. There was something he wanted confirmed from the man's mouth.
In his previous life, he had a firm belief.
- People can't be reformed.
Not just trash like Wolf's gang from the back alleys, but the hellish path he'd walked bred deep distrust of humanity.
Criminals he'd half-killed and spared just in case always reoffended or came back for revenge.
Those experiences forged that conviction. So he'd beaten any villain without hesitation.
But.
'After regression, things changed a bit.'
The Sword Emperor, the Reaper—even knights like 'Jerky' near the capital showed no trace of their fallen previous selves.
In the world twenty years earlier that he didn't know, the people he'd later meet had markedly different personalities.
His belief that people can't be reformed hadn't wavered. Countless examples from his past life wouldn't bend from witnessing a few changes now.
But other possibilities occurred to him.
Not reforming them, but...
'If they're not broken yet, no need to fix what isn't broken?'
If they were humans before corruption, couldn't he guide them right?
That's the thought that took root.
'This guy's actions differ from what I remember.'
In his previous life, this Raphtan was a 6th-stage spirit user when they met. He seemed one stage lower now, but even so, he wouldn't have been subdued so easily if not panicked.
His specialty was deception, disruption, and escape.
Plus, in the past, he'd shamelessly taken hostages in hopeless situations, killing one or two—or dozens—without blinking.
Yet.
“You just tried to run, right...”
“Y-yes. Huh?”
“No, never mind. Keep going.”
“Y-yes. I grew up traveling the outskirts of the Great Forest and hilly areas with my father.”
“...What?”
“Pardon? Oh, you said from the beginning...”
Was he really going to spill his whole life story?
Astounded, Tiny cut him off unconsciously, but the man's rolling eyes held a glimpse of innocence.
'Well, this works too.'
The longer the tale, the more lies would show. Tiny calmly gestured to the terrified future scum to continue.
“Y-yes. I heard we were from the empire originally, but I don't know exactly. Anyway, in my childhood...”
'Has this guy already broken, or not yet?'
His scamming suggested the former, but Tiny kept the latter possibility in mind, listening closely.
'To be chosen by a spirit, his nature can't be utterly filthy.'
It was arrogant, judging lives like a god. Many called it hubris defying the divine.
But if Tiny cared about such criticism, he wouldn't have earned the chilling moniker 'Villain Crusher.'
And that grim nickname, amid endless rebukes, built a life proven by his place among the continent's top ten knights.
That past made him trust his judgment even more now.
The result?
“...I-I really just planned one big score and flee east. To start a new life! Really, I swear. Believe me!”
Raphtan finished his long tale, prostrating desperately. Tiny tossed casually,
“Never thought of forming a bandit gang? Smashing stuff, looting, robbing—hating the world and all?”
“What!? H-how could you say that! I'm not that far gone!!”
Forgetting fear for a moment and yelling, something clearly stung. Tiny's eyes narrowed, killing intent leaking out.
“I swear, I swear no! H-huh... Honestly, the thought crossed my mind. B-but! While imitating you, Tiny sir, I realized things. Sure, longing for an honorable life too, but...”
Overwhelmed, Raphtan babbled desperately.
“I saw how pathetic it is to vent my anger wrongly. I can't live honorably, but I don't want to live like that. Truly, from the heart!”
Sincerity rang true. The sweating, pitiful young man before him differed from the wicked Raphtan he knew.
And then.
- GRRRR!
A massive lion spirit overlapped him protectively, as if shielding its contractor despite inability to exert physical force in reverse-summoned state.
'I see...'
The spirit's demeanor tipped Tiny's judgment. Unlike the past lion spirit spewing only murderous aura beside its corrupted contractor.
“Hoo...”
Twenty years was truly long. Facing a villain not yet fully broken, Tiny's eyes held complexity.
Scamming rich nobles wasn't a death sentence.
But he couldn't just let it go.
Thud.
Stamping hard, marble cracked with sunset mana-laced dread crashing over Raphtan.
“Hiiik!”
Tiny's black eyes glared murderously right before the panicking man.
“Remember one thing. If I hear you've besmirched spirit users or committed crimes, I'll hunt you to the eastern continent's end and tear you apart. Got it?”
Killing intent unbelievable for a Superior-grade.
“O-of course!”
The superhuman knight's aura scarred Raphtan's soul deep.
Then, an offbeat voice intruded.
“If you're done, I have questions too, Tiny.”
“...Sir Jenas?”
The North Wind knight who'd urged restraint on foreign soil now eyed Raphtan with gleaming brown eyes.
“Raphtan, spirit user?”
“Y-yes, that's right!”
“The great noble who shoved a black magic contract at you—was it really Rohiter?”
Tiny had brushed off the noble name casually, but Jenas's eyes burned fiercely at it.
“Stake your life on it?”
“Pardon?! N-no, what...”
“If it's a lie, it won't end with your life. Asking again. Truly Rohiter—the perverts with the rose emblem?”
Raphtan nodded frantically at the uncharacteristically aggressive barrage.
“Y-yes. Definitely...!”
“Oh ho... Interesting. Ha. Haha, indeed.”
“...Is that important?”
“Ah. Haha, yes. Very. You remember too, right, Tiny? That bastard who nearly wrecked the lady's engagement party.”
“Ah...!”
“Rohiter's an old grudge of His Excellency's. Nothing major, like a thorn underfoot. Annoying pests.”
His meaningful smile suggested Jenas hated them more than the Sword Emperor.
“Thought they'd gone quiet lately, but scheming from the shadows. With poison pouches. Haha, news His Excellency will love.”
Tiny smiled at 'news the Sword Emperor will love.'
'Oh ho, then that old man'll bitch less.'
To Tiny, the empire's noble Rohiter house was worth just that.
Of course, to deliver that good news.
“We'll take this spirit user to the family. Fine with you, Tiny?”
“Of course. Obviously.”
“My opinion...”
Raphtan muttered between them, but who cared.
“But he boldly scammed a noble house. Watch him closely.”
Jenas glanced down, continuing,
“Doesn't look thirty, yet at least 5th-stage spirit user? Hm, proper character education, and he'll be useful. Leave him to me.”
Why did the handsome man's smile feel so chilling?
As Raphtan rubbed his goosebump-covered arms,
“We'll compensate Viscount Pinnell for damages here, so you're bound to Valentia now. And if you tarnish Valentia's honor...”
Ting. Slash.
With Jenas's casual flick, Raphtan's clothes shredded instantly.
“Hiiik!”
Red lines striped his body like a net; he shrieked in horror as a soft voice continued.
“It won't end with skin scratches then. Understood, spirit user?”
Courteous yet deadlier than any threat, Raphtan could only nod wildly.
And.
Pfft.
“...Small.”
Luna's quip from the side crushed his last pride; Raphtan could only huddle miserably.