The Villain Wants to Live

Hadekain, Yukline’s castle. Looking up at the moon rising in the night sky, Yeriel sighed.

“Are you worried about your brother?”

“…”

At Primienne’s words, she sharply narrowed her eyes and turned to look at her.

“No? I was thinking about the future.”

The continent, about the apocalypse the Altar was spreading, and the nations that would be shaken. Yeriel was thinking about the path Yukline would take.

“This time, the order of repression came for religion.”

Emperor Sophien forbade the publication of the Book of Revelation without permission and religious incitement. In addition, the phenomenon of population outflow, in which residents fascinated with the Altar left for Annihilation, was left to the territory’s autonomy to deal with.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea to forcefully block it.”

A decree of repression of the Altar, issued by the Pope himself, stated a hardline attitude that those who don’t cooperate would be excommunicated. Most countries, such as the Empire, Reok, and Yuren, would soon be violently driven. Of course, the Demon Blood would be caught up in that whirlwind.

“It’s going to be a witch hunt.”

Yeriel looked back at Primienne. Primienne shrugged.

“It sounds like Reok’s gas chamber has been activated again.”

After Sophien’s desert expedition settled things down, there was a new danger ahead of them.

“By the way, are you okay? Rumors are circulating in the political world that you may be a Demon Blood.”

Primienne and Yeriel shared that they were Demon Bloods with each other a long time ago.

“Yes. It’s okay.”

“How is the situation there now?”

“Rohalak and its surroundings are closely connected. The kill team you mentioned is preparing to move.”

“…Great.”

Yeriel nodded. This was the major project Yeriel was preparing so far. Working in the shadows, maneuvering the Demon Blood inside the Rohalak concentration camp to the outside so that they could help Deculein.

Their goal was not only to eliminate the main elements of the Altar but also to kill the nobles of the Empire who were cooperating with them. There would be no evidence left. No, even if the evidence remained, there would be no suspects to pursue. After everything, they would all return to the camp.

Yeriel crossed her arms.

“Let’s begin.”

* * *

“Ugh!”

Julie was doing pull-ups. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine… she stopped at one hundred. Immediately after, she leaped down from the bar and started doing push-ups. Another cadet moved to the now-empty iron bar.

–You’re slow! Are you a slug?!

Their instructor’s shouts washed over them. Julie finished a hundred push-ups instantly and threw her body into the mud. The black soil of mana nipped at the soles of her feet. She pulled her knees up as she advanced in a crawl.

–Too slow!

Still, the instructor said she was slow. Julie turned her head and looked around. The cadets’ faces were unspeakable, holding empty eyes and grimaces of pain. From their point of view, this training in hell started as soon as their previous training session was over.

—Move!

Julie moved. Crawling through the mud, she reached a steep wooden wall. The height was more than ten meters. However, mana couldn’t be used for this kind of physical training. So, she grabbed the loose rope and started climbing. Just as she neared the top-

“Ugh!”

She heaved herself over and fell. Once she landed, Julie ran to the instructor without showing any signs of shock or pain.

“…Cadet number 273. First place.”

The instructors didn’t call cadets by name. They were just numbers.

“I see that you’re not a shabby nepotism case.”

Julie exclaimed loudly.

“Thank you-!”

…

In the restaurant right after training, Julie was eating alone. To be honest, it tasted better than Freyden’s meals.

“Hey.”

A certain cadet put down a plate next to her as she wolfed down the food.

“…?”

Julie looked up. It was a woman of neutral beauty. No, was it a man?

They asked.

“I heard you are from Freyden?”

“…Yes.”

“Oh. I’m from the north too. Nice to meet you.”

She held out her hand. Julie grabbed it.

“I am Quay.”

The name was quite peculiar.

“Queen, Quan, Quay. Quay?”

It was hard to pronounce.

“Yes. Quay. What is your name?”

When asked for her name, Julie hesitated a little. It was probably best to hide her real name.

“…It’s Yuri.”

It said Yuri on her ID. In consideration of Julie, who wasn’t familiar with lying, Josephine changed only a few letters.

“Yeah, Yuri. But what kind of trouble is this? Because of Deculein.”

“Deculein… you mean the chairman?”

“Yes. You’re training in hell because Deculein is observing.”

Taking up a spoon of rice as she sighed, Quay glanced at Julie.

“More importantly. You. If you’re from Freyden, you must not know much about the Empire, right?”

“…Yes? Oh, yeah. I don’t.”

“Then. Great.”

Quay reached out to Julie.

“Let’s be friends. Let me introduce it to you. All the Empire.”

“…”

Julie pondered for a moment, but she didn’t need to. There was too much she didn’t know.

“Yes. Thank you.”

She took cadet Quay’s hand.

* * *

…The scoring for the emperor screening test was over. There were a total of eight people with correct answers. It was fewer than I thought, but one of them was excluded, so there were only seven. However, there were some pretty bizarre names among them. I could understand Louina, Ihelm, Sephine, and Epherene. However, the four professors of Imperial Magic Tower, including Relin and Ciare, were quite difficult to accept.

“…Did you help?”

I asked the self-proclaimed God who was sitting in the guest chair in my office now and yawning. Quay.

“What? No. I just awakened their potential and brought out more. It was the strength of the professors that took them this far.”

Quay laughed softly. I shook my head.

“But can you move this easily?”

“What does it matter? In the end, we will meet eventually. It’s good to talk a lot.”

“…”

I looked at Quay. He was strangely calm.

“What are you doing these days?”

At first, I didn’t plan on answering. If I treated him like an invisible person, he would just chatter on and eventually leave me alone.

“I came here after meeting Julie.”

However, at that, the veins in my forehead swelled.

“…”

I put the graded test papers in an envelope and responded as I sealed them with magic.

“I am looking for God.”

“…God? Me?”

Quay pointed to himself, but that was just funny. I laughed bitterly.

“Not you.”

“…Then?”

At this point, his face hardened a little. A God, but not Quay? There was only one.

“The primordial god you worshiped.”

“…”

Quay clenched his teeth. Did he think I was insulting him, after all?

“It is not nonsense or contempt. Even now, I am thinking of you and studying.”

I simultaneously floated the Bible of the Altar and the one of the Demon Blood with 「Psychokinesis」. One would be punished just for owning them, but if you know your enemy, you’re invincible. I interpreted all of it with Understanding.

“You and the Bible for the Demon Blood make a common prophecy that God will return. However, the subject is different.”

“No. They’re the same.”

“If they are the same, there is no way the Demon Blood would not be united with you.”

The Demon Blood was now divided. Some worshipped the Altar, but more than half saw them as enemies.

“Quay. The God you served may come to see you.”

“…”

An aura surged through Quay’s body.

“God is dead. You, humans, killed him.”

“No. God died of his own hand. For humans to develop.”

Quay closed his eyes, and a red air stream wrapped around his body. A death variable.

“Quay. I think I know.”

However, that didn’t stop me. Even if Quay wanted to kill me, there was a reason he couldn’t.

“The true name of God.”

“…”

Whooosh—!

The death variable surged like lightning, but he didn’t move. On the contrary, the death variable quickly subsided.

Quay offered me a reluctantly calm smile.

“You’re so serious about it that it’s ridiculous.”

“It’s the truth.”

“…I’ll just go.”

I shook my head as he stood to leave.

“You should have realized sooner.”

He clenched his fists.

“If the creator of this world is God.”

The God who created this world. That is, in other words, who created this game.

“‘I’ve already known him. For a long time.”

Me.

So, Kim Woojin already knew.

…Whoooosh.

At that moment, the chill of autumn swept over my back. The curtains in the chairman’s room fluttered loudly.

The window wasn’t even open.

“…You ran away.”

And, Quay wasn’t there anymore.

“If he couldn’t handle it, he shouldn’t have provoked me.”

However, I laughed.

* * *

Imperial University’s garden.

Sylvia found an adventurer approaching her as she walked through campus and snacked on a waffle. Indeed, the time had finally come.

Sylvia suppressed her laugh with a cough, and waited for them to approach.

“Are you Ms. Sephine?”

They asked.

“Yes.”

Sylvia showed her ID. The adventurer nodded and handed over a parcel.

“Here, this is something from the Imperial Palace. Please be sure to open it alone, in a place where no one else is present.”

“Yes.”

“Apart from the detailed schedules, someone from the Imperial Palace will visit and explain.”

The adventurer hurried away, and Sylvia unpacked the package’s contents.

[One of the people that gave a correct answer to the Imperial Wizard Selection Test: Sephine]

She just had to look at the title. The rest was packed back in the parcel, and she walked through the garden. Then, with a sudden thought, she took out her crystal ball.

“Where are you?”

—Garden bench.

She called her first disciple.

“Yes. I’ll get there soon.”

—Yes.

Sylvia walked towards her, then cleared her throat and said again.

“By the way, you. Have you ever been to the Imperial Palace?”

—…T-T-The I-I-Imperial P-Palace?

As soon as she mentioned the Imperial Palace, her disciple’s voice immediately trembled. After all, visiting the Imperial Palace even once was a huge dream for all knights.

“Yes. I think I will have to go to the Imperial Palace soon.”

—Whoa. I-Is that true?

“So, I think I’ll need one escort, and I can bring one person besides myself.”

Then her voice cut off. For a moment, Sylvia doubted whether the crystal ball was broken. However, the disciple soon answered seriously.

“Where are you now? I’ll meet you right away. Master Sephine.”

“I can already see you. Here, the waffle.”

Sylvia raised the waffle. At that moment, Yuri, her disciple sitting on the bench, shot up.

No matter how much she thought about it, her name and appearance resembled Julie. Even the mana that shone through her was similar.

“…There is something there.”

She wasn’t trying to make her a disciple for no reason. There was something unusual and suspicious about Yuri-

“What do you mean? Master Sephine!”

“…Nothing. Let’s go. I have a lot to teach you.”

Sylvia first handed over the parcel to her student.

“Carry this.”

“Yes!”