The Villainess Whom I Had Served for 13 Years Has Fallen

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 32

Ricardo’s voice was heard once again.

“Did you close your eyes?”

At his question for confirmation, Yuria’s heart pounded loudly.

A gentle voice.

Hearing the quiet boyish voice in her ears, Yuria pressed her lips tightly together.

“Miss Yuria? Did you close your eyes?”

A voice asking for confirmation was heard again.

Perhaps knowing how curious she was, Ricardo asked several times, but she did not answer.

Because no words would come out.

Her lips wouldn’t part, knowing that if she had been even a little late, she would have died.

-Thump. Thump.

And her heart was beating like crazy.

Whether it was because she had faced a life-threatening danger or because she was seeing Ricardo again, she didn’t know, but one thing was certain: her heart was racing wildly.

Ricardo spoke again.

In a calm voice.

Feeling faintly that his voice carried concern, Yuria’s heart wavered.

“You have to close them. It’s a bit unpleasant to look at.”

***

The situation wasn’t good.

There were people to protect behind him.

And there was a reckless moth who knew nothing but how to act out beside him. He couldn’t fully focus on the battle.

Blocking the heavy downward swing of the greatsword, I glanced at Ruin, who was fidgeting with his fingers.

-Mutter mutter.

“Ruin.”

“What?”

I called Ruin.

Ruin, who was muttering beside me while preparing large-scale magic. He was reciting a high-difficulty spell formula, but his trembling hands were of no help in deploying it.

“If you don’t want to die, stop with the sloppy spell formula.”

At my words implying he was useless, Ruin flared up.

“What?”

Facing an opponent whose size couldn’t even be measured, it was natural to get angry at being called useless. I understood. He wanted to show off in front of the woman he liked.

But right now, Ruin wasn’t just weak; he was also scared. He needed to set aside his trivial desires for the moment.

Otherwise, he really would die.

The killing intent emanating from the man before us was overwhelming.

The tyrannical pressure.

The blood staining his greatsword.

And even the black aura surrounding it.

Just looking at it made my skin prickle.

Moreover, the man was a heretic, infamous as a crazy bastard in the world.

A fanatic group that caused countless casualties with the mindset of killing anyone who didn’t believe.

Black priest robes.

A black scripture.

Ruin, seeing a heretic for the first time, as he’d only heard of them in rumors, couldn’t control his emotions and would find it hard to perform at his usual level.

Ruin, who had been casting magic with a serious expression, looked at me as I effortlessly deflected the man’s sword.

“Kuhaha… You’re actually blocking this? Young swordsman?”

“I’m a bit versatile.”

“Puhaha…!”

Ruin, thinking that if I could do it, he could too.

I spoke kindly to Ruin, who was sending me a challenging look.

“Ruin, listen to me. Miss Yuria can’t reattach a severed arm.”

Ruin wouldn’t understand me.

Because Ruin wasn’t as strong as I was.

“Shut up, Ricardo.”

That’s why Ruin saw my actions as reckless bravado, thinking, ‘Who are you, someone expelled from the academy, to tell me what to do?’

At best, we were just academy mates.

Ruin didn’t know much about me.

He didn’t know that I had unofficially killed Mikhail in an instant or how dangerous aura could be. As a wizard, he couldn’t even imagine it.

Ruin, who mistakenly thought I was on the same level as Hanna or Mikhail at best, said to me.

“Stop acting cocky. How much stronger do you think you are than me?”

I said to Ruin.

“Ah. Then do as you please.”

Ruin completed his magic.

The strongest magic he could muster.

‘Explosion.’

As the hot wind signaling the successful completion of the magic brushed his hair, he smiled.

“Watch closely. I’m not the same as before…”

The moment red flames rose in Ruin’s hand. Bang. With a deafening roar, the blood-soaked greatsword moved swiftly to sever Ruin’s arm.

Ruin didn’t notice.

Not until the greatsword touched his arm.

“See? I told you, you’d die.”

I kicked Ruin in the abdomen with all my strength.

Crash. With a sound, Ruin was slammed into a tree and slumped his head.

It seemed he had lost consciousness from the strong impact.

Seriously, he’s no help at all.

“Miss Yuria, keep your eyes closed tightly.”

“From now on, it’s going to be unpleasant to see.”

With a sharpening sound, red blood splattered before Yuria’s eyes.

***

Taking a vacation.

All sorts of things happen.

Is the whole world conspiring against me?

Maybe the possessor who stole the fortuitous encounter is being punished, as incidents just kept piling up, making my head throb.

I tried to raid a dungeon secretly from the protagonist, but I ended up running into him on the way.

After clearing the dungeon, I came across the heroine, who had almost been killed by heretics.

No matter how much the protagonist attracts incidents, couldn’t they at least take a break between them?

Yuria, who was constantly surrounded by incidents, was a hassle in many ways. Still, what could I do? I couldn’t just ignore her.

Besides, the man before me might be the biggest fortuitous encounter I’ve come across so far.

I looked at the man before me.

A man drenched in blood.

[Ballack Lv. 71]

[Job: Archbishop of Despair]

[Favorability: -50]

[Favorite Topics: Daughter/Health/Duels with Strong Opponents/Greatsword Techniques/The Bigger the Sword, the Better]

[Disliked Topics: Daughter’s Illness/Nobles/Toothpick-like Swords/Murder]

Ballack is one of the antagonists in the novel.

Though calling him an antagonist seems unfair, as he has his reasons, he’s done too many bad things to not be considered one.

He’s someone like us.

Ballack is affiliated with the heretics for the sake of his daughter’s illness.

Ballack, who was once an S-rank adventurer, has a daughter.

His only daughter, left behind by his deceased wife.

The sick daughter, whom even the doctors and the Holy See advised him to give up on, was Ballack’s only treasure.

Ballack was scammed dozens of times by doctors, and he even knelt and prayed to the Goddess Cult, who claimed that prayer would heal her, but there was no progress.

When the money he had saved as an adventurer was about to run out.

One day, while walking on the street, he heard a sermon from a religion claiming that belief could cure incurable diseases, and that was the beginning of Ballack’s fall to darkness.

At first, he hesitated to swing his sword, feeling the burden of conscience, but as time passed and his daughter’s condition gradually improved, the weight of his conscience grew lighter.

His daughter tried to stop him.

But Ballack, who had given up on being a good father, silently picked up his sword.

Later in the novel, his daughter dies, and he learns that the heretics had lied, but by then, he had already been defeated by the protagonist’s group.

The tragic antagonist of the novel.

The man standing before me now is Ballack.

Fortunately, since it’s still the early part of the novel, he hasn’t committed any major evil deeds yet.

Even now, he probably only intended to scare Yuria and drive her away.

At this point, Ballack is likely torn between his conscience and his daughter, wandering between the two paths.

I had always wanted to meet him, but meeting him like this felt a bit bittersweet.

I looked down at Ballack.

He planted his greatsword into the ground and glared at me with trembling arms. As his piercing gaze bore into me, I let out an awkward laugh.

Ballack looked at me and spoke.

“Are you a monster?”

“Oh, come on. No way.”

“Haha… If not, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Ballack spoke to me with sincerity, saying that even though he himself was considered a monster, he couldn’t compare to me, and he shook his head.

I said to him.

“Look at my body. I’m a wreck too.”

“Compare things that are comparable.”

Like Ballack, I wasn’t in good shape either. My trembling right arm had been deeply slashed by Ballack’s greatsword, and blood was dripping from it.

Ballack was no different.

His entire body was covered in small scars, drenched in blood, and he was kneeling on one knee on the ground, breathing heavily.

After hundreds of exchanges, I finally claimed victory and spoke humbly.

“I am a monster.”

“Heh… Crazy. Completely crazy. Using aura at your age.”

Ballack rose heavily to his feet.

Holding his trembling greatsword, he slowly walked toward me, and I shook my head and said to him.

“Let’s stop.”

“Why?”

“There’s more behind you.”

I looked behind Ballack.

Through the dense thicket, countless silhouettes could be seen. They were probably heretics who had come here to explore the dungeon.

They must have been selected as elites.

In the novel, the heretics were the first to raid the dungeon and leave. Afterward, while fighting the remaining remnants, Ruin awakened.

Ballack must have come here with those silhouettes to raid the dungeon.

I looked at Ballack.

Ballack, with eyes full of desire to compete, stared at me.

If I were to kill Ballack here, it would certainly make the latter part of the novel easier, but I was sure I couldn’t handle ensuring Yuria and Ruin’s safety while dealing with him.

Deciding to end the fight here and go our separate ways, I spoke.

“We’ll just leave, so you should go your own way too.”

“Why? If we fight now, I feel like I could take your head back with me.”

I waved my hand at his words.

What a blatant lie.

If I fought with someone who even tried to take one of Mikhail’s arms, I was sure I wouldn’t make it back in one piece either.

Besides, Ballack was a monster who grew explosively stronger the more he bled.

His current weakened appearance could also be an act.

“Wouldn’t it be better to let things end on a good note?”

“True. It was an interesting fight, though. It’s a shame.”

Ballack let out an awkward laugh.

Feeling it would be a pity to leave just like that, I pulled out paper and pen from my pocket. Scribble. I quickly wrote something on the paper and handed it to Ballack.

“Take this.”

“What is this?”

“My autograph.”

Ballack chuckled softly and tucked the paper I had written into his pocket.

“Check it out where no one else is around. It’s hard to come by.”

Leaving the softly laughing Ballack behind, I hoisted the collapsed Yuria onto my back.

“We’re leaving. Don’t forget me.”

And so, we parted ways.

***

On the way down the mountain.

Yuria was silent.

Without saying a word, she clung to my back as we descended the mountain, and the silence was suffocating.

Yuria asked me.

“Was this your doing too?”

“No way.”

We continued our descent in silence.

I had no idea what to say.

Breaking the silence, Yuria spoke to me.

“By the way, Mr. Ricardo, do you always do this?”

“Do what?”

“Every time there’s danger, you show up, save me, and then act like it’s nothing. Why do you do that?”

“Hmm… Good question.”

I couldn’t exactly say it was because the novel only showed the dangerous parts.

If I said I was watching over her, wondering if she could overcome it, she’d probably think I was a stalker, so it was hard to explain.

Ah, maybe I am a stalker.

Thinking about it, that might actually be true.

I started feeling guilty in many ways.

Yuria spoke to me again.

“Hey, Ricardo.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know what I think every time?”

“What?”

Yuria lowered her head deeply.

“That you’re really impotent.”

Yuria muttered softly.

***

The estate came into view.

The estate, exuding an aura as if a ghost might appear at any moment.

Yuria, who had been dozing on my back, spoke to me.

“Uh… Why are we here?”

“You need to eat before you go.”

“What?”

Glancing at Ruin, whom I had dragged along the ground, I spoke.

‘If this guy hadn’t passed out, I would’ve just left him behind.’

Ruin, who still showed no signs of waking up.

Since the security at the inns in Hamel wasn’t great, I had no choice but to bring Yuria back to the estate.

Standing in front of the estate, I looked up at the window.

-Peek.

A silhouette visible on the second floor.

Peeking out repeatedly, as if the setting sun made it hard to see us clearly, the Young Lady kept sticking her head out.

I dropped Ruin onto the ground and waved my hand.

“Young Lady!”

The Young Lady, who would now realize I had arrived.

“Ohhhhhh!! Ricardo!”

And then.

Turning to see Yuria coming down from behind me.

“Huh…?”

It was Olivia, wrapped in a blanket.