A Villain's Will to Survive
Chapter 275: Your Responsibility (1)

Chapter 275: Your Responsibility (1)

The magical expo was divided into three halls—the Basic Hall, the Intermediate Hall, and the Grand Hall. Placement was usually based on the supervising mage’s rank, but if an evaluation received high marks, it could be promoted even from the Basic Hall, and I was one of the judges responsible for those evaluations.

"Professor, weren’t you one of the judges?" Epherene asked, scratching her cheek as she followed me into the judges’ private waiting room.

“I was,” I replied with a nod.

Of course, I hadn’t planned on participating at first.

“However.”

I broke off speaking and turned my attention to the materials I had purchased from the Ashes, which were far too rare and valuable to be handled in a place as ordinary as this waiting room.

“... However?” Epherene repeated.

“Where is Quay?”

“Oh, he said he wanted to meet people, so he went off to have a look around by himself.”

I frowned slightly.

“He will be around—just said he wanted to watch people for a while,” Epherene added, trying to explain.

"How are you certain of that?" I inquired.

“Because he told me, and...”

If Quay had said it with his own mouth, I had no reason to doubt it, as he wasn’t the type to say what he didn’t mean.

“I think he might be into me.”

I tilted my head for a moment, completely at a loss for words.

“I’m not making this up. He really said he wanted to earn my trust, and—”

“That’s enough. We are returning to the Mage Tower of the Empire for the time being,” I interrupted.

“Sorry? To the Mage Tower? Right now?”

“Indeed.”

“How...”

I placed my hand on the full-length mirror standing in the center of the waiting room, its surface shimmering as the reflection changed to show somewhere else entirely instead of the waiting room. It had taken a massive four thousand mana just to establish the Mirror Passage, but even so, I felt proud, as that was proof of my progress with mana.

“Hold on to my coat.”

“... Your coat, Professor?”

“Indeed.”

Epherene hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the hem of my coat, and I stepped into the mirror with her.

Hummmmm—

A strange resonance brushed against my ears, the world tilted beneath my feet, and when the distortion faded and I looked around, I found myself once again standing in Head Professor Deculein’s office on the 77th floor of the Mage Tower—a room empty of all but memory, waiting just for me.

At that moment...

“Bleeeeegh—!” Epherene gagged, bent over, and vomited onto the floor.

***

“It’s a mirror spell—one of my properties,” I said, arranging the materials across the laboratory bench within the Laboratory, one of many facilities on the Head Professor’s 77th floor.

“... I still feel sick,” Epherene muttered, her face buried in the table, stomach churning.

The Mage Tower of the Imperial University housed a variety of facilities, including the Laboratory, which I rarely used myself since experiments were usually left to my two assistants, Epherene and Drent.

For comparison, Louina had thirty-three under her—assistant professors and assistants combined.

“What are you going to do with those?” Epherene asked, her skin still flushed a strange shade of purple.

“I’m going to craft a core to reduce the volcanic damage in Yuren and take these,” I replied, tossing three mana stones to Epherene. “They’ve been applied with a revised transformation formula. You should be able to handle them again.”

“Oh, yes. I’ll give it a try,” Epherene replied, nodding.

“Very well.”

I began by inspecting the materials arranged across the laboratory bench—Kraken’s Tentacle Pad, Blood of the Dark Troll, Devil’s Claw, and the Heart of Memeren—each a rare drop only obtainable from boss monsters.

Whoooosh—

First, I focused on the Kraken’s Tentacle Pad, applying Telekinesis to hold it in place while casting the Extraction spell to draw out only its essential compound. Only a few drops of ink came from the tentacle pad, which I transferred into a glass vial.

“But, Professor,” Epherene said, glancing at me with a pout. “Do you really have to keep that scarf on?”

“Why should that concern you?”

“It just looks a little much, and we are indoors.”

I pulled the scarf off my neck.

“... That’s better. I’ll get started now,” Epherene said.

Then...

Tick, tock— Tick, tock— Tick, tock— Tick, tock—

The ticking of the wooden pocket watch sped up, and I moved in rhythm with it—grinding the Devil’s Claw into a fine powder, then sending a flow of mana into the Heart of Memeren to make it beat once more.

Thump, thump—

While it pulsed beneath my fingers, I made the incision.

Shreek—

“Hmm.”

The cardiac muscle parted beneath the incision, revealing the structure within—an intricate web of vessels and shimmering membranes of the heart.

“... How tedious,” I muttered.

I clicked my tongue and guided the scalpel with Telekinesis, reconstructing the vessels inside the heart in a transformation of veins and arteries into a living magical circuit—drawn with the precision of a spell from the Study of Art Magic, demanding extreme focus and absolute control bordering on obsession.

Tick, tock—

Tick, tock—

Tick, tock—

I had lost all sense of time, hours folding into moments, and when I finally stepped back, the core stood complete in my hands. I checked my watch—five hours had slipped by, and I had only five hundred mana left.

“That should be enough to...”

Next came the infusion of Kraken’s Ink, Powdered Devil’s Claw, Blood of the Dark Troll, and my remaining mana—all combined and flowed into the heart’s vessels.

Thump—!

At that moment, the heart gave a sudden beat, and tentacles burst from its surface, writhing wildly as if it had come back to life on its own.

“Professor, I’m also finished... eugh. What is that? It actually looks gross,” Epherene asked.

“It’s the demonic core Decalane designed—or rather, a demonic being,” I replied.

Tap—

I tapped its center with the Wood Steel, and the demonic core responded—tentacles snapping to life and thrashing with instinctive fury.

“It looks like it’s angry. Hey, what are you exactly? Are you trying to strangle us or something? ... But wait a second,” Epherene said with a chuckle, poking the tentacle with a finger, then turning back to me. “Professor, you’re planning to present this? At the expo? This monstrous thing?”

Slap—!

The tentacle snapped through the air and whipped across Epherene’s face.

“Ouch! What is wrong with you?! Hit me again and you’re dead to me!”

“... It’s composed of demonic beast material—its very essence is demonic energy. That alone makes it violent and repulsive. I have no intention of displaying it like this to the public,” I replied.

Just looking at the demonic core stirred something primal in me—a wave of revulsion so intense I wanted to destroy it on the spot.

“There is still one more step left,” I said, signaling to Epherene.

“Yes, here it is,” Epherene replied, handing over the mana stone.

“Hmm?”

The transformed mana stone was far more refined than I expected, once rugged and uneven to the touch but now smooth and polished—gleaming like black obsidian.

“I ran it for a year instead of three months. But what are you going to do with it?” Epherene asked.

"This mana stone is applied with a transformation formula that purifies demonic energy into mana. Therefore..."

Thunk—!

I drove the mana stone into the center of the demonic core, which instantly shuddered violently, flailing its tentacles thrashing in what seemed like pain and releasing a wave of deep crimson demonic energy.

However, the resistance lasted only a moment.

“It’s turning blue!” Epherene shouted.

Like a response to Epherene’s shout, the demonic energy seeping from the core gradually turned blue as the thrashing tentacles slowed and then stilled completely into silence.

“Whoa...”

The mana stone transformed the demonic energy within the core into pure mana, changing its grotesque form as the tentacles dissolved and left a crystalline blue, radiant core with a single ring orbiting it like a miniature Saturn.

“This is the product of Decalane’s Study of Art Magic—Magicore. That name should do,” I said.

All that remained was to apply it with the Midas Touch—and then the core would be complete.

“Wow...” Epherene murmured, mouth slightly open in wonder. “But what would you even use this for?”

“Assign a single purpose to it, and it will learn and act accordingly. Its first task will be to contain Yuren’s volcano, and after that, it will be my entry to the expo,” I replied.

"I see, this will definitely turn the whole expo upside down."

What should have taken a year was brought to completion in just a week—all because of Epherene—and Decalane’s legacy would no doubt shake even in this world.

“Then we’ll stay in the Empire tonight and return tomorrow.”

“... Sorry? We’re not going back right away? Not through the Mirror Passage or whatever it was called?”

I shook my head.

I was out of mana—Iron Man helped speed up recovery, of course, but after burning through it studying the Holy Language yesterday and working on the Magicore today, I was completely drained.

“... Are you not feeling well, Professor?” Epherene asked.

Epherene is unnecessarily perceptive about things like this sometimes, I thought.

“... Are you okay?”

As night deepened, Epherene’s voice took on the weight of worry—an emotion I had no desire to face, much less hear spoken aloud.

“I am fine,” I replied.

“No, Professor. I can see the future—remember?”

Whether she realized it or not, Epherene brought her hands to her chest.

“You die in that future, Professor,” Epherene added, looking up at me with sorrow. “... Are you really, really okay?”

“You are arrogant, Epherene,” I replied, shaking my head.

I was out of mana—but that didn’t mean I was dying. Far from it, I could survive for decades in this state, having survived the Demon’s Mirror with a heart that had already stopped—that was the power of Iron Man—and if anything, my body was now in dangerously good condition.

“... Sorry?”

But, in the end—when this world reached its conclusion and the main quest played out—the future waiting for me was, more than likely, just as Epherene had worried.

However, even if that fate waited for me at the end...

“I won’t accept my death so easily, and I do not name what you saw in the future as my fate.”

Epherene remained silent.

“It means I am preparing for it—more thoroughly than anyone,” I concluded.

"... Oh," Epherene murmured and gave a nod of understanding.

Then...

Plop—

Epherene collapsed to the ground before I did, as if something inside her had given out.

"... Are you well?” I inquired.

“I don’t know what’s happening, Professor. My body won’t move,” Epherene replied, blinking from where she had fallen on the laboratory tiles.

“That is mana exhaustion.”

“Mana exhaustion?”

“Even if the effect was applied to an object, it ran for an entire year,” I explained.

“... Oh.”

I almost reached for Epherene’s robe with Telekinesis, the realization hitting me half a second too late.

It seems I am in mana exhaustion as well, I thought.

“... Wow, everything’s clear in my head, but I can’t move. This feels really strange,” Epherene said, as if talking in a daze.

I stared at Epherene in silence, then, after a long pause of hesitation and a sigh, I finally stepped toward her.

“Oh, oh, oh?! W-What are you dooooing—?!”

I wrapped both arms around Epherene and lifted her into my arms.

Why am I doing that damned thing people call a bridal carry on this fool—

“W-What are you doing?! What is this?! Why are you—wait, whaaaaat—?!

Epherene couldn’t even lift a finger, but her mouth was working overtime—squawking like a pterosaur.

“... Put me doooown—!”

“That’s enough—and get some sleep,” I said.

***

The next day, mages began arriving one after another at Yuren’s airport. Rogerio, Ihelm, Gindalf, Creáto, Essensil, Bethan, Louina—the most renowned names across the continent. Even the elders of the Round Table and the Addicts of the Floating Island had flown in to attend the expo.

“Professor Louina.”

“Oh—yes, Elder Jektaine,” Louina said, blinking in surprise as she turned toward the familiar voice, not expecting to see a Round Table elder here at the expo.

“Have you heard the recent rumor?” Jektaine said.

“... To which rumor do you refer, Elder Jektaine, Head of the Fagon School?”

Jektaine let out a chuckle.

Louina clicked her tongue in silence.

Among the three pillars of the Magical Realm—the Floating Island, the Mage Tower, and the Round Table—the Round Table’s elders were more often than not boomers who got grumpy unless one showered them with overwhelming respect, Louina thought.

“About the Empress’s proclamation of an expedition to the Land of Destruction, followed by a strange rumor that has begun to whisper its way through.”

“... Strange rumor?” Louina asked, her brow furrowing.

“It is a rumor, they say, concerning the House of Yukline,” Jektaine added, clearing his throat.

“Yukline?”

“Shh, lower your voice.”

“Oh... yes, Elder Jektaine,”

The feud between Yukline and McQueen had burned for a long time, but it ended with Louina joining as a professor of the Mage Tower—with Deculein’s consent and without objection. Of course, no one believed it was reconciliation—and neither did Louina.

However, holding onto that grudge had lost its meaning, as Deculein had helped her more than once, and Louina couldn’t deny how much he had done for her since.

“It is about Deculein’s younger sibling.”

That an elder of the Round Table would stoop to such cautious backbiting was, if nothing else, mildly comical, yet Louina chose to go along with it without complaint.

“Are you referring to Yeriel?” Louina asked.

“Yes, there’s a rumor... that she may not be Yukline by blood,” Jektaine replied.

“... Pardon me?”

What the hell is he talking about, Louina thought, narrowing her eyes.

“Louina, I know well that you and your house hold considerable resentment against Yukline—and against Deculein. But now, he commands the Mage Tower of the Empire, while you hold a professor’s chair at the price of surrender. Has that trade not stained your pride?”

“... No, I—”

“I find it unfortunate that the House of McQueen—with all its history—must now make humble appeals to Deculein, merely to hold its footing within the Mage Tower.”

It seemed most of the Magical Realm shared the Round Table elder’s view—that McQueen had bowed to Yukline in humiliation—and that a single professor’s seat at the Imperial University was the price of that surrender.

“The day will come, Louina—when what was taken may be returned in kind,” Jektaine concluded, slipping a crystal orb into her pocket. “We’ll speak again. For now, take this with you. When the time comes, do not hesitate.”

Then, without another word, Jektaine hurried ahead and disappeared from view.

“I have no idea what he’s up to... I get that he wants to keep Deculein in check,” Louina muttered.

Louina could understand the anxiety that gripped the elders—the fear that if they didn’t keep Deculein in check, it might lead to consequences too great to contain. After all, his name had already been floated as a candidate for one of the elder’s seats on the Round Table.

“Over something that makes no sense at all...” Louina said, giving her head a shake.

At that moment...

Louina sensed the tremor underfoot—not overwhelming, but with just enough force to make a misstep feel possible.

“... Oh my?” Louina muttered under her breath, caught just slightly off guard.

However, it lasted only a moment—a brief shudder through the ground—and then it was gone.

“Hmm?”

— Welcome, I am Urei, the curator of this expo.

From the entrance of the expo, Louina could hear the curator’s voice welcoming the arriving mages.

— It is an honor to welcome such distinguished mages from across the continent.

Without much thought, Louina made her way toward them and blended into their group.

***

Elsewhere, Epherene and Deculein had returned once more to the volcano in the Ashes, standing at the edge of the crater and preparing to prevent the volcanic eruption.

“Oh... such brilliance...” Arlos muttered, her eyes glittering with wonder as she looked at the Magicore.

Meanwhile, Epherene couldn’t stop thinking about last night, a wave of embarrassment flushing through her.

To think I was in Deculein’s arms and that he placed me on a sofa was... argh, Epherene thought.

“In other words, this is going to handle the eruption by itself, right?” Epherene asked.

“It’s yours to handle, Epherene,” Deculein replied with a nod.

“... Sorry?”

“The Magicore will act in accordance with your purpose.”

At Deculein’s words, for a moment, Epherene hesitated.

Kraaaaaaaaash—!

Behind her, from the direction of the crater, an unearthly rumble rose.

“You really want me to do this?” Epherene asked, searching his eyes.

“Enough questions.” Deculein replied.

If that is the case, Epherene thought.

“Alright, show a little goodwill, okay?” Epherene said, clearing her throat.

Epherene murmured under her breath, then glanced toward Deculein and Arlos, aware of their eyes on her.

“The Professor only wants to protect Yuren and let the Ashes burn into ashes. But I want you to stop both—all of it—and I’ll help with my spell,” Epherene added, taking a deep breath and nodding.

There was no reaction from the Magicore, nor any sign from Deculein, who had said he planned not to protect the Ashes from being consumed by the volcano.

I really can’t tell if they’re listening to me or not.

“Okay? I’ll help—so we can protect not just Yuren, but the Ashes as well,” Epherene continued. “Protect everything, okay? Just ignore what Professor Deculein says.”

Epherene, standing right in front of Deculein, told the Magicore—without so much as flinching—to ignore him and not to listen to a word he said.

“You've taught your protégé well, Professor Deculein,” Arlos said with a smile.

Deculein said nothing—he let out a scoff.

“So, now...”

Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaash—!

In the blink of an eye, the volcano ignited, hurling sulfuric fire and gases bursting through magma skyward. The explosion shook the very earth—but in that same moment, the Magicore responded—its pulse aligned with Epherene’s command.

The Magicore formed a shimmering blue barrier over the entire crater, breaking down the sulfur, magma, and all eruptive matter into particles—the energy began to leak outward.

“Huh?! Professor!”

Is it defective? Epherene thought, turning to Deculein in alarm.

“This is not working!”

Deculein remained silent.

“It doesn’t work! Look at it! It’s leaking out!”

However, Deculein said nothing, didn’t look surprised, and kept his silence as if it was enough.

Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaash—!

The second eruption of the volcano tore through most of the Magicore’s barrier, unleashing scorching heat and volcanic ash that burst free, scattering across the Ashes in a suffocating wave.

“Professooor! It’s not workinnng—!” Epherene yelled, panic rising in her voice.

“I believe I made myself clear,” Deculein said, furrowing his brow.

“A-About what?!”

“That the damage to the Ashes couldn’t be helped, and protecting Yuren alone was the best option. But... because you insisted on saving them both, now we’ve lost them both,” Deculein added, shaking his head in displeasure.

“... T-Then what am I supposed to do now?! It’s already gone wrong! You’re the one who told me to handle it, Professor!” Epherene replied, eyes flashing after a stunned silence.

Epherene asked with the most desperate expression imaginable—but the answer Deculein gave her the next moment was perhaps not what she’d hoped for.

“Why would you bring that question to me?”

“... Eh?”

Kraaaaaaaaaash—!

The third eruption of the volcano tore through the air, but Epherene said nothing—her voice caught somewhere inside her as she turned to look at Deculein.

The way Deculein said those words... Does he know that he is my supervising professor?

“This is the result of your own actions.”

Whether he understood Epherene’s desperation or not, Deculein spoke with a voice stripped of warmth and anything human.

“It is yours to resolve.”

It wasn’t just a warning—it felt like a test, and Deculein continued as if to see what Epherene would do.

“If you refuse to die—and refuse to let them die—then all of it becomes your responsibility,” Deculein concluded.

The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!