I Became Close to the Villain - Chapter 24

He said as he strode over. He was clearly being sarcastic.

“How can you do that, Idris?”

I cleared my doubts without hesitation.

“I just called and told him to come quickly. Eustave came on his own feet.”

“The way you talk is really……”

Eustave frowned again as if he was not used to it.

Meanwhile, Camellia urged Idris to go. It’s been so chaotic since the morning.

Anyway, the situation soon ended. Eustave and I remained in the hallway as Idris and Camellia went down the stairs.

Eustave looked down at me and groaned.

“We meet again.”

“It’s nice meeting you again. You don’t look happy, though.”

 “Anyways, I have a lot of work to do.”

“I’m sorry if I interrupted your work.”

“No, it’s more terrifying if there’s something wrong with you than my work getting delayed.”

“Why?”

Eustave merely shook his head.

“The master cares about you, Vianne. If anything happens to you, he might run to you right away. How can I deal with that?”

“Everyone will go crazy for the one they care about.”

“He didn’t really care about anything other than you.”

“What, did he really have no friends?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“A mage called Camellia said that earlier. He tells me that Idris has no friends.”

“At least he doesn’t have friends on mage’s island. Everyone close to him has a master-slave relationship. Fortunately, some dogs still have the concept of a colleague.”

“Oh my.”

I felt sorry for Idris. He must have been lonely in such a rough place because of me. He didn’t have any friends even when he came to the place where his own kind lived.

How can I compensate him for all those years? I don’t think he’ll answer me even if I ask him.

I hid my feelings and continued the conversation lightly.

“Are you in a master-slave relationship with him or a colleague?”

“It started with the latter, and now it is the former.”

“That’s why you’re so polite. You didn’t like Idris, but kept using honorifics, so I wondered about your relationship.”

“…  …  I hate it, I really hate it.”

“I already know it.”

I can see it in his face.

“And I am respectful to everyone by nature.”

 “Oh really?”

I didn’t know that.

We decided to move first. I asked if I could go back to the room where I was, and Eustave freaked out.

“This is the master’s room. No one can get in.”

“I slept here yesterday.”

“What did you just say?”

“Aren’t you asking because you don’t know?”

“No, it’s a ridiculous thought, so stop it. Anyway, not that room. Vianne… yeah, it seems like you’re allowed to enter. If I go in carelessly, I might become a dead body.”

“I see, alright then.”

We moved and entered a large room in another building.

I sat comfortably on the sofa.

With a low table in between us, Eustave sat on the sofa opposite me. The servants came in and gave us refreshments.

“Who is that Camellia whom I saw briefly earlier?”

“Why are you curious about that?”

“I don’t know how long I’ll be staying here, so I have to know about those things.”

“Then… Camellia Zeren, number 1 mage under direct control of the archmage, 36 years old, gender is…….”

“Enough.”

“I have only said four of it.”

“So he’s a high ranking mage here?”

“That’s right.”

“If it’s the number 1 person directly under the archmage, he must be a really high ranking one.”

“Yes.”

“What’s your ranking?”

“The ranking is not significant. Even in the empire, when you say baron, you don’t just divide the person under the baron as first and second, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“…Well, here I would probably be ranked 4th.”

“Isn’t it easy to determine the order?”

This person was surprisingly the 4th. I laughed briefly.

He touched his monocle and avoided my gaze.

“The 1st place is Camellia. If you are in 4th place, who is in 2nd and 3rd place?”

“If you’re going to stay here for a while, these people are the ones you need to know. Sinahan and Michael. If I have to choose, both are tied for 2nd place.”

Eustave answered my question.

After Eustave and Camelia, these were names I had never heard before.

In the novel, the villain Idris was highlighted and his underlings were treated as extras, so they barely had any information.

Then, it would be good to know more about it.

“Can you give me the details of those people?”

“… … Sinahan Gail originally belonged to the 1st faction Rezenbaum. He came under the archmage’s direct control. On paper, he is 30 years old, but to be honest, I don’t trust him.”

“Why? Did he look old?”

“Maybe a little. He looks like he’s in his late thirties.”

It was interesting information. Most mages have a setting of looking young in the novel. This made me eager to meet him.

“And Michael Pendes. He has a very bad personality. I thought he would withdraw during the succession because he was a loyal aide to the previous archmage, but he still remains under the current archmage’s direct control.”

“Hmm? Aren’t you under direct control of the previous archmage too?”

“Yes, but…”

“Both of you must’ve been colleagues, but you remain under his direct control.

“Ah, do I need to explain that?”

Eustave showed signs of frustration, but quickly hid his expression as if he remembered that I was an outsider.

I intuitively noticed that there was a background story for it. But I just kept my mouth shut.

“First of all, I don’t like being called the former archmage’s underling.”

“I see. Sorry.”

“It’s okay, because I made a pledge of loyalty. Anyway, first of all, I’ll have to tell you about the various systems here. You have to know about that first.”

“Good idea. I was still curious.”

Eustave took a sip of the tea in front of me and started explaining.

“I’ll start with the most basic one. The master of mage island is the archmage. I think you know the method of succession because that’s not a secret.”

“That’s right. If someone kills the current archmage,  they will become the next master.”

“Yes, but if they have other contenders, they have to deal with them first. Those who ignore the procedure will be attacked by them. Even if they’re confident, it’s not a recommended method.”

According to Eustave, this is to prevent frequent changes.

He also said that there are times when the contenders work together.

For example, if a non-contender intervenes in the struggle for succession, they would held hands and deal with them. 

To put simply, the concept of contenders is their society’s safeguard.

“For your information, contenders usually send out someone from each faction. As soon as they are selected, the contender will not be able to go outside because of the barrier.”

The barrier also plays a role here. Is it to prevent further conflict?

“How many factions are there in total?”

“It depends. However, the 1st to 17th factions are fixed unless something big happens. At least in recent decades.”

“So do the select contenders just randomly?”

“No, when the archmage orders it, that’s when it starts. Until then, no one can do anything.”

“Then what if an archmage without a candidate accidentally dies somewhere?”

“Then there will be a rare battle on the mage’s island. The person who killed the archmage will be the next master. However, if that was not the cause of their death, and if there were no contenders..…. The next archmage will come from the faction occupying the mage’s castle, the magic tower.”

“……The system is pretty complicated. Even in the early days of power, stealing the position is allowed. That’s what caused the chaos yesterday.”

“You know it well.”

“Idris…  …  In what way did he become an archmage?”

“Well.”

Eustave smiled with his eyes. Although it was not a genuine smile, it was my first time he smiled in front of me.

“In conclusion, he became an archmage in a fairly standard way.”

At the age of 11, he first entered the direct control of the archmage, became a contender five years ago, and shortly after dealing with the other seventeen contenders at once, he killed the former archmage Oscar Ferdinand.

Eustave summed it up briefly.

“All in one day?”

I was a little surprised.

Eustave nodded slightly and continued.

“Yes. Overnight.  It is because the origin of the master was unusual.”

“In what aspects?”

“A little while ago, you asked about his aides.” 

“Yes.”

“According to the standard, the person under the archmage’s direct control will be people from their faction of origin. However, since the current archmage ascended to the position alone, no one was directly under his control at first.”

He appeared out of nowhere and killed all the contenders and archmage of the time without any procedures, Eustave added.

‘The mad mage who kidnapped Idris instead of me. He was also an unusual one among mages.’