I Became Close to the Villain - Chapter 25

“One day, he kept picking up mages from somewhere. Mages who lived in a country other than mage’s island. They formed a group under the direct control of archmage. Like a faction.”

“Is Idris among them?”

“That’s right. And interestingly, we didn’t receive a pledge of loyalty from them except those who wanted to. The pledge will bind them, so it is customary to do it for mages directly under the archmage’s control.”

Eustave said that there were more mages who were voluntarily loyal to Oscar.

Thanks to that, they quickly settled on the island.

“However, because of that, there were not many mages who could be called aides.They have to make that pledge to be recognized as a close aide.”

“Well…  …  .”

“People like that are still here. So, the rest of the former archmage’s aides, except for those who decided not to be loyal to the new archmage, became people under the direct control of the archmage.”

“That’s why there are many who attacked him?”

“Yes… usually, the archmage’s faction must be excluded as the next contender but this time there were none.”

He was a really weird mage.

“Because of this, there has been controversy within the island throughout the five years when the master is a contender. Since he’s not from an official faction.”

“It is unusual.”

“That’s why he finished within a day. Beforepeople talked about him further, surely and quickly.”

“…  …  Oscar didn’t know it was going to be like this, didn’t he?  From his point of view, isn’t it too wrong to appoint such a contender?”

He was a strange, and even slightly stupid mage.

“The master had a lot of things planned. At that time, everyone didn’t know he was so strong. In the first place, it’s not that he wanted to make the master an archmage…… he put him up as a contender to prevent him from escaping.”

“Escape?”

“The master has been trying to escape whenever he has time since he was young. People kept blocking it, and five years ago, he was finally appointed as a contender.”

 “Aha…  …  .”

I’m a little stunned.

‘The escape attempt must have been him trying to come back to us.’

Now that I hear about his past, rather than being scared, it is just…  …  .

It was terrifyingly sad. I felt like I wanted to pat his head.

“Well, so why did you pledge loyalty to both Oscar and Idris? From what I’ve heard so far.”

I went back to the original topic.

“Yes. The master demanded a pledge of loyalty from all according to custom. I changed my pledge, and Michael is the same. Michael was really unexpected, he was loyal to the former archmage.”

“By the way, Eustave.”

“Yes?”

I saw his right gray eye, and a lighter gray eye beyond the left monocle.

‘His left eye, perhaps injured?’

I suddenly wondered about this twenty-year-old mage.

“After listening to all the explanations, it seems that you’re also an unusual mage.”

“…….”

“Are you also a young mage picked up by Oscar?”

He looked at me, surprised hearing the unexpected question.

“On top of that, you’re a colleague of Idris. Even though Oscar did not force you to do a pledge of loyalty, you do it and hate it. Yesterday, I saw that you fought well and you might really be ranked 4th, yet you’re working as a manager. If the word manager means the same thing in the empire, that’s doing paperwork.”

As I said that, he laughed. It’s not a funny situation, so I was a little scared.

“You seem to have a lot of stories, Eustave. Maybe not that many, but you sure are interesting. Can you explain this too?”

I glanced at the big scar on the back of his right hand, which he was fiddling with. And he shook his head.

“Maybe we aren’t too close, but I know how to keep a secret. Relax, Eustave.”

I pretended I wasn’t scared, and I smiled too..

That smile was cut off by the door that opened.

“Ah my mistake. Child, don’t be scared.”

A light purple-haired mage who broke into the room smiled kindly.

“Did you come here on purpose?”

Eustave said bluntly.

“What do you mean on purpose? Not at all. Don’t trust him too much, black-haired lady. He’s a good liar.”

“Who are you?”

I ignored his words and asked.

“Oh my. I’ll officially greet you now. I’m Michael Pendes. I’m here because of my cute master.”

That’s the one Eustave said.

“…  …  Nice to meet you. I’m your cute master’s friend.  My name is Vianne.”

“The lady is cute too.  Are you two the same age?”

“Yes, I am the same age as Idris.”

After hearing the answer, Michael came to sit next to me and grabbed my hand.

“By the way, lady, you look ill.  Are you okay?”

“Michael, don’t touch her.”

Eustave immediately warned.

“Child, leave the nagging behind.”

 With Michael’s words, a large golden light flashed by.

Bang!

Eustave took it head-on and slammed it against the wall.

‘What is this?’

“Are you crazy!”

Eustave shrieked as he got up from among the broken furniture.

Wow.  I also wanted to say that. I pressed my hand to my fast-beating heart and agreed with his words.

“Did you just know that Michael Pendes is crazy? You should take care of yourself, cute child.”

‘How did this person think Eustave is cute? Sure, me and Idris could be called cute, but Eustave?’

It was funny but scary.

He really acted as if he was handling a cute child.

“I will report your atrocities to the master.”

Eustave gritted his teeth and made a threat.

Michael laughed softly.

“That will be difficult. How could I be beaten in broad daylight by my cute master?”

“It must be fun to watch you get scolded.”

Eustave came towards him, shaking off his dusty clothes. He raised the sofa that fell backwards and sat down again.

“Get out now. Otherwise, I can call the master right away.”

“Too bad. You ruined my meeting with the cute girl because of your rude behavior.”

“Don’t you think your appearance ruined everything?”

“Don’t listen to him. It can’t be like that, right?”

Michael showed endless confidence and left without a warning like how he had come.

“He’s crazy.”

I said bluntly.

Eustave took off his broken monocle.

“He’s just such a person. You should know him, but stay away from him.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Even if he asks about your physical condition, don’t answer. It’s not good to be known. We don’t know how Michael thought of you, Vianne.”

 “Idris must have covered it well. But no one told Michael that? You said he’s a person under the archmage’s direct control.”

“Only me, the master, and Camellia know about your condition. The rest are not very reliable.”

“I know what you mean.”

Michael is, at best, out of control, at worst a time bomb.

“Your monocle is broken.”

 “I have a spare in my room, so that’s fine.”

“Okay. Cheer up.”

“Yes…”

Eustave sighed.

“Are you hurt?”

I asked just in case.

“I am fine with the defense magic.”

“Oh, you are capable.”

As I admired him, he smiled slightly.

Hm, this time it was like a real smile. Right? Or is it not? 

***

Contrary to Michael’s words, Idris did not appear.

Me and Eustave moved into another room as he brought out another monocle. I spent some time waiting for Idris.

Eustave seemed like he wanted to abandon his duties for a day, but his attendants came while carrying a mountain of papers.

“Manager. I didn’t know you would be here.”

“…It was clearly announced that I’m out of work today.”

“There are so many documents that are urgently needed to be processed.  Administrative approval is required.”

“Damn it.”

Eustave’s attendants gave him the dreadful task.

 He merely cursed and accepted fate.

“But the person in front of you…?”

“Nothing to worry about. You don’t need to greet her.”

“Then we will go.”

The attendants only greet Eustave and left.

From Eustave’s behavior, Idris seemed to have instructed him to hide as much as possible.

“I will do some work.”

“Do whatever you like.”

“Yes.”

Eustave notified me, and unfolded the papers with a dissatisfied face.

I looked at him, then blankly looking out the window.

“Can I just wait for Idris like this?”

“Vianne doesn’t have much work to do, so maybe you should just do it.”

“Boring.”

“I can’t help it.”

He moved his pen while responding to my words.

“What’s going on today? Is Idris normally this busy?”

“There’s something going on. One of the 17 factions that had remained unchanged for decades had just been destroyed yesterday.”

“Ah.”

“The rebels that were subjugated yesterday were the 14th faction.”

“He must be busy.”

I understood.

After some time, Eustave ordered a servant to bring lunch. So I happened to have a meal with him.

The afternoon after that day was also boring.  Eustave worked very hard.

I looked through the bookshelf in the room, but there were no books I could read because they were all magic books.

When I had nothing to do even after taking a nap and waking up, I aimed for Eustave’s documents. 

I picked up a bunch of paper that Eustave decided was not a confidential document.

But even that was just too difficult.