Failed To Abandon the Villain

***

Gwang-!

“Valletta! Are you okay?!”

“Lord!”

A voice could be heard from a little far away, probably because he had dived to avoid debris falling from overhead.

Reinhardt, in the midst of the fallen rubble from the building, clicked his tongue, grabbed her by the waist and opened his mouth.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, I was just stuck for a while.”

“If you’re not, don’t push it. Summon Jin.”

“It’s not good to reveal my hands here. I appreciate your sentiment, but I’ll put it off for my protection later.”

Reinhardt, whispering in her ears, began to recite ancient words. He was clearly chanting. She always wondered if he didn’t know how to perform basic chants since he always just snapped his fingers.

‘So he just never did it.’

After reciting the chant for nearly 30 seconds, an invisible wave strongly spread around Reinhardt.

Kwaang!

Huge building rubble that had fallen instantly turned to powder and poured out of reach.

Tak, something fell and rolled on the floor.

Although, because of the loud noise, nobody heard it properly.

The fallen red marble rolled over to a corner of the magic circle, and then a dark shadow appeared with a faint light.

The shadow wearing a robe, which appeared from the dust, slowly bent down.

He grabbed the broken red marble and then woosh- he disappeared.

“Hold on tightly.”

Tsk, the sound of his tongue clicking was heard. As he was about to move, Reinhardt’s body stopped.

‘I don’t know what it was, but the unpleasant air has disappeared.’

Tak-!

When he snapped his fingers again, magic was activated again just like always.

Reinhard lightly kicked the floor and flew upward.

His robe fluttered here and there because of the blast of shock wave.

“Tsk.”

Tak, Tak!

Reinhardt, who snapped his fingers two more times in a row, flew high into the sky as he emerged from the crumbling rubble of the collapsing building.

As they flew up the mansion, they could see the crumbling building even more clearly.

“I’m sure I told you to take care of your own life.”

“I apologize, Lord.”

“Thank you.”

Reinhardt lightly snapped his fingers and lowered the three of them down, then slowly scanned the mansion with a narrowed, icy gaze.

The presence of the magic circle had completely disappeared. His red eyes narrowed even more, but there were no traces that could be tracked left behind.

“Gracious, what happened here!?”

“That person who became the Magic Tower’s Master… Isn’t he the one who killed Count Delight?”

“Ah, and did you hear about the rumor? The Magic Tower’s Master’s madness…”

“Overreaction…?”

Reinhardt, hearing the murmurings from here and there, bent down and burst into laughter.

The onlookers that gathered below were fantic even with the dust that crumbled and scattered.

“The one in his arms… Isn’t that the Lady that is missing?”

“It is! I’ve seen her before. The Count’s esteemed daughter…”

“What, how did this happen? Is it really like what the rumors said?”

“What rumors…”

The form completely collapsed, the building and the onlookers became unrecognizable.

Reinhardt showed up on top of it with her in his arms.

And through the voices she heard from the onlookers, she could tell what kind of rumor it would create without even thinking deeply about it.

A sigh escaped from Valletta’s lips. It seemed like she was being forcibly pulled into a very childish stage play.

“… They got us.”

“I know right, we were fooled.”

Reinhardt responded lightly to Valletta’s droning voice.

Reinhardt’s countenance literally revealed madness. Reinhardt smiled as he revealed an expression dripping with bloodthirstiness.

“What kind of madman it is. I absolutely want to see their face at least once.”

Reinhardt’s smiling face was just like a madman.

Valletta, unable to utter those words, slapped him on the shoulder.

Reinhardt lowered his gaze and looked at her.

“First, go down, leave the bracelet, then go back.”

“Bracelet?”

“The bracelet I cut off last time. You fixed it anyway.”

As Valletta stretched out her hand, he looked at her with a strange expression.

“To think that with yourself, Master would be mine, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

As Reinhardt lightly snapped his fingers, a silver ring-like bracelet was placed on both of her wrists. The tight-fitting bracelet was seamless and fitted just right, leaving just enough of a gap on the wrist to not make it uncomfortable.

It would be difficult to remove without his permission, and if she were to try it like last time, a lot of blood would be seen.

It was only fine up until then. Since this guy was not the type who would repeat the same mistake.

The problem was…

“You’re not removing the chain?”

A thin chain that connects the two bracelets was also created.

At Valletta’s words, Reinhardt smiled brightly with an innocent expression on his face.

“Remove it this instant, before I cut it all off.”

“… How scary.”

Reinhardt let out a laugh, then gently snapped his fingers. The thin chain disappeared.

“Take one off.”

“If you lightly bump your wrists together while wearing both bracelets, the left one will come off. To put it on, you just have to hold it out to your wrist.”

Reinhardt put her down where Ceylon, Quilt and Carlon were, and he himself set his feet on the ground.

“Anyhow, if they have come this far, I’m curious what they are aiming for.”

“My mansion…”

Carlon Delphine brushed his hair.

He still couldn’t forget the scene where it collapsed in an instant, like a castle built out of piled up playing cards.

“Carlon…!”

He heard a low-pitched voice as if scratching his ears. Duke Leon was uncharastically walking fast with dilated pupils.

Carlon Delphine looked at him blankly, then he saw a dusty maid, who seemed to have run away from within, and suddenly lifted his head.

“M-master! Inside… Inside…!”

“Oh no, the employees…! There should be servants and maids inside the mansion…!”

Reinhardt glanced at Carlon Delphine and then turned to Valletta again.

“Master, I will go back first. I don’t think it’s going to end with just a light joke.”

“Yes, well then…”

“Help! Y-you’re a magician, right? My friends inside… My colleagues are trapped! They’re dying… P-please help us.”

The maid grabbed the hem of Reinhardt’s robe and knelt down.

Reinhardt lowered his head and glanced at her with indifferent eyes, then he smiled broadly and looked back at Valletta.

It was a dazzling smile that contained no worries.

“Master, are you hurt anywhere?”

“Help…”

The maid, who had been rubbing her hand as if she was about to fall apart, looked up at him blankly.

Carlon Delphine and Duke Leon’s expressions also darkened at his empty expression.

Reinhardt spoke only to Valletta as if there was no maid hanging on to him.

“No, fortunately there was nothing.”

“That’s fortunate. I think something interesting is about to happen, but Master will be fine, right?”

“I will do my own thing. Anyway, be careful… Ah.”

Valletta blinked slowly as if she felt the stark gazes of her surroundings.

The maid, who was holding on to Reinhardt, let go of the hem of his robe, with tears streaming down her face.

Valletta, who was about to say her goodbyes, turned her eyes slowly towards Carlon Delphine, who was unusually disorganized and had a distorted expression.

He was looking at her with a somewhat tired expression.

“But, isn’t it right to help with that?”

“With what?”

“The people under the rubble?”

Valletta muttered in a low voice as she glanced at him.

If there was an innocent animal lying in there, she would probably help. To some extent, thinking about it, she was able to feel something a little similar.

“Is that so? Shouldn’t they take care of their own things?”

“Because it seemed to be the basic.”

“I see, if Master says so.”

Reinhardt smiled and turned his head.

There was hardly any vitality left inside. Most of them were crushed to death, and those still alive were dying. Even the ones that survived didn’t seem to have all their limbs intact.

Tak!

The moment he snapped his fingers, the survivors from the rubble soared into the sky .

He roughly laid them down on the floor and kissed Valletta lightly on the back of her neck.

“Well then, I’m going.”

Life was overflowing in those bright, red eyes. Just like that, he disappeared along with Quilt.

She approached Carlon Delphine and slightly bent down.

“Your Grace, are you okay?”

“… Yes.”

Carlon Delphine responded two beats late to Valletta’s words and then turned away.

Valletta blinked once and straightened her bent back. The moment of wonder in her eyes turned into realization in an instant.

Clank, clank, clank.

Valletta turned her head at the sound of clattering iron. A group of imperial knights with golden patterns on their silver armor stood in front of the duke’s mansion.

***