Failed To Abandon the Villain

Valletta squatted down in the shade of a tree when she saw Snorta growling loudly.

Reinhardt flicked his fingers and pulled out a handkerchief, and he wiped Valletta’s hands that touched the meat with care, one by one.

“So what did you come up with?” (Valletta)

“I think the culprit is that person.” (Reinhardt)

“You mean the blue haired man*?” (Valletta) (*Desilian)

Reinhardt took Valletta’s other hand and wiped it. She didn’t know why this guy always made troublesome things with convenient magic.

“In front of people, you were smiling but thinking like that inside.” (Valletta)

“Because there is no reason to be honest with others. But to Master, I am always serious.” (Reinhardt)

“Don’t talk nonsense.” (Valletta)

“It’s true, but you’re so mean.” (Reinhardt)

‘I don’t see how that behavior, which you shrug off with a laugh, can be taken seriously.’

When Valletta didn’t say anything, Reinhardt didn’t continue to bring up the topic.

“Master, if all of that were an act, I honestly think it was amazing. But the way he acted, the way he looked, it didn’t seem like he was lying.”

“I guess there’s a possibility that he* doesn’t know either.” (*he=Desilian)

Reinhardt nodded at Valletta’s words.

As she stared at Snorta, who was eagerly chewing his meat, Valletta turned her head.

“You said that what you felt was an ancient magic circle?”

“Yes, I believe it’s black magic.”

“What I found out and felt in the Imperial Castle was ancient alchemy.”

Valletta blinked slowly.

“And I could feel the energy of alchemy from that man as well. It’s like what I felt in the Emperor’s office or in my room.”

When she first met Desilian, she was confused, because she wasn’t feeling well, but when she met him properly, she knew for sure.

“Do you mean he’s an alchemist?”

“I don’t think so…..”

Valletta tilted her head lightly . She could feel it directly from Desilian’s body. It wasn’t simply traces of it, but as if Desilian, was himself an alchemical formula.

“I learned from reading ancient alchemy books that the power of alchemy is strongest on the day of the full moon. After that is New Year’s Eve.”

Valletta hugged Snorta, who had finished eating the meat and was lying on its back, revealing its round belly.

Folding the paper and tossing it in the trash, she slowly stood up. Snorta seemed a little heavier than before, and a faint smile appeared on Valletta’s face.

Reinhardt’s eyes widened slightly as he walked beside her. He slowly averted his gaze as he looked at Snorta, who was breathing heavily in Valletta’s arms.

“Do you remember the day each village was attacked? I didn’t get the right information.”

“The southern Talos, the southwestern village on the fifteenth day of the month, the northern Kertonan fourth village two days earlier on the fourteenth day, the northeastern village of Mysia one day before the end of the month, and the northeastern village was on the very last day of the month.”

Reinhardt recited the information smoothly.

Valletta was at a loss for words for a while as Reinhardt’s words flowed out without a trace of deviation. Sometimes she couldn’t help but be amazed at how inhuman this man was.

“And a few days later, it’ll be the full moon.”

“What is Master suspecting?”

“There’s an ancient alchemist named Bertas who has done some dangerous research. To be precise, he’s the one who focused on human experimentation.”

Reinhardt nodded at her words.

“That’s interesting. Very. I’d love to take a look at it myself later.”

Reinhardt’s eyes lit up with interest. Of course, where else would he find materials on human experimentation, but when she heard him talking about it like that, she felt like he had become a little trash.

“I’m terrified of what you’ll do if you take it.”

“Master’s confidence level is too low.”

“Anyway, I read some interesting material there. They turned people into chimeras while they’re still alive.”

“Chimeras?”

Reinhardt did not hide his surprise at the unexpected words.

Chimera was one of the forbidden magics banned by the Magic Tower. Human experimentation itself was also forbidden, but the kind of magic that created new life forms itself was forbidden by the twelve wizards of the beginning.

It never occurred to her that a similar kind of magic existed in alchemy. Valletta nodded her head refreshingly, not even questioning Reinhardt’s counter-question.

“Should I say it’s a forced monster? I guess you could call it a mutation. A chimera is a creature that has been mutated by some external device or experiment, rather than a natural mutation.”

“Forced monster…… That’s interesting and not bad to hear.”

Reinhardt nodded. He gave her an absent-minded look, his eyes fluttering lazily and the tips of his lips lifting gently. When he heard the word chimera, Valletta had an idea of what kind he was thinking of.

‘He thinks the man (Desilian) is a chimera?’

But he had gathered a lot of information too, and he had never heard of a chimera with an ego. It took different and diverse life forms, genes, and a process of destruction and re-creation to create a chimera.

When Reinhardt looked up, his lips were quivering again. He deviated from his thoughts and listened to Valletta again.

“For example, I would use alchemy to decompose and rebuild roses, insectivores, and dragonflies and sunflowers.”

“Is it still alive?”

At Reinhardt’s sharp retort, Valletta just shrugged.

“Yes, I can say it’s alive because the paper resulted in the conclusion that it was ‘alive’.”

“By alive I mean did the accident happen. Master.”

Valletta, who had been agonizing for a while, shook her head lightly from side to side.

“I’m not sure if I should be viewed as an intelligent being capable of rational thought, but …… what I’m sure of is that it was breathing.”

“As long as it’s breathing, it’s possible with magic.”

“Really?”

“Of course. There’s a similar kind of magic. It’s designated as forbidden, though.”

Valletta sat down at the fountain table where she had first come yesterday and placed Snorta on the floor.

“Go and exercise.”

Valletta waved her hand and dismissed Snorta, keeping her gaze fixed on it, and continued her words.

“Anyway, if you do that, what you’ll end up with is an insectivorous plant that grows thorns all over its body, flies around like a dragonfly, and eats insects while watching the sun come up.”

“It’s strange, but it is a plant after all, Master.”

Reinhardt said calmly. He wanted to hear her additional thoughts, not try to stop her from speaking.

Valletta had always been an inquisitive person, and human warmth was something she sought from beasts. Once she realized that she couldn’t find it in a beast, she only stuck to books.

Reinhardt would sometimes read with her at her side, so there were quite a few books that they shared.

“I know, but the problem is, these things grow.”

“…… chimeras grow?”

Reinhardt’s red eyes took on a different expression.

“That’s how it was described in the paper. The author was a crazy person, but the book itself was more logical and well written than any of the other books.”

Valletta was a little surprised when she read it. All the experiments were brutal and inhumane, but the content was reasonable.

“It’s like a child growing up watching and learning……….. It is said that the insectivorous plants that used to eat only flies gradually evolved to learn to taste animals when they tasted dragonflies.”

“What did the author experiment with?”

Reinhardt sat down next to Valletta and asked.

Valletta tilted her head as she listened to the sound of the water.

Sorta ran that way, then skirted around the people and came bounding towards her.

“The first time he succeeded was with a dog and a cat, the second time with a frog, a mouse and a stray dog. The third is the plant I mentioned earlier.”

Valletta stroked Snorta’s head and replied. It was strange to see the little guy painting with his tongue hanging out. She ended up picking it up and putting it on her lap.

“But it seems that you can’t have things that are completely different, where coexistence is impossible from the start. For example….deep-sea fish and lions, or birds and horses.”

“Birds and horses……from the sound of it, even a Pegasus might come out.”

It was strange to be having a conversation under the shining sun. Reinhardt was not threatening, and his eyes were always gently bent. Valletta often wondered what has changed since she was in the mansion, where things seemed to be balanced.

“If Master was right, how could a creature come back once it was broken, if that was the culprit?”

“Well, that’s what I don’t know. So I’m going to try. I’ll create a chimera.”

“…… I wouldn’t recommend that. It’s dangerous, Master.”

Valletta stretched lightly and stood up. If she wasn’t going to tell him it was dangerous, she wouldn’t have moved in the celestial room as he had told her to do from the beginning.

“I want to live in peace, and any threat to that peace must be eliminated.” (Valletta)

Frustration seeped into Valletta’s violet eyes. It seems to make her angry to think that if it wasn’t because of the emperor from the start, things wouldn’t have gotten so messed up.

Reinhardt, who was watching those eyes shining with willfulness, bent down and kissed the back of her hand.

“If that’s what you want…..”

His fluttering eyes seemed to have emotion, yet they didn’t. It seems friendly and not friendly at the same time. Reinhardt’s emotions were both understandable and incomprehensible.

“Anything is fine. Just do what you want, Master.”

If she moved forward, Reinhardt was willing to be a knight to see her through to the end at any cost. He didn’t think Valletta was weak. Instead, he would protect what she decided to protect. If she was looking ahead, Reinhardt didn’t need to worry about the future and just protect her. No matter what it was, she would get through it on her own. It sometimes upsets him……so he wanted to destroy it.

“I’ll do that even if you don’t tell me. I barely made it out of there, and I don’t have any desire to be pushed around again.” (Valletta)

Reinhardt erupted in laughter when he saw Valletta shrug her shoulders as she spoke in an indifferent voice.

“Of course you don’t.” (Reinhardt)

Valletta looked at Reinhardt and stood up with a sigh. Reinhardt quietly followed her as she headed for the market.

***