The Villain has Perished

Chapter 8 Soul Eroding Poison

?Inside the dining room, the Lionels ate in silence after Sol left.

Finishing his dinner, Duke looked at every member before speaking, "I think our doubts have been dispelled. Finally, after a thousand years, his majesty Solomon has been revived. The vessel we chose this time was perfect to hold his soul."

The moment Sol's hair had turned black, all of them believed they had succeeded. But the lack of action from Solomon's side in the past days made them rethink their evaluation.

p?nd?,no??1,?o? Thus, today, they overstepped their boundaries and invited King Solomon to judge him.

Ice princess, Sol's elder sister, opened her mouth. "Indeed, but he seems to have lost his memories."

The Duchess held her cheeks and blushed. "The way he chose the head seat, his confident gait and chilly gaze, all of it was the same as I remember him to be."

A smile spread across the Duke's face as he said, "It's his Majesty, after all. He didn't flinch even as he retorted after realizing our strength."

He recalled how Solomon tried to defend his home. "His Majesty must have inherited the memories of the boy and yet he was nothing like him."

Before, despite being arrogant, Sol never retorted directly – he was afraid of the Daemons – unlike what he did today.

The Duke continued to spat, "That damned brat took too many years to give up. If it wasn't for the revival conditions, I would've tortured him to complete the process faster."

While they were busy praising Solomon to the heavens like diehard fangirls, the Wandering Swordsman interjected.

"Are you sure it's King Solomon? His memo–"

Swoosh—!

A small gust blew.

The next moment, Ice Princess and Duchess were standing besides Wandering Swordsman, their blades out and pressing against his neck.

"Shut. Up." The Duke glared at him. "We confirmed it was him, his majesty, when he used his power of creation this morning. This meeting — this insult — we only did it to satisfy you."

Intense heat came out of Duke's body. He stood up and pointed his blade at the Wandering Swordsman.

"Don't. Judge. My. Patience."

"Hahaha, I was joking." The Wandering Swordsman, Jared, raised his hands. " I was the one who saw that monster coming out of king Solomon's room's window and reported to all of you, wasn't I? I only wanted to know why father was ignoring us."

Glaring at him, Duke placed his sword in the sheath and turned to Duchess, "Stop concocting Soul-eroding poison. He won't need those 'medicines' anymore."

He looked at everyone before speaking his final words, "It will take a while before his majesty recalls everything. Let him do what he wants, he has woken up from a long slumber after all. We can delay our return, 6 months should be enough."

Jared stood up and walked toward the door. He waved his hand with his back facing others. "I'll continue looking for the one who poisoned King Solomon's drink during the banquet."

——————

I was breathing heavily while standing beside Yula. Beads of sweat glistened over Yula's body and her clothes stuck tightly to her body, all the while she was breathing heavily too.

Pointing the tip of my sword in front of her face, I beckoned her. "Get up. Let's continue."

"N-not again, young master! We've been at it for the entire night! My b-body is too sore to move!"

"Don't worry, I'll start slow this time."

"Y-you said the same thing last two times…" Tears threatened to spill from Yula's eyes as she desperately refused from going for another round.

I didn't have a wink of sleep last night and was tired thanks to the intense physical activities too, but all of it was nothing in front of this satisfaction!

She, a Daemon, was a few ranks higher than me, and training with her increased my skills at an astonishing rate!

Ding!

<<Celestial swordsmanship has reached level 2!>>

<<New skill has been unlocked!>>

'Sweet! Just in time!'

Closing my eyes, I muttered 'Interface' and, going inside Floor 0, checked the diary.

————

<Celestial Swordsmanship>

<Level: 2>

<Series: Phantom Swordsmanship>

<Description: The swordsmanship known to contain the essence of all swords techniques ever invented. It can slay Gods and Dragons alike. Each level unlocks new moves under your series.>

*

<Phantom Slash>

<Level: 2>

<Cost: 15 Magic Power>

<Description: Creates two phantom sword slashes to distract the opponent.>

*

<Phantom Step>

<Level: 1>

<Cost: 5 Magic Power per second>

<Description: Nullifies noises created by your movements.>>

————

<Phantom Slash> leveled up when <Celestial Swordsmanship> reached Level 2.

And, this time, I unlocked a new move!

'I can't wait to increase my swordsmanship level and use other skills!'

The Phantom series contained 5 basic, several advanced and higher-level techniques. Two of the basic techniques were Phantom Slash and Phantom Step.

I had the knowledge about the other techniques too, but given my current ability, I wouldn't be able to execute them. This was why they weren't shown in my records.

Suddenly, I felt a group of people approaching me in reality and I left the white room.

"I expected better from an heir of the Lionel House than to force his maid to train with him all night!" The pink-head who I had noticed yesterday was leading a group of trio and barked angrily. "Nobles like you are an insult to the empire who treat their people like objects!"

The largest of the trio, who had a bushy beard and looked no different from a speaking chimpanzee, also added. "Young master, Yula hasn't gone through 1st mortal awakening. It is too much to ask for her to undergo a rigorous training session along with you, someone who has gone through mortal awakening."

I looked at the group closely.

'The chimpanzee is the sword instructor of my House. But who are these two?'

Noticing his condensing smirk, it wasn't difficult to understand that he was the one who had riled the pink-head.

'Pink hair, pink hair.' I dug into my memory. 'Is she someone from the royal family? If not, I don't see how she has the courage to talk down a Lionel House member.'

To insult me, an heir candidate of the Dukedom, publicly was the same as asking for a Capital Punishment.

"P-please don't blame, young master. He was h-helping me to train because of my request."

"Oh you poor soul. You don't need to cover for him." The pink-head rushed to Yula and helped her stand. "With me here, he won't do anything wrong to you!"

The last of the trio, the blue-head, was uncomfortably shifting in his place. He couldn't decide if he should help the pink-head or not. After all, they didn't know the full story behind my actions.

'Dang, <Reader> is quite useful in situations like these.'

I whistled internally, as I understood the individual intent of the trios with a single glance.

The chimpanzee was here to watch me make a fool out of me, the pink-head wanted to save Yula from my evil clutches, and the indecisiveness of the blue-head made him unable to reach a conclusion.

"Why are you standing still like a statue!? Is it because I hit the mark? Answer me, Sir Sol!"

'Ugh, she is still going on? It's early morning too. Someone shut this high-pitched alarm before I go deaf.'

Before the commotion escalated further, I raised my arm to stop the pink-head and turned to Yula.

"Yula, who are you?"

"Y-young master's personal maid."

"There you have it." I faced the pink-head whose anger was reaching the boiling point. "She's my personal maid, not yours. I get to decide what I want to do with her."

"Y-you!!! Don't you hav-"

"Would you take her as your personal maid then?" I swiftly cut the pink-head.

"H-huh? What are you talking about…?"

"You are trying to save her, aren't you? If you want to do that, you need to take her away from the Lionel estate." I spoke as a matter of fact. "I'm asking if you are ready to take responsibility for your words, or are your words empty solace that you are speaking for your own satisfaction from delivering a half-assed momentary justice?"

"E-eh..?"

The pink-head suddenly backed away with wide eyes.

"It is the latter, it seems. Let's leave Yula, we need too…"

'!!!!'

For a moment, Yula was emitting intense killing intent. Carnage and Destruction dominated her thoughts in that instance.

My back was covered in cold sweat instantly.

'What was that? Why did she get enraged suddenly? Is it because I took it too far this time?'

"Young m-master?" Back to her normal self, Yula muttered weakly.

"It's nothing, Let's go."

I composed myself and left after giving the blue-head one last glance.

'Che. That's fantasy for you. Why is a random no-name mob this handsome? I would've believed someone if they told me he is the protagonist.'

Shaking my head, I smirked internally.

If my black hair was something that singled me out of the crowd, for the protagonist it was his ashen white hair.

'But that pink head, is it her? The 2nd princess and one of the two heroines from the World of Swords & Magic?'

'Looks like I'll be meeting the protagonist soon.'