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[Villian] Chapter 13: Insect Caught in the Spider’s Web
🕑 Added 2025-03-31 02:52:53 +0000 UTCImryll clicked her tongue as she exited Emilia’s room.
These royals love to order us around without having any idea how impossible of a task they are requesting.
She arrived at an inn near the noble gate of the university and checked in for the night under a fake name. Tomorrow she would try to catch sight of this assistant professor.
For the next three days, Imryll kept a close watch on the university’s gate, but nobody that she didn’t recognize passed through. She really wished to enter and scout out the place. To the untrained eye, the university seemed normal and peaceful enough, but if one looked a little closer…
The two guards standing at the gate had communication stones in their pockets, and if one looked really close, they had a little tattoo on their wrist showing a small black smiling skull.
Many students were hanging around entrances to buildings or chatting under trees, the majority were just normal students going about their day, but if one looked closer, they could see some students with the tattoo and a communication stone occasionally looking around.
They were Prince August’s shadows and would report the presence of an elf like her in a heartbeat.
Imryll decided to wait one more day before trying to break into the university, regardless of the risk.
The next day, there was finally something new. A horseless carriage drove up to the university gates, and a young man and woman disembarked. Imryll was sure they were her targets. The young man had a tower of books floating beside him—Imryll estimated it was psychokinesis of the C or B-grade, but it was hard to tell since it was so rare.
Psychic was actually one of the most dangerous and powerful magic schools, but it had so many weaknesses and drawbacks that most avoided it. Since they specialized in support abilities, they were often hired by royals or nobles for their telepathy and clairvoyance skills, but in a fight, they were always targeted first due to their weaker defensive and offensive capabilities.
I will have to be careful with how I approach this. As a psychic mage, he will be hyper aware of his surroundings and might even possess foresight.
As the duo approached the guards, they waved them in and looked nonchalant about it, but once the two walked past them, they quickly pressed on their communication stones. Every student they passed with the tattoo also pressed on their communication stones.
Sure enough, Imryll quickly spotted a small group of people that clearly didn’t belong in a university trailing the duo. From their movements, she estimated they were C-grade like herself in varying skills.
The young nobleman and women oddly seemed completely ignorant of their surroundings and walked into the public library. An hour later, they walked out with a smaller tower of books. Imryll guessed they were different books from before but couldn’t tell from the distance.
They picked up a few days’ worth of food from a stall before heading off somewhere in their horseless carriage.
And so the battle began.
Unknown to the duo in the carriage, over forty people with varying levels of abilities were following them.
This was what Imryll meant when she’d said their forces were spread thin. She was all alone, but she could see groups of agents that were sticking and working together to take out targets from other groups.
None of the groups were exactly trying to kill each other but instead prevented the others from gaining the intel they were after. They would try to distract or hold them back, confuse their senses with illusions. Imryll even saw one unlucky guy get tangled up in thorns that shredded his skin.
Wow, their client must have very deep pockets. Even a B-grade Druid is here. Imryll sighed in resignation; she was merely a C-grade in Spatial magic. She could pass through walls, which was a very useful ability for her job, but since her grade was too low, it produced a humming noise as she passed through.
She also didn’t have access to high-grade spells like teleportation, warp gates, and spatial storage. One of the agents in Queen Kaylessa service was a B-grade and could teleport short distances! Imryll was incredibly jealous, but raising to a B-grade was no easy feat and required years of practice and inspiration.
The journey to the target’s house was only a few minutes, but in that time, the number of agents around the carriage had reduced to only ten. Imryll could feel their presence, but not locate their exact whereabouts nor their client’s affiliation.
The targets eventually reached the house, and Imryll climbed up a tree and kept watch. After a few hours, it grew dark, and to Imryll’s surprise, she could no longer detect the other ten agents’ presences.
Did they complete their assignments?
Agents were usually paid by the hour, so clients wouldn’t want them to stand around all night to gather intel; that would cost thousands of gold, especially for a group employing mages like that B-grade Druid. They were incredibly useful, after all.
Imryll was in direct service to Princess Emilia, so she had no hourly pay, much to her displeasure. Sometimes she would work for days at a time, and other times she would have nothing to do. Unfortunately, she could never go on vacation or have a true rest because Emilia could call on her at any time.
Eventually, the sun dipped near the horizon, and Imryll used the last bit of daylight to scout around and make sure all the other agents had left before she could infiltrate the target’s house and gain more information.
***
After returning from the library, Damien was enjoying some wine poured by Fay while reading some new books.
My psychokinesis is still stuck at C+ grade, every school of magic has different requirements to advance the thresholds of different grades, and unfortunately, all information on Psychic magic above C-grade is a state secret.
Only by surrendering myself to become a government servant could I access the books and remove the shackles binding me to the C-grade. In the game, I only managed to advance Damien’s psychokinesis to a C-grade since it wasn’t very useful in the game, but now that this is real life, the potential of Psychic magic has completely changed.
His thoughts came to an abrupt stop as he heard a strange humming noise.
“Fay, go make some tea,” Damien said suddenly, surprising the girl.
“Tea?” she asked with confusion. Damien already had a glass of red wine in his hand, and Fay didn’t like to drink tea personally.
“We will have a guest arriving soon.”
“Oh? Okay,” she responded with confusion. “But who would be visiting this late at night?”
“I’m about to find out,” Damien replied calmly as he snapped open his pocket watch.
Fay shrugged and left for the kitchen, closing the door behind her and leaving him in the empty room.
But there’s one thing for sure, they haven’t come invited. Perhaps the Head Professor sent an assassin to kill me.
[Damien Nightshade]
[Noble Vampire]
Schools Of Magic:
[Psychic Magic (C+)]
Psychokinesis [C+]
Automatic Writing [F]
Telepathy [E]
Pyrokinesis [E]
Blood Magic [F]
-None-
=Null Spells=
Mana Control [D]
I still have almost zero offensive options, especially against a trained assassin. From the noise earlier, I can tell they know some Spatial magic at the C-tier, but I don’t know their other abilities. Shit what should I do? Fight or flee?
An indisputable calmness spread through him as his [Noble Aura] trait took over. What kind of Monarch would flee their domain at the first sign of trouble?
Damien frowned and set his wine down on the table beside him. Fine. I suppose it’s time to bluff for my life.
***
Imryll waited till late evening and finally made her move. She quickly ran under the cover of darkness to the house’s front door. She carefully peered through the door using her senses but couldn’t detect anyone guarding it from the other side.
She pressed her body against the door and activated her Spatial magic. Her mana quickly drained to only half of her reserves as her body entered an almost phantom-like state for a second.
The door’s matter shuddered as she passed through, causing a humming noise, similar to an insect when it flew past a person’s ear. Finally appearing on the other side, she quickly canceled her skill to save her mana reserves.
The hallway was dark and devoid of people. This was rather weird for a noble estate; usually, there would be guards in the corridors and maids walking around, but it was dead quiet. If not for the light escaping from a door on the upper floor, she would have assumed this house was empty.
Suddenly a door on the upper floor opened, and the noble girl walked out and down the stairs. She calmly walked into the back area of the kitchen where drinks are usually prepared. Imryll waited until the girl was occupied before pressing on. She was not her target, the assistant professor was.
She inspected each room she walked past. The servant’s quarters were deserted with just a few personal items left inside as if they had all vanished somewhere and never come back. The kitchen was also mostly dark, but there was a knife on the counter and some cut meat and bread left out. Imryll had witnessed the noble girl purchasing this food earlier today. The noble girl was through a doorway in the back of the kitchen, humming a tune while she brewed some tea.
Imryll ignored her and continued through the hallway lightly on her feet like a shadow.
The rooms had all been stripped of anything useful. Usually noble houses were full of sculptures, art pieces, and monster materials found from the dungeons. Maybe he is low on money and sold it all? she mused.
Quietly ascended the stairs, she used a little Spatial magic to decrease her weight, so they wouldn’t creak. She had to be fast. One of them was likely to have either skills or items that could detect her presence, as she was only a C-grade.
She hastily approached the door and put her ear against it, trying to hear any discussion inside while keeping track of the noble girl’s location.
Welcome, little spy.
Imryll’s eyes went wide as a voice sounded in her head. It was a weird sensation but one she had felt before.
Telepathy. A skill known by skilled Psychic mages.
Before she could escape, the door swung wide open with force, revealing a man sitting calmly in a brown leather chair, his wine-red suit complementing his blood-red eyes and his white hair that fell over his perfectly sculptured face.
I got to run! Imryll desperately thought as she activated her spatial ability to go through the floor.
However, the man said something that made her freeze in place.
Oh, Imryll, what a pleasant surprise! Does Princess Emilia need something from me?
Somehow the man knew not only her name, but also who she worked for.
