How to Survive Against Villains Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Power Really Is Sothing

It made sense why the master of Crux took such a keen interest in nurturing soone who had awakened Divine Power.

And now, I also understood why he abandoned .

‘So it wasn’t just because of Arcane’s ddling.’

One-star.

After pouring so much ti and effort into , all the master got in return was a asly one-star rank.

There’s a rare gem known as mana fruit, worth tens of thousands of gold, known to accelerate mana cultivation significantly. Yet even after eating three of those precious fruits, this body barely managed to awaken to the first-star level—a pathetic achievent.

Although I was better than the other assassins thanks to the elite training and material support I received, the return on investnt was abysmal.

The cost of three mana fruits would’ve been enough to train a three-star assassin capable of killing a full-fledged knight.

“The worst mana sensitivity.”

At first, the master must have been thrilled by the prospect of nurturing soone with Divine Power. But eventually, he must have concluded that the investnt was a failure.

The potential of Divine Power grows hand in hand with one’s mana capacity, aning this body’s terrible sensitivity to mana was no different from a curse.

How long would it take to reach the second star? How many more mana fruits would I need to consu?

To the master, it must have felt like pouring water into a bottomless barrel.

A half-baked Divine Power user.

“A terribly mismatched combination, huh?”

In other words, this body possessed Divine Power, but with clear and frustrating limitations.

An awkward card to play—neither worth cultivating nor easily discarded.

In the end, the arrival of Arcane must have sealed my fate, driving the master to throw away.

But now?

‘This ability is pure gold.’

The power to infuse weapons with attributes.

Depending on what attribute I used, this ability could beco soone’s worst nightmare.

In this world, there was a concept known as attribute counters.

Fire was weak to water, water to wood, and wood back to fire. Beyond these basic rock-paper-scissors chanics, there were countless other elents that interacted with each other in various ways.

So what if my mana sensitivity was the worst?

That didn’t matter at all.

I never had any intention of growing stronger through endless training anyway.

Who has ti to waste honing their body, gathering mana, and waiting for enlightennt?

This world was the setting of [When Villains Grow Stronger], where powerful villains wreaked havoc, pushing the world into chaos. The mont you crossed paths with these calamities, you were as good as dead—crushed without rcy.

On the flip side, though, this world was filled with opportunities for fortuitous encounters—the kind of encounters that made villains powerful.

Mana fruit?

In the future, those things will beco so worthless that no one would bother picking them up off the ground.

‘I’ll take everything. Scrape it all clean.’

Villains, heroes—whoever it belonged to, I’d steal everything the mont I saw an opportunity.

Arthur Clayton.

Like it or not, I now had a na and was part of this world.

And in this world, the first one to grab sothing gets to keep it.

***

“From now on, your na is ‘Al.’”

“Al?”

The next day, just before dawn, a group of n stood in a row outside the underground prison.

I rubbed my sleepy eyes as one of them handed a bronze rcenary tag.

It was a C-rank rcenary badge, engraved with the na “Al” and so basic personal information.

Blinking slowly, I looked at the man in front of .

He had deep scars across his face, and his rough deanor made him seem like a high-level rcenary. But when the knight who had been acting as my errand boy bowed respectfully to him, I realized my initial assumption was wrong.

If even a trainee knight bowed to him, there was only one possibility—

He was a full-fledged knight.

I clenched my teeth.

‘Kal, you son of a bitch. You’ve really crossed the line.’

Resentnt toward the Mad Butcher surged within .

A proper knight, assigned to guard a lowly new assassin like ? This wasn’t part of my plan, but now I had a ridiculously strong babysitter.

And it wasn’t just him. The knight wasn’t traveling alone—he had brought along four rcenaries. Judging by their rough, disciplined auras, they were all battle-hardened veterans.

‘Did they bring this many people just to stop from running?’

If so, they were probably experts in tracking and pursuit.

Surely, they didn’t have even more reinforcents waiting sowhere, right?

The fact that Kal assigned this much manpower to guard was telling. It showed just how much he feared him—the person I was supposed to et.

A full-fledged knight and four veteran rcenaries.

The pressure from these watchdogs was overwhelming.

It felt like the difficulty level of survival had jumped from Normal to Hell in an instant.

“Let’s move.”

“Hold on.”

The knight, who had introduced himself as Ben, glared at when I stopped in my tracks.

He looked terrifying. Damn.

But I couldn’t back down here. If I wanted to push through my plans, I had to establish my position right away.

The first eting is where you set the tone. The mont you show weakness, you’ll be dragged around for the rest of the journey.

“You’ve got sothing to give , don’t you?”

“…What?”

“You didn’t co empty-handed, did you?”

I held out my hand in front of him.

Kal must have sent sothing, but it seed Ben had decided to keep it for himself.

Ben stepped closer, radiating nace.

“It’ll be safer if I hold onto it.”

“Is that an order from our lord? Should I ask him directly?”

“……”

What nonsense. Did he think a little intimidation would scare ?

After glaring at for a mont, Ben finally pulled a small pouch from his coat and handed it over.

When I opened it, I found colorful gemstones the size of fingernails, shimring brilliantly. Even though I knew little about jewels, it was obvious they were worth a fortune.

“The lord thought carrying gold coins would be too bulky, so he prepared gems instead. Their value is exactly 20,000 gold.”

‘…That bastard.’

Twenty thousand gold—just as promised for my survival.

But this idiot just revealed the amount out loud in front of everyone. It was clear he wanted to screw over.

I could feel the rcenaries’ eyes gleaming as they stared at the pouch.

This wasn’t a good sign.

Knights were supposed to embody loyalty and justice, but in this world, expecting that was foolish.

A knight who served a villain like Kal? Asking him for justice would be like asking a stray dog not to eat garbage.

If I hadn’t insisted just now, Ben would have pocketed the gems without a second thought. He was greedier than he looked.

This was the perfect opportunity to teach him not to ss with .

“As of now, my na is Al,” I said. “I am also a vassal who has sworn loyalty to our lord.”

“Where do you get off calling yourself a vassal—”

“Two days ago, I dined with the lord. He made many promises in exchange for my loyalty—this 20,000 gold is just one of them. Do you find that amount insignificant?”

“……”

Twenty thousand gold was a fortune, more than most knights could hope to earn in a lifeti.

Regardless of the reason, Kal had officially given that amount to . And that fact alone carried weight.

There was no way Ben knew exactly what Kal and I had discussed. If he did, he wouldn’t have dared show up here.

That gave room to bluff.

“Be careful how you act. If you understand the importance of this mission, that is.”

“……”

“If you continue to annoy , who knows what excuse might reach our lord’s ears if the mission fails? You said your na was Ben, right? Do you think I’ll go down alone?”

“You little—”

“If you call ‘little bastard’ one more ti, I’ll write a letter to our lord. I’ll leave the contents to your imagination.”

Ben’s face twisted in frustration, but he gritted his teeth and took a step back.

The rcenaries exchanged glances, avoiding my gaze. It seed my bluff had worked, at least for now.

Since the 20,000 gold had already been revealed, I figured it was better to emphasize how important I was to Kal.

Before following Ben and the others, I handed the map I had taken from the captain’s belongings to the trainee knight.

“Deliver this to our lord. He’ll know what it ans.”

The knight nodded and accepted the map.

It marked the location where Kal was supposed to et “him.”

Why had I chosen that particular place?

Because it was perfect.

I fixed the trainee knight with a serious expression.

“Tell our lord that I will carry out this mission with my life on the line.”

“Understood.”

“Also, I’d like to bid the lord farewell before we depart.”

Before leaving the prison, I bowed deeply in the direction of Kal’s office, wearing a look of solemn determination. The trainee knight, seeing my sincere deanor, nodded approvingly.

‘Kal, you bastard. Let’s never et again.’

Of course, my true thoughts were the exact opposite of my actions.

After changing into rcenary attire, I left the underground prison. The world outside was still shrouded in darkness, as it was the hour just before dawn.

Including , our group consisted of six people.

Once we exited the inner city, we moved under Ben’s lead. The security within the city was tight due to the recent civil unrest, but Ben easily led us through without any trouble, even in our rcenary outfits.

‘Power really is sothing.’

With just a few words from Kal, I had gone from being the assassin who killed the First Young Master to C-rank rcenary Al.

And Kal wasn’t even the lord of so grand kingdom—just a mid-level lord. Yet his power was enough to change soone’s fate with a few casual words.

If that madman ever beca the ruler of a region…

The entire continent would be bathed in blood.

And, well—

That’s exactly what happened.

This ti, though, things would be different.

Because now I was involved.

As we passed through the bridge at the city’s edge, a carriage awaited us. We boarded the carriage quietly and began crossing the bridge.

On the road through the outer city square, I caught sight of a grisly scene.

The execution platform stood illuminated at the square’s center, its torches burning brightly.

“...Damn.”

A groan escaped my lips at the horrific sight.

There were six naked, rotting corpses, along with one more hanging by the neck.

Their bodies, mutilated beyond recognition, had been pelted with stones until they were unidentifiable.

A wooden sign hung around the hanged man’s neck:

[These vile criminals were executed for assassinating Lord William.]

They were the assassins I had worked with just a few days ago—now reduced to this pitiful state.

I stared at the hanged corpse, weighed down by a heavy sense of guilt.

He was a stand-in, executed in my place to divert attention from .

I wondered who Kal had chosen as my double.

For Kal, such decisions ca as easily as breathing.

A wave of disgust washed over .

Clatter—!

The carriage sped through the square and soon reached the city gates. The enormous gates, which had been tightly shut, slowly creaked open.

The carriage passed through the gates and into the gradually brightening world beyond.

Just as I had planned, I had used Kal to escape the watchful eyes of Crux.

Of course, I still had to free myself from Kal’s grasp, but I reassured myself that I would handle that soon enough.

And after that?

I turned my head silently.

The Blyer Territory disappeared behind us, swallowed by the darkness. As I recalled the execution platform, a fierce desire burned within for the first ti.

‘I’ll beco strong.’

Strong enough that no one—not Kal or anyone else—would dare ss with .

Our carriage rolled toward the Beneta Territory, which bordered the Nelitori Gorge, the site of my next move.