Why Did You Mess With Him? He’s the Evil God’s Lackey! Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Viktor, You Really Ca Into This World?

The sky had begun to pale with the first light of dawn, and the sun rose as it always did.

Leah returned ho yawning, and the family Knights at the entrance opened the gate for her.

Dealing with matters through the entire night had left her weary, but she still couldn't sleep.

She walked, exhausted, to Viktor's room, and pushed the door open without hesitation.

"Viktor, I need to talk to you about..."

The room, however, was empty.

She couldn't find even a trace of him.

This left Leah genuinely puzzled.

What was going on?

Had Viktor left her behind and headed back on his own?

She closed the door with her question still unanswered, and a certain possibility suddenly occurred to her.

She made her way quickly to the Training Ground, and there she stood watching Viktor swing his sword over and over in a single repeated motion.

"..."

She rembered that not long ago, he had still been the sort who preferred reading.

"When exactly did you start training with a sword? And who taught you?"

Leah shot Viktor a sowhat suspicious look, then added a disbelieving afterthought.

"Don't tell it was Gwen?"

Viktor didn't so much as glance at her—he didn't even offer a single word in response—and simply put the sword away and hung it back on the wall.

Weija took the opportunity to fly over and settle on his shoulder.

Leah mistook the silence for a yes and was left sowhat dumbfounded.

When exactly had those 2 gotten close enough to train together?

And wasn't Viktor a Mage? Was he actually thinking of changing classes?

"So—how did it go?"

Viktor's voice broke through, and Leah snapped back to the matter at hand. She spread her hands and shook her head with a tired sigh.

"Ugh. He told us everything."

How to put it... it had been slightly anticlimactic.

Perhaps the trauma Viktor had left on him was simply too severe—Leah hadn't even gotten to use several of the thods she'd prepared.

Chuer had taken one look at that red recovery potion and told them everything there was to tell.

"In short—the Kingdom got scared."

Leah began recounting Chuer's confession.

In truth, the Kingdom had been keeping an eye on Viktor for so ti.

When Viktor beca a 3rd-Tier Mage at age 20, the Kingdom had already been weighing whether to quietly deal with this existence who might one day beco a future threat.

But Viktor was a strange one—so strange, in fact, that he never communicated with any noble, always did as he pleased, and looked down on every noble with perfect impartiality.

This had resulted in his reputation being utterly abysmal, to the point of being despised by virtually everyone.

So the Kingdom concluded that Viktor posed no threat—and that if necessary, they might even be able to bring him over to their side.

Then, in the first half of this very year, the Kingdom found their opening and sent Chuer to secretly infiltrate the Clavena Family's ranks as a grain rchant.

From there, they would seek the right mont—ideally, to engineer a direct falling-out between Viktor and the Empire's upper echelons.

"And then you went and had one of your inexplicable episodes, showing up at the Duke's daughter's Banquet to confess your feelings."

At this point, Leah shot Viktor a thoroughly disdainful glance and delivered a cutting remark.

"Didn't even know you had a Fiancée."

Viktor said nothing. He knew that if he responded, Leah would simply use more words to shut him down.

Shortly after, Leah went on.

That single incident had been precisely the opening the Kingdom was looking for.

They moved to leverage it, attempting to sow hostility between the Duke and Viktor, and force the Clavena Family into a break from the Empire.

Unfortunately for them, the Kingdom hadn't accounted for the fact that the Duke was completely wrapped around his daughter's finger.

Ever since the volcano incident, Erika's admiration for Viktor had reached its absolute peak.

The Duke might have had the inclination, but because of his daughter, he had no ability to make an enemy of Viktor.

And then, just as the Kingdom was still hunting for their next opportunity—planning to make contact with Viktor at so point—

The Demons arrived.

Viktor demonstrated the overwhelming power of a 4th-Tier Mage and beat the Demon into the ground.

The Imperial family ca to learn of it, and Viktor received the Imperial family's overtures.

The youngest 4th-Tier Mage had, in the end, beco the Kingdom's enemy.

"The Kingdom never expected that you'd been holding back for 9 years straight—suddenly erging as a 4th-Tier Mage threw their entire strategy into disarray."

Leah shook her head and exhaled.

Viktor hiding his true strength had co as a surprise to her as well.

"The Kingdom's hardliners decided your existence had already beco a threat. You're too young—if they didn't eliminate you quickly, you might one day beco the ultimate threat that brings the Empire to the Kingdom's doorstep."

"So they supplied Chuer with the Anti-Magic Stones and planted holes in our Territory's finances. Their aim was to draw both you and out—and erase us by force."

"Even if the mission failed, Chuer could take poison and die, and the Kingdom would be able to walk away clean."

At that, Leah let out a short, derisive laugh.

Who could have imagined Viktor would have those miraculous little vials?

Take poison? He'd drag your life back from the edge even after you took poison!

"I imagine Chuer thought it was a sure thing at that point—but who could have possibly foreseen it?"

Leah looked toward Viktor, pressing a hand over her mouth as laughter escaped her.

"You turned out to be a Mage who could fight in close combat."

Even Mage-soldiers, who trained their bodies and applied magical equipnt simultaneously, would never choose to go toe-to-toe with a warrior in close quarters.

And yet Viktor—a conventional Mage—had not only dared to do exactly that, he had actually won.

It was, truly, surreal.

Viktor made no response, because he could tell there were still things Leah hadn't finished saying.

Once her laughter subsided, she raised her eyes toward Viktor.

"As it happens, Chuer being able to infiltrate the Territory—that also has sothing to do with you."

Viktor's brow furrowed slightly. He was puzzled.

To do with him?

"Do you rember the grain rchant from before? His na was Parsen."

Leah looked up to check Viktor's expression. It was exactly as she had expected—utterly blank.

As though he had absolutely no recollection of the man at all.

"I knew it. How could our noble Mage lord possibly rember such an insignificant person."

Leah clicked her tongue twice and spread her hands.

"Parsen had a wife. The 2 of them lived in Lambado, but Parsen spent close to half the year away from ho."

Lambado was a village within the Clavena Territory.

"Our noble Mage lord, at so point, felt a sudden impulse to tour the Territory."

"And during that visit, he was affronted by Parsen's wife."

"Simply because when he was stepping out of the Carriage, she accidentally bumped into him."

Leah's voice was sowhat detached.

What followed was a rather ugly story.

Parsen's wife had apologized frantically in her panic, but Viktor had not been appeased.

With a single offhand remark, he had this woman—who was pregnant at the ti—sent off to work in the mines.

Labor that intense was naturally more than a pregnant woman could bear.

"While at work, the woman miscarried and nearly lost her life."

"Though she was found and saved in ti, the damage left its mark. She could never bear children again."

Leah told the story of the past. Viktor listened in silence.

Though it was sothing the Viktor of that ti had done.

The grain rchant ca ho, and watched the once-radiant smile disappear from his wife's face.

And so he resigned from the job that had all but secured him a comfortable life, and carrying hatred in his heart, he made contact with Kingdom soldiers—which is to say, Chuer.

"Parsen used the connections he'd built within the Territory to forge a false identity for Chuer and introduced him into our ranks."

What happened after that needed no further retelling.

Viktor listened to the full account from beginning to end and said nothing.

When all was said and done—all of this had been the result of the old Viktor's own doing.

Strictly speaking, the Viktor of before had been, in the truest sense, a contemptible existence.

He was indifferent to the lives of every commoner and every noble alike; his heart had room for no one but himself.

No one could ever reach his inner world. He disdained every person with equal asure.

To him, everyone else was nothing more than a speck of dust and a crawling ant in the world.

Among the nobles, his reputation was catastrophically bad.

When other people beca 3rd-Tier Mages, they would draw envy, yes—but they would also receive the sincere congratulations of friends.

Only Viktor could hope that nobles would even speak to him.

If they didn't spit on him, he should count himself lucky.

Even among the Players, Viktor's reputation had nothing going for it beyond his appearance and his power.

So he had no friends—and in the end, even the only family he had turned against him.

In the future, there had been a particular storyline involving Viktor that Players had recorded and passed down among themselves.

A fallen noble, with no one to turn to, wandered the streets.

Viktor ca across him and said: if you bring your most precious possession in exchange, I will help you restore everything you once had.

The noble took Viktor at his word, and handed over his most treasured family heirloom.

Viktor accepted the heirloom—and then told him:

"You have violated the terms of our transaction. Your most precious possession was never a material thing."

He had the man's wife and children taken into the Manor, forcibly sending the fallen noble's family to labor in the Territory, and told them that their family mber had sold them and left the Empire—gone off to so other country to live out his days in wealth and luxury.

The wretched noble was ultimately exiled by Viktor, and from that point on, Players never laid eyes on him again.

To this day, he still rembered that famous line of Viktor's.

"Why is your most precious possession not your family?"

Many Players tried to find deeper aning in Viktor's words, but the damned Ga Writers had never written out the backstories of any of the ga's NPCs.

Yet Viktor's vile deeds were more than enough to be seared into mory for a lifeti.

Leah was still talking.

"There's sothing I didn't ntion to you before—our Mage Item Shop was vandalized on the day it opened."

"And it just ca back to : a few days before that all happened, you gave this."

Leah raised her hand. The gleaming gemstone on her fingerless glove caught the daylight and shone brilliantly.

Viktor listened quietly as Leah continued:

"I was fairly curious about it before—because during that period, the only person you'd made an enemy of was the Duke."

"But when I had the people who vandalized the shop caught and questioned thoroughly, I found it wasn't quite that straightforward."

"Looking at it now, that grain rchant had been prepared well in advance."

Leah's voice carried a cool edge.

After Viktor had given her the Mage's Hand, she had only used it once—during the Trading Caravan attack.

And the only people who had seen her use Magic at that ti were those in the Caravan.

Yet when she went to apprehend Chuer tonight, he had used the Anti-Magic Stones against her.

He had even been under the impression that she was a 2nd-Tier Mage.

From the mont the Trading Caravan was attacked, the Kingdom's people had been watching Viktor—with Parsen as their ans.

Everything linked together.

She had always known her brother's reputation was poor, but she hadn't imagined the Kingdom's people had had their eyes on him as well.

His talent had given the neighboring Kingdom cause for alarm.

At that mont, Viktor suddenly spoke.

"Go and send so compensation money to that grain rchant's wife."

Leah paused, looking up at Viktor, not entirely sure what he ant.

Compensation could carry 2 anings—one for injury and disability, and the other...

"Then find that grain rchant and bury him."

Viktor's expression did not change as he said it plainly.

But beneath the detached tone lay sothing unmistakably, thoroughly cold.

Leah stilled for a brief mont. In that instant, it felt as though the Viktor that everyone used to despise had returned.

But he hadn't gone to the extre of wiping everything out—and that told Leah he was still the Viktor of now.

The Viktor she didn't entirely dislike.

Even so, she asked.

"Why do this? You brought it on yourself to begin with."

Viktor narrowed his eyes slightly—perhaps the newly risen sun was a little blinding.

But his voice, stripped of sentint, ca as it always did.

"The mont he decided to try and kill you, there was only 1 sentence left for this person."

"Death."

Leah gave a small start, stepping back 2 paces.

She lowered her head, not wanting Viktor to see her expression right now.

Her voice ca out as steady as ever.

"You think I don't hold grudges?"

"Don't worry—I already sent people to handle it."

Viktor gave a nod. He hadn't noticed how Leah looked just now—he simply said, as indifferently as always:

"Then, shall we head back?"

"...You go on ahead. I still have so things to take care of here, and I need to find a new grain rchant too—ugh, so much falling on at once."

"I'll be back in the Royal Capital in a few days. Make sure the servants clean my room every day."

Viktor nodded, left a brief "you've worked hard," and the hidden Teleportation Formation beneath his feet flared to life in an instant.

Swept up in the current of air, his body beca a beam of blue light and vanished without a trace.

When the last drop of azure-blue light had faded, Leah was still standing there, motionless, head lowered, as though she were desperately holding sothing back.

Viktor was gone. There was no one left to see the expression on her face.

She no longer had to hold it in—as though the dam holding back her feelings had finally broken open.

A single tear traced a line down Leah's cheek, passed through the dry air, and fell to the ground, scattering the dust where it landed.

In the silence that followed, only a single voice—barely more than a murmur—broke through:

"Leah."

"You're so useless."