My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Volume 3

by Satoru Yamaguchi

  In the end, Rufus gave in, climbing off the bed and heading towards the door. “Ugh... right when it was getting good, too,” Rufus sighed before opening the door.

  Lana greeted him with a smile. “A letter of utmost importance has just arrived for you,” she said.

  “Who is it from...?” Rufus said, seemingly displeased.

  Lana’s smile, however, did not waver. “I have left it in your room. Perhaps it would be in your interest to read it as soon as possible.”

  Rufus’ eyes opened wide at Lana’s statement. “...You. No... can’t be. Well. I guess that’s how it is...” he sighed heavily before exiting the room altogether.

  Lana rushed in soon after. “Lady Katarina, are you all right?” she asked, worry evident on her face.

  “I’m okay. I suspect he was about to cast magic on me...”

  “Ah? Magic? Where?”

  “Hmm? Ah, he had pinned me down on the bed, you see, and I was sure he was going to use his magic to put me to sleep... but I have been saved thanks to you, Lana!”

  “...”

  Eh? What is it now? Lana had an ambiguous expression on her face.

  “Well... in any case. I am very glad you are all right,” Lana said, before sighing deeply for some reason.

  There were many things I didn’t understand, but I found myself in the bed once more on the second night of my confinement.

  I’d assumed that I would have trouble sleeping, given that I had overslept well into the noon. But I ended up falling asleep with no trouble at all. Truly amazing, Katarina Claes!

  However... yet another visitor came knocking in the night.

  “Katarina... psst. Katarina.”

  “Ha...?” Still half asleep, I turned my eyes to the source of the voice... only to see Rufus standing at my bedside.

  “Wah!” I gasped, involuntarily jumping out of my sheets.

  “Haha. You really do sleep well, huh.”

  “Wh-What do you want?” I asked in a more guarded fashion, upon remembering what had happened after our dinner.

  “I guess I really put you on your guard, huh. But that’s fine. I won’t be doing anything anymore. It’s time to face the music, see.”

  “Face... music?”

  “Yeah. To tell the truth, I wanted to escape with you, out of this kingdom... but I guess that would be too reckless. I’ll give up on that. It’s become all very complicated, see, because of this magic. Seems like I have to be good for a while... and be taken into custody.”

  “?” Hmm? I didn’t understand what he was saying. What’s this all about? Flee the kingdom? Custody?

  “Well... I guess I’ll never see you again if I go along with it, so I’m here. Hoping to see your face one last time.”

  With that, he extended his arm once more and placed his hand on my face. His touch was ticklish, like before.

  “One last time? What do...”

  Before I could ask him what this was all about, I could suddenly hear a series of sounds outside.

  “Oh... they’re faster than I expected.” Rufus withdrew his hand and retreated some distance away from my bedside.

  At that very moment, the door was thrown open with a loud slam, and before me was none other than...

  “Eh...? Why is everyone here?”

  Jeord, Keith, Mary, Alan, Sophia, Nicol, Maria, and Raphael. All of my friends rushed into the room, their expressions collectively grave and severe. Leading them all was...

  “...Lana?”

  “Yes. I introduced myself as such a while ago, but I suppose re-introductions are in order. I am Larna Smith, of the Magical Ministry. Raphael’s superior. I hope we’ll get along.”

  “!” Isn’t she a maid? What was this? She’s Raphael’s superior at the ministry?

  She regarded me with a smile as I remained stunned. Then she shifted her gaze to Rufus. “I see that you have chosen to remain... have you steeled yourself for what is to come, then?”

  “Yes. I’ll tell you everything... in your custody,” Rufus said, nodding meekly. His expression didn’t seem authentic though.

  “Well said. I see your head is in the right place. Without further ado... Rufus Brode. You are hereby under arrest as the culprit responsible for the kidnap of Lady Katarina Claes. In any case... take him away.”

  At Lana’s, or I guess, Larna’s command, some people stepped out from behind her — staff members of the ministry, if I had to guess. They surrounded Rufus swiftly. Before long, he was restrained and led out of the room.

  What is this feeling...? I had been on guard after realizing that he had attempted to use his magic on me... But the way he lived his life was admirable, and his stories were interesting. I felt uneasiness well up in my chest.

  “U-Um!”

  Rufus and his entourage of ministry guard stopped at the sound of my voice. But... I was at a loss for words. What did I want to say, exactly...?

  And then — “I’ll hold on to it. Until our promise is fulfilled,” Rufus said, opening his palm ever so slightly. In it, I caught a gleam of blue. It was the brooch that I had handed to him.

  I could only nod and respond cheerfully with a plain “Yes.”

  With that, Rufus was taken away to the Magical Ministry.

  ★★★★★★★★★

  By the time I even thought about who I was, I was already living with my friends in the slums.

  I stole, cheated, and lied — it was the most obvious thing to do. I had no parents, no name. My friends in the slums taught me their way of life.

  But everything changed when a certain man came to our territory.

  He came from the outside world. Looked lanky, almost, but was surprisingly powerful. Before I knew it, he was already living close to us.

  The man was different — he had a name. I learned a lot from him.

  Many kids in my group didn’t like this man from the outside world. But I thought that the things he had to say were interesting, so I quickly got to know him.

  And then one day... this man gave me, a slum rat, a name. He called me “Sora.” I asked him where it came from.

  “From your beautiful blue eyes; like the sky,” the man said, laughing as he gazed at my eyes. I felt a strange warmth welling up in my chest. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before.

  From that day, I began calling myself Sora, and started visiting this man even more than before. He had a lot more than just stories of the outside world — he even taught me how to read and write, and also basic math. The boundaries of my world expanded because of him. Before I realized it, each day was becoming happier than the last.

  One day, the man said to me, “Hey, Sora. Don’t you dislike the things I tell you about the outside world?”

  “What kinda question is that?”

  “Well, you see... the rest of them don’t like hearing about it. They all end up feeling miserable. You are the only one who doesn’t react that way.”

  “Why miserable?”

  “...Well. It’s that... upon knowing of the outside world, they become aware of their own situation, you see?”

  “I don’t get it. What’s that mean?”

  “...That is to say. You all don’t even have names, and struggle to live from day to day. Doesn’t it feel bad to hear stories of children in the outside world, who were loved and cherished by their parents?”

  “Ah... so that’s what you mean.”

  “You don’t feel miserable when hearing about things like that?”

  “Hmm... I mean, people from the outside world are just that, right? They’re people from the outside world, and I’m just me. It’s none of my business how a bunch of people I don’t know live their lives.”

  “...Are you not dissatisfied with your current way of life, Sora?”

  “’Course I am! Even I want to sleep in a nice warm bed and eat a good meal! Even so, what are you gonna do about it? Being envious of some other people you don’t know doesn’t really help. You know... I don’t really think of myself as unfo
rtunate or anything. After all, I’m living safely every day, and I can talk about these interesting things with you, right? I think that’s enough for me.”

  “...You know Sora, you’re pretty cool.”

  “Wh-What are you saying, out of nowhere! You messing with me?”

  “Ha! Hardly. I just feel that the way you think is really admirable. It’s cool, you see. You should keep living your life just as you are... without ever being swept away by those around you.” The man placed a hand on my head, ruffling my hair. For some reason, I felt my cheeks heat up.

  It was a while after this exchange that the man fell very, very ill. Although he was strong, I guess his body couldn’t keep up with the dirty living conditions of the slums.

  The man grew weaker and weaker with each passing day. My other friends all said the same thing. That nothing could be done, that this was something that happened a lot to people who wander into the slums... that I should just give up. But I didn’t give up.

  Up until then, I had seen so many of my friends die from sickness, or wounds that never quite heal... but I just couldn’t give up on the man.

  And so... I eventually snuck into a house on my own. A house belonging to a family with a high social standing. And then I was caught, and sold to slavers. I don’t know what happened to the man after that.

  I drifted from country to country, kingdom to kingdom. I came to know of just how big the world was, and how ugly it could be. Thanks to the language and math skills the man taught me, I was of more use than most of the others from the slums. I was valued.

  Even so... sometimes, I was just so disgusted. There were times when I wanted to shout at, scream at, hurl insults at the world. But whenever I felt that way, I remembered the man’s words. “I just feel that the way you think is really admirable. It’s cool, you see. You should keep living your life just as you are... without ever being swept away by those around you.”

  They were the words of a man who was gone from this world... and yet, they stayed with me.

  It was a few years ago when I ended up serving David Mason. Mason bought me for a reason — the fact that I could use magic. Though I couldn’t really do much; maybe just start a small fire, but that was it.

  Back in the slums, my bed was always under the cold, wintery skies. My powers were useful then, but I was surprised to find out that what I was doing had been a sign of magical talent. I had been mostly drifting through countries that didn’t really have magic, and that’s why no one noticed it for so long.

  But Mason found out after buying me that I didn’t have much magical power at all. He probably bought me thinking I was really strong, and wanted to use my powers.

  So, even though I was bought for that exact reason, I didn’t end up having much of a chance to use my magic at all. I ended up learning everything the other thugs and ruffians who were purchased with me were taught. All the different threats, backdoor dealings, and dirty deeds we helped him out with.

  Still, it was a lot easier to live with Mason than it had been in the places I’d been before. We were taught the right social etiquette we needed for our sneaking into different situations. There were hot meals every day, and a soft, comfortable bed to sleep in. And it got even better — we were given fine clothing, and we had all the women we wanted. It was just one good thing after the next.

  After a while, I began thinking that this was it, that I could just continue living my life to the fullest here. But trouble had a way of finding me, and its tendrils soon creeped into my life.

  It all began last year. It involved some Marquess’ family, and apparently Dark Magic had been involved. Dark Magic could be used to control people. It was a taboo subject, or so I was told, but word of what had happened somehow got out into the world. Of course, information like that is usually erased by the powers that be, but that family had a lot of dark connections, so the news had leaked to even a small-time crook like Mason.

  That was how I learned about Dark Magic, the Dark Arts, and how people got that kind of power, the power that Mason wanted. To get it, someone who could use magic had to perform a ritual that involved a sacrifice. That sacrifice was another person’s life.

  Mason, of course, didn’t have any magic, and that was when he remembered that I existed. Under his orders, I would obtain Dark Magic.

  And so... I underwent the ritual with a sacrifice Mason had prepared — an elderly person with no living relatives. Honestly, the idea of sacrificing someone to gain powers seemed very suspicious to me. In fact, I doubted that it would even work. But Mason, despite being a small-time crook, had actually done the work and received reliable information. As a result, I successfully gained the powers of the Dark Arts.

  But when I actually tried using it, I realized that it wasn’t as powerful as you might think. There were a lot of rules. For starters, it was impossible to make someone feel emotions that they didn’t originally have. For instance, I couldn’t make someone love something that they hated and vice versa.

  And then there was the fact that my magical power was low to begin with. This is probably why my Dark Magic didn’t work on people who were really strong in magic. If their magic was stronger than mine, it was hard for me to affect them. Mason was pretty irritated when he realized all this.

  The man known as David Mason belonged to a political faction that supported the first crown prince of the kingdom, Jeffery Stuart. He was probably promised a high position once Jeffery became king, so he did everything he could to ensure that Jeffery would take the throne. That was why he ordered me to become a Wielder of Darkness to begin with.

  From what I understood, Mason had planned to have me use these powers on Prince Jeffery’s enemies. That’d be Prince Ian and Prince Jeord. I was supposed to make them renounce their claim to the throne. But the difference in magical power between me and them was too much. I knew it would be impossible to influence them. All of the princes were very magically talented, so even trying would be too much of a risk.

  For a while, Mason was irritated and upset by the failure of his plans. He even took it out on me. But after a while he calmed down, and eventually decided to think of some way to utilize the Dark Magic he had. Well... I was the one who had it, but anyway.

  Mason thought and thought about what to do. He wasn’t very smart, but he finally came up with a plan... which was this kidnapping.

  My target would not be Prince Ian at all, but his fiancée, Selena Berg. Apparently she didn’t have very strong magical power at all. I would then use her to capture Prince Jeord’s fiancée, Katarina Claes, who didn’t have much magical talent either. With that done, the plan was to use the two as hostages and force the two princes to renounce their claims to the throne.

  After everything was said and done, I would pin everything on Selena, and erase the powerful Berg family from noble society. They were an important family that supported Prince Ian, and this would get them out of the way. At least, that was the plan.

  Really though, David Mason wasn’t a very smart man. I’d been to many places, and seen many types of criminals... but Mason? He was nothing more than a small-time crook. For him to come up with such a complicated plan... Well, he tried his best, but there were too many holes.

  Still, if the plan were to fall through, all I had to do was cut all ties with him and escape. If I couldn’t do that, all I had to say was that my master made me do it against my will, and probably shed some tears for effect. I was born with a pretty good face, I’d like to think. If I made an adequate expression of sorrow and cried a few tears, they’d immediately empathize with me. I had so many close calls in my life, and had overcome so many dangerous situations. It would be no different this time. It’d all work out, one way or another.

  And so, I put on the expensive clothing that was prepared for me and put on some glasses to look the part, and infiltrated the Berg family home. After making the right preparations, I successfully kidnapped Katarina Claes, but...

  “I can’t believe this..
. after everything that happened, you’re just sleeping here? Does this kid have nerves of steel or something?!” I said, unintentionally reverting back to how I normally spoke.

  It had been two days since Katarina was kidnapped. Last night, I had used the Dark Arts on Selena to make sure she wouldn’t tell Katarina anything. But that night, Selena snuck out when I wasn’t watching. She snuck into Katarina’s room and ended up telling her everything about the kidnapping plot, before finally saying that she’d let her go, and that the kidnapping was over.

  I guess Selena’s will was stronger than I’d given her credit for, and the magic had been partly dispelled. I couldn’t believe I made such a mistake... ugh. What a failure.

  But of course, I couldn’t just let things end like that, so I put Selena to sleep with my Dark Magic. And I made sure to issue a light threat to Katarina too while I was at it.

  When I visited her room the next morning, I assumed that the silence in her room was one of fear, and that that she was curled up and cowering somewhere. But then, noon passed without a sound. Did she pass out from the fear? This is why I don’t like dealing with noble ladies... At least, that’s what I thought.

  I entered her room — and lying spread-eagled before me was the sleeping Katarina. She was sleeping very well, from the looks of it. I couldn’t stop myself from saying something about it. It was just too much.

  “Hnnh? Rufus...?” I guess Katarina finally woke up, sensing that someone else was in the room. Then she called my name.

  “I am honored that you would remember the name of one such as myself, Lady Katarina. I do think, however, that it would be a most prudent time to rise. It is already past noon,” I said.

  She was surprised. “Eh?! Already past noon!”

  For a moment, I went back to my normal way of speaking from the absurdity of it all. “...You react to that of all things, huh.”

  “I do surprise myself sometimes, yes...”

  “...Well, I would be the surprised party, you see. I had not heard a thing from your room after all this time, and had assumed that you were simply hugging your knees and softly sobbing in a corner. To think that you would be sprawled out, spread-eagled, snoring on your bed...”