How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 116: Three Reasons

Pulling my sword out of the boss's head, it turned into a beam of light, and a gentle white glow covered my arms. It had the same pattern as the juices of the flowers that I used to make the oath.

Raising a clenched fist—

Tap.

I bumped fists with Arthurr who had turned back into a singular body.

Neither of us was in a rush because we could sense that the mana around us had begun to settle and that there was only one mana signature in each of the two arenas that our other teammates were in.

Arthurr pulled out my bag from his inventory and handed it over to me.

I sure could've used you during the start of the fight.

Turns out that Sarakit had made the correct decision to keep her bag on her body.

The two of us drank our potions and watched as the walls began to lower.

Shhhhhrrrk—boom!

My eyes first saw Sarakit. Her skin looked like she had eaten one too many spicy peppers.

"Hey," she smiled as she turned to us. Then, she stumbled forward.

Arthurr dashed forward but used his spatial magic to keep her from hitting the ground. He caught her, then turned to me and said, "She's asleep."

Merlin, on the other hand, looked tired but he was full of energy.

He rushed over to Arthurr and asked to get his bag.

Once he was handed his bag, he pulled out a pen and notebook and began writing tons of notes while muttering things to himself.

Quentin then appeared in the room and he pointed at Merlin, to which I shrugged. He then looked at Arthurr and he also shrugged.

None of us knew what Merlin was doing.

The only thing I knew was that whatever it was he had discovered during his fight, it was something coming out of the brain of the soon-to-be greatest wizard to ever live.

"Let's let him finish writing down his notes first," Quentin said as he took a seat.

It must've been an hour later. Sarakit had already woken up and she was in the midst of recovering her energy. We could sense that something was wrong with her mana circuit, but she explained that it was a temporary side effect of her potion.

Finally, Merlin lifted his pen off the paper and closed his notebook.

Nodding his head, he turned and jolted.

"Oh!" he yelped. He hadn't expected to see our faces. He must've been so zoned into his writing that our presence had been erased from his mind.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Quentin said. "So, what was so important that you had to write it down in the middle of a boss room?"

Merlin began to explain that during his battle against the guardian, due to the guardian's high-resistance to fire, he had to come up with a way to injure the monster while not burning through his mana reserves so quickly.

He ended up developing a new technique that allowed him to layer the spells that he was casting so that when one was cast, the residue mana it released would power the next spell.

This isn't a technique that exists in the novel.

He began to explain everything down to the finest details but when Quentin asked if others could copy what he did, he shook his head.

I was a little disappointed because the technique sounded very interesting and powerful.

"Are you sure? Is this not you gatekeeping it from the rest of us?" asked Quentin, joking with Merlin.

Merlin, however, took the joke seriously and profusely shook his head. "No no no. I mean it. Other than me, no one can do it. At least… not yet."

"Not yet?"

"The technique's core structure is built upon my genetic foundation and my deep understanding of each spell I know. I'll have to rework this technique, modify and simplify it so that it can be used by others."

Arthurr turned to me and I could see multiple question marks on his face.

'It's okay Arthurr!' Gon screamed in my head. 'You are not alone. I'm also confused.'

Kimi said, 'That's because you're a fool.'

Liona then chimed in, 'Then since you're so smart, can you explain it? I'm a little stupid, so I don't understand. Can you dumb it down for us?'

To their surprise, Kimi began explaining everything in a simpler language. Although I understood the general idea of what Merlin had said, the explanation Kimi gave was also helpful as it filled in the blanks of what I was confused about.

"Merlin," Quentin placed a hand on his shoulder, "you need to keep this technique a secret."

"...W-Why?"

"Because it's a powerful technique. You need to keep it a secret, at least… until you're strong enough to defend yourself."

"When will that be?"

"When you're capable of defeating a demon on your own," he responded. Both of them glanced over to me.

Quentin then turned his attention to the others, including me.

"I'll need you three to make a blood oath, swearing to keep this technique a secret until Merlin is ready to reveal it himself."

"...Sure," Sarakit answered.

I nodded and Arthurr did the same.

.

.

.

"Big brother!" Rubi screamed as she ran into my arms.

"Rubi! I just gave you a shower earlier!" Mother yelled behind her. "Your brother reeks of sweat. Now I'll have to give you another shower."

"Mother, 'reeks' is a strong word. Just say I smell."

"Well, you reek. If you reek, I say you reek," she smiled as she ran her hair through my hair where sweat had dried up. "How was training?"

"...Tiring," I responded truthfully. "But insightful."

"That's good to hear. By the way, your cousin is on his way here."

"My cousin? Which one?" I asked.

"Jaren."

That former drug addict's face flashed in my mind.

"Why's he coming over?" I asked as I placed Rubi back down on the ground. She ran back to Eloise, who was sitting in the living room, playing with toycars by herself.

"I'm not sure. You have to ask him yourself."

"...Okay." I was confused by the sudden visit but it was Jaren, so whatever his reason was, it was probably something stupid or something serious.

Either way, I needed to shower and prepare myself mentally for whatever he had in store for me.

An hour later, a car pulled up to the front.

Getting out of the car was Jaren.

"I'm surprised to see this car unscratched," I commented as we did our handshake.

"Come on cuh, you think I'm finna be a shitty driver forevuh? Shiii… you know me. Worked on my driving skills the past month. Light work. No reaction," he said, raising two palms into the air.

"What brings you here?" I asked as I walked with him inside.

He greeted my mother and the two little girls.

"Let's head to your room first," he said.

Once we were in my bedroom, he turned the dial to block our voices from the outside world.

He grabbed my video game controller and turned it on without asking. I didn't mind it and took a seat on the bed as he sat down on the floor.

"So…"

"So?" he repeated, looking at me in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean 'what do I mean'?"

"...What?"

"What?"

"Jaren, are you fucking with me?"

"...Yeah. Hahahaha. Should've seen that look on your face," he said as he made a camera gesture with his fingers and snapped a few "photos".

Grabbing a fidget ball on my desk, I flung it at his head.

Bonk.

"Damn! Did you have to hit me in the head? My IQ already in the negative. Are you tryna make me dumber?"

"I'm not sure that's possible. Now, get to talking before I chuck the TV at your head next."

"...Alright, alright. I came to visit for three reasons."

Three?

"First off," he smacked his lips. "I can't miss my cousin. My baby cuzzo? M-My blood? My… my brother from another mother? My ride or die? My twin? My—"

"Okayyy. Enough. I missed you too," I scoffed, shaking my head. "What's the second reason?"

"Mane, you rushin' a dawg like he ain't got feelings. I'm hurt. Cuzzo. I'm hurt," he gasped, clutching at his heart as he leaned backward and slammed the back of his head on my mattress.

I grabbed a tungsten cube that was on my desk and made the motion of throwing it, stopping at the very last second.

He flinched so hard that his eyebrows jumped off his face.

"Sheeeesh! Almost gave me a heart attack. Fine! Since you're sooo dang impatient." He clapped his hands together and his face turned serious. "The second reason why I'm here is that I heard the drugs that the Blue Rascal has been selling have come to a stop."

"..."

"Was that you?" he asked. "Did you put an end to that bastard?"

In a way, I did. So I nodded.

"Thank you," he said as he placed his palms on his knees and bowed.

"...Lift your head up. It looks very awkward coming from you."

When he straightened up, there was this goofy look on his face.

"I watched a samurai movie yesterday. Shit was maddddd inspiring. Like, honor type shit. Die for your family type shit. Sword in your stomach type shit. Wait, ain't yo fiancee a samurai or some shit like dat?"

Putting the tungsten cube down, I ignored his question and asked, "What's your third reason for coming here?"

I reckoned that the previous two were just the appetizer. The real reason for his visit must be his third reason.

"Aight. Don't get mad at me if this turns out to be false. I don't even know if it is true. Just word on the street. A couple of people saying the same thing."

As every ounce of his foolish self was wiped from his face, I got a little nervous.

"I hear that there might be a vampire in your academy."

"...!"

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest, but I quickly suppressed it.

"Elaborate," I said.

"Well, I don't know much, but one of my homeboys' dad is friends with this dude whose cousin is the brother-in-law of this chick who may or may not be a vampire hunter."

Trying to keep track of the relationships he just listed was a little confusing, but I somehow managed to understand.

"I heard from my homeboy and a few others who also have some links to this vampire hunter through this and that, that she and her crew have recently gotten ahold of some sort of… I don't know, evidence? Signs that a vampire is in yo city?"

"Okay. A vampire in my city…" I muttered. "Why do they think they're in my school?"

"Because… because… because…"

Because? Because what?

"Shit. I forgot."

"..."

I grabbed the tungsten cube and nearly threw it at his head.