How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 128: Greedy Pig

"What's this?" I asked.

"A request by your older brother," Quentin responded.

"Speaking of him… do you have an idea where he might be or if he's okay?" I asked.

Quentin shook his head. "No. The last time he visited me was the day you woke up in the hospital. He left a few requests for me, but other than that… I'm just as clueless as you."

Since that day in the hospital, forget about coming home. Cyro had never even responded to a text message from any of us.

As he was likely with the First Order Paladins, the chances of him being in danger were greatly reduced as he was surrounded by powerful people, but that didn't mean that I wasn't worried for his safety.

Last time he visited me, he handed me another Warrior Elixir, an item so rare that it made only a few appearances in the novel, and even then, only in later volumes.

Yet, he had acquired the item for me twice.

Although I had the Demon Core of Selgaath and the Elixir, I hadn't consumed either of them yet because there was something that I was waiting for.

I grabbed the box that Quentin was delivering to me.

Placing it down on the ground, I crouched and began unlocking it.

The two locks clicked open and as I lifted the lid, I was half-expecting a snake to jump out and bite my neck.

"Always be prepared for the unexpected," would be what Quentin would say.

But instead, what rested inside the padded interior was a spear.

As I picked it up, I could sense that it wasn't an artifact. But that didn't mean it was a bad weapon just because it wasn't one.

As I looked at it, the more I liked it.

The shaft was a deep matte black and it felt very firm in my hand, meaning that even if I used it to block others' blades, it wouldn't slice through the shaft easily. There were these faint silver lines that ran along the length of the shaft like veins.

The spearhead was narrow and so sharp that I could probably make ASMR videos cutting through precut bars of soap. It looked similar to a leaf but slightly elongated.

"...This is a gift for me?" I asked.

Folding his arms, Quentin looked clearly pleased with himself. "It's not exactly an artifact like all of the things you're using… spoiled brat, but it's a damn good spear if I say so myself."

Wrapping my other hand around the shaft, as I lifted it towards my face, I thought to myself that the balance of the spear was perfect. The weight was distributed in a way that I preferred as opposed to some other spears that Quentin had me train with.

"Cyro had commissioned it," Quentin explained. "Well, he paid for it. I was the one who had the commission request put in."

Glancing at him as I straightened my legs, holding the spear by my side, he continued his explanation.

"He came to me with a job. Said he wanted his little brother to have a spear that wouldn't hold him back in battle. Gave me a disgusting amount of money and told me not to half-ass it. Whatever I had left over, I was allowed to keep."

That sounded like my older brother alright.

"There were more expensive ones on the market," he admitted. "Ones made from better materials than this. On paper, they have better specs than what you're holding."

I gave the spear a swing, testing it. The air hissed as the spearhead cut through the air.

"But?" I asked. Surely that wasn't the end of what he had to say.

Although Quentin had a strange personality, when it came to getting things done, he was clearly proud of his competence.

Even for him, purposely picking an inferior weapon was a joke that he wouldn't dare to make.

I gave the spear a thrust, a pivot, a sweep, and it followed through the motions as if it had been crying for me to wield it.

The length of the weapon was right. The spacing in the grip was just how I liked it. Even the slight flex in the shaft as I swung it was just enough to absorb shock without stealing away my momentum.

"But rather than just buying something premade," he said, "as the guy who trained you, no one is better suited to pick your weapon than me. So I called in a couple of favors and was able to have this weapon created in the span of a few weeks for a price that is more than a bargain."

As the swing completed its arc, it stopped once the spearhead was aimed at the ground.

Slowly, I looked down at the spear in my hand again.

"You nailed it," I told him.

Quentin grinned as if I had said the obvious.

Resuming my swings, I went faster this time. The spear blurred as afterimages of the weapon were left in the air, making it seem like there were multiple weapons in my hand rather than one.

"Press the button near the base."

Pausing, I glanced down and sure enough, there was a small indentation.

Pressing it, the spear vibrated softly as runes that were carved into the weapon during its creation lit up. The weapon was made using magical engineering techniques and the spear began to collapse inward, segments folding and compressing.

In seconds, the spear was gone and in its place, resting in my palm, was a ring.

"...That's pretty cool," I muttered as I slid the ring on my finger.

The ring adjusted itself to fit my finger, going from a tight snug to a perfect fit.

"Once you channel some mana into it, it'll pop back out into a spear. So you can bring a weapon wherever you go without having to worry about hiding it."

As I did just that, the runes of the ring flared and with a snap, the spear unfolded back into existence in my hand, fully formed, ready to be swung without any weaknesses in the joints.

Laughing at how convenient this weapon was, it reminded me of many fictional stories from Earth, which included comics, shows, old books, manga, etc.

"This level of magical engineering is only possible by a few people in the world. And usually, their services would be enough to bankrupt even the richest, but I guess I'm simply built different and they owed me."

If he only kept his mouth shut, my gratitude wouldn't have been tainted.

.

.

.

Once upon a time, the world was still in its early stages of technology.

The invention of the lightbulb hadn't even been achieved yet.

Back then, the evil races, although they didn't live out in the open with their chests out, weren't hidden away in the demon realm like they were now.

Many of them even had their own cities.

For example, one of them was the city of vampires ruled by the Vampire Queen, Turaya.

Nowadays, the city is nothing more than a pile of ruins. Humans have avoided building around the area due to the bad energy and fearing that they were going to be haunted.

But that didn't mean the city was dead.

Vampire hunters would frequent the place, ensuring that no signs of the bloodsucking race would return.

Remember how I said that Aldo Niro had a skin that almost resembled that of a vampire despite being the child of two darker-skinned parents?

There was a reason for that.

"You have to be careful. If he catches you, I won't be able to save you," I told Maya as I flipped through the papers.

Ever since I agreed to help her, she had been investigating Aldo on her own whenever she had time.

According to what she had seen, he would frequently visit the vampire city.

"Isn't that an hour drive from here? How do you even have the time to get there and come back in time for class? Are you even getting eight hours of sleep?"

"Sleep? What's that?" she asked, tilting her head.

"...Ah, I see."

"Anyways, that man has been frequenting that place more and more. I feel like he's getting ready to start his evil plans any moment now. When are you going to do your part and intervene?" she asked.

"Very soon," I responded.

A part of me wanted to rush in and kill that man now before he could commit his heinous crimes, but I knew that there would be benefits to waiting.

I just had to time it so I could intervene in that sweet spot before he did the crime, while also accomplishing what I needed him to accomplish.

"Keep me updated. Do whatever you want. Just don't get caught."

"Are you… concerned for me?"

"Hahaha," I laughed. "Yeah. If I lost a good punching bag, I'll be sad."

She frowned. "Well, I'll do what I have to do. What about you? Isn't there something else that you have to be worried about?"

"...What?" I asked. Did she perhaps know about my agreement with Grace? Or maybe she knew something about my deal with Herol?

"Don't you remember what is on Saturday?"

"What?"

"Valentine's Day…"

I raised an eyebrow. Why would I be worried about that?

"Who are you going to ask to be your Valentine? Diana? Ichiko?"

Because the date for Valentine's Day was moved from February 14th to April 14th in this world, it had completely slipped my mind.

"..." I gulped.

"You know, you shouldn't lead them both on. Either pick one. Or tell them that you'll take both as your wives."

"Who's to say that I'm interested in marrying either of them?"

"Hmm… I don't know. Maybe by that weird way your eyes sharpen whenever one of them talks to some other dude."

"You're mistaken," I said, shaking my head. I wasn't interested in a harem. I had no interest in romance. I just wanted to become the best protagonist I could be and romance would only get in the way of my goals.

"...Suuuure," she said, clearly not believing me. Then she paused for a second and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?"

"A-Are you also aiming for me? Y-You greedy pig! Two isn't enough?!" she asked.

I couldn't tell if she was being serious or not.

"Listen, if I were truly interested in you… or the other girls, I'd give you and them one piece of advice."

"Which is?"

I answered truthfully, "Run away. I'm not a good person to be in love with."