How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 142: Bob

Grabbing a few large bones from the pile, I threw them into the walls of the pit, creating a makeshift staircase.

Lightly jumping from bone to bone, I was able to leave the pit with Gary scrambling his way up after me. He had this annoyed look as he brushed off fragments of bones from his shoulders.

"I just got these clothes too," he grumbled.

"Stop complaining. What's the point of having fresh new clothes if you're dead?" I asked.

"...I guess you're right," he muttered.

Back on the path, as we were treading along, I couldn't help but notice that Gary was walking a little closer to me than before.

This probably wasn't because he trusted me but because he was starting to get scared about what was awaiting us the deeper into the labyrinth we were getting.

Does he think I will protect him if we come across danger?

The corridor twisted like a snake as we continued walking. Occasionally, it would branch out into three, four, or even five different paths and I just allowed my intuition to pick which way to head down.

The thin black line continued to trail behind us and it stretched toward the direction we came from, making it easy enough to avoid walking in circles when we ended up looping back around to a spot that we had been earlier.

About a quarter of an hour later, we encountered the next trap as a row of enormous metal blades appeared from above and swung down like pendulums.

Gary screamed and when I stepped back casually, I made sure to yank him by his horn so that he wouldn't be sliced in half.

"Relax."

He stared at me and quickly regained his composure. "I was… I wasn't freaked out. I was just testing you."

Raising an eyebrow, I released his horn.

"Learn the timing that they swing and we'll be able to pass without any issue," I told him.

I took about thirty seconds to cross. As for Gary, he took about two minutes and nearly lost a horn on three occasions.

After that came the monsters.

The first group we encountered was a pack of bloodthirsty hounds who looked malnourished. They had emerged from the walls and were made of the same material.

It took me about a minute to kill them all with the help of Gary, who had his calf bit by one of the hounds.

"Stupid dog," he grumbled.

Then the next thing we encountered was a floating giant eyeball with teeth sharper than those of a shark.

I don't know what it was supposed to do but after I stabbed it in the red pupil, it burst like a balloon filled with too much water.

The juices splashed everywhere and unlike me, who used my mana to block the fluids, Gary was drenched in the eye juices. He gagged at the smell that had coated most of his body.

"I hate this place. I hate this place," he repeated to himself.

"You're a demon. Act like one," I shook my head.

"You're the real demon," he said in his native language, to which he was met with another pat on the head.

The deeper we went, Gary either became as silent as a mouse or as talkative as a narcissist in love with their own voice.

At one point, we nearly got crushed by a trap where the walls around us suddenly slid together but I had managed to wedge Gon between the walls long enough for us to squeeze through.

Sadly, Gary's tail was flattened in the process.

After that, something in him snapped and he began yapping as if his life depended on it.

"So when I was a child," Gary suddenly began, completely unprompted, "my family lived in a small town in a land far south from here."

I glanced at him.

"When did I ask?" I questioned him.

He continued anyway.

"My father was a blacksmith, and when he wasn't asleep, he would spend every passing hour in front of the fire. My mother worked in the market selling vegetables. We were not poor, but we were not rich by any means either."

Another fork in the path appeared and I chose the left corridor without much thought.

Gary kept talking as he followed behind me.

"I had two brothers. Both of them were stronger than I was. Better fighters. Even their horns looked better than mine. My father liked them more."

"Is that so?" I replied casually while stepping over a pressure plate that looked suspiciously like it wanted to kill someone. "Be careful of that," I said, pointing at the plate.

"Yes. They both joined the military caste," he continued while kicking a loose stone that he encountered.

Thonk!

"What if that stone had activated a trap? Are you stupid?"

"...Sorry. Where was I? Oh, yeah. I tried to do the same once and follow in my brothers' footsteps," he admitted. "They rejected me immediately."

I nearly snickered at how pathetic this demon was but held it back.

I asked him, "Why?"

"My horns were too small."

I looked at his horns and they were indeed unimpressive.

"At least, that's what they said. I think the truth is that my two brothers used their influence to tell the recruiters not to accept me. After all, not every demon has horns. Why would my horns matter?"

"I see."

"But I was always good with languages," Gary continued quickly, as if trying to defend himself. "That is how I ended up at the academy."

"The demon school you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes."

He sighed.

"Everyone mocked me for taking the human language courses."

"Well," I shrugged, "they're not wrong."

If it wasn't for the course, he wouldn't have become my personal guide and been brought out all the way out here.

Gary glared at me.

"But it was interesting!" he protested. "Human cultures, human history, relations of demons and humans in the past. There are so many mysteries left behind by ancient civilizations."

Ahead of us, a creature that looked like a spider made of molten rock crawled down from the ceiling.

I stabbed it through the head while Gary continued talking like this was a casual stroll through a park. The monsters had gotten too strong for Gary to handle at this point, and it was just me fending them off.

"Demons rarely care about such things," he said. "But I do."

The spider twitched and stopped moving.

Gary stepped over the corpse without even pausing.

"My dream," he said, voice lowering slightly, "is to become an archaeologist."

I blinked. "In the Underworld? I didn't even know that the occupation is a thing over here."

"Yes, it is a thing. Although… not many people have heard about it or care for it," he uttered while scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

"There are ruins everywhere down here. Ancient labyrinths like this one. Forgotten temples. Lost demon kingdoms."

His eyes actually brightened a little as he began speaking about his passion.

"Someday I want to make enough money to move to one of the larger cities. Somewhere like Narkhael or Vorthus. That is where the great scholars live."

Another monster lunged at us from the shadows.

Before Gary could even react to it, I had already driven my sword into its throat and the creature collapsed with a wet choking sound.

"But for now," he admitted quietly, "I am still stuck working down in the trenches along with the other lesser demons."

I chuckled as he sounded like many young adults I've conversed with in the past who had aspirations of being something bigger but were content with working 9-5s in the meantime, saving up money for their eventual pursuit of greatness or their dreams.

Gary sighed again. "But maybe this labyrinth will contain something valuable," he said hopefully. "An artifact. A relic. Something I can sell."

Is he dumb? Did he forget that I essentially kidnapped him? Why… why would I share the valuables with him?

His gaze drifted down the corridor ahead of us.

"Then I could finally leave my city."

For a moment, he looked almost… human.

I hadn't expected that.

For all the talk humans had about demons being monsters, if I were to put Gary inside a human body, I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference between him and another human.

There was a moment of silence as I began thinking about this fact, while Gary seemed to be lost in thought about his past.

Eventually, Gary looked back at me.

"So what about you?" he asked.

"Hm?" I uttered, a little surprised by the sudden question.

"You have heard my story," he said. "What is yours?"

Does he actually think we're becoming friends or something?

'Seems like it,' Kimi answered.

"What is your name?" Gary added. "You never told me. I've just been calling you human this whole time. You know more about me, and I feel like it's only right that I get to learn some more about you as well."

I thought about it for exactly half a second.

"Bob," I lied.

Gary blinked a few times before repeating, "Bob?"

"Yes."

"That is… a very strange name."

"It's a traditional name back in my world. Lots of humans have that name."

Gary seemed unsure about that but accepted it anyway.

"So Bob," he said, "what kind of life did you live before coming to the Underworld?"

I placed my hands behind my head as we walked.

"Well," I said slowly, "it's a long story."

Gary leaned forward slightly, his eyes gleaming with light as he was excited to hear the story of a human firsthand rather than through books.

"I like long stories."

Of course you do. You're a nerd in the body of a monster.

"Alright then," I sighed dramatically. "Let me tell you about the tragic tale of Bob."

Gary straightened up as if he were preparing to listen to an epic legend.

"In the village where I was born," I began, "there was a terrible disaster the night I came into the world."

Gary's expression immediately turned serious.

"A disaster?"

"Mm. A gigantic demon fox with nine tails attacked the village."

He blinked.

"Nine tails?"

"Yes. The fox was extremely destructive and was larger than multiple buildings combined."

Gary slowly nodded, as if this made sense.

"The creature destroyed half the village," I continued, "and my father, who happened to be the strongest warrior in the entire region, sacrificed himself to seal the demon fox inside my body."

Gary stopped walking.

"…Inside your body?"

"Right here," I said, tapping my stomach.

Gary stared at my stomach like he expected it to grow fur and start wagging.

"That is… horrifying," he gulped nervously.

"It was very inconvenient growing up," I admitted. "Every time I got emotional, the fox would try to take over my body and destroy things."

Gary's jaw began to drop as he glared at my stomach in shock.

"But that's not all," I continued casually.

"Oh."

"Yes. Because shortly after that, my village discovered that I also belonged to an ancient warrior bloodline."

Gary's eyes widened. He looked thirsty to hear the next part and I gave a little pause to add some dramatic effects.

"Every few generations, someone in my family awakens a special power in their eyes that allows them to copy any technique they see."

Gary leaned closer.

"Any technique?"

"Any technique."

He looked amazed.

"So if you saw someone do something once—"

"I could replicate it as if I had always been able to use it."

Gary rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"That seems extremely unfair."

"It gets worse."

Gary froze as he asked in shock, "There's more?"

"Oh yes," I said with a wave of my hand. "Because when I was about twelve years old, I discovered that I also possessed the blood of an ancient alien warrior race."

Gary stopped again.

"…An alien."

"Yes."

"What's that?"

"An alien is… a creature from another planet. The planet that my ancestors came from was a planet that was destroyed."

Gary slowly nodded like this was becoming normal.

"Apparently, my people become incredibly powerful when they fight strong opponents. Every time I nearly die, I come back stronger."

Gary stared at me with jealousy leaking from every corner of his body. "That seems… very convenient."

"I know. And when the moon is full," I added, "my hair turns golden and stands straight up."

Gary looked up at my hair.

"…Does it do that often?"

"Only when I scream loudly enough."

He accepted that explanation without question.

"But wait," I said, raising a finger.

Gary groaned quietly. "There's more?" It seems like he was starting to doubt my story a little bit now.

"Just a little more."

We walked past another corridor while I continued my masterpiece.

"Shortly after discovering my alien heritage, I also learned that I could stretch my body like rubber."

Gary turned his head slowly.

"Rubber."

"Yes."

"My arms can extend dozens of meters."

"That sounds… painful. Can you demonstrate it for me?"

"Not at the moment. Most of my powers were sealed when I was pulled into the Underworld. I'm not exactly sure why I can't access them."

Gary looked deeply confused before raising a finger. "Perhaps the… environment?"

Tilting my head, I repeated, "Environment?"

"Yes," he said, clearly latching onto the idea that he had formed in his mind as if it were the most logical explanation in the world. "The Underworld and the human world probably operate under different principles."

"Oh?"

Gary nodded eagerly, warming up to his own theory the more he thought about it.

"The natural mana here is far more primal and corrupted than it is in the human world. It's heavier, more chaotic. Spells and abilities that rely on structured energy might behave differently here," he explained while gesturing vaguely at the air around us.

"For example, if your abilities were developed in a world where the mana flows in stable currents, then suddenly being thrown into a realm where it moves like a storm could disrupt those abilities."

"I see," I whispered while nodding.

"It would be like… like trying to breathe underwater," he continued. "Your body knows how to breathe air, and air exists underwater… but the environment is so drastically different that your body is unable to breathe."

I nodded slowly as if I were deeply considering this.

"So what you're saying," I said, "is that my powers are still there, they're just… suppressed by this dimension and once I'm back home, I'll be able to use them again."

"Yes! Exactly!" Gary said, relieved that the explanation made sense.

Inside my head, I was trying very hard not to laugh.

Unbelievable.

Not only had he believed every word of that ridiculous story, but he had now created an entire magical theory to explain the plot holes in my stories that was plagiarized from numerous stories from Earth.

This guy could write academic papers about my lies if I let him.

"Fascinating," I said solemnly.

Gary nodded proudly with his chest puffed out. "I read a lot."

"I can see that." I gave him a few pats on the back, encouraging him to continue his delusion.

We walked for a few moments in silence before Gary spoke again, his voice quieter now.

"…You said that your life was tragic, Bob?"

I sighed dramatically, "You have no idea."

Gary's attention sharpened again.

"What happened after the demon fox incident?" he asked carefully.

"Well," I began, stretching my arms behind my head again, "as you can probably imagine, growing up with a world-ending demon sealed inside your stomach doesn't exactly make you popular with the other kids."

Gary winced as he imagined the picture in his mind.

"They feared you."

"Feared me, hated me, avoided me. Some of them even tried to beat me up just because they thought I was a monster."

Gary's expression darkened.

"That is cruel, although I'm not exactly one to talk, as we demons aren't exactly the friendliest to people we don't know."

"Teachers ignored the bullying," I continued. "Adults pretended it wasn't happening. The entire village treated me like I was responsible for the attack that killed hundreds, even though I was literally a baby when it happened."

"..."

"I spent most of my childhood alone," I added with a tired shrug. "No friends. No family. Just a fox in my stomach and a village full of people who wished I would disappear."

"…That is terrible."

"Oh it gets worse," I said casually. "When I was around twelve, the elders of the village discovered that my bloodline powers were beginning to awaken."

I continued to yap, stringing together lies one after another.

The shitty god watching me even questioned me a few times for my audacity to plagiarize so blatantly. He's not one to talk about palgarizing.

"You've endured a lot, Bob," Gary said, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Life's been rough."

He shook his head softly.

"To carry so many burdens… and yet you still keep moving forward," Gary said in awe while looking at me with the utmost respect. "I don't know how I would deal with it if I were in your shoes."

Inside my head, I was laughing so hard I nearly tripped on my own foot.

This idiot will believe anything.