I Became a Dark Fantasy Villain

.

27 Chapters per Month,10 chapters ahead for 10$ via Buymeacoffee.

In the dead of night.

Swish! Swish!

Ian swung his sword down as if chopping with an axe.

Along the sword’s trajectory, green bodily fluids splattered everywhere, and the thick neck of the gray troll was completely severed.

Its head with a protruding forehead and hideous fangs weakly rolled on the ground.

“Phew… haa.”

Ian straightened his crouched back.

Not far away lay the corpse of another gray troll.

160cm in height with abnormally long, muscular arms and big hands.

What’s more, they always moved in pairs, which was annoying to deal with.

But Ian’s frown wasn’t because of that.

“…That feeling again.”

His jet-black pupils, like a nocturnal animal’s, scanned the darkness.

For the past few days, he would occasionally sense a gaze.

But no matter how much he focused his senses, he couldn’t find any being that would be watching him.

It was the same now.

In any case, this was probably more of a spiritual or magical sensation.

Like the gaze he would sometimes feel from Conroud’s essence.

“Tch.”

He didn’t know what it was, but he’d beat it up if he caught it.

Clicking his tongue, Ian turned around.

The camp was close.

“You done? I heard terrible screams.”

Miguel, sitting by the campfire, spoke.

He was shielding Luci with his whole body, clutching an iron mace in his hand.

“Yeah. Put away the crossbow.”

Ian replied blandly as he approached the campfire.

Miguel let out a sigh of relief and threw over a prepared cloth.

As Ian familiarly wiped off the troll fluids that had splattered on his face, Miguel asked him.

“What was it?”

“Troll.”

“Again? You said the same thing the day before yesterday…. I might just be feeling things, but doesn’t it seem like…”

Miguel hesitated before adding,

“Only vicious beasts keep ambushing us? Maybe up north it’d be different, but Belronde shouldn’t be all that different from Agellan.”

A sharp guy.

Ian just shrugged his shoulders.

Thanks to his heightened senses, he could now clearly perceive the traces of prowling creatures better than before.

So he would just scout out the trivial ones and they would disappear, while relatively stronger beings like trolls, night stalkers, and cave spiders would approach them.

He already knew that, but he had no way to explain why such changes were happening.

Whether it was due to the quest, or some transformation occurring within Ian himself.

Or perhaps it was related to that magical gaze he just sensed.

“Look on the bright side. At least we probably won’t get attacked again tonight.”

Having lost his appetite, Miguel grumbled.

“It’s all because this damn massive continent is so hard to manage when they don’t even have the ability. They divided up the land even though they can’t handle it. Tch.”

“Isn’t that how mercenaries like you make a living?”

“Should still have some order. …Though even that grand empire has neglected sorcerous lands and contaminated earth here and there, I hear. What governing ability do these kingdoms even have to manage entire regions? Gotta blame the times.”

He’s complaining a lot today, brat.

Ian smirked as he chewed on jerky.

It wasn’t entirely wrong though.

Given the vastness of the continent, the human population was indeed too small.

If there were twice as many people, it probably wouldn’t have gotten to this point.

And even as numbers slowly increased, all they did was prepare for war, so there was no hope for improvement either.

‘If wars keep happening, who knows what may occur.’

Ian shook his head anxiously.

In any case, it wasn’t a trend individuals could stop.

And even if he foresaw the future, no one would believe him. There were countless unstable and ambitious people after all.

From experience, things would somehow happen the way they were meant to.

His best option was to just avoid the same worst case scenarios as in the game.

“I have a request.”

It was then that Luci suddenly spoke up.

As Ian and Miguel looked at her simultaneously, she added.

“Swordsmanship. I want to learn too.”

“Come again…?”

“I want to at least know the basics of self-defense. I don’t want to just be baggage.”

“That’s why we’re here, so you don’t have to do anything.”

Ian rejected her flat out.

Luci shook her head.

“There’s always an off-chance.”

“No. You’re too young to wield a sword. And too young to kill anything.”

Ian was resolute.

No matter how adapted he was to this world, some things didn’t change.

Not making a child hold a blade was one of them.

Luci added.

“But I’m already twelve.”

“….You’re saying that because you want to act all grown up?”

Ian scoffed.

Twelve is still just a middle schooler no matter how much you discipline them.

Miguel’s brow furrowed.

“Twelve? You look ten at most to me. Do Westerners just develop slower?”

Ian looked at Miguel like he couldn’t believe, that was surprising.

“Well, at twelve you should know how to protect yourself I guess.”

“…..”

He added, scratching his beard.

Seeing his expression, Ian frowned.

Miguel shrugged his shoulders at him.

“What? I made my first successful hunt when I was twelve. Not even early for the North. The real prodigies already killed people by that age up there.”

“Oh… I see.”

In a world of one-eyed people, having two eyes makes you an oddity.

That was exactly how things were now.

“There’s no harm in learning some self-defense, right? With the Knight family blood running through you, you’ll pick it up quickly.”

Luci nodded in agreement.

Miguel looked at her fondly.

It was nice and endearing.

Ian sighed and opened his mouth.

“You don’t need to learn things like sword fighting, Lucy. Without that, you can still protect yourself just fine.”

“…How?”

Luci blinked and asked back.

Does she really not know?

“You have an innate talent.”

“Are you referring to…my curse?”

“…….”

It seems she really doesn’t know.

Only then did Ian furrow his brows.

“Didn’t Sir say anything to you at all?”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Then why did you say you wanted to go to the Temple of Furnace?”

“I was told it would be safe. And that I could learn a lot more things there than I can now.”

So she just agreed to go because she was told to.

Ian let out a hollow laugh.

Maeve probably thought it would be enough that Ian knew the truth.

She must have also thought it would be better if Luci didn’t find out beforehand.

But Ian thought differently.

“You have a special talent. Going to the Temple of Furnace is meant to help that talent blossom.”

“What kind of….talent is that?”

Not just Luci, but Miguel also looked at him expectantly.

Instead of answering, Ian stretched out his palm.

Whoosh. A flame sprouted from his hand.

“……!”

Luci’s eyes blew wide open.

She looked between Ian and the fireball, then sputtered,

“You’re a….Mage?”

Considering her usual temperament, this should be her maximum shock.

She didn’t know this either?

Feeling Ian’s gaze on her, Miguel shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s a secret. What’s there to fuss over.”

Everyone sure knows how to keep their mouths shut.

With a snort, Ian looked back at Luci.

“That’s right. I’m a mage. Well, half of one anyway.”

“Now Lady Lucy has become privy to the secret as well. It feels like we’ve grown closer.”

“Lucifer.”

“Yes, not Lady Lucy, but Lucifer.”

Despite her attention being completely stolen by the fireball, Luci still corrected Miguel’s words.

Translator; ippo

Please rate this series here.

Schedule: Pending @ UTC+ 12:00 am. 3 – 4 ch a week

All Chapters

https://ko-fi.com/ippostranslations