I Became the Leader of a Villain Organization

Chapter 38: Rain Gray (2)

“Aaah! Welcome back, Master!”

The barrier was broken, revealing a view of the Crystal Palace, blazing red as the setting sun.

“I thought I’d die of boredom waiting for you!”

“You’ve returned, Master.”

The voices of the Black Snake members that greet me are so calm, or perhaps with the innocent joy of a child, without even the slightest doubt that I will return.

And there, there were others, calling out for another ‘master’.

“Sir Roland!”

“Master-!”

“Ro, Templar Roland!”

The man who should answer the call, the Crusader Templar Roland, is no longer of this world. And the holy spear that should have been in his hand was now in mine.

I sheathed the Star Spear wordlessly and looked around.

“…….”

The innumerable remains of stars were strewn about like a mountain.

The starlight that should shine along the knights’ armor and blades is overlaid with bloody and spilled intestines, casting a weak light.

It was a tomb of stars made of flesh, blood, and bones.

“As the master said, a man of his word!”

Sandalfon said, the corners of his wolf’s mouth twisting.

“I have not laid a finger on the Paladins!”

He was right.

Not a finger was laid on Charlemagne’s twelve knights there, and they kept their word. Exactly, to the penny.

I wasn’t surprised. I knew it was coming, and I said so on purpose.

Charlemagne’s twelve knights, the court knights called paladins, were not to be touched.

I didn’t say “other than them” because I knew it.

I wanted him to hand over the spear on the spot, that was the price of my mercy. But instead of handing over the spear, Roland chose to resist with his life.

At the point of offering to bargain or compromise, mercy ceases to be mercy. Therefore, this was the least respect I could show for Roland’s will.

As a result, regardless of how it might feel to the merciful party.

“Kill us! Kill us now, you monsters!”

“Cut my throat now, do you think I’ll beg for his life from you!”

“Oooh, Sir Roland……!”

The <11 Knights of Charlemagne> had lost their ‘captain’ to lead them, had even had the core strength of the Crusader Knights, and yet they had survived miserably.

At my feet, at the sight of the bodies of knights whose deaths I do not even remember, they cried out.

“Monstrous bastards, devilish bastards……!”

“You’re going to hell! Even if I have to die, I’ll make sure you go to hell-”

There they were, weeping blood, biting their lips to the point of bleeding, and struggling.

Their eyes were bloodshot and red, dripping with blood instead of tears. They shuddered with a shame worse than death.

“Ooh, don’t move, don’t move. It …… hurts more.”

In front of them, in a voice as small as an ant’s, stuttering shyly, was a girl.

She manipulated the intricate tangle of magical threads in her hands as if she were playing yarn.

Each time, Charlemagne’s eleven knights cowered even more, writhing in agony, as if condemned by something unseen.

“Kill us! Cut our throats now, you villains!”

“Are you afraid, don’t be a coward, kill us now!”

“How many more times must you humiliate us and defile our honor before you’re satisfied!”

The voices of the knights shouting back and forth seemed strangely distant.

“Master.”

“Master!”

The sight and sound of Aria’s head bowing in silence as she came to stand beside me was strangely familiar, and so was Alice.

“The holy spear, I see you have it.”

“Well, it serves a purpose!”

“…….”

I didn’t answer. Was this worth the effort?

I couldn’t tell. I realized that I didn’t even need to convene the entire Black Snake for this.

This, I realized, was enough for me alone.

It was a ridiculously anticlimactic ending for all the bombast and preparation.

“Well done, Lord Rain.”

Robert the Golden Lord said as he approached. He wore a black uniform with a serpentine symbol on it, and all manner of golden ornaments.

His monocle and chains were no exception, for anything that glowed gold was a sign of intelligence.

“What will you do with them?”

He asked and I looked at Charlemagne’s knights again.

I didn’t know how they’d managed to be captured without a scratch, but they’d ended up tied up in Gretel’s spinning wheel without anyone getting hurt.

“Let them go.”

“!”

I said. In a tone of disinterest.

“……Yes, okay.”

Then Gretel, the little witch, untied the stitches in her hands.

As soon as she did, all eleven knights in the room stomped the ground in unison. No, they tried to stomp.

“Non, Non, Non!”

Just then, a voice shouted ahead of them.

“Non, non…….Scythe Elegant!!”

A handsome, long-haired man with a raw, green face stood in the way of his companions.

Astolfo, the Knight of Flowers.

“I, Astolfo, in the agony of tearing the leaves of a flower, address my lords-.”

The leader of the Second Knights, who had earlier succeeded Roland as leader of the First Knights, shouted with enough gravitas to bring the rest of the knights to a halt.

“Now is the time to accept their ‘mercy’!”

“Mercy?! Sir Astolfo, how dare you speak such dishonorable words!”

“Yes, my lord, for fear of the ‘Black Snake’-”

“Shame?! Non, non, non! Realize that it is the sages who are the real shame!”

Astolfo said.

Having spoken, he knelt down on the spot. At the feet of Rain Gray, the serpent master.

“Please, I beg you. Spare our lives……spare our lives.”

He was on his knees, begging for his life, more humiliated than anyone else, so my answer was no different.

“……I have nothing to do with you.”

I said in a voice that didn’t care, and then turned away, leaving Sir Roland’s cold corpse at my feet and his holy lance in my hand.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Astolfo, I have no intention of remaining a coward like you!”

Just then, one of Charlemagne’s eleven knights shouted. He was a walking heavy tank, with heavy armor wrapped around a massive frame that dwarfed Sandalfon.

“Sir Menton, stop!”

Astolfo shouted his name in panic, but it was too late. Lord Menton slammed the ground with a giant hammer that looked bigger than his nearly three-meter frame.

With the power of a chariot galloping by, he stepped toward me and—Aria’s black sword was swung.

The jet-black sphere that flashed from the tip of the sword bent and compressed Lord Menton’s upper body like a sheet of paper.

At the same time, Alice’s shadow had already risen from Lord Menton’s feet and engulfed his lower body.

Selena’s coat fluttered as razor blades were scattering beneath it and Menton flesh suddenly split into hundreds of blocks.

As soon as it split, all the blood evaporated as Scarlett’s lips turned red.

“Ah……Grandpa Geppetto will scold you.”

Pinocchio, a puppet also known as woodcarving, has a slightly longer nose.

“Chet, I want my share!”

“Alas, Mr. Rain, forgive this girl!”

And with that, Sandalphon was left without a single piece of the corpse.

Freya stamped her foot in frustration.

“Y’all…… fast.”

“Wow, what just happened?”

“Well, I don’t…… know.”

Gretel the witch muttered and Silan scratched his head while next to them, a man was laughing.

“Ah, this is why they are called knights.”

The Golden Lord sneered, flicking his golden monocle with his fingertips, along with a silent Ergo.

“What do you say, Lord Rain?”

He mocked, then asked curiously, considering the disposition of the rest.

“My promise to leave them untouched still stands.”

I said and looked back at Astolfo, who knelt and gulped.

“That doesn’t mean I’m obligated to prevent them from killing themselves.”

“Ah, please forgive me for my ignorance.”

I got what I needed and accomplished my purpose so I turned away once more with an expression of disinterest.

Glancing up, I saw the Queen of the Empire, Nike II, still seated and gazing this way, with her three dukes at her side.

They weren’t the only ones seated.

There were others who sat in the reserved seats, watching the stage without getting up.

The Duchy of Germania, the Alliance of Northern Kingdoms, the Anatolian Empire, the Silver Empire…….

I didn’t care.

With this, I have the key to the Tomb of Heroes so I have no further business here.

As usual, it was time to go out like a villain.

*

It wasn’t hard to leave the Crystal Palace and escape my pursuers. No, there were no pursuers in the first place.

Not even the shadowy ships of Breton or the Imperial dreadnoughts in the sky could stop us from leaving.

But our work was not yet done. At the same time, it could not be delayed.

Longinus’ Star Spear, the key and map to the Tomb of Heroes.

The spear that once belonged to the mightiest knight of the Holy Realm, now rests in my hand.

Had they really not expected this?

There were no unexpected traps, or maybe there were and I didn’t realize it. Either way, it was good, because everyone has a plan.

The night was pale as a corpse in the early morning moon.

~In an abandoned factory in the suburbs, just outside the capital~

I don’t know why we picked an abandoned factory out of all the places we could have gone, but we did.

“Ergo.”

There, I found the masterpiece of the Golden Lord, once again, in the name of ‘testing’.

Holding out the Star Spear in my hand, I gave the order I was supposed to give as a leader.

That day, after a fight with Roland that could hardly be called a fight, filled with mysteries even I could not understand.

“Light the way to the mausoleum.”