Never Die Villain

"Hoo..."

To ensure he didn’t slack off, Ilya had made a habit of cultivating his mana every day, usually whenever he could spare an hour without classes or anything else demanding his attention.

It had already become another part of his routine by now, alongside studying and practicing whatever spells he had learned recently.

He breathed in again, fixed his posture, and finally formed the hand sign.

In that exact order.

Only then did Ilya begin circulating his mana.

The technique he practiced was largely based on the Imperial Family’s method, particularly the modified version used by Siegfried, although Ilya had gradually made small adjustments to better accommodate his own body.

The underlying principle remained the same, however, and once his mana began moving, he forced every bit of it through the same predetermined path he had practiced countless times before.

There was no deviation.

Mana passed through one route, completed its circulation, and then resumed along the same path again. Ilya repeated the process without changing the pace, maintaining the same breathing, posture, and hand sign throughout each cycle until there was almost nothing left for him to consciously think about.

"Hoo..."

When he first implemented this technique, even completing several circulations had demanded his complete concentration.

Now, after practicing it every day for months, his body had grown familiar enough with the sequence that simply taking the proper posture and forming the hand sign was enough for everything else to follow.

Still, Ilya refused to rush.

That would defeat the entire purpose of practicing this particular technique in the first place.

The conventional methods he had read about placed considerably more emphasis on allowing mana to develop a natural flow unique to its wielder, but Ilya had little interest in giving his mana that kind of freedom.

What other wizards regarded as unnecessarily restrictive happened to be exactly what worked for him.

He preferred the shackles.

"Hoo..."

Ilya completed another circulation and immediately began the next.

Recently, he had also begun noticing why consistent cultivation mattered beyond just improving his control.

The amount of mana he could comfortably circulate had slowly increased, while pathways that once required his full attention could now accommodate a greater flow without disrupting the sequence.

It wasn’t dramatic progress, of course.

There was no sudden breakthrough or enormous increase in his reserves after a single session, but Ilya wasn’t expecting one either.

An hour today, another tomorrow, then another the day after that. He would repeat the exact same process until the difference between what he could handle now and what he could handle months ago became impossible to ignore.

That was good enough for him.

"Wow, you’re much more bundled up today. Are you really a northern man?"

"...."

Ilya opened one eye at the sudden disturbance.

Standing in front of the bench with her hands clasped behind her back was Solenne, her chestnut-colored hair tied into a single ponytail that draped over one shoulder as her narrow green eyes regarded him with their usual amusement.

Nevertheless, she was here, and the simple fact that she had actually shown up was enough for Ilya to stop circulating his mana and shift his attention toward her.

"You finally showed up."

"I did, didn’t I?" Solenne replied cheerfully. "You should be happier to see me."

It had been two weeks since Ilya had last seen Solenne, which was particularly impressive considering they shared several classes.

She quite literally had not shown up to a single one of them during that entire time, to the point that Ilya had started wondering whether she had finally pushed her attendance far enough for even the academy to do something about it.

"Alright, give me a second."

"Hm?"

Ilya opened his bag and rummaged through it until he found the notebook he was looking for, then pulled it out and held it toward her.

Solenne looked at the notebook, then at him, before tilting her head in confusion.

"What is this...?"

"Notes. You asked for them, didn’t you?" Ilya tapped the cover with his finger. "It has everything from the classes we shared over the past two weeks. I copied them from my own notes, so you don’t have to worry about trying to decipher my handwriting either."

"...You actually did it."

Solenne’s eyebrows rose as she reached for the notebook, only for Ilya to pull it away before her fingers could touch it.

Her hand remained suspended in the air for a second before she slowly looked up at him.

"Not for free."

"Ah, right. We did make an agreement..." Solenne withdrew her hand and gave an awkward little laugh. "I almost forgot about that."

"The fact that you forgot is a very bad sign for a merchant, Ms. Vernet."

Solenne narrowed her eyes and puffed out one cheek. "I only said it in the spur of the moment. I didn’t think you would actually spend your time copying two weeks’ worth of notes for me..."

"You told me you’d pay."

"Well, yes."

"So I did it."

Solenne blinked at him before letting out a small laugh, apparently finding his reasoning far more amusing than Ilya thought it deserved.

"You know, for the son of a Grand Duke, you’re surprisingly motivated by money."

"Money is money."

"I suppose even a Belozersky can’t argue with that." Solenne brought a finger to her chin, looking at the notebook in his hand with interest. "Very well, then. How much do I owe you?"

"Hmm..."

Ilya paused, only now realizing there was a rather important detail they had neglected to discuss.

They had, admittedly, never settled on an actual price, and while Solenne had claimed she would pay him enough that he would never have to ask his family for an allowance again, what exactly did that entail?

"How much were you planning to give me?"

Solenne blinked. "You’re asking me?"

"You’re the one who made the offer."

"Well, yes, but I expected you to name a price." Solenne leaned forward slightly, glancing between him and the notebook before a smile crept onto her face. "Come now, Ilya. This is a negotiation. Surely you aren’t going to let the person buying something decide how much she wants to pay for it."

With that, Ilya raised both hands and spread all ten fingers in front of her. Solenne looked at them briefly before lifting an eyebrow, evidently trying to determine whether he was being serious.

"Ten? Gold coins?"

"No. One hundred gold coins."

"...How much exactly is your allowance?"

"Around thirty percent of that."

"Then why are you asking for more than three times your allowance?!"

"Are you going to back out of the deal, Ms. Vernet?" Ilya asked, lowering his hands as a faint smile appeared on his face. "Does the Vernet Consortium not have enough to spare for their princess’s education?"

"P-Princess? No, that is not the point!"

"Here, just take a look at what’s inside."

Ilya opened the notebook and turned it toward her, flipping through several pages he had prepared over the past two weeks.

"I even put sticky notes beside the parts that need more explanation, and here, on the next page, I drew the diagram exactly the way Professor Haldorsen put it on the board, right down to the labels and the additional notes he gave while explaining it."

"...."

The notebook was far more organized than Solenne had expected, with each lecture dated and separated by topic and anything particularly important marked so she could find it without having to read through everything from beginning to end.

"And this one, the professor explained verbally, so it wasn’t written anywhere on the board, but I added it afterward. There’s also a section at the back with everything the professors mentioned about upcoming assignments and tests."

"...."

"One hundred."

"Fine, fine. I’ll admit it does meet that kind of quality."

If Ilya was going to keep doing this, then Solenne figured she might as well accept the price, although she immediately added a few conditions of her own.

Rather than paying him whenever she happened to miss class, they would make it a six-month subscription of sorts, with one hundred gold coins covering every subject they shared during that period, regardless of how often Solenne decided to disappear.

It also meant Ilya would have to keep preparing notes for her even on the rare occasions she actually bothered to attend, but considering the price, he had little reason to complain.

One hundred gold coins was by no means a small amount of money.

In fact, an ordinary commoner could go their entire life without ever seeing a single gold coin and still get by perfectly well, while the amount Ilya was charging was more expensive than even a proper magic textbook.

Heck, even the allowance Ilya received from his family was only thirty gold coins every six months, and he barely spent five gold coins in an average month.

Between the academy already providing most of what he needed and his relatively few personal expenses, thirty gold coins had always been more than enough for him.

Solenne genuinely wondered whether his notes were worth more than three times that amount, but the arrangement became much more reasonable when she considered what she was actually getting.

Ilya would be doing this for every subject they shared, and if they kept the agreement going, she could simply rely on him to prepare everything she needed until the two of them graduated.

For someone like Solenne, who clearly had no intention of fixing her attendance anytime soon, that was probably worth the price.

After settling on their deal, it was finally time for Solenne to bring up the actual reason she had come looking for him.

"By the way, about what you asked regarding Professor Antoine." Solenne leaned slightly closer, lowering her voice. "I figured out what he’s researching."

"What is it?"

Solenne smiled wryly. "Information has a price, Ilya."

"Ah, then I’ll pay—"

"I don’t want money."

Solenne cut him off before he could even reach for his bag.

"A merchant already has enough of that, and sometimes money just stops being exciting. At least, it certainly doesn’t make my heart flutter anymore."

"Then...?"

What exactly did she want from him? Aside from the notes and money, Ilya couldn’t think of much he had to offer her, so he found himself a bit worried that Solenne was about to ask for something completely unreasonable.

"Always reserve the seat next to you for me."

Contrary to what he had expected, however, her request was surprisingly simple.

"No problem, then. Not many people sit next to me in the classes we share anyway, so—"

"Always."

"...."

"Not just during lectures."

"...."

Solenne smiled at him, her narrow green eyes making it difficult to tell just how serious she was.

"Surely you can do that?"

"...."

Ilya looked at her without answering, wondering whether this was some kind of merchant tactic he simply didn’t understand.

Ilya couldn’t find any hidden meaning behind her smile, and since he couldn’t think of any reason to refuse something so simple, he eventually settled on the only response that came to mind.

Flick——!

"Ow!"

Solenne immediately covered her forehead after Ilya lightly flicked it with his finger.

"What was that for?!"

"If that’s all you want, then I can certainly do that." Ilya ignored her complaint as he sat back down on the bench, then casually patted the empty space beside him. "Here. Come sit."

"...."

Solenne’s eyes darted between him and the space beside him, and for once, she found herself unsure of what to do.

She had intended to tease him a little with the request, perhaps even make him flustered, but Ilya’s sheer indifference and casual acceptance had turned it around on her so quickly that she was now the one struggling to keep up.

"Come on?" Ilya tilted his head. "You said always."

"I know what I said..."

"Then sit."

Solenne swallowed, suddenly regretting her attempt to tease him when the man apparently had no sense of embarrassment whatsoever.

After another second of hesitation, Solenne finally sat down beside him, leaving noticeably more space between them than her earlier confidence would have suggested.

Unconsciously, she tucked a loose strand of chestnut hair behind her ear, still wondering how she had somehow ended up being the embarrassed one when this entire thing had been her idea.

Then, just as she was about to open her mouth, Solenne noticed someone approaching them and raised her head.

"Ah..."

Elise stood several steps away with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide, looking first at Solenne, then at Ilya, and finally at the two of them sitting together on the bench.

"S-Solenne... n-not you too..."

"Eh? Elise? What do you—"

Before Solenne could even ask what she meant, Elise had already turned around and hurried away, disappearing into the stream of students passing through the academy grounds.

Solenne blinked several times before slowly turning back toward Ilya, completely baffled by what had just happened.

"What’s up with her?"

"I have no idea."

Ilya watched Elise disappear into the distance before shrugging.

"...She just keeps appearing out of nowhere lately."

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