The Genius Villain Dies Tomorrow

By the time Rian escaped the Main City Hall, he had a growing inkling that fighting Leviathan had been less exhausting than surviving the proceedings afterward.

After going through all that paperwork, Rosalia’s merchants took the opportunity to surround him with offers, mostly due to their amicable relationship.

Rian rejected all of them.

However, knowing that he wouldn’t really be here to supervise the mines as well as oversee it, Rian decided to hand management rights to Rosalia herself anyway.

This gave her the ability to sell crystals as she wanted, but under a few terms that needed to be met unconditionally:

1) The mines still belonged to Rian, and an amount of five hundred high-quality mana crystals was to remain in reserve for him at all times.

2) Rian would receive a five-percent royalty from every crystal sold, separate from the funds allocated toward operating expenses and Eisenbran’s reconstruction.

3) Extraction operations must require Nadine’s approval to ensure that neither the Ley Line nor spirits inhabiting it were harmed.

Well, they weren’t particularly too hard to follow.

Even with those restrictions, Rosalia had obtained most of what she originally wanted. Control over the mine’s commercial operations, combined with the Ruby Merchantry’s existing influence, made her the dominant economic power in Eisenbran—to many opposing nobles’ dismay.

Still, fame wasn’t really something Rian wanted.

Just managing to get out of this predicament without being questioned by any of the higher-ups was good enough of a resolution for him anyway.

Plus, he achieved his goal of securing a stable source that was able to prolong his lifespan was his original goal anyway. Not to mention that he managed to secure a contract with the Sacred Lord-Rank Spirit, Sylpheed—his gains were greater than anticipated.

But now, he was sitting inside Nadine Glatteis’s office, trying to fulfill a promise that he made just a few days ago.

Sylph, now having a contractee and a sanctuary, finally managed to materialize herself in full for the world to see.

And naturally, Nadine was all over her.

"Oh my god! She’s so cuteeeeeeeee!"

The Witch of Black Ice leaned across the desk with both hands pressed against her cheeks. "Can I touch your wings?"

"No."

"Your hair?"

"No."

"Can I conduct a small examination of your manifested body?"

"No!"

Sylph flew behind Rian’s head and clung to the edge of his eyepatch. "Rian! Make her stop, please!"

"You heard her," Rian sighed softly into his palm. "Stop frightening my spirit."

Nadine withdrew her hands, although the disappointment on her face made it look as though someone had taken away her favorite toy. "Hey, hey...I saved your ass at that trial, don’t you think I deserve some kind of reward for that hassle?!"

Sylph peeked out from behind his head and studied Nadine suspiciously. A few seconds later, she pinched her nose and hid once more.

"Again?!" The witch stumbled backward and pressed one hand against her chest, offended. "Why do all of you react like I crawled out of a sewer?!"

"Because your mana smells horrible..."

"WHAT?!"

Rian covered his mouth to hide a laugh, but it was futile. Sylph floated away from Rian and crossed her tiny arms.

"All spirits can sense the emotions and intentions carried inside mana. Yours is leaking everywhere, and every part of it is screaming the same thing."

She deepened her voice in a poor imitation of Nadine’s. "Come here, little spirit! Sign this contract and become mine forever!"

Rian lost the battle and let out a small squeak, causing Nadine to turn toward him.

"You already knew, didn’t you?"

"I wasn’t sure."

"And you didn’t tell me?!" She frowned and melted onto the table, depressed. "So that’s why spirits refuse to approach me?"

Then the witch sprang up once more and pointed at Rian with an embarrassed expression on her face. "Then how the hell did you manage to get Sylpheed to offer you a contract?!"

"She said my mana smells like honey...which she likes."

"..."

"Just kill me already..."

"Now, now..." Rian raised his hands out in defense, trying to calm down the sulking witch. "Maybe if you change your attitude, who knows? They might start to like you!"

"Right..."

Once the situation was defused, Rian simply leaned back in his chair and let out a soft breath. Then he turned to Sylph, remembering what happened.

"Is Undyne...alright?"

"She’s barely alive."

"The crystal imprisoning her fractured when Leviathan manifested," the spirit continued. "Once the gateway began closing, the lesser water spirits carried her deeper into the Ley Line."

"Back to the Spirit World?"

"Yeah, to recuperate there."

"Then does that mean the Ley Line will remain without a guardian?"

"The Ley Line has been temporarily closed," Sylph nodded. "Most of the water spirits there escorted Undyne back while the others remained."

"Don’t they mind not having a way back?"

"They care more about their guardian’s well-being."

"Ahh..."

Rian suddenly froze, realizing the implication. "If the Ley Line is closed and most of the water spirits returned to the Spirit World..."

"Crystals won’t be produced as quickly."

"Ugh..."

There went his safety net. All the work he was trying to put into securing a stable source of lifespan was suddenly made unstable in the blink of an eye. Still, all he could do was rely on whatever was left.

"Wait, then there should be no mana crystals left in the mines then..."

Nadine straightened in her chair, tone turning serious by the second. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, when I made a contract with Sylph," Rian explained. "I had made a gamble and used pretty much all of the mana crystals within the cave."

"So, there should be none left to save me afterwards. Yet..."

Rian remembered the vast amounts inside his room, the ones completely drained to get him the three days’ worth of lifespan he was clinging onto right now.

Nadine scratched the side of her cheek. "Well, a bit of that came from me, but I only had around twenty-ish crystals."

"Really?"

"Mmm," the witch answered. "When we recovered you from the port, your body contained almost no life force. Alicia remembered that mana crystals were connected to your survival, so I brought everything I had stored inside my spire."

"That still doesn’t explain the rest."

"No," Nadine agreed. "It wasn’t enough."

"What happened after they ran out?"

"..."

"Alicia happened."

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