Episode 2 of the Overly Competent Villain

An offer you can’t refuse

Jacques Pietro.

Notorious Most Wanted.

Aris and Mir did not know the name of the big criminal, who was even considered the king of the lawless west.

Above all, Jacques Pietro—

‘Are you okay? Mir guy, aren’t you crazy and running amok?’

Aris knew the bad relationship between her aunt, who was the same age as her, and Zach.

Because Mir’s real mother lost her life due to Zach’s terror.

In other words, Jacques Pietro is my half-aunt’s fierce enemy. It wouldn’t be strange if a battle broke out right here.

‘Well, then I could get hurt!’

Although she didn’t know about Jacques Pietro’s fighting ability, Aris knew her step-aunt’s magic skills better than anyone else.

Even at a young age, he easily handles multi-attribute magic and even has special abilities that cannot be explained by magic.

Mir’s skill is more than that of a regular knight or regular mage. The reason Aris went to the auction house was because she thought it was better than a regular bodyguard.

In other words, her step-aunt’s powerlessness is real, which she vouches for. What if you get caught up in her magic?

‘for a moment? Isn’t Jacques Pietro a knight or a wizard?’

I’ve seen a glimpse of the information Mir has collected. There, Jacques Pietro was an ordinary cadet from the military academy…

‘uh? Then, could it be that the strange energy that I feel from Jacques Pietro is because of the bounty?’

Aris quickly recalled Jacques Pietro’s wanted list. Obviously, 100 million Gulic regardless of life and death.

100 million Gulicks, which is the limit of the bounty that can be stipulated by the current laws of the Empire. Except for Zach, there is only one wanted criminal for this amount.

In other words, only Cromwell, the Mad King of the Brotherhood, the enemy of Cheolcheon of the Mayer Group.

Aris calculated that if Mir caught this notorious wanted criminal, he might not only get a huge bounty, but also increase the company’s reputation.

‘Hey, end it like this! One hundred million, one hundred million! I’ll give you half!’

“·······.”

Mir quietly stared at Jacques despite his nephew’s mischievous behavior.

Mir has been watching and investigating Zach for a long time. That’s why it’s not much different from Elysia.

For nearly 10 years, she has been obsessing over and investigating the character of Jacques Pietro.

‘Pietro is not a great person by force.’

That he was an excellent cadet at the military academy and that he had a lot of combat experience in the Dark Territory.

However, it was a battle of ordinary people, not a bloody battle of superhumans.

Jacques Pietro himself would not have much power. By the way–

‘Strange. Something… different.’

I couldn’t see it properly because I passed by briefly at the auction house. But now, Mir couldn’t help but hesitate as he saw Zach, who was calm even in front of his magic.

If so, see through Zach first.

One of Mir’s special powers is the Cheonan. This eye, which penetrates the essence of the soul and the basis of things, is also the basis for guessing the opponent’s strength.

The moment Mir reflected Zach’s energy amount, flow, latent power, and hidden energy in his eyes——

“uh?”

It was such a gloomy existence that it inadvertently let out a bewildered voice.

The color of a soul split in two.

An unknown energy that fills the human body undeservedly. Above all–

“ah······.”

His legs give out strength and he barely holds on to collapsing. The bluish complexion was enough to embarrass Aris, who was only trusting Mir.

“Hey, hey…! What’s wrong?”

Cold sweat dripping down. He could hear his pale complexion and struggled to cross his gaze with Zach. Amidst the pain that seemed to burn the optic nerve, the Cheonan was immediately turned off.

“You… what are you? What are you holding?”

“Ah~ I see. It must look like that to you.”

Zach shrugged and drank from the wine glass he was holding.

“Rather than antagonize me right away, why don’t you ask a question first?”

“question?”

“The best way to judge a person is not to hear the answer, but to see the question. For example, why am I here?”

“·······.”

Looking back, it was strange. Aside from what kind of witchcraft Jacques used to break into the security suite of a rugged 5-star hotel, why did he come here?

“What’s the purpose…? Mr.”

Zach lifted his chin and gave a satisfied smile when he saw Mir who had become more polite as he withdrew his magic.

“Yes, Miss Mir. When dealing with opponents who don’t know how to fight, you need to know how to take a step back.”

“······I asked a ‘question’.”

When Mir narrowed his eyes and asked bluntly, Jacques drank the wine and answered.

“It’s simple. I have something to offer you, and I have something to help you with. I’m confident it will be a satisfactory deal.”

“Ooh, what can you do to help us?”

Aris felt the energy of the deal and cautiously stepped forward.

“Your life.”

“yes?”

“And the price should be the necklace of the dark-haired lady over there.”

“······!”

Mir reflexively grabbed the jewel of the necklace hanging around her neck. instinctive rejection. Although it was an obvious intention to refuse, Zach’s gaze was even arrogant.

As if you are sure that you will have no choice but to give.

“What! You’re going to kill me if I don’t give you the necklace? Mayer’s group look like water? Bodyguards! Bodyguards!”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding, but it is not ‘my side’ who is trying to kill.”

“???”

“Hey, hey… that, that…”

It was then. Aris, who was hiding behind me, pointed her finger at the figure of a person ‘hanging’ beyond Zach.

Even in the dark, the eyes of the beast, shining brightly, were staring at them through the glass windows.

“Suin?”

At that moment, those clinging to the outer wall broke the window with their fists. Clink! Two prisoners enter the suite with loud sounds.

“What are you doing!”

“miss!”

The bodyguards waiting outside the door of the same building enter. The eyes of the prisoners turned to the entrance.

-purr···!

With the howling of ferocious beasts, the beastmen kick their seats.

With the sound of breaking glass, the bodyguards who entered with guns and swords had to greet the beasts rushing at them in less than a second.

“Suin?!”

“Damn it! Shoot!”

-bang! Tattang!

The gunshots fired by the bodyguards rang out loudly. However, all I heard was the sound of a person being crushed, not the deathbed of the prisoners.

“A beastman warrior! Assume and respond like a knight!”

It’s not like Mayer’s bodyguard doesn’t have knight-level power either.

The head of the bodyguard is a veteran combatant who was a former Imperial Knight. The demonic sword he wielded slashed everywhere while exchanging fierce sums with the beastmen warriors.

“Kyaaagh!”

“come here!”

While the bodyguards engage the beast warriors, Mir hides behind the sofa with Aris. But beyond that, there were passengers.

“Pietro…!”

“Don’t bother shouting during battle. Beasts are sensitive to sounds and smells.”

He calmly forgot the snacks for the suite guests.

“The Prisoner Brotherhood hates Mayer. It’s understandable. I know what they’re doing. Labor exploitation, oppression, human rights violations… It’s not far-fetched that the daughters of the Mayer Group are on the top list of the Killing Department.”

Despite being attacked by beastmen, Aris reacted with a high-pitched voice, as if Zach, who was calm and weak, was annoyed.

“So what! I didn’t break the law!”

“That attitude makes them angry. It’s a sad reality of pariah capitalism.”

“What do you want to say?”

“So, would you accept my offer?”

“What do you say! Do you know how much our Mayer Group guards cost? The annual salary alone is 100,000 Guliks, and the head of the bodyguard is a former driver hired for 2 million Guliks!”

Aris talked confidently, but Zach opened his mouth while pouring the wine he had left on the sofa table.

“They are the Brotherhood of Prisoners. They are warriors who have accumulated real-world experience while conducting guerrilla activities in the north, where the Empire has not been able to calm down until now.”

“That, that’s right, our bodyguards too——”

“Do you think they came without knowing the Mayer’s Guard?”

-Keah!

It was then. With a shriek, the hefty body slammed into the table.

“Hick…!”

Aris flinched and saw the seriously injured man trembling. was the head of the bodyguard.

“Oh, mister?”

“Oops. Your strongest friend has already been beaten.”

When the head of the bodyguard was killed, Aris’ complexion turned pale. If he, who was the most powerful among the bodyguards, was defeated, there would be nothing to look at.

“Aris, get down.”

At that time, Mir wrapped Aris in a movement that was clearly different from human reaction speed. The sofa and wooden table that the head of the bodyguard bounced and smashed changed the structure in an instant and turned into a wall.

– Kwajik!

In the next moment, the wall where the sofa frame and table were joined was penetrated. The sharp, hideous claws violently tried to grab the human on the other side, but when Mir’s staff moved, the extended tree trunks grabbed the beastman.

“······!”

A prisoner who cannot even budge from the stems that bind his hands. As his body stopped, Mir’s additional magic was activated.

– Hwareuk!

The fire magic that threatened Zach hit the tied-up man.

In an instant, a raging flame burns the beast man.

[Double transformation of metal and wood. Up to the improvisation there. Great.]

The archmage who watched it admired it, but Zach watched it calmly. And then, when Mir breathed a sigh of relief and saved up his mana——

“Where is Pietro?”

has disappeared. The image of him casually sipping wine next to him just a moment ago had completely disappeared. As if it never existed in the first place.

that question

“Sometimes with a lukewarm fire…”

“······!”

Fain! and some energy blows away the flames. It was a moment when Mir was taken aback by the beastly man’s perfectly fine appearance. he reached out

‘Fast…!’

A speed that can’t be compared to before. It was the moment when Mir reflexively closed her eyes tightly.

– Knock!

“·······?”

The expected shock did not come. When Mir opened her eyes, there was Jacques Pietro, who was holding the nape of the neck from behind the beastman’s back.

‘how?’

But there was no time to continue asking such questions. A violent electric current began to flow from Zach’s hand holding the prisoner man.

“aaagh?!”

An enormous flow of current illuminates the suite on a dark moonlit night. The prisoner who was hit directly fell to his knees with a scream of pain.

– Parsisik!

Not even steel skin, but a beastman whose insides were roasted to perfection by electric shocks that flowed through the bloodstream inside his body. Smoke rose from his body and smelled of burnt meat.

“Parhan! This baby !!”

At that time, the beastman who had beaten the rest of the bodyguards released his inner strength with anger.

The spirit of a beastman that makes the whole body go crazy just by looking at each other. Zach watches him and admires him again.

“They say that beastmen’s strength is stronger and stronger than knights’ magical power.

Zach snapped his fingers.

-Rerrr

Something rolling around. It was too late when I realized it was something like a grenade.

-Paang!

Flashes of light illuminate the surroundings along with an explosion. The intense flash obscured the vision, and the terrifying deafening noise numbed the ears.

Mir, whose semicircular canal was paralyzed, tried to fall forward, unable to hold on to her body with the loss of sensation of vomiting.

“Oops.”

What grabbed her was the arms of a large man. I couldn’t see it, but I could guess that it was Jacques Pietro from the location.

[Sad guy. He even uses military earplugs.]

“Because my body is precious?”

Mir couldn’t figure it out, but he could tell that Zach was sitting her on the couch.

-bang! Tattang!

-This, these bastards…!

– Overpower!

It took only a few seconds for Mir to become paralyzed by the flashbang and lose his senses.

However, that time could change even history for combat pros like the Imperial Knights and Highney Squad.

When he finally regained his senses, his half-nephew, who had passed out, and Zach were sitting on the sofa, drinking the remaining wine, grinning.

“The contract is concluded. The branch can be filmed later.”

Of course, the intentions of the contracting parties were not very important.

* * * *

The eyelids are heavy.

Aris, the daughter of Mayer, a leading conglomerate in the empire, calmly sleeps in on such occasions, but when she recalls the situation before she fainted, she had no choice but to wake up.

“Ouch! What is it! What is it!”

“Woke up?”

As if waiting for Aris to wake up, Mir closed the book he was reading.

“what!”

“Reading. Philosophy, it’s a pretty old-fashioned hobby for a criminal.”

“I’m not asking about that! How did it go! Where are you!”

Even the bed was covered with a blanket, but Aris realized that this was not the suite she was staying in.

strange feeling of wealth. It is also that this is the feeling of floating unique to the airship that he loves when he is on a business trip.

“That man and his men overpowered them. The prisoners weren’t the only two of them.”

So the chase inside the hotel began.

The Brotherhood’s prisoners chased Zach and Mayer’s party, but unexpectedly, the chase ended in a bland, because there was an airship that Zach had waiting on the rooftop.

“Well, then where is it?”

“Pietro’s Non-Collision.”

“Am I kidnapped?”

At that moment, I opened the door to the room where Aris, who had imagined the worst, and someone entered.

“I’m sorry about that. I don’t do human trafficking or taking hostages.”

“Kyaaak!”

Aris steps back to the edge of the bed in a fright when Zach enters with a blonde woman. Looking at Aris like that, he smiled and said that he was okay.

“I thought I’d faint from a flash grenade. I didn’t expect this either.”

“Ugh…”

Aris, who is Mayer’s proud direct eldest daughter, is depressed by the fact that she has shown such rudeness.

But Zach just gestured as if it were natural.

“Follow me.”

The two of them had no way to respond to Zach’s words.

This is his non-collaborative ship. Zach’s subordinates are scattered around, and Zach’s own powerlessness is unusual.

‘A knight-level beast warrior is that simple…’

Mir wanted to shoot Zach’s back with magic right away, but he knew that it would lead to his own death.

When you go out to the dock like that, you can see the panoramic view of the admiring sky with the clear air. It was still dawn, but the twenty-twenty rising sunrise returned a sense of time.

“You won’t have to worry about the beastmen’s pursuit any longer. They’re being chased by the sheriffs of Kelberg City, and they won’t be able to afford to pursue you now.”

Above all, Zach said that the impulsive assassination attempt by the beastmen had failed when they had already left the city of Kelweg.

He held out his hand as if it were natural now.

“Well then, shall we get paid?”

first condition. Instead of saving his life, he demanded that something be given.

“·······.”

As in a hotel, Mir instinctively grabbed hold of her necklace. A subtle light flows inside the small crystal necklace that cannot be seen at first glance.

“why······.”

Why does Jacques Pietro want his necklace?

This is just a plain obsidian necklace. Everyone knew that, and so did Mir.

For Mir, this necklace only symbolizes that it is a keepsake inherited from her dead mother.

Mir’s fingertips trembled in the embarrassment of being asked for keepsakes and doubts about Zach’s intentions.

[Does she know?]

‘I don’t know.’

Only three people in this world know that.

Zach is one of the three who knows what that necklace is and what it contains.

Natural Terranite Amphithite.

One of Mir’s mother’s insurances left just in case.

Zach needed that necklace right away.