I Became the Leader of a Villain Organization

Chapter 7: The Underground Auction (4)

Xavier was a court wizard in the Empire, and after an early retirement, he was hired as a full-time aide to a powerful politician, a life with a secure future but it was not a life to be taken lightly.

“You have nothing to worry about, my lady.”

Skills don’t lie. If anything, a ‘real talent’ shines brighter in times like these and spatial magic is his specialty.

So when Xavier tries to break the barriers that have been placed on the auction house-.

Funny, it brought back memories of his first class at the Imperial College of Magic.

The sensation of not understanding anything, of degenerating into a goldfish-level of intelligence in the face of the professor’s endless flood of formulas and symbols.

No, no. Xavier was no longer the child he had been, or should have been.

He was in a duel with a formulaic structure that would make even the highest ranking mage in the court feel like a goldfish.

“Wow!  After all, it’s the leader’s barrier!”

At that moment, the blonde girl who hadn’t even taken off her attire smiled innocently.

“He built an analogical logic structure by interpreting the logic of fractal expansion as the intrinsic value of an infinite corridor equation. I didn’t think of that! That’s the leader for you!”

What the hell is this kid talking about, anyway? In the first place, isn’t the infinite corridor equation one of the seven unsolved conundrums of crystallographic analysis? Moreover, why is it coming out of that kid’s mouth?

I couldn’t understand anything, just like a fish can’t understand human speech.

So when the shadow at his feet opened its mouth like a shark, Xavier remained uncannily calm for there was nothing strange about a fish being eaten by a man.

“Um, this is why I don’t like talking with wizards, so please do me a favor and speak our language.”

Silan grumbled, scratching his feet while Aria spoke up.

“In layman’s terms, it means that no one is allowed to leave this place without the permission of the leader.”

“Haha, that’s easy to understand and the best!”

“No, Aria, that doesn’t explain even one percent of the awesomeness of the leader’s rules! Do you understand?! The final system of the leader is……”

“So what I’m saying is that we can go on a rampage!”

Aria added, sheathing her black sword, as another “black serpent” beat its chest with glee, unable to hear Alice’s endless explanation that followed.

“……Do as you please.”

I replied moderately, then took a drag from my cigarette.

This was the conclusion I had come to.

At the same time, like Alice said, I didn’t do any deep calculations about the logic of fractal expansion.

I just wrote it just like when you cast a spell in a game, you don’t think about all the logic and providence behind it.

I was just using the magic of the Heroic Age that I remembered from my knowledge of the game.

The highest level of magic, said to be the most powerful among the magic of the Barrier System.

In order to acquire it, one must reach the highest level as a mage and then go through all sorts of hellish hit-and-misses, making it virtually unseen during the normal course of the story.

And, as Alice says, it’s not just for locking people out and trapping them.

That said, I’m not going to reveal the “real awesomeness” right now.

……I just used it to block and trap.

Rain Gray’s in-game class is “Warlock”.

Basically, Heroic Age uses a progression system where you level up and move to higher classes to become stronger, and Warlock is one of the highest classes you can reach in the Mage family.

To be more precise, it’s a combat-specialized mage that’s one of the strongest when it comes to offensive magic.

This gives them unparalleled power in offensive magic, but at the cost of not being able to use any defense or utility magic.

In game, the class is a bit of a glass cannon.

However, the Labyrinth of the Infinite Corridor I used is a binding spell.

As you can see, it’s far from offensive. It’s a utility spell in the first place.

I can’t use it after switching to Warlock, and it’s supposed to be unusable.

‘No, why can I use it?’

I didn’t know.

It wasn’t something I realized for the first time today. I realized a long time ago that all sorts of defense and utility spells were working just fine.

All the endgame spells I remembered from playing Heroic Age were no exception.

How? I have no idea.

Not that I can think of right now.

“Whoa…….”

I put the cigarette to my lips, and it spontaneously ignited then I strode wordlessly across the room toward the holy maiden kneeling on the auction house stage.

As I approached, I recalled what I knew about her.

Outside of the game, the Holy Maiden is a character who graces the cover of a new installment celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Heroic Age series.

In the game, she’s an innocent country maiden who hears the voice of a goddess one day and awakens to stop a rampage of demons and is credited with saving the Holy Kingdom in crisis.

At the time of the game, this was a long time ago, and the kingdom is wary of her growing prominence.

That’s because a peasant maiden with no royalty, no nobility, and no merit is being treated as a saintly hero of the old country.

That’s the information I have through my knowledge inside and outside the work.

Finally, in this world.

“Tell me.”

“I’ll tell you everything, everything I know!”

“The person who ordered the kidnapping of the Holy Maiden Jeanne is……!”

“-This is His Majesty, the Holy King Charles VII!”

It was the head of the Holy Kingdom himself who had ordered the kidnapping, fearing that her position would grow any further.

And so, with their interests aligned, the underground auction houses of the Breton Empire must have gotten their hands on her.

They have the ability to appear out of nowhere, impersonate the Black Snake, make a name for themselves in the underground auction house, coordinate with the higher-ups of the Holy Kingdom, and even kidnap a holy maiden.

There is no doubt that they are quite resourceful and skilled, that’s why I couldn’t understand them.

If anything, they were powerful enough to realize the gravity of taking on the name of the Serpent.

Finally-I lifted my head and looked at her.

She wasn’t the sun-bright blonde or snow-white, chaste silver hair that usually comes to mind when one thinks of a saintly virgin, just the brown hair of a country bumpkin girl who looked rather unassuming.

“Do you remember the men who took you?”

The best way to resolve curiosity is to ask. So I asked.

“Who are you……?”

Only then did the holy maiden lift her head and look this way.

“A snake.”

“A “black snake”-!”

As she replied, there was a glint of hostility in her eyes that I couldn’t hide. In front of that hostility, I added. I even added a little explanation.

“And he who bears our name has kidnapped you and auctioned you off here.”

“Was it your doing, or was it not?”

The Holy Maiden asked, not letting her guard down while I glanced around and nodded.

“As you can see.”

Judging by the chaotic scene around me, she was certainly convinced.

As I spoke, I snapped my fingers and the magical restraints binding the holy maiden instantly lost their glow and collapsed.

“!”

The holy maiden slowly rose to her feet, able to move her body. But with the imprint of slavery so deeply etched into her body, it would be hard to expect anything more.

This is not something that even I can free her from right now while this is not the place or time to talk about it.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“What, what? Wait, I’m not done yet!”

Before she could say anything more in her panic, I gestured.

.

It was one of the lowest-ranked spells, but one that, depending on the caster’s level, can be used to subdue almost anyone.

With a flick of my hand, the spell enveloped the holy maiden. She is unable to resist, and falls limp and unconscious on the spot.

There is much to talk with her but not right now.

There’s still a lot of work to be done here.

“Aria, get her out of the barrier and to a safe place outside.”

“Chief-”

“That’s an order.”

“……Yes.”

I said and Aria nodded silently, her mouth closed.

Finally, Aria disappeared, taking the Holy Maiden with her.

With her back to me, I looked at the auctioneer, who was frozen in place, unable to move and by frozen, I mean it in the most literal sense.

“Heh, heh!”

Trapped in a cube of ice except for his head, he opened his mouth in desperation.

“Please forgive me, it was really a misunderstanding, I’m, uh, just, uh, an auctioneer-”

Just as I was about to listen to the auctioneer’s words.

-BANG!

A gunshot rang out. For the record, there are guns in this world.

‘Demon Musketeers.’

The bullet didn’t go through me. It was the auctioneer’s head. And none of my men here use guns.

Instead, several shadows emerged from behind the stage curtain. Each pressed deep into their robes, concealing their identities. The gunman is one of them.

“─Master.”

As they appeared, my men were about to join me.

“You guys stand down.”

I said.

-Kugong, thud!

The entire area warped, leaving nothing but me and the unidentifiable shadows.

This is one of the “great things” about this spell that Alice told me about earlier, the ability to freely manipulate terrain and territory within the barrier.

“You know you can’t escape.”

“…….”

I don’t have to worry about the eyes of my men here. I don’t have to worry about how I fight. I feel like I can live now. I’m going to fly with liberation. I could stop smoking.

“And the fact that it was meant to be.”

The shadows continued to remain silent while I spoke, unperturbed.

“Even knowing that, what led you to take on the name of the serpent?”