Reincarnated As The Villainess's Best Friend

I was running out of time.

The entrance exam was in eighteen hours and I was already late.

Even worse, my carriage was ruined.

"Hurry up and fix it" I ordered. "You're the ones who broke it after all."

The trio grumbled a bit, but they obeyed.

Their attacks had scared my horses away, so they attached theirs to the carriage and fixed the belt.

When the trio was done, we resumed our journey to Viridale. My driver kept in the front, while Scarface and the leader rode in the carriage with me.

The rest of the journey to Viridale suddenly became depressing. Not because I was bored, but because I was now riding with three men who tried to kill me not quite long ago.

It wasn't going to be easy to build loyalty with men who may have murdered innocents, but I had to start from somewhere.

"Alright," I began, leaning back on my chair. "We've been riding for hours and you still haven't told me your names."

The tall leader scratched his scruffy beard. He was visibly discomforted, perhaps by my statement. "In our line of work, it is dangerous to tell anyone our real names."

"I literally just paid you to stop being in that line of work."

"Right..."

Shorty grinned again and locked his eyes on me, tossing up one of the gold pieces I gave them. "My name's Bren. Our leader is Dar, short for Darron, and the brooding one over there is Theo."

Scarface gave me a nod as he slowly sharpened a dagger. I couldn't tell if he was actually nodding or cracking his neck to intimidate me.

"And what's the story behind those names?"

"I was a blacksmith," Bren replied, still grinning. "Used to make armor for the queen of Viridale, until she banished me from my home for my failure to meet the monthly quota."

"So, you became a criminal?"

"Ex-criminal. I work for you now."

Such a clever bastard.

I turned to the tall leader, Dar. He had a very muscular build, and his deep commanding voice told me he was used to giving orders rather than receiving them.

"Let me guess, former military?"

"Queens guard," he replied. "Fired for insubordination."

In other words, he punched someone he shouldn't have.

"And you?" I turned to Scarface.

"Theo doesn't talk much," Bren replied.

"Okay, what was he?"

"Assassin," Theo suddenly replied.

"Impressive. And how did you end up a bandit?"

"Wrong target. Wrong place, Wrong time, Wrong side of a noble feud."

"That's one too many wrongs."

"Story of my life."

"Well... Good to know I just hired the most wanted men in all Viridale. My father will be very proud."

Dark chuckled briefly. "You speak well for a 20-year-old noble."

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "I'm way older than I look."

*****

Around dusk, we stopped by a creek to rest and refill on water. The air was heavy, and the atmosphere grew tense, like the forest itself was listening to us.

I ordered my men to seek some wood to make a fire, and they disappeared into the forest.

After they left, my driver came to me with a note.

"I sent a messenger dove to the Academy, telling them about our delay."

"And?"

"They agreed to move the entrance examination by two hours. If we journey through the night, we can make it to the academy by morning."

"Good."

After a short while, the men returned with a heap of wood and a deer. An hour later, we had a venison dinner around a large fire.

"So," I turned to Dar. "You really believe that House Daevalia were all killed in the great noble war?"

"Of course," he replied. "That was the whole point of the war."

"I thought they were merely victims."

"No. They started it."

"How so?"

Bren took over. "Back then, House Daevalia wasn't even a great house. Rumour has it, they're not from this continent."

"They came over to us," Dar continued. "Hundreds of years ago. We let them breed on this continent, and in return, they tried to wipe us all out "

"You speak of them as if they were a plague."

"They were worse than that. Much worse."

I swallowed hard. This was actually new information to me.

"Enlighten me," I said, trying to keep my tone neutral.

Dar chewed off a large piece of meat and swallowed it, his movements deliberate. "You must have heard the rumors of their evil bloodline magic. It was dark and deadly, and required great sacrifices to harness it."

"Dark Affinity," I whispered.

Dar nodded. "One day, people began to disappear in the south. After that, whole villages vanished without a trace. No blood, no signs of struggle. Just gone. People said House Daevalia was collecting souls."

"Or stealing blood," Bren cut in, without his usual grin.

In my past life, I had heard tales of the atrocious deeds of the Shadow Queen. The stories I heard now seemed to corroborate the rumor that she was truly from House Daevalia.

"Sounds like a bedtime story told by parents to stubborn children," I said casually.

"They are true, little lord. The old generals say that Daevalia almost destroyed the entire continent, until four noble houses banded up together with the commoners to stop them."

"Just four?"

"Three houses stayed out of the war. House Stormborn, House Thornwell, and House Elowen."

"House Elowen, the elves?"

Dar nodded again. "No thanks to them. But the Houses that fought, wiped out all the nobles of House Daevalia, and saved the entire continent."

For a moment, all remained silent. Then I asked the one question I truly needed an answer to.

"Do you think any of them might have survived?"

"No," Dar replied confidently, "Every last one of them was killed."

"Not all of them."

To everyone's surprise, Theo spoke for the first time this evening.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He pulled out a single stick from the fire and stared at its red burning end. "There are survivors."

"And how do you know this?"

Theo kept mute.

"Do you know any of them?"

More silence, which meant he either didn't know or he was trying to hide it.

Or so I thought, until he muttered another phrase.

"'The House of Daevalia will end the world', that is the prophecy."

"What prophecy?"

"The prophecy of the Seers. It is yet to come true."

This was the first time I had heard such prophecy, but I knew of the Seers of the City of Morvain, and everything they prophesied, always came to pass.

After Theo spoke, no one said another word. The fire between us crackled and burned, until it faded to embers.

Somewhere out there, were remnants of House Daevalia, and among them was the girl who would destroy the world.

With the realization a new question sprang up in my mind.

How was I going to stop her, without my magic?