A Villain's Will to Survive novel Chapter 245

Chapter 245: From The Ashes (2) Part 2

Two hours later, I returned to the guild room and saw Jukaken, covered in dirt as if he had fought his way through a tunnel with nothing but his bare hands, while Arlos stood there in a mask, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"... What were you doing there?" Arlos asked, her voice muffled behind the mask.

I raised a hand to Arlos's mask.

"No—stop. I said stop. Don’t take it off," Arlos said, pulling her head away from my hand as I reached for her mask.

I nodded slightly without saying a word.

"What did you do with Sylvia?" Jukaken asked.

"That’s not something you need to know," I replied.

“You’re joking, right? That psycho’s the enemy of every last one of us. Whatever you did with her—”

“Take this.”

Clatter—!

I let the coins fall, one after another, until the floor rang with their weight. Jukaken and Arlos reacted as if they'd struck gold, their eyes widening and their reactions thoroughly dramatic.

"Woaahhhh?!"

“What?!”

While they scrambled for the coins, their eyes shining with greed, I took advantage of the brief moment of chaos to reach out and pull the mask from Arlos's face.

“Oh, damn it!” Arlos said, covering her face with one hand as her other continued to work, scooping up coins and elbowing Jukaken out of the way, with her mask slipping free.

For all the absurdity of their actions, it should’ve seemed pathetic; however, there was a cold beauty to Arlos’s face that was stunning, like a sculpture, and even that ragged scuffle felt intentional, conveying less desperation and more like a piece of performance art.

“Does this coin still hold its worth?” I inquired.

“Of course it is! It's a real one—a complete currency!” Jukaken replied.

“Complete currency?”

“I’ll tell you what it means later—but trust me, it’s a huge deal! Where did you get this coin?”

“I received it from Sylvia,” I replied.

Those coins were what I had been paid by Sylvia, and in other words, they were my wage.

"For fuck's sake, stop pushing me, bitch. I'm going to knock you flat if you don't back the hell off."

“Back the fuck off. It’s mine.”

Jukaken and Arlos didn’t seem the least bit interested, but if anyone had asked, Sylvia had paid me—in coin—for spending time with her on the lessons of Etynel grammar.

“Whoa, look at all this. Bet I could spring for a steak tonight. Alright, I’m outta here!” Jukaken said, his pockets clinking with coins, turned around and bounced out of the guild room’s door.

Arlos's hands shook as she stuffed the coins into the bundle.

Once it was just the two of us in the guild room, Arlos cleared her throat and held out her hand, waiting—as if I should already know what she wanted.

"Is what you have not enough?"

“No, my mask.”

"Such beauty ought not to be veiled and deserves the light," I replied, shaking my head.

“... Just give it back. Art fades when it’s left too long in the open for people to see.”

“There’s no one else watching but me."

Arlos let her arm fall back to her side.

I cleared the dust from the chair across from her using the very mask she had worn, then lowered myself into it and let my eyes settle on her face. Arlos twisted in her seat for a moment, then threw up her arms, covering her face as if she expected a blow from a boxer.

“Arlos,” I called.

“... What,” Arlos replied.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“... Something you’ve been meaning to ask me?”

“Tell me—what is it that you seek from the Altar?”

Arlos was a mystery, and she was a villain—that much was certain, as she worked with the Altar—but the scenario didn’t concern itself with that part, as if her reasons were none of our business.

"I think that is none of your business," Arlos said, still guarding herself like a fighter unwilling to drop her hands.

“Of course it is my business, as the Altar is the sworn enemy of the entire continent.”

“... I don't think I should tell you anything about my purpose,” Arlos replied, her eyes narrowing with a sharp glare in my direction.

Arlos took a coin from the bundle, turned it over in her fingers, blew on its surface, and in the next instant, the coin transformed into a potato.

“This is what complete currency means. This coin can turn anything into something real. Don’t ask me how—it just works. Though, as you can probably guess, it’s the worst trade-off you could imagine,” Arlos said, taking a bite of her potato.

I kept my eyes on Arlos in silence as she ate the potato.

“... If you want to eat it, take it already,” Arlos added, her brow furrowing as she offered up the potato.

“You turn the simplest act into something beautiful. Even eating a plain potato becomes art in your hands.”

“What the?”

Scrape—

I hooked my foot around the leg of Arlos's chair and pulled it closer until it was within my reach. Arlos's breath caught, and then she pressed herself flat against the backrest, as if she thought she could escape the situation.

"You are inexhaustible to the eye. There’s something in you—philosophy, beauty, presence. You spark ideas, push me toward thoughts I didn’t know I had. Just being near you, I can almost see magic and hear the first notes of something worth composing," I said, leaning closer to her.

“... Hmm? Oh, yes, thank you. I’m fine,” Yulie replied with a nod. “It’s nothing—just something personal.”

Rustle, rustle, rustle—