Ch 106 – A Meeting Between a Villainess, a Vile Witch, and a Monster

Currently, within the bustling Kingdom of Magic, a young lady with brown hair lay down on her fluffy white bed and slept soundly. Her room was lightly decorated, yet all the items and furniture inside were of expensive price and luxurious in appearance. Such as a golden lamp, expensive paintings, and more.

But as rays of light pierced through the window beside her, she slowly grumbled and opened her blue eyes, only to be greeted with a pair of golden eyes and a grand beard of unending length.

"Good morning, young lady, shall I get you a cup of expe-"

"AHHHH!"

Shrieking loudly, the girl jumped out of bed and a series of fiery red magic circles appeared all around her.

"You know, I already taught you this before at our first meeting, but using Spirits of Fire indoors is pretty stupid, you should use wind or something," Aldrich nonchalantly said. Waving his hand, the series of magic circles disappeared while Aldrich materialized a black set of clothing out of thin air. Tossing them, the girl caught them with curious eyes and looks back at Aldrich.

"That's your Student Council uniform. Put that on because you're finally going to meet the other two, and hurry up, your president is going to be using his "greatest spell" or whatever in a few minutes. Maria is already ready and you're the last one because you slept like a baby," Aldrich said while walking out of her room, leaving her all alone as she clicks her tongue and looks down at the uniform she received.

"Argh! That old man is just as overbearing as last time! Barging on my abode unnoticed? That's a serious offense of the highest degree!" the girl gnashed her teeth and slowly undressed, while her mind wandered off to the first time she met Aldrich Stolas.

***(Flashback)

There she was, the brown-haired girl slowly walked home after a tiresome day outside eating at restaurants and shopping. She wore a pink dress that reaches just above her knee while her black-rimmed glasses glinted under the setting sun. Hanging on her two hands were a set of bags containing the items she bought for the day, many of which were luxurious goods befitting of a young mistress as she was.

'Ah! I wish I had maids right now. Sigh, after joining the Insurgents of God, my alone time has been getting less and less with training and training! The time I spent reading my novels has been at an all-time low before. But now, I have all the time to myself in this kingdom of magic! Ehehe, the sweets here are just so good.' The lady thought as she arrived at the entrance of her home and smiled happily.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the girl we are currently seeing is the grand Reincarnate, Imerda Pinata in the flesh! With an undercover mission of learning at the Magic Academy, she'll have to see if the otome game she played from before would dictate how her fate would play out! Not only that, she'll have to act more reserved to not put any attention on her, as she might suffer some fate worst than death considering her villainess status.

Turning the doorknob, she took off her shoes absentmindedly and entered her house. But in an instant, she heard the warning signals from the invisible beings around her and materialized a series of fiery red magic circles after chanting a short spell, "Spirits of Fire, grant me your protection from any danger."

Slowly, she entered her living room, and there he was. An old man with white hair and a regal beard sat on her couch, wearing a dark blue scholarly robe while a floating book swished around him, with golden etchings on its dark blue cover. Not only that, her spirits started to warn her that the old man was dangerous.

"Mmm, the miniature Dragon Hearts Lute has been making is quite good. I really do wonder if I'm adopting him because he's talented or because he is a good cook. But anyways, it seems like my second disciple is officially here," the old man muttered as he turned his eyes, and Imerda was greeted by a pair of astute eyes.

"Welcome home, Emily Crest-"

"[FIREBALL]!"

Without any warning, the magic circles in front of her glowed brightly, and out came flaming hot balls of flames.

"Sigh, [Dispel Magic]."

With a simple wave of his arm, Imerda watches as her connection with the spirits got suddenly severed while her fireballs simply dissipated into small wisps of flames, slowly vanishing away into thin air. Slowly, her eyes widened, and gulped in fear.

"Really? You used Fire Magic inside your own house? How reckless could you be! Sigh, anyways, the name's Aldrich Stolas, the Sage, and you're now officially my disciple and the vice president of the student council in the Magic Academy," Waving his hand, a white paper materialized in his grasp and tossed it towards Imerda. Catching it, she looked down and slowly read its contents in disbelief.

'E-eh? What? How? Why? I was supposed to be lowkey! Not be the fucking vice president!'

"Well, goodbye, I'll be back in a few days so that you can meet the President and Secretary, [Teleport]."

As a flash of white light covered Aldrich's body in a cocoon, he disappeared from Imerda's vision and was left alone. Now left dumbfounded, she slowly sat down on her couch and couldn't make head or tails of the situation for a good while.

***(Flashback End)

'Sigh, if I'm the Vice President, then this is most likely not the Otome Game. Besides, I'm the daughter of the villainess of another otome game, I guess I was being paranoid for no reason. But the boy from before, he really looks too eerily similar to the villain of the Sage's Magic Academy otome game.' Imerda thought as she puts on her new uniform, consisting of a black blazer with buttons, a black cape held by a golden cord, and the symbol of the academy was etched in gold on the cape's back and on the chest. She also wore a black skirt, and a pair of black socks that covers her thighs.

Not only that, she raises her eyebrow when looking at the featureless white mask and shrugs her shoulders, Putting it on, she was a bit surprised at how easily she breathed and attributed it to magic.

Glancing at herself in the mirror, Imerda nods her head and opens the door to her room. What greeted her was Aldrich standing right beside a Gate, a gate similar to the spell Don Will Dead uses.

"Come on, the Secretary is already there," without waiting for her, Aldrich grabs Imerda's hand and drags her through the gate.

Opening her eyes, she found herself standing in an open plain of grass while the soft breeze of the open area slammed against her face.

'Eh? But I'm wearing a mask, right?' Imerda thought, but her attention was piqued when she saw a girl standing in the distance with a meek body language.

Just like her, she also wore the Student Council uniform consisting of a buttoned-up black, long-sleeved blazer. A cape tied by a golden cord around the neck and wore black pants. But unlike her, her socks only reaches up to her ankles and showed her smooth white legs. The most iconic part though was her fluffy gold hair and soft blue eyes that shows through her featureless white mask.

Noticing the two appearing, the girl slowly walks up to them and greets them, "G-good morning, Aldrich-sensei."

"You too. Okay, introduction time. Emily Crest, meet Maria Fluoret. Maria Fluoret, meet Emily Crest," Aldrich slowly made the two near each other. Chuckling, Imerda reaches her hand out to greet Maria.

"It's nice to meet you!"

"Y-you too!"

And so, the first meeting between what appears to be two innocent girls has ended.

"Now that's finished, let's hurry up before we miss your president's oh-so-great spell."

Waving his arm, a blue portal opens up in front of them similar to a dungeon portal which piqued Imerda's interest considering she was quite well versed with dungeons as a Reincarnate. But she wasn't able to think too much before being shoved into the portal, causing her to close her eyes for a split second.

Opening her eyes, Imerda found herself along with the other two standing on a relatively flat plane of dirt. Glancing up, she was even able to see the sun and the soft breezes she felt caused her to secretly gasp in shock.

'A-a personal dungeon?!' Imerda thought, before she suddenly noticed a figure standing in the distance.

Due to the distance, she wasn't able to determine his height too well. But he wore the same black, long-sleeved blazer, the same black cape tied with a golden cord, and black pants that reaches his feet. Not only that, he wore a featureless white mask that showed a pair of dark purple eyes, while his long black hair that reaches his neck fluttered with the soft wind.

"LUTE! YOU CAN START NOW!" Aldrich shouted from far away while casting a series of protection spells for the two.

Without responding, Imerda watches with interested eyes at what this person named Lute is going to do.

Waving his arm up, Imerda watches as countless platinum coins suddenly get flung into the air, causing her to be more intrigued than before. Then, as he slammed his wooden staff to the ground, the true wonder of the spell started.

Instantly, a ginormous magic circle many meters in diameter appeared, it glowed a bright blue light while the platinum coins above him halted. And a soft mutter entered her ears even though the man was far away.

"[Buy Attribute: Death]."

*Boom*

Instantly, the blue magic circle below him turned ghastly black and became a pillar of black light that pierces the cloudy sky. Not only that, the white clouds above them turned dark while the area around them turned colder. And one thought filled Imerda's mind.

'I'm going to die!'

Slowly, she felt her legs getting weak as the thick aura of death emanating from the pillar caused her eyes to dilate. It was like meetings the physical incarnation of death itself, a gate to the very afterlife she avoided after dying for the first time.

The feeling was so intense, that it was incomparable to anything Don Will Dead has ever shown to her.

'I-is this what Honda feels whenever he is about to die?' Imerda thought, her mind starting to go blank as the fear crawled up her spine. She even started to hallucinate that the grim reaper's scythe was already hanging around her neck, slowly approaching her throat to kill her.

Not only that, if one focused intently on Maria, her eyes were rapidly dilating while chaotic emotions flooded her mind.

'W-who is he! H-how can a mere mortal have this much power! Not even the Sage has this much mana! The power that pillar holds is virtually endless! The thick aura of death is far above that of even that of Don Will Dead, like death itself is being given physical form! And I clearly heard him saying Buy Attribute, and he tossed platinum coins into the air! How is he able to buy attributes?! Not even with my attribute can I attain a new one!' Maria thought with rapidly dilating eyes, it was as if she has just seen a monster, nay, a god of magic!

Gulping, she struggled to stay conscious as she clearly sensed the limitless mana flooding into the man's very soul and she saw it. His soul was like a rainbow where countless attributes swirled around. There was fire, water, air, etc. not only that, but she also saw rare attributes such as Sword, or Armor. And the most shocking of all was the snow white piece called Time.

'T-time?! Is that the reason for his infinite mana? Not only that, I can clearly see he's less than 20 years old! He's even far above mine in my attainment of magic, he's far above the Sage!' Maria thought without a shred of doubt.

As the trio watches the pilar of black shadows disappear, Lute's eyes opened, his purple eyes now have turned a darker shade that neared black.

Then with a flash of white light, the man suddenly appeared right in front of Maria and grabbed her chin, pointing her face straight at him, "Did you feel scared, Maria-chan? Well, you shouldn't be, because I'm a pretty nice guy all things considered. Just don't be my enemy, because if so, then just know, you'll suffer a fate worst than death."

"OI! Lute, don't scare her like that! You should instead scare Emily."

"Hehehe, sorry about that, Maria-chan. Well, it's nice to meet you two, the name's Lute Stolas, the adopted son of Aldrich Stolas, and the Student Council President of the Magic Academy. I'm also an S Rank Mage, it's nice to meet you two," Lute greeted them, his previously threatening aura now gone and instead replaced with a more lighthearted one.

Not only that, when Imerda looks straight into his eyes, she can't help but feel her heart skip a beat.

"I-it's nice to meet you, I'm Emily Crest," Imerda greeted herself next. Her mind blanked upon hearing Lute was the son of Aldrich Stolas.

"A-and I'm… Maria Fluoret," Maria added last, her eyes were timid and her body language was meek. But deep inside, she felt her very soul palpitating in fear when she looked at the man standing before her, it was as if she was an open book to read for him.

"Hmm? Are you okay, Maria-chan? I'm sorry for scaring you like that, I just have a bad habit of teasing others when I meet them for the first time," Lute said, his eyes now caring and warm like a harmless little brother, which wasn't far off considering his short stature that was even shorter compared to the two of them. Instantly, Maria felt all of her fear and worries wisped away and she let out a relieved sigh.

'Maybe I was just acting paranoid, there's no way he would know of my true identity.' Maria thought, a blooming smile appearing on her face behind her mask, for a glint flashed on Lute's dark purple eyes, his thoughts remaining a mystery for the meeting between the three Student Council Members has started off full of fear and teasing.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking, Lute-san," Maria said, her demeanor more careless and friendly, unbeknownst to her, the act of her becoming this friendly in just a few seconds is an alarming notion. Yet sadly, once you enter the abyss, the notion of leaving is null.

And so, three people with three different identities have gathered into one group under a single man's influence. Will their time spent together be full of wacky adventurers, or instead one of mysteries? We can only follow them, for a hidden puppeteer tugs the strings in the darkness.

AN: This has 2526 words.

Future author here, and you can say I'm the true villain of this story. The final chapter—Ch 130—that I was able to write before I die ends with a cliffhanger! Kekekekeke, just like the saying goes, the villain has the final laugh.

Just give me power stones, this isn't a request, it's an order.

(August 2, 2022 – 251st day of writing)