How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“Mmm, mm.”

Vinny frowned hard as he flipped through the thick catalog, and of all times, this just had to be when his chronic indecisiveness kicked in.

Because he’d failed to choose a weapon and something “unexpected” happened, Old Man Charles had handed Vinny the illustrated compendium of all the weapons inside [Painting Hall Tower] and told him to pick for himself.

Maybe Vinny was just too picky, but after flipping back and forth over and over, he still hadn’t found a single one that felt right.

He liked spear-type weapons, but he already had one. Frostfang was a top-grade [Magic Tool]. Among the spear-type [Magic Tools] recorded in the catalog, there were barely any whose quality surpassed it, and even if they did, there was absolutely nothing as suitable for him as Frostfang. After all, spear-type weapons—specifically ice-element spear-type weapons—were rare to begin with.

As for other weapons, like knives and swords, Vinny didn’t like them. He liked long weapons. A longer reach meant more strength, and a long-shaft weapon in his hands gave him a sense of safety. Besides, he was already used to fighting with polearms; he really couldn’t get used to using swords and the like.

Of course, Saintess Vanessa—who was proficient with basically every weapon—didn’t count. She just used whatever she felt like using, because everything worked smoothly in her hands.

If you translated it into in-game values, Vanessa’s weapon mastery for essentially all weapon types had practically reached the “highly familiar and fully mastered” state. Vinny was different; most of the time, he fought relying on instinct and experience. He didn’t have that many techniques.

Something like a rapier, Vinny liked even less. A real man should be using something a bit more rugged; what the heck was a rapier supposed to be? It wasn’t like he was going to a formal duel.

As for greatswords, Vinny didn’t have the strength to swing them. Even if he could lift one, weapon choice was all about how it felt in the hand. A weapon he could barely lift and could only swing a few times just wasn’t in his consideration range at all.

Bows and crossbows, Vinny also found boring. He didn’t know how to draw a bow and thought it was a hassle. Crossbows were simple enough, but he just didn’t really like them.

And staves? Even less so. He wasn’t a Mage; what was the point of choosing something like that??

Ahhh, decision paralysis.

He couldn’t seriously pick another spear and go double-spear style, could he??

Vinny rubbed his forehead, trying to straighten out his thoughts.

He felt that he already had his main weapon, so what he should be looking for now was a weapon focused mostly on auxiliary functions. That would be better.

He’d been flipping through it all afternoon, and he was almost at the end of the pages, yet Vinny still hadn’t given up.

Wasn’t it the same thing half a year ago? Back then, in the Royal Spirit-Soul Archive, no matter how he searched he couldn’t find a single Spirit Soul with a compatibility rate above seventy percent—aside from one weirdo Spirit Soul called [Fishing for Ten Thousand Ages]. If he’d given up back then and really chosen that so-called [Fishing for Ten Thousand Ages] Spirit Soul and become some fishing guy, he wouldn’t have the life he had today.

Of course, being a fishing guy wouldn’t have been bad either; it’d be pretty laid-back. It was just that entering Carillian Academy had opened up a much wider world for him.

Soon, Vinny couldn’t flip the pages any further. That meant what he was looking at now was the final page of the catalog.

“Ahh, how is there just nothing that suits me?” Vinny let out a deep sigh.

Choosing a [Magic Tool] wasn’t something you could just do randomly either. He had to pick in accordance with his elemental affinity. [Magic Tool] weapons had powerful might, but if he picked a [Magic Tool] attuned to an element he wasn’t good with, he’d only be able to bring out a very limited portion of its potential.

For example, his fire-element affinity was extremely low—very mediocre—so if he chose a fire-element [Magic Tool] weapon, he’d probably be able to bring out not even a tenth of that weapon’s performance. That wouldn’t just be wasteful; that would be outright squandering a treasure.

Therefore, his elemental affinity basically restricted Vinny to choosing ice-element [Magic Tools]. His ice element was pretty decent now; he’d barely squeezed his way into the [Excellent] tier. Adding on the power boost from the ornament gifted by the King of Camella, what he could display now was completely different from before.

But not only were there relatively few ice-element [Magic Tool] weapons listed here, most of them, Vinny just didn’t feel suited him. The majority were main weapons.

One of them that Vinny found somewhat acceptable was a dagger named [Icicle]. The effect of this enchanted dagger was that once you threw it, it would transform into an icicle, and after striking the target it would automatically return to its master’s hand. It also granted a certain degree of ice-element resistance.

That was already the most suitable [Magic Tool] weapon Vinny had managed to find, but he still didn’t like it.

A dagger just felt too low-tier, you know?

After skimming a few more [Magic Tools] that he had absolutely no use for, Vinny shifted his gaze to the last [Magic Tool] weapon on the page.

A fire-element one.

Mm. Just seeing that much was enough to make Vinny feel like there was no hope.

There really were a lot of [Magic Tool] weapons stored inside [Painting Hall Tower], but due to compatibility issues, Vinny was struggling to find even a single one that suited him.

Who told him to be specialized in something like the ice element—truly a cold, niche element in every sense—and only that?

Just as Vinny was mulling over giving in and choosing [Icicle], moving his gaze away from that last [Magic Tool] weapon, his eye suddenly swept over the rough effect description written under this [Magic Tool].

“Name: [Sixfold Inferno], top-grade [Magic Tool], independent [Magic Tool] weapon. Can fire six explosive spiral rounds, or go full firepower and fire all rounds. Raises wielder’s fire-element affinity to [Excellent].”

Say what?!

Vinny rubbed his eyes and triple-checked that he hadn’t misread it.

Middle- and low-grade [Magic Tools] were basically all weapons with simple enchantment effects. Once you reached the top-grade [Magic Tool] tier, they either had an extremely powerful active ultimate move, or they passively boosted attributes.

Clearly, this [Magic Tool] belonged to the latter category.

Vinny looked at the illustration for this [Magic Tool], surprised by its form. It was a black-red weapon that looked very much like a revolver-style pistol, with long golden horns on both sides. The trigger was gold-red, adorned with a demonic motif. The magazine area was decorated with golden flames that looked like they would flare to life each time the gun was fired.

There were actually top-grade [Magic Tools] that could raise elemental affinity?? That was insanely rare, practically unheard of.

Had he just stumbled onto a hidden gem?!

Vinny was overjoyed. He decided then and there that this was the one.

Forget the active effect; just the passive alone was something he absolutely could not afford to miss, right??

His current ultimate, [Frost and Snow Engulfing Flame], had its power determined by his ice element and its duration determined by his fire element. Both ice and fire were important to him.

Decision made. This was it!

So, after settling on his choice, Vinny headed back to [Painting Hall Tower] and explained his pick to Charles.

“Oh? Kid, you’re already recovered? You bounce back pretty fast, huh? It’s only been an afternoon.” Charles was just about to clock out when he saw Vinny walking toward him and chuckled. “If I remember right, there were two girlies standing at the door to visit you. Both of them were very pretty. You sure are lucky with women, kid. Guess staring at beauties really does help heal injuries??”

“Old Man Charles, I’ve already decided what I want,” Vinny said bluntly.

“Oh? That fast?” Charles raised a brow.

“Mm-hmm. What I want is this one. Do you have it?” Vinny pointed at the [Sixfold Inferno] in the last row of the last page of the catalog.

“Which one? This one?” Whether by accident or on purpose, Charles pointed at the bluish long sword next to [Sixfold Inferno].

“No, this one. [Sixfold Inferno]!” Vinny directly read the name out loud.

“You little brat, you’ve got sharp eyes, don’t you? I should’ve pulled that picture out of the book when I gave it to you!” Charles grumbled.

“Hehe, I don’t care. I’m set on this one. Just looking at this gun, I can tell it’s got fate with me.” The moment Vinny realized he’d scored a massive bargain, he latched on and refused to let go, plastering on a shameless, grinning face.

“This top-grade [Magic Tool] was only added to the archive a few days ago,” Charles said, pressing his lips together. “It was originally meant to be the crown jewel among the sub-[Divine Armament] weapons. After all, a [Magic Tool] that can raise elemental affinity is an absolute top-tier even among top-grade [Magic Tools]. You really did show up at just the right time, huh??”

“What, Old Man Charles, you’re the one who told me to pick from this catalog. You can’t go back on your word now, you know?” Vinny pouted.

“Did I say I was going to go back on my word?” Charles snorted. “Enough, this is ridiculously unlucky. Just head back for now.”

“Eh? Old man, I’m not leaving. If I don’t get the weapon today, I’m just going to sit right here and not move, and I’ll tell everyone who walks by.” Saying that, Vinny made as if to plop down on the spot.

“Get up! This is Carillian Academy. You’re a student here, not some street-corner vagrant beggar!” Charles glared at him. “What do you take Carillian Academy for? You think the Academy’s going to stiff you out of a weapon? You’re so petty it hurts. Only you would think this kind of thing is some irreplaceable treasure to the Academy.”

“But to me it really is irreplaceable, Old Man Charles. I really need it. It’ll be a huge boost for me!” Vinny said with a cheeky grin.

“I know, but you still have to wait,” Charles said, cutting him a sidelong glance. “Because it hasn’t been shipped over yet.”

“Huh? So it isn’t in stock yet?” Vinny frowned.

“I did say its entry was only added a few days ago. It hasn’t even been officially transported here yet, and the paperwork hasn’t formally gone through. How am I supposed to give it to you? Magically conjure it out of thin air??”

“All right, that’s enough. You can go back and wait for the notice. Once it arrives, I’ll have someone deliver it to you.”

“Oh, then thanks, Old Man Charles. You’re not allowed to go back on this, okay?” With that, Vinny left, but every three steps he took, he’d turn around once to look at Charles. “You really can’t go back on it, okay?”

“Have you gone poor or something, kid? This is what your ambition looks like? You’ve never had money in your life, have you??” Charles swung his staff as if to chase Vinny away. “Hurry up and get lost. You’ve got that hunt next week, don’t forget.”

“Okay, okay, I got it... You still can’t go back on it, though!” Vinny shouted as he turned and bolted.

Soon, the pleasant holiday time came to an end. After finishing his homework and spending a full day playing cards with his card buddies, Vinny slipped back into class mode.

Just like in his previous life, the start of a term meant a small quiz every three days and a big test every week. Right at the beginning of the semester, Carillian Academy was packed with assessments. For example, this Exotic-Beast Hunt—they had to head out early in the morning.

Plenty of students were miserable about it, but Vinny felt it wasn’t so bad. At least it was outdoor exercise and not sitting in a classroom writing test papers. That was the real torture.

Everyone knew Vinny wasn’t good at using his brain. When Aesphyra was around, Aesphyra was his external brain. Anything that involved thinking, he just dumped onto Aesphyra. If he could avoid thinking, he would, because thinking was a wasted effort anyway.

But this time was different. His teammates weren’t Isatia or Aesphyra.

Instead, they were—

“Dale, don’t be nervous. It’s just a hunt. There’s no real danger. At worst, we just don’t get a great score,” Vinny said, ambling along the road and glancing lazily at the anxious Shicodale beside him.

This should actually be his first time heading out on a mission with Shicodale, right?

It should be. In the past, he’d either gone with his armored-class classmates or with Aesphyra; he’d never been teamed up with Shicodale before.

Though there was a fairly serious problem.

Namely, that his Spirit Soul was currently sealed. He couldn’t use magic, and even if he used Frostfang, its power had been massively reduced.

That meant his results this time might be a bit less than ideal.

“A less-than-ideal score? Isn’t that really bad??” Shicodale said anxiously. “If my score with you isn’t ideal and our rank drops, then won’t we...”

“Won’t we...”

He seemed too embarrassed to say the rest aloud.

“Won’t what?” Vinny asked.

“Won’t... won’t be able to... be on the same starting line,” Shicodale stammered.

“......”

If it had been the old Vinny, he probably would’ve thought Shicodale was just spouting nonsense, but now—

Maybe it was because he’d spent too much time with Shicodale, or he’d just heard too much of Shicodale’s “poetic Shicodale-speak” and his brain had grown an auto-translator. When Vinny listened to Shicodale talk now, he could more or less understand what the other guy’s subtext was.

“Dale, you’re worrying way too far ahead. Relax. We’re still going to be in the same dorm afterwards. This is just a small assessment. Sure, it counts toward your semester grade, but it won’t be a huge portion,” Vinny said, completely unconcerned.

“Anxious people live in the future. Depressed people live in the past. All we need to do is think about how to handle what’s right in front of us.”

“Got it?”

“Mm!”

The students lined up by class, then departed in batches. The destination was one of the spirit-beast-rich islands among the Carillian Isles.

Why did Carillian Academy have so many islands? Well, if it didn’t, how could this place call itself the number-one academy?

As the top academy, its irreplaceability was obvious. The sheer number of functions and resources it had at its disposal wasn’t something any other academy could compete with.

When Vinny arrived at his class’s line, his appearance drew a lot of attention.

His news had spread even faster than he’d imagined. Now, quite a few of the first-year students already knew that Vinny had reached the Magus realm.