How Could the Villainous Young Master Be a Saintess?

“Is this... the exit?”

Milian hid behind Vinny and shivered as she looked at the gloomy stone chamber.

“Looks like it,” Vinny said, scanning the room. “Something like a teleportation array. A research facility this important couldn’t possibly have only one exit. This is probably an emergency passage the Ancient Empire built.”

He looked to both sides of the chamber.

Iron chains hung from the walls, and two rows of stone statues stood arranged there.

Judging from their forms, the statues depicted: a pair of stone knight figures wearing plate armor and holding longswords; a pair of stone soldiers with spears; a pair of stone nobles dressed in formal Ancient Empire attire; and a pair of ordinary imperial citizens.

At the very center stood another statue: an emperor seated upon a throne, wearing a crown and cloak, radiating majesty.

Nine statues in total.

Each one was carved with astonishing realism. Even after several hundred years they still stood solemnly in place, as if the craftsmen of the Ancient Empire had been deliberately showing off their artistry.

Vinny noticed that beneath every statue were grooves that allowed them to slide forward, backward, left, and right.

Then he looked at the stone door ahead, sealed by magical chains and engraved with a magic array.

One glance was enough for him to understand what kind of puzzle needed to be solved to open it.

Forcing it open was out of the question.

This was the most secret underground research institute of the Tyrelis Ancient Empire. At the height of its power, the empire had even created devices capable of stabilizing [Divine Authority]. When it came to the development of magic and divine favor, no one surpassed the Ancient Empire.

Him?

Challenge the greatest mages and craftsmen of the Ancient Empire?

Forget it.

He was only an Intermediate Magus. Even if he were a Master-realm mage, it would still be impossible.

Better think honestly about how to solve the puzzle.

Vinny rubbed his chin, his gaze drifting across the statues.

Then he suddenly raised both hands.

“Whoa? You figured it out already?!” Milian’s eyes lit up.

Were they finally leaving this miserable underground nightmare?

Then she watched Vinny lift his arms...

...and stretch lazily while yawning.

“Man, we’ve walked so long my back’s killing °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° me,” Vinny groaned, rolling his shoulders.

“You raised your hands just to stretch?!” Milian’s hopes collapsed instantly.

“What else?” Vinny said matter-of-factly. “Milian, do you think I’m some kind of detective who instantly sees the answer every time? They just dump a bunch of statues here with zero clues. It’s like a chessboard. How am I supposed to know what they’re trying to say?”

“I think...” Milian muttered thoughtfully, “the hint is probably that you need to place the statues in the correct positions. Then the door opens.”

“Milian, seriously,” Vinny sighed, rolling his eyes. “Could you try saying something nobody already knows?”

“Then what should I say?!” she pouted. “You’re acting so relaxed I thought you already knew the answer!”

“I wish I were that amazing. The reason I solved the earlier puzzle was just a lucky flash of inspiration.”

Naturally, Vinny didn’t mention that a large part of that “flash” came from knowledge Aesphyra had once explained to him.

“But think about it,” Vinny added with a shrug. “The people working here would obviously know the arrangement already. Any hint wouldn’t be meant for intruders like us.”

“Then... maybe we just try every possible arrangement?”

“Milian, your imagination is as lively as ever,” Vinny said dryly. “In a place this secret, do you know what entering the wrong code means?”

He gestured around the chamber.

“This is absolute top-secret territory. The Ancient Empire would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let a single intruder escape. Forget us—even the researchers themselves would probably get executed if they input the wrong combination.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Milian suddenly crouched down miserably. “Don’t tell me we’re going to spend the rest of our lives buried in this ghost-infested underground!”

Vinny sighed.

“If only there were a quest hint...”

Only then did he remember something.

This world was supposed to be a game.

If only his “system” could give hints like in a real game—then he could just follow the objective without thinking.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” Milian asked.

“Nothing. I was just—”

Vinny stopped.

Milian suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth, staring forward in horror.

Vinny followed her gaze.

In the center of the statue formation, several ghostly blue figures appeared.

They wore the uniforms of imperial researchers.

The figures seemed to be discussing something.

Then two of them walked to the sides and began pushing the statues. Another stepped before the emperor statue, knelt on one knee, and tapped a tile on the floor. Several characters floated upward, and the researcher rearranged them into a sequence.

At the same time, the statues were pushed into specific positions.

A thunderous rumble followed.

The magic array on the stone door began rotating counterclockwise. One by one, the magical chains snapped apart.

The door opened.

Vinny and Milian watched the entire scene silently from behind.

...Wait.

There really was a quest hint??

Vinny had absolutely not expected that.

Fortunately, the statue formation still contained a memory amber from centuries ago, replaying a fragment of the past the moment they arrived.

Since their lives depended on it, Vinny memorized both the statue positions and the password sequence perfectly.

A few moments later, the blue afterimages vanished.

Vinny and Milian stepped forward.

“Those ghosts just now... they were opening the door, right?” Milian said excitedly. “That means the arrangement they showed must be the correct one! We’re saved!”

“Looks like we got lucky,” Vinny said, walking to the statues.

He pushed the first pair into place—the stone knights.

Following the same motions the researchers had used, he shoved the statues from behind.

Despite being several hundred years old, the mechanism still moved.

Not easily—but not impossibly.

The knights stepped forward one space, guarding the emperor on both sides.

Next—

The soldiers moved into the flanks.

The nobles stood behind the soldiers.

And finally, the imperial citizens.

Following the arrangement he had seen, Vinny restored the statue formation quickly.

“Now the password.”

He knelt before the emperor statue as though paying homage.

In reality, he was tapping the floor.

The craftsmen clearly had a sense of humor.

They had placed the password switch beneath the emperor’s feet—meaning anyone who wanted to open the door had to kneel before the emperor of the Tyrelis Empire.

Vinny had worried the magic might have failed after so many centuries.

But the devices of the Ancient Empire were evidently reliable.

The glowing characters appeared before him.

Following the sequence he had memorized, Vinny arranged them in order.

“RUMBLE!!!”

After a moment of silence, the magic array on the door began turning counterclockwise—exactly like before.

Faster and faster it spun, like a clock whose hands had gone mad.

Soon only a blurred afterimage remained.

As it rotated, the magical chains snapped one by one.

CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.

Five chains.

The last one broke.

“CLANG—”

The stone door creaked open a narrow gap.

“...The door... opened?” Milian gasped.

Vinny said nothing.

He stepped forward and pushed.

The door was incredibly heavy. He had to strain with all his strength to move it even slightly.

But as the gap widened—

Light spilled out from within.

There’s hope.

Vinny’s eyes brightened.

That was the glow of a teleportation array.

Which meant the portal here hadn’t been completely shut down.

With a final burst of strength, Vinny shoved the stone door fully open and slammed it against the wall.

“Vinny, wait!”

But Milian’s expression had already changed.

The joy she’d felt moments ago had turned into something closer to disbelief... and dread.

Elves possessed far sharper senses than humans. They could perceive things humans couldn’t—subtle omens of danger.

And right now—

She felt no joy at all.

Only fear.

Cold seeped into her limbs. Goosebumps crawled along her skin.

Whatever lay beyond the door—

She was certain it wasn’t the exit.

“Stop!” she shouted.

But it was too late.

Vinny’s eyes were already reflecting the strange, multicolored light spilling from beyond the doorway.

He could no longer look away.

Nor could he hear Milian calling to him.

“Th-this...??”

Vinny stood frozen at the top of the stairs.

Only a few intact steps remained beneath his feet.

Beyond them—

The ground turned crimson, like the exposed membrane of some living creature.

Pools of thick green liquid bubbled across its surface like infected wounds.

Countless bulging mounds covered the landscape.

At first glance they resembled clumps of black beans.

But looking closer—

They were eyes.

Eyes packed together, blinking and writhing.

Above them stretched no sky.

Instead, blood-red vine-like tendrils hung down from the darkness, dripping green fluid, each one studded with more eyes.

And that wasn’t the worst of it.

A swarm of creatures like living heaps of rotten mud screamed and writhed.

Their bodies crawled with centipede-like legs. Their zipper-like mouths stretched wide in grotesque celebration.

At first Vinny thought he was looking at fields of grain.

Then he realized—

They were tiny red eyes.

Countless red eyes.

Suddenly—

All the screaming stopped.

Every eye in that impossible world turned toward Vinny.

He felt every pore in his body wail in agony.

Those countless eyes seemed to crawl onto him, planting themselves across his skin.

His flesh split open—

Cracks spreading like grotesque wounds.

What did it feel like to look directly upon a higher-dimensional being?

Vinny had never understood the concept before.

But now—

He heard echoes of the words the red-eyed priest had spoken before dying.

If those arrogant mortals truly understood the world, they would realize their existence is nothing but a joke. No one cares. No one notices. Their deaths are like weeds burning beneath the sun.

“AAAAAAAA—!”

Vinny’s mind screamed.

The shock shattered his mental world.

Yet no matter how much he screamed inside his head—

He couldn’t make a sound.

Under those gazes, he was nothing more than a dish placed on a table.

Even the thought of resistance vanished.

The eyes spread.

They filled his mind.

Wherever he looked—

Red.

Endless red eyes spinning like beans.

His nerves were snapping.

And he couldn’t even scream.

Just as his mind was about to collapse completely—

A warm cherry-pink glow shielded the core of his consciousness.

A pair of radiant wings spread wide, blocking the invading red eyes.

That was—

Vinny’s fading awareness recognized it.

The Radiant-Cross Holy Shield within his Sea of Mind.

A fragment of his sanity returned.

He had nearly been assimilated by that world.

Then—

Milian’s voice exploded in his ears.

“MOVE!!”

Vinny’s eyes widened.

A massive black spike shot out from that grotesque world—

Already inches from his face.

“SMACK!”

At the last instant, an external force slammed into him.

Vinny was shoved backward out of the doorway.

His awareness slowly returned.

Clutching his head, he felt as if his brain were being torn apart.

The pain was beyond anything he had experienced.

Vinny had fought in plenty of brutal battles before.

But pain like this—

He had never known.

Then he realized something.

Ignoring the agony in his skull, he forced his blurred vision forward.

The place where he had stood a moment earlier—

The black spike had pierced through it.

Milian had pushed him away.

The cost—

Vinny stared blankly.

The black spike, long as a spear, had pierced straight through Milian’s chest.

Her eyes were wide, tears trembling within them.

Her body shook violently from unbearable pain.

“Wh... why... is it... getting dark...?”

Blood bubbled from her lips.

“S-sister... where... are you...”

“Don’t leave me... I’m... scared of the dark...”

Her olive-green eyes, once bright like polished jade, had gone dim.

Only now did she seem to realize—

She was dying.

Milian.

A coward afraid of the dark.

A child who had never grown up under her sister’s protection.

Yet in that final moment—

She made a choice the old Milian would never have dared.

Dying in this pitch-black underground world had been the one thing she feared most.

Her consciousness was already fading.

But in the final instant—

Her eyes moved slightly, as if remembering something.

Her lips parted weakly.

“Run...”

Then her body went limp.

Light particles scattered from her form.

Milian vanished.

“Mi...lian?”

Vinny’s eyes widened.

He reached out instinctively.

Then slowly clenched his hand into a fist.

Thinking of the lively girl who had stood beside him moments ago—

Vinny stared at the black spike that had killed her.

His eyes burned red.

Word by word, he spoke.

“I swear to every god I know...”