Fated to Be Loved by Villains

“...Fuck.”

[...Dude, it’s so early in the morning and you’re already cursing.]

It’s an automatic reaction, okay? I can’t help it!

My back hurts from sleeping on the sofa!

[Why did you sleep there in the first place anyway?]

“...”

I silently got up and approached my bed.

It would be faster to show him than to explain it in words.

I flung open the blinds on the window and took away the blanket, revealing Eleanor and the Chancellor beneath, sleeping while hugging each other’s arms, looking satisfied.

Yes. Both of them chose to sleep in my cramped single bed while huddling each others’ bodies like that instead of sleeping on their own beds.

They were probably trying to hug me—as I was supposed to be squeezed between them, as if I was their favorite doll.

[...]

“...”

As Caliban went silent, as if asking me what the fuck was going on, I just shrugged my shoulders.

“Those two sneaked into my bed when I was asleep.”

[...]

“That’s why I slept on the couch. I had no choice.”

I had a feeling that they would try to do something like this ever since the moment it was announced that we were going to share a room, so I made a plan to avoid them in advance.

Alpha’s warning worked pretty well.

[...What a lovely behavior from the Lady of a Duchal House and THE chancellor herself.]

As Caliban said so, I woke the two of them—who were still humming in their sleep while rubbing their faces against each other—by shaking their shoulders.

“You two, wake up.”

“Hm...”

“Hmm...”

They opened their eyes drowsily.

And quickly realized the identity of the person they had been hugging tightly.

“...”

“...”

Their eyes gradually widened as their faces turned pale.

Then, in the next moment, Eleanor kicked Chancellor Sullivan in the abdomen.

Without being able to even scream, the chancellor’s body rolled to one corner of the room. Meanwhile, Eleanor got up from the bed while covering her mouth.

“...Blaaargh...!”

“...”

Seriously...?

Was that really enough to get you to throw up...?

“Blargh...!”

“...”

As for the chancellor—who was kicked by Eleanor—she held her stomach and mouth, as if she actually felt nauseous as she rolled on the floor.

“You damn barbarian-like woman...! What did you think you were doing—?!”

“That’s your fault for sticking your pan out this early in the morning, you old monster.”

“Say that again you—!”

“...”

Seeing them starting to get rowdy, I quietly closed the door and left the room.

[...Is it okay to just leave them be like that?]

I don’t know, I don’t wanna think about it.

Let’s just do the thing that I have to do.

●

“...D-Do I press this...?”

Seeing Eleanor was struggling to press the button of the lift—they had notified us which floor we needed to go to in advance—I pressed it in her stead.

“Why do you look so familiar with something like this...?”

“...I just do.”

It would be a pain if I were to explain that, so I just gave her a half-hearted answer and silently looked around.

As announced before, it almost felt like there was no human here. All I could see were just androids that looked similar to human, artificial illuminants made of unknown substances, and countless complex mechanical equipment.

“...”

Honestly...

It felt kind of cold somehow.

Not only did the whole place feel empty, it also felt like this place was a space where human nature had been worn away. Although, you could say that it was probably because I was having difficulty keeping up with the level of technology here.

...Anyway, this is the kind of place the Magic Tower is, huh?

Of course, I knew that the Magic Tower was the heart of technology in this world, but I never expected that this place was such a...dreary place....

In my brain, I thought that it was a place filled with mad scientists who had gone half-mad.

[Research building.]

At that moment, a mechanical audio rang–which only further emphasized my feeling of the place—and the door to the lift opened.

“You’re here.”

We then made our way to our destination, where Alpha was waiting for us.

“Follow me. Marquis Bogut is already inside.”

“...By the way, what are we going to do here exactly?”

I heard that it was some hearing.

But I hadn’t heard anything in regard to the reason the Magic Tower was interested in Marquis Bogut in the first place, or why I was summoned here.

Hearing my question, Alpha started walking, keeping his mouth shut for a short while.

“Actually, the word ‘hearing’ is a little misleading. Technically, both Bogut and you are ‘research subjects’.”

“Research subjects?”

“Do you know what the most important topic the Magic Tower covers is?”

Alpha continued.

“Knowledge about the Devils.”

“...”

“Science is a study to understand the principles behind phenomenons. Magic Powers that are widespread in this world don’t deviate from such a principle. They all have laws and rules to them.”

He was talking about the cause-and-effect principle.

There was a cause behind every effect that had happened. This absolute rule applied to every phenomenon in this world.

That also included God’s miracles or magic that deviated from ‘common sense’, as they both were working under established rules that bound them into Holy Power and Magic Power respectively.

“However...”

Alpha continued with a smirk.

“There’s one sole kind that deviated from such a principle.”

“...”

The Devils.

And the Demonic Aura coming from them.

They were ancient beings whose origin was unknown. Their power even ran counter to the passage of time, which was the root of all laws.

“With that in mind, both Bogut and you are the perfect subjects to catch the Magic Tower’s attention.”

Me, who was gradually turning into a ‘new Devil’...

And Marquis Bogut, who strangely had a good knowledge regarding the Devils.

Both of us were good targets to observe closely.

“...Then...”

I replied while scratching my head.

“This hearing thing... I’m guessing that I’ll also be subjected to it, am I right?”

Alpha stopped in front of a door before silently turning to look at me.

I couldn’t know for sure, but...was he laughing?

“How you deal with this matter depends solely on your capability, Dowd Campbell.”

“...”

“The Lady and Chancellor will be waiting outside with me. Since it’s only you who’s allowed to enter.”

So you didn’t deny that...

I thought as such, letting out a bitter smile as what was beneath the door came into my view.

It was a huge meeting hall.

The layout looked similar to a sports arena. That would be quite an accurate description except for the fact that there were huge panels—the same kind as where the students would normally sit—surrounding the center.

In the center of the hall, I could see Marquis Bogut, lying flat on his stomach with his whole body restrained.

“...”

I raised my head to look up at the huge panels.

From this perspective, it felt like I was being observed by people from high places.

The purpose of this arrangement of the interior was quite clear.

They were trying to tell us—Marquis Bogut and I—that we were their ‘test subjects’.

“...”

I let out a sigh while continuing to scan that side.

The Magic Tower’s professors...

Mobius, Clyne, Kektus...

Such names lined up, but there was one name that stood out from the rest.

Professor Astrid.

The person who called herself my mother.

I walked slowly into the hall, scanning the expression of the machine giant whose gaze was fixed on the video panel.

Although, that proved to be meaningless since I couldn’t see her expression. She was a giant cyborg, after all, she wouldn’t have any facial expressions in the first place.

All the other dudes don’t look normal either...

I could tell that these guys were humans, but none of them had a complete human body.

All of them had modified their bodies in one way or another—for example, there was a guy with a machine prosthetic arm, a guy with artificial eyes, a guy who had some kind of device inserted to his spine, and so on.

“...”

It wasn’t a pleasant sight.

Although the information about the Magic Tower was only fragmentary, to the point where I almost knew nothing about it despite being well-informed about the game, it was very easy to summarize these punks in one sentence.

Lunatics who let their curiosity rule over everything.

These punks wouldn’t hesitate to offer ten human lives for ten pieces of knowledge they hadn’t already known.

That much was clear.

While looking around slowly, I got closer to Marquis Bogut.

And was immediately struck speechless by his words.

“Did you have a good night?”

Even in such a situation, this punk still hadn’t lost his optimism.

“What? Why aren’t you replying to me?”

“...You.”

In a normal situation, I would.

Even if it was a curse, I’d say something to him. Anything.

But this wasn’t a normal situation, as he wasn’t in a normal condition.

His countenance looked pale, there were traces of syringe needles all over his body, his hair was all shaved, and his veins were abnormally protruding.

It was as if he was ‘prepared’ in advance as an ingredient.

As if...

He was treated like a guinea pig, not a human,

“Dowd Campbell, please move to the spot near Subject No.1.”

Such words came out from the speaker attached to the upper part of the hall.

The one who said such words was the guy called Professor Mobius.

Seeing how he was sitting at the highest seat among the lined up panels, it seemed like he was the guy who’d call the shots here.

“...Subject?”

“I’m talking about Marquis Bogut.”

“No, I didn’t ask that because I don’t know what you mean.”

A slight frown appeared on my brows as I replied to him.

“...What I heard is that this is some kind of hearing, so what did you mean by ‘subject’? Are you going to do some kind of experiment here, or what?”

“Both essentially meant the same thing.”

He continued in a mechanical, emotionless voice.

“Hearing is but one of the processes of obtaining information you want. It’s something that can be done by studying the subject’s mind.”

“...”

...What?

Hearing that, my expression stiffened even more.

“What we want here is to borrow your power for a short while. After you utilize your Demonic Aura according to our order and search through that man’s mind, we’ll be done with you. It won’t take longer than a few seconds.”

“...Wow, that’s just a violation of my privacy.”

Bogut grunted in a light voice before I replied in a slightly lower voice.

“...There will be side effects if we do that. Assuming that you are trying to tell me to insert the Demonic Aura into someone’s brain.”

That was such a ridiculous notion to follow, hence why I asked for a confirmation.

“Yes.”

And yet he replied as such.

As if it was a trivial matter.

“...Are you out of your mind?”

Even I wasn’t confident I’d survive if someone were to inject Demonic Aura into my brain. This was the equivalent of him asking me to kill Bogut here.

“So you are telling me that it doesn’t matter if he’d die or not. You just want to find out how my Demonic Aura would affect humans? That’s it? Just how could you think that it’s the right thing to do—?!”

If they simply wanted to get information from him, they could’ve just given him the truth serum. Considering the level of their technology, surely they had developed some of those by now.

Just like the previous time, he told me the reason for his action in a nonchalant manner.

“Because it’s data that hasn’t been studied.”

As if he wondered why I asked the obvious.

“...”

And that left me speechless.

As I stayed silent for a while, he continued...

“The opportunity to do an experiment about what kind of effects the Demonic Aura has on humans is rare. And legally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with doing this.”

“...So, what you’re trying to say is...”

At this point, I couldn’t hide the sign of anger in my voice anymore.

“You don’t care about his life and death, you just want to see how my Demonic Aura would affect humans? What kind of nonsense—?!”

Even though he was a felon...

And he had done something punishable by death...

The punk still had the right to die with the least dignity. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

This was way more cruel than slaughtering wild animals.

“As far as I’m aware, Marquis Bogut is a felon who has been sentenced to death in the empire. And the empire has handed him over to us. How we deal with him in the Magic Tower is our right.”

Oh, is that so?

My rage was burning.

It was my first time meeting the people of Magic Tower, but I was sure of one thing even through my burning rage.

These punks were scums I shouldn’t even associate myself with.

“...Just follow along instead of resisting them. It’ll be better for you too, no?”

“...”

Bogut, who was lying on his stomach beside me, muttered.

“You saw it with your own eyes what kind of technology these punks have, no? You don’t have to turn into their enemy for the sake of someone like me.”

“...”

I know that.

I know exactly how overwhelming their power is, I figured that out on my way here.

But still...

This isn’t right.

The situation made me think as such.

With that in mind, what I had to do was pretty much decided.

-The Magic Tower is corrupt, Dowd Campbell. It’s tainted by evil.

-So, resist.

Suddenly, what Alpha said to me yesterday came to mind.

“Please follow our order accordingly, Dowd Camp—”

“Hey, Mister, look here.”

Hearing my voice, Marquis Bogut’s eyes widened.

Probably because my tone had suddenly turned sleazy.

“I’ve heard enough of your bullshit.”

With such words, I cut off Mobius’ words.