Fated to Be Loved by Villains

Eleanor and the chancellor didn’t exactly know what I was doing inside, but they seemed to have a clear idea of what kind of consequences it had.

“What I’m trying to say is, please think of the consequences—!”

“Your body is not only yours! Remember that there are many who are worried about you—!”

“…”

How I was admonished for more than three hours as soon as I returned to our accommodation that evening proved it.

Normally, they weren’t on such good terms with each other, but when they were scolding me, they were in perfect sync.

It was like they were passing batons to each other as they scolded me—once one of them stopped talking, the other came out to whoop my ass with her words, as if they shared a heart and a mind.

“…I was wrong.”

As I muttered so in an exhausted voice, the two of them eventually calmed down their anger.

How the topic shifted to something a bit more constructive proved it.

“…So, are you confident that you are going to win?”

“…”

Eleanor asked in a serious voice, but I had no answer to give her besides silence.

[…What? You started a fight you aren’t confident of winning?]

No, it’s not that I’m not confident…

It’s just, I know nothing about them.

Unlike in the case of my other enemies—whom I always managed to suppress since I had a bunch of information about them—I knew almost nothing about the Magic Tower.

Marquis Bogut probably knew more about them than I did.

Although, at the very least…

“I know the way they’d propose to decide who’s going to win or not.”

“What is it?”

Professor Astrid said that their goal was to ‘collect data’, and that the more intense the situation I was in, the easier it would be to do that since I would unleash more Demonic Aura.

“…A fight. Probably”

The professors would set up a ‘stage’ for me.

Then, they’d throw me there and get me to fight against the ‘opponent’ they had prepared.

I’d assume that was how it’d work out.

“…”

“…”

Hearing my words, Eleanor and the chancellor held their foreheads at the same time.

“…So, to summarize…”

“Yes.”

“They’d make you fight something they pick so that you could unleash your Demonic Aura?”

“Yes.”

“So, you’ll be having a bloody fight with something that they—a group who could even fight against the entire continent by themselves—created created as a countermeasure against the ‘Devils’?”

“…Yes.”

“…”

The chancellor and Eleanor’s eyes narrowed at the same time.

To be fair…

I’ve been in this kind of situation many times and have been doing well so far.

This one might sounds a little more difficult than usual, but I should be able to get by—

“What kind of nonsense is that—?!’

“I told you already! Please think of the consequences—!”

Just like that, another three hours of scolding ensued.

This time, they didn’t stop at nagging me, they also started beating me around.

Fortunately, a knock saved me from such hellish nagging.

“Excuse me, is Dowd Campbell in there—”

A certain cyborg, who entered the room after knocking on the door, stopped his steps.

As for why, well, it was because he was welcomed by a strange sight.

“…”

“…”

.

Alpha, who saw me getting cobra-twisted by both the chancellor and Eleanor, hesitated for a moment before scratching his cheek.

“Should I come again later?”

“What?”

“No need to worry. I always respect others’ sexual preferences—”

“…Just come in already.”

It took quite some time for the chaos to subside, and for us to be able to have a sophisticated and gentlemanly conversation.

“What brings you here? Do you want to laugh at my eventual suffering? Is that how it is?”

I asked slightly in a harsh tone of voice. Alpha tilted his head as he replied,

“What’s with that malicious assumption?”

“You knew this would happen from the beginning. Since you just sent me in without a warning, I bet you planned this out to some extent.”

“I’ve warned you beforehand. Nothing nice will happen in this place.”

“You implied nothing about how it would lead to a direct conflict like this, though.”

In retrospect…

There was no way that this guy was completely unaware of the situation that awaited me in this place.

Even if he wasn’t, he knew what I had been up to, there was no way that he hadn’t foreseen this thing from happening.

How Astrid immediately stepped in as soon as she saw an angle and mentioned ‘collecting data’ and whatnot proved this conjecture.

In other words, ‘inducing’ this situation to happen was Professor Astrid’s and this cyborg’s plan from the beginning.

Which meant…

“…What the hell are you up to?”

I asked in a dull voice.

Dancing in someone else’s palm wasn’t exactly a pleasant situation.

At the very least, I’d need to know parts of the information they had so I could come up with a countermeasure or something.

“Knowing you, I doubt you’d tell me easily. If so, I have nothing to sa—”

“Hm? I’m going to tell you everything though?”

“…”

His words that came out without any delay left me speechless.

The fuck…?

Zero hesitation whatsoever, huh…?

“…If you were going to do that anyway, you should’ve just told me from the beginning.”

“I had my reasons.”

“…Reasons?”

“First, I doubt that’s the only thing you’re curious about. I mean, you have several questions for Professor Astrid, no? Like, why hadn’t she come to see you when she’s alive and well? And when she actually did, why did she show up so shamelessly, and so on?”

“…”

He was right.

Those were questions that had come to my mind before.

As I went silent, Alpha continued…

“We’ll answer those questions all at once.”

Alpha said before he slowly got up.

“Let’s go. To Professor Astrid.”

A frown appeared on my face upon hearing the name. He then continued calmly.

“Together.”

●

“…Hmm…”

The research building the Magic Tower Professors used had a very unique structure.

Actually, it was a little misleading to call it a ‘building’.

As expected from crazy fuckers who could create a flying fortress, each of their research building was a huge facility that had almost the size of two huge buildings combined.

And its insides were filled with scenes that were like abstract paintings painted with twisted imagination.

A different world that strongly felt like an artificially created ‘ecosystem’. There were many lifeforms that had been obviously created by combining two different species roaming around.

Such as a mix of dog and cat, lion and elephant, seal and fur seal, and so on…

“…”

At the very least, none of them used ‘human’ as a base, but I still couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at the sight even if that was the case.

The sight made me realize once again that the so-called mother of mine was indeed a Magic Tower’s Professor.

—as expected.

I can never become fond of her.

“Your reaction is far less dramatic than I expected.”

As I walked while scanning such a sight through the windows of the hallway, Alpha—who was checking my reaction—said so with a chuckle.

“Reaction?”

“Normally, people who come here would freak out or throw up. That’s the natural reaction.”

“…”

Seeing the scene before my eyes, yeah, I could see that.

Some of these things could ruin someone’s mental health just by looking at them.

“Even in the Magic Tower, Professor Astrid’s expertise in bioengineering is on a different level. To keep such creatures alive safely is an amazing achievement.”

“Is that so?”

I said brusquely while looking around.

In my eyes, this felt like a mad scientist’s exhibition. Only fuckers with peculiar taste could appreciate it.

“Well, this is the mildest one out of everyone’s research building.”

“…Mild? This?”

“Yes, and you can take my word for it. At the very least, Professor Astrid has always strongly refused to use humans as her research ‘material’.”

“…”

As expected from the Magic Tower.

It wouldn’t be off to call this place the den of deranged motherfuckers.

“Also, the professor didn’t do such research—ones that lack ethics—because she wanted to.”

“…”

There were two points I wanted to argue about from that.

One, how was I supposed to believe that?

And two, was he implying that all other professors—who he also claimed that were more horrible than this—were ‘voluntary’?

“…If so, this place is more trashy than expected, no?”

“What a brave remark to make in front of a Magic Tower’s personnel. But, I can’t deny it.”

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

What Alpha had said to me when I first arrived in this place once again echoed in my mind.

Meanwhile, the automatic door at the end of the hallway opened as we arrived there.

Beyond that was what seemed to be like a maintenance office of the research building. I could see various control panels and electronic screens with numerical values on them.

However, something stood out even among such things.

“…”

Someone’s ‘body pieces’ floating in a test tube—I didn’t even know why the fuck those were here.

Eyeballs, brain, and various organs were floating inside the solution in a large container that looked like a tube.

“…”

I already wasn’t amused when I saw the crazy scene earlier.

But this? This was on a whole different level. I felt like throwing up after seeing this.

“Why did you bring me here?”

Hence why it was natural that I asked that to Alpha in a bit resentful voice.

“In the first place, the person who called me isn’t even here. The nerve to call me to such a horrible place and not even being here…”

“What are you talking about? She’s here.”

“…?”

What the fuck are you on about?

All I can see here are these nightmare-inducing things—these lifelike organs that seemed like they were ripped off a living human. There’s no one here—

“…”

No way…

No fucking way…

Are you telling me…

I stood still as I stared at these ‘dissected pieces’ before my eyes.

“…There’s no way that’s the case, right?”

And, before Alpha even answered…

The ‘brain’ inside the tube flinched.

As if it was still alive. As if it ‘processing’ something.

And, at the same time…

Some mechanical device rolled up from the floor towards the tube.

It was a speech synthesizer. As if it was made to deliver words of someone who couldn’t use their voice now.

-Hello, son.

It was a familiar voice.

The same voice that I heard from the steel giant who introduced herself as Professor Astrid.

-…I’m not very pleasant to look at, am I?

“…”

Holy /genesisforsaken