There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 66

To describe what the sentence, ‘A novel is just a novel,’ did to those who were isekai’d into them would require one thousand five hundred chapters by web novel standards. Four thousand five hundred characters per chapter including spaces should be okay.

Unfortunately, many of those who get isekai’d are unable to quickly accept the dimensional travel that has happened to them. But if only they can understand that the present given to me is reality, they can live a wise isekai life like me.

Would you really miss the chance to sleep with your favorite character for the sake of a monologue like, ‘You guys are merely characters, just paper dolls’?

In that sense, I was accepting Ryuseong in a rather ‘human’ way. The only thing that tormented Ryuseong was the fact that my own humanity was rotten.

“What, is there a problem?”

“The problem is you. Where did you go and come back from?”

Ryuseong is probably worried about me. But I didn’t give a rat’s ass about such things, and with a brazen snort, I brushed off my shoulder.

Slowly, and arrogantly.

“Are you a stalker?”

“What?”

“Obsession is a sickness, Mr. Ryuseong. I believe your friend told you as much, so I wonder if you failed to understand.”

But when you think about it, I believe the fact that I ended my words at this level to a guy who was acting kind while hiding his intention to kill me proves what a virtuous and kind personality I have.

‘See, I knew I was a good person.’

Ignoring Ryuseong as he contorted his face, I started walking forward, but my wrist was grabbed. I could feel the students, who had been treading carefully down the hallway, gasp—gasp! heave!—and freeze in place, watching us with their hearts pounding in their throats.

But hey, do you think Cassis de Millang’s mysophobia setting is there for nothing? I smacked his hand away with a sharp slap. I did it because I thought this would make Ryuseong pissed off enough to leave. Because Ryuseong would never be able to guess the reason why my mood had soured.

From Ryuseong’s point of view, it would look like Cassis de Millang had gone crazy and was throwing a hysterical fit. A kid who suddenly left school early and came back wasn’t looking well, so he asked where he’d been, only to be treated like a stalker? Hey, even Buddha would get angry at this. Even if I have a shitty personality, I’m at least capable of self-reflection and objectification.

But a reality different from my expectations unfolded.

“…Why are you angry.”

Even after being treated like this, Ryuseong was worried about me. Does he not care if someone else is being temperamental? This was so absurd it left me dumbfounded, so I just stood there, my lips parting, and at that sight, Ryuseong seemed even more flustered, frowning and taking a step back.

Then he showed his empty hands as if declaring he wouldn’t threaten me. I, who had never felt particularly threatened, was so baffled I was about to lose it.

As we stared at each other awkwardly like that, the awkward moment was brought to a halt by the sudden entrance of a professor.

“Ooh, what kind of hooliganism did you learn that has you lining up in the hallway and blocking the path? Be on your way!”

It was Professor Aple. As always, he nagged at the students with his exaggerated and heated voice, sweeping them aside. He’s as skinny as a stick, so where does he get all that strength?

‘Ah, is he using strength-enhancing magic?’

In any case, the timing wasn’t bad. I had a reason to see the professor, too.

I raised my hand and beckoned him over.

Professor Aple, who had been pushing through the students haphazardly in a straight line, finally noticed Cassis de Millang’s presence and was startled, halting his long strides and suddenly becoming polite.

“Hah, so Lord Cassis was here.”

Aple’s attitude, bowing sharply at the waist in the noble fashion before straightening up, might have sparked discontent among the other students. Because it was a completely different manner from how he treated them.

But Cassis de Millang is different from the students. It’s not just his social status. Only kids who don’t know any better would insist that Cassis de Millang’s influence is thanks to his status; in the first place, Cassis de Millang is, in name and reality, a Raider.

He is not only a working senior in the industry but also an old pro.

What this means is that, although he just hasn’t awakened his Title yet, he is already contributing to this world in a certain role.

Cassis de Millang’s capabilities were proven early on when he conquered a dungeon at the age of thirteen.

‘Shurkun.’

Conquering a dungeon single-handedly is an act of madness. And Cassis de Millang did it.

Dungeon raids start with forming a party according to the analyzed risk level. The number of raiders in a team can increase or decrease depending on the level of the raiders joining, for example, a party with an A-rank Raider will succeed in a raid even with fewer members compared to a party without an A-rank Raider.

Following that principle, even high-risk dungeons didn’t necessarily mean a limitless increase in party members.

And the dungeon ‘Shurkun’ had been analyzed as requiring nine A-rank Raiders to clear.

To have cleared that single-handedly means.

‘At least Triple A.’

Of course, analysts are conservative and set the number of raiders generously for safety’s sake, but that was the level a thirteen-year-old had achieved.

A crazy bastard.

‘…Although Ryuseong was the one who was first said to be capable of conquering a dungeon at the age of eight.’

Ryuseong didn’t raid it. The Head of the Hallapa Sect chased everyone away, yelling what kind of nonsense they were spouting to a young child. In a way, that was to be expected. Throwing a child into a dungeon and making him raid it alone was an act of madness.

But Cassis de Millang did it. The students still had vivid memories of being shocked into a stupor when they heard the news on newspapers or television when they were thirteen, in the sixth grade of elementary school. Someone my age did something like this? Everyone was appalled by the overwhelming feat that couldn’t even be used as a comparison to your mom’s friend’s son.

Even after that, his unconventional path did not stop.

He participated in raids several more times and continued his exploits without hiding his existence.

Well, even a person like Cassis de Millang has a weakness.

‘The fact that he has no Title.’

After being this active, he should have at least awakened a lame Title like ‘Raider’.

Cassis de Millang, strangely enough, did not awaken a Title.

Considering that a Title is a role designated by the World Tree to those who influence the world, and judging by the old idiom, ‘One who awakens an ability is an Awakened, but only one who awakens a Title is a Raider,’ Cassis de Millang is not yet a Raider.

‘Although that’s not an absolute criterion for judgment.’

In the first place, while the Awakened have registration cards, Raiders don’t really have them. There’s no standard to say who is and who isn’t one. If you have the will to participate in a dungeon raid and the power to come out alive, you’re a Raider.

But as everyone knows, there is territorialism in the world, and so Cassis de Millang, who’s still wet behind the ears and has a prickly personality, is somewhat of an outsider in the named Raider industry. In other words, despite his de Millang status, he is being moderately ignored.

Normally, it would have been impossible for someone his age to even be included in a group of named Raiders. This was even more so because the ones Cassis de Millang was being compared to were not regular Raiders but named Raiders.

Regular Raiders refer to those who have awakened a Title, and named Raiders refer to those who have awakened a Unique Name.

Cassis de Millang, without even a common Title, had achieved results comparable to the heroes of the world who command the black mist.

‘Even if he’s considered lacking compared to them… the very fact that he’s being compared is amazing.’

Cassis de Millang is twenty years old. He has just become an adult. This reason was also intertwined with why the students admired Cassis de Millang.

Not just because he is of the great de Millang bloodline.

The point that he is a pioneer who has already walked the path the students wish to take…….

‘Even I would have a seizure if I had to be in the same class as a genius who wrote such a history.’

Who wouldn’t feel intimidated by a boy their age conquering a dungeon while they were training by looking at monster corpses caught for them by adults?

Of course, both Ryuseong and Cassis de Millang have things they were born with. In Ryuseong’s case, it’s his Unique Name, and in Cassis de Millang’s case, it’s his bloodline…….

But one cannot intimidate others with innate things alone. Could all de Millangs have succeeded in the same reign of terror as Cassis?

Among the past de Millangs, there were those who were ignored and those who were treated as fools. Only with bone-breaking effort does an achievement so overwhelming that it crushes one’s spirit follow. And Cassis de Millang proved it.

He declared himself a being worthy of fear.

‘I like geniuses. To the point I want to lick them clean! But that one is nothing short of a monster….’

Professor Aple monologue’d as such. When he heard that he had delved into the new field of blood magic, he thought, so be it. When he endured injuries to train only that, he thought he was tenacious.

But it was different during the performance evaluation.

‘Perfection.’

A skill that had reached the pinnacle was there. Every professor present was so astonished they couldn’t close their mouths. It was known that he had definitely not received any separate tutoring. While learning on his own a neglected magic that didn’t even have a major professor, Cassis de Millang had, at some point, pieced together a great creation for all to see. And he did it in three months.

‘The fact that it made me feel a sense of self-loathing says it all. Haha!’

Cassis de Millang made the professor reflect on his own life. It wasn’t just because of the level of that magic. Professors could easily perform at that level in their own fields of expertise. The problem was the absolute total amount of effort Cassis de Millang had put in to get there.

‘Three months.’

What kind of madman cultivates such a skill in just three months…….

Even the professors had never thought he would be this amazing. Even the professors who had met him during raids said they hadn’t realized he was this exceptional before. An achievement that silenced even those who had inwardly dismissed him as a little devil suited for machinations and intrigue, not a genuine Raider, a young brat loitering around dungeons on the coattails of his family name.

Aple inwardly thought he’d done well to suck up to him and smiled brightly at Cassis de Millang.

“What business did you call me for?”

“I would like to see my master. Where is he?”

“Ah, the Headmaster is currently out of the office! If you tell me your business, I will pass it on….”

“It’s nothing else, I intend to drop out of school.”

“Pardon?”

“Please relay the message. That is all.”

“Pardon?”

Aple suddenly wanted to commit suicide.