BJ Villainess Chapter 330

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It was a barren and primitive era where only the lord could enjoy prosperity. The land reeked of decay, crops withered, and livestock died of disease. Yet, the greedy, pig-like lord walked around with a whip, beating and overworking the villagers, enjoying lavish feasts with the wealth he squeezed from them. It was a time of slavery.

 

The deranged lord imposed harsh taxes, and if anyone fell short, he would turn them into slaves without hesitation. Most of the villagers were on the verge of becoming slaves.

 

Today, the lord was furious that there hadn’t been a chicken dish at yesterday’s feast and was going around with his whip.

 

“Hide quickly! Hurry!”

 

Those already enslaved and those not yet enslaved hid a boy in a pile of straw.

 

The boy, with jet-black hair, porcelain-like skin, and pale gray eyes, was a strikingly beautiful youth who had tried to slit the lord’s throat but was caught by the adults and hidden in a straw-filled cart. He was one of the few commoner boys who had not yet been discovered by the lord, who would enslave even newborns if he was in a foul mood. He was a precious child. Not just because he was a commoner but because he was special.

 

“I can kill the lord.”

 

When the boy, unable to suppress his anger, poked his head out of the straw and expressed his frustration, the elderly man keeping watch scolded him.

 

“Put your head down, Sion.”

 

“But…!”

 

“If we die, you’re the only one who can take care of and protect the children.”

 

The boy called Sion bit his lip and hid in the straw. All he could do was endure, suppress his anger, and wait until he was strong enough to pierce through the knights and kill the lord in one blow. If he told the adults about this, they might be horrified and lock him in a warehouse.

 

God is watching. If you commit murder, you’ll fall into hell. The devil will appear.

 

They would say these things, trying to convince him to change his mind day and night, scolding him. But Sion didn’t listen to a word of it.

 

There was no god. If there were a god, a lightning bolt would have struck down the greedy, pig-like lord long ago.

 

The lord, who even coveted offerings meant for the temple, lived well and boastfully despite his sins. The world belonged to the wicked. That fact made Sion seethe with rage.

 

Rumble! As his emotions became uncontrollable, a strange power that had been dormant within him began to stir.

 

Whenever he couldn’t control his emotions, strange things would happen around Sion. Something inside him would whirl violently, granting him superhuman strength or the ability to blow things away. And it is happening now.

 

No, today was different. If until now he had only been able to release an unknown power through cracked barriers, today it exploded.

 

Crash! Just as the lord was continuing his rampage outside, accompanied by more screams, the cart Sion was hiding in shattered.

 

“What the hell! What have you hidden in there!”

 

“The cart is broken, Milord. There’s nothing there.”

 

“Get out of my way!”

 

Sion burst out of the straw and struck the lord’s head as he entered the fenced area where the straw was stacked. Although the lord was short, he was an adult. Yet Sion, as light as a butterfly, knocked the lord to the ground and then beat him to a pulp with his newfound strength.

 

“Aagh! Uaargh! Kill this wretched brat at once!”

 

The knights, who had followed the lord and committed countless atrocities with him, hurriedly drew their swords and rushed forward. But Sion wasn’t afraid. When he suddenly saw the light particles filling the air like dandelion seeds, he was certain he could win.

 

“Gasp…!”

 

“What is this?”

 

People were initially startled by the golden particles filling the world, but when Sion knocked out all the knights and finished off the lord, they came to their senses.

 

“Oh no, you fool! Murder is forbidden!”

 

“God will be angered!”

 

The villagers tied up the lord and the knights tightly and threw them into a warehouse, then began to worry.

 

“The knights of the castle will soon notice something strange and come. What should we do?”

 

They trembled with fear until they saw the light moving towards the temple.

 

“… Let’s go to the temple.”

 

The villagers, mesmerized by the strange and beautiful phenomenon they couldn’t understand, climbed the hill towards the temple. And there, they witnessed an unbelievable sight. Stars that should have been in the night sky had descended to the ground, illuminating a woman.

 

The woman, with long black hair fluttering like raven wings, stood majestically, creating a golden seed. Everyone was entranced by the shockingly beautiful scene. It was sacred. No, it was awe-inspiring and mesmerizing.

 

From the moment they saw the woman, a shiver ran down their spines, and some even shed tears. They instinctively knew. That their god has descended.

The landscape made of light, which seemed like it would last forever, faded as the woman clenched the seed in her hand.

 

Sion thought the woman met his eyes. Maybe that’s why, without realizing it, he started walking towards her. But just as he did, someone pulled him back and made him kneel in reverence.

 

The woman introduced herself as Theresa. But no one dared to call her that. To speak the name of a god? Even the thought of it felt like committing blasphemy, and they were filled with fear. Yet, even as they feared her, they couldn’t help but want to get closer to her.

 

Although the god repeatedly denied being a god, she went to the lord and eradicated him and his forces, punishing the wicked fairly. As the god passed, the foul-smelling land turned into fertile soil, and the wilted crops were revived.

 

Sion followed the god around, marveling at the miracles she performed. For some reason, the energy he felt when the god used her powers felt familiar.

 

“You possess mana, don’t you?”

 

Startled by Theresa’s sudden approach, Sion was frightened but didn’t run away because of the words that caught his attention.

 

“What is that?” Sion, already aggressive and fierce by nature, was so tense that his tone was even more defiant than usual.

 

The villagers who had been following Theresa around immediately prostrated themselves. “Oh, God, please spare this child!”

 

“I told you I’m not a god,” Theresa repeated the words that no one would listen to, her expression pleading with them to stop. “Anyway, your name is Sion, right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You said you defeated the lord and the knights all by yourself? Did you learn magic on your own?”

 

“What is that, exactly?”

 

Mana and magic. Sion thought the god was speaking strange, incomprehensible words, but for some reason, his heart fluttered with anticipation.

 

“You seem unfamiliar with it… Let me draw it out for you…”

 

Theresa sketched a spell in the air, noticing Sion’s wide-eyed astonishment and the commotion around them, and quickly realized. In this era, the concept of magic might not exist. It would take five years in this time to stabilize the core.

 

“Let me teach you magic.”

 

Sion nodded, not even knowing what magic was. But he was certain that he would fall in love with whatever this magic was.

 

The onlookers watching this scene cheered. “Oh, Sion has become the god’s apostle!”

 

“I’m not a god, really…”

 

* * *

Sion had no parents. No matter how much he asked the adults whether his parents had died of illness or were beaten to death, no one would tell him, as if they had all agreed to keep it a secret. They protected and cared for Sion desperately, but in the end, they weren’t his family.

 

Loneliness was something Sion had always known, but it never became easier to bear. Moreover, whenever the villagers subtly treated him as special, as if expecting something from him, he felt suffocated. He often felt as though he would one day have to lead these people, but no one could tell him how.

 

The only leader he had ever known was the wretched lord. That’s why the moments spent with Theresa were so precious to him.

 

“Lady Theresa!”

 

Five years passed, and the small boy Sion had grown taller than Theresa. As he grew, he began to resemble Theresa in a strange way.

 

Whenever Theresa looked at Sion’s appearance with a pensive expression, she would sometimes say, “You might be… No, it’s nothing,” and leave it at that.

 

“Lady Theresa! Where are you?” Sion ran towards the place where Theresa was tending a tree, calling out to her loudly. “I can finally command 100 butterflies at once!”

 

“Ugh… So noisy.”

 

Sion approached Theresa, who was lying on the grass, suffering from a hangover, and pinched his nose.

 

“Ugh, you smell like alcohol. You said you were going to work yesterday; why did you drink?”

 

Theresa, struggling with her hangover, lay on the grass, pretending to be a forlorn young lady with a sorrowful expression. “There are things in the adult world that you wouldn’t understand, kid.” She fiddled with a ring on her left ring finger, which she often touched. She would often make strange comments about leaving her husband in the past or having a husband waiting for her in the future.

 

Sion wondered if even gods got married, and if so, was their spouse an angel or something? But he quickly lost interest. He was at an age where marriage and spouses were not topics of interest.

 

Theresa was busy. Since the lord had disappeared, she took over the management of the territory, raising Sion as her successor while also traveling outside the territory. She claimed it was to keep track of the political situation, but Sion thought it was just an excuse to go out and drink.

 

Sion stared at the small sapling beside Theresa. It was a strange tree with a soft glow.

 

Theresa looked at the tree, which was now as tall as she was, and said, “It’s finally stabilized.”

 

From the beginning, she had told Sion that she planned to stay here for five years. And now, it was time for her to leave.

 

Sion, visibly downcast, asked, “When are you planning to go?”

 

Theresa, feeling sorry for Sion, replied with a bitter smile, “Today.”

 

Sion clenched his fists in an emotional response and suddenly hugged Theresa tightly. “Do you really have to leave?”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

No persuasion would stop her from leaving.

 

Sion had come to understand that the world Theresa carried was far larger and heavier than he could imagine. It was only natural since she was not just a guardian of this small territory but a god who watched over the world.

 

“Thank you for everything.”

 

Sion, having resolved to say goodbye to his only family, tearfully said his farewells. Theresa, too, was moved, her chin trembling as she began to cry.

 

“Be sure to stay healthy and happy. You’re my family.”

 

The two, with similar faces, cried together as they reminisced about their time together and prepared to say goodbye.

 

Not wanting to make any fuss, Theresa quietly disappeared into a place where no one was around.

 

Sion returned to the castle, staring out the window with a heavy heart. Memories of the time spent with Theresa came flooding back. Most of it was about researching and practicing magic, but it was something they both loved most.

 

“Lord Sion.”

 

Just then, the old man who had desperately protected him from the lord came to tell him something important. The old man handed Sion an old brass key and shared some shocking news.

 

“This land originally belonged to you, Lord Sion.”

 

Sion, not being completely oblivious, had expected that he would become the new lord. But he had never realized that he had been a noble from the start.

 

“The lord never returned from the war, and a man named Grelic, claiming to be his cousin, took over this place.”

 

Sion finally understood why the villagers had been so desperate to hide him.

 

“If Grelic had known there was a legitimate heir like you, even as a newborn, he would surely have tried to kill you.”

 

Because he was their last hope. They had been protecting him until he was old enough to assert his rightful claim and return to his original position.

 

“Sion Squire. That is your true name, Milord.”

 

“Squire…”

 

So that was his family name.

 

Sion, now fully grown, could easily think of what he needed to do as the lord of Squire territory. He declared with the face of a man who had grown from a boy, “I will spread magic throughout the world as the apostle of the Demon God and write a holy book for our god.”

 

Thus began the birth of the Demon God Theresa.