I Am The Game's Villain - Chapter 626 626: [Event] [The Beauty And The Beast] [6] Bullying Addicts

“Thank you.”

For a second, I just stared at her—caught off guard, dazed maybe, but not unpleasantly so. Then I smiled.

“Yeah… you’re welcome.”

There was a lot I wanted to say. A lot of questions I wanted to ask. But now wasn’t the time. I needed a clear head, and that was something she made very difficult to maintain.

“We’ll talk more later, alright?” I said.

Elizabeth tilted her head slightly, eyes glowing a brighter shade of crimson.

“Oh? You want to talk more, darling? In my bedroom, perhaps?”

I blinked. “I—I meant talk as in… real conversation. You know, about you. Your past. What you dreamed about.”

She let out a sigh. “And here I thought you were finally in the mood for a more… intimate exchange.”

I smiled nervously, already taking a step back. “Let’s start with the genuine stuff first. Then… we’ll see where things go.”

And with that, I turned and vaulted off the balcony, landing roughly on the ground below. My knees jolted from the impact—definitely not my most graceful escape, but it got the job done.

“Still the same in every life—always chasing after women,” Rodolf muttered as I dusted myself off and caught up to him.

I shot him a glance. “And you’re still the same brainless musclehead. Some things never change.”

His eyes narrowed. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly, waving him off. “Let’s just focus on taking down that shady pill network. I think I’ve already got a lead.”

His eyebrows rose. “Already? You better not be screwing with me. I don’t want to waste time when I could be with Cylien.”

“Maybe try caring about your Kingdom too, not just your girlfriend.”

Rodolf snorted. “Please. Coming from you, that’s rich.”

We aren’t the same case!

Still, one thing was clear: unlike Rodolf and the others, I didn’t transmigrate. At least, not in the same way. My case… it was something else entirely. Something I still couldn’t make sense of.

The image of the brain scanner flickered through my memory but I shoved it aside.

Focus.

I turned and took off down the street.

“Follow me,” I called out over my shoulder to Rodolf.

…

…

In the dim-lit alleys of Fangoria—where the streets pulsed with clearly shady energy and only the desperate or dangerous dared to wander—three figures hurried through the shadows.

“I still can’t believe it, brother!”

“Yeah! What the hell do they mean, no more pills in stock?!”

“Do I look like I’ve got answers, idiot? I’m just as screwed as you!” Raken snapped.

All three of them looked like they’d been dragged through hell and spat out the other side—sweaty, trembling, and hollow-eyed. The classic signs of withdrawal were all there. They weren’t just desperate—they were sick.

From our perch on the rooftop above, Rodolf squinted down at them with disgust.

“These clowns are your lead?” He asked.

“Believe it or not, yeah,” I said with a slight nod. “You heard them. They’re in the know—maybe not directly, but close enough to the source of those pills.”

Rodolf crossed his arms. “You got a plan?”

I smirked. “Just sit back and enjoy the show.”

With that, I leapt down from the rooftop, landing silently behind the trio.

Not so silent, apparently.

“Huh?! Who—?!”

“It’s him!”

“The guy from before!”

I plastered on a friendly smile. “Wow, lucky me. I was just taking a walk, and here I bump into three familiar faces.”

“You’re the bastard who hurt big brother!” The smallest one shouted, pointing at me with trembling hands.

“What do we do now?!”

“We get revenge!”

“Are you insane?!”

Their bickering got loud fast. These guys were clearly not used to thinking before acting.

Meanwhile, Raken just stood there, breathing hard, his eyes locked on me like he was seeing a ghost. There was something deeper in his expression—shame, maybe. Or fear. Or both.

Braham Moonfang…

That monster not only ran Behemoth, but he was also flooding his own Kingdom with these toxic pills?

What was his goal exactly?

“You want more pills, right?” I said calmly, watching them flinch. “Show me where you get them. You help me, and I’ll help you get your fix.”

The smallest one glared at me immediately. “Y-You think we’d betray our own people for a filthy Human?!”

I scoffed. “Your people? You’re a bunch of addicts clawing at whatever you can find. Don’t pretend this is about loyalty.”

“What did you say?!” He yelled, lunging at me.

Before he got within striking distance, the third one—the most scared one, grabbed his arm and held him back.

“C-Calm down! You saw what he did to Raken. Don’t be stupid!”

“But—!”

-BAM!

Before the scrawny addict could finish his panicked protest, a dark blur slammed down from above.

Rodolf landed hard and fast, his foot crashing square into Raken’s chest with brutal precision. Raken hit the ground with a loud thud—out cold before his head even touched the pavement.

Rodolf stood there on top of him.

“You done playing around with these junkies?” He asked me dryly.

I gave him a lazy shrug. “Well, that works too, I guess.”

The other two addicts immediately recoiled.

“H-H-He’s the Mad Prince… Rodolf!” One of them stuttered, eyes wide with terror.

“G-Give us back my brother!”

“Your brother, huh?” Rodolf muttered, grabbing Raken by the front of his shirt and hoisting him up with one hand like a sack of grain. “I should have him executed. You two as well.”

“W-What?!”

Their faces went ghost-white.

“If you don’t want to die pathetic deaths in some gutter,” Rodolf said coldly, “then you better show us the way to your suppliers. Now.”

The two of them froze for a second, then the taller one cracked under pressure, voice breaking.

“F-Fine! We’ll show you! Just—please, don’t kill us! Let him go!”

Rodolf narrowed his eyes. “We’ll let him go when you take us to your masters.”

“W-Wait! We don’t… we don’t actually know where they are!” The smaller one cried, flinching as Rodolf took a step toward him. “They use mana teleportation circles to bring us to their hideouts. We never see where we’re going. But—but they said they’d meet us again tomorrow night! Please, we don’t want to die!”

“Tomorrow, huh?” I asked, squinting at him.

“Y-Yeah,” the tall one nodded quickly. “We owe them money. If we don’t pay, they’ll kill us. They said the pills are out of stock, but I know they’re lying… they always say that before new shipments come in.”

I narrowed my eyes, thinking. No… I didn’t think it was a lie. The supply chain probably was disrupted because of what I or more like Medusa did. But that wasn’t important. What mattered was that we had a way in—finally.

I gave Rodolf a short nod.

Rodolf groaned. “Alright then. You’re both coming with us. You’ll be under custody until tomorrow night, and then we’re going to pay your ‘friends’ a visit. You behave, and maybe you’ll even get your precious pills.”

“Hiii!” They flinched, but they knew they didn’t have a choice.

And with that, the matter was settled. Messy, loud, and not exactly how I envisioned it, but it worked.

It was frustrating, having to wait until tomorrow night—especially with the threat of Behemoth hanging over us like a sword. These bastards could strike at any moment. But we didn’t have another lead, and this was the best shot we had.

After we handed the three idiots over to the Royal Castle’s guards, Rodolf and I finally rejoined the others, slipping back into the roles of regular students heading out on a ‘harmless’ field trip.

Yeah. Harmless. As if anything ever was anymore.

…

…

“I really hope those bastards weren’t lying,” Rodolf muttered under his breath, walking beside.

I sighed. “They weren’t. You saw them—completely broken, desperate. People like that don’t have the strength left to lie, even if they wanted to.”

Rodolf scoffed. “Maybe. Still hope they didn’t waste my damn time. Or my life, for that matter.”

Before I could reply, a familiar voice rang out.

“What are you hoping for, Rodolf?” Cylien asked, suddenly popping her head between us with a playful grin. She’d been trailing behind, quiet until now, but clearly eavesdropping the whole time.

“A-Ah, Cylien!” Rodolf jumped, startled. His voice cracked just slightly as he scrambled for an excuse. “We were, uh, talking about the dinner! Yeah, just wondering if those guys managed to cook up something decent for you.”

Cylien narrowed her eyes, unconvinced. “Hm? And where exactly were the two of you just now, by the way?”

“T–That’s, uh…”

“Nyr?” She turned to me when Rodolf started floundering.

I decided to throw him a bone in the end. “He was with me. We went to talk with his weirdo of mother.”

Rodolf glared at me instantly. “Oi. Who are you calling weirdo?”

“The woman who licked me,” I said, straight-faced.

“W-What?!” Cylien blinked hard. “Rodolf’s mother licked you?”

“She’s got a thing for personal space, apparently,” I replied with a shrug and walked on ahead, leaving Rodolf to explain that mess himself.

“Nyr, you bastard! You wanna die?!”

“For speaking the truth?” I called back casually.

Behind me, Cylien’s laughter echoed while Rodolf’s groaning curses followed right after.

“Late again, Amael.”

A sharper voice snapped me back into the present as I arrived at the gathering spot. The person addressing me was none other than Priscilla Tepes, the supervising teacher for this entire excursion—and, unfortunately, someone I’d very recently pissed off.

I turned to face her. “I had things to deal with.”

She folded her arms. “You’ve been ‘dealing with things’ a lot lately.”

Her tone was icy, but not entirely hostile. Still, it was there especially after everything that happened in Valachia. I was the one who’d brought down the walls during the siege. Not exactly something you get applause for around here.

But interestingly enough, she wasn’t nearly as venomous as I expected. Something in her demeanor suggested confusion more than outright hatred.

“Amael,” Priscilla looked at me trying to understand something, “have you ever once taken your time at Sancta Vedelia seriously? Even for a day?”

I met her gaze. The question was layered seemed to hide more questions. She was trying to understand me—not accuse, not scold—just… understand.

“I’ve done things that went against Sancta Vedelia,” I admitted, calmly. “But I didn’t do them as its enemy. You can call my actions despicable. Throw every insult you want. But when I made those choices… it hadn’t been out of malice toward this place.”

I didn’t raise my voice. I just told the truth.

“When I gave Utopia the seed,” I continued, “it wasn’t to spite Sancta Vedelia. It was to save millions of lives. That’s it.”

Priscilla’s eyes flicked up, narrowing slightly. “Hadn’t been?”

I paused. Yeah. I had said that. And I wasn’t even sure why myself.

Th𝙞𝑠 ςh𝒶p𝑡𝕖r 𝖎ṡ pο𝖘𝑡𝖾𝐝 b𝑦 𝘬ıƚ℮Ƞ𝕠𝓋𝕖𝘭

But after a second of silence, the answer came to me—simple, but cold.

“I am not the one who painted myself as ‘the’ enemy to bring down, just remember that, Professor.”