After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

But having said that, Villian wanted to ask a few more questions.

"Who did it?"

"Um?"

"I say, who defeated the orc army?"

"One of the members of the Brave Squad, Goddess Blade, Aize."

"The brave one... Aize."

Villian leaned on the balcony railing, looked up at the dark night sky, and whispered the unfamiliar name.

After thinking for a moment, he looked at Prosia and said seriously:

"How much do you know about him? Anything is fine. Can you tell me more?"

Chapter 17: Plans after

Ever since she was put into the ritual and became a tool in the true sense of the word, this was the first time that Villian showed interest in other people.

At her request, a few days after the banquet, Prosia came to the territory of the witch clan with systematically collected and organized intelligence.

"Brave Aize, the second chosen hero summoned by God, is different from the others. He appears to have been a civilian in his previous life, with weak combat abilities, but he is proficient in tactical intelligence. Since his summoning, he has participated in 57 battles, both large and small, and has never been defeated..."

Villian sat behind the table, looking at the thick stack of documents on the desk in front of her, her expression gradually becoming serious.

The more I read it, the more I understand it, and the more outrageous it seems.

"This guy, was he really a civilian before he became a hero? Are all civilians in the other world monsters?"

Even though he was gifted in tactics, he could handle the political tug-of-war and intrigue perfectly and easily, and even reversed the hero's role as a tool, suppressing the nobles and the church in turn.

There is no way an inexperienced person could do this.

Could it be part of his so-called Divine Protection of the Brave?

Or... is he hiding something else?

"Aize, Aize..."

While softly muttering the name of someone she had never met, Villian was thinking about something. Her expression gradually relaxed, and a different emotion appeared in her eyes.

All of this was seen by Prosia, who was standing nearby. She approached with a smirk on her face.

"Why? Do you like this type?"

Villian, whose thoughts were interrupted, turned around with an unhappy look on her face.

"……What did you say?"

"This child is the first one who can make my witch lady so distracted, right?"

"I'm not distracted, I just—"

She stopped talking mid-sentence, the spell taking effect forcibly stopping Villian's speech. Her expression froze in a somewhat comical way, and it took her several seconds to recover.

"only?"

"……nothing."

Violet shook her head indignantly.

She really cares about this guy named Aize.

Under the effect of the spell, Violet was tortured to the point of being exhausted both physically and mentally, and could no longer endure it, and had long wanted to die.

However, the procedure does not allow her to commit suicide, and even some dangerous actions that may lead to death are strictly prohibited.

Even in a battle, when it comes to a life-or-death situation, they will be forced to flee, literally unable to die.

In actual wars, humans also have a headache with powerful demon leaders. Generally, they focus on repelling them and usually don't think about killing the opponent.

But this one called Aize is different.

When faced with an orc army several times larger than his own and a powerful orc chieftain, his first thought was to kill all the opponents.

This mentality surprised Villian more than the strength itself.

One day, as one of the thirteen leaders, I will meet him on the battlefield. At that time, he will most likely come to take my life, just like this time.

At that time, maybe I could be free.

Prosia didn't understand Villian's thoughts. Seeing her lost in thought, with the corners of her mouth slightly raised, she looked a little unhappy.

"Tsk, why not find an opportunity to strike first?"

"……What?"

"This guy seems to be in the Holy City recently, right? Just wait and see. I will sneak into the Holy City tomorrow and capture this guy who seduced my little witch to the point of losing her mind. I will train him until he can do nothing but stare and drool..."

“Don’t mess around!!!”

Villian came back to her senses from her own imagination, slammed the table and extinguished the other party's dangerous idea.

Although the Succubus Queen is quite casual most of the time, once the subject of sex or training is brought up, she will most likely take it seriously, even if it is said with a smile.

Once it is taken seriously, if it succeeds, Aize will become a disabled person, and if it fails, Villian will lose her source of intelligence. There is no benefit in opposing her.

"Do you think Shengdu owns this brothel? You can go in and out whenever you want!? And considering Aize's intelligence, can you really fool him with those tricks?"

Prosia tilted her head with a wicked smile:

"Oh my, you haven't even met him, why do you talk like you know him so well?"

"I... never mind—"

There is really no need to compete with succubi. After all, they feel great whether they are scolding others or being scolded.

The great witch, realizing this, deflated herself, sat back in her seat, and continued to look through the information in front of her while supporting her face.

"Interpersonal relationships and information about teammates... huh?"

In contrast to the gorgeous perfection of the previous battle record section, the content here took a sharp turn for the worse, causing Villian to frown.

"I have a very low status in the team, no say, and am forced to take on all kinds of unnecessary work... Seriously??"

Prosia shrugged:

"Seriously, at the banquet two days ago, this guy named Aize was publicly humiliated by his own captain in front of a bunch of nobles and dignitaries."

Violet was speechless.

A genius with this kind of ability, even if he's not the absolute core of the team, should at least be treated like a treasure. What's wrong with these guys' brains?

The same goes for this guy named Aize.

With such ability, he would be in high demand everywhere. Why didn't he just run away earlier? Why did he have to hang himself on a tree and suffer the consequences?

Thinking of this, Villian smiled bitterly helplessly - she was a witch who was not liked by everyone, and it seemed that others saw her in the same light.

I did it because I was forced by the magic, so why did this person called Aize do it?

Whatever the reason, he seemed quite similar to himself.

Villian, who had made such a presumptuous assumption, felt a little more intimate with this brave man whom she had never met.

----------

Aize leaned against the wall of the room and listened to Villian's narration without saying a word.

"So, for the past five years, you've been used as a tool to control the witch clan?"

"Correct."

"The technique that controls you was destroyed by my sword during yesterday's battle?"

"Yes."

Villian stood up from the bed, raised her hand and snapped her fingers lightly.

A crisp sound like breaking glass echoed in the room and penetrated into her body. The already damaged technique was completely destroyed by this finishing blow, turning into dark red light particles that flew and dissipated.

After doing all this, the witch closed her eyes, took a deep breath, stretched her arms, and then smiled with ease:

"Yeah, it's never been this easy since I can remember... Anyway, do you understand my current situation?"

"clear."

Aize nodded.

From the beginning to the end, Villian was a tool of the previous demon king or the demon clan.

Now, the spell that bound her was completely broken, which meant that the tool was out of control. If she went back, she would almost certainly be killed by the demons to keep the secret.

He would even lend her head to do a favor to those witches who had hated her for a long time.

So, she absolutely cannot go back.

It’s not wrong to call myself a stray dog.

Thinking of this, Aize lowered his eyes and went over everything Villian said in his mind again.

It makes sense and no flaws were found.

But I always feel that something is wrong, as if she is hiding something.

Aize came back to his senses from his thoughts and found that the other person had unknowingly come right in front of him, and if he moved his face slightly, they would bump into each other.

"Uh……"

This situation made Aize feel a little embarrassed, while Villian put her hands behind her back and said with a smile:

"I've said everything I need to say. What about you? What are your plans for the future? Whatever you plan to do, please take me with you~"

Chapter 18 I Choose to Open

Feeling Villian's body temperature, Aize thought for a moment, rolled his eyes, slumped down on the seat next to him, and shook his head weakly:

"Plan? No, I don't even want to be a hero anymore. What plans do I have? I just want to sleep for a few days and nights, then find a place to eat and wait for death."

This is of course a lie.

My identity is quite sensitive, and I am involved in a lot of messy and shameful things.

When Aize was still a hero, the nobles, the church, and the royal family were all dealt with badly. Once they learned about the withdrawal from the team, they would definitely react.

Therefore, even if you really want to start, you have to deal with these troublesome things first, otherwise you may die without knowing how.

But these things must not be known to Villian.

Aize would not trust someone casually just because of one family's words, let alone the other party was an enemy not long ago.

And she even directly expressed that she wanted to act with me, so I have to be more careful.

Therefore, Aize deliberately pretended to be terrible in order to lower his own value in order to test her reaction.

Violet was stunned for a moment after hearing the answer, and tilted her head in surprise.

"Really?"

"real."

"Hmm~ I thought you would just gather a team and return to the Vatican to seek revenge on your former teammates."

"...Not that much."

If a civil war breaks out among the heroes in this situation where they are faced with a formidable enemy, it will not be just a matter of personal grudges. If things go wrong, all the human nations may be dragged into it.

As mentioned before, Aize does not want to involve those innocent people, or even those who support him.

Besides, is it really necessary to go through so much trouble to deal with those three people?

Like a mole, he digs a hole for himself and just likes to crawl into it. If Aize really wanted revenge, he would have done something in the team long ago. Why would he have to set up a new faction and start a war?

joke.

Keeping this thought in his stomach, Aize put on an extremely tired expression, pretending to be sleepy and squinting his eyes to observe Villian's reaction.

Facing Aize's opening move, Villian showed no displeasure and even responded with a smile: