The Villain Has Gone Mad For Me - Chapter 68

Maxium’s eyes were shining with awe towards Ruben, who had discovered the legacy of the great archmage.

Seemingly uncomfortable with this, Ruben frowned.

“I didn’t find it.”

“Then?”

“I just bought a castle that has changed owners the most in recent years. A place no one was attached to. Somewhere that could be easily disposed of again if the Grand Saint appeared and the Grand Duke’s condition improved.”

Maxium nodded up and down as if he had a rough idea.

“The archmage fell into alcohol and gambling before he died. He might have sold it at a bargain price. I bet if you find the first owner who bought the castle, they’ll surely be an alcoholic or a gambler!”

Ruben looked at Maxium strangely as he rattled off information about the archmage as if he had memorized it somewhere.

“…Why do you know so much?”

“The archmage was my great role model! Although his end was lonely, there hasn’t been a greater magician in the empire since! If only the emperor hadn’t fallen for the empress’s tricks and dragged him into political fights, he would have been much more…!”

Midway through speaking, Maxium hurriedly covered his mouth and glanced at Edan.

Although Edan doesn’t like the emperor and empress, it would still be considered an insult to the imperial family.

Edan, who had been listening to the conversation with his arms crossed and standing crookedly, straightened his posture.

“So, you were rummaging through books in the library every day to find this secret space?”

“Yes.”

“For what reason?”

That’s…

Maxium and I simultaneously met each other’s eyes at Edan’s sharp gaze.

“Never mind. I’ll find out when we go in.”

When we didn’t readily open our mouths, Edan strode towards the portal.

Maxium quickly blocked his way.

“Your Grace! J-just a moment!”

“What?”

Edan stopped his foot that was about to take a big step into the portal.

“There might be traps, so…”

“Traps? How do you know that?”

“As I said earlier, the archmage was my role model! So I know very well! His hobbies, that is.”

Edan irritatedly twisted his head left and right.

“I understand very well without further explanation that the archmage is the priest’s role model, and that you know about him at a stalker level.”

Edan squinted his eyes at Maxium.

“Do we need to know about that old man’s hobbies at this timing?”

Maxium answered, shrinking his shoulders a bit.

“Well… it might be dangerous.”

This time, I asked.

“What do you mean by dangerous?”

Maxium looked at the portal, seeming a bit tense.

No, he was trembling with excitement, mixed with expectation and anxiety.

“He really loved traps, though it was just at a prank level because it was a hobby. I heard his disciples at the magic tower suffered a lot. How do I know? If my family hadn’t fallen, I would have continued at the magic tower…”

“That’s enough.”

Maxium really seemed like the archmage’s stalker.

Edan mercilessly cut off the words that were about to get longer again and tapped the back of Maxium’s knees with his foot.

“Get down.”

As he said this, Edan tapped the back of Maxium’s knees repeatedly with his toes.

“Ugh.”

Maxium barely stood, steadying his wobbling legs.

“Just in case, I’ll go first.”

Ruben stepped into the portal first.

We crossed over the shimmering orange light one by one.

“Oh my.”

I looked around with eyes widened in shock.

Inside the portal was a place filled with gray mist.

A place made entirely of gray, with only dry trees scattered here and there.

The vast artificial space created by magic, without beginning or end, felt very strange as there was no wind or sound at all.

“Latieana, come to my side.”

Edan called me from a few steps away.

Thump thump.

Perhaps because of what happened in the afternoon, my heart pounded at just one word from Edan, which normally wouldn’t have affected me.

My ears turned hot, and fearing that my current state might be noticed, I stayed still. Edan tilted his head slightly.

“Aren’t you coming?”

When I still didn’t move, he pulled my arm and placed me right next to him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing. I’m just a bit surprised. I didn’t expect a space like this…”

At my words, Edan lifted his head and lightly scanned the surroundings.

“It is indeed.”

Ruben was looking around in all directions, while Maxium was too shocked to do anything but gape.

“It’s spatial magic.”

“Only the archmage was capable of such large-scale spatial magic!”

While I agreed it was impressive, it was too dark and eerie. It felt as if it was telling you to turn back and leave quickly if you had entered by mistake.

“Which way should we go?”

“In spatial magic, you’ll reach your destination no matter which direction you walk. Of course, that’s if the magician set it up that way. We should prepare for now.”

At Edan’s words, Maxium took out a thread from his pocket and placed it outside the portal.

Then he started walking forward, unraveling the thread.

“For an archmage’s stalker, that’s quite a classic method.”

It was when Edan was looking at that with disbelief.

“Priest!”

Ruben drew his sword towards Maxium.

“Duck!”

“Huh? Eck?”

Without time to be puzzled, Maxium sat down on the floor, and Ruben struck down something that had flown from somewhere in the air.

Clang!

The object that collided with a sharp sound fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

Ruben approached and picked it up.

“It’s an axe.”

It’s real. In Ruben’s hand was a well-sharpened hand axe.

It really is a real axe. An axe with a wooden handle that was clearly brand new.

The very axe used for chopping wood.

“Traps were his hobby?”

Edan let out a mocking laugh, and Ruben and I simultaneously looked at Maxium.

“Um… I heard he was that kind of person.”

This isn’t just a hobby or prank level!

If it had hit, you would have died!

“Sh-shall we continue? It probably won’t come out again.”

Maxium bravely took the lead. But not long after, something else flew at us.

“Eek!”

This time it wasn’t just one or two.

Edan and Ruben stood on either side of me protectively, quickly deflecting things flying in from all directions.

After the commotion passed and I raised my head, Maxium was sitting on the floor in one corner.

Arrows were mercilessly stuck around him, who was curled up tightly. Even the hem of his priest robe was pinned.

I asked while pulling out the arrows for him.

“Are you alright, priest?”

“Ugh… Yes. I’m fine…”

His eyes seemed to scream ‘Why didn’t you protect me!’, but Maxium didn’t say anything and got up.

After that, spears, swords, stones densely packed with needles, and so on.

Something kept popping out, and Edan and Ruben easily deflected them.

“It’s quite vicious for a prank.”

For someone saying that, Ruben didn’t even break a sweat.

Rather, Maxium’s face, who was hiding tightly behind Ruben and following, was pale.

I was the same.

Although Edan was protecting me well, the fear of not knowing when or where something might pop out was enough to make me break out in a cold sweat.

This really isn’t a prank.

It’s fortunate that Edan caught us when we discovered the secret space. If Maxium and I had really come in here alone, we would have died from an axe to the head the moment we stepped in.

“What on earth did he hide to go to such lengths to conceal it?”

Edan seemed to be getting irritated.

“Indeed. At this point, we should perhaps be thankful that no one discovered it.”

Ruben chimed in.

While Maxium and I were praying for the end of this empty path to come quickly, overwhelmed by tension, the two of them just seemed annoyed by the archmage’s traps.

“Ah! Look at that!”

Maxium’s voice, filled with joy, echoed loudly.

A door appeared. It really was sudden.

As if by magic, out of thin air. Of course, it would be natural since this space itself was magic, but it was impossible not to be surprised since we had been walking through an empty place for so long.

Edan opened the door without hesitation.

Inside was a comfortable room completely different from the black space we had been walking through.

A circular space that seemed to have been carved out of a wooden pillar.

“What is this.”

As we entered, lights began to turn on one by one from the ceiling of the room.

It was fire that started from a huge circular artifact attached to the ceiling.

The room was filled with bookshelves following the circular wall, and in the center was a single desk.

“It’s the archmage’s desk!”

Maxium, who had once again found a square pattern, reached out and stroked the desk as if deeply moved.

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

After all, this entire space belonged to the archmage.

“It’s amazing.”

I scanned the books that filled the circular wall.

Most were leather-bound books with gold-lettered text.

They were books about magic.

The books, which seemed to number close to a thousand at a glance, were perfectly aligned without a single error in numbering.

‘It really was an eccentric’s castle.’

Edan and Ruben also observed the space.

For a moment, everyone was at a loss for words, and it was Edan who broke the silence.

“So, what did you intend to do after finding this secret space?”

Maxium, who had been sprawled on the desk, suddenly seemed to come to his senses and raised his body.

“Lady Latieana, can I tell you now?”

Edan’s gaze brushed past Maxium and settled on me.

“Actually, Edan.”

“Yes?”

“I found a book on black magic in the library.”

“Black magic?”