I’m a Villain, but I Want to Live a Long Life - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“So I made exactly one bottle. I was going to test it myself when I had time. But….”

He let out a deep sigh and looked around at the messy surroundings.

“When I woke up from a quick nap, it was gone.”

“Ah….”

“Well, it must have rolled somewhere. Like under a bookshelf or something.”

After finishing his words, Ansun rummaged through the pile of books beside him again. Then he glanced over at me slyly and said.

“Come to think of it, my lady, you seem to be free right now.”

“….”

“How about we look for it together? I’ve been doing this for days now, and I’m even dreaming about potions.”

I stared at him with an incredulous expression.

How dare he try to put the master’s daughter to work?

However, he casually added.

“Of course, if we find it, I’ll let you taste it. It would probably have tremendous effects on abilities….”

Ansun, who had been speaking, flinched.

“…Ah. Lady Cecilia isn’t a manifester, right? I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to tease you, I just momentarily confused you with your terrifying Lady’s Father.”

“It’s Selene, not Cecilia.”

“…Whatever. Oh, you don’t need to worry about confusing it with other potions. Just in case, I put a huge label on it saying ‘Death if consumed entirely.’ If you search over there, it might turn up….”

He gestured behind me with his eyes. Then he began peering under a different bookshelf.

I barely suppressed a sigh and shook my head.

‘What’s the point of searching like that? It won’t turn up anyway.’

That’s because someone had already stolen Ansun’s medicine that was lying around the library a few days ago and delivered it to Selene.

‘Who could it have been?’

The person who put that medicine in Selene’s hands, enabling her to cause trouble.

After pondering with a humming sound, I finally spoke to Ansun, who was coughing while covered in dust.

“Um, Ansun. How about just giving up?”

He turned his head to look at me. His face seemed to say ‘what’s this all of a sudden?’

“I have pretty good intuition, and I have a strong feeling that medicine won’t be found.”

‘Because that medicine already went into my stomach….’

No. By now it would be fully digested. But then something flashed in my mind.

‘Wait. If it’s Ansun, wouldn’t he also know why I collapsed after drinking the God’s Tears?’

I jumped up and strode toward him. Then he, who had been lying down, flinched in surprise and sat up.

“Ansun! I suddenly have something I’m curious about!”

“…I get it, so let’s talk from a distance. You don’t seem to realize that your expression is quite scary right now.”

“Listen seriously! What happens if someone who isn’t a manifester drinks a potion?”

“…Well, nothing would happen. As you know, my lady, manifesters have magic power specialized for ability manifestation flowing in their bodies, right?”

I didn’t really know, but I nodded for now.

“The potions I make react precisely to that magic power. So for non-manifesters who don’t have magic power, it’s just… ridiculously expensive water at best?”

“I knew it!”

“Yes, well…. That’s right?”

Ansun stared at me as if I was being ridiculous. I pondered for a moment, then continued my question with sparkling eyes.

“Then what if someone who isn’t a manifester drank that potion and collapsed?”

Ansun frowned.

“What on earth are you talking about since earlier…?”

“No, let’s just make a hypothesis. Someone who isn’t a manifester drank it and collapsed. And they woke up perfectly fine after two or three hours! Why would that happen?”

Ansun stared at me with round eyes for a long time. Then he reluctantly asked.

“…How much did they drink?”

“Assuming 100% concentration, everything in a bottle this size!”

I roughly estimated the size of the medicine bottle and showed him my index finger. Ansun’s eyes narrowed.

After pondering for a moment, he finally answered.

“Well, they definitely wouldn’t be human. Unless they were some kind of mutant.”

I was left speechless and closed my mouth.

“…A mutant? Wh-why do you think they wouldn’t be human?”

“Isn’t that obvious? If it were a normal person, they’d be fine no matter how much of that medicine they drank. They don’t have magic power in their body to react with the drug in the first place.”

I slowly nodded.

“But that person wasn’t fine, right? You said they collapsed after drinking the medicine.”

As if telling me to think carefully, he tapped his head with his index finger.

“Then that would mean they had magic power flowing in their body that could react with the drug, wouldn’t it?”

It made sense, but something felt strange. Like the logic didn’t quite add up.

As Ansun said, people with magic power flowing in their bodies are manifesters who can use abilities.

But Selene, I, wasn’t a manifester.

Of course, I had no abilities I could use either. Yet I collapsed after drinking the God’s Tears.

“Could it be….”

I muttered with a slightly trembling voice.

“Turns out I’m actually a manifester…?”

I looked at Ansun with eyes filled with slight anticipation, but he made a ‘hmm….’ sound and scratched his head indifferently.

“That’s also ambiguous.”

“Why?”

“Why indeed. If that person were really a manifester, they would have gone to the other world before finishing all the medicine in that bottle. Not just collapsing briefly and waking up.”

“….”

“I told you earlier, didn’t I? That it’s dangerous if you drink more than the proper amount. The magic power would probably go berserk in their body, and they’d cough up blood and die.”

I imagined that horrible scene and closed my mouth. Ansun continued muttering.

“That’s why it’s strange. Not a normal person. But not a manifester either. What is that supposed to be? It has to be a mutant.”

“….”

“…Wait. It might be possible if they were a demon or monster, something like that. Those creatures have different magic power flows….”

I looked at Ansun with a blank expression. However, his expression seemed somewhat excited.

“This is getting quite interesting the more I hear about it. I thought it was absurd at first, but it wouldn’t be bad to research this.”

He spun around and picked up several books from among those scattered on the floor. Then he said with a much more lively face than before.

“My lady, your mind works faster than I thought. To come up with such an interesting hypothesis in such a short time. I’m honestly a bit surprised.”

I snorted without saying anything. But he was still grinning broadly.

“Actually, my research has been quite behind lately because I lost that damn medicine bottle.”

I somehow felt like I knew what he was going to say next and slowly backed away. This was like….

‘Similar to when the Department Manager tries to dump his work on me?’

I desperately shook my head without even listening to the end of his words. But he had already taken another step closer to me.

“So what I’m saying is….”

Just as he was about to say something with a sinister smile.

The tightly closed library door burst open.

“Miss! Have you been waiting long?”

Anna stood at the door holding a silver tray with cake and sherbet.

“…Well, then he suddenly appeared from behind without any warning?! I mean, does it make sense to eat and sleep in the study?”

Anna burst into small laughter at my bewildered voice.

“The library is always practically empty. He probably didn’t know you would come, miss.”

Reluctantly nodding at Anna’s answer, I put down my fork and asked.

“I see…. But it seems not many people use the library?”

“That’s right. The master always uses his private study. …Oh, I have occasionally seen guests from outside using it.”

“I see.”

I nodded absentmindedly and put the rest of the cake in my mouth.

Suddenly, Ansun’s haggard face came to mind again.

‘…Really now. Me, a mutant?’

The conversation I had with him was quite irritating.

“Even so, calling someone a demon or a mutant….”

Ha! A hollow laugh escaped me.

Sucking on the refreshing orange-flavored sherbet, I muttered quietly.

“This is absolutely ridiculous.”

Anna stopped cleaning and looked back at me.

“What happened with Sir Ansun at the Library?”

“Sir Ansun?”

“Oh, he doesn’t fight on the front lines, but he’s still a member of the Knight Order. The master granted him a knight’s title.”

“That scrawny guy is a knight?”

Anna chuckled and asked, ‘Sir Ansun’s image is a bit like that, isn’t it?’

I silently put another piece of cake in my mouth.

One slice was almost completely gone. Anna chattered on.

“He is a bit peculiar. He’s not of noble birth, but his abilities are outstanding.”

I recalled how Ansun had created that tremendous pillar of fire from his hands and nodded.

“Right. He seemed to use quite incredible abilities?”

Anna’s eyes widened.

“Oh, come to think of it, he does have abilities. I was talking about how amazing he is in the field of pharmacy.”

Right. Ansun could also manufacture and compound medicines. I asked.

“Is Ansun very famous for making medicine?”

“Well, to be precise, he became famous after coming here.”

I put down my fork, suddenly curious. Anna smiled as if I were cute and continued.

“Sir Ansun is someone the master brought back when he visited the Conflict Region a few years ago. I heard he was recruited from some Mercenary Group….”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. He was making healing potions in the Mercenary Group and seemed skilled, so the master brought him back. But….”

“But?”

“On the way back, they were attacked by a pack of ferocious demons. There were quite a lot of them, I heard.”

I swallowed hard at this exciting story.

“Fortunately, the demon pack was dealt with quickly. Of course, the master and the other knights were fine too. But then, they suddenly remembered Sir Ansun, who had been following from the rear. And for good reason, since he….”

Anna trailed off. I picked up where she left off, as if I understood.

“Looks so scrawny he’d collapse from just one hit.”

“Exactly! So they went to the back of the formation to check if Sir Ansun was safe….”

“And then?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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