Chapter 105 - A true hidden villain

Dennis waited for Sydney to finally wake up. He needed to find a dungeon to raid with El’el, and Heroic Senses wasn’t up for the task – the chain of things he had to do to save Gareth was too complicated for the skill. Clearly, Sydney had to know where he’d be able to find one.

Waiting for Sydney to wake up was a mistake.

He should’ve sneaked away with the elf while he had the chance.

Everyone gathered in the main hall – the same one where they’d played cards the previous evening. The atmosphere was not so friendly now.

Dennis, El’el and Mary sat beside each other on a couch, all of them silent and doing anything but looking at the person who stood near the fireplace with her hands crossed.

Sydney’s gaze was drilling into them with the intensity of a woman who was starting to realize just how much extra work ‘vouching’ for them meant.

El’el was sitting stiffly, looking straight ahead without moving a muscle like some kind of statue, her face blank and betraying no expressions. He suspected she was secretly meditating with her eyes open.

Dennis was counting bricks in the chimney and rehearsing his ‘get out of jail’ speech.

Mary fidgeted in place, not knowing what to do with her hands. She wasn’t allowed to bring her staff to the couch of doom, and clearly missed its familiar presence.

Somehow, he was partially exempt from the ‘no weapons in the couch of doom’ rule. Muramasa wasn’t behind his back, but the sword was leaning against the side of the couch nearby, close enough that reaching it wouldn’t be a problem.

Only Lily was spared. She was relaxing in an armchair nearby with a bowl of homemade popcorn. The thing was covered in syrup and sticky enough that she was eating it with a spoon. It was a gastronomical tragedy. Just like he was allowed to have his weapon with him pretty much everywhere for some reason that no one actually told him, the girl likewise was allowed to eat as many sweets as she wanted despite the fact that her obsession with them was downright creepy.

He briefly suspected mind-control, but then realized that he was way too bothered by the girl’s obsession with sugar to be controlled. The more likely explanation would be Mary’s meddling, though what exactly she was trying to achieve by indulging the girl he had no idea.

Sydney hummed, bringing his attention back. It was a very ominous hum.

“I have been informed,” the woman said calmly. “Of an incident.”

Dennis heard a crunch of popcorn. It was the only sound that filled the otherwise silent room.

“The main office of the Farmer’s guild burned down to the ground,” she continued. “While the fire wasn’t that big initially, no one noticed it in time for the water mages to be able to deal with it–”

Damn, they had water mages for firefighters? That was cool.

“–because everyone nearby who could’ve noticed and done something about it was unconscious.” Dennis felt something weird with his fighting instincts. Like a nail trying to burrow into his head, but it was only his imagination. Was that the famous killing intent he was feeling? Directed at him?

“Damn,” he muttered, refusing to look the woman in the eyes. “What a mystery. If only I knew what happened there. Which I don’t.”

“In the span of about a second, twenty-three people lost their consciousness and woke up a minute later in the yard,” she said, still looking straight at him. “Someone arranged their bodies in rows like sardines in a can.” She took a deep breath. “Christopher woke up in a cart, placed perfectly in the middle of it all.”

Yeah, symmetry was pretty, and he had the time…

“I have talked to the man,” Sydney continued. “He claims that it was an unprovoked attack, and demands retribution.” Her gaze shifted to El’el. “He wants your head. Says you killed his family.”

El’el didn’t even blink. Dennis wondered what was going on in her head.

Sydney turned her head to look at Mary.

“While I can make a good guess about these two,” she waved her hand in his and El’el’s direction. “What I don’t understand is what kind of games are you playing, Mary.”

“W-what do you mean?” Mary asked sheepishly, watching the floor like it held the answers to the mysteries of the universe.

“Christopher is an asshole,” Sydney said plainly. “Scheming, brave in all the wrong ways, and important like almost no one else in the city, asshole. Getting his hands on the elf while I was out was a dumb, but ultimately risk-free gambit on his side. He knows I won’t do anything to him – the man feeds a quarter of the city on his own, and we are on the brink of a crisis since our population nearly doubled in the past few days. I don’t know what he wanted to get, but I guess he just saw an opportunity – El’el is a goldmine of knowledge, and he wanted to be the first to get his hands on that knowledge. You–” She pointed her hand at Mary in accusation. “Knew all of that.”

“I– I did?” Mary mumbled. “I mean, I didn’t know all of that, that’s not fair! But I guess I had a guess…”

“As far as I know, you are nearly omniscient in a large area around you. You were at the pub. You were here for the whole night, and he doesn’t live that far. You knew.”

“I– Um…”

“Why did you allow them to take El’el?” she asked. “You knew they came because they knew I was out of it. You knew I’d be against it. You knew you should’ve woken me up, and you didn’t.”

“It was just a small chat…”

“Did you know how Christopher would react?” Sydney asked with her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Did you know how Dennis would react? El’el? How many of the events of this morning were planned by you, and–” She took a small step towards Mary. The girl looked like she’d love to be anywhere else but there. “Why? To see what would happen? An attempt to depose Christopher? Poke everything, see what beeps? It’s been barely a day since you’ve stepped foot in my city, and you’re already playing politics? In my house?”

Okay, Dennis was wondering for a while why Mary was sitting in the couch of doom with them despite not, well, knocking people out on a whim or burning down some dickhead’s mansion, but he had to admit Sydney was fucking good at making Mary sound like a true hidden villain.

A crack of popcorn echoed in the room.

“And you saw it all happen in real-time,” Sydney said sternly. “And still did nothing. I guess it’s not entirely true that there was no one to call the water mages to stop the fire, was there? Besides those two,” she pointed at Dennis and El’el again. “But they are idiots–”

“Hey!”

“And you can talk nearly instantly to anyone within your reach, and with a delay to pretty much anyone,” she continued. “Yet the mansion burned down. What a tragedy, huh? Did he piss in your cereal or what?”

This was like a whole-ass ruling from the shadows, hiding in plain sight type of situation. To be fair, Dennis didn’t really see the problem – even if Mary was some sort of hidden genius, master manipulator type of villain, she wasn’t really a villain, was she? That Christopher guy was a chair-throwing asshole. Sure, he’d cry about his dead family or whatever, but blaming El’el for that wasn’t really fair. Probably. She was more like the most blamable person in reach than the reason for the guy’s problems.

Mary lies all the time, even if she means well.

Was that how Lily described her?

Yeah, Mary’s place in the couch of doom was probably deserved.

“I–” Mary gulped, trying to find the words. It was weird, seeing her hesitate before speaking. “I guess I… messed up a little bit.”

“No fucking shit,” Sydney deadpanned.

“But he was planning on deposing Nolan and promoting his own guy!” Mary shouted frantically.

What?

“Who the fuck is Nolan?” Dennis asked El’el quietly.

“I do not know,” she discreetly whispered back.

A pop of an opened soda can echoed through the room.

“A head of our police force,” Sydney answered tiredly, clearly hearing their mutterings.

“You guys have a police force?!” Dennis exclaimed.

“He is totally evil!” Mary continued, accidentally mimicking Dennis as she energetically raised her hands. Probably spent too much time with him. “He wants to rule the whole NLA, and he’s like, the worst person for that! We have to stop him!”

“So you burned his house down,” Sydney drawled.

“So I– I didn’t burn his house down! Who do you think I am, a fortune-teller?! I didn’t know that would happen! I just thought– Well…”

“Well?”

“That it might’ve been a good idea for him to meet Dennis and for them… to talk… a little… preferably in an already slightly heated situation…”

“And that would achieve what?”

“It would’ve worked,” Lily said from aside, prompting everyone to look at her. She had syrup on her cheek. “If this Christopher guy has at least a few brain cells–and I guess he does if he’s so important and stuff–it’s really easy to realize that doing anything even remotely evil with Dennis in the city is just… That’s a really dumb career choice, is what I’m saying. And, I mean, trying to rule the whole city? He’d look like a classic comic book villain. And Dennis is–”

Dennis felt his heart skip a beat in anticipation.

“Wait,” he said quietly. He felt pleasant tingles spread through his back. Did he hear it right? It was like Christmas came early. “You’re saying there’s a corrupt politician slash mafia boss trying to become the mayor through bribery and illegal means?”

“That’s–”

“Where is he?!” Dennis stood up, reaching for his sword. “I need to– Fuck, I don’t have a costume yet! I need a costume! And a name! This is the thing! The thing!”

Sydney closed her eyes and groaned.

“Sit back down,” she said tiredly. “I will not let you starve thousands of people because some idiot thinks that he’s clever.”

“We can imprison him!" Dennis was seeing the future. The glorious future. “Tie him down and force him to use his skill 24/7! We’ll feed even more people that way! It’s like community service, but for supervillains! We will build a supervillain prison, and force them to work towards the betterment of all! El’el, is there slavery magic? We need slavery magic!”

“Dennis, that’s evil,” Lily said calmly.

“Ah shit.”

He sat back down.

“Wait,” he muttered. “What the hell do we do then?”

Sydney watched him weirdly. Her face was a mixture of boredom, tiredness, and some kind of morbid curiosity.

“Is there something wrong with you?” she asked calmly. “I mean it without offense. You’re crazy, clearly, like lots of puppies are crazy, but… I’m not the kind of person who just labels someone ‘crazy’ and stops at that. How are you crazy? In what way? This was clearly an overreaction, and I can’t help but notice that no one but me is even bothered by that rant…”

“Dennis is nice,” Mary defended him. Quietly. Still avoiding looking at the woman. “Don’t be mean to him. He is trying.” She paused, thinking about something. “His skill lets him save people.”

Sydney hummed.

“That is nice,” she muttered. “Okay. We will come back to it, but for now I have an angry mayor-wannabe to deal with. Dennis.”

“Yes?”

“I’m picking an ethics book for you to read. There will be a quiz.”

“What?!”

“El’el.”

“I am listening,” the elf answered.

Sydney watched her for a few seconds.

“You were the one who burned down the mansion, didn’t you?”

Hesitantly, El’el nodded.

“You’re reading the same book as Dennis then. I’ll also pick something as an introduction to our culture. Now, Mary.”

“Y-yes?” Mary said carefully. “An ethics book for me?” She gave the woman a shaky smile.

“Don’t do politics in my house.”

“Yes ma'am.”

“Lily.”

“What?” the innocent girl asked, startled.

“I have ice-cream in the freezer. Want some?”

“Yes, please.”