I Am a Villain, So What?-Chapter 126 - 125: The Broken Clock

[NOTE: I messed up a little. I jumbled up the Chapter 125 and 126. I mistakenly published the 126th Chapter first. Please read the Chapter [Broken Clock] then read [Shadow Stalkers]

[I am really sorry. ]

"I ran into Cadet Lucien by chance," Elisha cut in quickly, stepping in front of me. Her voice was steady, but I noticed her ears were slightly red. "We... had a minor misunderstanding in the market, and we came here to resolve it privately."

’Misunderstanding,’ she called it. Not ’I tried to spy on him and he almost blew my head off.’

Revealing her secret would be amusing, but it’d feel like snitching to Kael. And honestly, watching the proud Lady Elisha squirm was its own reward.

"Is that so?" Kael looked suspicious, but he didn’t press Elisha. He looked at me. "I didn’t expect to see the Runner-Up of the Tournament in a place like this. Shouldn’t you be celebrating your victory, Ashborne?"

"I don’t celebrate second place," I replied dryly, leaning against the doorframe. "And shouldn’t you be training? Or did you skip the tournament just to drink bad coffee in the dark?"

Kael flinched. The barb hit home.

"Good timing, actually," Kael said, changing the subject and looking at Elisha. "Elisha, if you’re not busy... could you help me out?"

"Help you?" Elisha raised an eyebrow, relieved to move past the awkwardness. "Is this the ’urgent business’ you mentioned for missing the Tournament?"

"Well... sort of."

Kael scratched his cheek, looking uncomfortable.

I narrowed my eyes.

’Liar.’

He had skipped the Dungeon Tournament because he feared his identity as a commoner (and secret Demon King descendant) would be mocked among the gathering of high-ranking nobles. He didn’t want to face the scorn.

So, he made up an excuse.

"I’m tracking a criminal who infiltrated the capital," Kael said seriously.

"A criminal?" Mariella whispered, clutching her staff.

"A serial killer."

"A s-serial killer?!" Mariella gasped, her face draining of color. "That’s... that’s news to me! The papers haven’t said anything!"

Kael nodded grimly.

"It’s only happened in the Slums, so it hasn’t been widely reported. The City Guard calls them ’disappearances’ or ’gang violence.’ But I stumbled upon the bodies by chance. It’s not a gang."

"Then why not inform the Capital Guards?" Elisha asked, crossing her arms.

"Well..."

Kael hesitated. He couldn’t say that he didn’t trust the Guards, or that the Guards notoriously ignored the slums.

"I want to secure evidence first," he said firmly. "If I bring them a solid case, they’ll have to act. But right now, they’ll just dismiss it as slum trash killing slum trash."

A decent excuse. The slums were a lawless zone where the poor died quietly. Without solid evidence—or a noble’s backing—the authorities wouldn’t lift a finger.

"That’s terrible..." Mariella murmured, her healer instincts kicking in over her fear. "Those poor people..."

"So, where is the crime scene?" Elisha asked, her demeanor shifting from noble lady to mage.

Kael pointed to a circle on the map.

"The first incident occurred near Merle’s Pawn & Trade, the antique shop where I often commission artifact restoration. I’ll start investigating there tonight."

Thump.

My heart skipped a beat.

Merle’s Pawn & Trade.

The name triggered a cascade of memories.

It was the place where I had sold my watches to fund my early game. It was where I bought my first weapon, the shotgun.

But more importantly... I remembered the shop owner. Old Man Merle. A grumpy old man with a heart of gold and a vast library of ancient knowledge. He was a key NPC for the mid-game artifact quests.

And he had a granddaughter.

Irina.

A small girl with pigtails who sat on a high stool behind the counter, swinging her legs and eating rock candy.

’Hah... I completely forgot because of the Dungeon Tournament.’

In the original Asteria Online timeline, during the "Slum Riots" Chapter, there was a side quest called [The Broken Clock].

The serial killer would massacre a block in the slums to harvest souls for a ritual. Among the victims... was Irina.

Merle would find her body. The shock would break him. He would close the shop, burn his research, and eventually disappear, denying the Protagonist access to crucial artifact upgrades later in the game.

’Irina dies tonight.’

The thought hit me with a cold chill.

I pictured the little girl offering me a piece of candy when I bought the shotgun.

"Oh, that place..." Elisha muttered, rubbing her chin. "I think I’ve heard of it. It’s dirty, though."

She glanced at me, her eyes signaling for me to leave.

"Kael, wait a moment. I have something to resolve with Cadet Lucien first. I’ll send him away, and then we can go."

She turned to me, her expression imperious.

"Our business is concluded, Lucien. You can leave now. Forget what you saw he—"

I, who had been silent, leaning against the doorframe with my rifle, finally interjected.

"...No. Let’s handle the case first."

Elisha, Mariella, and Kael froze. Their eyes widened in genuine surprise. I, Lucien Ashborne, the selfish villain, had just offered to help.

"Uh, what?" Kael blinked.

"What did you say?" Elisha asked, thinking she misheard.

"I said, I’m joining your little detective game."

I walked past Elisha and tapped the map on the table.

"Merle’s Pawn & Trade. I know the owner. He sold me my first weapon."

Perhaps my willingness was unexpected, as they stared at me like I had grown a second head. Still, they couldn’t be as surprised as I was internally.

*****

[The Slums - Outer District]

We left Mariella back. Well she is not the one for too much running around.

So I suggested we three go look for some clues ourselves.

Kael nodded readily, accepting my help with surprising ease.

"Very well. I’ll rely on you too, Cadet Lucien."

If I were the original Lucien, it would be strange for Kael not to suspect me as the culprit. But his attitude toward me had oddly changed since the incident in the Fern Kingdom. He seemed to view me as a rival, perhaps, but not a monster.

We moved through the darkening alleys of the slums. The smell of sewage and rot hung heavy in the air.

"The first incident occurred yesterday," Kael explained calmly, keeping his hand near his sword. "It was while you were making a scene at the Dungeon Tournament."

"The discoverer was Manager Merle, and I was asked to look into it shortly after."

’What a funny story.’

I smirked. According to the original plot, Kael stumbled upon the body because he lived near here, not because he was "asked." Piling lies on lies to keep up his commoner disguise... it was oddly amusing.

"There... well, I found a strange pattern."

Kael stopped under a flickering mana lamp and pulled out a notebook. He showed us a sketch he’d made at the crime scene.

It wasn’t ordinary graffiti. It was a complex, geometric formation drawn with a dark substance.

"It looks like a summoning circle," Elisha whispered, leaning in.

"So..." Kael began.

KYAAAAAH!

A scream tore through the alley. It was raw, terrified—the unmistakable final cry of a life meeting its end.

"North! Two blocks!"

We rushed toward the sound.

But we were too late.

In a dead-end alley, beneath piles of trash, a body lay collapsed.

"Oh god..." Mariella covered her mouth, turning away.

Elisha furrowed her brow, her face pale. "...Cruel."

It was a woman. Or what was left of her.

Her head was shattered open, but there was no mess. The brain was gone. Her chest had been cracked open, the heart missing. And most disturbing of all, there was no blood pooling on the ground.

The body was shriveled, desiccated like a fish dried out on a beach.

"Cadet Kael. May I ask one question?" I said, crouching near the corpse.

"Go ahead, Cadet Lucien."

"The material used to draw that strange formation in your notebook... was it brain matter and blood?"

"...Yes."

I’d asked knowing the answer, but hearing it confirmed was revolting.

’Brain, heart, and blood. Practical.’

From a sacrificial perspective, it was almost praiseworthy. Those were the most mana-rich parts of a human body.

’But why leave the rest?’

The culprit was skilled enough to extract the organs with surgical precision in seconds.

’They noticed us coming and fled!’

My instincts flared.

"They’re close!"

Gripping my rifle, I dashed forward into the darkness.

"Cadet Lucien!" "Where are you going!"

I heard Elisha and Kael calling, but I ignored them. I sprinted down the alley, my eyes scanning the dirt. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

[Skill: Detection]

My enhanced vision caught faint footprints in the mud.

’The footprints are... small?’

I skidded to a halt.

They weren’t the heavy boots of a man, nor the shoes of a woman. They were tiny. Like those of a 10-year-old child.

’What?’

In the original game, the culprit was a crazed female cultist. Why were there child footprints?

I followed the tracks for another ten meters until—

...?!

They vanished.

The footprints simply stopped in the middle of the alley, as if the runner had evaporated.

"Something’s off."

This was strange. Truly strange. My [Know-It-All] perk was usually flawless, but now it felt like the script had been rewritten.

In the Fern Kingdom, the mad scientist had turned himself into a demon way ahead of schedule. Was the timeline accelerating again?

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

[WARNING!] [Detection: High-Threat Ambush!]

I didn’t think. I reacted.

I spun around, leveling my rifle not at the empty alley, but back toward Kael and Elisha, who had just caught up to me.

"Cadet Lucien?!"

Kael froze, his hand going to his sword as he saw my gun pointed at him.

BANG!