Villain's Odyssey: Enslaving heroines, Conquering Villainesses-Chapter 87: It’s coming

"When would she be arriving?" Ethan asked, taking a sip of his drink as four young men sat watching a battle happening down in the combat hall, clubs clashing against each other in fierce competition.

"Who?" Ansley asked with a frown, not sure who Ethan was referring to.

"Oh... Aden didn’t tell you?" Ethan placed the glass tumbler down and glanced at Ansley.

"Tell me what?" Ansley muttered with a growing frown as he looked to Aden, who had his eyes fixed on the current combatants below. Specifically, he was watching a certain young man known for his teleportation ability combined with spatial affinity, which made battling him a chore many would avoid if they could help it. The guy was just that annoying an opponent, appearing and disappearing like smoke, striking from impossible angles.

"There’s going to be a competition soon," Aden suddenly said. Both Ansley and the other young man sitting with them, Kaeden, frowned in confusion.

"A competition?" Kaeden, a young man with hazel hair and sharp blue eyes, spoke with obvious bewilderment.

Aden kept silent, so Ethan took over the explanation, adjusting his position in the leather chair.

"You all remember that emergency meeting the academy called last week, right?" he asked. Ansley nodded, though he still wasn’t sure where this was headed.

"Well, it turns out the Legacy world where Anna was discovered is being contested over by the Academy and Albion... or rather, both kingdoms and Albion. However, they decided to pass the matter over to the academy, given the proposition from Albion," he said, pausing to let the information sink in.

"Which is?" Kaeden pressed, leaning forward with interest.

"A competition," Aden said again, finally turning his attention away from the match below to face his friends.

"So students from Albion High and Vermillion Academy would fight to determine who gets ownership of the Legacy world?" Ansley asked, his tactical mind already working through the implications. Ethan nodded in confirmation.

"But what’s in it for the academy?" Ansley asked after thinking about it for a while. After all, this was a matter between Ezram, Montrellia, and Albion—it had nothing to do with the academy directly.

"Well, it’s the only way to settle it amicably without resulting in a major conflict," Aden chimed in, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "But that doesn’t matter to me. What matters here is that this competition is an opportunity to gain favor from my father." His eyes gleamed with ambition.

"I see," Ansley muttered, understanding the political implications immediately.

"So there would be some sort of internal selection first to select those who would represent the academy, right?" Kaeden asked, always the practical one.

"Obviously," Ethan said, pushing his glasses up his nose with practiced ease.

"But hold on," Kaeden continued, "you mentioned something about ’her’ coming. Who exactly are you talking about?"

Aden finally took his eyes off the young man who had just won the match as expected and looked directly at his friends, his expression growing more intense.

"Princess Lily," he finally said, and both men’s eyes widened in genuine shock.

"The Elven Princess?" Kaeden blurted outa.

"Yes. I don’t know exactly why she’s coming, but since it’s such a major event... I assume it’s to build some sort of relationship with the winner. Legacy worlds aren’t exactly common, after all," Aden added, his fingers drumming against the armrest.

"So she’s coming to watch the fights?" Kaeden asked, still processing this unexpected development.

"The timing coincides perfectly, so it’s obviously for that purpose," Aden replied. Ethan then leaned forward with a knowing look.

"What do you plan to do, Aden?" he asked. Aden stared forward for a long moment, then slowly interlaced his fingers, a predatory grin spreading across his face.

"Get leverage against my siblings," he said with quiet satisfaction.

...

...

"Wait, you’re for real?!" Austin asked, shocked by what he had just heard. Angelica quickly gestured for him to lower his voice, glancing around the empty classroom they had commandeered for their secret meeting.

"Yes, it’s true," she confirmed. Isabelle frowned deeply, her skepticism evident.

"Then why hasn’t the academy said anything about it officially?" she asked. Angelica simply shrugged, as if the answer was obvious.

"They probably will eventually. These things take time to announce properly."

"So you’re saying we should form a group of six to win whatever reward the academy will give for the preliminaries?" Cassandra asked, her analytical mind already working through the logistics. Angelica looked directly at her, her expression growing more serious.

"Basically, yes. If we can get our hands on those advancement cores, we could all move up a full level," she said. The others looked incredulous, still not understanding why the academy would offer such valuable rewards for just the preliminaries—it wasn’t even the main competition.

"How do you even know about this?" Anna asked, her arms folded as she regarded Angelica with suspicious eyes.

Angelica smiled mysteriously, the same expression she always wore when she knew something others didn’t. "Well, I have my connections," she said simply, offering no further explanation.

"A group of six," Isabelle pointed out, doing a quick headcount. "We’re only five here."

Austin nodded in agreement. "That means we need to find one more person to join us. How about—" He was about to suggest someone when Angelica cut him off sharply.

"Don’t bother. She won’t agree," she said calmly, and everyone’s expression immediately turned somber. Just like that, Carmella had cut all ties with their group.

"How about Maria?" Cassandra asked, looking hopefully at Isabelle, who shook her head with uncertainty.

"I’m not sure. She’s been acting pretty strange lately, but I can try talking to her," Isabelle replied, her voice lacking confidence.

"I’ll come with you," Austin offered, and she nodded gratefully.

"Well, I’ll leave that recruitment to you two," Angelica said with her characteristic dismissive wave.

"What will you be doing?" Cassandra asked, knowing that tone meant Angelica had her own plans brewing.

"Making a backup plan," she replied with that smile they all knew too well—the one that meant she was already planning something. But as usual, no one knew what was going through her head.

...

...

"Princess," a young lady with faded blue hair and deep azure eyes, addressed the girl sitting behind a desk completely buried in paperwork.

"You know the rules here, Rena. You shouldn’t address me that way," the girl at the desk replied without looking up. Princess Aurora had peach-colored eyes and vibrant red hair that seemed to catch every ray of light in the student council office.

"Oh, sorry about that, Princess," Rena gave an awkward smile, completely missing the point of the correction. Aurora rolled her eyes and continued working through the mountain of documents.

"Where were you?" Aurora asked, her pen still moving across official forms.

Rena began twirling her hair around her fingers, obviously searching for a believable excuse. "I was... checking out the inter-club duels," she said, hoping it sounded convincing.

A young man’s voice cut through her excuse from across the room. "Liar. I was there all day and just got back. Never saw you once."

Rena followed the voice to a circular arrangement of couches where other student council members sat, dealing with their own stacks of paperwork.

"You being there and not seeing me doesn’t mean I wasn’t there. I was just more... hidden," she said defensively. Everyone rolled their eyes and returned to their work. Rena’s habit of arriving late to council activities was becoming tiresome, and what made it more annoying was that she never revealed where she actually went.

There had been a time when Princess Aurora assigned Cassandra—who wasn’t currently present—to follow Rena immediately after classes to discover where she kept disappearing to. But the mission failed miserably; Cassandra kept getting lost before she could even track Rena properly. After that, they gave up investigating. Aurora would have simply relieved Rena of council duties, but it wasn’t easy to find someone as competent with paperwork as she was, so the princess decided to overlook the whole situation.

"Anyway, I have an assignment for you," Princess Aurora announced. Rena straightened up and saluted mockingly.

"Shoot," she said with exaggerated enthusiasm.

Aurora held up a photograph between her index and middle fingers, then slid it across the desk toward Rena. "This student."

"Oh, this guy. I think his name’s Asher," Rena said, picking up the photo and studying the face.

"I want you to investigate his movements over the previous weeks," Aurora said, her tone becoming more serious.

Rena frowned, sensing the gravity behind the request. "Did something happen?" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Aurora’s expression darkened considerably. "Yes. Two students were murdered yesterday night, and he’s our prime suspect."