Villain's Second Heart: Trapped in A Fantasy Novel (BL)-Chapter 20: Insane Catboy Millionaire

Ezra sneezed, waking back up.

'What the...?'

He was lying face down on the floor of Rav's office. He scrambled back upright, looking around with concern. What happened?

Rav clacked his fan shut. Compared to earlier, all trace of joy and happiness was gone from his face. In fact, he looked a little...angry.

"I let you have a quick nap while Alcor and I talked through some things. Hope you don't mind."

"Wait, what? You spoke to Alcor? What did he say!?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Rav said flatly. "All I'll say about that, kid - no matter how bad things get, you keep that body to yourself. If you let Alcor take full control, I'll kill you myself."

Ezra's jaw nearly dropped to the floor as he watched Rav stand up and start walking toward the door.

"Oh, and...he told me you were having a little trouble, uh, existing. Since you're a no-job vagrant, after all. Now, Alcor did technically give me two things to say to you about that. One. Are you willing to become a lieutenant in an evil villain's army?"

"Uh...no?"

"Yeah. I told him you'd say that." Rav whistled for a moment, buying some time before saying the second thing.

Ezra gave him a dirty look.

"Yeah, yeah. Two. In the event you don't rejoin the villain's army...Alcor might have called in a favor."

"What's the favor?"

"Oh, you know," Rav said, shaking his head. "He uh...and I agreed..."

Rav cleared his throat. "Alright. Hey, Ezra, I hear you don't have any place to go, and if you want, I'd be happy to take you in. You can live with me at my cool 'pagoda' - sounds awesome, right? And you won't even have to pay rent if you agree to do all my chores for me!"

Ezra's eyes sparkled. "Pagoda? You're not an insane catboy billionaire sent to offer me a life of luxury and pleasure, are you?"

Rav narrowed his eyes. "Insane...catboy...millionaire...yeah, pretty much."

Ezra gripped his fists in wonder, but something about the offer didn't feel right. Sure - Rav was good looking. Far better looking than he had any right to be. But...

Oberyn.

Was the Storyteller trying to give him a choice, here? Trying to keep him away from Oberyn the same way Alcor did in the woods?

Although...

It wasn't like Rav just proposed or anything. He was offering an opportunity to live - to have a place to stay. Where else could he go?

"So I do chores, and I get to live in a pagoda? No strings attached?"

"Not a one! Oh and hey - I might have also owed Alcor some money...so, I suppose I'll also be giving you..." he grumbled a number under his breath so low that Ezra couldn't hear it.

"Giving me how much!?"

Rav opened the door, and Deek ran into the office. "What took you so long, Mr. Rav!? It's just a smelly human!"

Rav smiled. "Yeah, well, this smelly human was a student of mine, once upon a time. And I needed to confirm a few private details. I assume a Sage-in-Training would understand!"

Deek's eyes lit up like she just won the lottery. "Sage-in-Training? You mean it? I finally made it!?

Rav grinned from ear to ear and patted Deek on the head as she went ballistic with excitement. The little Ferin girl bounced and leaped and ran around the office cheering.

Rav watched her frolic as he floated to Ezra's side.

"Cute kid, hm?" he said, crossing his arms in his kimono. "Her parents had a hard time making ends meet. She had to grow up fast. I took her under my wing, got her some steady income in exchange for odd-jobs. Now look at her - all she wants to do is become a Magician like me."

Ezra opened his mouth wide and looked at Rav, surprised by the information. The more he learned about the flamboyant catboy, the more he respected him - Rav seemed like a good guy.

"Listen, Ezra...Alcor was precious to me. A valued student...at first. And then, he was someone who made a terrible mistake."

Rav tapped Ezra's chest with his fan. "I'm sure you noticed you're not exactly vanilla."

Ezra reached for his Second Heart. "Yeah," he replied. "My Second Heart. Oberyn called it an 'Apocalypse Engine'. He said it meant I was a...Harbinger?"

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Rav's eye twitched at the word. "Yes. I suppose you are."

The catboy clapped both of his hands together, grabbing Deek's attention. "Come stop by my pagoda when you get a chance, Deek. I'll get your first assignment as Sage-in-Training ready."

"Aw, yeah!" she fistpumped.

"And I'll be taking this stinky human off your hands. Excellent work, bringing him to me. You're already well on your way to becoming an Apprentice Sage."

"Wait, Mr. Rav, wasn't I already an Apprentice Sage?"

"No, no, silly Deek. You were a Sage's Apprentice. A critical difference - a real Sage-in-Training would know that."

"Uh...right! Of course Mr. Rav, I'm sorry!"

They left the office and returned to the town square. It was a lot less crowded now that Rav's spectacle earlier had ended, but once they were back on the street people were already beginning to gather again.

"Go finish your chores and say hello to Cliff for me, okay?"

She nodded and he patted her on the head one more time, ruffling her bushy brown hair.

"Bye Mr. Rav! Bye Ezra! I'll see you again soon!"

They waved goodbye as the feisty Ferin girl ran to the market.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Rav said. "About that thing in your chest you call a heart, about Alcor, about the Storyteller, about me - so I'll level with you. You can ask me one question a day, and I will answer it to the best of my ability. Deal?"

"Deal."

"So what's your question?"

Ezra didn't have to think about it for long - he already had a place to stay and some money, from the sounds of it. But there was one thing he didn't have.

"Suppose I want to get in touch with a Magician in Asteria. How can we make it happen?"