This Delusional Voice Keeps Telling Me I’m a Villain

Natcheil had a labyrinth of back alleys just off the main street. The back alleys, which were built by successive landlords since the beginning of the Janvangar’s history without any consideration for convenience or rationality, were unorganised and complicated. It has been said that if a newcomer enters this place, they would never be able to leave again because of the many narrow streets, twists and turns, and even trap-like cul-de-sacs.

However, if you knew how to use magic to some extent, exploration magic could be used like a navigation map and walk without getting lost.

The sound of a scuffle came from one of these back alleys.

“No…! NOOO!”

“If you want to hate someone, hate your friend who abandoned you.” 

“What a typical story of a gullible guy. When you were made a co-signer of this loan, you were already treated as a convenience from the start, you know.”

“D-Didi isn’t someone like that…”

“Ha-ha-ha, you’re a real softy! You! The debt has grown to a little over 150 million. Would you pay for it with your tearful friendship?”

“150mil?! H-how could I pay…!”

“You will! No matter if you’ll have to spend the rest of your life crawling through mud, you’ll still have to pay!”

“No way… Didi… Why did you…”

“For the time being, I think I could use your pretty little face. You’ll get customers.” 

“Right. Make him into a gigolo, or should we also sell him to male customers…?”

“S-stop it! I’m a noble! If you do that…!”

“Huh? So, sweetie boy, you’re going to return to your parents? You know what? Can I go to your house and ask your parents to shoulder their son’s debt?”

“…uh! N-no… If they found out about this, I’d be disowned…”

“Then shut up and just do our bidding!”

I hid in the shadows nearby and began to listen for a few minutes.

Hmmmmmm. That sounds pretty pitiful. Right now, the man is surrounded by two debt collectors. The one in debt has apparently been betrayed by a friend or something similar and is about to be forced into prostitution. That’s an act of crime. But wait, a debt of 150 million is quite astronomical…  

From the shadows, I caught a glimpse of the poor victim.

…Ah, I know this guy!

A delicate-looking body. Blue hair and light blue eyes… He had an androgynous look: a very pretty, beautiful boy, who could pass for a beautiful girl whose eyes were brimming with tears.  

If I’m not mistaken, he’s the son of a viscount—his name… Aiden Forgath.

And here it comes: Delusion-kun.

Aiden Forgath… That pretty boy called the flower of the Viscount’s family? Haha, interesting. I knew he had a terrible family situation, but I didn’t know his friendships were terrible as well. It would be a good idea to spend a little more time with him, get some footage of him prostituting himself, and use that footage as a threat against him in the future. If need be, I could also use his family to blackmail him—

STOP!!

NO-NO! Delusion-kun, you’re way too vicious! Just what on earth are you saying! I’ll never do something like that! Haa… I really didn’t want to hear that. Those words only made my ears dirty. Stop it already. Damn you, Delusion-kun. 

Anyway, I couldn’t just leave him be. Sorry to these loan sharks, but I need you all to allow me to renege on that debt!

“Now, follow us.” 

“We’ll have you back home by midnight, okay?”  

“Hee… No! Somebody, help me…!”

At the sound of his voice, I stepped out of the shadows. I made sure to fast so that the debt collectors would not notice me. 

“Ugh!” First, I used the most reliable technique—a hand-chop—to render the first guy unconscious. 

“Awww…!” As for the other guy, I thought of giving him a concussion, enough for him to lose consciousness. So, I used magic to send stones flying at him at high speed. Yes, a clean hit to the brain! The two guys fell down almost simultaneously. 

It took only 2.65 seconds! Phew, that was a new record. As someone who had been learning how to assassinate people, I should be able to do something like this.

Aiden’s eyes widened in surprise at my sudden appearance—probably because, from his point of view, the two guys had fallen in an instant, and I stood in their place.

“W-who are you?!”

Of course, he would react like that. 

But I’d rather wait to introduce myself. Even though they were unconscious, it would be a bit unnerving to converse here without knowing when these two might wake up. Once these people were out of the way, I’d prefer to talk somewhere else, somewhere cleaner.

“Hold on for now. We’ll introduce ourselves later. I’m going to dislocate their joints and tie them up with ropes. Oh, and if you have any personal grudges left, why not take it out on them now? Throw ’em in the river, burn ’em, sell ’em to some mad scientist who sells cadavers for dissection, whatever you desire?”

“So brutal.”

While tying them up, I removed from their clothes the contracts for the debts that Aiden had cosigned. There were a total of five sheets; all of them reported a considerable amount of money.

Yeah. Under Janvangar’s law, if this flimsy piece of paper was lost, there would be no way for anyone to collect these debts. 

What a good law, right? As long as there was no contract, it was easy for anyone to escape debt… This loose wording couldn’t be found in other countries. Well, in the current situation, it was a very good thing. 

I took out the contract, looked at the signature line and… I placed it in my pocket straight away. Hmm, I probably shouldn’t have taken a second to look at it.

Then, I said to Aiden, “Hey, this is not exactly a good place to hold a conversation. Do you want to have tea with me?”