Rogue Villain-Chapter 364: Reason

Ackster smiled coldly as he slowly lifted Shanshi’s hands off of his mouth.

"What did I tell you?"

"My apologies, it’s just that that name—"

"No. What did I tell you? When I woke up. Do you remember?"

Realization flashed through Shanshi’s eyes as he stepped back.

"N-no! I’m—"

"What. Did. I. Tell. You."

Ackster’s eyes narrowed to slits as he stared down Shanshi. Without any strength in his body, Shanshi was like an awkward teenager in front of his crush’s parents. He fiddled with his hands and avoided Ackster’s gaze as he bowed his head, hoping to become invisible.

"...Y-you said you were going to kill me."

"That’s right. I told you that I was going to kill you if you touched me again. You touched me. Now, all that remains is that I kill you."

"..."

"Unless, of course, you can convince me otherwise."

Ackster was aware of Shanshi’s usefulness, even if only in terms of information and knowledge. There was no way he was going to kill him. But he needed to establish order and obedience. Otherwise, the mysterious ancestor of all vampires would be too much of a wildcard to bring into the fight against The Hero.

He already had enough on his plate with Mastrax. He didn’t need another crazy old-timer.

Shanshi might be his servant in accordance with the Deal they had made. But he was still his own person. And while Ackster could force the obedience with the power of the Deal, he would have to give orders that were detailed down to the last step Shanshi could take.

That wasn’t feasible, and it would be an incredible waste of Shanshi’s skill. It would be better if Shanshi could commit to doing the best he could even without Ackster’s urging. And it would be even better if he acted properly while doing it.

Ackster continued staring down Shanshi until Shanshi finally relented.

"Ugh, fine. It’s obvious you don’t want to kill me. What do you want me to do? I can answer any questions you might have to the best of my ability. But I don’t know that much about the Creator and this place."

Ackster nodded.

"I have a feeling we’ll find out what I want to know sooner or later by exploring this place in that regard. But there are other things you can tell me, such as information about the Sword God."

This time, Ackster stopped Shanshi from stopping him from finishing his sentence.

"Why would you say that out loud if you know his name?! It’s bad luck."

"You’re worried about bad luck?"

"You would too if you had met that crazy fucker."

Ackster raised an eyebrow.

"I haven’t just met him. I’m his disciple."

Shanshi’s head whipped to the side to look at Ackster as his eyes widened with dawning realization before his jaw dropped to the ground.

"...Oh, goodness, please end me now."

Shanshi had an empty gaze as he mumbled a plea for mercy.

"The Sword God is pretty old then? And he’s always been a little eccentric?"

"...Heh. Heh."

Shanshi embodied the lifelessness of being a vampire as he was still trapped in despair and disbelief.

Not only was the Sword God still around and active, but Shanshi had also managed to encounter his disciple. The first person Shanshi met after spending an eternity sleeping underground was the Sword God’s disciple. He had also managed to become the Sword God’s disciple’s servant.

If the disciple were anything like his master, Shanshi’s misery wouldn’t end anytime soon.

Ackster smacked Shanshi on the head, but it wasn’t enough to wake him out of his daze. Deciding to let a fellow victim of the Sword God deal with their trauma alone, Ackster just continued down the tunnel. He was slightly curious about what was next. What could possibly be stronger than the ancestor of all vampires?

There were probably several such existences. After all, if people like the Alchemist and the Sword God existed, there had to be beings between their strength and Shanshi’s. It was a different matter getting them to housesit the Alchemaze. But Ackster had a feeling the Alchemist could be pretty persuasive.

However, Ackster still had many questions.

But the only way he could get an answer would be to continue heading deeper into the Alchemaze. If the Alchemaze’s depths didn’t hold the answers he sought, he wouldn’t get them no matter how much he thought about it and pondered on his questions.

"Ah, wait a minute! The Sword God doesn’t have any disciples!"

After a while, Shanshi managed to escape his daze. And the first thing he did was question Ackster.

"He does now."

"No way! Why would the Sword God accept you, or anyone, for that matter, as a disciple? I refuse to believe it! It’s just a trick, is it not?!"

Ackster glanced at Shanshi with a mildly irritated expression as he summoned the Demon Sword into his hands.

"I managed to convince him to take me as a disciple instead of killing me because of this thing. I ended up exploring a ruin with the Sword God due to my relationship with the Adventurer’s Guild. I’ll skip the details, but this thing hid in my body. The Sword God wanted it. If I become his disciple, the sword will be, by extension, his. Thus, there’s no need to kill me."

Shanshi only listened with half an ear as he looked closer at the Demon Sword.

"You’re telling me the Sword God wanted a mere Demon Sword so bad he was willing to take you in as a disciple?"

Shanshi spoke with his gaze still locked on the sword.

Ackster shrugged.

"That’s how it turned out. Are you claiming there’s reason to the Sword God’s actions?"

Shanshi slowly shook his head.

"...No. But that’s exactly why. If he wanted this sword, he would have just taken it. He wouldn’t even bother talking to you."

’Makes sense. I guess I got lucky.’

"Are you saying that it wasn’t that he agreed not to take it but that he couldn’t?"

Shanshi stayed silent for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Yes. That would be my best guess. This sword is no ordinary Demon Sword—Wait a moment! You!"

Shanshi turned his head to look at Ackster, whom he was also pointing at with a colorful expression.