I Will Save the Villain

Fanolopolis is a three-day extravaganza. Fangirls and fanboys from all over the continent flock to the Kraej Convention Center for three days of non-stop fun. The first day is devoted to fanworks of all sorts, including, but not limited to, fanart, fanzines, fancomics, fanmovies, etc. The second day has all sorts of events, such as cosplay contests, creator interviews, sponsored giveaways, crafting classes, tech demos, etc. The third day is for parties.

—Magda, #1 Fan, Kraej City Fan Coalition Fanzine

Sariel

Alright, so I stole the so-called legendary artifact. So what?

It was just a regular fire artifact. I replaced it with one of my own.

Asteria was tired out from the day’s travel and her late-night date with Seraph. She was sleeping like a log when I sneaked out of the camp to dig the metal box out.

No matter how I examined it, the fire artifact was just a simple fire artifact that you could buy anywhere. I even ran a mile away to test it out by casting fire spells.

The result?

Nothing out of the ordinary.

I did put it back, but as I was placing the stone block over the hole in the ground, I suffered yet another pang of doubt regarding the legendary artifact. I knew I’d never know another moment’s rest until I solved this puzzle.

So, yes. I took it again and put a non-legendary fire artifact in its place.

Both Uriel and Seraph had heard me sneaking out and I’m sure they knew that I’d checked out the artifact when Asteria was asleep.

However, they would be shocked if they knew I’d stolen something from the hero.

Uriel, who was desperate for a true cure, was all in favor of supporting the hero, whom he suspected was his protégé Israfel. He would have stopped me if he’d known what I was going to do.

Seraph would most definitely not approve of me stealing from his precious angel.

“What’s wrong with him?” whispered Asteria to Seraph. “He looks like hell.”

We’d just finished eating breakfast. Asteria was staring at me, her big blue eyes wide with dismay. Her golden hair was neatly combed and gathered into two pigtails. Except for her figure, Asteria could be mistaken for a twelve-year-old. She looked unbelievably fresh and chipper for someone who’d only had four hours of sleep last night.

“I don’t know.” Seraph was looking at me thoughtfully. Bizarrely, he had a silver bead in his hair. People wore either a ton of hair beads or none. Wearing just one hair bead looked ridiculous.

“Leave him alone. He’s going through an existential crisis,” said Uriel.

Ha. Ha.

The big guy looked disgustingly cheerful today. We’d known each other since we were kids so if anyone suspected what malady I was suffering from, it was him. But even he wouldn’t think that I’d stooped so low as to steal.

“Should I ask?” whispered Asteria to Seraph.

“No,” said Seraph.

“No,” said Uriel.

“No,” I said.

“I’m gonna ask. You men are all silly,” said Asteria. “Sariel, what’s wrong?”

“This!” I thrust my hand at her face, making her recoil.

“What?” She examined the fire artifact I was holding. “This is…”

“Yes, I stole it! I took your legendary artifact, okay!” I put the artifact back into my pocket.

“...” Asteria looked like a fish with her mouth open and eyes bulging.

“Sariel! Put that back,” said Uriel.

“No!”

Asteria, that foolish girl, tried to jump me and take the artifact back, but she was the size of a small child, so all she could do was claw ineffectually at my jacket. I easily fended her off with one hand while I kept my other hand on the pocket that contained the stolen artifact.

“Sariel, give it back to her,” said Seraph. He gently moved her out of the way.

“Make me.”

Uriel got between us and pushed us away from each other.

“Seraph, I’ll handle this,” said Uriel.

Seraph backed off and took Asteria with him to saddle the dyr.

“I never thought Sariel would stoop so low,” said Asteria. I never noticed before how grating her voice was.

Uriel didn’t even say anything to try to persuade me. He just put his hand out.

“No.”

Uriel didn’t put his hand down.

“I replaced it with another fire artifact.”

Uriel was still waiting with his hand out.

“Fine.” I gave him the artifact.

“Asteria,” said Uriel.

She walked back to us, and Uriel handed her the artifact.

“My baby,” she said to the artifact. “Come on, Ely. We need to put it back.”

“Wait,” I said. “At least tell me what’s so special about that artifact.”

I had to know, or I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. I might even return to take the artifact away again.

“Hmmm.” Asteria asked Uriel for a fire artifact. Holding a fire artifact in each hand, she cast a fire spell twice, once for each artifact. “Fire. Fire.”

“What about it? The spells are the same!” I said.

“Yes, and it’s useless for you to take the artifact because it’s for the hero, not you. Now cast a fire spell with this then the Radiant Vortex,” said Asteria.

I hadn’t thought to compare the legendary artifact with the Radiant Vortex since they weren’t the same kind.

“Fire.” I cast a normal fire spell using the legendary fire artifact.

“Fire.” I normally used the Radiant Vortex to cast all spells, but it was possible to use it for a single elemental spell. The fire spell I cast when I used it was much faster and stronger.

“They’re different, aren’t they?” said Asteria.

“Yes, the legendary artifact is weak in comparison. You’re lying, right? This isn’t a legendary artifact at all!” I said.

“Sariel, calm down. Why are you so agitated?” said Asteria.

Because I can’t figure out what makes this artifact different. I’m the best magician in the world. This should be easy for me to figure out.

“He’s really freaking out,” Asteria said to Uriel.

“Are you enjoying this?” Uriel asked her.

The little devil girl just laughed. She took both the legendary artifact and Radiant Vortex from me. “Fire. Fire.”

“What?” Her fire spells were identical even though the one from the Radiant Vortex should have been a lot stronger.

“...” She said something, but I couldn’t hear it. Her voice was like a thousand needles of ice stabbing my brain.

“Stop!” said Uriel.

Seraph and Uriel’s faces were twisted in pain. I wondered if I looked like that, too.

“Sorry,” said Asteria. She patted Seraph’s back worriedly. “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re fine,” said Seraph.

“Yes, but don’t speak the unspeakable again,” said Uriel.

“Um, okay. Let me try this. Er. The artifacts are attuned.” Asteria looked around and continued speaking when she saw that we weren’t in pain. “The legendary artifact is attuned to the hero. The Radiant Vortex is attuned to Sariel.”

“I see. That’s why Sariel’s fire spell was better using the Radiant Vortex, but yours wasn’t,” said Uriel.

“What’s attunement? I’ve never heard that applied to artifacts,” I said.

“I can’t explain since you’ll all scream if I do,” said Asteria. “Just believe me that the artifact won’t work for you the way it would for the hero.”

“Fine. You can put it back then,” I said.

“Promise you won’t dig it back up again?” said Asteria.

“I promise,” I said.

“Great. Sit down and wait for us here. Pray to the goddess for forgiveness. I’ll punish you when I get back,” said Asteria.

“Punish me? Who do you think you are?” I said.

Really, angel or not, Asteria was delusional if she thought I’d let her punish me.

Asteria smiled. She was enjoying this, wasn’t she?

“I think that I’m the person the goddess put in charge of looking after the hero. You’ve knowingly committed sacrilege. Those who go against the Sacred Mystery never get away with it unpunished. Either I punish you, or you can wait for the goddess’ punishment.”

“What kind of punishment?” asked Uriel.

He was taking this claptrap seriously? How gullible was Uriel?

“I’m sure we all know that the ancient punishment for blasphemy and sacrilege was death,” said Asteria.

Uriel looked worried. “But that was only in ancient times, right?”

“The punishment is always death, okay? The Sacred Mystery doesn’t mess around,” said Asteria. “Sariel, I advise you to pray very sincerely for forgiveness and promise to never do it again. I’ll give you a lighter punishment when-”

“No, you won’t. I refuse to be punished by you or anyone,” I said. As if I really would let her punish me.

Asteria sighed and left with the others.

“He’s too stubborn,” she said as they walked away.

“He won’t really die, will he?” asked Seraph.

“Sariel will be begging me for help soon,” said Asteria.

“I’ll try to talk to him when he’s calmed down,” said Uriel. That traitor. They were all on Asteria’s side.

“I just hope he’ll still have a tongue to speak with when he repents,” said Asteria.

I thought she was bluffing, but I should have known better.