Path of the Demonic Villain

’What?!’

Francesca’s eyes flew wide in disbelief, and her lips parted slightly.

"You found someone without a functioning mana core?"

She couldn’t believe what the professor had just said. For a moment there, a surge of hope, excitement, suspicion, and intense curiosity bubbled in her chest.

The man chuckled, then continued. "Actually, I’m not sure, heh heh. I could be wrong. You see, a few days ago, I went to meet a private detective to help me out with a case. I heard he’s really good at what he does, though truth be told, I was a bit skeptical about his capabilities. What I was tasking him with was a high-tier commission, after all. So at the time, I decided to try and peer at his tier. Just out of curiosity. However, I was surprised to find that I couldn’t. It was like... how should I put it? Staring at a blank wall?"

’Staring a blank wall?’ Francesca’s eyes narrowed.

Meanwhile, Laurent paused, looking down with a light chortle. Then, he set the book he was holding on the table and sat down on his high-backed stool. As he stroked his beard, he continued. "You know, before you confided in me, I wouldn’t have even known that such a thing was actually a condition. I’d have thought that the person was simply using an artifact to hide their tier."

Francesca swallowed.

In this world, having a non-functioning mana core was basically unheard of. Whenever someone failed to read a person’s tier, the very first thought was always that they were using some high-end artifact to hide it.

Although there were cases of people with really small mana cores, nobody would ever guess that someone just straight-up couldn’t use mana at all.

Of course, there were not a lot of people who knew that Dante was one such person, and one of those who knew was his immediate family. However, they had all been under the assumption that this was a rare affliction that only he suffered from.

This realization weighed heavily on them because they couldn’t understand why he had been born that way.

As Dante grew up, his family suspected that he felt burdened by his lack of a core. He never once complained about it, true, but seeing him quietly roll with it and never speak about it only hurt them more.

Francesca, being closer to him than anyone else, just couldn’t stand seeing her brother like that. She decided to step up and craft an artifact that could help him do some basic magic or make him feel like a normal person.

Once she got into the academy and unlocked access to advanced archives and facilities, she spent pretty much all her free time buried in the project.

But to convince Professor Laurent, a renowned master of magic theory, to mentor her and help with the project, she had to leak a little bit about the existence of the condition.

Even then, she kept Dante’s name out of it, playing it off like it was just some acquaintance she happened to know. She had also asked him to keep their conversation confidential.

At this moment, however, she was shocked because she never expected that someone else with the exact same weird condition would cross paths with the professor.

Now, so many questions that she had already had before began to surface again.

Questions like...

Could there really be other people out there who just couldn’t wield mana? Was this actually a recognized condition? What could be the root cause of it?

As these questions kept popping up in her head, Francesca began to genuinely believe that there was a chance this stranger might be able to answer some of the questions she and her family had.

While she was still struck by the fact that her brother might not be the only person with this condition, Professor Laurent reached over and picked up the smoke pipe resting on the work table.

He reached out and touched one of the mana-gems on the table. Then he muttered a few words, snapped his fingers to summon a tiny flame, and lit the bowl, breathing in until the ember caught.

"Hope you don’t mind?" he asked, glancing up at her.

Francesca snapped out of her daze, collecting herself before shaking her head. "No, not at all."

Laurent smiled and took a slow, relaxed puff.

"I did feel divine power on him, though," he mused.

Francesca arched a curious brow, silent for a beat.

Seeing her expression, Laurent added, "I could recognize the energy. Turns out, the young man is an Apostle of Night."

’He’s an apostle?’

Francesca was suddenly reminded of the time Dante had tried to switch his faith from the Moon to the Night, some time last year. However, Mia, the Goddess of the Night, had refused to touch him and make him her apostle.

"What is this detective’s name?" Francesca asked.

Laurent looked up at her for a brief moment, letting out a trail of blue smoke before blowing it aside. "You want to see him?"

She nodded with a bit of excitement. "I don’t see why not. Before now, I thought that my friend was the only person with this condition. I can still remember exactly how I felt when I tried to peer at his tier. If I were to come across this detective and feel that same blankness, I’d be able to confirm that he actually doesn’t have a functioning mana core either."

Her eyes brightened for a second. "I could even find a way to get some information from him."

’Finding out more about this from someone who’s lived with it for longer might finally give us some real answers,’ she added inwardly.

Laurent was quiet, as if contemplating her request. After a short pause, he picked up a fountain pen and began to write the man’s name and address on one of the spare parchment scraps on his desk. "His name is detective Holmes Poirot. He’s not really that famous, but he’s very good when it comes to getting information about someone."

After finishing the note, he handed it over with a slightly serious look. "Though I have to say, you need to be careful, Francesca. He’s a private detective. And some private detectives can be a bit shady."

Francesca adjusted her glasses, then nodded. "Yes professor."

***

"Hey there. Everything alright? You just... you just started walking away quickly even when I tried to call for you."

As she spoke, the breathless, bewildered girl kept looking back to see if there was actually something behind them that had caused this dude to begin power-walking the way he did.

Dante sighed. "Look at it from my angle. You are heading down the hallway, minding your own business. Then all of a sudden, you see an angry-faced woman you do not know charging right after you. Wouldn’t you make a break for it?"

"Oh." The girl’s mouth parted to form an O. Then, she tried to smile, but when she realized smiling when nothing was funny was not her thing, she forgot about it and just apologized. "Sorry if I scared you."

’You didn’t scare me. I was avoiding you,’ Dante thought bitterly, keeping his expression neutral. Aloud, he said, "How can I help you?"

"Uh..." She suddenly looked embarrassed. It was as if she had prepared something to say before, but now, she wasn’t quite sure how to put it. "So actually, the thing is... I haven’t seen you in the academy before, so I was curious and just came to say hi. I’m Gia by the way. Gia Visconti."

As she spoke, she put her compass into her pocket and extended her hand for a handshake.

Meanwhile, Dante just stared at that hand for a few seconds.

At the moment, through his glasses, he could see her emanating a yellow aura, which meant that she was not lying. However, she was not telling the full truth either.

"Dante Fioravanti," he finally replied and reached out to shake her hand.

"Fioravanti?" Gia arched a brow, looking lost in thought. Then it clicked. "Are you related to Francesca Fioravanti?"

"That’s my twin sister," Dante replied blankly.

"Ah. I see." Gia tilted her head back in understanding before nodding subtly. "We attend some classes together."

At some point, she had begun slowly walking down the corridor, silently inviting him to walk with her.

"By the way, are you also a mage?" she asked, trying to start small talk.

Dante began moving alongside her before replying wearily. "I’m a high priest."

"A high priest?" She looked shocked at first, but she quickly smoothed her expression over. "Well, that’s certainly not what I expected. Hey, do you want to grab a coffee?"

Dante suddenly halted, which caused her to halt a few steps ahead as well.

He sighed and looked directly at her. "Tell me. What’s the real reason for approaching me, Gia?"

Gia was quiet for a moment before offering a light, helpless smile. "What if I said I just saw you and wanted to be friends?"

Dante was silent.

Eventually, he sneered. "Look, Gia. I wasn’t born yesterday. You didn’t just ’see me and come to say hi.’ You were looking for me. So be straight with me."

He had seen that compass, and of course he could recognize the artifact. At the moment, he was willing to bet that artifact was what led her straight to him.

Gia stared at him, and her expression returned to being entirely serious, losing all of her previous act. She exhaled and said, "Fine. I hate beating around the bush too, so I’ll get straight to the point. Let’s partner up."