I Became a Dark Fantasy Villain
Chapter 470

Chapter 470

Everyone except Ian sat together at a reasonable distance, right between the scorpion spider's sprawled-out legs.

Each of them held a strip of jerky in hand, but the only one actually eating was the sharp-eyed fairy with the wooden mask hanging from her neck.

Even then, she gnawed at it while casting anxious, almost paranoid glances at the sky.

The other two, Lucia and Seren, merely stared ahead, barely touching their food. They were looking at the scorpion spider. More precisely, on Ian, who was seated on the edge of the monster's wide, flattened body.

Slowly chewing, Ian held a blackened chitin piece in his left hand—a shard of the scorpion spider's shell. After swallowing the last bite, he dragged his dagger across the shard's inside, scraping out yellowish, faintly sticky meat.

He popped it into his mouth without hesitation.

"Oh, Lu Entre…" Lucia barely moved her lips as she sighed.

Though everyone else found it revolting, Ian was eating the flesh of that monstrous creature. And his method was as bold as it was unsettling. He had pulled a battle hammer from his pocket dimension and smashed open the opposite side of the spider's torso with brutal force, reducing it to shattered pieces.

He then carefully picked through fragments for manageable chunks, scraping meat from inside. And he wasn't the only one feasting.

Moro, too, gnawed at a large shell fragment Ian had tossed its way. Even though they looked nearly rock-solid, Moro kept his head down, gnawing steadily, without pause.

Ian's eyes, narrowed slightly as he chewed, suddenly shifted toward Lucia.

After swallowing, he casually tossed aside the empty shard and said. "What, not eating? I told you to fill up while you can."

"Well…" Lucia instinctively wet her lips, then nudged her chin toward him. "Is it… edible?"

"This?" Ian picked up a broken fragment of shell beside him and gave a small shrug. "It's as bad as it looks. Lucky it's not raw, at least."

Despite the creature's appearance, its insides were thoroughly cooked—charred even. When he shattered the body open, faint smoke wafted from the steaming flesh. And a foul stench, of course.

"Still… should you really be eating so much? You did say it might be poisonous." Lucia's voice was soft, cautious, clearly worried something might happen to him.

Ian tilted his head slightly, as if weighing her words, then casually pressed his dagger back into the flesh. "Doesn't seem poisonous. Just tastes like crap."

As he took another bite, Seren quietly extended her jerky piece toward Lucia. "Please, have mine too, Priestess."

Caught off guard, Lucia took it with a puzzled look, blinking up at her. "Then what about you, Sir Seren? Sir Ian said we should eat properly this time."

"I plan to. I'll eat as well." With those quiet words, Seren stood.

A faint puff of black sand scattered from her armor as she rose. She paused to steady her breath, then turned, a firm, resolute glint in her eye.

—Hmm? Quite the nerve, Halfwit.

Yog's murmur drifted faintly in Lucia's mind, and in that instant, she understood what Seren intended to do.

As she watched Seren take a step toward Ian, Lucia bit down hard on her lower lip. "Diana."

"Hm?"

"Eat these as well. Don't leave any." Lucia handed Diana all her jerky without a glance.

Diana blinked in surprise, then looked up as Lucia draped the cloak over her shoulders and stood. "What's this all of a sudden?"

"I'm going to try something else," Lucia replied shortly, walking away.

Diana turned and watched her go, brow knitting slowly as she realized what was happening. Both Lucia and Seren were heading toward Ian. Of course, she didn't follow.

"They're all out of their minds." Diana shook her head, muttering under her breath, then turned her eyes skyward again.

She stuffed another jerky piece in her mouth and tugged the cloak tighter—her clear declaration she wouldn't eat any of that thing.

"You'll regret it," Ian said flatly, watching Lucia and Seren approach.

Seren climbed beside him, gripping one of the creature's collapsed legs, and settled to his right. "I was taught that hardships are to be shared."

"Right. Let's share in the suffering," Lucia added, sitting on his left and eyeing the carapace's ruined half.

The two grabbed nearby scattered shell pieces and stared at the sticky mass of cooked meat clinging inside. Neither said a word as they both let out quiet sighs. Then, without a word, both drew their blades and began scraping the flesh.

Ian watched them from the corner of his eyes, chewing idly.

Why go through all this willingly?

"Ugh…"

The moment they put meat in their mouths, Lucia and Seren both reacted the same way—eyes squeezed shut, expressions twisting in reflexive disgust.

Honestly, Ian was impressed they hadn't spat it out. When he'd first tasted it, it had reminded him of spoiled oysters—or worse, raw sea pineapples gone bad.

"Hah… Phew…" Lucia swallowed first, exhaling through her nose and opening her eyes again.

Ian smirked faintly. "Horrible, isn't it?"

"Especially the texture… I honestly wish it had been poisonous." Yet even as she said it, she brought her knife back to the shell.

"Don't force it. You'll get sick."

"No… I think I'll get used to it if I keep eating."

Seren wasn't faring much better. Gripping Diana's small sword, she kept her head down, brow furrowed, but steadily brought another lump of flesh to her mouth.

And so, in grim silence, the battle called dinner

"Umm… Agent of the Saint." Seren broke the silence, having just cleaned out the last of several shell fragments.

"Speak," Ian replied as he chewed, his meal still far from over.

Seren continued, "I'd like to ask you a question."

"I'll answer if I feel like it."

"Once you've received the reward promised by His Highness, what do you plan to do afterward?"

"That's not something I can answer just yet." Ian turned to her, voice low and steady. "I didn't get a chance to explain earlier, but Yanar Tash has noticed my presence. That means anything could happen, and soon."

He gave the cracked shell in his hand a slight shake.

"So right now, this meal is preparation—for battle."

No matter how resilient the group might be, they couldn't fight on empty stomachs, especially not against demonkind like Yanar Tash. If they ran out of food wandering this desert, they'd need to know what they could survive on. That's why Ian had chosen to eat the disgusting thing—to find out.

"You're right. I spoke out of turn." Seren bowed her head, reaching for another piece.

She looked embarrassed, maybe ashamed. However, whatever the emotion, it was hard to believe it came from a corrupted knight with horns growing from her head.

"So, why did you ask him that?" Lucia, who had been glancing at her, asked. Her voice was casual, but there was a flicker of curiosity beneath it.

Seren opened her mouth, almost reflexively, but hesitated. Her eyes flicked toward Ian. Still chewing with mechanical motion, Ian tilted his head slightly.

"You don't need my permission to speak."

"Yes, sir." Seren set the shard on her thigh and met his gaze. "The truth is… I was going to ask if, assuming you have no other plans, you might consider staying by His Highness's side."

Ah. That kind of request. Should've guessed.

As Ian silently mulled it over, Lucia grimaced and swallowed the bite in her mouth before speaking up. "You mean, you want Sir Ian to serve His Highness?"

"If he were willing, nothing would make me happier…" Seren glanced briefly at Ian, then carefully added, "But I doubt the Agent of the Saint would do such a thing. Even just lending his strength would be more than enough."

Her gaze swept from Ian's face to Lucia's. "If the two of you were to help, I truly believe it might not be impossible to purge every last archdemon from this land."

"Well, I wouldn't say it's impossible," Ian replied, shrugging as he picked up another shard behind him.

Seren's eyes lit up. "Truly, Agent of the Saint?"

"Of course. As long as the compensation is fair."

"Of course!" Seren bowed her head again, barely able to hide the smile spreading across her face.

"Of course, it's up to His Highness the Crown Prince in the end. However, if it's to keep the two of you by his side, I doubt he'd hesitate to part with any treasure."

"He is the generous sort," Ian replied, glancing toward Lucia—who, after all, carried one of the Empire's national treasures beneath her breastplate.

Seren's smile deepened. Between her dark lips, sharp white teeth glinted faintly. "That's one more reason to make it back alive. If you two stay by our side, I truly believe things could change."

Ian gave no response. He simply brought another lukewarm shred of meat to his mouth, mind already drifting to whether he'd need to scavenge more shell fragments soon.

"I just, I don't think this ends with the balance being broken. That alone is significant, of course, but perhaps, before long…" Seren's gaze drifted upward, murmuring without concern.

The sky, once stagnant in rusty-red stillness, had begun to ripple slightly, flowing with uneasy motion.

"We may even find a way to break the demon realm itself."

"And after that?" Lucia asked bluntly.

Seren, still watching the sky, blinked and turned. "I know His Highness has no intention of forgiving the Order, Sir Seren."

As Seren looked back at her, Lucia's calm voice continued, "However, if that's the case, war is unavoidable. A new war, larger than anything we've seen—one that could sweep the entire continent, not just the Empire."

Seren didn't look away. Neither did Lucia, who added evenly, "Is that truly what His Highness wants? What you want?"

Diana, chewing as if nothing was happening, froze for a moment. A quiet laugh trickled through their minds.

—See? This is exactly why I can't help liking you, Lucy.

Curled around Ian's wrist, Yog had been silently writhing, relishing the tension.

Ian, meanwhile, gave no reaction. He merely kept chewing, slowly and steadily. He was curious too, of course—but he doubted the conversation would go on much longer.

As expected, Seren offered no answer. She only stared back at Lucia with those calm, cold-blue eyes.

After a moment, Lucia gave a slight nod. "I wasn't trying to pressure you into answering. If I made things uncomfortable, I'm sorry, Sir Seren."

"Not at all, Priestess." Turning her gaze aside, Seren hesitated, then added, "In fact, there is something I've been wanting to ask the Agent of the Saint as well."

Here we go again.

Ian turned his head to her, still chewing the spider meat with disinterest.

Seren watched him quietly, then finally asked, "Agent of the Saint… do you truly serve the Radiant Goddess?"

Lucia's head snapped toward Seren. Even one of Ian's eyebrows arched slightly—he hadn't expected that question.

"Of course, I'm well aware you are the true Great Warrior of the North," Seren added quickly, mistaking his reaction.

"But Karha isn't one of the Seven Goddesses. And… while I would never presume to insult the mighty one you serve, there have always been questions surrounding His faith. And most of all…"

She paused, then looked Ian directly in the eye and asked carefully, "You bear Chaos within you. Just like His Highness does. I know there must be a reason—but I can't imagine the Platinum Dragon is unaware. So perhaps… the two of you…"

Her voice gradually trailed off, likely because of the way Ian was simply watching her—still, unreadable. Not that he was offended. In fact, quite the opposite—he was quietly impressed.

So she's not just some clumsy Black Lion after all.

He'd assumed she was just another loyal footsoldier. But this showed an unexpected depth of insight. Even if she'd only reached her conclusion by working backward from what she knew, it was still notable.

Seren, lips twitching awkwardly under his stare, finally lowered her head. "Forgive me if I've crossed a line. I didn't mean to insult you—"

"That's not why I was watching you," Ian cut in.

Seren blinked.

He swallowed what was in his mouth and added, "If you want to know someone's truth, it's only right to reveal your own first, isn't it?"