Villain's Odyssey: Enslaving heroines, Conquering Villainesses
Chapter 42: The Restaurant Rendezvous

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: The Restaurant Rendezvous

"Damn it, Tracy, where have you been?" Castor’s voice carried across the restaurant as Tracy stepped into the building and approached a table with ten seats, filled with familiar faces.

Leon sat beside an empty seat—presumably reserved for her—his expression one of barely contained irritation. He glanced at her once, scoffed, then pointedly looked away.

This jealous idiot almost spoiled my chances with Asher with his stupid tantrum, Tracy thought, maintaining her normal smile while sinister plots swirled in her head. I’ll make sure he learns his lesson.

Of course, she was well aware that out of her five team members, both Leon and Andrew were hopelessly crushing on her. But that wasn’t much of a surprise—she knew exactly how effective her looks and charisma were. She could always tell when someone was interested: the looks, the constant glances, the telling actions. She knew everyone who was fawning over her.

However, she’d never felt... interested in any of them. As much as she wanted a relationship—to have a boyfriend like most of her friends—she wasn’t that desperate. After all, her mother’s words had always stuck with her: "It takes just a glance to know the right one." She’d never really understood that until today.

Now she finally did.

"I was busy," she replied to Castor, who was clearly annoyed by her tardiness and lackadaisical attitude. Well, it wasn’t really new—she was always this way. But her annoying personality aside, she was quite competent. Her blessing and spellcasting abilities were no joke. She was an elite, after all.

"Fine," Castor said curtly. He didn’t really care about her excuse. All he had on his mind was tomorrow’s test—the one that would be used to reshuffle team members who had been together since first year. This was a crucial moment. If he performed too badly, he’d end up with incompetent teammates.

The only reason he’d maintained his elite ranking was because of his competent members. Well, Azalea and Leon aside, that is. Actually, Leon was far better than Azalea when it came to combat prowess. Hell, Azalea didn’t even know how to use ether! His only saving grace had been his exceptional intelligence, something Castor had utilized quite well while the young man was still a group member—before everything went to hell.

It was Azalea’s intelligence, coupled with their exceptional team coordination, that had kept Azalea as well as the others in the team in the elite rankings since first year. In fact, everyone here was an elite, but that would most likely change after the reshuffle if he ended up with fools for teammates.

"Let’s begin," Castor said, looking toward a girl with ash-colored hair and eyes. She wore a knowing smile, while her team members sat quietly, just watching. They all seemed more coordinated than his team, which was somehow unnerving.

"Why in such a hurry?" the ash-haired girl asked smoothly. "Why don’t we order something first?" She gestured toward a waiter, who immediately walked forward. Her team members began ordering with casual confidence—they all seemed too... calm. It was deeply unsettling.

Castor sighed internally. "Sure," he nodded. But before he could give his team permission to order, he found Tracy already munching on something.

"When?" he asked, voicing the same question on Andrew’s mind.

"What?" Tracy looked at them with a raised eyebrow, as if she hadn’t just completely disregarded her leader’s authority.

This... sigh. Why was he even getting annoyed? This was typical Tracy behavior.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that?" Tracy continued innocently. "Look, I’m not the only one." She pointed toward their group’s new replacement—a girl with hazy brown hair and light green eyes.

"Eh?" The girl’s cheeks were puffed up with food, and she looked like a deer caught in headlights. Realizing what had happened, she glared at Tracy. "Traitor!" she mumbled through her mouthful. She was the one who had given Tracy the ’goods,’ but the girl just threw her under the bus like that?!

"Mm," Tracy shrugged and continued eating without a care in the world.

The other guys just went ahead and ordered for themselves. After all, they’d all missed dinner at the cafeteria while heading here, so it was perfectly reasonable.

"Now," the ash-haired girl said as the waiter went to bring their ordered food. "Let’s begin the transaction." From her spatial ring, an orb appeared with a soft shimmer. In response, Andrew provided a huge briefcase after receiving an approving nod from Castor.

Meanwhile, across the city...

"Here?" Asher asked, staring at the signboard of the modest-looking building. It wasn’t the extravagant place one would expect a noble lady to frequent—it was average at best. But it made sense, considering they’d gone pretty deep into Elflame, into the less developed areas.

"Yes, it is," Natalia said with a sagely nod. "Don’t judge it just yet. They serve really great food. My friend and I always come here." She looked particularly pleased with herself as she delivered what she clearly considered an enlightenment bomb: "Don’t judge a book by its cover."

"Okay," Asher replied simply. What else could he do? Besides, she was the one paying, so...

He pushed her wheelchair toward the entrance, parting the beaded curtain that served as a door. The threads clinked softly as they passed through, revealing the interior of a charming wooden building.

The restaurant was two stories, with the upper floor designed like the academy cafeteria, but everything was crafted from polished wood—floors, ceiling, and even the railings of the upper level. Even the chandelier was modest, made of intricately slated wood pieces that filtered warm light throughout the space.

Asher looked around, taking in the atmosphere. The whole place was packed, mostly with locals drinking beer and sharing hearty meals. Notably, there wasn’t a single student in sight—which probably explained why Natalia chose this spot.

"Let’s head up," she suggested, and he nodded.

They climbed the stairs to a table she pointed out with familiarity. "We always sit there," she explained.

Asher pushed aside a chair as they approached the table, then settled into the seat across from her. The wooden chair creaked slightly but felt sturdy and comfortable.

"So..." he began.

"Let’s eat," she smiled warmly, already seeming more relaxed in this cozy environment.

It was a bit unusual—she didn’t really seem to mind spending money on someone she’d just met. But then again, she was pretty loaded.