Villain's Odyssey: Enslaving heroines, Conquering Villainesses
Chapter 70: The Problem

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: The Problem

"Here is your card. Do well to keep it safe," said the official at the admin office, sliding the identification card across the polished desk with practiced efficiency.

I nodded and took the card from him, not forgetting to offer a polite "Thank you" as courtesy demanded. Simple enough transaction, really. What happened next, however, was becoming an all-too-familiar routine.

The moment I walked out of the admin building, I could feel it starting again. Eyes. Lots of them. The female workers weren’t even trying to be subtle about their staring anymore, and—heaven help me—even some of the male workers were giving me looks that could only be described as deeply unsettling. One poor fellow nearly walked into a pillar while craning his neck to follow my progress down the hallway.

Sigh.

This was becoming a serious problem.

It was getting worse by the moment, and at this point, I had to admit Kelly was right. This level of charm wasn’t normal, no matter how you looked at it, and it seemed to be intensifying by the day. I could practically feel myself becoming some sort of walking incubus at this rate.

The whole thing had started from the moment I woke up in Anna’s mansion. I’d been handsome before, sure—I wasn’t delusional about that. But not this handsome. At this point, could I even be considered merely ’handsome’? Perhaps ’beautiful’ would be more appropriate, though the thought made me want to crawl under a rock.

From that first day when I’d gazed at my reflection in Anna’s ornate mirror, my looks had just kept intensifying. I was literally becoming more attractive by the second, like some sort of bizarre magical puberty gone horribly right.

"Excuse me," I said to a young lady who had been openly gawking at me. The moment she realized I was approaching, she suddenly discovered that the ceiling held fascinating architectural details.

"Y-yes?" she replied, clearly surprised that I was actually talking to her.

"Could I get a face mask?" I asked, trying to keep my voice casual and non-threatening.

She nodded so vigorously I worried she might give herself whiplash, then frantically opened her drawer and began rummaging through her belongings like she was searching for buried treasure. Finally, she emerged victorious with what looked like a surgical mask. It wasn’t exactly fashionable, but it would do for now.

"Um, how much?" I asked, since it was clearly new and unused.

"N-no, you can keep it! Just take it as a gift," she said, practically pushing the mask toward me.

I gave her what I hoped was a grateful but strained smile, then reached into my pocket and retrieved some chocolate candy I’d gotten from Tracy earlier. Taking this for free would make her feel like I owed her some sort of favor—a favor she might one day try to collect if ’fate’ conveniently brought us together again. I found being indebted to someone inconvenient, not only because I wouldn’t fulfill their wishes if they didn’t benefit me, but because I wanted to avoid complicated situations. After all, half-hearted actions always created unpredictable variables.

"It doesn’t feel right to just take it. How about this—a trade?" I said, handing her the snack.

She reached out and accepted it, looking pleasantly bewildered. "Thanks?"

"No, thank you," I said, removing the mask from its transparent wrapper and putting it on with perhaps more relief than was dignified.

Being this good-looking was already becoming a serious hindrance. I would grab attention wherever I went, like some sort of walking lighthouse. I needed to find some sort of spell that would tone down my appearance until I understood what was really going on here. I’d been good-looking yesterday, but it seemed to have doubled overnight.

It might really be some sort of passive ability. If so, I had to get a handle on it quickly and stop it before it was too late—before I became too beautiful to function in normal society.

I walked out of the admin block, adjusting the mask and trying to look as unremarkable as possible. It had been well over a week since the incident, and I’d been kept in the infirmary so long it had become genuinely annoying. I’d been healed up on the first day, but they wouldn’t let me leave.

It wasn’t like this was abnormal, though. Even when I was Azalea, I would usually end up getting injured more often than I’d hoped and be kept in the infirmary until they deemed me fit to leave, even when I was already healed up on the very first day. I suspected it was some sort of protocol, or perhaps the healing had drawbacks we weren’t aware of.

Anyway, it was now high noon, and classes were probably still in session. There would likely be club activities today, but I had yet to join any clubs. Well, I supposed I could use this opportunity to start something more productive. I already had all the required ingredients for the first potion, so there was no point in waiting unnecessarily. Procrastination would just be an added disadvantage.

I walked toward the direction of the dorms, my mind already shifting to the task ahead.

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Arriving at the door, I checked my pocket and retrieved the key I’d gotten from Jenny that day. I slotted it in, twisted the knob, and found myself stepping into what looked like an entirely different room.

"Oh?" I muttered, taking in the massive change.

The room had been transformed with diverse shades of blue and pink, applied in such a way that it looked like stepping between realms. The dining area was now painted a crisp white, and everything on my side of the room actually looked... normal. Livable, even.

"She actually did it, huh?" I said, somewhat surprised. I’d half expected she wasn’t really going to take my threat to heart. Jenny had always been stubborn about these things.

I stood there for a moment, taking it all in, when my gaze fell on something sitting on the table beside my bed.

"Hmm?" I walked toward it, but the moment I came closer, I frowned.

"A cauldron?" I wondered aloud, staring at the ornate copper vessel. "Who...?"

But then I remembered a conversation I’d once had with Anna in the Legacy world, back when things had been simpler.

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"As an alchemist, what would be the best gift you could ever receive?" she had asked once, just to pass time while we sat outside the forest during one of our rare peaceful moments.

"A lab?" I’d replied, which earned me a thoroughly unimpressed look.

"What? You asked," I’d responded, poking at the dwindling campfire with a stick.

"How about something more... doable," she’d suggested with that particular tone that meant she thought I was being deliberately obtuse.

"Well... a cauldron?"

"Really? Those ancient pots?" she’d said, wrinkling her nose.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Well, as an alchemist, the greatest push we have is curiosity."

"So you’re curious about how it worked back then?" she’d asked, settling back against a fallen log.

"Yeah, who knows? There could be some use for those old pots," I’d replied, not really thinking much of it at the time.

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Now, staring at the cauldron, I felt a strange mix of nostalgia and confusion.

I’d intended to use a normal pot for my experiments, but this was certainly more convenient. The question was: "Why did she buy it?" That definitely hadn’t been within my calculations.