Chapter 15 – My New Best Friend is a Villain

That new guy was a walking, talking plot-killer.

His name was Siegfried, and he radiated so much Main Character Energy it was physically painful to watch. He was a flawless hero, the kind of guy who could make a puppy smile just by walking past. He would ruin everything. My perfect, carefully constructed revenge arc was circling the drain. I had to isolate my party from his toxic goodness.

Damn it all to hell.

“Something wrong?”

Reina’s voice broke through my frantic scheming. Her arms were still wrapped around me in a princess carry. My feet dangled a good foot off the ground. A small crowd of townsfolk was still staring.

I felt my face heat up.

This was so cringe. Even for someone actively trying to look weak and pathetic, this was a whole new level of embarrassing. She finally set me down on the cobblestones. My legs felt like jelly.

“No…”

I brushed dust off my tunic, trying to regain some shred of dignity. The words slipped out before I could stop them.

“I hated that little hero.”

Mayor Pedro stepped forward, his oily smile back in place. It was the best thing I had seen all day.

“Siegfried is no little hero.”

He adjusted the gaudy sash stretched across his belly.

“Before your arrival, he was the sole protector of this city. He took care of us.”

The mayor gave me that perfectly smug, Machiavellian smile again. The one that screamed ‘I am 100% going to betray you for a handful of gold coins.’ This guy. This absolute gem of a tutorial villain. He made me so unbelievably happy. I could feel the betrayal flag practically raising itself.

This was my chance to pivot.

My plan to get the party to distrust the corrupt mayor was a total bust. They were too noble for their own good. But maybe I could use Pedro. Maybe I could make him an accomplice. If I latched onto him, the party would see his inevitable betrayal as a betrayal against me too.

It was a risky, high-level play.

“Pedro.”

My voice was firm. I looked him right in his beady little eyes. Kenji and Reina both tensed beside me.

“I trust you.”

Pedro’s smile faltered for a half-second. A flicker of genuine confusion crossed his face before the mask was back in place.

“Hmm?”

“No matter what happens, I’ll be on your side.”

I gave him my most earnest, idiotic look. It was the kind of blind loyalty that just begged to be stabbed in the back.

“I’ll be here.”

The mayor took a slight step back. He rubbed the back of his thick neck, his greasy hair shifting. His gaze darted to Kenji, then to Reina, as if looking for a translator.

“T-Thanks.”

He managed to stammer it out, looking deeply uncomfortable. It was perfect. He was already feeling the pressure of my misplaced faith.

Reina’s hand landed on my shoulder. Her grip was surprisingly tight, a silent warning aimed at the mayor. Her eyes were sweet, but the vibe she was sending his way was pure ice. She was staking her claim.

Kenji, meanwhile, looked at me with shining eyes. He probably thought I was performing some 5D chess move of diplomacy, winning over a corrupt official with pure kindness. What an idiot. My best friend was a total idiot.

He then looked at my still-wobbly legs and then at his own. A question finally dawned on his hero-addled brain.

“Wait, how did you guys recover so quickly?”

Kenji pointed from me to Reina.

“You two were exhausted just a minute ago. That goblin fight took a lot out of us.”

Daisuke grunted in agreement.

Ah, the miracle fruit. I had almost forgotten. This was another opportunity. I could use this to further cement Pedro’s role as the villain.

I reached into my worn leather pouch.

My fingers closed around the strange, plum-colored fruit. It was still faintly warm to the touch. I pulled it out for everyone to see.

“It was this.”

I held it up.

“I found it in the forest. I thought it might be poisonous.”

My internal script was writing itself. I would offer this priceless, one-of-a-kind healing artifact to the corrupt mayor. His greed would take over. He’d snatch it away for himself, revealing his true colors to the party.

Checkmate.

“I was trying to… test it. On myself. So you guys wouldn’t get hurt.”

The lie felt smooth and practiced. I lowered my eyes, projecting maximum humility. Reina’s grip on my shoulder tightened in what felt like a surge of protective emotion.

“It turns out, it’s some kind of super-potion. One bite and I felt totally fine. Better, even.”

I turned my full attention back to the mayor, holding the fruit out to him.

“Mayor Pedro, as a sign of our new friendship, please take this.”

This was the moment of truth. He would get a greedy glint in his eye. He would snatch it from my hand. The party would see.

“It could be vital for the town’s defense.”

Pedro stared at the fruit. His mouth hung open slightly. He looked from the fruit to my face and back again. He looked genuinely stunned.

“For… for the town?”

He took the fruit, but his touch was weirdly gentle. He held it in his palm like it was a sacred relic, not a pile of cash. This wasn’t going according to plan. He was supposed to look greedy, not reverent.

“I can’t possibly accept this. It’s too valuable. You heroes should keep it.”

He tried to hand it back.

I refused to take it.

“No. A leader needs to be well-equipped to protect his people. I insist.”

I pushed his hand, and the fruit, back toward his chest. This was a battle of wills. He had to accept it. His corruption depended on it.

A long, awkward silence stretched between us.

Finally, with a heavy sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the entire world, he closed his fingers around the fruit. He tucked it safely inside his sash. His expression was completely unreadable.

He nodded once, a sharp, sudden gesture.

“Thank you, Ryuuji. Your… generosity will not be forgotten.”

He turned and shuffled away toward a large, official-looking building, leaving me standing in the square.

The button was pushed. The trap was set. Now, I just had to wait for it to spring.

A sudden, shimmering text box materialized in my vision. It glowed with the same divine, golden light as the slacker goddess’s waiting room.

Finally.

My hands trembled.

I lowered the small, ornate spyglass from my eye, my knuckles white where I gripped the cold brass. Down in the square, the boy, Ryuuji, stood surrounded by his followers. But he wasn’t looking at them. I knew, somehow, he was looking right at me. He saw right through the polished armor, the years of practiced smiles, and the flawless reputation I had built piece by painful piece. He saw the fraud underneath.

He’s a monster. A true hero. And a real hero can always smell a fake.

I watched him openly declare his trust in that greasy, pathetic excuse for a mayor. It wasn’t foolishness. It was a gambit. A political masterstroke so brilliant and terrifying I could barely follow it. He was publicly siding with the most obviously corrupt man in town. He was doing it to test me. He wanted to see if I, Siegfried the Noble, would challenge the mayor and expose his corruption. He was forcing me to prove my own heroic credentials.

My blood ran cold.

Then, he pulled it from his pouch. A single, plum-colored fruit that seemed to pulse with a faint, sacred energy.

No. It couldn’t be.

The legends called it the Aethelgard Fruit, an SSS-rank artifact rumored to grant a century of life. The reason I came to this forgotten town. And he held it in his hand as if it were a common apple.

Then he just… gave it away. To the mayor.

That wasn’t a gift. It wasn’t an act of trust. It was a message. A horrifying, soul-crushing message aimed directly at me. He wasn’t just a hero; he was a saint with the cunning of a demon. He was showing me that he possessed an artifact of unimaginable power, and he thought so little of it he could use it as a political pawn. He was telling me, without a single word, ‘I have this power, and it is nothing to me. Now, what do you have, fake hero?’

It was a warning.

I scrambled backward from the edge of the roof, my heart hammering against my ribs. My perfect facade had been shattered. He had marked me as a sinner, and it was only a matter of time before he decided to pass judgment.