Reborn As The Minor Villain In A Romance Fantasy Novel - Chapter 237

Chapter 237: Tour Discussion
“Oi fatso! You smell like cheese!”

Northcrest City’s late afternoon sun cast a warm glow over the sidewalks as dozens of high schoolers made their way home.

Shops were closing, THE bikes rattled across crosswalks, and the calm of the city painted a completely normal day.

Except for one spot.

A group of tall boys who looked like athletes that wore expensive shoes had surrounded a shorter, rounder boy who clutched his backpack like a lifeline.

Their shadows swallowed him whole.

“Your ass looks stinky!” another bully jeered, leaning in with exaggerated disgust. “Did you even wash it? Dead serious, man… why would Beatrice even say hi to you?”

The smaller boy tightened his grip on the straps of his bag, staring at his shoes. His cheeks were red and his breath was shaky.

‘Can’t the world just end already…?’ he thought miserably.

He didn’t expect an answer from the universe.

But the universe gave him one.

WHOOOOOM…

A strange sound rolled across the skies.

It wasn’t thunder neither was it the sound of a plane or jet… It was something else.

The bullies paused. Then, like the rest of the street, they slowly tilted their heads upward.

A streak of blazing red tore across the heavens.

“Is that… an asteroid?” one girl whispered, dropping her iced drink.

It wasn’t just an asteroid.

It was massive, trailing a burning tail that split the clouds open like tissue paper.

People screamed, cars stopped and phones were aimed upward. The entire city trembled with the realization… It wasn’t heading toward Northcrest but that didn’t matter.

Fear rippled through the population like static.

The asteroid was dropping toward the old ruins… the same ruins Lucius and his squad had just cleared. Even from the city, the burning boulder looked like a second sun.

The fat boy’s backpack fell open as he watched the sky with wide, terrified eyes.

‘…Okay maybe I didn’t mean it literally.’

⸻

Far above, clinging to the molten edge of the asteroid, was Jura D’arr… The Dragon King and a proud fool.

Right now, he was very quickly learning what actual fear felt like.

He flapped his wings desperately, but the flames had eaten through their membrane.

The bone beneath was exposed, charred, and peeling into ash.

His claws had already burned to the knuckle, regrown through his immortality, and then burned away again. His chest had peeled open entirely, leaving exposed ribs and a beating heart that somehow continued its rhythm.

Every scale he had once boasted about… gone.

Every roar he had ever released in pride… reduced to a raspy wheeze.

And the heat… The heat was unbearable.

His dragon brain, usually filled with arrogance was now filled only with regret.

‘Why… why did I fight that human…?!’

The asteroid accelerated, gravity clawing at it greedily. His bones cracked, disintegrated, reformed, and cracked again. Even immortality had limits: pain.

The instant before the burning boulder struck the Earth, Jura closed his eyes.

‘I’m… sorry, Valerica. Jurea…’

BOOM!!

Except it never hit him.

Lucius grabbed his spine… literally grabbed him and yanked him off the asteroid with a spatial pull that warped space into a corkscrew of force.

Jura fell backward in a heap of glowing bone and flickering organs, rolling helplessly across scorched earth as Lucius hovered above, watching the asteroid continue its deadly descent.

Then…

KA-THOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The impact was biblical.

A white explosion expanded outward like the birth of a star, swallowing clouds, space, and sound itself.

The ground collapsed into a colossal crater as the entire ruin atomized, fire leapt up in pillars and shockwaves tore through the land for miles.

From every major country across the world… every mage tower, guild outpost, satellite array, and civilian neighborhood… the mushroom-like flare could be seen.

⸻

High above the trembling crater, two shadows streaked through the air… both were crimson.

Their wings were majestic, wide enough to cast shadows over the city below.

Minerva D’arr flew ahead, anxiety radiating from her in waves. Her mother, Valerica D’arr, soared behind her with a mix of dread and pure determination.

“Do you think… Papa will be alive?” Minerva asked, voice cracking despite trying to maintain draconic composure.

Valerica’s wings extended fully and her jaw tightened.

“I hope,” she said softly. “I warned him not to fight that young man. I begged him. We have lived among humans long enough to learn diplomacy. He should have spoken with Lucius, not attacked him.”

Minerva frowned. “He never listens to reason.”

“Your father’s pride will be his undoing.” Valerica muttered. “But… he should be okay.”

She didn’t believe the words she uttered…

They dove through smoke, through dust, through the rising heat currents until the crater fully revealed itself…

A gargantuan bowl carved into the land, stretching so far that the horizon curved around it.

The old ruins were gone.

Nothing remained but glowing stone, rivers of molten debris, and chasms of crystallized sand.

Minerva’s heart tightened painfully.

Then… She sensed him.

Lucius’ mana pulsed like a calm star.

Minerva shot forward instantly and Valerica followed more cautiously.

They found him sitting on a smooth chunk of gray asteroid rock with his legs crossed and his expression completely blank.

His shirt was torn… half-burned revealing his scarless chest. His trousers were badly singed. His hair was windswept. And violet energy still flickered around his eyes like embers.

He looked like a king on a ruined throne.

“Lu… Lucius,” Minerva whispered as she landed before him. “Where is my father?”

She couldn’t sense Jura’s mana.

Which meant… Her knees hit the ground before she realized it.

Tears fell silently, tracing down her cheeks. Even if she had complicated feelings for that stubborn, overbearing dragon… he was still her father.

Lucius didn’t answer.

He only shifted his gaze past her.

Minerva turned.

Her breath hitched.

Behind her… was her father.

Or what was left of him.

Human-shaped, but only barely. His bones were completely visible, his skull half-formed and one eye socket was empty.

His heart was exposed through his ribs, pumping slowly like a dim ember. His wings were tattered cartilage.

And yet… He coughed.

A wet, dry, rattled cough.

“P… Papa!!” Minerva cried, skidding across the ash-filled ground to reach him.

She placed his head, the bald half-regenerated head onto her lap and held him tightly. “You’re very senile… old bastard…”

She tried to sound angry but it came out broken.

Valerica landed beside them, her eyes widening in horror before softening with relief.

Her husband… her idiotic, reckless, pride-poisoned husband was still alive.

She bowed her head to Lucius.

“I apologize for my husband’s actions and any insults he may have spoken,” Valerica said, her voice steady but respectful. “Thank you for not rendering me a widow.”

Lucius shrugged lightly.

He was already looking away.

Valerica turned to check Jura again… and then felt a sudden disturbance.

She spun back… and Lucius was gone.

…

Back in the Council meeting room, chaos reigned.

Phones rang nonstop and every screen displayed seismic readings off the charts.

“My god… how large was the crater?!”

“Why is the mana density spiking… what is happening!?”

“Find Lucius von Hohenberg! We need him to—”

THUUUM.

Lucius appeared in the middle of the room.

A few members screamed.

He said nothing.

He walked forward, grabbed a councilman by the collar, and kicked him off his chair, sending him flying into the wall before casually sitting on the meeting table itself.

He leaned back slightly.

His eyes glowed violet.

“Start,” Lucius said. “Speaking.”

…

The Himmelsturm head swallowed hard.

Lucius’ eyes were glowing… truly glowing with deep violet with ripples of light orbiting around the pupils like miniature gravitational distortions.

It was the exact phenomenon the patriarch remembered from his late-night research sessions on the so-called “Dimension Eyes.”

But right now, Lucius’ gaze felt like two cosmic spotlights dissecting their souls.

“What do you mean?” one of the Council heads asked, his voice trembling despite his attempt to sound firm.

Lucius turned his eyes onto the man, and the temperature of the room seemed to plummet.

“What was all this?” Lucius asked. “Why was I put against an immortal dragon? Were you trying to test me?”

No one answered immediately.

Because that was the correct assumption.

Several of the heads looked down at their notes; others looked anywhere except at Lucius.

The Himmelsturm patriarch clenched his jaw. None of them were stupid enough to admit it, but Lucius wasn’t stupid either.

The Council had been handling him with silk gloves for weeks… boosting him, protecting him, watching him yet earlier today they had tossed him into a fight with Jura D’arr, an immortal Dragon King who possessed a powerful technique.

It wouldn’t add up.

Unless…

Unless they wanted to see what Lucius would do when pushed to his limit. How far he could go. Whether he truly was the anomaly they hoped he was.

Lucius’ voice cut the silence.

“So… am I going to prison?”

Several council members choked on air.

He wasn’t joking. He genuinely sounded like he wanted to know the procedure.

Lucius tapped the edge of the table with one finger.

“Look, I did technically bring something from outside space into the country. And not something small. An asteroid.” He shrugged. “So if you’re going to lock me up or whatever, I’d at least like to know the conditions. I’m assuming it’s house arrest? Maybe a resort arrest? Just let me pick the house.”

The President finally cleared his throat.

“Absolutely not.”

Everyone turned to him.

“You were facing an Immortal Dragon,” the President continued, his voice stabilizing as he tried to regain authority. “A dragon capable of the technique known as Shatter. That attack can erase matter from existence… organisms, mana, structures, even air itself. It is, in fact, quite similar to your spatial compression technique, except Shatter reduces everything to shards.”

Lucius lifted one brow. “Sounds inconvenient.”

“We calculated,” the President continued, “that Jura D’arr can only use that ability once per hour. But even still… your response was… reasonable.”

“Reasonable,” Lucius repeated slowly. “I summoned an asteroid.”

“Yes,” the President said, and somehow sounded like he was defending a school project. “And despite how fantastical that sounds, it was a very effective defensive measure, considering the threat level.”

Lucius stared at him then leaned back.

“Right. Just as I thought.”

The tension in the room loosened for exactly one second.

Because Lucius yawned.

A long, lazy yawn as he stretched both arms overhead, letting the bright purple fade from his eyes until they returned to their usual, deceptively calm purple.

The fury, the pressure… everything dropped instantly like he’d flicked off a switch.

He didn’t even look angry anymore.

He looked sleepy.

After expending that much space manipulation, after fighting in orbit, after summoning a celestial object, Lucius was simply… tired.

His mind had already drifted to selfish comfort.

‘I’m going to teleport home after this and sleep on someone’s lap until tomorrow,’ he thought as he rubbed his neck. ‘Actually… maybe two days.’

Then he blinked at the Council.

“Oh right. Since you’ve inconvenienced me,” he said casually, “I’d like for you to pay for a whole week’s trip out of the country.”

The faces of the Council members collectively fell.

All diplomatic composure vanished.

All of them, without exception, looked like parents who just realized the child they spoiled now wanted a brand-new toy that cost more than their yearly salary.

They had discussed this behind the scenes and even though they were obliged to do it, they hated it nonetheless.

The idea of Lucius… Lucius leaving the country, potentially entering regions with different mana laws, different political climates, different enemies…

It was terrifying.

“What country?” the President forced out. His voice cracked.

Lucius fished out his phone from the pocket of his burned trousers. He hadn’t bothered repairing them yet.

“I’ll be going to Avalon,” Lucius replied. “New Avalon City specifically.”

The President twitched.

Avalon was a neutral zone… one of the safest but also one of the most politically sensitive nations in the entire world.

If Lucius caused trouble there… if he fought someone, insulted someone, destroyed something, Aurelia would be held accountable. That was beside the fact that they would try their hardest to recruit him.

The President inhaled deeply.

“New Avalon City… alright,” he said with the weary acceptance of a man who had just lost a battle. “We will arrange a personal guide for you during your stay the—”

“No worries,” Lucius interrupted.

He lifted his phone and turned the screen toward the Council.

“I already got an S-rank to tour me.”

[Author’s Note]

Heh, Happy new year!