[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-am-a-villain-so-what":3,"chapter-i-am-a-villain-so-what-i-am-a-villain-so-what-chapter-43":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","I Am a Villain, So What?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1506368,1956,"Chapter 43: A side quest","i-am-a-villain-so-what-chapter-43",43,"\u003Cp>Few weeks passed just like that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the dungeon assessment, the Academy atmosphere had shifted in several subtle ways.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My own classmates — those who used to flinch whenever I sat near them — no longer shrank back like I carried the plague. Their disgust faded into a wary, awkward neutrality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other–class cadets however... still looked at me like I was dirt they stepped on accidentally. I wasn’t expecting that to change anytime soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The protagonist party was a different case altogether.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kael, Celestia, Mariella, Elisha — their gazes no longer held that blatant contempt they once had. Now they looked at me with suspicion instead — a quiet, cautious kind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A \"I’m watching your every move\" type of look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly? I’d take suspicion over open disdain any day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But leaving all that trivial nonsense aside—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the biggest change was Alicia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just few weeks... she had cleared the entirety of basic Fire Magic theory and practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just few week.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was already comparable to an intermediate fire mage — her control sharp, her output stable, her flames compact and precise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People train for years to reach that stage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder the game had her as a commander later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then there’s Ariana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her talent bloomed beautifully — not in combat — but in alchemy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I suggested, she joined the Alchemy Department’s elective class... and within the first two sessions, she was already adjusting heat and reagent ratios intuitively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instinct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pure instinct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It shook the Alchemy professor so badly that woman tried to kidnap Ariana into becoming her personal disciple on the spot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, every evening Ariana would come to my place and brew in the dedicated alchemy room — and she could successfully produce basic healing potions now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was blooming... finally blooming... like she should’ve from the beginning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then — the diner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kitchen 21.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Business didn’t just boom — itexploded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even nobles had begun visiting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Academy cadets used the place as a meeting spot now. And the regular citizens? The word had spread to them too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We had lines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not ten customers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So long that I had knights glaring at me for blocking part of the street last night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Honestly... I was suffering... from success.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too fast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too intense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kitchen 21 was at the limit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So of course — I was here again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Merchant Association.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second floor office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at property listings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because now — after only one week — I needed a second branch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A bigger one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lily had already trained the newly hired cooks personally and I confirmed their skill levels through status windows — they were more than competent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’d had all new cooks sign mana contracts so I wouldn’t have to worry about recipe leakage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One week under Lily’s supervision and they were competent enough to run a kitchen without me breathing down their necks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So that brought me to now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After browsing through nearly two dozen listings — I bought a property.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A triple-story restaurant building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Formerly bankrupt — but the location was gold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Street–front.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good foot traffic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Close to the plaza where merchants and nobles frequently passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It could comfortably hold 150 to 200 customers once renovated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was scale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was big.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was expensive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was perfect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It cost me around 300 gold coins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I only had a little over 100 gold left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Which I promptly buried again — renovations, interior work, new furniture, kitchen expansion — and hiring more cooks and service workers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not to mention magic contracts for each kitchen staff... expensive, yes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But worth every copper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyone who attempted to leak recipes would literally forget the recipe the moment they tried to speak it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was practically better than trademark law.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once all the paperwork, contracting, and workforce assignments were handled...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was free again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I’d been waiting forthisday for a long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A dungeon popped up in the outskirts last night — temporary gate formation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A minor one to the public.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I knew exactly which one it was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A side-quest dungeon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the game, it had no major impact on the main story — just a quiet side event that most players skipped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But tome?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It held something I desperately needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A mana pool amplifier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A drop item.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Consumable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An item that permanently boosted one’s mana pool.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My mana stat is a miserable, pathetic 4.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile Alicia — my \"slave\" — sits at 80 mana like it’s nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was humiliating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>****\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I reached the outskirts — and the scene looked like a festival ground just missing fireworks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Merchants shouting prices for potions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Herbalists squatting on crates selling dried monster glands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hunters haggling with each other like fishmongers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And right at the center of all that noise — a shimmering portal the size of a house... swirling like a whirlpool of liquid starlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected—crowded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>New dungeon = new monsters, new unknown threats, but also new resources.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And resources meant money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dungeons weren’t just \"combat zones.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were ecosystems — unique herbs, minerals, mana–stone formations — things you couldn’t find anywhere else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some dungeons had plants that could cure diseases normally considered hopeless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some had rare monster carcasses that alchemists fought wars over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of that — the Empireforbadethe destruction of dungeon cores unless the dungeon was classified as lethal \u002F unrecoverable. Otherwise these gates were farmed — sustainably bled — like natural resource mines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Humans want money, power, opportunity — even if it kills them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Half the world swallowed by dungeonification still wasn’t enough of a lesson.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They kept treating dungeons like grocery stores.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They’ll learn soon enough...I thought, stepping through the throngs of mercenaries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment I stepped off the carriage and walked toward the crowd, dozens of eyes turned. The chatter dipped. It wasn’t subtle. Hunters here were blunt like that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A guy built like a mountain with a war–axe strapped to his back paused mid–bite of a skewer and squinted at me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A slender archer leaned against a tree narrowed his eyes — the string of his bow between his fingers as if by reflex.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even a bandaged assassin type with twin dirks briefly stopped sharpening his blades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their gazes zeroed on one thing:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>my uniform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not at my face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I smirked anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What? Never seen a handsome man before?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if it wasn’tmyoriginal body, the arrogance in this vessel’s veins made my shoulders naturally tilt back; chin up, posture crisp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then I reminded myself to drop the peacocking — I knew exactly why they glared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Academy uniform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Royal purple trimming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crest of the Imperial Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The symbol of the elite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hunters loathed that crest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yes — the setting was exactly like I remembered from the game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Academy cadets were noble brats with privilege and golden futures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hunters were working class, scraping by day by day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We were oil and water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In their minds, I wasn’t a person — I was a pampered aristocrat with a shiny artifact pistol come to play \"adventurer\" for a day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I heard someone mutter behind me — loud enough that it was clearly intended for me to hear:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Tch. Another academy peacock here to ’experience field work.’\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another voice snorted with derision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Bet he’ll piss himself the moment a kobold pops out.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I ignored all of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t come here to debate socio–economic class politics with people swinging axes in leather armor.\u003C\u002Fp>",1225,"2026-06-06T04:52:01.856Z",1,"novelbin.me","a818b0f0c55947ebf0f202ca16434a033574eaa559230e389a6e038a8e172b52","i-am-a-villain-so-what-chapter-44","i-am-a-villain-so-what-chapter-42",230,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-am-a-villain-so-what-cover.jpg"]