Stealing Heroines’ Affections Is My Job as the Villain

Hours went by, and the dungeon floors seemed endless. Continue your saga on empire

Yet somehow, the group couldn't shake the feeling they were close to the end.

Maybe it was wishful thinking, or maybe it was the fact that they hadn't seen a single monster or trap for what felt like ages. To most of them, this dungeon seemed like the dullest of all—so ancient that the traps had probably stopped working long ago, and most of the monsters had likely died out.

Luciana, Ghislaine, Rosemarie, and Esmeralda were all starting to look exhausted.

Seeing this, Vritra decided to use his [Plasma Magic] to wrap them in powerful energy spheres. These spheres would not only destroy anything that tried to approach but would also keep the women safe inside.

However, Sadim wasn't too thrilled about it at first.

He'd wanted to stay with Rosemarie himself and didn't like the idea of someone else protecting her. But after realizing he was coming across as uncooperative, he reluctantly agreed.

But, what really pushed him over the edge was what God Vritra had whispered to him just moments after suggesting the idea.

"You've been acting very much like a spoiled brat as of late, Sadim. That's not very hero-like. If you love Rosemarie, then shouldn't you be fine with the idea of her being safe even if you're not the one to protect her?"

That was exactly what he told Sadim, and with such a straight face that no one even believed he was mocking the young hero.

The only person who could tell this was mockery of the highest order was Sadim, who was on the receiving end of such a disguised insult.

But the salt on his wound wasn't enough.

Rosemarie also went on to say:

"Yeah, it's not like he's going to kidnap me or anything. The young lord is a nice person, and he's been really lenient with you throughout our exploration, you know? I don't want to be unsupportive, Sadim, but you're really acting a bit ungrateful, especially if you recall all he knows about us."

She was very serious when she told him this.

And while Sadim took some offense from her words, that didn't stop them from being the truth. He didn't act like Vritra was his superior in any sense. Rather, he acted like they were enemies, and while they weren't exactly enemies, there was just something about this young lord that made Sadim's blood boil with pure anger.

This ancient god knew almost every secret about him, and yet he barely knew a thing about Vritra aside from the fact that he was lying specifically to Rosemarie, pretending to be God Dionysus rather than God Vritra.

『What does he want with her? What does he want with me? I just can't tell!』

The more the hero thought on it, the deeper his anger became and the more his hand reached for his sword.

Sure, he couldn't defeat this man, but that didn't stop him from wanting to stab him in the heart.

『I feel so… so helpless!』

That realization left Sadim simmering with frustration.

Disregarding Sadim's frustration completely, Vritra simply encased all the delicate women in plasma spheres while he, Sadim, and Sophia kept walking.

━ ━ ━ ━

Soon, they arrived at a strange door, and the design looked exclusively grand. It was far grander than the entrance to all other floors they'd been to.

This one was, in fact, more special.

Vritra looked back and smiled at Sadim.

"Is this the final floor?"

Sadim's face went sour. "How exactly would I know?"

"Oh? I just had a feeling…"

"Well, I know nothing." Sadim looked away angrily.

From within her sphere, Luciana gently banged on the surface as she watched Vritra make contact with the door.

"Be careful, honey!"

Her face became very worried.

"We don't know what that door is, and it looks very strange. I don't have a good feeling about it either…"

She was greatly worried because, for almost an entire day that they'd been walking through every twist and turn in this dungeon, there were no longer any traps. While that would usually be a good thing, it also had Luciana believing that maybe these traps and monsters were being saved for something bigger and more dangerous.

『He's immortal, I know… but that doesn't stop me from worrying about him…』

Her brows furrowed softly.

Vritra smiled back at his wife.

"Don't worry, honey, I think I can handle th──!!"

Instant shock sparked on the young lord's face as the grand golden doors roared like a lion and glowed like a star. There was an overwhelming surge of magical energy coming from it, and very soon it swallowed both Vritra and Sadim in an instant.

Horror flashed in the eyes of every woman.

Esmeralda, Ghislaine, and the princess lunged forward as if to reach Vritra, but they were restricted by the spheres.

"GOD VRITRA!"

"YOUNG MASTEEEEERR!"

"HUSBAAAAAAAND!!"

They all screamed his name to the point that their throats could break. Tears rolled down their cheeks, and they felt a sharp pain in their hearts as if they'd just watched him disappear from them forever.

Sophia, who was at the far back, just stood there in shock, not knowing what to do. But this was becoming very common for her since Vritra put her in her place.

"What just ha… ppened…"

Her sword dropped from her limp hands, and she fell to her knees like a dead body.

"Are they…"

Slowly, the Imperial Knight's voice dried up.

Rosemarie was the only one who didn't show any reaction, but perhaps she was the one who felt the most pain. There was a sharp ache she felt in her heart, as if someone had just shot an arrow deep into her chest.

"Sadim… God Dion…"

Two people who wanted to make a difference.

Two people she felt something for.

These men were gone like dust in the wind.

One moment they were there, and the next… nothing.

"Please… don't go…"

Tears started sprinkling out of her eyes as she curled up like a ball and sniffled in pain.

"They're gone…"

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it in the slightest.

… TREMBLEEEEEEE!

The entire Gold Rock Dungeon started to collapse in on itself, and the weeping women saw themselves vanish one by one like golden pillars of light. In microseconds, they found themselves outside the dungeon, completely unharmed but still broken.

There was nothing worth reacting to.

If, at that moment, they'd died, they would've preferred it that way because nothing changed…

When they arrived at the starting point of the Gold Rock Dungeon they'd spent five days exploring, neither Sadim nor God Vritra was there waiting for them.

"They're not here…" Esmeralda said in shock.

Luciana's breath hitched. "Th-, Then what happened to them, for fuck's sake!"

"I wish… I wish I knew…" Esmeralda's head fell.

The energy spheres they were enclosed in vanished as though the person who conjured them was gone.

That was the last straw for Luciana.

"VRITRAAAAAAAAAA!"

Her screams were so deep and painful they could fuel the nightmares of a child.

She rushed to Sophia, snatched her sword from beside her, and then ran to the caved-in entrance of the dungeon, where she slammed the blade against the rocks repeatedly.

"VRITRA!

"VRITRA!

"PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!!"

Each time she struck the boulders, her hands cut and bled mercilessly, but she didn't feel the pain in the slightest.

"Honey, please answer me!"

She smashed the sword against the boulder again, and more blood sprayed from her delicate hands.

Ghislaine rose to her feet and marched over to her.

"Stop this, you dumb blonde!"

She was infuriated with how the princess was overreacting, as if she couldn't live without the young lord.

"He's going to be fine. He's immort──!!"

"SHUT UP!"

Luciana fired back at Ghislaine, pointing the sword at her with hands trembling purely with fear.

"Just because he's immortal or all-powerful doesn't mean I shouldn't worry about my husband! Maybe you don't care enough about him to worry… but just because he's a force to be feared doesn't mean he doesn't have weaknesses! It doesn't mean I shouldn't treat him like I would treat anyone who has my heart and deserves my worries! I love God Vritra, so I won't sit here and hope that he's fine simply because he's an ancient god! I'm better than that!"

Ghislaine couldn't say a word in response.

She felt ashamed that she wasn't the one saying this about the young lord.

"I also can't live without him… because the young master is the one who gave my life meaning…"

That was all she could mumble to herself.

The princess didn't even regard Ghislaine in that moment and focused entirely on slamming her sword against the boulders blocking the entrance to the dungeon.

… clang! CLANG! CLANG!!

Each strike caused her hands to bleed more.

Esmeralda saw this, and tears streamed down her pallid cheeks, but she knew there was no stopping the princess whenever she got like this. All she could do was hope for the best.

『Please, God Vritra, be safe…』

She clasped her hands together and prayed.

Meanwhile, Rosemarie watched in silence.

… thump! THUMP!

Went the sound of her heart.

『God Dionysus… is Vritra… as in the same Fiendcelestial that almost destroyed the Sacred Kingdom ages ago…』

Her body started to vibrate heavily with fear.

[Ding! The heroine's affection for the host has dropped by a massive 300 points!]

━ ━ ━ ━

Meanwhile…

Vritra yawned tiredly as he sat relaxed on a massive golden throne, casually eating grapes as he stared at the pale corpse of Sadim resting in an ancient golden coffin.

"Ah, jeez. These women sometimes…"

His eyes shifted to the spatial rift where he watched his women cry and panic.

"Luciana really needs to take a chill pill."

He sighed as he popped another grape into his mouth.

Looking around the grand throne room at the dead bottom of the Gold Rock Dungeon, only one thought came to the young lord's mind:

『Hm, I wonder if this place has some AC.』