Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead

The entire auction house was silent for a solid five seconds after Venus D. Romero dropped the bomb.

"The Hollows…have returned."

I swear I could hear my own heartbeat echoing in the room because of all the silence.

And then—boom.

Screams, gasps, whispers, and pure unfiltered chaos broke out like someone had set a damn fire to everyone's seats.

I leaned back against the glass railing of the private room, my arms folded, trying not to let my poker face crack. But deep down? Yeah, I was shook. My throat clenched, and my brain was trying to register if what he said was even real.

The Hollows.

A name I hear only heard from my Dad's mouth and come to know more about after coming into this kingdom...

There was nightmare folklore spread wide around the reguon. But this wasn't a dream, I realised.

And Venus wasn't the type to joke.

Not when the world was watching.

"Are we all gonna die now?" Dario muttered, his eyes wide as he finally pulled his legs off the couch and sat up straight.

Seraphina stirred from where she'd been curled up in the corner of the plush sofa, her soft, blue hair falling over one side of her face.

The girl rubbed her eyes slowly, like she hadn't just missed the most apocalyptic announcement ever.

"What did I miss?" she asked, yawning.

I didn't answer.

None of us did.

Aurelia was standing now, a deep frown covering her otherwise perfect face.

She held one hand near her charm pendant, eyes glowing faintly as if trying to sense if Venus had lied.

"He's not bluffing," she said. "His words… were coated with truth magic. No signs of deception."

"Damn." Dario let out a low whistle. "Old man's still got it."

He was trying to play it cool, but I noticed the way his fingers were tapping nervously on his sides as he walked beside me get a better view of the old man.

Even Erza, who normally looked like she'd start a fight just for fun, had gone unusually still. Her sharp eyes were fixed on the obsidian platform below.

For a moment, the energy in the auction hall felt like a bubble seconds from bursting, but thankfully, grandpa had done a good job steering it to another direction.

The next thing you know was a crowd of thousands going crazy as they called back home for funds and what not.

Then came Mr. Lapui.

I watched as the master of the auction house floated down with all the grace of a seasoned performer, clapping his hands and smiling like a stage actor who had to clean up the mess his lead just made.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" his voice rang out, magically amplified. "I understand your concern, truly. But let's not forget where we are! This is the Lapui Auction House! And today's auction is exactly what you need to prepare for what's coming."

Smooth bastard, I thought.

"You're free to decide if you want to stay or leave," he added. "But as a gesture of goodwill—and urgency—we will be releasing some of our most treasured possessions into today's auction."

That caught the people's attention.

All around us, nobles who had stood up to leave were slowly sitting back down.

Others were hurriedly calling their aides, whispering orders to gather funds.

Some even began sending out teleport requests, trying to recall their clan's reserve bidders. Whatever Lapui just said—it had worked.

I glanced around and noticed a few specific families getting unusually active.

The Vastras, the Southyorks, even the Almaris.

Everyone looked hyped and scared at the same time.

Lapui paused for dramatic effect and then smirked.

"And yes…we are talking about a Hollow Weapon. A relic made during the First Collapse. One of the rarest artifacts in existence."

The room dropped into silence again. Even Dario stopped breathing for a second.

"Holy shit," he said finally. "A Hollow Weapon? Those things are cursed in the legends, right?"

"More like…too powerful for their own good," I murmured, narrowing my eyes. "No one in the modern world even knows how to control one."

Lapui continued. "Due to the sudden change in today's program, the auction will resume in thirty minutes. We encourage all guests to take this time to gather their thoughts, prepare your funds, and get ready…because this might be the most important auction in history."

With that, he snapped his fingers, and dozens of magical circles lit up across the building as safety protocols reactivated.

A light cheer broke out among the crowd. Some people clapped, while others just breathed out in relief.

But me?

I couldn't help but feel this strange, twisting dread in my chest.

When the commotion died down and people returned to their seats, I finally sat again too, back against the couch. My eyes were fixed on the obsidian stage even though Lapui and Venus had left it.

"I don't like this," I muttered.

Seraphina, now fully awake, looked at me with a tilted head. "You think he's lying?"

"No," I said slowly. "I think he's telling the truth. And that's the part that bothers me."

Not mentioning them that Venus had subconsciously looked at me worryingly when he talked about the Hollows, I made a mental noteto ask the old man what he was secretly on about.

Erza scoffed softly. "Finally, something worth fighting."

Dario turned to her, eyebrows raised. "You're excited? You do realize this could mean global collapse, right?"

Erza grinned, cracking her knuckles. "Collapse or not, it means I get to fight monsters straight out of legend. That's a win."

Aurelia, now leaning on the armrest, smirked faintly. "You're impossible."

"And you're boring," Erza shot back playfully.

Their banter helped break the tension, even if only a little. But I kept my focus.

Something about this whole thing didn't sit right with me.

The timing.

The suddenness.

The need for this auction to happen today. It was like the world itself had been waiting for this moment to implode.

And the fact that everything that I knew and existed was just a stupidly half assed plotline made my fears even worse.

I let out a breath, running my hand through my hair.

That's when Damien finally spoke.

"Prepare yourself, Noah. The coincidence seems too much of a fluke. I just have this feeling that whatever is happening right now just had something to got to do with that bastard of a creator of this world.

If anything...you could say that:

The world you knew has already ended."

I clenched my jaw.

Yup.

This wasn't just an auction anymore, not if I took the authors antiques into play.

This was war.

And we were right in the front row.

***