Became the Villainess’s Guardian

It has been over twenty years since I fell into this modern fantasy world.

I have been waiting for this very moment.

“Is that the child?”

“Yes, I don’t know why you’re looking for her, but she’s the only one who matches the characteristics you mentioned.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

With those words, the orphanage director tactfully excused himself.
My gaze was fixed on the child playing over there.

In my arms, I had a loaded gun.
I’m not the kind of person who enjoys harming children in broad daylight, but it was just in case.

After taking a deep breath, I took steps toward that girl.

One who sells out their country is called a traitor.
Then what do you call a merchant who sells out humanity, which is not for sale?

“Are you Freugne?”

I’m not quite sure, but it seems she calls me like this.

“Mister?”

Although she appeared to be an utterly innocent girl, I couldn’t let my guard down.
For now, she’s just an orphan living in an orphanage, but I knew what this girl would eventually become.

‘The beginning of humanity’s destruction.’
‘The Black Veil who would easily sell out humanity to the Demon King.’

These were by no means light descriptions.

“I wanted to have a little chat. Would that be okay?”

“Yes!”

To be honest, if she was going to burn with hatred towards humanity and push the kingdom into ruin, even if she didn’t need to taste blood at every meal to get a good night’s sleep, she must have shown some warning signs from a young age, right?
I sat down at her eye level, intending to listen to her rambling, and asked her a few questions.
However, after having a lengthy conversation, I realized that the childhood of the person who would eventually grow up to sell out humanity to the demon race was… quite different from my initial expectations.

“What did you do today? I went out to play with my friends!”
A normal life, no different from her peers.
How could a girl like this come to burn with hatred towards humanity? I could not fathom it at all—

“One person got sucked into a machine, so the factory I was working at closed down.”

“Oh, so starting tomorrow, I’ll be working somewhere else. Maybe a magic potion manufacturing facility? But I don’t like it there because of the strong smell.”

I see.

“For food, I got some bread from the wealthy tourists who came to tour the slums yesterday. I don’t know why they came to tour the slums, but at least I got to eat, so I was satisfied.”

“What’s my job now? Tomorrow I only have to work 12 hours, so after I get off in the morning, I’ll be doing newspaper delivery.”

“Oh, right. I overheard the people at the factory gossiping that they’re going to send me to the coal mines, but surely not, right? Hehehe……”

The reason for her hatred towards humanity.

Now that I think about it again, I think I understand.

The small nugget of conscience inside me began frantically waving a red flag.
‘What should I do?’

For the sake of humanity, I should eliminate this girl, and I had firmly resolved to do so right until before coming here.
But if I really killed her, before even considering the survival of humanity, I would feel like a total scumbag.

This was the romantic era of modern times.
Child labor was not only legal but actively encouraged because child wages were cheaper.

The disadvantage of children being physically weaker was miraculously transformed into an advantage, as their small stature made them suitable for working in narrow mine shafts and chimneys.

It was an openly shared business pro-tip to hire children in factories handling toxic magic potions, then fire them right before the side effects showed up.

And as someone with some insight into these matters, my diagnosis was that Freugne was dutifully following the litany of depravity that the dark side of modern times had to offer.

As I stood there dumbfounded by the pungent spiciness of the modern fantasy world, the girl tilted her head in puzzlement and asked,

“Why are you acting like that, Mister?”

“No, it’s nothing……”

In the end, I couldn’t even ask if she had any plans to destroy humanity, let alone eliminate her, and had to turn my back on her.