Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

Petrick snorted like a bull and shouted:

“You fools, how will we finish work today if you’re this slow!”

His voice, as if he had swallowed a megaphone, startled those who heard it.

“W-We’ll proceed with the work quickly as ordered!”

An old man bowed his head to him and said.

There were sturdy shackles on his ankles to prevent him from leaving his designated spot.

Not just that old man, but all the slaves in the factory were in the same situation.

When a child was about to burst into tears, Petrick reacted swiftly and took down the whip hanging on the wall.

“Get to it now!”

Then the slaves would start working again.

Their job was to do the primary processing of magic ore covered with rocks dug from the mine.

Though their bodies and minds were utterly exhausted from hammering stone chunks all day long, no one came to rescue them from this illegal factory hidden deep in the forest.

‘Keke, once the mage wakes up, we’ll feed him the truth potion and torture him if necessary to extract the refining method.’

Petrick supervised, walking around various parts of the factory with eyes soaked in greed.

Then a small figure caught his eye.

The small-bodied slave struggled to even properly lift the heavy hammer with weak arm strength.

Seeing the slave unable to control their arms properly like a newborn giraffe, Petrick shouted loudly:

“Can’t you work properly?!”

“Eek!”

“Factory owner! I’ll work harder instead of my wife, please calm your anger!”

A man who seemed to be her husband knelt down beside the frightened woman.

“You cockroaches…!”

Thinking he had found a way to restore discipline in the lax factory, Petrick cracked his whip on the ground and approached the couple.

“I’ll have to make an example of you.”

His grinning face showed a glimpse of sadism.

Seeing him walking over like the grim reaper and raising the whip high, the couple hugged each other and curled up into a ball.

“Kuhahaha! Know that today is your memorial day!”

“You know well, it’s your memorial day.”

Just then, a girl’s voice was heard behind Petrick.

“…?”

“…?”

Everyone in the factory turned to look at where the cheerful voice, out of place in the dark factory, was coming from.

“Huh, huh!”

Especially Petrick, as he turned around, widened his eyes and gasped.

“I told you there wouldn’t be a next time, didn’t I?”

The owner of the voice was none other than Lady Rayes.

Her silver hair, noticeable anywhere, was unforgettable once seen.

The girl approached, summoning the Crimson Blade.

His abdomen that had been hit by that still stung…

Petrick took a step back.

“C-Could it be you came to find the mage…”

“I had a hard time untying the ropes you wrapped him in like a cocoon.”

Jen entered the factory belatedly with the president behind Ria.

Petrick had many thoughts in that moment.

Well, if both Duke Kablos and the young lady say there won’t be a next time, what exactly is he supposed to do?

Just like the couple he was about to abuse a moment ago, Petrick suddenly felt like crying.

“So you’ve kept people locked up in a place like this, making them work day and night…”

Ria frowned as she looked around and suddenly noticed the shackles bound to people’s ankles.

“You’re truly vicious. How should I repay the bloody tears of all these people, including the president, to make a good reputation?”

The raised sword looked like it might shoot out sword energy at any moment.

Seeing that, Petrick quickly activated the magical tool he was wearing on his arm.

At the same time, his subordinates appeared here and there.

“You think I’d fall for it twice?! You stupid girl!”

The black-masked subordinates appearing one after another seemed to number at least 30.

Despite being a sufficient number to overwhelm, Ria’s reaction was rather indifferent.

“Jen, stop him from escaping. I’ll handle these guys.”

“Y-Yes-“

As Jen instantly moved behind Petrick and subdued his struggling body with magic, the subordinates immediately began rushing at Jen.

Ria quickly ran to cover Jen, striking them down.

‘Compared to Luka, they’re practically at snail speed?’

Having sparred frequently with Luka recently, Ria found the subordinates’ speed ridiculously slow.

It felt like being a game character defeating low-level mushroom monsters.

As she struck each one’s round crown with the Crimson Blade, the numerous subordinates gradually fell like sheets of paper.

Watching this scene while being subdued, the factory owner looked at the monster of a girl, pretty only on the outside, with terror-filled eyes.

“Ugh!”

“Aah!”

For a while, the factory was filled with the screams of the subordinates.

Finally, after taking down even the last one trying to escape, Ria dusted off her hands and smiled brightly.

Watching this scene leaning against the wall, the president once again felt chilling awe at Ria’s figure.

‘My lifelong master…!’

At Ria’s eye signal, Jen released the magic binding Petrick.

Simultaneously, as if he had been waiting for the chance, Petrick summoned a sickle-like magical tool and swung it wildly.

“How dare you! To ruin all my plans completely!”

Unable to avoid the sudden action, Ria pulled her head back but the sickle grazed her cheek, causing blood to trickle down.

“Miss!”

“You… Are you going to take responsibility if I get scolded by Arzenluka again?!”

Ria momentarily lost control of her strength and struck down a sword wave aimed precisely at Petrick’s head.

Clang-!

“Ugh!”

With a sound like a skull cracking, Petrick dropped the sickle he was swinging and fainted with the illusion of stars circling in the air.

Petrick raised his heavy eyelids.

As his blurry vision regained focus, he remembered losing consciousness from the young lady’s brutal attack.

“Wh-What!”

And realizing he was bound in the middle of the factory, he struggled.

“Wh-Where did all the slaves go!”

Looking around the factory, all the slaves were gone with their shackles removed.

Then Ria’s voice was heard from behind.

“I freed them all, didn’t I?”

“Who gave you permission!”

“And who gave you permission to exploit labor, abuse, traffic slaves, and smuggle magic ore?”

As Ria listed the points one by one, Petrick shouted:

“Isn’t that much natural for Kablos!”

“Is Kablos a god? Why is it okay for only you to act like villains all the time?”

“Y-You…! How dare a commoner insult nobility!”

“Wow, commoner! It’s been a while since I heard that!”

As Ria clapped her hands and spoke cheerfully, Petrick looked at her as if seeing a crazy person.

“I am a commoner. But aren’t you from the Magic Kingdom that uses dirty black magic? Then who should be more despised?”

“Y-You…! How dare you babble so recklessly just because the Duke isn’t here!”

Ria shrugged and said:

“Enough bickering. Jen, bring that.”

At Ria’s words, Jen brought the truth potion that Emma had been holding earlier.

“Th-That’s…!”

“Where did you get the truth potion? Is it your hobby to try everything that’s designated illegal?”

The truth potion has the effect of making one answer only truthfully as soon as it’s consumed, but as a side effect, it drives one mad and makes speech slurred.

Later it even causes paralysis of the limbs, so it was a drug prohibited by law.

“You were really going to feed this to the president.”

Ria fed the truth potion to the struggling Petrick by the bottle.

Though he tried to spit it all out with a pale face, he had already swallowed quite a bit.

“Now, let’s talk. Why did you kidnap the president?”

“I-I won’t talk…!”

Petrick blurted out, but his mouth soon moved on its own.

A suppressed voice leaked from his distorted lips.

“The… Duke ordered us to attempt our own development like House Rayes, urgh. Last time I went to meet the Duke and Lihid…”

“You mean Lihid.”

He was praised as the strongest among the Tower Master’s disciples.

He was also Jen’s sworn brother.

“That rascal now even associates with those Kablos bastards…”

Jen muttered.

Petrick continued speaking.

Even if he didn’t want to talk, consuming the truth potion makes one speak everything they know in detail.

“He didn’t show up… So we kidnapped Rayes’ mage instead.”

Ria responded with ‘As expected’ without much emotion and soon turned around.

Her eyes saw dozens of whips hanging on the wall and countless shackles hanging on the floor.

Recalling that Serine had been here, her teeth gritted.

“You will end along with this factory.”

“Wh-What do you mean!”

“The magic ore is too precious to bury with you, so I sent it to the Magic Tower.”

While Petrick was unconscious, she had moved everything with an artifact.

“According to national law, all magic ore from illegal factories is to be confiscated by the imperial family or Magic Tower upon discovery, right? It couldn’t be helped since a high-ranking official from the Magic Tower discovered it here.”

Ria said, pointing at Jen.

“That’s not what I mean! What do you mean end along with this factory!”

“Ah… I mean it literally. I keep my word. I said there wouldn’t be a next time, didn’t I?”

“No!!”

Leaving behind the screaming Petrick, Ria slowly walked out of the factory.

Jen and the president followed Ria, giving cold glances at Petrick struggling while bound to the chair.

As soon as they exited, the factory was instantly engulfed in flames.

It didn’t take long for the factory to collapse without a trace.

The factory stained with the sweat and tears of Serine and the slaves disappeared without a trace.

* * *

“You handled it spectacularly, Miss.”

Passing by Jen who was whistling, I approached the trembling slaves.

From children to the elderly, they were of various ages and genders.

“Th-Thank you so much!”

“Thank you!”

“Are you perhaps… Ria?”

Amidst the people shedding tears and expressing gratitude, a child spoke.

“How…”

“Sister Serine often talked about you. She said she had a silver-haired little sister as pretty as a fairy.”

I smiled softly and stroked the child’s head.

“Do you all have somewhere to go?”

“We were all brought here from our hometowns because of debt. We’ve only dreamed of returning home.”

Most of the children had been brought with their parents.

“Then I’ll send you all to the nearest town. I’ll give you this, so I hope you live freely from now on.”

I handed them a few gold coins.

For those who worked 24 hours without pay, it would be a huge sum.

The people who were sobbing with gratitude disappeared between the lights of the instant teleportation artifact Jen activated.

The motion sickness aftermath of teleportation… I didn’t tell them about that separately.

Sometimes it’s better not to know.

* * *

We returned to the Rayes mansion.

The remaining problem was that the president could face such crises at any time in the future.

“Haah, what should we do with the president?”

The president looked up at me with big eyes.

“Should we tie him up, hm? Then would no one be able to take the president away from me? Right now, handcuffs on that bed…”

“Please don’t say things that could be misunderstood if someone hears, Miss.”

Jen said.

“Sister, what do you mean by that?”

This time it wasn’t Jen who spoke.

We turned around simultaneously at the chilling voice that made goosebumps rise on our arms.

It was Luka, with a face as beautiful as an angel incarnate, but wearing an expression like a yaksha.

“If I do exactly as you said, wouldn’t it prevent Ria from ever looking at another man?”

The president, looking terrified as if he had seen the grim reaper, quickly hid behind my back like a rabbit.

Seeing this, Luka finally smiled as if the string of reason had snapped.