Struggling as a Villain

As Richard expected he found something favourable inside the working station.

There was a live furnace, an anvil, a hammer and loads of deformed swords.

Richard slowly inspected the swords and found that there were marks of blood but they didn\'t reek, which means it has been years since they were used.

\'But why aren\'t there any rust?\' Swords, made of metal, tend to catch rust after months of not being polished and sharpened. However, Richard couldn\'t find anything wrong with the sword except for its deformed blade.

\'Time travels strangely here it seems...\' Richard heaved a sigh and started with one.

The blade was approximately twenty-five inches tall and had a leather belt around the handle. The hilt of the sword was a little too broad to be comfortable while holding. It was exceptionally light, and in its golden days, Richard knew it would have served its purpose quite well.

Bringing the sword toward the furnace, he inserted it into the live flame and began to wait.

He was accustomed to being so near to the flames, which allowed him to not show urgency when heating the blade.

However, what Richard didn\'t expect was the sudden notification,

[Ding!]

[Proficiency with flames: +0.1]

[Proficiency with flames: +0.1]

[Proficiency with flames: +0.1]

Every thirty seconds, his proficiency was increasing, which urged Richard to ask, "What is my current proficiency, and what will it help me in?"

[Ding!]

[Proficiency with flames: 18.3/100]

[Upon reaching the limit, the host would no longer burn or receive damage from flame attacks. The host would become one with the flames upon reaching the limit.]

Richard raised his brows in surprise. Becoming one with the flame...why did it sound so enchanting?

"Ah, shit!" Because of his excitement, he completely forgot about the sword, and now there was nothing but a fragment of the sword left; the rest fell into the furnace.

Richard looked at the door where the earnings were shown, and as he expected,

[-5 token points]

Clicking his tongue, Richard threw away the handle into the crap box and took another one.

He has to pay attention to his work unless he wants to rot here until the end.

---------------**--------------

[Outside world]

Lilia was currently seated beside the bed as she looked at the two ladies keenly. However, like time has actually frozen for them, they made no visible movement at all.

Across from her, Allen was currently eating bread with some soup while reading a book.

It had been a few hours since the Headmaster took Richard away, and Lilia sent the letter to Amelia as soon as she could.

She didn\'t know what reaction the lady would have, and unfortunately, Lilia couldn\'t go to check on her. The brunette\'s foremost priority is to keep Allen safe and awake.

"Reading books for too long can put a strain on your eyes and make you feel sleepy."

Hearing her words, the blond instantly snapped the book close and threw it away on the other side of the sofa, like he never was reading a book in the first place.

Finishing the meal, he thanked Lilia and set the tray aside.

Thankfully, there was a bathroom and toilet in the same room, so Allen didn\'t need to leave the premises at all.

While they were seated in silence, Allen suddenly asked,

"Was the clone caught?"

Lilia blinked in slight surprise before responding, "I guess the Headmaster took care of it. Why?"

Allen heaved a sigh, "The loyalty rune implanted on it would force that clone to chase me if it discerns that I am helping Duchess Bellarine and Master Richard."

Lilia assured him, "Don\'t worry; nothing will happen to you until I am here."

Allen heaved a sigh, but he still looked quite tense.

Lilia thought for a moment, before asking, "Why did you join this cult? From your behaviour and willingness to help people, you seem quite unbecoming of a devil worshiper."

Allen laughed in embarrassment, but that laugh soon died down as he confessed, "I...was forced by my father. I was an illegitimate child who would have been disowned if not for the fact that I awakened Ether."

A long sigh released his lips as he added, "Every evil worshipper has to sacrifice someone or something close to them to please the deity they wanted me to get devoted to."

With his shoulders slumping he added, "I...was made to kill my mother and sister before I got these powers," His hand was enveloped in dark matter before he dropped it back and added, "...my little sister was just seven years old...when my father forced me to poison her. That silly girl...loved her brother so much...t-that even when she was dying, she kept on wiping my tears."

Lilia felt sorrow for the man. He looked dejected and regretful for whatever happened. Although she was aware that the evil worshippers are twisted beings, she never assumed they would even force their children into this insanity.

In a lower voice, Lilia asked, "Don\'t you want to take revenge for what he did?"

Allen blinked in surprise before telling her, "He...is already dead actually, and no one else but Master Richard killed him."

Lilia was surprised as she reflexively asked, "Who was your father?"

Allen would have hesitated in the past to spell that name out, but not anymore, "The ex-Prime Minister of Eldoria; Phil."

Taking a pause, he added, "Thanks to the connection of the cult leader with the clone, he told me the person who killed my bastard father. That\'s why when I came across Master Richard, I knew I had to do everything in my power to help this man."

"..." Now Lilia realized why this guy was being so kind.

Getting up, she gave him a firm nod and said, "You are doing the right thing, Allen. Your mother and sister would have been proud of you."

Allen blushed hearing that and a smile bloomed on his face.

It was the first time in ten years that someone praised him.

-------------**-------------

It has been over six hours since Richard entered the working chambers.

He has worked with furnace and anvil before but he didn\'t have much experience. That\'s why he ended up wasting seven swords so far. However, with each failure and success, he got to learn something valuable.

Not all blades were the same; some were short, and some were tall. Some had blunt girth, and some held cleaving edges.

Based on estimation and visual evidence, he has to put the blade in the forge accordingly, until it turns red hot.

Then, comes the hammering part.

There were several hammers and sharpening tools provided, which Richard utilised to hammer the sword back into a proper shape.

*Thump* *Thump* *Thump*

His upper body, which was now in full exposure, glistened with a sword and some ashes marks as he kept on beating the metal to first straighten it up.

Whenever the heavy hammer strikes the blade, scales fly out and with each hit, the blade regains its former glory.

He has to re-heat the blade every time he has to start striking the metal harder, as it shows that the blade is losing heat and would start to turn rigid.

Once done, he pushes the blade into cool water, letting all the vapours rush out of the bucket. He nearly burnt his face the first time, because of all the water that jumped out.

Once he gets done with one blade, he has to put it into the basket of judgment, where the system analyses the quality of the blade before deciding the tokens granted for it.

The first ten blades didn\'t grant him more than two tokens for each one. But now, after reshaping for about thirty blades, he was earning five tokens from each one of them.

\'Ha, this should do.\' Looking at the hourglass, he decided that this should be enough for today. He has already earned like three hundred tokens.

Although this much was not enough to attract massive attention, considering it was his first day, Richard felt that he did well.

Wiping his body with his shirt, he wore it. Rubbing his head, he paused for a moment; realizing that he didn\'t have his long hair.

\'Haah, it feels strange...\' After he was done with the work, he received the tokens from the counter and stepped up the stairs to exit the chamber.

Two scanners, scanned his whole body to see if he had taken anything from the chamber. Naturally, Richard didn\'t take anything.

Exiting the place, Richard hoped that they still were serving food—however, the moment he stepped out, food was the last thing he could think of.

Facing him were hundreds of prisoners, standing side by side, glaring at Richard with killing intent.

One of them, a burly human with a shaved head, growled, "You are Richard, right? I will ask you this once; lay down and let me pluck that little head of yours."

"..." What the fuck just happened in these few hours?

-------------**-------------

A/N:- Damn, that\'s some bizarre request.