The Villain Dreams Of World Peace

Episode 52: The Boy Of The Plateau

 

Sob. Sob.

 

The sound of a lonely boy’s crying echoed through the vast snowfield. It belonged to Kaiton, a boy who had just turned 14.

 

He tried to console himself, saying that he was no longer at an age where he should cry like a fool, but he couldn’t stop the sorrowful tears from flowing. It was because his father had taken away the magic book he had borrowed from the neighboring wizard and secretly been studying.

 

Kaiton couldn’t understand. He felt that he had pacio more overflowing than anyone else, that he was smart and seemed to have a talent for magic. No, he was certain of it. But his father opposed learning magic.

 

The other kids on the plateau had already mastered most of first-level magic and were starting to dabble in second-level magic. But Kaiton, who was much smarter and more talented than those stupid guys, had never succeeded in magic even once.

 

His father would sternly scold Kaiton whenever he tried to study magic, and as a result, Kaiton couldn’t even learn healing magic, the most basic foundation.

 

“You’re such a crybaby.”

 

The boy’s mother approached him. In her hands, she held homemade bread and soup. Due to their limited circumstances, the bread was rough, and the soup was watery, but the steam rising from the food looked neat and appetizing.

 

“You’re all stupid!”

But Kaiton buried his head without even glancing at the tray his mother set down beside him. He was too ashamed of his tear-stained face.

 

Kaiton’s mother glanced at her boy looking like that and gave a pitiful smile. She forcibly lifted the stubborn boy’s face and wiped his tear-streaked cheeks. Kaiton roughly brushed off his mother’s touch, but he looked like a sulking child because of his puffed-up cheeks.

 

“Hehe. What can you do about this fool that loves you? You know your father does it for you sake, don’t you?”

 

“Why do we have to live hidden in this snowy land?! Why can’t we just become like the Demon King? We just need to be strong enough so people can’t capture us as they please!”

 

“…Kaiton, you are such a fool.”

 

“…Huh?”

 

When his mother spoke in a low voice, shaking her head, Kaiton suddenly became frightened.

He was nervous that she might have become disappointed in him.

 

Her eyes were filled with love, but Kaiton was not skilled enough to read the affection and playfulness in her eyes.

 

Kaiton’s mother, Sophie, looked at her frightened son and spoke, trying her best not to burst into laughter.

 

“How can a person become a Demon King? ‘Demon King’ means the king of the Demon Realm. So, the Demon King is a demon spirit, right? Our son is already so cute and lovely. Why would he want to become a spirit?”

 

Realizing that he had been fooled, Kaiton blushed and stood up bravely, and his mother affectionately patted his head as if finding him adorable.

 

“But, I must give Mr. Hunt a firm warning this time. This is a magic trick that puts a curse of pain on someone, isn’t it?”

 

Sophie whispered anxiously as she looked at the drawing Kaiton was practicing on the snow.

 

“To such a dangerous magic trick to a child. It’s understandable why your father got angry with Mr. Hunt.”

 

“I’m not a kid! I’m all grown up. Uncle Hunt said I have talent. He said that I have an incredibly powerful pacio that he’s never seen before in his life.”

 

“That’s the problem.”

 

It was Kaiton’s father, Charlie. He was carrying a large axe on his shoulder, as if he was heading out to chop firewood when it was still snowing.

 

Kaiton looked at his father with eyes filled with frustration.

A wizard who made fire with firewood instead of magic. It was stupid and pathetic.

 

The boy was fed up with his father’s stubbornness. He couldn’t understand why his father insisted on being incompetent and useless by letting his magic talent rot.

 

“It’s a problem because you have talent, Kaiton.”

 

Charlie glanced briefly at the magic circle drawn on the snow and his face hardened. He gloomily stared at the perfectly drawn magic circle and then crushed it with his foot, without a hint of error.

 

Seeing this, Kaiton screamed, feeling like his own flesh was being trampled.

 

“Why is that a problem?!”

 

“Because you will come to want greater strength. You will want to form contracts with a strong spirit, and succeed in casting more complex spells.”

 

Charlie was adamant.

He was a loving and compassionate father, but when it came to matters of magic, he was uncompromising.

 

“That’s bad? I can do it, I’m not a fool.”

 

Kaiton actually thought that his father didn’t believe in him. Even when Uncle Hunt recognized his talent as a magician, he denied it and turned a blind eye to it. So when magic was forbidden, Kaiton felt incredibly lonely.

 

“I know that too. You were born carrying the name of Ur. Ur’s magicians have always been overflowing with talent. Your pacio seems infinite, no matter how much you use it.”

 

“Then there’s no problem there, right? I can show that black magic isn’t bad. We can convince people that the Urs aren’t evil.”

 

“…No, the Urs’ talent is a tragedy, son.”

 

Charlie recalled the day he fled to the plateau with his pregnant wife and forced a bitter smile.

He vividly remembered how their friendly neighbors turned against him when they found out who he was.

 

How should he explain to a child that people do not welcome the descendant of an evil black wizard who stole Pacio and created demons?

 

“All excellent magicians eventually lose pacio and die. They become demons. But we have fragments of Ur, don’t we? If we are in danger of losing pacio, we will face a test. If the flame that protects our souls diminishes, we will become weak, and to avoid becoming unhappy ghosts, we would rather choose to become evil. Like Callahan Ur.”

 

“I won’t do dirty things like stealing someone else’s pacio.”

 

While Kaiton thought he would rather reign as a Demon King instead of being scorned by people, his thoughts changed when faced with his father’s firmness. He had confidence that he would never do evil deeds like Callahan Ur. The boy was full of ambition but was still an inexperienced young man, filled with boiling emotions and energy but lacking a way to express them, clinging only to an insatiable desire for justice because he felt wronged.

 

“…That’s not something that can be easily guaranteed.”

“No, I, I am….”

“I’m sorry for making you angry, Kaiton. But those born with Ur’s name had better not learn magic.”

 

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

 

Kaiton wandered aimlessly through a snow-covered wilderness, unable to open his eyes properly due to the pouring snow.

 

After hearing his father’s nagging, Uncle Hunt refused to lend him a spellbook.

Kaiton again became like a wandering ghost, aimlessly passing time in the plateau.

 

While the children in the village gathered to study magic and the adults made and sold magical items in the shops, Kaiton, forbidden from using magic, couldn’t belong anywhere. He could have followed Charlie and imitated a hunter or a farmer, but he didn’t want to do such a stupid thing.

 

He was a loner.

He was a recluse who belonged nowhere and unable to reveal his true self anywhere.

Although the situation was frustrating, he wasn’t lonely or desolate.

 

He had never enjoyed meeting people.

People were mostly stupid, and it didn’t matter if he wasn’t with them. In fact, he preferred being alone.

 

However, the fact that he had no use in the world was very scary.

He felt lonely as if there was a hole in his heart.

 

“If I can’t use magic, isn’t life no different from being a demon…?”

 

Magic was his calling, but by turning away from that calling, he had no way to live in the world.

 

He even thought about running away from this plateau and becoming the Demon King everyone feared, but he couldn’t betray his parents who loved him. Kaiton loved his parents and didn’t want to disappoint them. So he never once disobeyed his father’s words to never use magic. He secretly read a few spellbooks, but that was it.

 

But was it okay like this?

In this plateau that no one looked for, would he in time disappear, buried in the snow?

 

It was then.

In his vision filled with a snowstorm, a girl appeared. Because of the snowstorm that whitened the world, he hadn’t noticed her approaching, but suddenly, the girl was standing right in front of him.

 

“I finally found you.”

 

Her blue hair was scattered messily, and the wind blew her hair in all directions.

 

“Did you run away? If you need a place to settle, you have to go a little further down.”

 

Kaiton thought she was his age. She seemed petite enough to be buried in the snow at any moment, and her voice was young and high-pitched.

 

“No, I came to find you.”

 

“!”

 

But when her, which had been hidden behind her fluttering hair, was revealed, Kaiton was surprised.

 

Eyes that seemed to hold unfathomable depths.

Her eyes were sharp. They looked tired and exhausted, as if she had never slept a single moment since birth. However, the pupils within them were profound.

 

They resembled the eyes of an old sage who had gone through all the hardships and trials of life, or the eyes of an elderly person who had lived through a life filled with nothing but trials and finally reached twilight, or the eyes of a wise person who had grasped the essence of the world.

 

Clearly, it was the face of a child.

How could she have eyes like that?

 

“W-What are you talking about? You came to find me? Do you know me?”

Kaiton turned his head and shouted, feeling embarrassed for some reason.

 

“Of course I should know you. You’re going to be the best wizard in the kingdom.”

 

“…What? Did you get the wrong person? I… I…”

 

I’ve never even tried using magic before.

 

It must be the girl’s misunderstanding.

Kaiton’s heart started to beat uncontrollably. The pounding sound made his head spin.

 

“It’s you. I saw it with my own eyes.”

 

Kaiton felt like screaming at the girl’s conviction. Even his father didn’t believe in him. He never knew that someone acknowledging his secret wish, which he had always dreamed of alone, could bring such joy.

 

Who are you? Are you an angel?

When Kaiton was about to ask that, the girl spoke with a brilliant smile that shattered his hopes.

 

“You will become the greatest wizard in the history of the kingdom. Kai Crawford.”

---

Aaa his alias, she gave it to him sefsdnf