I retired to the study room, ordered wine—because that's what Veinhelm did here—and reclined as the glass decanted.
In the game, Veinhelm Drakan existed solely to
be hated. He was designed to be an obstacle players would
feel righteous burning to the ground. Now, behind these eyes, I barely found
energy to hate myself at all.
The wine was good. The glassware was real
crystal. Every time I moved, I caught my own reflection—liquid impermanence,
the face inside barely settling before flickering away.
The " Soul Synchronization " blinked at the edge
of my vision whenever I let my guard down.
I tried to call up the in-game menu again, thinking maybe something would have changed. Only the faint blue outline of the name and traits were visible. Status such as strength, intelligence, dexterity
as well as constitution were all hidden from me.
I sipped the wine and let my thoughts
wander—what, exactly, did I want here? Nobody was watching, not really? Who was
it that sent me here? And why veinhelm of all characters?
A knock
I stiffened, caught between dread and something that, disturbingly, resembled anticipation.
"Enter," I called
The door opened, and Alexander entered, followed
by a figure so familiar my pulse nearly skipped: a petite woman in servant attire, face half-shadowed by a hood. who is it? No, not the threadbare rookie from the early builds. I recognized her necklace… it was unmistakably her.
Alan's late-game favorite NPC… Archemage Silvia? What is she doing here? And
why is she hiding her true appearance?
" My lord, I took care of the traitors, this new servant wanted to work directly under me. She seems talented in magic, but I am unsure if we can trust… "
" Alexander, you may leave. I would like to have a word with her alone "
" ... I understand, my lord"
Silvia curtsied with a precision that hinted at her influence. She kept her head lowered, eyes flicking upward only once.
"My Lord Drakan," she said. Her voice was drier than the wine. "I am embarrassed to ask, but what could you possibly want from a lowly servant such as myself?"
I gestured to the deep chair opposite mine. She sat only when I nodded again, back arrow-straight, hands folded in her lap.
why would an Archemage be here of all places? and why is she disguised as a servant? I guess there's only one way to find out.
I realized, slowly, that she now isn't eventrying to hide her magic. The faint ozone tang on the air, the ripple of energy that made the goblets tremble imperceptibly on the sideboard— she was humming
with it.
Does she think that I would try laying my hands on her her?
"Silvia," I began, then caught myself. "Archemage Silvia, if that's what you prefer even now."
She didn't look up, but her lips twitched. A flash of the dry wit I remembered from her old coded strings.
I leaned forward, elbows braced on knees, feeling the lines of Veinhelm's armor dig into living, vulnerable skin. "If I may— why the charade? Why the kitchen gossip, the sneaking around in
servant's livery? I didn't know Archemages had such hobbies "
For a moment, everything in her face wentperfectly smooth, an algorithm running its final check. Then she exhaled and, for the first time, I heard a genuine note of wariness in her
voice.
" So you already knew… Lord Drakan, unfortunately you will die soon "
She lifted her chin, eyes sharp now, measuring me not as a tyrant to be feared or a puzzle to be solved, but as something harder: a variable with unpredictable future.
Despite the threat, I poured her wine. It was protocol, but also—what was this?—a test of boundaries. She accepted with a nod and took a measured sip, never breaking eye contact. Another line crossed.
"There is already movement in the lower halls," She set the glass down, a faint violin sting of crystal against marble.
I wondered, not for the first time, what she saw when she looked at me. Was it curiosity at how I figured out her disguise? Or more of my calmness before her?
"Then why are you here, Silvia? Why the threat?" It was hard not to sound bitter, I just found out that there's another problem other than the one sitting before me…
A corner of her mouth curled. Not quite a smile, but not the rigid mask she showed Alexander.
"Because you are different than the rumors, I came expecting a boring noble, but now… I am unsure "
I wanted to laugh at this ridiculous situation, but only a silence grown thick with shifting power.
" I fear that the upcoming surprise isn't as simple as you think"
She seemed curious about me and what I would do against the oncoming doom.
I was going to reply a sad joke… but something deep inside this body took over and replied in an arrogant tone
" How dare you look down on me as some weakling? Do you think a few pests could frighten a Drakan?"
My scolding voice was automatic, the arrogance like muscle memory. The trait ' Egoistic' took over me completely. I felt the ridicule and the arrogance building up in my body.
Yet Silvia blinked, then smiled with that small, catlike satisfaction, as if she was looking at a cute kid.
"Oh, I do not underestimate," she said. "I count on your survival. But habits of caution are what keep archemages alive.
I watched her, trying to see past her words. Was this her good riddance or simply two predators circling the same kill?
I heard the faintest footfall in the corridor—a rhythm too even for untrained servants. The night's Event had begun.
I stood, feeling the vertigo of Veinhelm's full height, and turned out the study's candle with a single flick. The room fell into gradients of moonlight and blue-glow.
" You are free to watch how I crush some insects" I said.
She did not hesitate. Silvia rose and drifted to the curtained window, half vanishing into its velvet shadow like she wasn't there to begin with.
Below, in the courtyard, pale torches wavered in the wind. The moon was high and crisp, framing the obsidian towers in a cold and merciless geometry.
I let my fingers rest on the hilt at my side; in-game, Veinhelm's sword was a masterpiece of contradictory design—both elegant and brutal, the power was proportional to its master's power.
The thought nearly made me laugh. To others it's a great weapon with limitless potential, but for me of all people, It was not even worth holding.
The sound was soft, like wet silk over steel, but I heard it: a knife drawn against flesh, a too-deliberate breath in the darkness.
I did not call for guards, nor feel any fear. Instead, I strode to the door and flung it open with a dramatist's flourish, daring the assassins to meet me in the lightless corridor.
Three figures were showing blatantly the mark of House Lathias. They were the only ones foolish or desperate enough to come for Veinhelm the same night he was enthroned.
They had real weapons, the kind that left no neat game-over, only the sloppiness of dying slowly.
The leader, a hollow-eyed man with lips sewn into a smile.
"Lord Drakan," he said, with mockery in his tone.
" Sebastian "
I knew who he was,
A fearsome assassin and the main hunting dog for
the Lathias. He was the favorite NPC killer, designed for the forums to hate
and the speed runners to worship.
His methods were surgical. With a sing draw of his knife and the air itself seems to twist and slow around its glint.
The "Unbreakable Will" trait was not just words
in a status box. Instead of fear, I felt as if this was nothing more than a child play.
Slowly and steadily he advanced alone with a look of disdain on his face.
After all, Veinhelm was all talk and no substance. Despite being an instructor at the best academy, most of his achievements were through corruption and bribery. However a single variable
could change this whole battle.
{ Absolute Counterattack }
Knowing Sebastian skills, most of them are focused on a single killing attack. And his best one was
{ Shadow Reaper }
He can hide in the shadow of his prey and with a single
lunge, he swiftly take the heads of his victims.
The air shimmered. For a heart-lurching instant, Veinhelm's vision blurred, the world collapsing to a tunnel of anticipation. Sebastian's body flickered, split itself into a dozen afterimages, each moving
at impossible angles. Shadows poured from the corners, swallowing the light.
Somewhere in the corridor, the spell's edge hissed, as if even reality flinched
from what was coming.
" stop hiding, you coward " Veinhelm braced. Not out of courage, but because the egoistic blood under his skin demanded a front-row seat to his own extinction.
I let go of my weapon. I didn't need to raise it. I couldn't even see him, nor even know how to wield a sword.
That was the ultimate insult to the most infamous killer in the Empire. If the spell was truly installed, if the sabotage had worked, I don't need to defend at all.
What followed was so instantaneous, so annihilating, that not even the game's most professional patch notes could have realized it: with a swift mov, Sebastian's knife sliced through air, then met the narrow rim of Veinhelm's neck.
Normally this would split, and Sebastian would finish the job with a smile.
But instead, something deep in the bowels of Veinhelm's code responded with the cold snap of a loaded trap. The spell's logic rearranged the scene: not a single blow exchanged, but a mirror. Energy reversed. The knife, in the blink of a world frame, was turned inward.
Thud
Sebastian's head rolled with a shocked look on his face. even in death, a final flicker of disbelief captured in the glass of his eyes.
A new system message scrolled across my vision
[ 'Mystic' Spell { Absolute Counterattack }
Cooldown: 9 minutes and 59 seconds ]
The corridor stilled. The two remaining House Lathias assassins froze mid-footstep.
Now, I am completely defenseless. If the other two assassins chose to fight then I would be dead in less then a minute.
Despite that, the bravado and arrogance of the
trait ' Egoistic' continued without any care about my thoughts.
" Scram insects, you aren't even worth my time "
They did not need to be told twice as they vanished from my sight.