Stone Mage: Revenge of the Villain System

“Ahh….. That hits the spot.” Zeuxis chuckled giddily at his 4th cup of mushroom wine.

“How can they make such good wine from a bunch of spores? It’s so good!” He elbowed the quiet Zeriav who was contemplating leaving since they entered the tavern.

“Come on, Brother! Go ahead and drink! No one’s looking at us anyway, they won’t judge a priest for having a drink or two!”

Zeriav raised his eyebrow. “Since when did you learn that I’m a priest?”

“The demeanor. No one’s as stiff as priests.” He laughed. “Well, maybe except him. You know, you remind me of him a lot.”

“That kind of quiet, calculating and observant behavior….. I hate that a lot. I came to despise him because of it. I can tell he’s scheming even as a little daemon baby.”

Zeriav raised his eyebrows. “Who?”

“My brother.” Zeuxis said. “I have two, actually. One sister. I despised them all when I was young.”

He poured himself another drink as he told his whole past to the priest.

“The eldest was just insufferably perfect. He was strong at such a young age, my father boast about him a lot to his friends. He looked like my father too, chiseled face even as a kid.”

He chuckled. “Unlike me, who had my mother’s face. Soft and delicate. I despise it a lot, how the everyone, even the servants, looked at me like I’m some adorable little thing.”

Zeriav frowned. “I don’t find you like that at all.”

“I grew out of my baby fat.” He said. “But my eyes are pretty, don’t you think? It has very long lashes, and I even cut it already before but it’s still long and pretty.”

He moved closer to and batted his eyelashes on the confused priest, who just shoved him away. “Yes, I can see that now. But you are drinking too much, sir.”

Zeuxis just continued chugging his 5th cup, and monologuing about his family. “My powers when I was young were so weak too. Just pretty and cute sparks, as the servants called it. I despised them, those servants.”

“Always trying to coddle me, saying ‘Oh, young master! Your powers will improve just like your brother someday!’. ‘You’re already doing so well, just look at those tiny lightning sparks. Already as big as your mother’s, you should be proud’!”

He copied his servant’s feminine voice, mocking them in falsetto.

“I like burning their skirts for it. Stupid servants.” He kicked at the chair. “But my eldest brother is the worst coddler of all.”

Zeriav frowned. “They probably do it out of love and affection.”

Zeuxis slammed his mug. “That’s what I hate even more! I know that! Yet my father never do the same thing, and that annoys me!”

Zeriav understood now. “You hate them….. Because you can’t gain affection from your father instead?”

“Hey, now! You’re making me sound like a pathetic loser that just wants to gain recognition from the man that brought my existence to the world.” He laughed, but with an unhinged edge to it like it was close to being a growl of anger.

Zeriav, despite being taller and more intimidating looking than this man, shut his mouth in fear of offending him and just kept on listening.

He have seen what he was capable of, and they were inside a wooden building. If trouble ensues, many people would suffer.

“What I hate the most is my younger brother, though. You see, my father hates my younger brother for being born different.”

“Born different?” Zeriav asked.

“Mn. He was even weaker and more incompetent than me. And yet…” He gritted his teeth. “My father give him more attention and effort to correct his flaws, to fix him.”

“My mother worries about him all the time. She even stopped coddling me because of it, barely anyone in the house noticed me anymore when he came around.”

He chuckled bitterly. “But things just got worse from there. My mother died of childbirth. And so came my sister….. Ah, my sister.”

He threw his mug to the ground in anger breaking it. “My sister, that crybaby bitch that happened to be the strongest of all four of us. Always making a fuss and having everyone wrapped around her tiny little finger because of her abilities.”

“You can conjure rain, right?” He reached out to the beads on Zeriav’s neck. “She has something similar, I actually disliked you because of it.”

Zeriav had flashbacks and shoved him away out if his chair for touching his beads!

“Ow! What in the Abyss, Brother? Hahahaha…..” He still laughed even when he fell down, very drunk.

“I… Please don’t touch me without warning.” Zeriav said, clutching his beads tightly.

Zeuxis stood up. “Ahh, you’re really like him. I’m disliking you more and more now.”

The priest frowned. “If you dislike me, why did you ask me to have drinks with you?”

“Well, you wanted to learn the truth about me. Who I’m searching for.” Zeuxis went back to his stool. “And I want to know what a mysterious priest like you is doing performing miracles in small towns like this.”

“I’ll get straight to the point now. I’m looking for my younger brother. He was the reason why I was kicked out of our house after I played this prank on my sister.”

Out of the four, Zeriav was the only one who never knew about Ronin’s real background. Volken only told him that his suspicions of him being a daemon was right, and that he was so much worse, the Lord of Darkness himself.

But he never knew about the Zafeiri family and all the troubles that came to them upon Ronin’s arrival.

If he had, he would have realized by now that he was talking to Ronin’s brother.

“That incident cost me my bone here at my clavicle.” He gestured to the part of his shoulder that the lightning dagger went in. “It only healed recently, thanks to my eldest brother.”

Zeriav crossed his arms. “So you’re looking for him to take revenge?”

He already thought he must be a bad person, but that didn’t matter to Zeriav since he was not the bad guy he was looking for.

His goal was always Cermin, and to save him from the King of Daemons.

“No. Actually, I was sent here to make sure he is safe by my eldest brother.” He grumbled. “Annoying, but I have to do it.”

Zeriav blinked at this. It does not make any sense logically after all he told him.

“But—“

“I know. You see, my eldest brother took care of me when I was kicked out. He didn’t even scold me when I thrashed his place and ruined my opportunity to keep studying in the Academy.”

He scoffed. “That Maellan….. He said that day that he took me in.”

“That nothing comes before family. Even hatred, even mistakes.”

He chugged his drink. “Do you have any siblings, Brother?”

“No.” Zeriav shook his head.

“That makes sense. I reckoned you were an only child. I reckoned you also had an easy relationship with your parents.”

Zeriav nodded. “We don’t talk much. But they don’t really have trouble with me….. Except for one time.”

Zeuxis crossed his leg. “Go on now. Tell me your story next before this mushroom wine knocks me out.”

Zeriav’s mouth turned into a straight line. “It’s not a long one. I was doing fine, following the order of Demetri. Until I was framed from a crime, which made my closest friend distrust me.”

“And now the daemon that framed me was his closest friend. I plan to save him.”

Zeuxis chuckled. “Isn’t it ironic? You asked me if I was here for revenge, and yet you are the one who was here for a vendetta.”

“Well, what’s the name of this framer you are looking for?” He stretched his arms and yawned. “I sure hope you find him and I find my brother, it’s been a good time to talk with you.”

“His name is Ronin. He is dangerous, more dangerous than anyone in this world.”

Zeuxis stopped stretching like a cat, and his eyes widened at this.

“Ronin.” He chuckled bitterly.

“You know, after this talk, I changed my mind.” Zeuxis stood up with a wide grin, but with a shadow over his face.

“I came to like you. Your silence is different, yours is more like Maellan’s. Caring, sweet, compassionate.”

He placed his hand on Zeriav’s shoulder. The priest frowned with how tight his grip was.

“I came to like you a lot. Thank you for the drinks and the talk, Brother.”

“What are you—-“

The moment Zeriav felt a sting from Zeuxis’ fingertips over his shoulder, he pushed him away again, this time so hard that it sent him flying to the wall.

“Hahahahaha! Ah, you shouldn’t have noticed and let me electrify you.” Zeuxis laughed without a hint of remorse.

“That way, it would have been faster for you. Less painful too, your heart would stop before you even feel the pain. “

He shoot lightning once again, aiming to kill Zeriav. The priest dodged it on time, causing a fire to burn on the wall and set a moose’s head in flames.

“Ahhhhh!!!!!” The people yelled, running out as a fight had ensued between their two heroes.

Zeuxis stood up, stretching his shoulder and making it crack as he did.

“It’s really unfortunate. My hated brother is your hated person.”

Zeriav’s eyes widened. “Ronin is your—-“

“Family.” Zeuxis smirked. “And family comes first, though you and I could have get together swimmingly had things not gotten personal for both of us.”

He took out the dagger from his shoulder, and turned it into a lightning bolt to strike Zeriav at the heart!