The Villain Reborn as Game's Final Boss

"Whenever you are in danger or need my assistance, just say my name in your mind while channelling mana throughout your body.

"The moment you do so, I would be notified through this."

Nemur raised the plate in his hand for a second before it began to disappear right before my eyes.

"I think that should be enough to make up for any negligence on my part."

This guy was quite the polite one despite the tremendous power in his hands.

"This is just something that you should have already done."

"..."

"Shouldn’t you compensate me for the possible loss of my life that I could have suffered if someone had indeed targeted me with an intent to kill?"

Nemur drummed the fingers of his hand on the table as he seriously contemplated my sentence.

"You see the door there?"

"I do."

Turning my head, I looked at the door behind me.

"Open it and leave."

"..."

For the first time, I could see the man before me grinning like a fool.

"I was joking, but none can deny the fact that your pride is feeble."

Nemur chuckled as he looked at me with an amused expression plastered over his face.

I, on my part, didn’t react in the slightest, as I found there to be no reason to laugh over something that couldn’t even be considered funny.

"Don’t get me wrong, kid, but watching you talk is really an amusing sight to see."

Nemur was surely enjoying himself with all the emotions that he was displaying on his face at the moment.

"Ha...ha."

"..."

I chuckled along with Nemur, making the latter stop his antics.

"I know what compensation you are trying to get from me. For you to try so hard to get that girl admitted to the academy, she must be quite the valuable one."

Valuable one, huh... a very specific use of the word.

Did he know anything about Sophie?

Though I knew I could trust Arthur’s judgement... still, it was difficult to maintain faith in Arthur’s words regarding no one having any idea of Sophie’s identity when the person in question was a Sovereign like Nemur Daithra.

"So what’s your decision?"

I had no interest in playing whatever game Nemur was trying to create for me.

"Why the hurry?"

Saying the words, Nemur got up from his chair before walking towards me.

I, on my part, remained seated at the same place without moving an inch, as I calmly stared at Nemur.

The guy approached me before silently standing behind me.

There was a long silence as neither of us spoke.

I could feel the intensity of Nemur’s presence that made every cell of my body realize his status once again.

His way of talking and his words always betrayed his position of power and made Kael fall into the illusion of security that had never existed in reality.

"I can let that friend of yours be admitted to the academy but... I have a small condition of my own."

Nemur uttered each word at a slow pace, as if stressing the importance of his statement.

I wanted to refute Nemur’s statement and trap him in a war of words, but for some reason I couldn’t come up with any sort of reply.

Had my edge really dulled to such a pathetic extent?

"Tell me... who is it that you are afraid of?"

Nemur’s hands were now on my shoulders as he applied a little bit of pressure on them so as to reassure me of my safety in his own way.

"None."

I replied with equal seriousness in my voice.

I couldn’t let him directly know about Diana’s current state.

I had no idea what he would do if he got to know about it, and I wasn’t interested in letting the Veltran princess die before my eyes.

She still had her use to be fulfilled on my board, and I wasn’t planning to let go of such a dedicated piece.

"Are you sure? Because I may be of help to you."

Though Nemur’s words were enticing to hear, I didn’t budge before them.

"Thank you for your concern, but there isn’t anything with which you could possibly help me, besides having my friend admitted to the academy."

Clarifying my stand, I leaned my head on the back of the chair, allowing me to observe Nemur’s face up close as he looked at me from above.

After an extended silence, Nemur’s lips stretched into a small smile as he raised his hand before gently rubbing his palm over my head.

"I hope my personal space is respected—"

My eyes widened as I tried to jump off the chair, but Nemur’s hand had already shot out at lightning speed as the latter grabbed me by my neck before applying a strong grip to it.

I couldn’t breathe, as the entirety of my body tensed under the immense pressure that was currently being applied to my neck.

My face began to turn red, though I still maintained my calm without being unnecessarily agitated.

"You sure have a knack for handling situations."

Nemur spoke in a teasing tone, though his eyes held none of the previous warmth in them.

Every ounce of emotion that Nemur had shown me in the past moments was replaced by a pair of emotionless eyes as they stared at me with pure indifference.

I wasn’t panicking because I knew Nemur didn’t want to kill me, at least not yet.

If he had wanted to kill me, I would have already been dead.

Still, it wasn’t like the situation was under my control.

Nemur could still kill me if my words didn’t match up to his expectations.

Though I could have diffused the situation by playing safe, I had no interest in doing so.

I had already willed mana throughout my body, which meant that the mark to summon Arthur had been filled with mana too.

With just a single thought on my part, Arthur would be at my side with Garthel drawn out to behead the headmaster, but I held back.

I had to hear Nemur’s thoughts before making any judgment.