The Villainess Returns with a System-Chapter 64: Let There Be Light!

"I bid you welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Alba’s fashion house. Like all of you, we are partners and business associates of ViTech. Since the headquarters of ViTech is under a lot of pressure for tonight’s event, the banquet will be hosted here in our humble establishment. I, Valentine De Clare, will be your entertainer until my dear friend Miss Vivian Moore joins us. For now, please indulge yourselves in these delicacies we’ve prepared, courtesy of House De Clare."

In the gathering of scientists and bright minds, Valentine spoke to the ladies and gentlemen who gathered on the second floor of Alba’s fashion house on the opposite side of the street from ViTech headquarters. There, Valentine desperately tried to capture the attention of those professors and their spouses with his lightheartedness and small talk while offering them drinks and pastries.

All he needed to do was not let them look through that window in the back. He didn’t know what was going on, but some incident was going on, and if his sharp sight wasn’t fooling him, Vivian was somehow hanging from that strange contraption on top of her building, doing some athletic feat that he never even imagined her to be doing.

Just don’t look that way! He screamed in his mind and still was holding himself from running across the street all the way to Vivian to figure out what the fuck was going on!

--------- Earlier ---------

"You said what?" Vivian shouted at Jane as the latter almost jumped back from fear.

"Some core pieces went missing from the circuit. I swear I fixed them up there this morning before we set up the board," Jane replied.

"What time is it now?" Vivian asked.

"Five and a half! We only have 30 minutes left," Jane replied.

Vivian discarded her coat and walked in her trousers, shirt, and vest upstairs to the attic of her building before scaling up the ladder to the roof. Up there, she found a few individuals, including Professor Bellfield, standing and trying to assess the damage. frёewebηovel.cѳm

"Director Vivian, there was a probable flaw in the design," Professor Bellfield said and tried to explain himself to Vivian right away. "A strong gust of wind seemed to have caused this. The wiring couldn’t hold the resistor’s weight, and it was ripped right away."

"We don’t have time for this, let’s start fixing. Did that flaw affect the other side at Isabella’s building?" she asked.

"No, director. I just checked it over there and added a strapping to all conduction points and the alternator," Jane replied.

"Do we have spares?" Vivian asked.

"Yes, but the problem is that we can’t just get them up there. No one can scale up the scaffolding on the roof. We need someone light, agile, and with a very good balance," Professor Bellfield said.

"You’re flattering me, sir," Vivian said as she walked across the flat roof to a spot where a spare rope was lying and picked it up.

"Director Vivian, what are you doing?" Jane asked as she ran after Vivian, but the latter didn’t respond.

"Director Vivian! Director!" she called once again.

"Oh! Vivian, that’s me, right!" Vivian suddenly regained herself as she was intensively focusing on the scaffolding in front of her that held up the large board facing the street. "I am going to fix this."

"Director, this is dangerous! Let alone scaling up the scaffolding, you may end up shocking yourself if you are not careful." Jane blocked Vivian’s way.

"Girlie, you’re ten years too young to lecture me about wiring circuits. Watch mommy do her magic," Vivian said and walked past Jane.

While her style of speaking was somewhat different than her usual self, Vivian’s way of handling the rope she just carried really stood out as she started to spread it, made a few knots, and tossed half the rope up the scaffolding.

"Just for confirmation, there is no power in the circuit, right?" she asked.

"We have around 40 piles dipped in chemical tubs, so we haven’t connected any power yet. We will have less than an hour once all the 200 bulbs are up and working," Professor Bellfield said.

"Clear!" Vivian made a double thumbs up. "I’m good to go. You, you, and you hold that other end of the rope. I want you to keep pulling until I tell you to stop, capeesh?" Vivian asked.

The three men, who work as manual laborers for the professor, looked at each other and seemed hesitant as the professor gave them strict instructions on how to behave around a noble lady, one that apparently ties herself to ropes and climbs scaffoldings.

As they held the rope and started pulling, Vivian had already tied her waist and hips with the rope with a professional mountain climber knot. She kept scaling the scaffolding from the side, and as she reached the area where the resistor device was supposed to be, she whistled for them to stop and turned to Jane.

"Toss the resistor up."

Jane seemed nervous, witnessing the acrobatic feat Vivian suddenly performed, but she had to at least help her in order to get her down as soon as possible. And so, Jane threw the device up to the best of her ability... which wasn’t that great.

Vivian tried to catch it, but Jane wasn’t the best thrower out there, as neither her arms were strong nor her aim was accurate. The circuit part was almost a foot distance from Vivian, who stood on the vertical scaffolding.

Vivian’s instincts kicked in, but these weren’t her instincts for the most part. Nonetheless, her body rotated backward as she launched herself away from the scaffolding, and while being tied to the rope, she performed a back flip midair, caught the device, and returned as she was.

"Oh, boy!" Valentine, who saw that from around 40 meters away inside the reception hall in Alba’s fashion house, almost lost all his nerves, and the guests he was entertaining looked at him with a strange gaze.

He started to sweat from worry, but he needed to keep those people distracted.

"I... I remembered today was Professor Bellfield’s big day, he would showcase his new invention. For that, House De Clare, which is a partner to Alba’s fashion house, has sent our best pastry chef to create a dish that looks exactly like Professor Bellfield’s invention. How about this? We all sneak to the pastries table over there, take a look at the dish, and try to guess what the professor has in store for us."

"That’s actually a fun idea."

"I think I will enjoy this one."

"Bellfield, that old coot, still coming up with ideas at his age. I will figure it out in a minute."

The old professor became excited, and Valentine seemed to have managed to control the crowd with his people skills yet one more time. He kept sneaking glances towards Vivian, though, as she skillfully used tools, cut wires, and jumped from one scaffolding to another like a professional climber.

"You! Servant boy!" Valentine immediately called out the first young servant he saw coming in.

Almost at the same age as Valentine, the young servant lowered his head and came running. He was wearing a suit like the footmen who work at the fashion house, but he seemed rather uncomfortable with it. Valentine recognized him from Vivian’s building.

"You, what’s going on over there?" Valentine whispered as if he was shouting and pointed with his eyes in Vivian’s direction.

Oliver paused for a second and then looked through the window to see what Valentine was seeing; the only difference is that it took him a while to realize that the one over there was Vivian herself, as it seemed that Valentine’s excellent sight was reinforced with Aura.

"L-Lady Vivian! Wha... what’s she doing?" Oliver went pale and almost freaked out.

"Shush!" Valentine held him from his mouth. "Shut it! Don’t alert those guests here. Slowly shut the curtains and run over there as fast as you can, figure out what’s happening, and how long do I have to keep a group of people who are all twice as smart as I am in a single room without them catching on to whatever that is!"

Valentine himself was already freaking out, speaking as fast and as quietly as he could. Oliver, who never faced an angry nobleman like that before, bowed his head, closed the curtains from the direction Valentine pointed, and went running right away.

Meanwhile, Vivian was having the people from below toss her a screwdriver, a wrench, and some wire, which she extended the torn parts with and used the excess to hold the pieces together.

"Done and done!" Vivian seemed to have finished what she was doing, and as soon as she was about to descend with style, she halted for a second and looked around her before realizing what happened.

"Goodness!" She sighed and then looked at the laborers. "Carefully get me down... slowly! Slowly!"

As she descended, she rid herself of the ropes that were tied in awkward places around her body and cleared her throat before joining her hands together in a ladylike fashion and turning to Professor Bellfield.

"It appears that everything is in order, Professor."

"La... Lady Vivian, thank you. But that was... that was..." The professor wanted to say something, but before he could pick the right words in front of his sponsor, someone else did.

"That was damn reckless, Vivian! Are you mad?!" Logan suddenly emerged from the roof’s trap door, and behind him was Oliver, who looked handsome in a suit.

"Logan, I am sorry I..."

"You what? Climbing on a scaffolding to do laborer’s work. That was purely reckless and devoid of..." Logan was starting to give Vivian an earful, but seeing that people were gathered around them, he held his anger within and turned to the hired laborers. "Your pay will be cut for this. Letting the Lady do your work because you were afraid of some height?"

"Logan!" Vivian spoke to him and called off his tantrum before turning to the people around her. "I apologize."

The scene had to be called off, and Vivian looked at her pocket watch then turned to the sky.

"Professor, five minutes," she said.

"I’ll do the last checkup on the circuit. Splendid work up there, my Lady."

Everyone on the roof started to descend one by one through the trap door; only Vivian and Logan remained up there.

"Hey," she called.

"Yes?" Logan turned to face her.

Alone on the rooftop, the two faced one another as the sun had only five minutes to set. A western breeze blew by, carrying the scent of the faraway sea all the way to the rotten heart of Archester, and Vivian’s hair fluttered freely with the wind.

"I am sorry about what happened. I wasn’t really myself for some time there," Vivian spoke.

Logan raised a single brow while trying to figure out what trick Vivian was pulling off this time around, but seeing that she wasn’t trying to walk her way out, Logan decided to...

"That’s not good enough for an excuse," he replied dismissively.

"Is that though?" Vivian smiled and somehow lowered her gaze. "I was only telling the truth."

Her gaze wasn’t displaying any hint of emotion like sadness or regret; she was just speaking the simple truth of what happened.

« Cutting connection with the Dormant Traits! »

°°°

That system message could at least shed some light on Vivian’s shift in personality, but to Logan, he didn’t see anything like a system message, and his anger was justified, unlike her actions.

"Well, less than a couple of minutes now," he said and cleared the way to Vivian.

"That’s a good moment we are missing," she said and turned to the sky while inhaling as much as she could from the fresh breeze and letting it out.

Logan let go of the trap door and turned to the sunset with Vivian. He looked at the endless sky and the beautiful mountainous clouds in heaven before smiling and turning to Vivian.

"If that’s your way of getting out of trouble..." he spoke and got closer to her.

"It is not... WAH! LOGAN!" Vivian wanted to reply before finding herself carried off the ground by one arm.

"... it is working, Princess," he said.

"Oh!"

A bit of an awkward moment as her knight seemed a bit bolder than he usually is, but Vivian didn’t hate it one bit.

He opened the trap door with his left foot and in a very swift fashion, jumped toward the ladder and slid down on it with her beside him to the attic beneath them.

Watching that scene from the other side of the street on the highest story in Alba’s fashion house was Valentine, who kept staring at Vivian in the midst of him explaining how that strange pastry was made to a middle-aged female professor. He was dazed for a bit, and his eyes shook, but he suppressed those emotions, knowing that he was undeserving of many things from the direction he was looking at.

Back in Vivian’s building, Logan landed on the fourth floor and put her down on safe ground.

"There is another sunset tomorrow, but now is the time to take your first step into the real world, Princess. Make your name reach that sky," he said and turned her around by holding her shoulders.

"Logan..." she called before turning her head sideways to him.

"Yes, Princess."

"Stay close to me."

"I’m not going anywhere."

Feeling his large rough hands on her thin shoulders, Vivian breathed in and stepped forward. She reached her office, which was already packed with people, including Professor Bellfield and his family as well as the senior executives of ViTech. Those who were speaking quietened down, and those who were sitting stood up for the Director of ViTech as she walked into the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is time." She stopped, spoke, and then walked towards the balcony of her office.

Logan, Oscar, Voros, and Jane walked behind Vivian, but as she wished, Logan was closer than the rest, right by her side. As they stepped onto the balcony, Professor Bellfield and his wife and children followed them and stood a bit to the right, with the professor in the lead like Vivian and his wife a tad behind him.

On the opposite side, many people flowed to the main balcony of Alba’s fashion house, and on their lead was the illustrious Isabella De Clare, wearing one of her wild fashion dresses that radiated in bright yellow.

The sunset was finally upon the city, and the city workers who would light up the gas lamps in Parker St. were nowhere to be seen. Vivian and Isabella could see the street getting darker 50 meters to the north and 50 meters to the south, just as agreed with the city hall.

The people flowing through this important street in the city didn’t mind at first, but then the traffic started to flow slower, and a signal was given. From the gates of ViTech and Alba’s, two lines of employees started to flow to the opposite side of the street, and the traffic stopped for the sudden influx of people. These people were carrying cylinder containers the size of medium cooking pots.

And then...

"Chantatio!" Isabella whispered and walked closer to the rail of the balcony; somehow everyone started noticing her right away as she stood in a spotlight of her own. As she spoke, her voice boomed and filled the street, "Fellow Arcurians! Ladies and gentlemen of the metropolis of the world, I bid you welcome."

"It’s the Madonna!"

"Lady Isabella!"

"Seven Saints! My prayers were heard!"

The reaction of people looking towards Isabella is as priceless as ever. People would always mix their speech and thought bubbles when that hot brunette enters the scene, but today, she was extra special.

"In the name of ViTech for Technologies and the Moore Conglomerate as well as Alba’s fashion house, we extend to you the first fruit reaped from the prosperous tree that is ViTech. Tonight, we celebrate the genius of a man who will bring light to our world like nothing before..."

As Isabella kept heating the crowd, which completely halted the flow of the street, and now everyone was looking at her, but from behind Vivian’s group, a very short man walked through the tall people and reached Vivian.

"Clear the way, those stairs... they almost killed me! Why so high?!"

The small man, with a large head and cartoonish facial features, approached Vivian, and he was recognized by many in this place, so they let him through.

"Lady Vivian, an honor to meet you, it is I, Irapos the Marvel," he introduced himself, bowed, and returned to rant again from the stairs he climbed with great difficulty.

"Mr. Irapos. The honor is mine; we met at the last auction I’ve been to," Vivian greeted the man with a smile and a nod.

This Irapos the Marvel was none other than the Humanling (Halfling) auctioneer from the De Clare auction house from that night, the one who sold Vivian the painting of Morris de Brosa.

"Oh, you remember Irapos. How marvel!" The man said in a theatrical manner before noticing that Isabella was ending her speech. "Hurry, your hand."

"You’re the third to ask." Vivian offered Irapos her hand and looked toward Logan, whose face was a bit cringing before quickly averting her gaze.

"Runica!" The Humanling laid a spell on Vivian’s hand and then chanted a little bit before letting go; he then turned to her. "Once Lady Isabella introduces you, feel the Spellmark I put on you and say Chantatio."

"Chan..."

"Nope! Don’t say it just yet!"

Irapos stopped Vivian from making a mistake, and she immediately nodded.

"... and without further ado, I present to you the young lady who supported that genius vision from behind the scenes as she is the fittest one to introduce it. My Director of ViTech... as well as..."

"Not daughter-in-law! Not daughter-in-law!"

"... as well as my best friend in the whole wide world, Vivian Moore."

As Isabella pointed to the opposite side, all heads turned to heed her command, and then...

"Chantatio!"

Vivian spoke the word.

Just like Isabella, she was enveloped in an aura of glamorous light, a spotlight of her own. She felt that she was the most confident person in the world, and as she was going to speak, her voice felt like it was going to be heard far and wide.

"My favorite line from the Scripture of the Seven is the very first line in the Book of Athena: At the beginning, there was Darkness," Vivian said and looked across the crowd to finally spot the carriage of her father as he was stepping out from his carriage among the crowd to watch his daughter, she smiled and continued, "Then the Lord said, let there be Light."

Just like how she was enveloped in light, Professor Bellfield also received a spellmark from Irapos the Marvel and came into the spotlight as well. With his right, he reached out to the lever fixed on the wooden rail...

"And there was Light!"

Parker St. entered the annals of world history by being the first street to be lit by many light bulbs, and on top of both ViTech and Alba’s, two large boards were illuminated as well, each of them with the logo of their respective organization.

The light warmed the street, and the people looked in wonder as the street lamps, which were inactive for all that time, were now lighting up a strange color that filled the vision of many.

Lord Julian Moore watched the light bulb nearby, and a smile appeared on his face as he never even expected to be surprised half as much as he is now. Vivian brought light to the world even if she was only only a sponsor to the genius who made it.

The people cheered as Vivian announced the establishment of Professor Bellfield’s company. The servants who were already crowding the streets started opening the lids of the pots they carried, and a cold sensation came out as they served cones of pastries in the shape of a light bulb, made with a yellow ice cream ball covered in a sugar cone, courtesy of Isabella’s partnership with Vivian as business associates.

But the light cast in those streets didn’t only extend 100 meters wide or five stories tall; many people who had fallen to darkness came out to the light. Some with envy in their eyes, some holding a broken piece of a resistor from Vivian’s signboard, and some marching to snuff out this light before it is cast on their darkness.

Another man who was a victim of their darkness stood among the crowd, watching Vivian from the very beginning and not worshiping Isabella like the rest; he was disheveled, depressed, and reeking with alcohol.

He watched as Vivian spoke, and just the light Chantatio that enveloped her was enough to grasp him by the heart, but then the light that was cast on the world cleansed him from inside and burned the depression within him.

"Vivian... Bringer of Light!" he blurted.

From his pocket, he took out a silver-like coin, a special coin, a Mithril coin.

He held close to it, and for the first time in ten days, which felt like an eternity to the man who was once a respected member of the First Royal Academy’s faculty, the man felt like a part of him was put back in place.

Vivian, that child, a dear person to his heart. She brought him light in the deepest of his heart; now he will take that light, shape it into a blade, and then drive it into the dark heart of an empire.