Taming The Villainesses-Chapter 391: Friend (2)

“Eleven hundred one, eleven hundred two...”

As we descended the stairs, only Narmee’s voice softly echoed. The farther we went down, the more the musty mold and strange, unpleasant odors began to bother me.

“Two thousand five hundred twenty-two...”

The numbers Narmee muttered kept getting larger. I was sure we’d descended a considerable depth, but these stairs showed no sign of ending.

Why would anyone build such a deep staircase in this fortress? I didn’t know the reason, but if the imp’s soul was down here, I had no choice but to keep going.

“Phew, it's kinda chilly. Teo-gun, do you sense anything?”

At Stella’s question, I quieted my senses. Aside from the fact that the air really was quite cold, as she said, there wasn’t anything in particular I could detect.

Eventually, the bottom of the stairs came into view. What appeared before us was a door that looked rather solid and heavy.

There wasn’t any lock, but it seemed too hefty to push open with brute force.

Together, we shoved the door with all our strength. The long-abandoned iron door groaned with rust as it slowly budged backward.

Once we’d pushed it open, a pitch-black space loomed beyond. We lit up our surroundings with magic, revealing scattered tools and bones.

“A prison?”

I wasn’t sure who said it. But I agreed. This place felt like a prison. There were bars, manacles, shackles, and what looked like torture devices used on convicts.

Old bloodstains, dried and blackened over time, were smeared here and there, giving the place an eerie feeling. To think an imp might be in a place like this...

Narmee spoke.

“Looks like a bunch of people died here. And they were killed really horribly. Why did they kill so indiscriminately...?”

Born with the gift of spiritual sensitivity, Narmee seemed to be seeing and hearing things I couldn’t. As for me, all I could feel was a sense that it would be best to get out of here quickly.

Stella said,

“The Demon King Solomon, who fled all the way to this Gargarta Fortress, was being cornered. They say that’s when he began his brutal massacres. When people are driven into a corner, their true nature always comes out.”

So this place was Solomon’s final refuge.

I tried to imagine the Demon King as he wandered through here, but having never seen any portraits of him, it was hard to picture him clearly.

In any case, the important thing wasn’t where we were—it was where the imp was.

I hurriedly looked around.

A red-haired imp. If I could find him, help him pass on, and destroy the jar, that would lift the curse entirely—at least, that’s what they’d said.

Should I try calling out?

“Imp? Hey, are you here?”

Even as I said it, I thought I sounded like an idiot.

I should’ve at least given him a nickname beforehand.

But if just calling out like this were enough to summon him, we wouldn’t have had to wander the fortress for so long.

“Who called me?”

Rustle.

At that moment, a tuft of red hair popped out from the shadows. As his face slowly came into view, I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

So he really did show up when called.

“Oh, it’s you, Teo. I thought it was Master... guess not.”

He walked toward me, clearly disappointed. Then Stella asked,

“Teo-gun, is there something there?”

From her question, I understood—Stella couldn’t see the little imp. Despite him being so vividly present, he was invisible to her.

Strange.

Then Narmee spoke.

“I can see him only faintly. I can tell something is there, but the image is blurry. It kind of shimmers creepily.”

So in the end, the only ones who could properly see the imp were me and Mirna. He really was a ghost. That thought made me feel both chilled and sad.

An imp who died trapped inside a jar. But hadn’t they said Solomon treasured imps dearly?

That’s why imps like Marmar and Tartar still longed for the return of Demon King Solomon, hoping he would once again lead their lives.

To them, the Demon King wasn’t just a ruler—he was practically an object of faith, even worship. But that same figure had sealed this imp inside a jar and turned him into a curse.

Do Marmar and the others know about this? No... I doubt they do. This was all done in secret, deep underground.

My eyes wandered over to the jars scattered throughout this basement. They looked empty inside, but the fact that there were so many of them was horrifying in itself.

Then the imp said to me,

“More importantly, how did you get in here? I never told Master, and this was a secret passage only I knew!”

“I came looking for you. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

***

I found the imp more easily than expected and brought him up to the surface of the fortress. In the wide training yard, where a large bonfire was burning, I led him over. Mirna clapped her hands.

“As expected of Sir Teo. When you handle it, things get resolved in no time.”

It had felt almost too easy for me. But I soon realized that simply finding him was only the beginning.

What we really had to do wasn’t just find him—we had to help him pass on. So we brought the imp over to the jar near the bonfire.

“Hiiieeek...!!!”

The imp let °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° out a heartbreaking scream and began to tremble violently.

It was as if that jar was something horrifying and painful to him. He froze in place, clearly terrified.

Mirna said,

“We have to get the imp’s soul back into the jar. Sir Teo, I’ll grab the legs. You take the head.”

At her words, I grabbed the imp by the wrist. He screamed like a stray dog that had fled from years of abuse only to be caught again.

“Hiiieeek...!!! L-Let go! I don’t want to go near that thing! Someone help me! They’re trying to kill me! These imp-haters! You monsters!”

Seeing him flail like that filled me with pity.

He had finally escaped that cursed jar and roamed freely around the fortress... and now we were about to shove him back in and force an end to his tragic existence.

“Sir Teo, I think I know what you’re thinking. But letting the imp roam around freely like this is even more cruel. If too much time passes, he’ll eventually forget everything and truly become a vengeful spirit.”

Mirna’s words were pragmatic.

I looked back and forth between her, the imp, and the jar. Finally, I let out a long sigh and said,

“...I can’t do it.”

Just earlier, I’d condemned Solomon for mistreating imps.

But if I now forced this imp into a jar, even for the purpose of helping him pass on, wouldn’t I be no different from the old Demon King?

Besides, whenever I looked at him, I saw Marmar’s face overlapping with his. The face of a friend who always cheered me on. And putting him into that jar now just felt unforgivably wrong.

I knew it.

Letting emotions get in the way of action was foolish. Letting him wander aimlessly was worse than putting him in the jar and ending his painful life.

Then, Elga, who had been watching us with her arms crossed, said,

“What’s not working? Want me to do it? So where is this ‘imp’ anyway?”

She clearly couldn’t see the imp who was screaming right in front of her. Mirna let out a sigh at Elga’s oblivious tone.

“You can’t touch what you can’t see. Lady Leones, your energy is way too strong. There’s no way you’d be able to see or touch a ghost.”

“Having strong energy is a compliment in House Leones, you know.”

“Which is exactly why you can’t do it. Anyway, I figured Sir Teo would hesitate. You’re an imp-lover, after all. But we don’t have to force him into the jar—there is another way.”

At Mirna’s words, hope lit up in me.

“What can we do?”

“Fortunately, this imp’s soul is surprisingly clear, with little resentment. That means we can communicate with him. It’s possible we can find a way to help him pass on.”

“To help him pass on... does that mean we just need to resolve whatever lingering regret he has?”

At my question, Mirna’s eyes widened.

“You’re really well-informed. That’s one of the secret techniques we don’t usually teach to just anyone.”

Her surprise surprised me even more. Helping a ghost let go of their regrets to pass on was a fairly common method... Was that not the case in this world?

Every now and then, I’m reminded that the people of this world live by very different rules than I did. But that wasn’t the important part now.

I had the jar moved far enough away that the imp couldn’t see it. As we did, the imp’s trembling gradually began to subside.

“You guys are awful! What is that thing? I don’t know what it is, but don’t ever bring it near me again!”

The imp looked furious at us for showing him that terrible object. Did he really not know what it was? From the way he was acting, it seemed he didn’t even realize he was already dead.

Telling someone like that, “You died a long time ago, and now it’s time to pass on,” wasn’t going to be easy. So I asked,

“Hey, Imp. Is there anything you want to do? Anything you want to eat, maybe? I messed up earlier, so as an apology... I’ll grant you one wish.”

“......”

He glared at me intensely. I guess he was still holding a grudge about what just happened.

From what I’ve seen, imps are a lot like cats—hard to gain their trust, easy to lose it.

“...I can really say anything?”

But this one was a little different. He didn’t have a horn on his forehead like Marmar. Imps like that tended to be more innocent and kind. He probably was, too.

“You really mean anything? You have to promise on your tail.”

Swish.

The imp held out his star-shaped tail.

In return, I extended the heart-shaped tail I’d been keeping from Marmar. The two tails curled toward each other, like pinkies locking in a promise.

The imp said,

“A heart-shaped tail is pretty rare. Where’d you get it? You didn’t yank it off another imp or something, right? Like what happened to me?”

“No, it was a gift. From a friend.”

“A friend...”

The imp murmured softly. Then, as if something had come to mind, he said,

“I thought of something I want! Teo, bring your ear close.”

Then, the imp whispered something into my ear.

“...You’re sure that’s what you want?”