Foolish Villainess

Chapter 20

"A fool who follows a fool despite knowing they're a fool is still a fool."
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"Hey! When we grow older, let's meet here again!" The dirty haired girl smiled widely as her hair fluttered in the wind, the background of the flower field made it all the more like a dream.

"Hm? What's my name? Well, you'll have to find out the next time we meet!" The little girl twirled around as she landed on her butt and started to pick flowers.

"Makes sure to never forget me okay? I'll give you this then." As she placed the flower crown around his neck, she also handed him a butterfly clip. Although he would never use it, he'd cherish it forever.

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The male stared blankly at the clip in his palm, even though it's been so many years since then, he still wants to meet her again. She sweeps away the bad memories from his childhood.

Shaking the thought off, the commander placed the clip into his jacket. Maybe it was because it was close to the anniversary of their first meeting, but he couldn't help but remember the girl from his younger years.

Suddenly, a urgent knock come from the door.

"Come in."

Still a little distracted from his reminiscing, he answered half heartedly. The guard that knocked saluted the commander as he started talking.

"Sir, there have been reports of assaults that have been happening as of late."

Although assaults were bad, it wasn't like it was uncommon. So, the commander wondered why it had to be reported to him so urgently.

"The situations around them are....mysterious per se. The reports say that the assaults occur whenever, even when there's a crowd or in day light."

That had him out of his trance. He didn't give his full attention though, worse case scenario it was all just a orchestrated scheme by the higher ups again.

"It's said that the people that witness it didn't try to help at all, but just stood and watched or carried on with this tasks. We asked them why, but they all just answered because they didn't want to help. It seems these incidents aren't caused by artifacts."

Artifacts. They are objects that, depending on what kind they are, have a different mysterious effect. They have restrictions though, either only being able to be used a certain amounts of times a day, or breaking after one use, it depends on the rarity of the artifact.

There were magic artifacts that allowed for attack, mainly used by the army and knights. Communication artifacts used mostly by aristocrats since their versatility market them a high price.

Miracle artifacts are rare, but allows the owner to create one miracle, like wishing for infinite water or bringing someone back to life. Again, they're very rare, having only been discovered 3 times in history.

What the guard was most likely talking about is a hypnosis artifact, it has a very specific effect as it only allows the user to control people and nothing else, but in exchange, it has a large effect radius and can be used multiple times a day.

"You're saying that they didn't care if a person was assaulted right in front of them? And what symptoms did they show to not be classified as hypnotized?"