Reborn As The Minor Villain In A Romance Fantasy Novel

Chapter 244: To New Avalon [I]

[A Week Later...]

"Ha ah~" Vanessa stretched and yawned as they drove to the airport.

They weren’t going to a regular airport though.

The Council had decided to let them use a private airport and plane, and currently they were on their way there which Lucius found funny since he had offended the council greatly the last time... It was like they had decided to let bygones be bygones and honestly he liked the sound of that.

’Finally, some peace,’ Lucius thought, gripping the steering wheel with one hand while the other rested casually on the center console.

"Finally, I’m not the one driving." Vanessa said with visible relief in her voice.

They were in one of the other cars that had come with the mansion and had to squeeze the girls in it.

Sure, Lucius could teleport them there, but he had wanted a very normal drive to the airport and they obliged.

It felt... human and ordinary in a way that his life rarely was these days.

Vanessa sat at the front with Villy on her lap. The dwarven lady did not take any offense, though her short legs dangled comically as she peered out the windshield with wide eyes.

The back seat was a lot more crowded.

Elara, Luna and Emilia sat back there, packed in like sardines.

Emilia seemed to be in the middle of nagging Elara about something while Luna sat close to the door with headphones around her ears, humming along to a song.

It was pretty lively in the car and their voices were overlapping in a chaotic but somehow comfortable way.

The morning sun streamed through the windows, casting everything in warm golden light.

Just then a can fell from the top of the car and the tire crunched it with a hiss.

The metallic crunch made everyone wince.

Lucius immediately punched the ceiling of the car, hard enough to make the metal dent slightly.

"What did I tell you about throwing junk down?!" Lucius let out, glaring upward as if he could see through the roof.

As for who was at the top of this car and accompanying them... it was Minerva, and she was accompanying them to New Avalon city too.

On the night after he had taken Vanessa to the hotel, she popped up in front of the mansion gates and asked to stay with them.

So far, it seemed her parents had gone back to Skyline city, and all in all, Lucius never wanted to see her father, Jura, again.

The reason she was currently at the top of the car was that there was no space inside for her.

’Could’ve made her sit in the trunk,’ Lucius thought dryly, then immediately dismissed it. Even he wasn’t that cruel.

"Sorry!" Minerva’s muffled voice came from above, sounding genuinely apologetic.

Seeing a path in the small traffic around the freeway, he swerved the car to the right, entering another lane and sped up.

It was practically a free zone from here on out.

A few cars were moving around but there was enough space in between them to not hold him back, so he pressed his foot down on the gas regardless.

The engine roared in response, and Lucius felt that familiar thrill of speed course through him.

"So what are you girls planning to do for our vacation?" He asked as he kept driving, pressing his foot down on the gas even more.

The speedometer needle crept higher. "You can start, Vanessa."

Vanessa let out a sigh immediately, her shoulders dropping as if releasing a week’s worth of tension.

"I just want to relax... away from every bit of Guild work, and maybe go to the beach and swim." She said, her voice taking on a dreamy quality.

Northcrest didn’t have a beach, and neither did the capital, Aurelia.

Even if some other towns or cities had them, they were mostly ferry docks with murky water and industrial equipment.

Nothing like the pristine shores New Avalon was famous for.

"But my main goal for this vacation is to relax." Vanessa added, emphasizing each word.

Lucius nodded, understanding completely. The woman had been running herself ragged with Guild paperwork and administrative duties... She deserved this.

Then he glanced at the GPS. He was getting closer to their target destination. Another few minutes at this speed, which was enough time to finish the conversation he had already started.

"Villy... what about you?" He asked, glancing down at the dwarf woman perched on Vanessa’s lap.

"My goal in New Avalon city is to protect you, my lord." Villy said with absolute seriousness, her small hand resting on the pommel of the dagger at her belt.

Then her expression shifted, excitement bleeding through her professional demeanor.

"However, I have another goal as well... one of my favorite thrillers was shot there. I would like to see the set as well."

Lucius used one hand to pat the dwarf woman on the head, feeling her lean into the touch like a pleased cat.

"We’ll make time for that." He promised.

"What about you, Emilia?"

"Me? I’m a very simple woman..." Emilia’s voice came from the back seat, and Lucius could already hear the grin in it. "I want to go to the beach and see bountiful breasts in bikinis—"

Before she could even finish what she was saying, a chop made of space hit her head and made her recoil.

"Owww." Emilia whined, rubbing the spot where the spatial attack had landed.

"Pervert..." Lucius muttered, shaking his head. "Elara, what about you?"

"Me? I’m perfectly okay with doing whatever Master finds comfortable." Elara said while twiddling her thumbs, her voice soft and deferential.

But Emilia immediately grabbed onto her thighs, squeezing hard enough to make Elara yelp.

"Stop saying that as if you don’t want to wear a very obscene bikini to impress him..." Emilia said, her voice dripping with accusation.

The two girls began cat-fighting, their voices rising in pitch as they bickered and swatted at each other.

The car rocked slightly from their movements.

Lucius sighed but couldn’t help the small smile that was on his lips.

He turned to Luna, who had lifted one ear from her headphones, her eyes meeting his in the rearview mirror.

"What about you? What do you want to do in New Avalon city?"

"Me?" She asked, then nodded thoughtfully. "I want to relax with you of course..."

There was a pause, and Lucius could see her expression shift to being completely focused... she had a similar face to Vanessa when she was focused.

"But at the same time... I want to check the drone parts available in that country. I’m almost done setting up the warehouse and we’ve begun the new batches of drones..." Luna continued, her fingers tapping against her thigh as if already calculating costs and logistics.

Lucius nodded quickly and then sighed, his gaze flicking upward toward the roof of the car.

"What about you, Minerva... what do you hope to gain from this trip?"

The car was silent for a bit as they waited for the girl at the top of the car to answer.

Wind whistled overhead, and Lucius could imagine her up there, clinging to the roof rack with her enhanced strength while her hair whipped around her face.

She answered shortly after, her voice slightly muffled but clear enough.

"I want to learn more about human cultures." She spoke, and there was genuine curiosity in her tone.

Just then, Lucius finally cut into a lane.

The road opened up before them, leading to what looked like a Council building the way the walls were crowded around it.

It had high concrete barriers, guard towers... the works.

Security was tight too, as he expected.

He slowed down as they approached the gates, armed guards stepping forward with weapons at the ready.

"Let us through..." Lucius said while lowering the driver’s seat window.

One of the guards leaned down, checking his face against something on a tablet. Recognition flashed across the man’s features, followed by what might have been nervousness.

The gates were soon opened, heavy metal sliding aside with a mechanical groan.

Lucius drove past and parked in one of the car parks, the tires crunching against pristine asphalt. Once each and every one of them got out, they were each able to see a jet in the distance.

It wasn’t too far from their position.

The jet was completely black and beautiful, its surface gleaming like polished obsidian in the morning sun.

It had sleek white lines for design, swept-back wings, and what looked like state-of-the-art everything.

’That’s... excessive,’ Lucius thought, though he had to admit it was impressive.

The doors parted open and out came the stairs.

A singular human woman descended them, her long flowing black hair catching the light like silk. She wore an elegant dress that probably cost more than most people’s cars made of dark fabric that complemented her hair perfectly.

She came down and waved to them elegantly, her movements practiced and refined.

All the girls, including Minerva who had jumped down from the car roof, and Lucius approached her.

The woman’s heels clicked against the stairs as she reached the bottom, and up close, Lucius could see she was probably in her mid-twenties.

Beautiful in that polished, political way that screamed wealth and power.

Her eyes were sharp though, assessing each of them in turn before settling on Lucius.

"Welcome to the Aurelia GC300." The woman said, gesturing gracefully toward the magnificent jet behind her. "And I am the President’s daughter."

She took a small bow before them, the gesture was perfectly measured meaning that it wasn’t too deep neither was it too shallow.

"My name is Amber Aurelia and I hope to be of service to you, Sir Lucius von Hohenberg."

’Ah, she really doesn’t look anything like that bastard.’ Lucius thought.

The President of the country was a pot-bellied bastard and short too, while she was taller than the average woman. Maybe it was because she was wearing heels, but still. The genetics didn’t seem to match at all.

However, she also gave off some aura as well. It showed that she was quite dangerous but not a threat to someone like him.

More like a viper that knew better than to strike at a dragon.

"I assure you that my goal here is to guide and ensure that all of you have a very good time over in New Avalon." She said, her voice smooth and practiced.

Then she gestured to the car that they had come in, bowing slightly.

"This is private Council property and so therefore, your car and other belongings you entrust with us before your departure will be completely safe."

All of the girls shrugged and Lucius did the same.

He had invited Alexia and Esme to come as well, but both had declined for their own reasons.

Alexia would have liked to come but she was busy working on a report about a very serious incident that happened in a city far from the capital. Something about mass casualties and potential terrorist activity.

He really couldn’t care much about it as it was not his problem, at least not right now.

While Esme simply declined because she didn’t like flights since they made her very sick, and that she would wait for him to return before they watched more horror series together.

The woman had gotten surprisingly attached to their movie nights.

Amber nodded at them as she turned around while still on heels and began ascending the staircase connecting to the main hatch of the private jet.

Her movements were graceful despite the steep angle and the moment she got there, the hatch opened automatically and everyone got inside.

The interior was immediately impressive and as soon as they got inside, the hatch closed and then began spinning even more to lock with a series of heavy mechanical clicks.

"This is the lower floor of the jet... and it is one of the strongest parts of it as well." Amber said as they began walking.

She led them through a short corridor before they climbed a flight of stairs, reaching the Command cabin.

There was a pilot completely absorbed in checking out all of the buttons before launch, his hands moving over the controls with efficiency.

Beside him was an orb that was lodged in the dashboard though it was deactivated making its surface dull and lifeless.

"Dasher..." The Princess said and the pilot immediately rose up, saluting at all of them.

"Welcome everyone to the Aurelia GC300! I am honored to be flying such a wonderful plane for such wonderful ladies and a fine man!" He saluted sharply, his voice booming with enthusiasm.

He was an older man, maybe in his fifties, with graying hair and laugh lines around his eyes.

"I will make sure that this plane does not crash."

’Well, that’s reassuring.’ Lucius thought dryly.

And then the pilot returned to the panel and continued checking the buttons, his fingers dancing across switches and dials.

Finally he pulled his head back, satisfied with whatever he’d been verifying.

"I’m ready to launch." He said.

Luna pulled back her headphones completely, letting them rest around her neck.

"How long will it take us to get over to New Avalon?" She asked, her eyes focused intently on the pilot.

The pilot saluted once more, apparently unable to help himself.

"It will only be about three hours." He said, then added with a grin. "The space between both countries are not as far as they are on the map. We’ll be taking a direct route, cutting through some restricted airspace that only Council jets are allowed in."

He reached forward and pulled back on a specific lever.

Immediately the jet began to light up, magical circuits running along the walls and ceiling like glowing veins and the entire aircraft glowed.

It slowly began moving, rolling forward with surprising smoothness.

Lucius looked out the window and noticed in the direction the jet was facing, it served as a runway.

It was long and straight, stretching out toward the horizon. The jet began moving faster, slowly tearing forward and gaining momentum with each passing second.

The engines roared louder, and Lucius could feel the acceleration pressing him back slightly.

Just as it looked like they were going to crash into the barrier at the end of the runway, the pilot pulled another lever upward and tapped on a set of buttons in rapid succession.

Electricity began crackling as blue-white arcs danced across the wings.

Then the plane took off at amazing speed, leaving a burst of mana behind that kicked up dust and debris in a spectacular display.

The ground fell away rapidly, and within seconds they were hundreds of feet in the air and climbing fast.

The force of the ascent pressed everyone back, and Lucius gripped the nearest support rail.

’This is definitely not a normal plane,’ he thought, watching the landscape shrink below them. ’Hmm? I should buy a private jet too.’