The rchant.
In the original work, he appeared alongside the Monarch and Baob, forming the trio of top villains.
He was a powerhouse who gripped the empire's black market with an iron fist—dealing in slave auctions, drug trafficking, contract killings, and more.
At the sa ti, because he frequently hunted beastkin, he naturally stood at direct odds with the fox.
To Irene in particular, the rchant was no different from a mortal enemy—the one who burned her entire hotown to the ground.
He was the very person who planted deep distrust toward humans in her heart.
‘He was filthy.’
A true "adult."
Or more precisely, a figure who embodied the very end of corruption.
He chased after money, treated the world as re material, and preferred to crush others underfoot rather than speak with them.
To him, there was no understanding, no sympathy, no rcy.
If there was any standard by which he divided good and evil, it was simply: "Does it make money?"
That innate nature had allowed the man to reach the top.
—If money had a demon, it would surely be him.
—He answers only to gold.
—And who could strip greed from the devil himself?
Such were the musings of an NPC.
It was a passage that perfectly encapsulated the rchant’s character.
If you could sculpt the concept of capital into a demon, it would look like him.
His overwhelming wealth allowed him to command the slums and maintain private armies like his “Hounds.”
He was deeply connected to various noble families too.
Perhaps because of all that—
even within the original story, the reception toward him was notably bitter.
[Category: General Forum]
[Title: rchant ← Every ti this guy appears, I get super uncomfortable]
It just hits way too close to ho.
Like, the Monarch and the Cultists do horrible stuff too, but at least it feels fantasy-ish—
like ruling with an iron fist, creating human WMDs, trying to end the world...
It’s villainy you can kind of roll with.
But the rchant ← He’s different.
The stuff he does could actually happen sowhere in real life.
Collusion between business and politics, cartels, drug trafficking, human trafficking...
Thinking about how this could really be happening sowhere out there just makes feel gross.
[Yeah, I’ve felt the sa.]
→ Definitely uncomfortable.
→ But in a way, that’s what makes him a morable villain.
→ He knows how to use money properly—too properly.
[He might be super unlikable, but the character is really well made.]
→ The devs said they designed him to be "a villain who makes you uncomfortable the more you understand money."
→ So even the unpleasantness was intentional, huh.
→ Honestly, the quality is insane.
→ Setting aside how annoying it is, it’s still a masterpiece.
→ Nah, even with that, it’s a masterpiece.
[A truly ‘grown-up’ character.]
→ Probably the most extre example of reflecting adult corruption.
→ If he were "grown-up" in a different way, he probably would've been super popular.
→ Maybe give him a gender-bend potion, lol.
[Seeing the rchant make players uncomfortable really makes you realize again how insane the Headmaster is...]
→ Headmaster GOAT of "uncomfortable" villains.
→ No contest.
→ Damn it, I was just about to sleep, and then I thought of the Headmaster again. Now I have to chant. Even though I know it’ll wake up. It's the duty of those who've seen the Headmaster. I hereby renounce my support—no, my entire relationship—with the Headmaster... (trails off)
→ God, this dude’s post is way too long.
→ Does he think the comnt section is his personal blog or what?
→ Good ol’ academy humor, lol.
A villain that showed the true depths of depravity.
Especially in the Fox’s backstory episodes, the rchant had shone with revolting brilliance.
For those who had Irene as their favorite character, it had been unbearable to watch.
The cruelty driven by money and greed was just that cold.
[Category: General Forum]
[Title: I Can’t Watch the Fox Side Story]
Irene’s my favorite, but I couldn’t handle seeing her suffer like that.
She got tricked and betrayed by the rchant.
Her village was completely burned down.
The teacher she relied on was killed.
The surviving adults were sold off to various places.
Even the little kids she tried to protect were taken from her.
At first, I thought maybe she'd get the kids back later in the story.
But no—
They were all already dead.
And the ways they died were horrific: abuse, torture, taxidermy, being butchered... just hearing it was sickening.
It was the first ti I’d ever seen Irene fall into that deep of despair in the story.
Too depressing. I’m dropping the side story.
[Tough stuff.]
→ Yeah, if you don’t have a high pain tolerance for grimdark, you can’t handle it.
→ At least it’s a side story, so it doesn’t affect the main plot.
→ No point getting stressed over a ga that's supposed to be fun.
[The rchant is honestly a f*cking bastard.]
→ Solidarity with the Irene fans.
→ “My daughter’s being hurt!”
→ Ti to go take the rchant’s head off!
[Wait, one of the dead kids was butchered? What the hell??]
→ Apparently, in the lore, fox beastkin at was considered a delicacy in the black market.
→ The rumor spread, so the demand grew.
→ That’s ssed up...
→ Turns out it wasn’t even that good, according to a review by a “gourt.”
→ Still unbelievably gross though.
[Also, wasn't it the rchant who started that rumor?]
→ ???
→ Seriously?
→ Yep. It was confird in one of the new lore videos.
→ If it’s from that guy, it’s basically half-official at this point.
→ Jesus, that’s disgusting...
A man who scraped the very bottom of human nature.
Ironically, that’s why the character was praised as being so well-crafted.
His pure, unfiltered greed showed what a truly compromised adult could look like.
That was the general consensus.
Of course, craftsmanship or whatever—
none of that mattered to right now.
To , he was nothing more than a death row inmate.
I smiled faintly.
‘You dared to look down on people, didn’t you.’
Those bastards who attacked the Academy on a whim.
I had already trampled Vanity.
Now it was the rchant’s turn.
As for Baob...
he was still hidden in the mist, so tracking him would take a bit longer.
But even he was already as good as caught.
I had a full grasp of his movents.
‘The rchant's a slippery bastard, though.’
The rchant was sharp enough to have surely already started preparing his escape.
After the collapse of the Vanity family had been officially announced, ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) he must have sensed that the situation was turning strange.
He was probably planning to flee to another continent.
He had taken a similar course of action in the original work as well.
‘Like hell you will.’
Of course, I had no intention of letting him go.
If I incurred a debt, I was the type to make sure it got repaid.
And once a person makes a promise, they ought to keep it, shouldn’t they?
—Let’s leave it to your imagination.
—What kind of price you’ll be forced to pay.
He was already a rat trapped inside a jar.
Any struggle he made now would be aningless—he was already caught in the snare.
Who could possibly stop the march of judgnt?
The connections he had built up among noble houses?
‘Please.’
What of it?
I had the Emperor at my back.
After the execution order against Vanity, the authority of the imperial house stood higher than ever.
The nobles had been thoroughly reminded that even the most ancient of houses could be wiped out overnight if the Emperor so wished.
In tis like these, when the blade was still freshly sharpened, no house would dare to openly oppose the Emperor’s will.
With a sneer curling my lips, I thought to myself:
‘If he wanted to fight using his connections... he should’ve brought more to the table.’
There is no deviation when it cos to punishnt.
In life, all things ultimately return to justice.
The price of wrongdoings would surely be paid to evil itself.
We would approach him in the manner he was most familiar with:
Not with conversation—
but by crushing him.
“Now then.”
I turned lightly and looked back.
Standing there, cloaked in white, was a girl.
Orange hair fluttered in the restless spring wind.
The fox stood firm in her place.
“Shall we, Irene?”
Behind her eyes, a venomous gleam flickered.
Her clenched fist trembled faintly, carrying the emotions she had yet to voice.
But even so, her atmosphere was calm—
the chill radiating from her spoke volus of how much she had grown.
I extended my hand.
“To our night.”
The fox stood silent for a mont.
Then, as if she had sorted through her thoughts, she nodded quietly.
Our hands intertwined, fingers lacing together so they wouldn’t co apart.
“Yeah. It’s sothing that must be done.”
“This is your story, Irene.”
“For the teacher who passed away, the adults we lost, the children we couldn't save, and—”
“And?”
Her gaze was resolute.
Like a winter that would never bend again.
“...And for .”
Fwoosh—
a small spark danced in the darkness.
Her jet-black pupils captured fully and clearly.
I smiled back, answering that unyielding will.
A tribute to soone who had risen above despair.
“May the stars always be with you.”
The night fell, deep and black as pitch.
It was ti for the adults' reckoning.
***
A spring night so still it seed frozen over.
And in the faint light, two figures walked through it.
One was a boy with narrowed eyes, wrapped in a black coat.
The other was a fox girl, cloaked in white.
Their steady footsteps cut across the silent city streets.
Step, step.
Through the blurring haze of the mist, a massive building began to rise into view.
For a place built so far from the city center, it was obscenely lavish.
The boy, with a nostalgic smile, muttered:
“It’s been a long ti. Seems like nothing’s changed.”
“...Yeah. Hard to believe how little has changed.”
Their gazes lingered on the building’s grandeur.
It was the Apple Tree.
The empire’s largest illegal slave auction house.
Operated by none other than the “rchant,” one of the underground’s most notorious figures.
It was also the setting where certain key stories had first begun.
The two of them moved toward the grand entrance.
“Then... shall we let them know?”
The Apple Tree.
Once, it was the prison where the fox had been trapped—
a space that reeked of hatred.
And yet, it was also where she had first t the snake.
Where a miracle had blood inside a cage.
Irene clenched her hand tighter.
The cold steel glint in her eyes shimred like a star.
“Let’s show them. That the runaway has co ho.”
The two stepped forward.
Toward the past that still burned vividly in their hearts.
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