Chapter 4: Evil Worthy of a Villain
MIA was sitting in the living room alone, glued to the television screen. She was watching a superhero live-action series that was broadcast every Sunday morning. She had yet to miss recording an episode.
On the screen, there were five Champions of Justice and one villain. As the villain briskly waved his hand, his henchmen appeared and engaged the Champions of Justice in battle.
“Ah, henchmen! I wish I had them too.”
Unfortunately, Supreme Ruler of Evil Mia Oonari was on her own in her conquest. Those who swore loyalty to her family and Gealach over the ages had slowly died off in wars against the Champions of Justice.
She wished she could conjure up some henchmen with her magic, but she didn’t even know where to begin thinking up an image for that… The knowledge provided by her ancestors on how to conjure up minions, along with the numerous contracts made with ancient dragons sleeping on Gaea, and eldritch beasts from beyond the void, were all supposedly lost in one of Gealach’s many secret lairs when they all burnt down one after another.
Without guidance, Mia couldn’t even imagine what shape she should give her minions, how they would move, or what kind of attacks they would use. Deciding on each of these things, and then creating her underlings based on that—the thought of all that work alone filled her with fatigue.
“Oh well, unlike that villain, I have my magical powers. Now I just have to put them to good use and get rid of those pests!”
Of the things she could’ve done, the other day she ended up visiting her enemies’ base and was treated to coffee and shortcake that tasted like happiness, but she only went as a favor to Aya, nothing more.
Next time, I’m definitely going to get them! Mia swore to herself, clenching a fist, and returned her undivided attention to the screen.
There, the battle between the forces of evil and the Champions of Justice had reached its end. Of course, it had been the latter that emerged victorious. However, Mia was only watching the show to study up on what being a ‘villain’ was all about, so she didn’t care much about who won and who lost. In other words, she was only preoccupied with the concept of ‘evil’.
Her father used to say that they were ‘evil’. The position of the Supreme Ruler of the evil organization known as Gealach had been passed down from one generation to the next, and Mia was the one occupying it now.
“We must purposely don the title of evil and conquer the world in order to protect this blue planet, even if that means being resented by humanity as a whole.” Father’s words rang clear in her mind.
They were evil, therefore they were resented. That much she could understand. But Mia never wanted to upset or trouble people, or make them cry. She didn’t want anyone to hate her. She had a nagging suspicion that, maybe, she hadn’t been able to fully embrace being ‘evil’ yet.
That did not bode well. Her Father had entrusted her with the fate of their evil organization. To carry on the legacy of the one whom she respected and loved so much, she had to work hard and be the ‘evil’ he would’ve wanted her to be.
The episode was still playing in the background, with the villains now back in their hideout. What an eerie place! Should she try to redecorate so that her room looked the part?
The woman who was the villains’ leader broke into an insane grin.
“We have to perpetrate even more evil deeds! And then, we shall harvest Deviling Stones from human souls!”
Deviling Stones were an item often mentioned in this series. Apparently, you could take over the world if you gathered enough of them. Unfortunately, in real life, there were no Deviling Stones. Mia couldn’t help but wish there were some easily distinguishable items that she could collect to complete her world conquest.
If only her great-great-great-great-grandpappy, Supreme Ruler of Evil Omni-Dark had succeeded in raising his army of fish warriors. With the world’s fish supply on her side, she would have a nearly unbeatable army of minions and could definitely take over the world with their help. Bemoaning the fact that there were no items or minions wasn’t going to solve anything.
“’Perpetrate evil deeds’, huh…”
Evil deeds. On the show, the typical examples of those would be villains hijacking a school bus and abducting the kindergarteners inside, alighting in a park and attacking innocent people, brainwashing girls and boys to do their bidding, or cornering someone and tormenting them with no real purpose other than to spread misery.
Mia, though, had no wish to do such things. Something deep inside her heart wouldn’t allow her to.
“Hm, maybe I should start from, uh, more mundane evil deeds. If I ease myself into it, in time I should be able to graduate to performing grander evil deeds. I don’t really want to, but if I avoid hardening my heart, I will only ever amount to a half-fledged Supreme Ruler of Evil unworthy of my family name,” she breathed a great sigh. But then, exclaimed, “I must not fall into negative thinking!” She hurriedly shook her head, and bolstered her resolve.
“All right! I shall begin by performing the smallest of evil deeds. I don’t have anything specific in mind, but I could just ask other people to weigh in. Yes, that sounds excellent!”
Having thus rallied her thoughts on the matter, Mia nodded to herself and skipped off to take a bath.
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WASTING no time in pursuing her newest idea, Mia started questioning her classmates the following day.
“Evil deeds? Why are you asking about that?”
“Err, no reason. I was just thinking: is there anything that could be considered an evil deed that we come in contact with in our daily lives?”
Mia was trying hard to pretend that it was just some idle small talk to her. Her unsuspecting classmate hummed and tilted her head to the side, considering the question for a moment. She raised her index finger, indicating she figured it out.
“It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the boys that you’re regularly getting into fights with… Well the things they get up to come to mind. At least I think what they do would count as an evil deed.”
Mia remembered the school delinquents and had to agree with her classmate. Extortion, bullying, pushing weaker students around, aggressively hitting on girls who aren’t interested… Mia scrunched up her face in distaste. She couldn’t possibly bring herself to do any of those debased things. She was definitely a loftier kind of ‘evil’ than that. Besides, there was no way she could achieve the glorious ambition of world conquest by engaging in such petty acts of villainy.
“Umm, isn’t there anything else you can think of? Like an evil deed that anyone would be capable of doing?”
“Hmm, let me think… Hey, what exactly counts as a bad deed anyone can do?” her classmate called out to a boy who passed them in the classroom.
He widened his eyes, taken aback by the sudden question, and inclined his neck. “A bad thing anyone can do…? Smoking or drinking, that sorta thing? It’s illegal. Oh, and shoplifting!”
“Shoplifting?! S-Stealing will not do! Smoking and drinking, on the other hand… That would indeed constitute as a mundane evil deed.”
The boy looked at Mia, who folded her arms approvingly, and shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, if you think about it, in the end anything that disturbs other people is bad, isn’t it? Be it something that will get you into trouble with the police or something your parents might scold you for.”
“Indeed, it’s as you said. Yes, that was a very interesting point of view. My thanks!”
Mia bowed her head to her fellow students in gratitude. They raised their eyebrows in surprise at first, and then burst into laughter.
“You’re such a weirdo, Mia! What got you so interested in this topic?”
“Um. Ah, er, it’s just something I was thinking about lately… Plain curiosity, nothing more!”
“Well, considering your almost daily run-ins with the school bullies, no wonder you’re getting concerned about ‘evil deeds’ and the like.”
Uproarious laughter filled the classroom. Listening to that merry sound, Mia was secretly glad that she found a new way to tackle her problem, and happily pumped her fist.