"You're that villain brother," The kid said excitedly.
"Why do you say that?" Instead of feeling offended, Ares could feel the kid was more curious about him being a villain.
"Because you looked cool!" The kid exclaimed and his face was beaming with excitement.
'Shouldn't kids like him like heroes or superheroes the most? Why did this kid seem like he liked the villains more?'
Ares knew children most of the time were innocents like blank canvas thus he didn't think it was weird when he was seen as a villain based on his appearance and during their first meeting, he was even surrounded by floating weapons.
But the kid in front of him has the opposite reaction than what he thought normal kids would do when they met a villain.
"Shouldn't you run away when you meet a villain?" Ares asked curiously.
"Eh why? Villains are cool," the kid seemed to be confused and so did Ares.
"Because the villain will kill you?" Ares said uncertainly.
"Do villain brother want to kill me?"
"No."
"So why should I run?"
'Right? That's a good question-hey wait, why did I feel like I'm being led by this kid's logic'
"But don't kid always like the Guardians the most?" Ares asked.
Ares knew in this world, that all the heroes are called Guardians since the term *Hero itself didn't exist here.
*(The word hero derives from the Greek term "heros" meaning demi-god. A demi-god is one who possesses more power than a mortal being but is not quite a god. )
*(It's a different world with different languages thus the term Hero didn't exist)
"But villains seem smarter than Guardians that's why they always pitted the Guardians" the kid answered excitedly.
'That kind of true though. In movies, weren't the villains always concocted multi-layer schemes and the heroes just counterattacked?'
As someone not eloquent enough to even persuade himself, Ares decided to just accept the kid's logic as it is.
"But aren't villains always lose at the end?" It was a fact that Ares was most familiar with since he was currently possessing the body of a future villain that was destined to die.
"That's because all the movie directors are stupid. Why don't they make a more logical ending," the boy said seemingly fuming.
'Whose child is this? Why do I feel like the way he thinks is a little bit 'unique'?'
To be honest, unique is an understatement. The current Ares felt like there must be a reason why this kid thinks that way.
While they were talking to each other, a man suddenly called out a name while running toward them.
"Hamsyar why are you recklessly walking around this place-" before he managed to finish his sentence, he abruptly stopped after seeing Ares.
Even though he was a poor commoner, he had been to a few of the lesser noble houses to work and from his experience, he immediately knew Ares was obviously on another level compared to those nobles despite him wearing only a pair of white long sleeves shirt and a black tight fitted pant.
Looking slightly at the red hair, he blurted out, "Y,young master-"
While he still pondering on what else to say, his son's words made him almost get a heart attack.
"Oh so *Baba know this villain brother?"
*(Baba: Father)
He already told his son to call anyone he found young master or master but his son called the other person 'villain brother' instead. He immediately felt nervous.
'It's already the end of me. It's either I'm going to be thrown to jail or one of my hands might be decapitated or it might be my neck instead.'
His face turned ghastly pale while his son remained ignorant.
Ares could guess who this man was and he knew why the man remained quiet as if contemplating serious things about his life choice.
"Kid I have a name," Ares said eventually.
"Oh, I also have a name. My name is Hamsyar. So what is your name, villain brother?" The kid asked innocently.
"Hamsyar you can't say that to young master" the man suddenly said in a low voice.
"Oh, so villain brother's name is a young master. How do you know Baba?"
"Interesting..."Ares muttered but unknowingly it made the man who was already nervous to almost have a mental breakdown.
He quickly kneeled on the ground and bow his head as low as he could, "I'm sorry for failing to discipline my son. I will take any punishment you give me."
"Hmm, what's your name?"
Hearing the unexpected question he was a bit stunned before managing to utter a reply, "My name is Ghaffar Mosli and this is my son Hamsyar Ghaffar."
'Oh, it seems not everyone in this world has a last name huh. Just like my previous world but where did I hear that name before?'
Ares didn't think it was weird since in his previous life, he already met a lot of people that have unique naming traditions or styles, and not having a surname isn't weird.
*(PS: The author also doesn't have a surname because it wasn't a tradition in his culture. You can google to see which country or people didn't have/use surnames or last names)
He had encountered people like Hamsyar many times. Just like Hamsyar, Ghaffar uses his father's name which makes his full name Ghaffar Mosli.
A sudden realization struck Ares when he looked back at Hamsyar who was still looking at his dad on the ground with a confused face.
"Young master, my Baba is not a Guardian so why is he bowing down at you?"
"So you want Guardians to bow down at the villains?" Ares asked.
"Because villains are smart. You bow down when you lost"
"Hamsyar...." Ghaffar sounded hopeless with his son.
"So what is your Baba's job if he's not a Guardian?"
"Baba clean people's house and get money"
"I see...."
Ghaffar already resigned to whatever his fate would become.
"I just buy a house so come to this place tomorrow. Bring your son along" Ares said to Ghaffar after giving a piece of paper to Hamsyar.
"Is your house big, young master?" Hamsyar asked while Ghaffar felt like he wanted to cry.
"I think so"
"Oh alright. I will also help Baba clean the house so will I also get money?"
"Sure"
The next day with a heavy heart, Ghaffar went to the address with his son. He didn't know who the young master was but his red hair already explained half of who he is.
'He's the notorious Zanuki' Ghaffar lamented in his heart.
He wanted to spank his son for being reckless but things had already happened thus he just let his kid ramble about helping to clean the young master's new house.
He also thought about running away to another country but unfortunately, he didn't have money to do so.
"Are you Ghaffar Mosli and Hamsyar Ghaffar?" The guard at the gate asked and his intimidating tone made Ghaffar more nervous than he already was.
"Yes! We are here to help the young master clean the house" Hamsyar answered excitedly.
"Please follow me"
Ghaffar felt like he was entering a slaughterhouse and the one to be slaughtered was him.
"Sir Ghaffar this is your room with your son. Please make yourself comfortable. Hamsyar please follow me since the young master wanted to meet you," the bodyguard said in a clear voice.
"No! No please let my son go," Ghaffar said in a panicked voice.
"Here is a tablet where you could see what your son is doing. You can directly call any bodyguard inside this house when you wanted to pick up your son"
After saying that, Ghaffar was quickly restrained by another bodyguard while his son was taken away.
He wanted to scream but he knew doing that was futile and his mouth might get shut off instead.
'Is the young master wanted me to watch how my son was being tortured?'
Ghaffar to imagine the worst possible scenarios while ignoring a guard standing not far from him.
Meanwhile, inside the newly built lab that has tables and chairs suitable for elementary school kids, Ares was sitting on the floor while looking at the information in his hands.
"He is indeed that Hamsyar Ghaffar. No wonder the way he thinks was a bit unique since he was a genius inventor in the novel." Ares muttered
Ares already knew that he might meet with the other villains of the novel but he never thought that it would be as unexpected like this.
During the plaza terror event, Hamsyar was the one picking up one of the mana bombs and luckily he met Ares.
In the novel, it was stated that Hamsyar's father, Ghaffar had died due to the mana bomb and it seemed currently things had changed.
"It must be his dad that protected him in the novel and later on he became a villain that hated the nobles and the royal family."
However, Ares felt like he could use the current trajectory to his own advantage. Even though Hamsyar's way of thinking was a little bit weird and a bit ignorant to the point even his father seem speechless, that didn't mean he would become a villain.
"Young master, I'm here!" Hamsyar exclaimed excitedly.
"Hamsyar do you like this kind of toys?" Ares already prepared all the latest robot-like toys that he could find along with many mechanical engineering books filling up the book racks.
"Yes I like it"
"Do you want to build something like this?" Ares slowly tried to persuade(scam) the innocent kid.
"I can?"
"Of course, you can. You will slowly learn how to build this kind of thing and maybe give it to your father to make him stronger"
"Oho, I get it. Young master wanted my father to become a villain too right?"
"Hamsyar do you want to destroy the world?" Ares asked.
"No"
"Then do you want to kill people?"
"No" his face becoming more confused.
"But that is what a villain does though?"
"What?! No. Villains are cool and smart" Hamsyar retorted.
"Yes they are but you can become cool and smart like this without being a villain"
After finished saying that the pens, papers, and toys in the room were floating as if gravity didn't affect them. Ares was using his magic in front of the stunned Hamsyar.
"Woah so cool"
"It's cool, right? So do you still think you need to become a villain to be cool?"
"So young master isn't a villain?"
"I'm not but I'm still cool," Ares said narcissistically.
Even Ron who stood at the corner of the room seems stunned to see his young master acted completely different than his usual self not to mention Hamsyar who still processing everything he heard.
"Hmm, but do I need to build something to be cool?"
"Yes, you need to be strong to be cool and your way of getting stronger is different from mine."
"Alright, I understand. It's like the villain who creates strong weapons and robots right. That's my task, right? I will do it" Hamsyar said with a strong resolve in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Ares still felt the way the kid thought was weird but he didn't know what else to say and just nodded his head slightly.
Hamsyar was a genius inventor with an eidetic memory. He would awaken his mana while inventing and creating something thus his abilities were related to creating and enhancing something.
He already checked the mana bomb Hamsyar picked up. It has been slightly tampered and that was why it wasn't exploded and for who had tampered with it, Ares didn't have to think too far.
It was Hamsyar.
This kind of almost illogical talent wasn't it better to use it for myse-ahem for a greater good in the future.
In the novel, Hamsyar hates the government and the nobles except the Zanuki as he was rescued by one of the Zanuki Shadows after he hides below his father's corpse. That was why despite his talent, he never attacked the Zanuki and just flee when he met them.
"Such a considerate villain, how could I just let him be when I already found him" Ares muttered.
Currently, Hamsyar was actually 10 years old and he looked small because he was malnourished but in four years he was already capable of creating a full human-size mecha-like armor.
Ares would use those armor to help Cedric raise the army during the demons' invasion. Thus Ares didn't have to worry about his safety when he was guarded by strong warriors with mecha-like armor that could shoot laser beams.
How cool is that.
Ron on the other hand seemed happy for a different reason. At first, he thought his young master was experiencing his rebellious phase when he wanted to buy his own villa. Ron was worried his young master would become weirder.
But when he saw the interaction between his young master and the unknown kid, he felt at ease since his young master looked more normal than his usual quiet self.
He didn't care if his young master wanted to have a human pet as long as he is happy.
"When the young master is happy, I'm also happy"
Thus with that Ares managed to rope in (scam) a future villain from becoming astray.
Even though Ares rarely talks that much, he still has priorities. All his talk with Hamsyar is necessary to lead (scam) Hamsyar to become a good guy (Ares's guy).
Ghaffar who was dumbfounded didn't know what to say and could only accept his new employer's arrangements at the same time, he thanked the Goddess since it seem like he stumbled upon a gold mine.
Working with his new employer wasn't as hard as he initially thought and he even manage to hire a tutor to teach his son since Hamsyar was reluctant to go to school. Even his new employer said that Hamsyar wasn't suitable to go to school since he's different from other kids.
After meeting Hamsyar, Ares decided that it wasn't that bad to meet fellow future villains earlier thus he immediately try to find any villains he could remember and tried to make (scam) them to work with him.