I Will Not Fall For the Villain’s Flirtations - Chapter 4 Part 3
As a bright aura spread massively, the monster bird let out a tremendous roar, causing Prim to fall. Due to the recoil, my body shook violently as well, and I began to descend, losing grip on Prim.
I realized that when you’re truly scared, no scream would come out. I vividly felt the force of gravity as I tumbled toward the ground.
“Duna!”
I heard a familiar voice from below and was caught by someone, colliding with them.
The world turned upside down, and in an instant, a blue light filled my vision. But the place I fell into wasn’t a flat surface, and I quickly began to roll down due to a sudden impact.
It felt like I had been unconscious for several tens of seconds. When I regained my senses and barely opened my eyes, I saw Sir Peidos fighting against the monster.
He didn’t move much, probably due to his injuries. He stood in the same spot and slashed at the monster several times. The sword, coated in blue sword energy, was relentless, seemingly determined not to give the monster any time to escape.
Boooom!
And with a final blow, the monster fell to the ground. Almost simultaneously, Peidos also knelt down, thrusting his sword into the ground.
I wonder if he got hurt a lot since he fought alongside me earlier.
“Sir… Peidos…”
Upon hearing my voice, he quickly turned around. Despite limping, he came towards me swiftly.
“Duna, are you alright?”
“Your leg… injured…”
He must have noticed my worried gaze because he smiled faintly.
“It’s not too bad. This can be treated easily.”
After receiving his support, I cautiously sat down. Looking around, I realized we were deep in the mountains. Judging by the nearby hill that resembled a cliff, it seemed like we rolled down from there.
“Speaking of which, what about Prim…”
We got separated during the middle of the fall.
As I looked around for her pink hair, Peidos also glanced around and said,
“I did send some of my energy earlier, but I wonder how she’s doing…”
He is an examiner¹. Although he is capable of using very basic enchantments with his holy power, he could never have handled it as stably and skillfully as a magician would.
T/N: i don’t know if that’s the most fitting word, but ‘????’ refers to carefully looking at something to assess its condition or details
Since we fell from a tall height, I was quite worried. Although I was assured that the protagonist would not die, I was also concerned that, perhaps due to my mistakes, the situation might take an unexpected turn.
“Oh, there you are.”
Luckily, I was able to find her not long after. By now, my hypothesis that the reason why the protagonist’s hair is commonly pink is to increase the character’s survivability seems quite valid.
It was truly a striking color.
“Prim!”
I grabbed my disheveled hair, and I ran towards where she was. Prim was unconscious as she lay in a pile of dirt.
I desperately brought a finger to her nose and felt relieved when I sensed her breathing. At least her life was saved, regardless of the extent of her injuries.
As expected from the main character, she has a long lifeline. Breaking the predetermined order was never an easy task.
I sat down, leaned against the tree, and let out a sigh of relief. Peidos, who was scanning the surroundings, spoke.
“It’ll be difficult to send a search party until the evacuation is complete and the demons are all taken care of. We might have to stay here for a day.”
“What?”
I have to become homeless? Seriously? And that too, with injuries?
“There’s a cave over there, so we can endure a day. Judging from the fact that there is no dense magical energy nearby, it seems that there are no demons around.”
It was a good thing that there were no demons. That damn bird seemed to have brought us to a relatively safe area.
All the while, I didn’t see the horse that Peidos was riding. No matter how much I looked around, it didn’t seem to have fallen down the hill with us.
Despite the uncertainty of his horse’s life, he remained quite calm. As he supported Prim with his injured body, he said that if it hadn’t died, it would have returned to the unit as it was trained to do so.
I hastily ran to the other side, helping to move Prim, and we headed towards the cave.
“As for the treatment…”
Looking at his bleeding shoulder and his swollen leg, with his bones seemingly out of place, I cautiously asked. It seemed that among us, I was the one in relatively better condition.
“Don’t worry. With a simple healing enchantment, I can fulfill my role in no time.”
“……”
In other words, a novitiate who couldn’t even use simple healing magic wouldn’t be of much use.
The biggest advantage of holy power was its healing ability, which was arguably twice as effective as normal healing magic. However, it was based on the premise that one should be proficient in both purification and magic above a certain level.
Also, treating yourself with healing magic was impossible. It couldn’t be considered an efficient ability, not really.
Feeling anxious, I lowered my head deeply. I couldn’t erase the thought that the two of them were so injured because of me.
“Hmm.”
At that moment, Prim seemed to regain consciousness, and a faint moan could be heard. I quickly approached her and called out her name.
“Prim! Prim, are you awake?”
“…What?”
She sluggishly opened her eyes, looked at the cave entrance, then at the pendant, and finally at me, mumbling under her breath.
“Why are you here, too…?”
…Me, too?
It seemed like she made a mistake and said ‘you’ instead of ‘me.’ It makes sense since even if I hadn’t fallen on top of her for the first time, she wouldn’t have ended up here if she hadn’t been captured by the monster bird.
“I’m sorry. It’s because of me…”
As I sincerely apologized, she let out a pained groan.
Surprised, I looked down at her, and I saw her desperately trying to get up like a child trying to turn over.
“What are you doing? You’re hurt. Just lie down–”
“Sigh, the wounds are at my back. It hurts to lie down properly.”
“What?”
I was surprised. As I examined her, bloodstains were visible on the back of her neck and shoulders. Unlike me, who was lucky enough only to have my clothes torn, it seemed that she had been grabbed by the bird, taking her skin along with it.
“Ah…”
Needless to say, her torn wounds were quite serious. As I, too, was starting to feel the pain, a sob escaped my lips.
Meanwhile, Peidos, who had been listening to our conversation, approached slowly. He looked at Prim’s wound and drew his holy power in one hand.
Finally, as he gently stroked the air as if tracing her wounds, Prim’s injuries began to gradually heal. Although they weren’t completely gone, it was clear to see that the place where his holy power had passed was clotting.
“Wow!”
Since it was my first time seeing healing with holy power, I couldn’t help but admire it, and he opened his mouth with a somewhat modest tone.
“I’m not particularly talented in healing…”
To me, it seemed incredibly impressive, but in his eyes, it seemed like it was not something remarkable.
Still, Prim’s expression was visibly relaxed compared to earlier. She quietly expressed her gratitude to Peidos.
“Thank you, Sir Peidos.”
“You’re welcome.”
Come to think of it, this scene feels like something I’ve seen before somewhere.
As I searched through my memories with a strange sensation, something suddenly came to mind.
Ah, it’s not a strange sensation. It was undoubtedly a scene that appeared in the original work.
The monster’s attack, the cliff, the cave.
The only difference from the novel…
…Why am I stuck here?
I screamed silently, questioning myself. The current situation is a significant part that contributes to the emotional line of the original work.
It is a part where the two protagonists in crisis overcame hardships together and become inseparable like never before.
But wait, aren’t these two technically meeting for the first time? Although it’s a bit vague, I remember that the scene progressed after they met a few times in the novel.
Or perhaps, have they already met several times without my knowledge?
“May I take a look at your wounds?”
Prim’s gaze returned to normal, as if she had truly recovered. She examined Peidos’s shoulder injury and left leg with sharp eyes.
Peidos narrowed his eyes at her offer for treatment.
“I thought you were a novitiate.”
“I can perform basic healing. Even if it fails, holy power would be good to ease the pain.”
“…….”
Holy power can alleviate pain. I didn’t know about that. How does Prim know so much?
Besides that, when and where did she learn healing magic?
“Unless you are a high-ranking priest, healing magic requires a significant amount of holy power. It’s not good for you to strain yourself with your current condition….”
“If demons attack, the only person who can fight here is you. It’s most important for you to get better.”
“…Then please.”
In the face of Prim’s logical words, Peidos finally gave in. She struggled to stand up and sat in front of him.
He had lifted his clothes slightly to reveal his wounds, but the severity of his shoulder injury was too visible compared to the ones on his sturdy body. Just thinking that he bled so much and yet prioritized taking care of us made me dizzy.
Prim also seemed to feel guilty, suddenly becoming quiet. After a moment, she regained her composure as the protagonist and began to focus.
A bright light gradually emerged and enveloped his torn shoulder. The bleeding stopped, proving that her ability to perform basic healing magic was not a lie.
It was still too early for her to learn magic, according to the curriculum. When did she learn this? Was it mentioned in the original work? Or is it just a simple adjustment for the protagonist?
I looked at her with a mixture of curiosity. Peidos also seemed inwardly surprised.
I suddenly felt like an outsider.
Like a foreign substance sandwiched between the male and female leads, utterly useless and only caused disturbances and troubles between them.
In reality, Duna Valorem, the supporting character, had such a role. Regardless of my intentions, the story flowed according to the original work, and I got depressed for some reason.
And on top of that, I had to get involved with the cave scene…
“I’ll find something useful around here.”
In the end, I reluctantly stood up. I wanted to do something helpful.
“Together…”
“Sir Peidos! Don’t move.”
Peidos, who was unconsciously trying to stand up, received a fierce scolding. With a sly smile, I spoke to calm him down.
“Please receive the treatment. I’ll be back soon.”
“…Don’t go far.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Reassured by his sincere response, I slowly went out of the cave.
Perhaps because it was deep in the forest, I couldn’t find any food around. But after thoroughly searching the surroundings, I fortunately found something familiar.
“Pentil!”
It was a medicinal herb with pain-relieving effects. Although I didn’t have specialized knowledge of herbs, Pentil was easy to recognize due to its distinctive appearance.