I Will Not Fall For the Villain’s Flirtations - Chapter 57

Suddenly calling me ‘cutie’? What’s he talking about?

Just as I was about to ask him what kind of nonsense he was spouting.

“Cutie.”

“……”

The voice, which resonated close to my eardrum, made me snap my eyes open. A dark-skinned face was right in front of my nose. Meeting the blinking golden eyes, I reflexively screamed and jumped up.

“Ahhh!”

Bang!

A sound like my skull cracking echoed, and stars dotted my vision. Judging by the groan and the way Nizaz grabbed his forehead, it seemed I wasn’t the only one in pain. His whole body trembled from his hands to his shoulders, looking like he was experiencing death throes.

“You…”

Judging by his inability to speak, he seemed to be in considerable pain. As my headache subsided a bit, I thought I should first assess my surroundings.

I picked up the glowing stone Nizaz had dropped and shone it on the walls and ceiling. Though not very bright, the stone with its bluish fluorescent material provided enough light to make out my surroundings.

Judging by the dark interior and the limestone deposits I was sick of seeing, it was clear we were still inside the cave. The only difference was that we were on land instead of water.

The cave, which had initially felt mysterious, had lost its charm after encountering several dangerous traps. Sighing deeply, I looked at Nizaz, who still had his head bowed.

“What happened?”

“We don’t know.”

The answer came from elsewhere. Startled, I turned toward the sound and saw a figure leaning against the dark wall. A man, covered in mud and water, sat slumped, looking utterly exhausted.

“When we woke up, the three of us were lying here on the ground. We’re so hungry… I wonder if we’ll make it out alive.”

As he spoke, he placed a hand on his protruding belly. Judging by his appearance, he didn’t look like someone who would be hungry.

His face was so dirty I hadn’t recognized him, but seeing that belly reminded me of someone. He was the one who scolded Ali for being rude yesterday. Always sticking close to Nizaz, he seemed to be either an aide or a eunuch.

“{Hey, Tong, stop your lies. There’s no way you’re hungry right now. You always claim to be hungry the moment you open your eyes.}”

Nizaz muttered something in Lucanian. Though I didn’t understand it, the man’s furious response made it clear it wasn’t anything good.

“It’s true! Priest, aren’t you hungry too? How long have we been in this cave? Anyone would be hungry by now.”

“Well…”

He looked at me with eyes that seemed ready to shed tears any moment. It seemed he was speaking in the Holy Kingdom language hoping I’d take his side.

He looked so pitiful that I wanted to agree with him, but unfortunately, I wasn’t hungry at all.

Now that I thought about it, it was strange. My last meal was a couple of hours before I got swept here. I didn’t know how long I’d been unconscious, but it hadn’t been a short time.

Moreover, I had walked quite a lot and navigated through various traps before that. How could I not be hungry? Was it because I was too tense?

“You don’t need to agree with him. There’s magic in this place. It seems to be designed to prevent us from starving.”

“How do you know…”

In an instant, I recalled that he was part of the imperial family and reluctantly changed my tone.

“Ahem, how do you know?”

“Heh.”

Nizaz, sensing my intention, let out an unpleasant snicker and tossed his soaking wet turban to his subordinate.

“Didn’t healing magic not work well? I saw earlier that you seemed to be in charge of healing.”

“…I’m a combat priest who’s also good at healing.”

I made up an excuse, remembering the lie I had told when we met before. Although we had formed an alliance, it was only until we found the relic. If I appeared weak, I could be backstabbed at any time, so it was better to establish that I wasn’t an easy target from the beginning.

“For someone like that, you sure stayed at the back a lot.”

“Th-this isn’t a hunting ground but a ruin…”

He shrugged, showing no interest in my excuse.

“Anyway, you should know. The reason healing doesn’t work isn’t something else. It’s because the life responses have been slowed down that much.”

“…Ah.”

Healing magic that heals wounds works by accelerating growth. If the cave’s magic had slowed down the biological clock, it would explain why recovery was slow even when holy power was used.

I had thought it was due to a lack of natural magic in the isolated ruins.

But Nizaz’s words made sense. If it were simply a lack of magic, there’s no way we wouldn’t be hungry by now.

“That’s nonsense! I’m really hungry!”

“……”

Of course, it was a hypothesis that the pot-bellied man would want to deny.

“We’re just dying slowly. The fact that we’re dying doesn’t change, so we need to get out of here quickly. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up, cutie. Hurry up and find the exit.”

“…Me?”

“You’re the only one here who can use holy power, aren’t you? There must be something around here that draws in holy power. Hurry up and find it.”

I let out a bitter laugh at his shameless demand. Just because he was part of the imperial family, he was incredibly arrogant in ordering others around.

And to think they claimed the relic was originally theirs when they couldn’t even use holy power.

It was contradictory in many ways, but survival was my top priority as well. Dusting off my clothes, I picked up the glowing stone and began to search around. Or at least, I tried to.

Until I heard a certain sound.

“……”

My steps came to an abrupt halt. Before I could properly start exploring, I had to slowly retreat to my original position after taking only a few steps.

Grrrr.

A foreboding sound echoed through the cave. The continuous echoes made it hard to pinpoint the exact location. And naturally, I wasn’t the only one terrified by the sound.

“Wh-what, what was that sound just now?!”

Nizaz asked in a trembling voice, but instead of answering, I gripped the glowing stone tightly. Expecting that the creature living in the ruins was an ordinary beast was an excessive luxury. Instinct warned me that we were in an extremely dangerous situation.

“P-priest, you said you were a combat priest earlier…”

“……”

The pot-bellied subordinate crawled towards me, trembling. Nizaz, surrounded by his guards and not lifting a finger, obviously had no exceptional combat skills, and the subordinate who was with us didn’t seem to be a warrior either.

In the end, among the three of us, I was the only one who could fight, even if it was just a little bit of magic.

Grrrr.

To make matters worse, the growling sound grew closer. Now, the walls and floor began to vibrate with each heavy step.

Splat. I heard the sound of an unidentified creature stepping into a puddle, splashing water. Swallowing hard, I kept my eyes on the source of the footsteps.

“……”

And finally, the creature that emerged left everyone speechless. Nizaz took a deep breath, and his pot-bellied subordinate clung to the wall, trembling. Even I, who tried to remain composed, felt an overwhelming urge to succumb to fear.

Even in the dark, its menacing eyes glowed. Its massive body seemed as solid as armor at first glance, and its head, covered in bizarre horns, looked like something straight out of hell.

No one moved, and not a single sound was made. We just stood there, frozen, watching the monstrous creature.

Then, the monster, snorting and shaking its head as if having a fit, turned to look at us.

Growl.

Its eyes gleamed sharply as it spotted its prey.

Thud. Thud. It began to move slowly towards us, as if testing the waters before the hunt. But the reprieve was brief; soon, it started charging at us with surprising speed despite its large size.

“Ahhh!”

There isn’t much one can do in the face of imminent death. Nizaz screamed and fell on his bottom, and I, too, lost strength in my legs and collapsed.

Ah, so this is how I die. So futilely.

What was the point of surviving in Luticia if it will end like this?

Not a heroic sacrifice to save a main character, nor a memorable end to a chapter, just a meaningless death. The summa cum laude title I took from the protagonist ultimately meant nothing.

But at that moment, a desperate rationality broke through my resignation.

No. I can’t give up like this. I survived Wolven’s poison, didn’t I? Am I really going to die a meaningless death that wasn’t even in the original story?

“Keene…”