Ch.59XX Tina (4)

XX Tina (4)

“Magic from behind! Dodge!”

“Kyaaaah!”

I reacted as soon as Esmeralda shouted, but the spell still grazed my cheek.

Dodging wasn’t even a possibility.

No, how could anyone dodge while running at full speed like this?

“Seriously, what are you doing screaming like a girl when you’re a grown man!”

“Kuk!”

So it’s perfectly fine for a grown woman to be so tough?!

I swallowed the nonsense bubbling up in my head and kept running.

Even if I wanted to talk back, I was too out of breath to speak properly.

What the hell is this situation anyway?

Why is she revealing her most sensitive information right in front of her enemy?

Does she have a death wish?

Even someone as stupid as me knows not to announce that I’m a demon in front of the Hero. I have that much sense at least.

Watching Esmeralda’s stupidity reminded me why I wanted to escape from the Hero’s party in the first place.

Well, it’s not really a new realization. Wasn’t I trying to quit the Hero’s party precisely because of this kind of blind sword?

“Lug, want me to carry you if you’re tired?”

Just as a sweet taste filled my mouth and my vision started to blur,

Millia, sitting on black tentacles moving beside me, asked.

“I’m fine!”

Despite being so out of breath I could barely speak, I conveyed my intention more clearly than ever before.

I’d rather die than ride those tentacles.

If anything, I’m terrified of Millia sitting on those things.

But looking at Eirene wrapped in them, well… I could tell it wasn’t evil magic.

Right, it’s not evil magic.

As long as it’s not directed at me!

“Mmm…”

As I was staring, I saw Eirene wrapped in tentacles regaining consciousness.

Thank goodness. With her barrier, our backs might be a bit safer.

“Ah…”

But seeing Eirene faint again with a short cry made me realize I was expecting too much.

Thinking about it, it made sense. She fainted because of tentacles, so how could she handle being wrapped in them?

Eirene foaming at the mouth didn’t exactly match the image of a saintess.

Damn, she looked good while unconscious, but now the foaming mouth ruins the atmosphere.

While I was watching this unfortunate scene…

“Ah, I have a bad feel—”

Just as Tina tried to say something with a pale face.

CRASH!

The ceiling collapsed.

Being at the rear, I was the first to notice it.

In what felt like a moment of frozen time, I turned my head toward where the largest debris was falling.

“Ah…”

The Hero was there.

The strongest person was in the most dangerous place.

But was she really that strong right now?

She was already injured from taking several traps head-on.

That’s probably why we decided to flee rather than fight.

Because she wasn’t at full strength.

Because her wounds hadn’t completely healed yet.

So whose fault were those injuries? Well, if we’re being honest, it’s mostly her own fault for insisting we enter the ruins.

But most of those wounds came from protecting me.

If she were alone, she could have escaped without any problems.

Thinking that she got hurt because of me, I couldn’t help but feel responsible.

So even if it meant revealing that I’m a demon, saving her was the right thing to do.

Of course, I also had the shallow calculation that she might forgive me if I saved her life.

Well, what matters is that I heroically rescue her here.

In that split second, having calculated all this instantly, I reached out.

“Ah.”

And because I was so focused on protecting the Hero, I didn’t notice the stone at my feet and tripped.

Esmeralda suddenly disappeared from my view. Instead, I felt her bright blonde hair tickling my face.

That’s right.

“Quack?!”

“Kyak?!”

Far from saving the Hero, I tackled her from behind and knocked her down.

***

“Kuk!”

Esmeralda woke up with a painful groan.

She remembered running from the <Eye of Truth> scholars who were chasing them.

‘And just when I thought we’d put some distance between us by avoiding traps based on Tina’s intuition…’

The ceiling seemed to have collapsed.

The scholars must have gotten impatient as the distance grew and decided to destroy the ruins entirely.

‘For scholars, they’re quite extreme.’

Once they’d gone this far, it was too late for excuses.

They had to capture the Hero’s party by any means necessary.

Yes, so they did whatever it took.

They clearly resorted to the extreme measure of collapsing the entire ruin.

‘I wonder if I’m the only one who’s regained consciousness…’

Esmeralda first pushed away what she thought was building debris crushing her and tried to stand up.

Splat.

But the sound of what she thought was debris hitting the floor didn’t sound like a pile of stones.

Frowning as she endured the pain, Esmeralda finally realized what had been crushing her.

“Lug…?”

Esmeralda’s eyes widened in shock.

Had he pounced on her while she was unconscious? No, that couldn’t be.

Esmeralda quickly guessed that Lug had thrown himself to protect her.

‘No, that’s impossible. Why? Was it just a coincidence we ended up like this?’

Esmeralda denied it at first.

She didn’t think Lug had tackled her. If he was trying to take advantage of her in this situation, that would be beyond lust—it would be the stuff of horror stories.

But there was no reason for Lug to throw himself to protect her.

After all, Esmeralda was several times tougher than Lug.

The physical abilities of Esmeralda, who served as the vanguard taking hits with her body, and the cowardly Lug, who fired long-range spells from the rear, were worlds apart.

Lug must have known that too.

“Surely… he wasn’t worried about my injuries?”

And risked his life to protect her?

Esmeralda desperately wanted to claim it was a coincidence, but she couldn’t shake the thought that Lug had tried to save her.

In truth, Esmeralda’s guess was more than half right. Only one important part was wrong—the idea that Lug had thrown himself to protect her. To be honest, Lug hadn’t intended to risk his life.

He had only planned to push her aside with magic, confess to being a demon, and use her sympathy to leave the party.

Such a terrifying scheme existed, but Esmeralda couldn’t know that.

“L-Lug? Are you okay? If you’re okay, could you say something?”

Esmeralda decided to check on Lug first, regardless.

Though other companions were collapsed around them, it was natural to prioritize Lug who seemed to have fallen while trying to protect her.

“He’s breathing… Ah, did you just say something?”

“…”

“Hmm…”

Esmeralda put her ear close to Lug, who seemed to be mumbling something, trying to hear what he was saying.

As her face got quite close to Lug’s, she could finally hear his voice.

Though the close distance felt somewhat embarrassing, she perked up her ears to hear what might be his dying words.

“Let me retire…”

“Ah, you’re fine. Let’s continue working hard together, Lug.”

A voice filled with desperation.

But since it wasn’t anything important, Esmeralda refused and closed Lug’s eyes.

He wasn’t dead. She just closed his eyes because he seemed to be sleeping with them open.

“Phew, you should consider yourself lucky to have a party leader like me, Lug. Where else would you find a leader who cares so much about their party members? Haha.”

Esmeralda opened Lug’s backpack and took out a potion.

The potions were already quite depleted from healing her. Though potions were expensive and usually saved for emergencies, she didn’t mind using them on someone who had saved her.

Besides, Lug couldn’t receive Eirene’s healing anyway, so there was no point in saving them.

“Well, Lug is taken care of…”

As soon as she finished giving Lug first aid, Esmeralda headed straight for Eirene without looking back.

If she could just get Eirene to regain consciousness, the rest of the members could be healed with holy magic.

“Eirene, wake up.”

“Ugh… H-Hero, don’t shake me like that. I think I’m going to throw up…”

“Heal first, throw up later. If you faint, Millia will carry you.”

“I’m up! I’m up!”

Eirene, perhaps recalling Millia’s method of transportation, stood firmly on the ground despite her pale complexion.

She looked almost like a hero making a comeback.

“Phew, who should I heal first?”

“Isn’t that something Eirene needs to decide now?”

“You could have checked who was okay before waking me up.”

“How would I know?”

“Ugh, all brawn and no brains…”

Esmeralda shrugged and dragged over her companions who were sprawled everywhere. Though she was also badly injured, she had suffered less impact thanks to Lug.

She deliberately didn’t mention this fact to Eirene because she felt it would cause troublesome complications.

‘Nothing awkward happened at all.’

That was her excuse, though it wasn’t really an excuse.