Ch.66Chapter 66. Lin Said She Had Never Been Hurt

[“What’s going on? Despite what you say, you’re quite wet, aren’t you?”]

[“No… stop… I’m absolutely not submitting to you…!”]

[“Then what is this? Not submission but simply enjoying yourself? While you have a child and husband?”]

[“No…!”]

[“Anna, if your husband is the one who understands your clumsy expressions, then I am the one who draws those expressions out of you.”]

[“Ahh…!”]

Of course, I immediately left the room with Tigria.

Both the mage and the porter were walking with unsteady steps.

It was because we hadn’t gotten proper sleep since last night.

Following the previous night, the expedition leader was openly making advances right next to us, but we had no choice since we were focused on identifying the culprit day and night.

Naturally, the two of us ended up at the entrance of the palace ruins where those moaning sounds couldn’t be heard.

“Shall we go in?”

As Lin casually pointed toward the dungeon interior with her thumb, Tigria asked cautiously.

“Will it be safe?”

“As you saw yesterday, it seems to be quite well cleaned.”

“Understood.”

The mage pulled out a small wand from inside her robe.

“I will protect you if anything happens.”

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

“I demand an answer.”

Under continued questioning, Lin awkwardly scratched her cheek.

“I just dozed off for a moment.”

“I’m not a fool. I’m actually quite intelligent.”

Finding herself in a difficult position, Lin finally confessed honestly.

“It’s just that this is the first time a party member has offered to protect me.”

Tigria’s eyes wavered greatly.

She remembered the porter who had barely managed to hold on with just a small shield during their journey to defeat the Demon King.

In truly dangerous moments, Lucina or Arsil would kick him out of harm’s way to save him, but afterward, they would shower him with all kinds of abuse.

“From now on, I will protect you.”

“That’s reassuring, with Luci here too.”

“The hero has nothing to do with this.”

Why was Luciena being mentioned when she had just offered her protection?

The mage wanted to sulk, but since she too was guilty of having been indifferent to him in the past, she let it slide.

Befitting a place that was once a palace, the paths inside the ruins were quite winding.

And with all those twists and turns came many dead ends and item boxes.

From low-grade potions to crude iron scraps meant for sale, there were no major finds, but each item was precious.

It had been the same earlier today.

“Wow, these are trinkets imbued with the energy of the ancient kingdom. If extracted properly, they could make excellent enchantment materials.”

When Lin showed the miscellaneous items obtained thanks to Denarua yesterday, the golden carriage postal worker clicked his abacus and casually suggested a price.

“This is what they’re worth, but…”

“Only that much for items imbued with the energy of the ancient kingdom?”

“Hahahahaha.”

When Lin protested, the postal worker tapped his abacus and spoke with shameless confidence.

“Do you have somewhere else to sell them?”

Of course not.

Lin had no choice but to sell the items for less than market value.

But since the market value itself was so high, her wallet became instantly plentiful.

“Is mail service available?”

“Are you asking a postal worker if mail service is available?”

“Then please send these 78 gold coins, addressed to High Elf Naidrian. The sender is Investor Lee.”

“Would you like expedited delivery? Or ultra-expedited delivery?”

The postal worker subtly offered two expensive options.

But not a chance.

“Just regular fast delivery. Here’s the letter too.”

“As you wish.”

This guy is quite money-hungry for a postal worker.

Well, that’s probably why he drives a golden carriage.

Anyway, thanks to this, Lin was able to make a tidy profit during the day and even send investment funds to Naidrian.

To gather more investment funds, and also for the upcoming class change, Lin needed to secure as many items as possible.

Tigria and Lin advanced through the dungeon with tension, but Denarua had cleaned so thoroughly the previous night that there were only monster corpses and bloodstains.

“Ooooh!!”

And impressively, piles of miscellaneous items gathered in one place.

Lin unconsciously opened her mouth in admiration.

It was undoubtedly prepared by Denarua.

“Thank you!”

“Who are you talking to?”

“The goddess of fortune.”

Hmph, it seemed like somewhere, the goddess of fortune snickered shyly.

“Need help?”

“No.”

Lin opened the mouth of the porter’s pouch wide.

Spreading it as wide as her arms would allow and turning it upside down over the items, all the items were sucked into the porter’s pouch in one go.

“Amazing.”

“It’s an inventory, but it’s a special item given by the goddess.”

Piles of miscellaneous items were scattered everywhere.

The two were leisurely collecting them as they proceeded, but they were blocked by a massive door.

It was a door covered with strange symbols.

Tigria examined the symbols engraved on the door for a moment.

“It’s an ancient kingdom’s magic circle. We need a key.”

This is it.

Behind this was the event fork in the road for each of their enhancements.

Having achieved her purpose, Lin immediately lit a campfire on the spot.

Lighting a fire inside a dungeon—something she would never do normally—but it showed how much Lin trusted Denarua.

How different she was from the black-hearted Adora.

However, she hadn’t forgotten that Denarua was also a member of the Dragon Knight party.

“Now we can finally have a proper rest.”

“Is it okay to be doing this here?”

“If we go back, we’ll just hear disgusting sounds.”

Tigria sat near the campfire without any objection.

She had once sat like this alone with Arsil, but it was much warmer now.

“Are all explorers such self-serving creatures?”

“They tend to be. But this place is definitely extreme.”

“Their reaction to a fellow member’s death was too cold.”

Cold to the point of hostile mockery.

“There are parties that try to kill their own comrades, so what’s the big deal.”

It felt like a cold dagger had been thrust into her.

Tigria wanted to make excuses, but seeing him staring quietly at the flickering flames, she gave up.

There had been rational reasons.

Luciena was too arrogant and violent.

However, making any such excuse would be disrespectful to Lin, who had risked his life to save her.

“Where I grew up was desolate and everything was scarce, but I could endure because there were comrades who supported each other.”

“……”

“But eventually, one by one, they left. Some left to find their own path, some betrayed us, and some died because of that betrayal.”

The mage just listened silently.

“I’ve been thinking about it. Why I feel awkward around you. Why I feel an invisible wall with the other party members too.”

The crackling campfire seemed to help organize Lin’s thoughts just by looking at it.

“It’s partly because you were indifferent to me, ignored me, but more than that, I think it’s because of the heartlessness and selfishness that made you abandon a comrade who was devoted to you all, someone you were close with, in an instant.”

When those straightforward eyes turned toward her, Tigria shrank back.

“Luci still suffers from nightmares of that day when I’m not around. She wakes up crying, frantically searching around to confirm you all are gone, looking for me.”

She wanted to swallow, but it was incredibly difficult to move her stiffened body again.

Her lips dried up helplessly.

“You asked if Luci and I liked each other. If I liked Luci, if Luci liked me. You said you wanted to observe us. To know if it was affection.”

The mage, who always reminded others of uncomfortable truths, was now hearing painful criticism herself.

“Luci depends on me. Because she lost everyone she relied on and has nowhere else to turn.”

“……”

“I don’t think the Saint, the Archer, and the Mage are people who would change so drastically over a simple transaction.”

What Lin was about to ask was something not in the memories of the reincarnated Mr. Lee.

He knew what they had received in exchange for betraying Luci.

But Lin suspected there must have been another trigger that made them turn their backs, especially since they weren’t on bad terms—they had actually been quite close.

“Why did you do it?”

Only after Lin asked did Tigria open her mouth.

Her dried lips cracked slightly, but she didn’t feel the pain.

The mage, focusing all her attention on how to explain to him as sincerely as possible, hesitated for a long time.

“I thought it was an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“When I received the exclusive item from the goddess, she asked me what my wish was.”

[What is your wish?]

Lin also heard the same question from the goddess on the day he received the porter’s pouch.

Though blurry as if pixelated, he clearly remembered that such an event had occurred.

“I said I wanted to know what true love is, and the goddess said an opportunity would come at the end.”

But the conclusion was different.

The goddess had taken some kind of measure with Lin.

There was no mention of when she would fulfill his wish.

“And on the day we set out on our final journey to defeat the Demon King, Rainford came to me.”

The shield knight asked the mage if she truly wanted to understand what affection was.

Suddenly remembering what the goddess had told her, Tigria listened carefully to the shield knight’s proposal.

If, after truly defeating the Demon King, Luciena showed signs of becoming a new threat to the world, they would have to remove her.

Then he would help with her research.

She could study the relationship between herself and the imperial princess, who were experiencing true love.

“I thought this was that opportunity.”

“……”

Lin’s gaze was sharp.

Tigria pleaded as she continued to confess.

“As if blinded, my desire to seize that opportunity grew. Every time the hero used rough language, I kept rationalizing that it couldn’t be helped. As if possessed by something, I was deliberately, forcibly creating reasons.”

That was all.

Lin waited a bit longer, but she seemed to have said everything she wanted to say.

“You were the first to cut off Luci’s leg, weren’t you?”

Once again, it pierced deep into her core.

She couldn’t help but let out a groan.

It hurts.

His condemnation.

It’s frightening.

His contempt.

“…I was wrong.”

“To whom? To me?”

“I was wrong…!”

“No, I’m not the one you should apologize to.”

“I was wrong…”

“I said, not to me.”

Lin was angry.

His cold anger didn’t blaze like the campfire but settled heavily, constricting Tigria’s conscience.

The mage, pale-faced, struggled to calm her rapid breathing.

“Not just the hero… I was wrong not to treat Lin properly too.”

Guilt wrung out her plea.

It created a desperate desire for forgiveness.

“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t hurt at all.”

Suddenly, Lin froze as if struck by lightning.

He remembered.

The wish he had made to the goddess.

[I don’t want to be hurt anymore.]

And since then, he truly hadn’t been hurt.

His heart had become stronger.

Perfect.

“You must be the first person to apologize to Luci.”

“I will definitely do that.”

“Yes, let’s make sure of it.”

Lin took something dry from the porter’s pouch and threw it into the campfire.

The flames flared up with a whoosh.

“After that, I’m sure we can become friends. With Luci too.”

“I will definitely do that.”

After repeatedly affirming this, Tigria carefully watched Lin’s reaction and asked.

“I want to ask for forgiveness from Lin too.”

“I told you. I wasn’t hurt.”

“To Lin too…”

Lin firmly shook his head.

That can’t be true.

She remembers exactly what they did.

The reason he claims not to be hurt by those terrible acts must be that he doesn’t even want to receive an apology.

Tigria briefly covered her face with her robe sleeve.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think… something got in my eye…”

“Shall I help you?”

“It’s fine…”

Her shoulders trembled behind the sleeve.

Occasionally, sniffling sounds could be heard.

Despite this, despite the doll-like mage becoming more human, none of the chains surrounding Lin’s heart budged even slightly.

That’s not to say Lin wanted to push the mage away outright.

After all, she too was born into a life of hardship.

But if they wanted to close the distance between them, this was an issue that had to be addressed.

Not just Tigria, but all the other hero party members as well.

“Let’s go back.”

After the campfire had burned out, the moon took over providing light.

Wiping her eyes with the rough fabric of her robe sleeve stung quite a bit.

But what hurt more was the fact that her apology itself had been rejected.

‘I don’t want to be hated.’

The mage didn’t realize that regret and guilt were sprouting from the warmth she had felt earlier in the day.