How to Survive as a Supporting Male Lead

“It’s not an excuse—”

“Nevermind. We have a long way to go if we’re heading to Nieve Forest. It’s at the northernmost edge, so the weather’s going to be awful, and there’s a lot to prepare.”

“Oh! Then should we start getting ready and leave now?”

With a thud, Iann slapped the desk and stood up, seizing the opportunity. Derrick’s cold gaze landed on him, and Iann quickly sat back down.

“You have to finish your work before you go, Count, Master of the Magic Tower, my lord Iann. Among the things you need to prepare is ‘completing paperwork in advance.’”

“What could be more important than our lives?”

“Not ‘our’ lives. You mean ‘your’ life.”

“And if things go wrong, do you really think Kallian would only kill me?”

“Yes.”

“Ugh!”

“I was once the Duke’s one and only precious aide, remember? If you die, I’ll grovel to Kallian, and if I reveal a few of your secrets, he might even take pity on me.”

“Wow~! Loyalty, huh? Where’s the sweet, innocent Derrick from back then?”

“That Derrick died when you dumped all the work on me and took off 17 years ago. And let me remind you, we’re not leaving until every last bit of work is done.”

Iann, who had started to rise, slumped back down, looking like a dog denied its walk.

“Finish your work, and then we’ll talk.”

With that decisive tone, Derrick buried his head back into the stack of documents, leaving Iann no choice. Soon, the only sound in the office was the scratch of their pens.

“Hey, Derrick.”

“……”

“You really think my memoir title is bad?”

“Please, Iann. Just focus.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

Nieve Forest was dangerous. It was crawling with deadly creatures, and unfortunately, the female lead was supposed to appear there at the tail end of winter—right in the middle of blizzard season. In other words, it was hard to say if they’d even find her on time.

If Kallian were the one searching, he’d find her instantly, but Iann, the supporting male lead, couldn’t count on that kind of luck. So, they planned for a three-day journey.

Thanks to Derrick’s logical yet forceful insistence that Iann finish three days’ worth of documents in advance, they ended up working for four full days. The extra day was added after Derrick discovered work Iann had sneakily tried to push aside.

Originally, they’d planned to work for three days, then use the last day to prepare and rest before leaving, but that plan was thoroughly derailed. Now guilty of causing the delay, Iann braved his morning drowsiness and waited for Derrick by the teleportation magic circle.

Derrick, whose expectations of Iann were long gone, remained indifferent.

“It’s certain that the Saintess is coming in three days,right?”

Sweeping the path for Derrick with his feet, Iann responded promptly.

“Absolutely!”

Probably. Iann swallowed the rest of his thought. Naturally. After all, no story ever gives the exact date of the female lead’s appearance as if it were “Month 0, Day 0.” The same applied to this one, where Iann was the supporting male lead. He’d just used all the foreknowledge and magic he could muster to narrow it down to an estimated three days.

Suspiciously eyeing Iann’s best attempt at a reassuring smile, Derrick stepped onto the magic circle. It was a teleportation circle Iann had set up to make it easier to torment Kallian and manage the northern territories he’d taken from him.

Today, however, Derrick felt an uncharacteristic sense of unease about it.

“Hey, Iann. You’re sure Kallian hasn’t found out about this circle yet?”

As he activated the spell, Iann tilted his head.

“Probably? If he had, it would have been destroyed by now.”

“And the chance he set traps around the teleportation point?”

“Oh.”

Derrick truly felt like hitting Iann. If there had been a trap, he would have gone through with it, but fortunately, there wasn’t. They were greeted not by traps, but by the bitter northern wind, a far cry from the warmth of the south.

Shivering from the bone-chilling cold, they packed only the bare essentials in enchanted storage pouches.

“Does it just keep getting colder here?”

“See, Iann, I told you if you brought a horse, it’d die right away.”

“Right, right. My aide’s foresight is unparalleled.”

Before coming north, Iann had insisted that meeting the female lead required a horse, envisioning a grand male lead’s entrance. Now he was quick to abandon that plan.