I Give Up on the BL Novel's Male Leads - Chapter 181

“You’ve never seen it, have you Illein? Melias is strong. And incredibly ruthless. There’s no one as cold-blooded as him in this world.”

“Really?”

Illein looked at Melias in surprise, looking like she couldn’t believe Damon’s words.

Illein had always thought of Melias as stoic and heavy, so discovering this unexpected side of him was a bit of a surprise

“No, it’s not like that…” 

Melias looked embarrassed. It was clear that discussing his strength wasn’t something he was used to.

“I’m serious. You know, right? The south has fewer monsters, but the ones that do show up are massive and much more dangerous. But do you know how Melias handled those monsters every time they appeared?”

Damon gave Melias a playful glance and smiled before continuing.

“Earth magic is mostly defensive, right?”

“Yeah.” 

Usually, earth magic users focused on fortifying key buildings. Illein was impressed by how Melias utilized his strength.

“Imagine making a huge shield out of sand—boom! Or, covering them in sand and then crunching them!”

With an appropriate sound effect, Damon animated the actions with his hands as though he had personally done it.

Damon’s explanation was so intuitive that anyone could easily imagine it. Illein, lost in the thought of it, glanced at Melias without even realizing.

Could that really be true? She shuddered as she imagined herself on the receiving end of it.

At the same time, she was impressed by how earth magic could be applied in such a way. It was a new concept to her. She thought about how she could use water magic similarly, if applied correctly.

Melias felt slightly uncomfortable under Illein’s gaze. 

For a noble whose duty was to protect his lands, dealing with monsters was a given. And he wasn’t about to turn his back on that responsibility. He prided himself on being at the forefront of the fight, crushing enemies as they came.

However, he couldn’t help but feel that Damon had exaggerated his stories a bit too much.

When had he ever defeated monsters in such a crude way? He didn’t always handle them like that. Plus, the way Damon made it sound, as if he was the only one capable of doing it, irked him.

In fact, when it came to cruelty, Damon was probably worse.

“Hm, hm. Speaking of cruelty, Damon is much worse. After all, wind magic is primarily an offensive type of magic.”

Earth magic is for defense, wind magic is for cutting, water magic for healing, and fire magic for destruction. 

These were the typical associations when it came to elemental magic. Damon, being exceptionally skilled in wind magic, fit the description perfectly.

“Hey, I’m not that bad.” 

Damon had already anticipated that Melias would react this way. So, he shrugged nonchalantly, trying to act unaffected.

Melias was taken aback by Damon’s calm attitude. 

He thought to himself, So, in order to become a son of Duke Candelaria, one must have this level of political savvy. At that moment, Melias felt like stripping the mask of ease that Damon had carefully put on his face.

“By the way, have you ever seen Damon use a weapon?”

Just as Damon knew Melias well, Melias also knew Damon just as well. He thought about what would most likely fluster Damon in this moment. 

The conclusion? It was the unusual weapon of his that wasn’t known to the public.

“N-No…”

As Illein shook her head in response to the question, Damon’s face revealed signs of discomfort.

“How about we stop here?”

Damon rarely revealed his true feelings. He usually smiled with his usual cocky grin unless he was genuinely upset and couldn’t hide his anger. 

But now, his usual smugness cracked as frustration appeared on his forehead. His special weapon, in some ways, was an unpleasant subject to bring up.

“You started it first, Damon.”

Melias was one of the few people who wasn’t intimidated by Damon’s irritation. Well, in this room, no one else really could intimidate him.

“Damon uses a long, thin rapier. It doesn’t really match his build. It looks like a toothpick.”

Melias mimicked holding something with his hands in an exaggerated gesture.

“When he attacks, he imbues it with wind magic, and bam! The monster becomes a pincushion, blood splattering everywhere!”

At that moment, Illein couldn’t help but picture it. 

Damon, wielding a skewer-like weapon, fighting in such an unexpected way. It was an image that didn’t quite fit either of them. Without meaning to, Illein chuckled lightly.

“Heh!”

The flustered Damon was about to retort angrily at Melias. But then, it was Edwin, who had been silently listening, who stepped in. Now wasn’t the time for such bickering.

“Alright, alright. Enough of the side talk. Let’s make sure everyone hears this. We need to kill him as soon as we see him, no hesitation.”

Everyone was silent as Edwin repeated his heavy words once more.

Everyone thought about the weight of ‘killing’. 

The silence stretched out.