Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 50
“Why, Lysian? What’s wrong?”
Elonen, noticing my reaction, asked.
“I heard something.”
“A sound? I didn’t hear anything. What kind of sound do you mean?”
Elonen began to look around with a puzzled expression. It seemed only I could hear Larry’s voice.
—Let me link my vision to you now!
I didn’t know what he meant by ‘linking vision’, so I just stood there. Suddenly, everything in front of my eyes turned pitch-black.
“Uh…”
It wasn’t a figure of speech—my vision literally went completely dark. Just as I was flustered and waving my hand in the air, light suddenly returned.
A dense forest, with a sinister-looking dark green swamp spread out before me. Beyond that swamp, I could see a tall cliff with a stone door.
—I can sense an enormous amount of miasma from that door!
The moment I saw that suspicious door, I had a really bad feeling. That was definitely the entrance to a dungeon.
And hanging from the trees around it were the bodies of mercenaries, dangling as if someone had ringed the dungeon with them as a barrier.
—That’s all I’ve found for now. If I see anything else, I’ll link you in again!
With Larry’s last words, my vision went dark again.
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them once more, and I could faintly see the hero’s party again.
“Looks like he’s spaced ou— Huh? Are you back to your senses?”
Through blurry vision, something was waving in front of my face.
After blinking again, Gerard’s face came into focus. He was waving his hand in front of my face.
“I think he’s out of it from fear.”
Gerard peered at me, saying so. Then Kyle, who had still been squatting next to the dead mercenary, hurried over.
“Are you all right? Was it your first time seeing a corpse? Did it scare you?”
“Well, a little…”
It wasn’t really fear, but I didn’t feel like explaining, so I just trailed off.
“Then what should we do for now? It’ll be getting dark soon. How about we head back to the village and ask the lord what’s going on?”
“Yes, that sounds best.”
Kyle decided, probably out of consideration for me—who, at least outwardly, had panicked at seeing a corpse for the first time—that we’d retrace our steps for now.
Kakaros still wanted to keep going, but with Gerard also voting to return, the majority ruled.
“Kakaros doesn’t feel at ease.”
Kakaros, leading the way again, mumbled with a troubled face.
“Why not?”
“Kakaros can sense a strong miasma. It feels like Kakaros has sensed it before.”
“You’ve felt it before?”
Kyle asked, puzzled, since he didn’t know what lay ahead. But I thought I understood why Kakaros said that.
The hero’s party had been through countless adventures, including many dungeons. Maybe that’s why it felt similar to him.
“I know it feels off, but let’s talk to the lord first. We can always come back if we need to.”
Kyle soothed Kakaros, whose feet seemed heavy.
“…All right.”
***
By the time we returned to the village, the sun was already setting. Kyle immediately headed for the lord’s castle.
Inside, Corden—the lord’s aide who had introduced himself that morning—led us to the reception room.
“If you’ll please wait here, I’ll bring the lord.”
Since it was well past mealtime, I wondered if we’d be served a feast again, but it didn’t look like that was happening.
“Doesn’t it feel different from the grand welcome this morning?”
Kyle, frowning, seemed to be thinking the same thing.
Corden said it’d only be a moment, but we had to wait quite a while for Tallin to show up.
Just as we were growing restless, Kyle spoke to me.
“Lysian, are you feeling better?”
“I’m fine.”
There was no reason for me not to be. I’d only gotten nauseated and thrown up from the stench, nothing more.
“You threw up earlier. Are you feeling sick, or… Are you hungry?”
Now that he mentioned it, I did feel a little hungry. I hadn’t realized it, but once Kyle brought it up, I noticed my empty stomach.
“I think I might be a little hungry…”
“I wish we could wrap this up and go eat. What’s taking the lord so long?”
Gerard was, of course, the first to lose patience.
Muttering quietly, he suddenly jumped to his feet.
“Gerard, what are you doing?”
“If he doesn’t come out, we’ll just go in.”
Gerard answered gruffly and headed for the door.
“Wait, Gerard!”
Just as Kyle stood and called out, a commotion could be heard from outside the door.
