Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 56
Both my voice and the guy’s echoed off the walls.
I lowered the shield and sword I’d been holding at the ready and lightly rolled my shoulders.
Then, I released all the miasma I had been concealing in an instant.
“I am Lysian Felix, the Black Flame Dragon.”
I spoke as naturally and calmly as I could, not wanting to sound overly dramatic.
At that moment, the torches hanging on the walls suddenly lit one after another. As the flames ignited along the wall, a giant statue on one side became visible.
I was wondering if that was the boss of the dungeon, when the voice came from behind me.
“What brings a dragon all the way here?”
The one who had just spoken so grandly finally revealed himself.
From how frightened Tallin had been, I expected someone terrifying, but he looked rather unimpressive, and I was a little disappointed.
“So, you’re the one extorting the villagers?”
“E-Extorting? I think there’s been a misunderstanding. If you’ll let me explain, could you suppress your miasma first? It’s hard for me to breathe.”
“Oh, right.”
Monsters would never challenge one stronger than themselves. In some ways, their hierarchy was even more rigid than beasts. That’s why humans could rank them as high, middle, or low.
In any case, since he had no intention of confronting me, I calmly suppressed my released miasma.
“Phew, now I can finally breathe a little.”
With a sigh, the priest wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Now that I looked more closely, he wasn’t human. He was a skeleton.
Underneath the deep hood that covered his face, his body was nothing but skin and bones—quite literally, just bones—creaking as he moved.
“Now tell me why you were harming the villagers and demanding tributes here.”
“Well, it’s rather unfair, actually. It turns out a few of the rats I command were hungry and stole food from the village. When it happened a couple of times, that lord led a crowd into the forest. They made a huge fuss about holding some ritual for monsters or whatever.”
“What? A ritual for monsters?”
This was a new story I hadn’t heard from the lord, and I couldn’t help but furrow my brow.
“That’s right. So, I had one of my subordinates deliver a message to the lord. I said, ‘Your land is abundant, so if you share a bit of food for the rats, I won’t cause any trouble.’ He agreed, but then broke his promise and sent a bunch of mercenaries the very next day.”
It was a completely different story from what the lord had told us. I pressed him, my brow furrowed in disbelief.
“Is all that really true?”
“Of course it is. Why would I dare lie in a place like this? Anyway, I did hang the mercenaries in the forest as a warning, but I never harmed any of the other villagers. I swear!”
This was why people always said you have to hear both sides of a story.
This deathless mage lich hadn’t run amok at all. His swarm of rats had just stolen some food.
Anyway, the lord’s story and the truth didn’t matter much to me. What I really wanted to ask was about the magic stone.
“You know what this is, don’t you?”
I rummaged in my pocket and held up the magic stone to the lich.
“Of course I do. I’ve been having the rats scatter them among the beasts in this area.”
He confessed more easily than I expected, and for a moment I felt let down. Still, it was a relief to reach the truth without having to suffer for it.
“Then tell me. Where does this highly pure magic stone come from?”
“That… was given to me by the Dark God I serve. Along with instructions on how to use it.”
Which meant there was a high chance that this curse engraved on my body was also related to this so-called Dark God—with a name even more cringeworthy than Black Flame Dragon.
“Then, do you know about this?”
I put down the sword and shield I was holding and started unbuttoning my clothes. The lich seemed flustered, but I didn’t have time to care.
After tossing my outer coat over my sword, I unbuttoned my shirt. Showing bare skin in front of a skeleton wasn’t exactly a pleasant sight.
“Can you tell me why this curse is carved into my body?”
I pointed to my chest with my index finger. The lich leaned in, craning his head for a closer look.
“This is…?”
