Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 65
If gathering all the relics could make a god grant a wish, well, things were getting more and more absurd.
Still, I nodded with a serious face, trying to accept it without bias.
“One of those five relics was in the imperial capital, and the Black Flame Dragon asked for it?”
“Yeah. That thing goes crazy over treasures, so there’s no way it would’ve left a sacred relic alone. Elonen should know too, since the Black Flame Dragon took the one from Elonen’s sanctuary.”
Hearing that, my memory clicked into place.
Elonen had joined the hero’s party because his sanctuary was destroyed, and I remembered that the relic kept there had been taken by the Black Flame Dragon.
Was the Black Flame Dragon collecting those relics to make a wish? Or was it just hoarding, like Kyle said?
Anyway, Elonen probably knew more about relics than Kyle did. If I got the chance, I should ask him subtly.
“But you said the relic disappeared? Someone stole it?”
“I don’t know either. His Majesty really did intend to hand it over, but how could he give something that had already vanished? Of course, just saying it was gone wasn’t something the Black Flame Dragon would ever believe.”
For a brief moment, I wondered if this whole tragedy had simply come from a breakdown in communication.
“Anyway, it’s all in the past now. What matters is that the Black Flame Dragon showed up in Serendal, and we’re going there to get rid of it.”
That Black Flame Dragon was sitting right in front of him, but…
By now, hearing Kyle’s firm resolve didn’t even faze me. I just let it pass.
“It’s getting late. Shall we head back to the inn?”
Kyle looked around as he spoke. The lights that had lit the town were going out one by one, making it darker than before.
But I still hadn’t had the chance to talk with Larry, so I hesitated and stopped walking.
“I kinda want to look around a bit more…”
“We’re sailing tomorrow. You never know what might happen at sea, so you should get a good night’s sleep.”
Kyle stopped with me and turned back, his eyes—so vividly blue they were almost piercing—meeting mine. I blinked, caught off guard by the intensity.
“…Yeah?”
“Yeah. You’ll just be tired if you stay up late.”
Well, there’d be other chances to call Larry and talk. For now, I decided to listen to Kyle and get some rest, so I nodded quietly.
Seeing my answer, Kyle smiled brightly and reached out his hand.
“Let’s go back together.”
His large hand gleamed pale under the moonlight. But I felt too self-conscious to take it, so I pretended not to notice and walked past him.
* * *
The next morning, the party—each for their own reason—looked half-dead as they gathered in the inn’s first-floor dining hall for breakfast.
“Kakaros can’t eat this. Kakaros is going out to find something else.”
Kakaros was the first to drop his spoon and stand up.
“I’ll come with you.”
Apparently unable to endure the food either, Elonen followed him out to look for another place to eat. Gerard, who’d been absent last night, was still nowhere to be seen.
“Where does Gerard keep running off to on his own?”
I asked Kyle casually, glancing at him. He was rubbing his stiff shoulders, clearly sleep-deprived.
“I don’t know. I don’t plan to meddle in everyone’s personal business.”
So even though we were supposed to be a hero’s party, it didn’t mean we always stuck together like glue.
“Anyway, maybe I just slept funny last night, but everything aches. Hey, Lysian, want to hit the bathhouse?”
“Bathhouse?”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t soaked in proper hot water many times since coming to this world. The last decent bath I’d had was back in the Caindel Barony.
“Yeah. I asked the innkeeper earlier and he said there’s a big bathhouse in town. Let’s go wash up properly.”
I had no reason to refuse, so I agreed easily. After finishing the same tasteless breakfast, I followed him out toward the bathhouse.
Like most generic fantasy worlds, this one didn’t reflect a specific historical era exactly, but roughly resembled the Middle Ages.
I was curious what a bathhouse here would look like, but it turned out to be ordinary enough. It was just a large pool in the center of a not-too-big room, for people to soak in.
But once we were actually there, the thought of getting undressed and going into the water with this guy felt awkward, and I hesitated.
“What are you doing? Not undressing?”
Kyle, already shrugging off his clothes in the changing room, looked over at me with a steady gaze. Well… I couldn’t exactly get into the bath if I kept my clothes on.
But as I fumbled, halfway through unbuttoning my shirt, I froze. I’d suddenly remembered the scar across my chest.
