Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 95
—Of course. Marcella’s Chalice and Ridelion’s Ring. We worked hard to obtain them back then, so I remember them well.
Contrary to my worries, Larry handed over the information without the slightest suspicion. That meant the sacred relics in my subspace were Marcella’s Chalice and Ridelion’s Ring.
According to what the lich had told me, one of the remaining relics was with the hero’s party, and the last one was with the Devotees of Darkness.
“The one the Devotees of Darkness have is…”
—You mean Natalion’s Necklace?
After hearing the names of about four relics, I started to get the pattern. The word in front was the name of a kingdom, and the word after it was the form of the relic.
In other words, ‘Marcella’s Chalice’ was the chalice given by the god to the Kingdom of Marcella, and ‘Ridelion’s Ring’ was the ring given to the Kingdom of Ridelion.
“Then the one the hero’s party has is…”
—The last remaining one is Adrianna’s Scepter, but no one has been able to find where it is. Does the hero’s party have it?
It seemed this was something even Larry didn’t know.
—Ah, so that’s why you infiltrated the party? You’re planning to take it when the opportunity comes, right? As expected, Lord Lysian is a genius!
Larry’s admiring guess was completely wrong, but I didn’t feel the need to correct him.
“Could you find out some information about the one the Devotees of Darkness have, Natal… anyway, that one?”
—Of course, anytime! If I find anything, I’ll report it to you right away!
Larry answered briskly and then fluttered away again. Really, it was good to have at least one reliable subordinate.
As I was organizing my thoughts one last time, something suddenly came to mind. Among the hero’s party, who was the one holding the relic?
It probably wasn’t Kyle, and since Elonen’s relic had been stolen, it didn’t seem likely to be him either. Then it had to be either Gerard or Kakaros…
It wasn’t that important, so I figured I would ask later if I remembered. More importantly, the real issue was how to return the ones I had.
* * *
When morning came, the party woke up groggily and began breakfast. Elonen had gotten up early and prepared a stew by slowly simmering potatoes and mushrooms, and it helped loosen our bodies that had stiffened from the cold overnight.
“I really hate the cold.”
Gerard muttered, breathing out a cloud of white. The temperature had dropped even further during the night, and even sitting in front of the campfire, my back felt cold enough to make my body shiver.
“Grrr.”
Kakaros must have been cold as well, because he had stayed in his wolf form instead of returning to human form. Kyle seemed to find him warm and was sitting close beside him.
“I’ll cast insulation magic on your clothes before we climb. This spell doesn’t last very long, so it’s better to do it right before we depart.”
“Thank you, Gerard. Then will it last until we cross the mountain?”
Elonen asked while pushing more firewood into the campfire. It looked like he was planning to boil some tea before departure. Earlier, I had seen Gerard cast a spell on a leather canteen. It was probably a heat retention spell.
“I can’t guarantee that. How long did Kakaros say it would take to cross the mountain?”
“He said about a week.”
“Then it won’t last. The insulation magic wears off after about a day. I’ll recast it every morning, so avoid acting alone. Unless you want to freeze to death by yourself.”
It was a little funny to hear something that sounded almost like a threat from Gerard, who was the one constantly acting alone.
Elonen, who had been listening carefully, suddenly turned to look at me.
“There are many dangerous monsters in the snow mountains and the terrain is rough, so Lysian, you need to be especially careful.”
Elonen’s gentle concern was always something to be grateful for, and also a little embarrassing.
“If you can’t keep up, we’ll leave you behind.”
And Gerard’s grumbling was always irritating.
“Looks like the sun is fully up now, so shall we get moving?”
Elonen said as he poured the steaming tea from the kettle into a leather canteen.
“Everyone, come stand around me.”
Gerard said this as he stood inside a magic circle he had drawn. The party gathered around him, murmuring.
After confirming everyone was there, Gerard lightly tapped the ground within the circle with his staff. A flash of light burst out, and a warm sensation spread through my body.
“Oh, my body’s warming up.”
Kyle, who had been absent-minded until now, returned to his usual self and spoke in admiration. It seemed the cold from the night had affected him more than he let on.
“Then let’s head out right away.”
As Kyle strode forward energetically, the rest of the party picked up their belongings and followed after him.
