Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 98
At that moment, Kyle suddenly lifted his head and looked straight at my face. His eyes, the color of a clear blue sky, felt as if they were about to pour over me.
“Don’t worry. No matter what happens, I’ll protect you.”
It was a fairly reliable line. But somehow, it also felt annoying, like he was trying to look cool all by himself.
“Let’s go.”
I felt like my face might heat up, so I passed him first.
The inside of the cave was enormous, just as I had expected. Not only that, the deeper we went, the wider it became.
“At least it’s not cold.”
Fortunately, the temperature inside the cave was warm. Aside from the unpleasant puddles of murky water on the floor, it wasn’t a bad place to spend the night and escape the cold.
“The ground is slippery, so be careful. If you’re scared, should we hold hands while we walk?”
Kyle smiled and held out his hand to me. It seemed he was truly committed to teasing me. Dumbfounded, I let out a short sigh, ignored him cleanly, and kept walking.
“What if we get lost inside the cave? The others might come looking for us.”
Then a sudden worry came to mind, and I stopped walking. Kyle stood beside me and looked around.
“We won’t go in that far. If you’re worried, we can turn back now.”
Honestly, I did feel like we should go back, but at the same time, it felt like a waste to leave after coming this far.
But the deeper we went into the cave, the stronger the presence I felt.
“…I think there’s something inside.”
I muttered uneasily. Kyle immediately turned to me with a surprised expression.
“You can feel it too, Lysian?”
Ah. I hadn’t said anything at the cave entrance earlier because I didn’t want to raise unnecessary suspicion, but the words had slipped out.
“Come to think of it, earlier, before we fell off the cliff, you noticed the monster’s presence too, didn’t you? That was before I even sensed it. How can you detect it so sharply?”
Just as expected, Kyle asked suspiciously. I had wanted to keep it quiet because I didn’t want more excuses to pile up.
“I was once called a Great Sage. So sensing something like this isn’t that difficult.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Even if I’ve lost my memories and my mana, that doesn’t mean I’ve become an idiot.”
I brushed it off vaguely, and Kyle seemed to believe me. Hearing him murmur in admiration that a Great Sage really was different made my conscience sting.
I had just barely avoided another moment where my identity might be exposed, when a sound came at just the right time to distract Kyle.
“Humans, humans!”
“What are you talking about? This is a place humans can’t enter.”
Along with the murmuring voices, the sound of many footsteps rushing closer echoed through the cave.
Kyle quickly drew his sword and stepped in front of me. At the same time, bright light burst out from deeper inside the cave.
“Monsters?”
Kyle muttered as long shadows stretched toward us over his shoulder.
But the shadows grew shorter as they approached, and when they finally poured out in front of us…
“Dwarves?”
Without either of us meaning to, Kyle and I muttered at the same time.
“See, Ziggs. I told you they were humans.”
One of the dwarves spoke. Their accent was a bit unusual, but fortunately, we seemed able to understand each other.
“Hello, nice to meet you! We were crossing the snow mountains and got lost. Could we ask for some help?”
Kyle suddenly stepped forward and spoke first. The dwarves looked very flustered, as if they hadn’t expected that.
“Did you hear that? A human spoke to us.”
But instead of answering Kyle, the dwarves continued talking among themselves.
“What should we say, Rin?”
“Why are you asking me that?”
I looked closely at the murmuring dwarves. They were about the height of my waist, and there were six of them in total.
Each of them was holding an axe or a hammer, along with things like torches and shields. Even though they were armed, they didn’t feel particularly threatening.
“We got separated from the rest of our group and want to find them. Could you help us?”
When Kyle asked again, the dwarves, who had been staring blankly at us, suddenly put their arms around each other’s shoulders and formed a circle.
