There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 107

I wasn’t particularly trying to ruin Ryuseong’s reputation. Rather, I was just elevating my own. Hmph. A mastermind who gradually changes under the influence of his affectionate lover—isn’t that a romanticist straight out of a painting?

‘In an age where romance is dying, wouldn’t it be polite to share this kind of sweetness if one has it?’

However, Ryuseong showed no signs of stopping his fervent protests. Though it was merely him shooting telepathic messages. And therefore, incredibly cute.

[Crazy bastard! I will absolutely, definitely get my revenge for your slander, so you’d better know that!]

But I’m not the kind of nice adult who goes easy on someone just because they’re cute.

[In that case, I will join you. If you spout slander, I will do it again for you. Whether you do it again after that is, well, your choice.]

[…]

[Chicken game, shall we start one?]

And Ryuseong said nothing more. Ooh-hoo-hoo. Well, getting into an all-out bullshit battle with me is pretty much a suicide attempt.

‘Why even start a fight you’re bound to lose in the first place.’

I absentmindedly pulled on baby Ryuseong’s soft cheek and almost got bitten, but I quickly pulled my hand back, stroked his head instead, and smiled contentedly.

“Baby Ryuseong is smart, unlike the adult Ryuseong…”

“What? You can say that even after seeing that thing dare to bare its teeth at you?”

At this point, Ryuseong seemed genuinely aggrieved. But I was being sincere. Isn’t he smart enough just by the fact that he’s at least friendly to my face, even if he plans to eat me?

He’s better than that adult Ryuseong bastard, who was openly determined to kill me in the early days. Ah, of course, baby Ryuseong also tried to kill me at first.

‘…Wait. Is this a Ryuseong species-specific trait?’

Trying to kill me and then being won over.

“Your taste is really strange too…”

When I said that, Ryuseong’s blood pressure must have shot up, as he grabbed the back of his neck, lowered his head, and took a deep breath.

“Fine. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“Yes, I understand perfectly.”

“Shut your mouth. Please.”

“The one with the strange taste should shut up first.”

“I told you to shut up… I’m telling you to just shut up…”

The Vice-Commander of the Rversa, unable to bear how awkward this version of ‘Cassis de Millang’ was, looked back and forth between Ryuseong, me, and baby Ryuseong with a strange expression, making quite a scene.

His eyeballs were bouncing around like billiard balls struck by a cue stick.

Meanwhile, the adult Ryuseong, apparently unable to stand seeing me continuously exposed to the angry gazes of the Rversa group, stood up to move. He immediately wrapped an arm around my waist, supported me under my knees, and lifted me up.

Having become quite accustomed to being held like a princess, I wrapped one arm around his nape and used the other to stop baby Ryuseong from biting the adult Ryuseong, trying to figure out where we should go, when that guy named Kirill chirped out gleefully.

“Please come this way!”

“Hmm.”

Before I could even answer, the Rversa rose up in protest.

“That is not possible!”

However, Kirill was no pushover. I thought he would just talk back tit-for-tat, but instead, he lowered his tone and began to growl, the very picture of a fierce and cold-headed northern man.

“Everyone here clearly saw you all attempt to slice the Master’s precious body into pieces just now. Do you not know that? At the very least, did you think this country would treat de Millang’s esteemed guest so poorly?”

“…That is,”

“No country’s military would have the gall to declare they would not protect de Millang’s Young Master. But what are you? How could you, who claim to be de Millang’s guardians, attempt to trample your master so mercilessly?”

Kirill confronted the Vice-Commander of the Rversa without ever raising his voice.

The Vice-Commander was a full head taller than Kirill, but as Kirill took one step, then another, getting closer and closer until he was nearly chin-to-chin, glaring at him, the Vice-Commander seemed to lose his nerve and stepped back. I couldn’t see Kirill’s expression from my position, but he must have looked incredibly frightening.

Kirill was a non-awakened, so he couldn’t even project an aura to emanate killing intent, yet he was making the Rversa back down with nothing but the force of his human presence.

And just as the situation reached a stalemate.

Ivan Karpin spoke.

“Will you come over here, Young Master?”

At this point, I think rumors will have spread all over this country. Not just the reputation I intended, but also the fact that Rversa, that is, de Millang’s internal forces, and the Young Master have a relationship of, at minimum, mutual restraint, and at maximum, mutual hostility.

“Thank you for the invitation, Colonel.”

I gave a faint smile while being held by Ryuseong, and Kirill turned his head back to look at me, grinning like a goofy fool. This guy is a funny one. His commander is Ivan Karpin, yet he’s acting as if he’s a baby duckling who has imprinted on me as its mother duck.

Should I just snatch him? If he survives until the end. Yes. If he survives, it might be alright to make him my ally…

‘The problem is whether he can make it back alive, though.’

There was something I had been pondering for a while. It was a fact I learned while gathering the survivors. There were two Named beings inside this place. One was the Named being who created this dungeon itself, and the other was, drumroll please…

‘Jeong Ian.’

My trauma, in other words.

Cassis de Millang’s trauma, as if it had no intention of appearing, was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing that, it seemed that, as expected, the otherworld meticulously created by a Named monster was on a completely different level of sophistication than the entrance exam, the ‘Confront Your Trauma’ barrier, which was a degraded version of a mental-type demonic power.

‘My goodness, it doesn’t get fooled by the physical body and filters out only the true soul to extract the trauma…’

And so, I was the one in a predicament.

As I’ve been saying for a while now, there is no human who looks like that inside here.

There was no need to stop by the bridge under which the barely-surviving survivors were gathered to check their faces. If there were two Named beings, there was no way the dungeon wouldn’t have had a break by now.

In that case, that trauma must belong to one of us.

‘Thankfully, the perpetrator of the trauma could also appear, so it probably won’t arouse suspicion.’

For now, no one is likely to step forward and claim that as their trauma, so it’s a bit of a pickle.

In any case, it seems that humans normally don’t live such painful lives. Not only did my childhood memories grow into a proper humanoid form, but seeing as it even became a Named being, well.

But I’ve never lived such a difficult life?

‘…My head hurts…’

I momentarily bit my teeth and hugged baby Ryuseong a little tighter. This child was my only comfort. At that, baby Ryuseong kissed my cheek and giggled, then bared his teeth.

Perhaps I’m thinking that I want to be eaten by this child.

Still, I tried to get a grip. I tried, and I gave him a little peck on the lips to shut him up.

“…!”

At that, baby Ryuseong’s cheeks flushed red and he started to squirm.

I found that cute and burst out laughing, and the adult Ryuseong, as if he couldn’t stand it, exclaimed.

“What! That’s dangerous! Why are you doing it to him? Why not me…”

Peck.

And both Ryuseongs fell silent.

‘Idiots, the both of them.’

As our silent group approached Ivan Karpin’s side, capable soldiers were lined up next to him. Then, a conversation worthy of being called a meeting finally began.

“First, the Named being who cast this barrier is on the left.”

“Then we must go to the left.”

We had drawn something like a map while sharing information obtained through exploration magic.

It was made to distinguish between the living and the dead, but it was also useful for meetings.

The map we looked down on had a large fork in the road in the middle part.

It was a path where one had to pass along a narrow road on a cliff… there was one path leading to a foggy mountain range and two paths leading to a wasteland.

The left was the path to the mountain range, and below the two paths was ground at the bottom of a cliff whose end could not be seen. And between the two paths, a single suspension bridge was hung lopsidedly. The reason I say lopsided is because one of its four main pillars was broken.

So only three ropes were properly attached, while one hung broken and swaying.

“The important thing here is that we must not let the one in the wasteland notice our presence, right?”

In fact, no one had been brought back alive from the right side.

So, um.

Among us gathered here, not a single hunter was rescued from the wasteland.

In other words, all who encountered ‘Jeong Ian’ had died.

“…”

Knowing this, Ivan Karpin began to speak with an incredibly pained expression.

“If by any chance we provoke it, if we happen to encounter it…”

“We will need a sacrifice.”

Because I recognized the voice of the person who said this, I simply let out a listless sigh and didn’t even turn around. The Vice-Commander of the Rversa seemed to have somehow pushed through the soldiers’ guard to approach. Well, we couldn’t exclude him from the meeting.

He’s a skilled guy in his own right, after all.

“A sacrifice…”

However, Ivan Karpin’s lips were set in a firm line.

But the Rversa gang just laughed nonchalantly.

“Isn’t that how you express it in this country? Or do you use other words, like meat shield.”

“…Must you speak in such a way? Can you not show respect for those who sacrifice themselves to save the remaining people?”

“Hmph. That is precisely why I called them a sacrifice for you, wasn’t it?”

Kirill’s solo profanity is not an official statement, so it can be overlooked if he apologizes later. But the words coming out of Ivan Karpin’s mouth are an official statement.

‘Hmm. Then will Ivan Karpin lose this time?’

Just then, Ivan Karpin, as if he didn’t even want to associate with him, whipped his head around, looked towards me, and said.