The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 222

“The guards will be back any moment. We need to run—now.”

“Yes!”

Silvy and I stepped out of the cage.

But the slaves only stared blankly at the open doors.
None of them moved.

“The doors are….”

“What happened?”

If it were me, I’d have bolted without a second thought.

“Who opened them? Did they open automatically? Is this a trap?”

Their bodies were weakened from long-term malnutrition, and their spirits crushed by relentless abuse from the guards.

The learned helplessness—no matter what I do, I’ll always be a slave—had turned them into people who couldn’t take a step forward even when freedom was right in front of them.

Yes.
Even having things taken from you can become a habit.

“I opened them. I’m escaping—are you not coming?”

Even then, the confused crowd couldn’t move easily.
Only a handful stood up abruptly.

“What are you all doing?! This is our chance! Run! Get up, now!”

Still, they hesitated, exchanging uncertain glances.

Unbelievable.

I’m offering to save you—why not just grab my hand?

But I couldn’t say I didn’t understand.
They’d been trained into obedient slaves for too long. Or—

“What if we get caught again after escaping?”

“Wouldn’t they treat us even worse than now?”

Fear.
The fear that things could become even more unbearable if they dared to move.

Salvation, after all, is something only the prepared can accept.

‘We don’t have much time.’

The guards would notice something was wrong and come back soon. I’d used magic.
There was no time to waste arguing.

“Then let’s leave the ones who don’t want to go and escape on our own.”

“—!”

They stared at me in shock, apparently not expecting me to abandon them so decisively.
Funny—when I try to leave them behind, that they don’t like.

“If you don’t like that, then follow me.”

The only people I was obligated to save were Silvy—whom I’d promised—and the children.

“Is it really okay to leave them behind?” Silvy asked hesitantly.

“They’re adults. They’re responsible for their own lives. Overcoming fear and seizing an opportunity is a kind of ability too. Every chance comes with risk.”

To be honest, what I was doing right now was fairly reckless.

If I wanted the safest route, I could’ve just escaped with Silvy, joined the auction, and bought everyone with leftover money.

“But for some reason, I really don’t want to give those criminals a single coin. And I really want to screw them over,” I added.
“You get it, right, Silvy?”

“Y-yes… I mean, sure,” she nodded, clearly not understanding at all.

Even now, it wasn’t too late.

If I were more cunning, I could use these people to cause chaos, steal the relic in the confusion, and escape. No one would blame me.

But… why bother?

It’s not like I lack the ability.

“Is everyone who’s leaving gathered?”

This wasn’t sacrifice or selflessness.

I was doing it simply because I could.

“But… how are we escaping?” someone asked.

“Like this. Come out, Aether.”

The aether that had been stubbornly holding out finally surrendered, appearing in the shape of a car.

“G-gasp! A car…!”

A new symbol of wealth in this era.

The slaves gasped at the sudden appearance of the vehicle.

“All right, get in. There’s spatial expansion magic inside, so don’t worry about space. Oh—and don’t touch the driver’s seat. It hates backseat driving.”

I planned to load everyone inside and get them out in one go.
That way, no one would be caught while fleeing.

Vroooom—

Aether grumbled nonstop, clearly unhappy about being separated from me.

For something trained by a grand archmage, I really don’t know what it worries about so much.

Once I confirmed everyone was inside and was about to leave myself, a small hand tugged at my sleeve.

A child—one who had been scheduled to be sold today—looked up at me with clear eyes.

“Aren’t you coming too, miss?”

“I still have something to do.”

It was time to become a righteous phantom thief.

Then the child pointed in a direction.

“There. Inside.”

“Inside?”

“Inside… my friend.”

“There’s another friend in there?”

Huh. My detection magic didn’t catch that.

“I’ll go get them. You run.”

When the child finally let go of my clothes, Silvy lowered the window and hesitated before speaking.

“You’re sure… I shouldn’t come with you?”

“Escaping safely from here is what helps me the most, Miss Silvy.”

She nodded, understanding.

“Be careful.”

“You too.”

“I’ll repay this kindness for the rest of my life.”

“If we both survive, let’s meet at a Spherom Hotel.”

Once the window closed completely—

Vroooom!

Aether revved the engine, as if saying it would be right back, and then charged straight ahead—smashing through everything in its path.

Boooom!

Yeah.
That thing is definitely not an ordinary artifact.

 

 

****

 

 

Despite the unbelievable sight of a car materializing out of thin air, some slaves still did not step out of their cages.

“How can we trust this? Even if we follow her, we’ll probably just become slaves somewhere else.”

“Yeah. If that’s the case, it might be better to stay here and find a good master.”

At that moment, a guard who had rushed back after sensing an abnormal fluctuation in the barrier stared at the now-empty cages and spat out a curse.

“Where the hell did they all run off to?!”

At least a few slaves remained.
If even they had been gone, it would’ve been a death sentence for him.

“Well done. Good things will come to you.”

At those empty words tossed out like feed, the anxious expressions on the remaining slaves’ faces brightened.

“See? I told you it was good we didn’t run.”

The guards ignored the murmurs of the slaves and hurried off to search for the escapees.

Boom—!

That was when the sound of an explosion ripping through the ground echoed out, like something shattering apart.

Unable to keep their footing as the ground shook, the guards tumbled to the floor. Those left underground were so startled they thought the entire structure was collapsing.

“Go find out what’s going on!”

If not for the voice of the head guard barking orders, the place would’ve turned into total chaos.

“Tch, damn it.”

As a guard stalked through the wrecked underground area like it was his own home, grinding his teeth at the thought of catching anyone—slave or otherwise—

Click.

An unfamiliar sensation came from beneath his foot.

“…!”

By the time he realized it was a trap, it was already too late.

 

 

****

 

 

Bang—!

I couldn’t help but grimace at the sound coming from behind me. Someone had stepped on one of the trap spells I’d set in advance.

“Oof. That must’ve hurt.”

I told you—should’ve had a nimble day.

“Pop quiz. Does activating magic I’ve already set somewhere else count toward my daily spell limit?”

The answer is: Nope!

Since the number of spells I can use per day is limited, I’d done an extensive amount of preparation.

“No matter how I look at it, this seems like the right way.”

An illusion maze underground?
Just like Silvy said, it looks like there’s a mage in the black market.

And not just some tower-level mage—
a star-rank mage.

‘Who the hell is it?’

I made a mental note to ask next time I visited the Sky Tower and casually broke through.

No wonder all the guards were clustered around the slaves—
the valuables were being protected by magic.

‘Probably this way.’

I followed the distinct aura emitted by the relic.

Then—

I froze at the sound of unfamiliar footsteps.

The other party stopped as well.

Our gazes met.

“?”

“?”

Huh?

I’d altered my hair and eye color with magic, and there was even a facial-recognition interference spell in place—but my eyes weren’t fooled.

“Harun?”

Why are you here?

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Harun blinked.

“…?”

A familiar voice. A tone that sounded like it knew him.

“Arellin?”

“Yes.”

I see.

Bang—!

Harun had been bothered by the strange explosions echoing from afar for a while now. He could also sense someone approaching, ignoring the chaos.

Now that he’d seen Arellin, he couldn’t bring himself to leave her alone.

“What are you doing here, Harun?”

“Mission.”

“Ah.”

He’d been tracking the source of suspicious magic potions circulating among civilians and somehow ended up here.

But then—why was Arellin here?

“I need the relic they have. It’s over there. Let’s go!”

The auction was already underway, so the place was half-empty, but the storage area was packed with stolen goods, treasures of unknown origin, precious metals, ancient books, relics, and artifacts.

“If we took all of this, we could really give them one hell of a screw-you.”

After securing her target relic, Arellin smacked her lips in satisfaction. Only then did confusion finally hit Harun.

Wait.
Wasn’t Arellin supposed to be dead?

How is she alive?

An impostor? No—
if she were fake… she wouldn’t be able to read his expression like that.

As Harun struggled with his confusion, Arellin, who had been smiling at his face, suddenly frowned.

“Harun. Look at this.”