How a Villain Defies Destiny Chapter 55

Certainly, it was a great advantage.

 

Even with all the measures currently in place to prevent the dragon from attacking, it wasn’t as if there wasn’t a risk of death, but it was still admirable that he hadn’t lost his pace.

 

“You’re awesome.”

 

“Hmm, I don’t think you’re lying, but somehow I’m not too happy about it.”

“You’re right, it’s a compliment, but should we eat first? I’m very hungry.”

 

“Sounds good.”

 

Yves and I made our way to the dining hall, accompanied by Enheduane, who had a cheerful smile on her face.

 

Already seated there were the two apprentice priests we’d been introduced to today, Priest Marco, and the children who live in the temple.

 

“My lady, welcome!”

 

“You don’t have to be so polite, the children are watching.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“Yes. We’ll talk about it later, so please enjoy your meal.”

 

“E– enjoy!”

 

Priest Marco exclaimed, sweating so much that his handkerchief was soaked through.

 

‘Hmm, the strongest is the Enheduane after all.’

 

With that inane thought, we filled our stomachs.

 

After a quick meal, we sat down in what looked like a conference room.

 

“This is Miss Laura, a candidate for Saint, whom I introduced to you this morning.”

 

“Of course! I haven’t seen her since this morning, but we introduced ourselves anyway.”

 

Priest Marco seems to be a bit of a taciturn type.

 

“You must have been tired. Perhaps you’ve been sleeping more lately.”

 

“That’s understandable, it’s winter, after all. Besides, Miss Laura has received a new oracle.”

 

“Yes. Indeed. I heard that tomorrow night, a dragon will appear out of nowhere and attack our city…”

 

His tone got weird again. But no one here seemed to mind his tone.

 

“So we’ve informed the Pope, and we’ve been working on some defenses.”

 

The preparations were based on what I’d learned from the game.

 

‘Selene’s arrival in Dilbat was always after the dragon had left, but she described the trail of destruction in great detail.’

 

Dragons are skilled in all manner of magic.

 

The most dangerous of these attacks are unique to their race, the breath.

 

Different dragons have different types of Breaths, but there was no sign of it on Dilbat.

 

‘If they had shot the breath in the first place, they would have described it as just a hole in the ground with nothing to salvage.’

 

In the original, on the other hand, the buildings were mostly destroyed and there were many people crushed under them.

 

From that, I could deduce that it was a normal attack, and not using Breath.

 

“I’m going to keep this for now, it’s a holy artifact that makes the divine power you possess stronger and wider, so when I activate it tomorrow, the size of the divine power will probably be twice as large as usual.”

 

“Ohhh!”

 

“And now, this one belongs to Priest Marco.”

 

“Hehe, this, isn’t it a Holy Shield?”

 

The Holy Shield was not a holy object, but a special shield created by gathering the holy power of the highest priests.

 

Priest Marco’s eyes were filled with excitement as he held the shield, as if he already knew its identity.

 

“That’s right. I’m sure you’re familiar with the people of the city. Please help us evacuate.”

 

“This, this precious thing…!”

 

Seeing him now, Priest Marco was a quick-witted man.

 

‘Isn’t his personality a bit excessive?’ 

 

While I was inwardly admiring him, who seemed to have a new trait every time I met him, Yves poked me in the side again.

 

“Why?”

 

“…”

 

This time, I didn’t even respond. Not sure what was bothering him this morning, but the voice of Enheduane made me turn my head.

 

“Let’s see… the apprentice priest there, Lena?”

 

“Aye. That’s right, not only have I seen His Highness Enheduane in the flesh, but I’m now being called by name. I’m at my wits’ end.”

 

I’d forgotten about her for a moment, but her reaction was just as surprising.

 

“Miss Lena, I need you to keep the people in the temple from causing chaos. I don’t know if it will help, but I’ll give you this: a flute that can calm the mind.”

 

“Thank you, I will give it to fulfill the duty you have entrusted to me!”

 

“Mmm! That’s a very good attitude for a priest. Now, next.”

 

Something kept coming out of Enheduane’s arms, and not some Santa Claus.

 

“I’ll give you this, in case there are many injuries.”

 

The last thing handed to the male apprentice priest was an ordinary first aid kit with no special features.

 

“I can’t heal everyone with my divine power.”

 

The man nodded in silence.

 

‘The priests here have extreme levels of extroversion and introversion.’ 

 

Anyway, the priests here traveled to small villages that didn’t have a temple to serve during the harvest festival to heal the sick with their holy power.

 

‘I’ll have to do some self-reflection before bed tonight.’

 

For a temple with so many faithful priests, I had the misconception that it was a corrupt temple…

 

“Miss Laura, are you there?”

 

Enheduane called out to me.

 

“I was listening in the corner of my eye.”

 

“That’s what they call not hearing. Concentrate.”

 

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

 

“All right, so we don’t know the exact time, but we do know its Thanksgiving night, so everybody be on your toes tomorrow from the time the sun starts to set.”

 

“Yes!”

 

Lena and Priest Marco answered eagerly.

 

“The evacuation will begin just before sunset tomorrow.”

 

“Understood.”

 

The truth was, we hadn’t told the people of this city that there would be a dragon attack.

 

If I told them in advance, they would have taken care of their evacuation, but it would have violated my second condition.

 

Despite the fact that my goal was to save as many people as possible, Enheduane has been cooperating with me to the extent that she could, given that the people here are not allowed to leave the city.

Furthermore, there are more selfish people in the world than good people. 

 

Even if I announced the evacuation in advance and asked them to keep it a closely guarded secret until after the night of Thanksgiving, they would still be free to leave the city and spread rumors.

 

Of course, we didn’t know if the dragons would hear the humans’ rants or not, but we wanted to keep the number of variables as low as possible.

 

So, we chose an ambiguous twilight time when it would be time to evacuate, but not so much that they would have any other options, such as fleeing the city.

 

One of the questions I had was…

 

‘We don’t know why the dragon destroyed the city in the first place.’ 

 

I’m sure Selene knows, but the reason for the dragon’s destruction was never explained during the game.

 

There must be a reason for this, seeing as how all of my questions so far have fallen into place.

 

‘That’s the problem with not knowing.’

 

I brushed the question from my mind. It wouldn’t make any difference if I knew the cause now.

 

‘It had to happen anyway, if we don’t want to regress.’ 

 

All I wanted to do was stop the loss of life. I didn’t want to see anyone die, especially someone I was close to.

 

“Miss Laura, I need you to get the full picture from the tower.”

 

“Yes, of course.”

 

“Lord Leblanc will keep an eye on Miss Laura.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Very well, Miss Laura and Lord Leblanc, you may return. The rest of you, come with me to check the evacuation route one more time.”

 

Yves and I walked out of the conference room.

 

‘Surely I’m not going to die?’

 

Suddenly, I felt a surge of mortal fear, but I pushed it aside. People had survived surprise dragon attacks in the game.

 

I’d be better prepared than that now, so I should be fine.

 

“Don’t worry. 

 

Yves’ voice came from beside him.

 

Our eyes met, and I instinctively reached for my cheek. Somehow, reading my expression, I knew he was speaking to me.

 

“No matter what happens, I’m going to make sure you never die.”

 

He must have realized that I was scared, after all.

 

I let out a dry laugh and replied, “You mean Lord Yves will protect me with his life, right?”

 

“…” 

 

“Not if you don’t want to. And even if Lord Yves doesn’t protect me with his life, I won’t die. So, tomorrow, let’s just take care of each other.”

 

Well, as for me, I guess I’d be protected by Huluppu’s branch, though I don’t know how to use it.

 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, have a good night.”

 

The distance between the conference room and my assigned room wasn’t too far, so we barely exchanged a few words before I was already there.

 

I walked into the room first, leaving Yves behind, who didn’t respond.

 

I thought to myself, ‘I played it cool in front of Yves, but I’m a bit of a wreck.’

 

Frustrated, I opened the window and looked out over the city at night.

 

Still, I couldn’t believe that such a peaceful city would be torn apart tomorrow night.

 

‘But what I don’t understand is myself.’ 

 

Honestly, it was kind of funny.

 

Desperately trying not to be tied to the original, I was barely alive, jumping into an event that would most likely get me killed.

 

And I knew it.

 

When Enheduane invited me to come with her to Dilbat, I knew that if I had stubbornly refused, I would never have come.

 

Nevertheless, I went along as if I could not win.

 

Part of me was worried about Syris, and part of me wanted to save as many people as I could, but I had another reason.

 

‘If I ever go back, I want to see it with my own eyes.’ 

 

In the original, I fled from the world, but in the end, the center of the world was Selene.

 

No matter how much I enjoyed my peaceful life in the Holy Land, if something happened on Selene’s side, I was likely to be caught up in it. Without even being given a choice.

 

‘Of course, now I may be deprived of even that opportunity.’ 

 

So far, I’d regressed with Selene, but I was more like a stray entity.