Chapter 84

“Yurian!”

Irian’s urgent voice felt distant. The sight of the stone floor rushing towards me.

‘Ah. If I smash my face here, it’ll be a disaster.’

It would be a loss for all of humanity to have my precious face smashed in such a shabby place. How regrettable.
Fortunately, my face didn’t get smashed on the stone floor. Sandra, who was next to me, quickly caught me, so I landed on something soft… why is it hard? Don’t tell me Sandra’s chest is like a pancake?

“Oh my, it must hurt to bump into armor. Is your nose okay?”
‘…Damn armor.’

I held my throbbing nose and thanked Sandra, who carefully sat me down on the floor. The moment I became aware of the pain in my nose, the pain I had been suppressing with anger surged through my entire body.

“…Prepare.”
“What are you talking about? Prepare what? Don’t tell me the monster is following us… but there’s no sign of it. Yurian, what are you preparing for?”

The moment I tried to move my lips, which wouldn’t open, the divine power I had barely maintained was cut off.
As soon as the barrier and purification magic I had been maintaining with my mental strength were released, the women all frowned, but… I’m about to die myself, you know.

“This. I was telling you to prepare, cough, cough.”

I tried to act like nothing was wrong, but I just ended up spitting out blood. Cha Hyewon’s face turned pale as she looked down at the blood splattered on my shoes, and then she yelled.

“You idiot! What were you doing while you got like this!”
“Acting as an air purifier.”

It’s the first time I’ve seen her with such a surprised expression. Do I look that bad? I playfully poked the inside of Cha Hyewon’s thigh, who was looking at me worriedly, and the white hand in front of me clenched into a fist.

“Huh? You’re not going to hit me, are you? I’m a patient.”
“…You should have just held on a little longer, instead of spitting out blood like this. But you’re still joking, so I guess you’re still alive?”
“Of course. I’m not about to die, so don’t worry.”

Irian quickly poured healing on me, and I felt a little better. However, Irian, being a paladin, didn’t have much talent for healing magic, so basic healing was her limit, and that was like a drop in the bucket.

It was an emergency treatment, but it only stopped things from getting worse. Still, even a slight improvement made my body, which felt like it was about to collapse, feel a little better. I needed high-level healing magic to fully recover… and of all times, I, the priest, am injured and out of divine power.

“I’m sorry. I should have taken care of you first.”

I smacked Irian’s butt, who was muttering gloomily.

“Kyaa!”

…How fun. As I was savoring the elastic sensation in my hand, Irian yelled angrily.

“Wha, what are you doing!”
“I’m telling you to do better. Don’t get your priorities wrong. Take good care of me. Got it?”
“……Okay. I’m sorry.”

Did she get so down because she saw me spitting up blood? She usually would have huffed and puffed like a tsundere, but she’s hanging her head, so it’s not fun at all. Irian has to be Irian, and a tsundere has to be a tsundere.

I suddenly reached out and messed up the red hair in front of me, which was hanging down, but she just glanced at me and stayed still. Oh? Is she going to hold out like this?

Then how about this.
I attacked her armpit with my fingers, and she flinched and then angrily slapped my hand away.

“Wow~ Armpits are the best. They work for sure.”

She’s glaring at me, and it seems like she’s getting annoyed. If I push it a little more, I might see her get angry, but since we’re not alone, I decided to stop here.

“Be good to me from now on.”
“…Okay. I’ll be good to you, so don’t overdo it.”

I think Irian is okay now.

“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. But why did that bastard… haa. Sorry. It’s my fault for bringing such a guy as a subordinate.”
“It’s not your fault. I was the one who chose him from the list.”

Cha Hyewon didn’t seem to be injured either. However, her complexion wasn’t good due to the rising addiction symptoms and her subordinate’s deviation, or rather, a deviation that wasn’t a deviation. She was glancing at me worriedly, so I attacked the inside of her thigh again, but she dodged it as if she had been waiting for it and glared at me.

“Do you want to get hit?”
“……”

Is Sandra okay?

“Ahem. How about you? Are you okay?”
“……Yes.”

Unlike her answer, she didn’t look okay. Her face was covered in cold sweat, and every time her leather armor moved up and down, I could hear her rough breathing, which still hadn’t calmed down. How is it that the front line is fine, but the two back lines are in this state?

Sandra, who had been lowering her head and regulating her breathing, took a deep breath and then raised her head.

“About Somir. His solo action was definitely wrong, but… he had his reasons. His wife was once kidnapped by orcs. He got her back, but… she was pregnant with an orc’s child. In the end, he had to kill his wife with his own hands.”

So that’s why he reacted so strangely? I thought it was strange how the warrior, who was calm and experienced before encountering the monster, went crazy like someone who had eaten rat poison, but he had such a story. I don’t feel particularly sorry for him. It’s just a ‘oh, okay’ level of feeling.

“That’s unfortunate. So you’re asking me to understand?”
“No. I don’t have that much of a relationship with him. However, I thought I should at least… let you know that he had this kind of story.”
“That was unnecessary.”

I coldly dismissed Sandra’s excuse. No matter what his circumstances were, he put the group in danger. What’s important to me are my people, and I don’t care what happens to people outside my reach.

If I had driven him to death for no reason, I would have felt some guilt or self-reproach, but I really tried to save him until he was on the verge of death.

I even tried so hard that I got a bunch of debuffs as a side effect, so if he resented me as he died, I would be the one who would feel wronged. I did enough, and if I had gone any further, we would have all died. No, I would have died, and the women would have been humiliated. Wouldn’t that be a worse ending?

No matter how I feel about him, he made me suffer like this, and my people were almost in big trouble, so I’ll get my revenge.

“Let’s go outside. We can go out and bring in reinforcements to wipe them out. Hey, Cha Hyewon. You’ll help, right?”
“Haa… of course. Whether I like it or not, he was my subordinate. I’ll bring everyone and wipe them all out. Those damn bug bastards. To have my purity threatened by such disgusting bugs… this is the first time I’ve been so humiliated!”

Hmm. Seeing her burning with revenge, I don’t have to worry about a lack of manpower. Since the magistrate of the empire is going on a rampage like that, I’ll just quietly put my spoon on the table.

Thanks to the healing that Irian poured on me, and the short rest I had while sitting down, I got up, feeling like my strength had returned.

“Okay, then let’s go out……”

Wait a minute. I have to go outside… but where do I go? The gazes of my companions, who are staring blankly at me, are piercing. What should I do? I don’t know the way… I don’t know the way. The map? …Somir had it.

“What are you doing? Are you still not feeling well? Should I carry you on my back?”
“That would be nice.”

As if she had been waiting for it, Irian knelt down in front of me and took a position as if to tell me to get on her back, so I got on her back. Hmm… her hair and neck smell good. I want to lick it.

“……Don’t breathe on my neck.”
“Sniff sniff.”
“I’m going to kill you. Don’t overdo it, seriously.”
“Hey, I’m a patient, a patient.”
“…Haa. How did I end up with a guy like this… So where do we go?”
“……Huh?”
“Where do we go?”
“Uh, right. So, um~ just a minute. Where… where do we have to go.”

I’m screwed. I was blankly staring into the air while being carried on Irian’s back, and then Cha Hyewon’s sharp hand landed on my back.

“Don’t joke around! Is this the time for this? Tell me quickly.”
“……Over there.”
“What!”
“Does anyone know the way?”
“……?”

I ignored the sight of the fine red hair swaying in front of my face as she tilted her head. I didn’t expect Irian to remember the way. Cha Hyewon… she’s just staring blankly. Yeah. I didn’t expect you to either. But… but what about Sandra…!

“If you go this way, haa, straight… isn’t that it?”
“As expected! You remembered the path we took, like a mage!”
“Huh? What are you, wheeze, talking about? Didn’t we just walk straight along the path? Haa.”
“……”

This is a disaster. She was a pushover too. But why does she look so strange? She’s still breathing roughly, and she’s covered in cold sweat. She looks worse than me. Isn’t Sandra the one who needs treatment urgently?

In the end, we had to wander around looking for a place to rest. Of course, I was on Irian’s back. Oh, how comfortable. Every time I breathed into her white neck, she would flinch, which was very fun. But every time that happened, the force with which she squeezed my butt was unusual, so it was scary.

After wandering around for a while, we found a suitable place to settle down. The atmosphere was heavy because everyone was silent due to Somir’s death, but the bigger problem was my injury.

◉ Status Ailment: Undead Archduke’s Mark (Physical Stats -20%)
              Debuff (All Stats -50%, Divine Magic Restriction, Severe Health Deterioration)

Putting aside the other things, the biggest problem is that I can’t use skills. My physical stats are already low, and now I have a double debuff. What a weakling. I’ve become so weak that it wouldn’t be strange if I died from stress. …Damn it.

Okay, I can accept that my physical abilities were low from the start. But I used to live by my skills, and now I can’t even use magic. I’ve become a useless burden who can’t help in battle, and I still feel nauseous, so what should I do?

I wiped the cold sweat that was dripping down my chin and checked on Sandra, another injured person. She… she looks worse than me.

“Are you okay?”
“……Yes.”

Sandra’s face was flushed, and she was panting heavily, as if she was in severe pain. Cold sweat was dripping from her face. She looked so bad that it wouldn’t be strange if she collapsed right away, and Irian poured healing on her, but there was no sign of improvement.

“Healing magic isn’t working.”

Sandra shook her head when she saw Irian looking flustered. Even that small movement seemed difficult, so it seemed quite serious.

“It’s, mana exhaustion… it’s not a physical wound.”
“Ah. So that’s why the healing didn’t work. Then what should we do?”
“Resurrection… I can’t use it.”

The high-level healing skill, Resurrection, which could treat mana exhaustion, was too much for Irian. I knew she was spamming magic too much.

“Sandra. Are you okay?”
“Haa, haa, yes…”

……That’s a strange sigh. Why does it feel so familiar?
Suddenly, Diana came to mind. I’m sure Diana’s rough breathing when she was excited was similar to this.

……Could it be?

“Haaa, Yurian. You know… can you, can you hug me?”
“Wha, what!? What is this woman saying!”
“Then can you… haa, hug me? …No, you’re too girly, so I don’t like it. Wheeze, I really can’t take it anymore. Hurry.”

Could it be that she couldn’t withstand the addiction because her resistance was lost due to mana exhaustion? Thinking about it that way, her flushed face and sweat-soaked appearance look incredibly sexy.

“Hey, put me down.”
“Yurian! Don’t tell me… no, right?”
“I can’t help it. If we leave her like this, she’ll lose her reason. Both of you, look over there.”
“You crazy bastard!”
“I can’t just let her die!”

Irian, who had been huffing and puffing, turned her body away and kicked the hard wall while grumbling. Cha Hyewon was glancing at me with a flushed face. ……I don’t have an exhibitionist tendency, but do I have to do it here?