No to Being the Suffering Heroine!

Ashel, who hurled insults at me and fainted, unable to control her anger.

I was absolutely perplexed; I had envisioned a scene of Ashel gracefully expressing her gratitude to her savior and joining our party.

Seriously, what the heck… Did I say something wrong?

I didn’t particularly care about the insults. After all, it was just a part of Ashel’s character, shaped by her tough life in the slums.

If a total stranger had acted like that, even I, who usually disliked conflict and was mild-mannered, would have struggled to hold back my anger. But Ashel… well, she is technically the heroine, isn’t she?

So despite the fact we were complete strangers, I felt a surprisingly strong inner bond. It was like we were friends already, even without an introduction.

So I didn’t care about the swearing at all. I was just a little taken aback.

I had no idea why she suddenly got angry, and now with her fainting, it would be hard to feed her a potion.

She probably wouldn’t swallow it properly and would spill most of it, and it could even flow into her lungs instead of her esophagus.

So usually, people wake them up and feed them afterward… or force them to swallow it mouth to mouth, which is rather…

…That’s a bit much.

Come on, even if it were Friede, I’d be hesitant to shove a potion down her throat right after meeting her today.

To properly feed her, I’d have to use my tongue too.

For the sake of saving a life, but doing that might make things awkward between us afterward. Especially since we were basically strangers.

Also, since Beastfolk have regenerative abilities, the very justification of saving a life felt a bit questionable.

So what now…

I couldn’t just wait for Ashel’s injuries to heal naturally. Even for Beastfolk, it takes quite a while to recover from such severe wounds.

Especially since she had suffered from the slowest healing type—burns.

I couldn’t waste so much time. Although this alley had temporarily quieted down, once I stepped out, it was still a battlefield between Bagest and the slums.

If I hesitated, more Beastfolk might come.

Plus, I was also genuinely worried about Friede and Eleadra. Specifically for Eleadra.

We had briefly parted ways to move the girl I rescued to a safe location. Friede would be okay, but I doubted Eleadra’s patience would last long.

Yeah, waking her up is the better choice.

After a moment of thought, I decided to forcibly wake Ashel up and feed her a potion before sending her to safety.

I had no idea why she was so angry, but it must have been a misunderstanding, so I might as well help clear that up.

And then… right, I should find the Bagest’s Lakan and figure out how to sort this mess out.

The original plan to obtain an auction house membership was now rendered useless, so I didn’t really need to get involved in this city’s affairs anymore, but…

I still needed to address the situation that arose because of me. While slipping away would be comfortable, it would leave an uncomfortable weight on my heart.

Annoying memories tend to linger in the chest for a long time.

So I had to resolve this situation in my own way… First, I had to wake Ashel up. I couldn’t exactly go chasing after Lakan with her on my back.

The remaining concern was how in the world I was going to wake up the fainted Ashel…

…Maybe I could splash some potion on her?

Like the old saying goes, “Share potion with the skin, not the mouth,” so maybe if I pour some on her wounds, she’ll just magically wake up.

At least I’d wake up. It would feel like my limbs were on fire, surely that’d snap anyone back to reality.

And after waking up, I’d immediately feed her the remaining potions, and while her body healed, we could have a chat to clear up the misunderstanding. Yeah, that sounds good.

I laid Ashel’s body down on the ground and reached into my belt pouch to pull out a potion bottle.

A small glass vial filled with a crimson liquid. Just as I was about to pop the cork and dump it on Ashel’s limbs…

Kuuwoong!

A giant, towering over 2 meters, jumped over the wall of the alley and landed right in front of us.

“Hmm… I suspected as much, but it seems you really were here.”

The predator-like yellow eyes glared at me like a hungry beast.

With a deep, rough voice, scruffy black hair, wolf ears, and scars on his muzzle revealing his fierce teeth.

A bulky middle-aged wolf Beastfolk clad in mixed leather and metal armor.

No need to ask; his identity was clear.

“Krimhilde of the Golden Eagles, right?”

“……Lakan.”

The leader of Bagest, “Black Wolf” Lakan Krakel.

He was right there in front of me.

*

“…What a coincidence. I was wondering how to find you… and here you are, saving me the trouble.”

I unraveled my cloak to cover Ashel’s body and stood up, drawing Edelmut from its sheath.

I put the potion bottle back in my pouch. If Ashel screamed in pain, it would grab Lakan’s attention, which could complicate things.

This wolf guy with a missing left cheek had a pesky habit of wanting Ashel for himself.

They say he admires her talent and covets her as a subordinate, but in reality, it’s something much creepier.

In the original story, Ashel recalled that Lakan’s gaze was much stickier and more unsettling than that.

It wasn’t about wanting her as a subordinate; it was more about wanting her as a partner, or something like that?

He must have found her appealing since they were both Beastfolk. If he took in a talented fellow of his kind as a wife, there’s a higher chance their offspring would inherit that talent.

The problem is, Lakan was thirty-six this year, while Ashel was only seventeen.

Beastfolk already bear the brunt of scorn for being half-beast, but what’s he trying to do by acting like a genuine beast?

While it’s common in this world, I still had modern sensibilities, and to me, he was just a heartless beast wanting to make a puppy with a girl almost twenty years younger.

“Ha, you were looking for me?”

Anyway, that filthy beast asked me, intrigued.

“Yeah. We need to stop this madness.”

To drive away a pack of hunting beasts, you have to either kill most of them or take out the leader of the pack.

Similarly, to oust those Bagest guys from the slums, I had to either slaughter most of them like dogs or take down their leader, Lakan.

Better to persuade him to turn back with his subordinates… or I could just decapitate him and march around with his head on a spear.

If only I could persuade him, that would be the best way…

But could a guy like him, who thinks more like a beast than a human, really be persuaded?

Honestly, I have no idea.

I didn’t even know what to say. Telling him to back off unless he wanted to die would probably just provoke him.

“Madness, you say….”

Lakan smirked as if utterly bemused and then burst into laughter, echoing through the alley.

…What’s wrong with him? Does he have a screw loose or something?

“…What’s so funny?”

“I thought I told you to laugh. In the first place, you were the one who started all this.”

He replied as he leaned slightly forward, showing off his teeth in a growl like a beast.

“What’s so ridiculous about that? To declare it madness now, isn’t that the most absurd thing ever? How could I possibly keep a straight face?”

It’s true that I started this whole mess.

Technically speaking, it was my declaration to half-destroy Abandon and boldly announce the name of the Golden Eagles that triggered this catastrophe.

Of course, that didn’t justify this madness at all.

If he wanted to wipe out the Golden Eagles, he should have been aiming only for me. There was no reason to waltz into the slums and murder every human in sight.

“That’s—”

Just as I was about to retort, Lakan interrupted me.

“You honestly thought I wouldn’t see this coming? You gathered the beggars and attacked our people first, do you really think I wouldn’t be suspicious?”

“…What?”

Wait a minute. I didn’t do that.

“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?”

I tilted my head in confusion. The idea that I attacked first was completely new to me.

I gathered the beggars to launch a preemptive strike?

What the heck was he talking about? By the time I got to the slums, a slaughterhouse had already erupted with Beastfolk battling humans for their lives.

Those beggar bastards weren’t willing to listen to a word I had to say.

So, if what Lakan claimed about the initial attack was true, then it must have been the rogue remnants of Abandon acting on their own…

…Could it be that bastard Haval?

It had to be the adventurer guild’s Haval orchestrating this.

“Aren’t you just playing the victim? That’s fine. No need to say more.”

Regrettably, I wouldn’t get the chance to reveal that the initial attack was Haval’s scheme.

“You’re going to die here!”

Before I could shout that it was a misunderstanding, Lakan had already closed the distance, swinging his black iron greatsword at me.

The two greatswords and my silver-gray longsword collided with a BOOM!

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