Just Because I Have Narrow Eyes Doesn’t Make Me a Villain!

TN: Thank Nepper for the chapter.

*Lyla POV

“Sorry, am I late?”

“Huff, huff… Late…!”

I felt Amelia’s blank stare on me, but there was no time to waste, so I ignored it and approached to join her. Her face, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, was drenched in sweat.

…Being talented isn’t always a good thing. She’s working so hard like this.

The old me who used to be jealous, saying she was much more talented than me, seemed foolish now.

If having talent means coming to a place like this where you don’t know when you’ll die, it might be better not to have it.

Though I’m here now too for some reason.

“Are you okay?”

“No…! I feel like I’m dying…!”

“Seems like you’re fine. They say you shouldn’t be able to complain if you’re really struggling.”

When I told her what I always heard while getting beaten by the investigator, she made a face like she heard something absurd.

I looked at Amelia without avoiding her gaze.

It turned out to be true when I experienced it myself.

When that demon forcibly trained us, saying Arachne’s members need to be strong and whatnot.

I learned that when you really feel like you’re dying, your mind is blank from exhaustion.

“…Okay. There’s no time to argue. Help me quickly. Can’t you see she looks like she’s about to die?”

“No. It’s fine even if we wait a bit longer.”

“What? When she’s dying like that?! Isn’t she your colleague?!”

“She’s exaggerating a bit.”

“Kyaaaaaa! Save meeeee!”

The snake girl who acted as pest control every day screamed and ran away. Judging by that, she was fine.

Because if she was really about to die, she wouldn’t even be screaming.

She’s finally being a bit useful for once in a long time.

She’ll probably regret coming here for no reason.

It’s obvious just looking at her expression.

Well, I didn’t really care. She’ll get over it if I buy her some of her favorite snacks next time.

“…Is that so? Then I guess it’s okay to rest a bit.”

“You’re going to lie down here?”

“What? You said it’s fine.”

“No…”

Yeah, she was always like that.

I wasn’t at the academy for long, but her personality was famous from the beginning.

It was so amusing seeing the fantasies shatter for the guys who approached her to talk, thinking she was a refined young lady.

“By the way, weren’t you and Arte discussing something serious just now?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Nothing, my foot. Having such a long conversation in this situation.”

It really is nothing.

I just helped Master, who seemed out of it after getting beaten up pretty badly, back to her senses.

She was feeling guilty, saying things like ‘my life is…’

It’s laughable.

But it didn’t seem like she would believe me if I explained it as is, so I gestured to indicate I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Thankfully, she didn’t pry further.

“…So? I’m grateful you came, but do you have any way to catch that monster?”

“How would I know?”

“What?!”

“We just came because the investigator called us. I was so surprised when he secretly sent us in here suddenly, telling us to come quickly.”

The reason was also ridiculously laughable.

Something about how it seems like a dangerous situation will occur, so come quickly?

To think there’s someone who would push criminals into a place like this, trying to borrow our hands before anything even happened.

… I’m in no position to say that though, seeing as I actually entered.

“Investigator? Ah. Teacher. Where is he right now?”

“I’m here.”

“Ah, hello.”

“It’s been a while.”

When did he arrive here?

The surroundings were a bit hazy, but I thought it was because of the dirt.

Was it because of this man’s ability?

“There’s no way to catch that thing. We’re just restraining it.”

“What?!”

“When Student Siwoo suddenly said a few days ago that we need to bring a superhuman with free hands, I wondered what was happening…”

His ability sure is great.

However, his words made Amelia quite flustered.

“Y-You can’t catch it!? With so many people here?”

“Of course. How can we when attacks don’t work on it.”

Saying that, Ha-Yul pointed to the place where Spira was fighting.

Pointed rocks sprouted from the ground as she ran away from the monster.

But the way it moved, as if there was no impact at all, was truly like a tank in front of infantry.

“I did try putting some water in its lungs… But it breathed just fine. Seems like it has gills or something else.”

“…If it has gills, it’s hard to even consider it human, no?”

“Yes. Seems that way. That’s why it can run like that.”

That human-looking monster rushing straight towards Spira without a thought slammed its body into the wall, unable to attack her who hid in the ground like a snake.

“For some reason, it seems to have a lot of abilities. Thanks to that, its processing speed can’t seem to keep up. It’s all specs and no substance.”

“…Indeed. Its movements have been too simple for a while now.”

“Too much is worse than not enough. Seems like its proficiency with the abilities is low too, so we can endure it for now.”

Certainly.

If it were human, there would be methods that don’t work even after multiple attempts, and it would try a different method if there was one.

But that monster just endlessly uses the same method.

As if its intelligence has degenerated.

“It’s like a monster.”

“You should call it that. Calling it human is a bit…”

“Just what do you have to do to end up like that.”

“…Ah.”

At Ha-Yul’s grumbling remark, Amelia seemed to remember something and jumped up from lying down as if startled.

“The Crucible!”

“…Crucible?”

“I heard it’s what the Übermensch executives were after when they attacked the academy! I heard it was lost after the battle. Could it be…!”

“Come to think of it, the whereabouts of two Übermensch executives were unknown.”

“One of them is there. Then…”

Could it be that grotesque thing that seems to be half-human, half-monster is the other remaining person?

What is that snake girl trying to do, not recognizing her old colleague?

…No, that’s not it.

It would be hard to imagine that appearance as an old colleague.

“It does look like various creatures were put in a crucible, melted, and solidified.”

“Right?!”

The Crucible.

Seeing it that way, those numerous abilities make sense.

If numerous lives were fused together.

Then that appearance is understandable.

“…In that case, destroying the Crucible should resolve it.”

“But how do we know where it is? I don’t see anything that looks like it.”

“It’s the heart.”

A low voice rang out.

As we turned our heads towards that voice, Siwoo had somehow approached us.

“…Heart?”

“Yeah. It is inside the body. Where the heart is located.”

“How do you…”

I swallowed the words I was about to say.

This guy had some kind of Intuition ability or something.

You know even that much?

Intuition is the sixth sense, isn’t it? But to think it was this potent…

“But we still need to retreat first.”

“What? Why?! If we take it down now…!”

“Did you forget? The main force is in danger right now too.”

“…Ah.”

Is he talking about that swarm of spiders?

It seemed like they were holding them off somehow, but from a glance, casualties were piling up.

“To take that thing down, we need a big, powerful attack, not our current guerilla tactics.”

“What if no one in the main force can do that…”

“It’s fine even if there isn’t. There’s someone who can help enable it.”

“…Dorothy.”

Seeing the three of them nod their heads, I felt strange being the only one left out.

I think she’s one of the other students.

She’s an important person, right?

I decided to roughly think that way.

“…Come to think of it, where did Arte go?”

“I sent her back. She needed some healing and can’t help without fibers.”

“Isn’t it dangerous alone?”

“She’ll be fine.”

Seeing his confident appearance, we didn’t ask any further.

Because we thought it was due to that so-called intuition ability or whatever again.

There was no other reason for him to have that much certainty.

“…Alright. Let’s say we go help the main force first. We can’t all go together.”

Amelia spoke, glancing at Spira, whose screams were getting quieter and quieter, as if it was really getting dangerous now.

“Judging by its appearance of lowered intelligence, it seems to target whoever is in sight, but…”

“In other words, it persistently chases after its target.”

“Right.”

…Someone has to stay behind.

We realized that we had to leave one person behind.

“Looking at that appearance, it doesn’t seem to get tired at all, and helping the main force isn’t something that will end quickly either. There’s some distance too.”

“I’ll stay. I have ways to survive even if I’m attacked…”

“It used fire too. A mere mist will evaporate quickly, you know?”

“…”

“I’ll stay. I’m super fast, so it’ll be hard to catch me.”

“No.”

Amidst the claims of each person volunteering to stay behind, the boy quietly declared.

“I’ll stay. You guys go ahead.”

“Hey! I clearly…!”

“You may be fast, but you must move a lot each time you dodge, right? You’ll get tired quickly.”

“…Urk.”

“In comparison, I don’t have to move much, so it’s fine.”

“But…!”

Amelia couldn’t continue speaking anymore.

Because she realized words would no longer get through to him.

“You said it before. Can someone who abandons their friends and runs away aim to be a hero?”

“Th-That’s right! So I’ll…!”

“That’s why I’m staying.”

The boy who once dreamed of becoming a hero took a step forward.

“If someone other than me stays here, everyone will die. I can tell.”

Siwoo could tell.

An ability that can no longer be called Intuition.

An ability that even he finds hard to grasp…

But thanks to that ability, he could tell.

The only one with a chance of surviving if they stayed here was none other than himself.

“So, I’m staying.”

It will certainly be painful.

He might really die if things go wrong.

It’s not just a matter of enduring for an hour or two.

He might have to spend the entire day with that monster.

A dangerous act where he could lose his life the moment he lets his guard down even once.

But the boy decided to stay here.

Because he knows that if someone dies because of that thing, the girl he loves will be greatly heartbroken.

Because there’s a possibility the girl, who finally got a chance to see the world as it is, will close off her heart.

That’s why Siwoo decided to stay here.

“Hurry and go.”

“…Got it. You have to stay alive.”

“Don’t worry.”

As Amelia quickly took the nearly dying Spira and ran away, the monster’s gaze naturally focused on Siwoo.

An appearance that was gradually losing even the human form it had shown until a while ago.

If left alone, it will eventually mutate into a terrible monster.

His expression contorted in sorrow.

The only way to save that person gradually losing their sense of self is to put them to rest.

“…Then, I’ll do my best.”

The boy who once dreamed of becoming a hero, no.

The young man who became a hero took a step forward.

Towards the happy ending where everyone is happy.