Mixing a violent cough, I barely managed to talk, and then quickly finished my speech. Just in case I was forced to cough up a cough that didnât come out even after I finished speaking, I slowly rolled my eyes and looked at Leniel.
As always, of course, I thought he would stand there with a smile and a face to see how far it goes, but for some reason, there was no smile on his face.
Leniel, who looked at me with an ambiguous expression, suddenly turned around.
âLetâs go back.â
***
Lenielâs magic was truly amazing. He warped into the alley of the general store at once with me.
If he has such great black magic skills, how strong is Wayne Eyeore? I canât imagine.
He must have been able to kill the male lead because he was so strong. I donât know how likely it is to end oneâs life by poisoning on such a subject. At that point, shouldnât there be a setting like that, like eating poison from a young age and developing a tolerance for it?
âDonât play around and get it sorted out.â
âYes. Yes! But are you really going to move the store?â
âYes. He found the location.â
Leniel was sure Dylan wasnât dead. I, too, didnât think he was dead.
He was the main character, but he wouldnât be so vain. It wasnât that the speed of the wagon was as fast as a sports car. Besides, heâs also a trained knight. Maybe it ended up breaking his bones? Maybe he was seriously injured, butâŚ
âWhen are you going to move all of this?â
Itâs a general store, so there are a lot of items on display, but when do he get all of them? Theyâre cursed items, so I tried not to touch it as much as possible.
âTo be precise, Iâm going to warp all the items in this store, all at once, as they are.â
I donât know much about black magic, but I know how absurd Lenielâs words are now. But I didnât think he was making fun of me. Leniel was really serious about drawing magic circles on the floor of the shop.
As I stared at Leniel, who was drawing a magic circle with an unknown red liquid, I decided to just trust him.
âWhere?â
âTo the new store.â
âNew store?â
âOriginally, this general store has not been open in the same place for more than a year. Itâs a bit early, but I was thinking of moving soon, so itâs good.â
He was meticulously touching the magic circle with his fiery fingertips, but soon finished his work and got up. To move them all at once, I think he would have to draw a huge magic circle, but it was smaller than I thought.
Glancing at the magic circle, I immediately turned my attention to packing. I felt a sense of exasperation as I had to pack each one in the box to avoid leaving even a single poison bottle. At first they were terrifying poisons, but now they are precious like my property.
âIf we move it to the warp, it wonât break, right? Should I add cushioning material? Itâs a wooden box, so if you make a mistake⌠Oh, I saw that earlier!â
When I saw the box, I remembered the person I had forgotten. The guy who lured me in and sold the box with me!
âI didnât even think about it before⌠Hmm, hmm. I was deceived, right? There was a guy who sold me back then!â
From now on, weâll have to talk without names.
If Dylan went back to find the boy, I didnât know if Leniel would be sold, not me this time. I donât know how much the boy knows about Leniel, but if heâs come to this store, heâs probably got to know quite a bit about the world behind him.
And I, who depend on Leniel for virtually everything, had to stop it.
âYes. I know who he is.â
I made a serious report in my own way, but the reply I got back was very easygoing. You knew?
âHow do you know that?â
âIt was delivered as soon as you were caught.â
Wow, did you just sit and wait until I was strangled?
Pls read only at pink muffin tl.
Trembling with a sense of betrayal, Leniel, who was wiping his red wet hands with a handkerchief, glanced at me.
âSo I wonder what happened to him?â
What happened? How many hours have passed since the boy sold me?
I looked at Leniel.
âShall I show you?â
It was very eerie to see him wiping the red liquid with a smile on his face.
I forgot about it these days, but in fact, Leniel was an assassin who came to kill me. I shuddered at the new thought. That smile was somehow unusual.
If it wasnât because he didnât come as soon as he heard that I was arrested, it was just because he was a bystander.
With a smile on my face that was about to harden, I shook my head vigorously.
ââŚNope.â
âCome here.â
Leniel shook his head and called me. He still had a smile on his face, which made me even more scared. I frowned and tried to express my objection as much as possible with my whole body.
âNo, I do not want to. I wonât see you.My stomach is weak. I mean, I canât see scary things and Iâm weak.â
âI have no intention of showing you, so come here.â
I stared at Leniel with suspicious eyes.
âWhy?â
As I got closer, Leniel relentlessly put his hand through the front where my hood and cloak met. His cold fingers suddenly wrapped around the nape of my neck. For a moment, I remembered being strangled by Dylan, and my shoulder tensed.
It was Ranielâs low murmur that stopped me from taking a step back involuntarily.
âItâs going to bruise.â
He tilted his head at an angle and looked at my neck. There was no force applied to the cold fingers, and it felt as if they were just sweeping the surface rather than grabbing them.
It tickled and it was funny, so I shrugged by myself. At the same time, it felt good as my skin, which had been hot, seemed to cool down.
In the meantime, it seems to have a bruise as Leniel said. I donât know how serious it is because I canât see the condition of my neck right now, but just by looking at Lenielâs expression, I could tell that a prominent mark was left. Giselleâs original skin is white, but itâs easy to leave marks, so itâll be more noticeable.
Tomorrow it might turn blue.
âItâs fine since I escaped from being burnedâ
âDid he burn you?â
Lenielâs gaze was still fixed on the nape of my neck, even though I responded lightly. I didnât expect him to show so much interest in my injury, so I was embarrassed.
I was choking for no reason and coughing in vain, but I replied gibberish.
âWell, he said something like annihilating demons. A demon to a sane person. Heâs such a devilish person.â
âRight? Isnât he a devilish bastard?â
When I heard his words of sympathy, my emotions intensified.
But, even thinking about it, heâs a real bad guy! It was the eyes that saw the essence, and everything was a useless lie! A male protagonist who is good only to a female protagonist. After experiencing it firsthand, it was nothing more or less than a double personality!
âYes! He was choking me so I couldnât speak and still threatened an answer from me like a complete madmanâŚ!â
I spoke violently, then stopped.
âŚOh, and Dylan was someone who Giselle loved so much that she never let him get a scratch.
Leniel, who noticed me suddenly hardened, looked at me in the same posture he had been looking at my neck the whole time. When our eyes met, he showed his characteristic smirk.
âNow that I scratched that bastard, it wonât break your heart. Right?â
âI guess soâŚ.â
âNow, we should not call him âhoneyâ but a trashy name, right?â
Oh, boss, that was annoying. If you donât want to hear it like that, just point it out outright, I donât know why you say it like this again and again.
I raised the corners of my lips awkwardly.
âYesâŚâ
âOkay.â
His cold hand wrapped around my neck and fell off. A tingling sensation seemed to remain on my skin, so I gently rubbed it. Leniel then said, turning his body.
âEven if he has a broken leg, he is the one who will lead the soldiers down here tomorrow. So we have to move right away. Hold on a little longer. After I warp, we can rest.â
âOh, Iâm fine!â
I almost died, but I wasnât seriously injured as much as I thought I was.
Despite my answer, Leniel continued preparing for the warp without any response. I started organizing my luggage again. Thinking about the Dylan in the novel I read, it seems like he is going to lead the soldiers here tomorrow, just like Leniel said.
And a few hours later, the magic circle was activated. When a dazzling white light erupted from the bright red magic circle, it finally colored my vision brilliantly.
The landscape then changed.
***
Enforcing large-scale movement magic seems to have been quite burdensome for Leniel as well. His face, which was usually pale, was so tired that no blood could be seen flowing. Cold sweat was dripping from his black hair that covered his forehead.
âHereâs the room where you will be staying. Rest now.â
âI donât think Iâm the one who needs to rest now.â
I retorted weakly, but to no avail.
What if he falls down? If he falls down in a place where the luggage is not organized, he may bump his head into a box and get hurt more seriously.