[Lilith’s Blackening Value: 96%]
[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 90%]
[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 87%]
The Blackening Values hadn’t changed at all, which meant they didn’t suspect anything for the time being.
Vivian’s gaze lingered on Lynn’s face for a few seconds.
She didn’t speak immediately, but instead walked to the table and picked up the map.
It was the same map the girl at the inn had tried to sell them yesterday.
Her finger moved slowly across the map.
Lynn’s heart began to race.
He felt as if he were walking on a tightrope.
“There is indeed a Dragon’s Den near Black Iron Town,” Vivian’s voice rang out, so flat that no emotion could be detected.
“However, that dragon… should still be in its hibernation period.”
Lynn’s body froze.
‘Vivian actually knows! I just said it on a whim; who would have thought such a coincidence actually existed in this world?’
“Oh… is that so?”
Lynn stammered, trying to hide his shock.
“That’s great. If that dragon is still sleeping, it will be easier for us to get the Holy Artifact.”
He forced himself to calm down and wore an expression of “relief.”
“No.”
Vivian looked up, her gaze meeting Lynn’s directly, without a single ripple of emotion in her eyes.
“That dragon… it shouldn’t exist. Any person or thing that threatens you should be eliminated.”
Lynn felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
[Vivian’s Blackening Value increased by 3%! Current: 90%!]
Her Blackening Value had risen!
“For Lynn’s sake, I will go slay the dragon,” Vivian said with a firm tone, as if she were talking about a perfectly ordinary errand.
“Slay… slay a dragon?”
Lynn felt his tongue tie in knots.
“That’s right.”
Lilith’s voice sounded beside him.
She was smiling sweetly, but there was a hint of bloodlust in her eyes.
“If that dragon dares to sleep on Brother’s Holy Artifact, it’s definitely not clean anymore. It needs to be purified.”
[Lilith’s Blackening Value increased by 2%! Current: 98%!]
Alicia also walked over.
She placed her hand on Lynn’s shoulder.
“Holy Artifacts cannot be tainted by filth,” she said softly, her voice carrying an unquestionable holiness.
“If it has been defiled by something unclean, we must wash it with blood.”
[Alicia’s Blackening Value increased by 2%! Current: 92%!]
Lynn looked at the three women before him, all with determined gazes and overflowing with murderous intent.
His mouth hung open, wanting to say something, but he found that he couldn’t utter a single word.
He had only wanted to make up an excuse to buy himself some space.
He only wanted to use a “dangerous” place to make them hesitate, so they wouldn’t tie him up immediately.
He never expected their reaction would be to “go slay the dragon”!
‘These lunatics!’
Lynn watched as Vivian began to inspect her weapons, Alicia chanted blessings in a low voice, and Lilith eagerly flexed her wrists with an expression of innocent excitement.
His lie had not only failed to rescue him from his predicament but had instead pushed him into an even deeper pit.
A massive pit that involved becoming an enemy of a dragon.
He suddenly felt a wave of dizziness.
“Brother, what’s wrong?”
Lilith walked up to him and reached out to feel his forehead.
“Are you sick? Don’t be afraid. Slaying a dragon is very simple. I’ll protect you.”
Her palm carried a hint of coldness, which sent a shiver of dread through Lynn.
“No… it’s nothing.”
Lynn forced a smile.
“I just feel… a bit excited.”
“Excited?”
He wanted nothing more than to slap himself a few times right now.
He thought he understood these yanderes.
He thought they would only be jealous and restrain each other.
He was wrong.
Their yandere nature meant that, at certain times, they would explode with incredible initiative for the sake of a single goal.
And right now, that goal was to “clear the obstacles” for him.
“Vivian, are you sure you know the location of that Dragon’s Den?”
Lynn asked, struggling to confirm.
“What if it wasn’t there? What if she was just saying it?”
Vivian picked up the map and pointed her finger at a red mark.
“Of course. The Dragon’s Den is right here. It is… a one-and-a-half-day journey from Black Iron Town.”
Lynn’s face turned deathly pale.
What he had to do was not escape, but accompany this group of lunatics to slay a dragon!
Moreover, he didn’t have any “Holy Artifact” at all!
“How was this going to end?”
Lynn looked at the unquestionable determination in Vivian’s eyes, the eager excitement on Lilith’s face, and the icy, judgmental gaze of Alicia.
He knew that this time, he had truly played himself.
He felt his stomach churning.
Outside, the early morning sunlight spilled onto the cobblestone streets of the town.
In the inn, the aroma of bread and the scent of ale intertwined.
Everything looked so peaceful and beautiful.
But Lynn knew he was already at the center of a storm—a storm he had created with his own hands, named “Dragon Slaying.”
His cage had expanded once again.
Furthermore, it seemed to be more dangerous than before.
[Vivian’s Blackening Value: 90%]
[Alicia’s Blackening Value: 92%]
[Lilith’s Blackening Value: 98%]
These numbers felt like a countdown to his death sentence.
He looked up toward the distant forest outside the window.
“The Dragon’s Den…”
He wanted to cry.
—
‘Early morning.”
The small village of Black Iron Town was illuminated by the first sliver of sunlight.
Outside the inn, a thin layer of frost covered the cobblestone road.
Lynn stood at the inn’s entrance, feeling a wave of cold.
He turned to look at Lilith, Alicia, and Vivian behind him.
All three of them were fully equipped and ready to depart.
Vivian’s heavy armor gleamed with a faint light, and her greatsword was strapped to her back.
Alicia had donned her white holy robes, and the Holy Halo above her head was faintly visible.
Lilith wore light leather armor with a short dagger at her waist.
A trace of joy was on her face, as if she were treating this “dragon slaying” as a fun excursion.
Lynn sighed.
He felt as if his head were about to explode.
“Where exactly is the Holy Artifact?”
Vivian asked, her tone calm.
Lynn pointed toward the distant, snow-covered mountain range.
“It’s in those mountains. In a… a very hidden place,” he said vaguely, plotting in his mind how to keep this massive lie going.
The mountain path outside Black Iron Town was fairly level at first.
But the higher they went, the sparser the vegetation became and the lower the temperature dropped.
Lynn wrapped his thick robe tightly around himself, his breath turning into white mist.
He looked up at the sky; it was gray, as if it were about to snow.
“Brother, it’s so cold.”
Lilith’s voice sounded in his ear. She reached out and grabbed Lynn’s sleeve.
[Lilith’s Blackening Value: 98%]
Lynn’s body stiffened.
He didn’t pull his hand away from Lilith’s grasp.
He knew that right now, even the slightest movement could detonate the bombs beside him.
Vivian walked at the very front, clearing the path for them.
Her steps were steady, making almost no sound.
Alicia followed on Lynn’s other side, her gaze never leaving his body.