“Karbaldr. Were you not surprised?”
“Shouldn’t you ask a question like that after putting me down first?”
“I’ll put you down if you answer.”
The protagonist of another novel was talking nonsense again today.
It was so absurd that I found myself staring blankly at Reysir Daudabina’s face for three seconds. If he had been smiling, I would have thought he was just playing a prank.
However, because he wore such a needlessly serious expression, the absurdity of the situation doubled.
‘If I struggle and get angry, I probably won’t get the result I want and will only end up losing face, right?’
Being held in a so-called “princess carry” was already embarrassing enough, and I couldn’t afford to disgrace myself any further. So, instead of getting into a scuffle with the protagonist of another novel, I tried my best to shake off the embarrassment.
I furrowed my brows to express my dissatisfaction and answered the question he had thrown at me.
“My ankle was suddenly snatched, I was launched into the air, and then I fell abruptly before I even had time to prepare my heart. Is it not natural to be surprised?”
“Yes, that’s right. It is natural to be surprised. But why didn’t you scream?”
‘Is he really keeping me held hostage with a threat just because he’s curious about that?’
The fact was so ridiculous that a hollow laugh escaped me. However, I soon realized that to me, this wasn’t something that could be dismissed as “just” anything, and my expression inevitably hardened.
‘I can’t exactly tell him that it’s a habit to hold my breath and swallow my screams when I’m startled or in sudden pain. If I do, I’ll be asked why I developed such a habit…’
But if I appeared to be struggling to find a plausible answer, I would only arouse suspicion. To disguise my stiff expression as a stern one, I glared at the protagonist of another novel and spoke immediately.
“When people are too surprised, a scream might not come out. Stop nitpicking over such a trivial thing and put me down already.”
“I’m talking to you while holding you like this because it’s not a trivial thing.”
‘If it wasn’t a trivial thing, shouldn’t he be putting me down to talk even more?’
Those words lingered at the tip of my tongue, but Reysir’s expression was so unusually grave that I couldn’t bring myself to say them. As I hesitated and remained silent, he let out a deep sigh and spoke again.
“You know that a scream functions as a signal driven by survival instinct to alert others of danger or to request help, right?”
“I know that much… I suppose…”
“It’s fine because this is a training exercise and you were walking in the lead. But what if this were inside a real Demonic Realm and you were following from the back? What would have happened if we had gone ahead without even knowing you’d been caught in a trap?”
Listening to his quiet, measured explanation, I began to think that Reysir had a right to be serious. I still didn’t understand why he had to give this lecture while holding me in this posture, though.
“In that situation… I would have called out to tell everyone to wait a moment…”
“What if it was a trap that instantly knocked the victim unconscious or dragged them away? If you don’t scream the moment you’re caught, who on earth would notice you’re in danger?”
“…Yor would?”
“In a Demonic Realm where danger lurks, wouldn’t it be impossible for Yor to always focus all his attention on you? Yor would also have to move while watching his own surroundings to protect himself.”
He wasn’t wrong.
As I struggled to find a rebuttal, Reysir asked another question.
“Do you perhaps think that screaming is undignified?”
It wasn’t as if I were truly a child of a high-ranking family like the real Karbaldr, so that couldn’t be it.
However, in my past, even if I screamed because it hurt, no one ever came to help. Instead, I was surrounded by people who giggled and found it entertaining. Since I couldn’t reveal the truth that swallowing my screams had become a hardwired habit…
‘This is the perfect excuse!’
I didn’t deny Reysir’s assumption. Instead, I silently looked away and kept my mouth shut, allowing him to interpret the silence as an affirmation.
“Karbaldr, make sure to fix that habit of swallowing your screams. Survival is more important than saving face, isn’t it?”
“I understand what you’re saying. So, put me down now.”
“Don’t just say you understand. Can you promise me that you’ll try to fix it?”
“……”
“It’s because I want to help you in time if you ever get into danger.”
Even after seeing me hanging upside down, he had given instructions to Yor with such a calm attitude that I thought he hadn’t been surprised at all. Looking at him now, it seemed he was more shaken than Vigdis, who had made a fuss asking if I was okay.
It wasn’t because he saw someone else fall into a trap before his eyes. It was because he realized that if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he might have walked right past without knowing I’d been caught. He must have become serious after imagining what would have happened if this were a real situation instead of training.
‘If he hadn’t brought this up in this posture, I might have been truly moved…’
Svein was looking our way with an expression that said he was witnessing something bizarre, so my embarrassment grew by the second, drowning out all other emotions.
On the other hand, Reysir didn’t seem to care about Svein’s reaction at all. Was his field of vision narrowed because he was covering one eye with an eyepatch?
“…Fine. I’ll try. I don’t know if it will be fixed easily, though.”
“It would have been better if you hadn’t added that last part.”
“Is it not the same as lying to make a reckless assertion about something one cannot guarantee?”
“That makes sense too. Then, could you say you’ll do your best?”
“Yes, yes. I’ll do my absolute best to fix it, so please, just put me down now.”
Finally, after I pleaded and gave the protagonist of another novel the answer he wanted, I was able to stand upright on the ground.
“How is your ankle?”
The person who asked me this was Vigdis. For the record, while the original protagonist was holding me and giving his long lecture, she had been examining the trap I’d been caught in.
I responded with a question of my own.
“Fortunately, it’s fine. More importantly, you seemed to be observing the trap intently. Did you find anything out?”
“Just that… it was so cleverly hidden that it would be difficult to spot in advance?”
It seemed she had really just been looking at it.
‘Did my face show how absurd I thought her answer was?’ Vigdis’s eyes darted around awkwardly before she looked down at my ankle and needlessly repeated her previous question.
“But about your ankle, are you sure it’s really okay?”
“If it wasn’t okay, I would have used a potion long ago.”
I replied and rotated my ankle as if to show off, even stomping my foot firmly.
Then, to prove I wasn’t the type to be stingy with potions, I considered handing one out to everyone but decided against it.
‘If we were entering a real Demonic Realm, it would be one thing… but if I handed out potions for them to use during a mere training exercise, Reysir would feel very burdened.’
Since we had been delayed, we walked briskly. Fortunately, no one else fell into a trap until we reached our team’s starting point, and we managed to secure enough time for a strategy meeting.
“If Liolikin is protecting his neck with his Armor of Protection skill, we should give up on targeting that. Even if we land a mediocre attack, the damaged armor will just be restored immediately, and if we attack hard enough to destroy it completely, his life will be in danger.”
“In the first place, Reysir is probably the only one among us who can land an attack that powerful.”
“Ahaha… Is that so?”
As expected, the original protagonist was the first to speak. Then, Vigdis, a heroine candidate, spoke up to praise him. Perhaps he was embarrassed, as the protagonist of another novel let out an awkward laugh and quickly continued what he was saying.
“Anyway, if Liolikin appears, don’t try too hard to take his ribbon. It’s best to ignore him as much as possible. And the ones we need to be most careful of are the Imperial Princess, who has the Space Leap skill, and her familiar, Lausa.”
Everything he said was so obvious that there was no need to explain it. However, even if it was something everyone knew, it was a necessary process to point out the abilities of the opposing team members when coming up with a strategy.
So, I was silently listening to Reysir’s words…
“Karbaldr. How should we respond to the Space Leap skill?”
When he suddenly singled me out and threw that question at me, I was at a loss. I didn’t have a particularly good solution for Space Leap in mind.
‘He probably asked expecting that I would come up with some brilliant solution…’
Even though I knew Reysir wasn’t that kind of person, I felt a strange pressure, fearing he might be disappointed if I failed his expectations. Perhaps because of that, a slight dissatisfaction also emerged, wondering why he was dumping a role on me that should rightfully belong to the protagonist.
“Well, thinking simply, hiding behind cover would be best. It was said that the Space Leap skill only allows movement to places within one’s line of sight.”
“What about if you think about it in a more complex way?”
“There isn’t a single answer, but one can conclude that hiding behind cover is something we should actually avoid. Especially in cases where both sides are open, like behind a tree. Even if she can’t move directly behind the cover, it’s possible for her to move to a spot that isn’t hidden.”
“So you mean that thinking simply and hiding behind cover actually makes it easier to fall prey to the Imperial Princess’s ability. It’s better to watch her movements until the end and react accordingly?”
Reysir summarized my words neatly. In the end, I was just saying, ‘You just have to handle it well on your own,’ but I couldn’t sense even a hint of disappointment from his expression. Even though I had expected it, I felt strangely relieved.
“Those words are—”
“Hm?”
“Ah…! It’s nothing.”
Svein looked a bit grumpy and started to say something, but he bit his tongue as soon as Reysir showed interest. I presumed he was going to say, ‘Isn’t that something anyone could say?’
Regardless, since he was someone who didn’t even have the guts to say it to my face, I decided not to care. I had explained something obvious in a long-winded way, so it was understandable if he found it disagreeable.
Cats..