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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: The Reason That Villainess Held a Sword
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Erin was right. She didn't know how this had happened, but this wasn't the time to stand idly by.
Even as he tried to grasp the situation, Erin swiftly severed the neck of an intermediate monster. Then, to ensure it was dead, she stabbed her sword into its neck several more times.
Amon watched her, recalling the first time he had killed a monster.
Taking a life felt dirtier than he had imagined. Even though his first kill had been a monster, he had suffered considerable emotional turmoil for a long time afterward.
But Erin showed no hesitation. She looked like a seasoned knight.
Amon vaguely recalled hearing that Erin Resus had exterminated a horde of monsters on her way back to the academy.
Amon realized that the rumor everyone had dismissed as baseless was, in fact, true.
"Princess, get on my back."
Meanwhile, Erin ran over to Ashili Princess without hesitation and said. Hearing her words, Amon frowned.
"I'll carry her."
Amon was concerned about Erin's back. The earlier scene was still vivid in his mind.
Erin Resus, who had been injured saving him while his eyes were closed.
And the healing scars, whose cause he didn't know, kept flickering before his eyes.
Feeling an indescribably complex mix of emotions, Amon carried Ashili Princess on his back.
Ashili Princess seemed to have found it difficult to even stand during the brief moment she watched their sparring, letting out shallow breaths from Amon's back.
The Extermination Squad wasn't far from their current location.
Amon thought that if they ran quickly, they might be able to rejoin the Extermination Squad before encountering another monster horde.
But after only a few steps, he realized how mistaken he had been.
With every step, monsters surrounded them. The sheer number of them was overwhelming.
‘Can we go back?’
Amon gritted his teeth and swung his sword.
Supporting the Princess with one hand and fending off monsters with the other was quite a struggle even for him.
Moreover, the fact that monsters kept swarming them endlessly added to the psychological pressure.
Although Erin was dispatching them with astonishing swordsmanship as soon as they appeared, it was hard to say how long she could keep it up.
Humans had physical limits. Unless one was a Sword Master who could exceed human limits by cloaking their body in Aura, their stamina would eventually give out.
‘What should I do?’
The Princess was on his back, and in front of him was only one aspiring knight whose body was covered in wounds.
However, that thought was interrupted by a monster that suddenly appeared on their right.
The low-level monster that lunged out tried to pierce his forehead.
He couldn't dodge it. Thinking so, Amon instinctively twisted his body. He planned to move in such a way that even if he fell, the Princess wouldn't be harmed.
It was then. Erin, who had been dealing with another monster on one side, shot forward with incredible speed and struck down the low-level monster.
Despite the suddenness of the situation, her movements flowed together with astonishing precision. Amon couldn't tear his eyes away from her graceful actions.
"Let's take shelter over there for a moment."
Covered in monster blood, Erin spoke to him. A small cave was visible where she pointed.
* * *
With practiced hands, Erin created a barricade outside the cave.
She didn't know how long it would hold. But they didn't need to stay long either.
All she needed was a brief moment to conserve her stamina.
Erin winced at the pain in her back.
Hiding her strength to appear as a 'moderately talented genius' was a nuisance.
Because even in situations where she shouldn't have been hurt at all, she had to sustain injuries.
However, in that sudden situation, reading an intermediate monster's ambush and immediately counterattacking was not something a 'moderately talented genius' could do.
So, Erin unintentionally had no choice but to expose her back to the monster.
‘Why did the monster horde appear… earlier than expected?’
What could be the reason? Had she changed the past?
Sir Rekken, who should have lost an arm, was fine, and the swordsmanship students who should have hated the villainess were getting along well with her.
Could that be why?
Changing the future was frightening, but this current situation might actually be a good thing.
Thinking so, Erin looked at the Princess, who lay weakly in a corner of the cave.
Originally, she had planned to defeat the monsters alone before the horde attacked.
Since someone intended to kill the Princess during this extermination, staying with the Extermination Squad was dangerous.
In the past, this was a fact uncovered by the Mages who investigated the incident after the Princess's death.
They suspected that the monsters who attacked the Extermination Squad had been controlled by a Mage of immense power.
Otherwise, the monsters' sudden abnormal behavior couldn't be explained.
The monster horde that ambushed the Extermination Squad had specifically pursued only Erin and the Princess. It was impossible not to know who they were targeting.
That's why Erin still couldn't return to the Extermination Squad.
Already powerful monsters become even harder to deal with if they are controlled by someone and move in an organized manner.
Furthermore, she couldn't fully reveal her true strength in front of others at the moment.
But if she kept pretending to be naive, someone else would surely die or get hurt.
Therefore, Erin decided it would be better to break away from the Extermination Squad and act alone.
It was a somewhat crude method, but there was no more certain solution.
Besides, Karon was also with the Extermination Squad. Erin was afraid of the future unfolding as predetermined.
She didn't want even a speck of possibility for Karon to lose his right arm.
Seeing her younger brother's face filled with despair had been enough in her past life.
"Erin Resus."
Erin turned her head at the voice calling her name. Amon, with a complicated expression, was looking at her.
He hesitated for a moment, then approached her.
It had grown dark, so they had to rely solely on moonlight to distinguish each other.
Yet, paradoxically, it was only at that moment that Erin could truly see Amon's face.
He, who always seemed to be frowning as if angry, was looking at her with a very serious expression.
Erin wasn't particularly interested in appearances, but she could now understand why he was one of Atenz Academy's most handsome men.
Amon was famous in the academy for his sculpted features, which contrasted sharply with his unpleasant personality.
Amon was a man with a well-built physique and sharp features that suited his body.
She recalled someone among the academy students saying they liked how he delivered scathing remarks with that face.
Erin found it an incomprehensible taste, but she could somewhat grasp what kind of feeling they experienced.
He tied his black hair back as if it were a nuisance and spoke.
"How's your injury?"
Erin was so surprised by the unexpected question that she was speechless. It was something she never imagined hearing from Amon Hedor.
He rummaged through the pocket of his uniform and pulled something out. The small bottle that emerged from his pocket contained medicine.
"I always carry this. It'll ease the pain."
This was unlike Amon. In her previous life, he hadn't even attempted a proper conversation with her until the moment of her death.
It felt awkward to hear words of concern instead of words full of hatred.
Erin silently reached for the medicine bottle in his hand.
But Amon didn't hand her the bottle. He shook his head with a stern expression.
"How exactly do you plan to apply it? I'll do it for you, turn your back."
"Um, but..."
"Do you think I'm going to bite?"
Perhaps the feeling that Amon had changed slightly was just her imagination.
His face looked as gruff as usual. No, perhaps it was fortunate that it was only that much.
Come to think of it, Amon was equally prickly with everyone. Recalling that fact, Erin felt a strange sensation.
Perhaps, in the past, he had acted that way out of concern for her?
‘No way.’
Thinking so, Erin immediately turned her back.
Contrary to her expectation that he would apply it roughly, Amon's touch as he applied the medicine was gentle.
After silently applying the medicine for a while, Amon's breathing became slightly ragged.
At the same time, she felt his fingertips tremble as he applied the medicine.
Amon spoke, his voice strained.
"The scars on your back… Who did this to you?"
"..."
"To someone from the Resus Marquisate, who would dare..."
Only then did Erin recall the marks on her back.
Surprisingly, Erin had half-forgotten the scars on her body that still hadn't disappeared.
In the past, she had insisted on wearing only high-necked dresses to hide them somehow.
She deliberately chose long-sleeved clothes and often wore gloves just in case.
But memories dulled by living several lives were enough to make her forget such things.
As soon as she realized she had returned to the past, she had checked the bruises on her legs, but quickly erased them from her memory.
In truth, she didn't want to care about them anymore.
After all, they weren't born from good memories.
However, that intentional forgetting had created an awkward situation.
Erin slowly turned around. And when she saw Amon's face, she was speechless.
Even through several lives, she had always thought that Ferdin and his knights were truly good people.
They were people who could feel sympathy even for the most wicked villainess.
He must surely consider her the one who murdered Calips, yet he was making such an expression.
At his contorted face, as if he were feeling the same pain, Erin's expression also twisted.
"Does Marquis Resus know?"
"..."
"Answer me, Erin Resus."
