Home/I Saved the Villain and Fell Asleep/ch 32

Chapter 32

It was a deer. An enormous deer.

"Those antlers look pretty useful."

"Barbarian."

I jabbed Kali in the ribs with my elbow for his nonsense. Leaving him writhing in pain, I examined the deer again.

A massive deer was drinking from the lake. I quietly watched the wondrous sight, then suddenly gasped.

"Did it just make eye contact with us?"

The truck-sized deer had enormous eyes too. It raised its head from drinking and stared quietly at where we were hiding.

I expected it to charge for trespassing, but the deer just watched us for a moment, then walked away. It paused, looked back, and repeated this several times.

"It seems to want us to follow. Kali, what should we do?"

"Let's go."

I grabbed Kali's hand firmly and approached the deer. It waited patiently until we got closer—it didn't thrash about or try to gore us with those massive antlers.

When we were close enough, the deer started walking again. We followed at a leisurely pace, constantly looking around.

"I just... made eye contact with something the size of your head."

"What? Where?"

A scream rose to my throat.

"Up in the tree to your left."

Kali's gaze slowly traveled upward.

The trunk of what looked like an ancient tree was thick enough to be mistaken for a wall. Something was coiled tightly around one of the countless branches extending from it.

A jet-black snake.

"Ugh!!"

I quickly covered Kali's mouth before he could scream.

"This idiot's raising death flags!!"

"Ha, Hari."

"Huh?"

"It's moving."

Following Kali's words, I slowly raised my gaze. The snake, which had been coiled motionless, began to move. And it was flicking its tongue at us.

"It's just stretching because its body was stiff, right?"

While I was trying to rationalize it, the snake clearly licked its lips at us.

"Aaah!! It's your fault! You screamed!"

"How is that my fault? It's because you pointed out where the snake was! Damn it, I'll just burn the snake and..."

I slapped the back of Kali's head as he spewed insane nonsense and shouted.

"Be careful with fire at all times!!!"

"Then what do we do!"

"Run! Just run!"

We sprinted at full speed toward the deer, which was already far ahead. I could hear leaves rustling as the snake descended from the tree, but I couldn't bring myself to look back.

What if that massive snake was right behind me with its mouth open!

I held Kali's hand and ran like mad, but because of the difference in stride length between an adult and a child, it wasn't easy to run at full speed.

"Kali! You little squirt! Run faster!"

"Shut up!!"

We ran until we passed the deer, which was walking at a leisurely pace. The deer seemed a bit flustered and followed us, but we had no time to worry about that.

How long did we run like that? A wide field spread out beneath the bright blue sky.

"Wow..."

I couldn't help but gasp. Could the sky really be that high?

The wildflowers and grass in the field were normal size, unlike the forest we'd just been in, which was a relief. Not that this place was reality either.

"Oh, the snake!"

I quickly turned around, but there was no snake chasing us.

"Woof!! Woof woof!!"

"Huh? Bibi! That's Bibi's bark!!"

A white fluffball came running at full speed from somewhere.

Overwhelmed with relief that Bibi was safe, I knelt down and opened my arms. But Bibi, unceremoniously, ignored me and climbed up Kali's legs, grunting.

"Who did you inherit this troublemaking from?"

Kali sighed briefly and picked Bibi up. The position looked awkward, but Bibi didn't care and covered Kali's face in slobber.

"Who do you think?"

"You?"

"It's you! Why were you outside in the middle of the night? Alone!"

Finally, I asked the question I'd been wanting to ask. Even if the commotion at the villa was a trap to root out spies—even I hadn't known about it, so Caelius wouldn't have either.

But why was Caelius outside at that exact time?

"What if that man had grabbed and torn off your necklace?"

"He didn't find out. I disappeared from that area two years ago, so they probably came to search."

"By attacking the Algenprina villa where Father is staying? The risk of exposure is huge."

"If they confirm it's me, great; if not, I'm just a disposable piece. They're just consumable pawns."

Grand Duke Isaac. He's no pushover either.

"You still haven't answered me. Why were you outside alone?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I was on the terrace when the villa suddenly got noisy. When I looked around, a suspicious group was setting up a barrier not far from the villa."

"Aha, so you ran straight there?"

Kali's shoulders flinched. I stared at his green eyes with a cold gaze, and he subtly avoided my eyes.

"I was confident I could catch them all..."

"End result—you got caught."

Kali is by no means weak. Since he started learning magic from Dad, his magical ability had improved noticeably.

Now, it was impossible to think of it as the skill of a fifteen-year-old.

But what Kali had been hit with was mental magic—a type of dark magic. He'd never experienced it before, and had only read about it in books, so there was no way he could have properly defended against it.

"Ha... Who would have known a mage capable of using dark magic would show up there? You didn't know either. But please, next time, don't go running off alone. Got it? You have no idea how shocked I was when I saw you collapsed."

But Kali still looked dissatisfied.

"You don't do that either."

"What?"

"Don't come looking for me all by yourself just because I'm in danger! If I had come to my senses just a little later, you really could have died there!"

"Ha! Who said I was alone? I had Bibi and Aisa with me! Besides, I fired a flare the moment I found you!"

"It was still dangerous. Look at yourself! You're scraped up and a complete mess! All because of me!"

"Ugh!!"

I planted my hands on my hips and glared at Kali. My intense gaze made him shut his mouth.

"If you're worried, just say 'don't do that'—why does it have to turn into self-deprecation?"

"It's true. You got hurt because of me."

"I chose to come find you. If the same thing happened again, I'd still go! If you don't want that, don't put yourself in danger."

It was stubborn reasoning. Even I could tell it was full of irrationality. But it wasn't entirely wrong either.

I could no longer just leave this guy alone. Even though I knew—as the villain—he'd somehow survive no matter what.

"Stubborn."

"Look who's talking."

We kept grumbling at each other when Bibi, in Kali's arms, started squirming and let out a small howl.

He's not a wolf—he's a fluffy puppy—so the howl was adorable. I tapped his nose, and Kali called me in a tense voice.

"Hari, look over there."

"Huh?"

When I turned my head, I doubted my eyes. A wooden pavilion had appeared out of nowhere in a place where there had only been a blue sky and a wide field.

"...A person?"

A tall person stood beside the pavilion. They wore a white veil, so their face was hidden.

'That's a person, right...?'

They wore a white veil and white clothes.

"Woof woof!!!"

Bibi barked happily at the white-clad figure and leaped out of Kali's arms. He ran toward the pavilion wagging his tail, then came back to us.

After circling us twice, he ran back to the white-clad figure—it looked like they knew each other.

From Bibi's reaction, I didn't sense any danger. The only problem was that the figure didn't look human. I gripped Kali's wrist firmly and took a step back.

"Should I burn it?"

"Stop wanting to burn everything. Seriously. You."

If I hadn't picked him up, this guy would have become a brilliant serial arsonist.

Bibi ran toward the white-clad figure, who had approached without us noticing. The figure reached out both arms, lifted Bibi, and stood before us at a distance.

"You two are the humans who took care of this child."

"Ugh...!"

A voice struck my head, making me stagger. It wasn't whispered in my ear—it was like being hit in the brain with a strong impact.

"Oh, my apologies. It's been a long time since I've dealt with humans. Are you alright now?"

I steadied my wobbling body and widened my eyes. The white-clad figure, with an androgynous voice that could be male or female, kept stroking Bibi's back.

"Who are you? Where is this?"

Kali stepped in front of me and asked.

"Oh, a child born of fire."

The white-clad figure waved their long, fluttering sleeves and spoke.

"I am the guardian of this land."

"By 'this land,' do you mean this field and that forest?"

"Yes. The guardian of all things living in this land."

So they really weren't a real person...!

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