Chapter 16
A pale violet bullet, wreathed in flame, pierced straight through the zombie’s skull in an instant.
Gray smoke curled up from the revolver’s barrel.
My heart thudded wildly, and my eyelids trembled.
“What the….”
A gun? He had a gun?
It was worn, but what Sien held in his hand was unmistakably a revolver.
In the original story, Sien discovered a few weapons at the northern shelter and shared them with the crown prince and Jaeger—but there had been no revolver among them.
And that bullet just now… wasn’t it imbued with violet mana?
While I was still left gaping, Sien shot a cold glance at the shattered skull.
“How unpleasant. Are all zombies like this?”
“…They don’t have awareness or intelligence.”
Sien clicked his tongue, muttering that the stench was disgusting.
Still…
“What’s with that gun?”
“Oh. I found it in an armory.”
An armory?
Sien took my hand, opened my palm, and placed a silver key into it.
“I found it when I first woke up, before you all arrived.”
“Don’t tell me that locked place was…?”
“That’s right. An armory. Though there weren’t any bullets.”
Now it made sense.
So that’s where the weapons he found in the original came from.
“Then that bullet just now was…?”
“A bullet created with mana preservation.”
Preservation?
Come to think of it, I had heard of a new technique that allowed one to manifest aura, holy power, or mana differently than before.
When I looked at him expectantly, Sien gave a languid smile and explained.
“Normal magic disperses mana into the air to activate. Preservation, however, solidifies mana into physical form. Think of it like freezing water until it becomes solid. And unlike ordinary magic, preservation doesn’t interfere with temple wards.”
I see.
It wasn’t something from the original story, but instead of unsettling me, it made me feel reassured—like we’d gained a new strength.
Before I realized it, the frightening Sien had disappeared, replaced once more by a princess-like figure.
Then, I felt his eyes sweep over my face from top to bottom.
Unlike before, when his gaze had seemed unfocused, this one was sharp and searching. I tensed up.
“What is it?”
“We’ll go west.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Sien pressed the barrel of the revolver lightly against his lips and tilted his head. His amethyst eyes glimmered as he smiled faintly.
“I’m curious. To see how you’ll protect me, Redria.”
That soft violet gaze sent a chill creeping down my spine.
* * *
“An armory?”
The next day, I informed the crown prince and Jaeger that Sien would be joining us.
I also told them he had a gun, and that there was an armory in the western shelter. Their eyes widened in shock.
“Here, the key.”
When I held it up, both Jaeger and the crown prince’s faces hardened.
Their sharp gazes turned on Sien.
“Why did you not mention this sooner?”
“I’m mentioning it now.”
The crown prince let out an exasperated sigh.
“We mean, why didn’t you say so from the beginning?”
Sien blinked innocently, as though he truly didn’t understand.
“Was there any reason I had to? Whether I tell you at the start or now, what difference does it make?”
Jaeger scowled, his tone turning harsh.
“Are you mocking us with word games?”
They were trying to determine whether Sien had hidden it deliberately, but he brushed it off with such feigned ignorance it only riled them further.
“Alright, alright, enough.”
I stepped between them, trying to mediate.
Especially at Jaeger and the crown prince, I shot a look urging restraint.
“Let’s stay here in the shelter today and examine the armory together.”
The crown prince ran a hand through his hair with a sigh and walked off. Jaeger turned sharply away, his eyes icy.
Left in that heavy, hostile atmosphere, I could only glance between them nervously.
* * *
The previous night we had collapsed from exhaustion and slept wherever we dropped.
This time, we actually agreed on sleeping arrangements for comfort.
Bottom bunk for me, top bunk for Sien. Jaeger claimed the sofa.
The crown prince said he’d rest leaning against our bed.
“Hah.”
I chuckled, remembering something ridiculous.
The crown prince had insisted that he couldn’t allow Sien and me to sleep in the same bed, and even suggested breaking the bunk bed apart to separate it into two.
Where had that serious, dependable image of his gone? He was getting more absurd by the day.
Fortunately, I glared him down and vetoed the idea.
After that, Jaeger went to chop firewood, and the crown prince set out on reconnaissance.
For once, I had peace without the two of them hovering.
I used the time to tidy up bedding and lay out sleeping bags. I pulled blankets from the cabinet and dusted them off. Thanks to regular temple maintenance, the linens were surprisingly clean.
And as for our “princess”…
“Um, Tower Lord?”
“Yes, Miss Ria?”
“Why are you following me around like this?”
“Because I like following you, Miss Ria.”
The Sien who used to call me Redria, or “Young Lady,” had now changed to simply “Miss Ria.”
It was clear he was warming up to me.
‘Well, I’m glad, since he did say he’d go west with us… but still.’
Like a puppy trailing after its master, his constant presence was unnerving.
I ignored him and carried the blankets to the bunk. As expected, he trailed after me with his hands clasped behind his back.
“What are you doing, Miss Ria?”
“Getting ready to sleep. But if everyone else is working, shouldn’t our Tower Lord be doing something too?”
Sien widened his eyes as if hearing such words for the first time. His innocent face blinked slowly.
“Miss Ria, I can’t do things like that.”
“Of course you can’t.”
As expected of our pampered princess.
I replaced his blanket and pillow with fresh ones. As I climbed the ladder to the top bunk—
“Ah—”
My foot slipped inward on a rung.
But instead of falling backward, something caught my back.
Looking up, I saw Sien supporting me with a faint smile.
“…Thanks.”
“Be careful. If you get hurt, you won’t be able to protect me.”
He steadied me down with surprising ease, his hand on my waist. For someone who looked so slender and delicate, he was surprisingly strong.
Through the loose neckline of his blouse, I glimpsed his chest.
‘Now that I think about it… his blouse makes him look smaller, but he’s about the same height as the crown prince, and his build is actually….’
Before I could linger on the thought, Sien plucked the blanket from my arms.
“What are you doing?”
My voice wavered slightly, guilty at being caught staring.
Tilting his head, he studied me with an odd look.
“Your gaze is scary. Feels like you won’t feed me if I don’t help out.”
“As if you’ve ever been scared of me.”
“‘As if’?”
Sien’s eyes went round like glass beads, fixing on me. The lazy drowsiness from before was gone, replaced with a sharp gleam.
“…I mean—”
“Miss Ria, you’re bolder than I thought.”
“That’s not what I—”
“If you like, you can call me ‘darling.’”
“…”
He said it with such innocent blinking that it was hard to tell whether he was teasing or not. Which only made it more irritating.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
‘…This man really feels like a completely different person from yesterday.’
He acted like an affectionate cat, full of charm, completely unlike the cold figure from before. The shift was unsettling.
Could it be he was just acting sweet to win favor because I promised to help find the former Tower Lord’s urn? Or was there something else he wanted?
Or was this one of those clichés, where the Tower Lord, who was supposed to lean on the Saint, instead leaned on me—and eventually fell for me? Surely not.
But the thought made me see him in a slightly different light.
I shook it off. No point overthinking. I’d just keep observing him.
I jerked my chin at the bed.
“Change the sheets.”
“Got it, Miss Ria.”
Sien smiled brightly and fumbled through replacing the sheet and pillowcase. He struggled to stuff the pillow inside, so I helped once, after which he managed fine on his own.
“Did I do well?”
He looked up at me, holding the pillow with an eager gaze.
‘Huh. Compared to the other male leads, he’s… actually kind of cute.’
Just then, his smile vanished as his eyes darted elsewhere.
Before I could turn and look, Sien abruptly stood and began rummaging through every cabinet, as if searching for something.
