Please Leave The Sickly Villainess Alone

Several Nabel village residents, who hadn’t been visible on the streets earlier, could now be seen.

Some children playing with a ball, and children who had been watching from trees, perhaps curious about the nobles’ event.

All of them, faces pale, were speechless as they saw the demonic beasts rushing towards them.

[Senia lured the demonic beasts to the trap set by Duke Kablos. There was a young prince from a Duchy on the way who was almost in danger, but fortunately, she saved him.]

The content of the original work flashed through my mind.

What was visible at the edge of Nabel village was undoubtedly the cliff where the trap was set.

But Kablos would have usually used the cliff visible in the opposite direction, not this one.

It must have been their influence that made the poor settle and live here.

Since handling demonic beasts was clearly illegal, they established the village as a cover, and populated it with homeless poor people to divert attention.

They must have given them such shabby houses to keep them quiet.

It felt like the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place.

‘There wasn’t a single casualty, they said…’

The demonic beasts were only chasing Senia now, but the moment they noticed the villagers, they would chase them too.

The villagers, with fear-stricken faces, ran towards the cliff with the trap, avoiding the demonic beasts rushing towards them along with Senia.

They instinctively acted this way because they had seen how Kablos lured and killed demonic beasts on the opposite cliff.

Seeing that bait had appeared to lure the demonic beasts to the trap, I felt something was off.

“Lady Senia saved us! It’s so fortunate that those lowly ones are all running towards the cliff.”

“But… if we leave them like that, those people will die…”

“What are you saying! They’re not people, they’re leeches driven out of the capital. We need to survive first!”

At that moment, I realized the meaning of ‘there were no human casualties’.

And I tightly gripped the Crimson Blade, which was resonating more fiercely than ever before.

* * *

Senia, wrapped in the light magic Alexer, could run at a very high speed, avoiding the swift demonic beasts.

“No! Wait, look at the tree by the fence!”

At that moment, a man with exotic features shouted with a voice full of shock.

“Your Highness! Why is the Prince there!”

The place the man pointed to was a tree next to the collapsed fence.

Beneath it, a young boy was visible, too frightened to move his legs, staring at the demonic beasts rushing towards him.

“Your Highness! No, please escape quickly!”

The man sprang from his seat and ran towards the child.

Recalling the content described in the original work, that child would be safe. But…

I frowned hard, looking at the villagers who had run towards the cliff in panic.

Senia embraced the prince and rolled on the ground, turning her body right in front of the fence.

It was still unclear whether the demonic beasts were heading towards Senia or towards the village.

‘And if it goes according to the content, the demonic beasts would pass by Senia and the prince and head to the village.’

“Lady Senia and the Prince are in danger!”

Unlike the nobles, I saw young commoner children trembling in front of the cliff.

The moment those children overlapped with the children from Troy Orphanage in my mind, I inwardly shouted.

‘Tharo-!’

[What is it, Master.]

Tharo was currently staying at the mansion.

He had been completely sulking since morning for not being taken to the hunting festival.

I could communicate with my summon even when far apart because we were bound by soul.

‘I need your magic.’

And by the same logic, I could remotely deploy Tharo’s special magic here where I was.

Tharo was casting the magic, but I could activate it around me.

As if my rapid heartbeat had been transmitted to Tharo, his grumpy voice instantly became very solemn.

[You only have one chance. Tell me at the optimal timing.]

I nodded and raised the Crimson Blade to shoot aura behind the demonic beasts.

The aura, split into several streams, struck the backs of the demonic beasts.

The demonic beasts, who had been running towards the village with their strange gait, turned to look at me who had suddenly attacked them.

At my sudden action, people momentarily stopped moving.

I disregarded this and shot the aura once more.

Even after hitting them several times, I couldn’t end their lives, but I could focus their attention on me.

Kieeeek! Kieek!

With the village right before them, the five demonic beasts simultaneously turned towards me and leaped.

At the same time, the surrounding people screamed loudly and ran away to get as far from me as possible.

Only Rachel remained behind me without fleeing, shouting with an anxious voice.

“What are you thinking, Ria! You saw that even aura doesn’t work on those things!”

As she said this, she pulled out the jeweled crossbow she had been carrying.

I was shocked to see her staying despite it being a moment that could determine life or death, and her not even being good at shooting.

“You run away too, Rachel!”

“How can I run away leaving you behind!”

It was when the demonic beasts were about to reach me.

If I retreated here, not only I but also Rachel would die.

I gripped the Crimson Blade tightly and shouted.

“Tharo, now!”

[You have 1 minute.]

The moment Tharo’s voice, more mature than usual, clearly echoed in my ears, a huge purple magic circle appeared on the ground where I stood.

The ability inscribed in the magic circle, which extended to the ground the demonic beasts were approaching, was ‘Stop’. It was Tharo’s special magic.

Judging by the shorter casting time than I knew was possible, there seemed to be limitations on remote magic.

But.

‘That should be enough.’

As if agreeing with my thought, the Crimson Blade resonated with a hum.

People who had fled far away looked puzzledly at the suddenly appeared huge magic circle, then saw the demonic beasts and shouted.

“L-look at that! Those monsters have stopped!”

It was true.

The duration was just over 1 minute.

I sprang from my spot and ran towards the demonic beasts.

Stepping on the purple magic circle, I ran towards the demonic beast that had been hit by my attack earlier and swung the Crimson Blade high, unleashing aura.

Earlier, because the demonic beast moved so quickly, I couldn’t pierce its heart where its blood flowed.

-Unlike this one, when you encounter normal demonic beasts, aim for the heart. If it’s not the heart, demonic beasts can regenerate their bodies many times.

I recalled what Hewt had told me last time.

These beasts instinctively had a habit of guarding their hearts, which is why both my and Senia’s attacks had missed.

‘But now I can pierce it accurately!’

The Crimson Blade pierced the demonic beast’s heart.

At that moment, the demonic beast, frozen like a stone, collapsed to the ground with a thud.

[40 seconds left, Master.]

Without time to catch my breath, I leaped towards the demonic beast standing next to it and plunged the Crimson Blade down.

Simultaneously, the number floating in the air decreased to 55.

[30 seconds, 20 seconds…]

Each time Tharo’s urgent voice was heard, I dealt with one beast.

Piercing the heart of a stopped demonic beast wasn’t difficult, but it took quite some time to move between the beasts due to the wide distance between them.

Finally, when I had left only one beast, Tharo’s voice was heard once again.

[5 seconds!]

‘Can I make it?’

The last one was a bit far away.

The sound of horses neighing could be heard from the direction of the Ias Forest.

Those who had gone hunting were getting closer.

“Ria!!”

Ignoring Luka’s voice faintly heard from afar, I ran across the fading purple magic circle.

[1 second. You must return safely, Master.]

With those words, as if his energy had run out, the connection with Tharo was cut off.

There was still distance between me and the demonic beast.

Perhaps the demonic beast, freed from the stop magic, might rush at me and attack at any moment.

It wasn’t impossible to shoot the same aura as before, but it didn’t have enough power to penetrate the demonic beast’s tough skin.

I bit my lips hard with surging anxiety.

My heart had been beating violently as if it would jump out, and my hands and feet had gone cold with anxiety.

‘Please!’

At that moment, a light like Senia’s Alexer shot out from the Crimson Blade.

It was a sword energy close to the complete form that Hewt had shown me in the training ground before.

That sword energy pierced the heart of the last demonic beast, which was fiercely roaring as it awoke from the stop magic.

Kieeeek-!

In the tense space where no one could breathe out, only the painful cry of the demonic beast filled the air.

As I blankly stared at the demonic beast that had finally collapsed with a thud shaking the ground, panting heavily, the light of the number in the sky flickered and soon updated.

52, the number returned to its original blue color.

And a new name appeared where the hunters’ names were listed.

[Laveria Jenne Rayes (150)]

‘The danger level was 30 points per beast? They really were dangerous ones. If it weren’t for Tharo, I might have really died…’

As I was calculating those numbers, I felt someone’s breath close by.

“Ria…”

A familiar voice was trembling heavily, so I turned around.

The Crimson Blade disappeared from my hand, producing special effects that seemed to need a lot of attention, just like when it first appeared.

The one who approached me was Luka, the very person who had gifted me that Crimson Blade.

Luka, out of breath, walked towards me as if he might collapse at any moment, looking so shocked, and almost leaped to embrace me.

“Ahaha… You saw it all. You must have been very surprised.”

As I hugged Luka, I looked around and saw that not only Senia holding the prince, but also the hunters who had emerged from the forest, were wide-eyed at the chaotic situation with five demonic beasts lying fallen.

Even the villagers visible in the distance were standing precariously in front of the cliff, looking this way as if they couldn’t believe it.

I hugged Luka’s trembling back and whispered in his ear.

“I’m okay, Luka. Nothing happened and everyone is safe, so calm down.”

I could feel Luka gradually finding stability at my gentle words.

He was in quite a state, having ridden his horse so quickly from deep in the forest.

As I faced Luka like that, my heart, which had been beating as if it would burst, gradually calmed down.