There's No Way the Hot Girls Would Fall for an Ordinary 'Healer NPC' Like Me! ~About How I'm Just Treating the Beat-Up Heroines, But For Some Reason Their Reactions Are Getting Really Weird~

Chapter 17: Oh, So This Guy’s the Culprit

“…You don’t know the way…?”

“…Yeah.”

“…………”

It was awkward.

Super awkward.

I promised I’d take her there, but I totally screwed it up.

“…Should I show you the way…?”

“…Please… do.”

Ugh, I feel like I’m gonna cry.

I thought we’d just go up the stairs and we’d be there, but there were way too many rooms and I was straight-up panicking.

“…This room, here…”

“…Thank you… very much.”

For some reason, Estina wasn’t pushing the subject either, which only made me feel even more embarrassed. She kept choosing her words carefully, like she was checking my mood, and it made me feel like some fragile thing everyone was tiptoeing around.

I hated that kind of consideration.

Seriously, just stop.

Knock knock.

I tried knocking anyway.

Even though Mireille had called for us, manners like this were still essential.

“Come in.”

Mireille’s voice came from inside, and I nervously opened the door.

Then—

Dozens of guards were packed into a ridiculously huge room.

I couldn’t help but doubt my eyes.

How seriously were they taking this just to catch me?

“F-F-Forgive me—”

“So you brought Estina with you. That means you’ve already figured it out, Leon.”

Huh?

“As expected of you, Leon. You already knew who the one trying to poison me was.”

Uh?

“Tonight, the prime minister, Eliod, will probably launch his attack. So I’d like to borrow your strength, Leon.”

Mireille sat solemnly in the middle of the guards and bowed her head deeply.

I see…

Thank goooodness!

They weren’t trying to kill me after all!

Well, I mean, I knew that.

Mireille has a big heart.

Even in the game, she always listened to my crazy requests.

La la la~

Whoops, no time to be getting all happy.

I had no idea what was really going on, but bringing Estina along seemed to have been the right move.

“Estina, I’m sorry for dragging you into this too. I never imagined Eliod would make you drink poison just to silence you…”

“No, Mireille. My life exists for your sake.”

Yeah, yeah, all’s well that ends well.

Beautiful girls really do need to get along, don’t they?

Just as I was thinking that—

BOOM!!

A deafening roar shook the room so hard I thought my eardrums would burst. I quickly looked toward the door and saw it trembling like something had slammed into it.

“Here they come.”

For some reason, Mireille muttered it calmly.

As expected of the real ruler of this country—she stayed composed even now.

But—

This is scaaary!

I was Japanese, so I’d never been in anything like this violent mess before.

P-P-Please… just calm down.

But my wish went unanswered—

BOOM!! BOOM!!

The sounds kept getting louder.

And then finally—

CRASH!!

The door exploded inward.

Soldiers poured in through the broken doorway, clearly out for blood.

“Well, well, Mireille. You’ve seen through my plan quite nicely.”

Pushing through the soldiers, a bearded man who looked every bit the villain stepped forward with total ease.

“If you’d just died quietly from the poison, you wouldn’t have had to go through anything this scary…”

“Shut your mouth, Eliod. I’ve suspected you for a long time. But I never thought you’d actually try to poison me.”

“It’s your own fault. If you’d just died together with the king like you were supposed to, none of this would have happened. But no, you had to survive and keep getting in my way.”

“So you won’t even bother making excuses anymore.”

“That’s right. Tonight, you’ll be dying for me.”

With those words as the signal, the soldiers who had entered the room charged forward.

“Leon, over here…”

Estina pulled me along, and I stumbled down in front of Mireille. When I lifted my face while still on my hands on the floor, the battle had already begun.

The clash of swords echoed throughout the room.

The metallic sounds were insanely loud.

“Urgh… push them back!”

One of the guards shouted.

But—

Despite his words, the front line was slowly being pushed back.

The soldiers in black armor clearly outnumbered them.

Even if one fell, another quickly took his place from behind.

There was no end in sight.

“Whoa…”

The sound slipped out before I could stop it.

This was bad.

Seriously bad.

Actually, really bad.

The guards were fighting desperately, but it was obvious they were being forced to retreat. They had been in the center of the room earlier, but somehow they’d already been pushed back near Mireille.

“Guh…!”

One guard was knocked flying and rolled across the floor.

He didn’t move after that.

Wait, hold on.

Is this a real fight to the death!?

“There are… too many…!”

Another guard groaned in pain.

“Don’t fall back! Protect the queen!”

His voice sounded brave, but the situation didn’t change.

Little by little, the guards were steadily being forced backward. The floor was littered with debris and blood, making footing worse and worse.

Even so, the enemy kept moving without hesitation.

They stepped forward relentlessly.