Chapter 10
“M-Me?”
“Yes. Honestly, someone like you, Kae, has the skill—it’s just that you haven’t been promoted yet. I trust that you’ll do well there without any problems.”
“But…”
Of course, as the top villainess in this world, there was no real danger for me to go there. Still, until I calmed down, I was scheduled for 24-hour full shifts, overtime, and extra work.
“By the time you return, my hair will probably be full again. Someone must’ve been giving it plenty of nutrients.”
Across from me, Bria was struggling to hold back laughter.
Damn it, she remembered everything.
I reflected on my reckless actions and reluctantly answered the director.
“Yes… understood.”
The director wrote my name on the document with a very satisfied expression.
“Then I’ll go too.”
Bria, who had barely restrained her laughter, raised her hand.
Ah! My good friend. At least I won’t be alone in a foreign place. Tears of gratitude welled up in my eyes as I looked at Bria.
But the director frowned and said,
“No. Do you know how much work the clinic has right now? If our key staff leave, the damage will be severe.”
Damn it! So that meant I had to go alone to that dangerous place and do everything myself!
“Then I’ll go!”
Someone raised their hand from the corner.
It was Mika, with her light green twin tails. Her gaze sparkled, fixed on me.
“I want to go too!”
I refused, thinking it would be better for her not to join. If I had to take care of a newbie on top of everything, it would just add more work.
“Director, a newbie who hasn’t even been here a month is too dangerous.”
I hurriedly said, but the clinic director, in a surprisingly good mood at the thought of tormenting me further, smiled as he wrote her name on the document.
“It’ll be good experience for the newbie. Mika, learn a lot while you’re there.”
That damn bald-headed idiot.
“Yes! Senpai Kae! I’ll do my best!”
The clueless newcomer saluted cheerfully while poking at my outfit.
Back in the office, I packed my things to leave for Dorkan. Since escaping the orphanage and coming to the temple, this was my first time leaving Jeronia.
“Haah… what is this…”
Bria, watching me struggle with my luggage, spoke to cheer me on.
“Kae, who knows? Maybe the handsome Viscount Helderios will suddenly appear, defeat the monsters, and protect you.”
Insane. Bria, who loved handsome nobles, probably meant it in a good way—but to me, that sounded like a prayer for my demise.
“Why would a noble busy attending banquets come to this backwater village!”
I snapped in frustration, and Bria shrugged.
“Well, you never know.”
The next day, we boarded a carriage to Dorkan at dawn with the newbie.
After initial greetings, the newbie chattered nonstop. I wasn’t very talkative, and with her excitedly talking like it was a picnic, the carriage soon fell silent.
Unable to endure the awkward quiet, I spoke to Mika, sitting across from me and gazing at me with sparkling eyes.
“Healers stay in the rear and only treat the injured, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
“Yes! Senpai, leave it to me!”
Mika clenched her fists confidently and nodded.
“It’s dangerous, so don’t wander around. Stay right beside me.”
A high-difficulty dispatch mission now had an ignorant newbie added to it.
Even though I was strong, that place had monster legions capable of killing people. Fear crept in, but I steadied myself.
It’ll be fine. I’m the former top villainess of this world. As long as the protagonist is careful, nothing will happen.
Comforting myself, I settled into the rattling carriage.
Helderios Duke Family’s Training Grounds
A huge man, shirtless, was doing a handstand using just one thick finger. His broad shoulders and muscular build often made nearby women blush. Scars of various sizes stood out across his muscles.
The man bent and straightened his fingers, counting aloud.
“25,000… 25,001… 25,002…”
With each count, his muscles flexed and moved.
Noticing a presence, he stopped moving and stood up.
Sweeping his sweat-soaked black hair roughly, he stood, his gaze sharp yet handsome. Tall, with a sharp jawline, fierce violet eyes, and a muscular frame reminiscent of a large carnivorous animal.
His gaze fell on the woman approaching the training ground. With jet-black bobbed hair and clad in the Helderios knight uniform, she shared his eye color and atmosphere.
She carried a stack of luxurious envelopes. Walking straight up to him, she held them out.
“Lloyd, here’s a list of invitations addressed to you. I’ve filtered it down to only the essential ones.”
Lloyd examined a few envelopes, sighed, and muttered a spell. The envelopes began to burn as if dancing in his hands.
The woman looked horrified.
“You’re crazy. Lloyd, some are invitations to the emperor’s personally hosted banquets! What will happen if we, the protagonists, don’t attend?”
After clearing the Asenta Dungeon, the already many invitations started pouring in.
I didn’t care much for banquets, but the emperor’s celebratory party was mandatory, especially for his future position as head of the Helderios family.
But Lloyd shook his head.
“You attend alone. I’ll be in Dorkan dealing with monsters.”
After reincarnation, the siblings trained insanely to take revenge on Iveliana and save the empire. But when searching for the object of their hatred, she was gone. Everywhere in the world had been searched, but the villainess didn’t exist. Not even a trace of her birth.
The emptiness hit them hard.
Fortunately, Davien shook off the despair, but her twin brother Lloyd was still submerged in it.
Davien yelled in exasperation.
“Enough! Get a grip! Lloyd! Iveliana Rosevelier is gone. You saw it for yourself!”
Lloyd grabbed a sword nearby and threw it violently.
Bang!
It smashed into a large rock in the training grounds with a thunderous noise.
“Don’t follow me, Davien.”
Lloyd left the training grounds, leaving Davien standing alone, staring at his retreating figure.
Outside the carriage, trees gradually gave way to scattered houses. The farther we went, the more houses appeared, all in terrible condition—burned or destroyed. People hurried under knights’ protection to safety.
Seeing the smoke, corpses, and crying people, Mika’s face stiffened. She was probably realizing that this wasn’t a fun picnic, but a battlefield between life and death.
How far had we gone? The rattling carriage arrived at the lowest wall of Dorkan. It was the last bastion, the border between Dorkan and the Dark Forest.
A monster legion had been spotted beyond the forest. If this place fell, Dorkan would be overrun.
No, it’ll be fine. The dispatch request we received yesterday said the monster legion was already half eliminated, with only cleanup remaining. I stepped down from the carriage, trying to calm my uneasy heart.
Inside the walls, people dispatched from various cities bustled about. At the gate connected to the Dark Forest, wounded mages and knights were being carried on stretchers, while healers rushed to treat them.
Seeing us, a man in a healer’s uniform ran over, breathing heavily. Up close, his uniform was soaked in blood. Seeing me and the newbie, and the intermediate healer symbol on my uniform, he cursed.
“That bald-headed bastard! Sending just one intermediate healer and a newbie for this mess!”
I was taken aback, while the newbie looked thrilled.
“Follow me. Things are urgent right now.”
He hurriedly guided us to a barracks marked with the empire healer symbol. Blood and cries filled the place, an absolute chaos.
“What’s going on? This isn’t what the dispatch request said,” I asked.
The man wiped the sweat pouring down his face and replied,
“Things started worsening at dawn. We even heard high orcs appearing at the sanctuary at the northern edge of the Dark Forest.”
“Oh my…”
Inside the barracks, wounded knights and mages filled every inch of space. Many were screaming in pain.
Rushing to heal a knight holding his severed leg in the corner, someone roughly pushed me aside.
A shaggy-haired healer, wearing a high-level healer symbol, scowled and shouted.
“How can an intermediate healer treat this patient?!”
He grabbed the knight’s severed leg and cast a healing spell with his wand.
“Healing.”
A bright light emanated, and the leg and thigh slowly regenerated. But the pain from bones, nerves, and muscles regrowing caused the knight to scream and eventually pass out with foam at his mouth.
‘Is this guy even a high-level healer? No anesthesia, no pain nullification… he could kill someone from shock.’
The “high-level” healer smugly shrugged.
“First time seeing a high-level healer? Get it together and take care of the minor injuries. I’ll handle this one.”
Mika, standing behind me, screamed indignantly.
“Hey! Senpai Kae is an intermediate healer, but she’s far more skilled than you! And who heals without a pain-null buff? Even a newbie knows that! How dare you lecture an intermediate healer without basic knowledge?”
Mika’s voice was so loud that everyone in the barracks immediately focused on us.
