Declared Dead, Exiled, and Betrayed— Now I Walk Away, but I'll Save One Who Cared - Chapter 22

How did it come to this…?

I slowly scanned the gathered figures before me, one by one, then closed my eyes once again.

After taking a deep breath, I opened them again and looked over them in the same order.

They were all undeniably beautiful, dazzling even, but…

“Lax-san?”

A lovely, endearing face. A voice so pleasant, it was like the chime of heavenly bells calling my name—this was my fiancée, Shifa.

Yeah, she’s cute today too. Her new robe, embroidered in blue and yellow on a white fabric, suited her perfectly. It was a gift from me. Around her neck, she wore the protective charm I had given her.

I just wanted to scoop her up and carry her home.

Can we just go home?

“Lax, what’s wrong?”

Standing beside me was a woman of refined beauty and grace, like an elder sister. And in fact, she was—Michelle, the daughter of the family that had once taken me in as an adopted child, my foster sister.

We had traveled together for a long time, and while I deeply valued her, I had never really seen her as a woman. She was a cherished comrade. A comrade, right? That’s how it should be… but lately, hasn’t she been standing a bit too close?

“Lax…?”

And then there was the one person utterly unnecessary in what was about to become a pure-hearted isekai rom-com—the lecherous mage, Claire.

I hadn’t expected her to be involved with both Jekyll and Alessandro… and who knows how many others. But considering her lack of intelligence and her greed for gold, I had mentally classified her as someone from that line of work.

Still, she was a party member. When I first heard that she had run away before the impending Stampede, I was furious. But when the dust settled, it turned out that Jekyll and Alessandro had been using her all along. That realization drained my anger.

She had been abandoned by those two and left unconscious in an old fortress built by a previous lord. When we found her and brought her back, she showed no shame or concern about the public eye. At least, she did return the money she had taken from me via Eranda without much fuss. She even begged to keep only the magic-recovery necklace, and given her pitiful circumstances, I let her have it.

“Lord Lax?”

And then… why the hell was she here?

Wouldn’t Klein be worried sick? This was Meria, the daughter of the neighboring town’s guild master—who, unsurprisingly, never listened to reason.

For reference, Klein was her father and the guild master of that neighboring town.

According to her, “The Stampede isn’t over yet! We have to uncover the dungeon’s secrets!”—what kind of nonsense logic was that? By that reasoning, wouldn’t we have to dive all the way down to the lower floors and properly defeat the boss to call it done?

Of course, my real mistake was the last thing I said.

“Wait, you’re saying you’re actually going after the lower-floor boss, Lord Lax?”
“W-wait, finally…?”
“I knew it! I knew you could do it, Lord Lax!”
“Lord Lax… for me…?” (She looked up at me with those ridiculously adorable eyes.)

Surrounded by this absurd enthusiasm, before I knew it, I was roped into going.

Michelle and Claire insisted they were coming as well, and though Meria claimed it was only a temporary party, she also decided to join. And just when I thought that was the end of it, Shifa, seemingly jealous in the cutest way possible, declared that she was coming too.

Hey, lord of this land, could you maybe stop them? Please?

But no—he just went, “Actually, staying near you is probably the safest option.” And that sealed our fate.

For the record, when I ran away from the deeper floors last time, I was going in reverse, so the lower-floor boss never spawned.

I had a good idea where the boss room was, but since no boss had appeared, that should be the case.

Not that I’d ever heard of or seen such a thing in any records…

“Alright, let’s go!”
“Yes!”
“I’ll do my best…”
“Let’s give it everything we’ve got!”
“Ah… ahh…”

Why were they all so motivated?

It was strange, but I supposed it was better than having no enthusiasm at all.

Still, things like “Where will we set up camp?”, “What about changing clothes?”, or “What if someone needs to pick flowers?”—no one was addressing any of these crucial concerns.

And nobody would listen to me.

They were definitely doing this on purpose.

So, I made up my mind.

Yeah, we’ll just finish this in half a day.

Hahahahaha… ha… ha… ha… ha… ha… ha… ha… ha… ha… ha… ha… ha….

“It took a while, but we’ve managed to make it to the lower floors without breaking formation or any major trouble.”

That was Meria, efficiently setting up camp.

We were still inside a dangerous dungeon—specifically, right at the stairs leading from the mid-level to the lower floors.

For some reason, monsters rarely spawned in these areas, so they were often used as resting spots for adventurers.

Even though her town didn’t have a dungeon, she had served as both a secretary and an adventurer. She put those skills to good use, taking the initiative in setting up.

“Yes, and since Lord Lax’s firepower is more than sufficient, and Michelle-san blocks the charging attacks of the more aggressive monsters, I felt as if I was just taking a leisurely stroll in a garden.”

…Shifa, since when did you become so strong?

Once again, I reminded myself that we were in a dangerous dungeon.

A stroll…?

I couldn’t deny that things had been relatively easy, but I’d have to sit her down later and scold her a bit.

“It’s reassuring. But tomorrow, we reach the lower floors. It won’t be this easy, so make sure to stay focused.”

Michelle, being the reliable older sister figure, voiced exactly what I was thinking.

If I had to nitpick one thing, though, it would be the fact that she was setting up an entire array of spices and seasonings to prepare a stew—where the hell did she even get all that?

You never used to do that before, did you?

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“No, I was just wondering… why did you suddenly start cooking?”

“You shouldn’t underestimate the importance of cooking, Lax. Keeping up our energy in a dungeon is crucial, and if we don’t eat properly, we won’t have the strength we need in critical moments.”

Well, yeah, I get that… but weren’t we just gnawing on the portable rations I made during our last expedition!?

“Zzz…”

And this idiot!

Why the hell are you dozing off!?

Do you even understand your own situation!? Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to be a slave!? Then help out!!!

…No, actually, if this one did anything, the tent would probably collapse while we were sleeping. So yeah, maybe it’s better if they don’t touch anything. But at least pretend to put in some effort!

“Lax… it hurts.”

“Why are you sleeping!?”

I reflexively hit them with a bit of magic. No regrets. No apologies. This was a lecture.

“Shifa, Lax is being mean to me…”

“Lord Lax, I understand how you feel, but… they are a party member, after all.”

“Shifa, you’re so kind.”

No, that’s not what’s happening here.

Shifa agrees with me emotionally but is just saying, “Let’s not do this right now.”

So why is this lecherous mage clinging to Shifa!?

“It’s done!”

“Yeah, I figured as much. Damn it!”

“Huh? Why!?”

As expected, Meria had already finished setting up a tent.

“Hmph.”

So, I casually pulled a tent out of my item box as well.

Alright, time to sleep.

“Lord Lax, your big brotheeerrr~~~~~”

I heard something strange from next to me, but… whatever.

Time to sleep.