I'm Not the Heroine

Chapter 30

It felt like a scene from a movie.

The moment slowed down as a familiar face appeared in a cinematic sequence.

But this wasn’t a movie.

“Hero... sir?”

Why are you here?

I couldn’t understand why the Hero suddenly appeared.

At this point, he should’ve just met up with the heroines, so why was he here?

Then where were the other three?

I was so confused that my curiosity overtook my gratitude.

“Aria, Rie, and Serelin have all met up. So for now, let's focus.”

“...Ah, yes.”

Right, we were in the middle of a battle.

In a situation like this, curiosity could be deadly.

I turned my attention back to the standoff between the Hero and Aled.

“Hero. Did you perhaps not run into my underlings?”

“Underlings, you mean other vampires? If you’re asking about them, I’ll answer—I did.”

The Hero held his holy sword at an angle, keeping a wary eye on Aled.

“Hah... What a bunch of weaklings. They couldn’t even buy me some time. I’ll have to do some cleaning once this is over.”

Aled sighed as he gestured, sending a blood slash flying toward the Hero.

‘Not this time.’

I quickly used my pen to activate the protective magic I had set up earlier, nullifying the attack.

“Hero, I’ll assist you.”

“Thanks, Louis!”

With that simple reply, the battle began.

The Hero rushed toward Aled and swung his holy sword.

Boom!

Though the blood barrier blocked it, things were different this time.

“So, this is... a Hero! How exciting!!”

Aled staggered back, laughing as his blood barrier struggled to absorb the full impact.

It was clear—against demons, a Hero was unmatched.

I couldn’t just sit back and watch.

Seeing that Aled was fully focused on the Hero, I activated both the master key and my pen.

“Enchanting.”

The rings on the master key spun rapidly as golden letters formed in the air with my pen.

The spells I applied to the Hero were five in total:

Weight reduction.

Attack detection.

Reflective armor.

A protective shield.

Speed boost.

Though the number of spells was reduced, their potency had been greatly enhanced.

“What...?!”

Aled could no longer maintain his former dominance.

With his enchanted shoes, gloves, and bracelet, the Hero moved like a flash of light.

Boom!

Eventually, the blood barrier failed to stop the holy sword, and Aled was sent crashing into the far wall.

“Huff...”

Aled lay in shambles, while the Hero and his sword still gleamed with divine power.

The Hero cautiously approached Aled, not letting his guard down.

At that moment, Aled began casting his unique magic again.

“Bloodr—?!”

Clank.

“I won’t let you.”

“I’m not glaring. Bow your head for a moment.”

“Huh? Why...?”

“You did well.”

Though the Hero lowered his head, it still wasn’t quite enough, so I stood on my tiptoes.

Just like my old magic master used to do, I patted the Hero on the head.

His hair was slightly damp from the continuous battles, but it didn’t feel unpleasant.

‘It’d be rude to feel annoyed with the person who saved me, after all.’

“Let’s go. The others are on their way.”

“Oh, right.”

I gathered Aled’s staff, some of his blood, and a sample of the fortress’s bricks, storing them in my pocket dimension.

While the battle with the Third Bloodline vampire had been unexpected, I’d gained the valuable asset of a vampire’s staff, so I considered it a win.

‘Once we regroup, we’ll have to face the First Bloodline soon.’

Beep.

At that moment, the magical tools surveying the fortress sent me an alert.

Though I hadn’t explored the entire area yet, it seemed they had found the specific location I was looking for.

‘In that case...’

A short while later, the Hero’s party reunited after about two hours of separation.

“Aswell!!”

Compared to the original story, where they had been separated for nearly half a day, this was incredibly fast.

“I'm glad you all made it... Ugh.”

“Louis, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Lapirie ran up like a truck and slammed into my chest.

I gave the three worried heroines a thumbs-up, signaling that I was fine.

“Honestly, you’re so smart. Who would’ve thought you’d anticipate us getting separated and plan ahead?”

“Exactly! Thanks to that, I wasn’t even scared!”

“Thank you.”

With Serelin’s praise and Aria’s bright smile, I felt overwhelmed.

“So... what should we do next?”

Lapirie’s question was met with the Hero’s response.

“We need to find the leader of these vampires and make sure this fortress disappears.”

“In that case, I have a suggestion.”

“A suggestion?”

I raised my hand, drawing everyone’s attention, and shared the information I had gathered about the fortress through my magical tools, along with the plan I’d devised.

As they listened, the party members gave their input.

“I think it’s a solid plan. I’m in.”

“I agree. The more strategies we use, the higher our chances of winning.”

“I’m also in favor.”

The three heroines approved, leaving only the Hero to decide.

“If it’s a plan made by Louis, I’m sure it’ll work. I trust you.”

“...Okay. Then it’s unanimous.”

With the Hero’s approval, the whole party accepted my plan.

‘I’ll need to adjust the route and tweak the spells on the magical tools.’

With that, our strategy was set.

The sooner we executed it, the better. So the party decided to move without resting.

“Let’s go.”

Led by the Hero, we took our first step toward eliminating this fortress.