I'm Not the Heroine

Chapter 39

Rosen stepping forward seemed to catch the middle-aged man off guard, his face betraying his confusion.

"Hero-nim, I have something to tell you...!"

"Hero-nim! There's no need to listen to that child!"

As Rosen began to speak, the middle-aged man hastily cut her off, trying to divert the hero’s attention. He pointed at Rosen as he continued.

"This girl is delusional! She has a history of lying and making things up because of her condition...!"

"I'm not sick!"

"Silence! I’ve given you food every day out of pity, and this is how you repay me!"

Of course, Rosen was perfectly sane. The man was simply saying whatever he could to escape the situation.

"Is that so? Aria-nim?"

"Yes?"

"I believe you mentioned that you know a bit of sacred magic to heal mental conditions, right? Would you be able to use it on her?"

On me?

Aria pointed at herself with her hand, which was hidden by her robe, as if to clarify she had heard correctly. I gave her a subtle signal with my finger.

It was a cue to go along with my plan.

"Y-yes! That could work. I’ll try using it to find out."

Though it was clear she wasn’t comfortable with lying, Aria broke into a slight sweat as she played along.

The middle-aged man and the citizens were visibly shaken. It seemed they hadn’t expected a saintess to lie.

"S-Saintess can do that...?"

"Are we going to be accused of blasphemy now...?"

With the public mood quickly turning against him, the middle-aged man gestured frantically, trying to defuse the situation.

"P-please forgive me! The truth is, this girl is close to that witch, and she always tries to manipulate events in the witch’s favor...!"

"When have I ever?! All I did was ask Niavella to sell me some bread!!"

Rosen, perhaps emboldened by the fact I was standing behind her, angrily shouted at the man.

"Hero-nim! I’ll tell you everything. The reason Niavella is like this... is because that man submitted a false request!"

"A false request...?"

"Niavella successfully completed many requests, but her rank never went up. When she questioned it, they told her that as a witch, she should be grateful for even being accepted at the lowest rank!"

"...!"

"And then that man told Niavella that he would raise her rank if she completed a monster extermination request. I should have stopped her...!"

Tears fell from Rosen’s eyes.

‘It’s no wonder.’

The fact that Niavella was trapped within the fire giant meant she was still alive. In the original story, there were no reports of her being injured while fighting monsters, so it was likely she had an “awakening” of sorts before the monsters could attack her.

"All of these people conspired to kill Niavella! She worked so hard for the city, and this is how they repay her!"

"..."@@@@

"That’s not true, Hero-nim...! It’s a misunderstanding!"

"What misunderstanding?! You hated Niavella because her mother exposed the embezzlement schemes involving the city officials and citizens alike!"

"H-how do you know...?!"

"Embezzlement? Now that’s an interesting story."

It wasn’t the hero who reacted to Rosen’s words. Serlin stepped forward, casually resting her hand on the hilt of her sword with a smirk.

‘That’s right, she’s a minor noble.’

Even though she was only a minor noble, Serlin was still fiercely loyal to the Empire.

"Embezzling funds at the city level... That could be quite fun to investigate."

I decided to add to her statement.

Whinny

Nightlux, seeming to understand, galloped off in the direction I had pointed, with Rosen still riding on his back. Relieved, I stood beside the hero.

Boom...

With each step, the earth shook.

Even though I knew what was happening, the pressure from the fire giant was overwhelming. The only relief was that it wasn’t actively attacking everything in sight.

Of course, the intense heat radiating from the giant was still dangerous.

"Louis."

The hero didn’t seem particularly bothered by the heat.

"That giant... is it really magic?"

"To be precise, it’s a bit different, but you could consider it a form of magic."

If magic is the process of converting mana into energy, then the giant was essentially condensed lunar mana in the form of fire.

In other words, the difference lay in whether a formal process had been followed.

"So the giant itself isn’t Niavella?"

"No. Niavella herself is hidden somewhere inside. The giant is just an extension of her mana."

In the original story, it was described as being located near the giant’s heart, and I assumed it would be the same here.

"Hero-nim, what are you planning to do?"

"I’m going to try cutting it. But if I do... it won’t harm Niavella, will it?"

"It shouldn’t. The mana making up the giant is likely completely disconnected from her. Niavella is probably in a state of mana exhaustion."

Even though it wasn’t intentional, creating the giant must have drained all of her mana.

‘I just hope she isn’t unconscious.’

Otherwise, she wouldn’t witness the hero saving her.

At that moment, the hero adjusted his stance, preparing to leap toward the giant.

"Hero-nim, wait a moment."

"Hmm?"

I hurriedly reached into my storage space and pulled out a black robe with white patterns stitched into it.

"Could you bend down for a second?"

"Oh, sure."

"Ugh... There. This is a robe I made a while back, and I’ve inscribed a heat-resistant spell on it, so you won’t get burned."

Rising on my tiptoes, I draped the robe over his shoulders and began inscribing the protective spell with my pen.

Scratch, scratch.

The sound of the golden runes being drawn in the air broke the stillness.

"..."

"..."

As I finished, I looked up and found myself making eye contact with the hero.

For a moment—maybe just a second, or maybe an hour—we stood like that.

"It’s done."

"Ah, thank you."

"Now go. Please save her."

"I will. Since you gave me this robe... I’ll make sure I don’t get hurt."

"...Okay."

I watched as the hero pushed off from the ground and dashed toward the giant.

What was he thinking when our eyes met earlier?