I Can Be a Villain Too!
"Have the civilians flee because they can"t hold back the monsters? Ridiculous! Why did he come all the way here in the first place!"
The mayor shouted at the messenger that Edwy had sent. It had taken a month to travel here and they had been fighting in the dungeon until recently. And so the messenger could not hide his anger at this reaction.
"We are risking our lives out there. You should not speak like that!"
"Hmph! It"s your job."
Grudo saw that the mayor did not care at all, and said,
"They will blame you if members of the dwarven, Midland and southern royal families die here."
"Wh-what? But I didn"t do…"
"Do you want to be remembered as the mayor who did nothing?"
"Tsk."
"No one is asking you to go to the dungeons to save them. You just have to tell your people to stay inside. Everyone should know, since the Adventurers have been spreading the news about the dungeons. People will obey if you talk about it."
"Well…"
"It is just a matter of you using this to your advantage or not."
"…Tell the people then. I will have to gather together the leaders of every district first."
The mayor began to act.
Things moved quickly after that. He had become mayor due to his abilities after all. As Grudo had said, each district leader had sensed that things were wrong. And it was almost night time. So there was no issue with asking everyone to stay indoors. What would be a problem, was if this continued for several days, but there was no answer to be had yet.
Furthermore, the Adventurers who remained in town were forced to gather together.
"Mayor. Is there no large building or field near the dungeons? The soldiers will likely be very tired when they return. Many will be wounded. And if the monsters come out, there will be more fighting as well. We need fires and a place for them to rest."
"There is a wide-open field in front of the dungeon. There is also a building that the guards use to rest. Why not use that? But it will only house about 100 people."
"There should be about 200 including the Adventurers."
"We can have the Adventurers wait at the entrance. While they buy us time, half of the returned soldiers can move to the town."
Just as the order was given, noises were heard from the back of the mansion.
"What is it? During such an emergency!"
"Ah, that is Maki and Chiharu!"
Grudo shouted without thinking. There they were. But what were they doing? They had a boy with them.
As for how Maki and Chiharu had escaped…
"Here"s your food."
The boy brought them their food and tried to leave.
"Wwait a minute. Wait until we finish eating."
"What? You do know that monsters are coming out of the dungeon? There"s an uproar. I"m busy right now. I won"t lock the door after I leave. That"s enough, isn"t it?"
"Tsk. It can"t be helped then, can it, Chiharu?"
"Yeah."
Chiharu picked up the bread and wrapped it in a handkerchief and stuffed it into her pouch. It was a good thing that it hadn"t been confiscated.
"Emergency food acquired."
"Good."
After that, Maki quickly grabbed the knife and moved behind the boy and flashed the blade in front of his face. During that time, Chiharu grabbed the remaining knight and fork.
"Now, if you could take us to the exit."
"What? I already told you about the back door!"
"They"ll find us right away there. Take us to the front door."
"But that"s where they"ll really find you!"
"Look here, you"re our hostage. Now go."
"Uh, ah…"
Chiharu was holding a knife and fork in her right hand and opened the door with her left.
"All good."
"Right. Now go."
Considering that they were the same height, the boy should have been strong enough to escape. However, he was quite intimidated by Maki at this point and seemed to have no intention of resisting.
"Hey, what are you… Danam?"
"Tsk. They found us. Hey, move out of our way unless you want him to get hurt!"
They were spotted after all. Maki"s threatening voice had alerted the servants of the house.
"Hey, you!"
"Your pervert master had us locked up! Now take us to the door!"
The servants shrunk back. They knew what they were talking about.
"But, he is near the door…"
"Do you care about what happens to him!?"
Maki shouted. Chiharu used her knife to look menacing as they watched.
"alright…"
And so they were led to the door.
"Where is it?"
"O-over there."
Alright, they would rush through it now! Everyone would think that the boy had been threatened. There were plenty of witnesses.
They both looked at each other and began to dash forward. Their plan to act as villains was a success.
"But, what if we threaten them and run, but still get caught?"
Maki heard Chiharu"s idea and asked her about the possibility of failure.
"If that happens, then we"ll use our marks."
Chiharu said as she pointed at her forehead.
"The mark of the Saintess."
They both fell silent.
"That won"t look cool."
"I do want to avoid it."
"Seriously."
Chiharu didn"t reply to that.
"Let"s go somewhere where there are a lot of people, so we don"t get caught. And then we can shout, "is there anyone from Midland here?" and attract attention."
"Alright. But I don"t know if I can look evil."
"We have to try."
And so they did. Maki turned out to be quite good at playing the part when it came to it.
It was just as they were making a run for it that Grudo saw them. However, they could not change their plan.
"We"re going where there is a large crowd!"
They shouted at Grudo.
"Wait! It"s dangerous out there! Maki! Chiharu!"
He shouted at them, but they did not hear him. They ignored the shocked servants as they continued to run.
However, there were hardly any people around. It was no wonder. The mayor had ordered everyone to stay inside.
The only place that seemed crowded…
"Chiharu, up on the hill! Let"s go there!"
"Okay!"
The two of them headed for the field where there were fires and groups of Adventurers. Right in front of the dungeon.