I raised my head. From below, I could see Benjamin’s excellent face.

“Why did you come so late!”

If only you, the strongest in the novel, had been here, people wouldn’t have been sacrificed.

I resented him.

“You bastard, you’re too late!”

Baron shouted, almost complaining. At this moment, I completely agree with Baron.

Despite our reproaches, Benjamin’s voice remained calm.

“I was far away. I came as quickly as I could.

“…….”

“And the guy who said it didn’t matter if I wasn’t here is still alive and well.”

Saying that, Benjamin glanced at Baron. For reference, Baron lived with the words ‘We don’t need Benjamin! I’ll never acknowledge him as the Knight Commander’ always on his lips.

Yet when a life-threatening situation arose, he was the first to look for Benjamin.

Of course, that didn’t mean I had any intention of defending Benjamin who showed up late.

In my eyes, Baron and Benjamin were the same.

“And I don’t care whether the ugly doll lives or dies……”

Benjamin looked down at me quietly.

“……No.”

He hesitated to say something to me.

The hand that was wrapped around his waist loosened helplessly.

After that, he strode forward and hit Baron’s shoulder hard.

“Damn bastard.”

Benjamin ignored Baron’s cursing and leaped towards the rampaging Zumyu.

In his hands, spheres of purple light were flickering.

It was the sphere that appeared every time he used the Mass Murderer ability.

Kwagwang!

A noise as deafening as a bombing occurred.

The sound was so loud that it echoed through the forest.

Zumyu, hit directly by the purple sphere, writhed in pain and continuously spewed fireballs.

Benjamin, unfazed, kept hitting it with even larger spheres.

Perhaps because there were many injuries and casualties today, Benjamin’s ability seemed much stronger than before.

The defensive Espers and Baron put up shields to protect the survivors.

Meanwhile, Baron kept muttering curses endlessly.

From behind Baron, I watched the scene of Benjamin fighting with my own two eyes.

Benjamin, who didn’t get hit by any of Zumyu’s attacks, flew freely through the air, striking with mysteriously glowing purple spheres……

‘It’s beautiful.’

Regardless of the cruelty of the battle, it was truly beautiful.

He seemed like an emperor reigning over all living beings.

It felt like nothing could defeat him.

On top of the beautiful impression, a feeling of fear was added.

I wasn’t the only one who admired this beautiful and cruel scene.

Everyone around couldn’t take their eyes off Benjamin’s performance.

Almost everyone here seemed to revere him. Of course, Baron wasn’t part of that everyone.

Eventually, Zumyu’s adult form collapsed.

Only after confirming that Zumyu was completely dead did Benjamin extinguish the purple sphere blooming in his palm.

“……”

A strange silence lingered.

It was a chilling silence that made it hard to believe this had been a battlefield just moments ago.

In the quiet forest where the cries of the dragon clan and the shouts of people had disappeared.

Thud, thud. Benjamin’s footsteps began to echo as the only sound.

I watched Benjamin, forgetting even to breathe.

He walked somewhere at a pace neither fast nor slow.

Soon, a large shadow fell over me as I sat.

Benjamin had stopped at my feet.

He wiped off Zumyu’s blood that had splattered on his cheek.

“Looks like your cheek is cut.”

W-wait, I think it’s not your cheek that’s cut, but the monster’s blood that splattered……?

His eyes, tinged with purple, were unfocused.

His face was calm, belying the cruel battle he had just fought.

Benjamin lowered himself to meet my eye level.

His eyes, still not free of the purple tinge, were frighteningly beautiful.

“I think I got hurt while thinking about why you shouldn’t die.”

He spoke as if he normally wouldn’t care if I died.

And now he seemed to question why that thought had changed.

“What on earth are you saying?”

“Hmm.”

“……”

“So, want to kiss?”

“……What?”

“You’re my guide, after all.”

Benjamin showed a thoughtful expression for a moment, then added one more thing.

“Short and intense.”

A short and intense kiss. That’s what Baron had said.

I wasn’t given a chance to respond.

In my moment of hesitation, Benjamin’s lips descended on mine.

“……!”

What just happened……?

By the time I had a chance to think, Benjamin’s kiss was already over.

After briefly kissing me, he tilted his head and then leaped into the sky, kicking off the ground.

I touched my lips.

In that brief moment, all I remembered was that Benjamin’s hand, which cupped my cheek, trembled slightly, and that his lips were soft.

It felt as if his warmth still lingered on my lips.

***

Yerena and Benjamin’s kiss, huh…….

Of course, such a thing never appeared in the original work.

Benjamin only had skinship with the female lead.

I couldn’t understand why Benjamin had kissed me, mentioning guiding as an excuse.

It wasn’t as if Benjamin’s condition was so bad that he needed guiding.

Could it be that he became interested in kissing because of my kiss with Lambert that he witnessed recently?

Benjamin seemed angry at that time and even asked if I always guided like that.

‘Was he curious about how guiding works?’

I don’t know. I couldn’t understand Benjamin’s inner thoughts at all.

Does anyone even exist who could understand them?

Amidst all this, there was one thing I could understand.

“……Is it true that Benjamin kissed a C-rank?”

“She’s not even pretty, comes from an insignificant family, and is even a C-rank guide, yet she dares to covet Benjamin.”

“She must have seduced Benjamin with her body under the pretext of guiding.”

“I wish I had a high matching rate with Benjamin too……”

The gossip surrounding me was no joke.

‘Crazy. I really want to rest.’

I don’t know how rumors spread so quickly.

To hear such things as soon as we returned to the center after an intense battle.

Is it because Benjamin kissed me in that silence when everyone was paying attention?

At that moment, we looked like protagonists in a novel.

Like a knight who successfully ended a life-or-death battle, by kissing his princess.

But that was just how it appeared; there was no romantic atmosphere between us at all.

It was like an accident of a kiss, with no emotional exchange or flesh-to-flesh contact.

That’s why the possibility of us becoming the protagonists of a novel was close to zero.

I barely managed to return to my room, avoiding everyone’s glares.

As soon as I sat on the bed, Bless, who had been hidden in my shirt pocket throughout the battle, popped out.

―Kyukyu?

‘Are you okay?’

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m not hurt anywhere.”

But the remnants of the cruel battle remained vivid in my mind.

The injured writhing in pain, those who had lost their lives……

“……”

As Yerena, I had fought in several battles. So I thought I had become quite accustomed to seeing people die.

But it seems I was mistaken.

My hands, which had been trembling all the way back to the center, were still shaking.

I was afraid.

Afraid that I might die in the next battle. That I might die without having really lived in this world.

Even though I clenched my hands tightly, the trembling in my fingertips wouldn’t subside.

At that moment, Bless approached and rubbed its head against my hand.

―Kyukyu. Kyukyukyu……

‘I was hiding because you told me to… but I can protect you too.’

You might die from just a dragon clan’s hoarse sigh. Is this another of my misjudgments?

I didn’t mock Bless’s courageous statement. I was grateful for its sweet intention to protect me.

“Thank you. But I value your life more than mine.”

I don’t know how this tiny creature can comfort me so well.

The warmth of its touch and the softness of its fur against my hand calmed my heart.

“To preserve our lives, escaping the center is our top priority.”

I stood up abruptly and sat at the desk. It was to write the resignation letter I had been putting off.

I need to write the resignation letter roughly, and also send a message to the Guildmaster asking for money quickly.

I concluded the resignation letter in just three lines.

Should I say I politely rephrased ‘It’s been filthy, let’s never see each other again’?

While writing the message to send to the Guildmaster, I heard something tapping on my room’s window.