Chapter 8: Meet The Protagonist (2)

The protagonist is half-eaten by a mimic, struggling with her butt sticking out as she flails about.

Perhaps it was a familiar sight, one I might have seen so often that I almost chuckled reflexively.

But when I really thought about it, this wasn’t a situation to laugh at.

‘Hmm… this is bad.’

No, it’s more accurate to say it’s a very dangerous situation.

In fantasy worlds, mimics tend to be treated as half-joke monsters.

Despite not having any significant attack power, they disguise themselves as treasure chests and eat adventurers.

Some might even think they were created for some perverse purpose, just to show off the butts of female adventurers.

‘This is really a hopeless situation.’

Well, it’s not entirely wrong to think that way—in a typical fantasy world, that might be the case.

But the problem is, this isn’t that kind of world.

This is a dark fantasy, a world without mercy or tears.

Here, mimics truly eat people.

They split their victims in half, digest the upper body first, and then swallow the lower half to digest it.

They’re terrifying monsters.

Moreover, their bite strength is incredibly strong, making it nearly impossible to escape once they’ve latched onto you.

Even if you try to attack, your upper body is restrained, making it difficult to strike effectively.

And if you’re not careful, you might end up killing yourself in the process.

That’s why mimics are so dangerous.

In fact, in the game, mimics were surprisingly the monsters that killed players the most.

So yes, this is a pretty dangerous situation.

‘At least she’s holding on for now.’

The protagonist’s body is tough, so she’s holding out for the moment, but that won’t last long.

If this drags on, her mana will drain, and her body will be split in half.

In the end, I had no choice but to save her.

“Ugh.”

“Eek…? Who’s there?”

When I grabbed the protagonist’s leg, she suddenly started trembling.

Why is she shaking so much?

I’m trying to save her here.

“What are you doing here?”

“That voice… Rovan?”

“Never mind. I’m going to pull you out now.”

“Ahhh!!!”

I didn’t have time for unnecessary misunderstandings.

I grabbed her leg and started yanking her out.

After a moment, the protagonist, who had been eaten by the mimic, managed to escape safely.

Long brown hair, a deceptively innocent appearance, but with a strong will hidden beneath—who else could it be but the protagonist?

Even after all this time, she’s still strikingly beautiful.

Which is why it’s such a shame.

“Seriously. Why did you have to yank me out so roughly?”

“You’re talking back to the person who saved you…”

“Hmph. I don’t have any reason to be nice to someone like you.”

Currently, the protagonist really dislikes me.

Even though I saved her, she’s glaring at me and arguing.

Shouldn’t she be saying thank you at a time like this?

Seeing her like this, it’s clear that I’m not exactly in her good graces.

In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she hates me.

“Hey. By the way, what are you doing here?”

“I had some business here and happened to find you.”

“So you saved me?”

“Yeah. But maybe I should’ve just left you to die.”

“What? Seriously.”

There was some back-and-forth bickering, but it wasn’t anything unusual.

This was always how things were between the protagonist and me.

No matter how nice I was to her, Rivel always disliked me like this.

‘Why does she hate me so much?’

I really don’t get it.

It’s not like I’ve done anything wrong to her.

She’s clearly the one and only protagonist of this world.

From the perspective of someone who knows this game, she’s the only hope to save this damned dark fantasy.

You absolutely can’t afford to mistreat her.

In fact, I’ve been quite kind to Ribel, even for my own personal reasons.

‘If I can get close to the protagonist, my chances of survival will increase.’

Isn’t that obvious?

In order to survive this damned dark fantasy, having allies is essential, and among them, the protagonist is undoubtedly the most powerful.

In other fantasy stories, getting involved with the protagonist might just mean dealing with a bunch of tedious events, but this is a dark fantasy.

You have to use the protagonist thoroughly if you want to survive.

Of course, sticking close to her doesn’t guarantee you won’t die, but at the very least, the chances of dying in some absurd way are greatly reduced.

From that perspective, the first thing I did to survive in this dark fantasy world was to build a relationship with the protagonist.

I’ve put a lot of effort into being kind to her since she was young.

‘I really went out of my way to care for the protagonist.’

I treated her much more carefully and gently than Eliza.

You can’t say I didn’t put in the effort.

I really used all my knowledge to be as generous as possible to her…

Which is why I don’t understand.

The protagonist’s favorability is supposed to be relatively easy to raise, so why did it turn out like this?

Not to mention, I even have a favorability boost skill.

It’s ironic, really.

Normally, her favorability level should have skyrocketed by now, but instead, it’s at rock bottom.

I didn’t want things to turn out this way, but it’s really unfortunate.

“By the way, I’m not going to say thank you.”

Does she even realize how disappointed I feel?

Even after saving her from the mimic, the protagonist still doesn’t say a word of thanks.

Yeah, you’re really something.

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yeah. Honestly, you could’ve left me there. You might not understand, but I don’t die from things like this. So I’ll never say thank you, even if I die.”

“Sure, sure.”

“What? You’re not denying it, huh?”

It sounds like a lot of bravado, and most people would think it’s just that, but those words weren’t empty.

I know it too.

The protagonist wouldn’t die from something like this.

Considering her abilities, she might struggle a bit, but it would likely end as a minor incident.

In that sense, I didn’t really need to save her, but I did it anyway because she’s the protagonist.

Seeing her react like this, I can’t help but think I should’ve just left her.

“Whatever, I don’t have time to talk to you. I need to find some items.”

Anyway, I don’t see any value in continuing this conversation.

Right now, what happens to the protagonist isn’t as important as my own survival.

I ignored her and started examining the treasure chests that weren’t mimics.

I hope something good comes out…

“Is this all I got?”

Nothing particularly useful came out.

Just a regular one-handed axe and a shield?

It’s a bit disappointing, but it’s better than nothing.

I wasn’t expecting anything amazing, but it’s still a bit of a letdown.

But it’s fine.

In this situation, getting something like this is better than getting completely useless items.

I equipped the axe and shield.

“Just junk?”

“I thought there’d be at least some decent weapons or armor.”

“Huh? Now that I think about it, did you come into the dungeon without any weapons?”

“That’s how it turned out.”

Seeing me like this, the protagonist finally realized I didn’t have any proper equipment.

Wait, she didn’t notice until now?

Of course, I didn’t have any decent weapons.

I originally joined the party as a pack mule.

If I had the strength to carry weapons, I’d have used it to carry more supplies.

But now that I’m separated from the party, there’s no need to stick to being a pack mule.

“Did something happen?”

Wait, is she worried about me now?

She’s asking if something happened to me.

Why the sudden concern?

“It’s a long story, but it’s not like you’d care anyway.”

“If you don’t want to tell me, then don’t. It’s not like I need to know.”

I was a bit surprised, but the protagonist is still the protagonist.

She’s still cold toward me.

I secretly hoped she might help me, but there’s no way she would.

“Fine.”

With a slight sense of disappointment, I decided to leave the mimic’s room.

Ugh. I shouldn’t have bothered saving her.

“I’m leaving. Try not to get eaten by a mimic again.”

I gave her a casual farewell and was about to leave the mimic’s room.

But then.

“Wait.”

I heard a voice calling me.

Of course, it was Ribel.

“Hey. If you want, I could join your party for a bit.”

Why is she acting like this now?