Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 24
Then, one of the soldiers who had been chewing on meat noticed Kakaros and stood up.
I wondered what he was going to do—he picked up a piece of meat and walked over to the wagon. Standing in front of Kakaros, whose forehead was pressed against the bars, he waved the meat back and forth.
“You want some?”
Other soldiers started gathering around too, watching Kakaros and the rest of us like we were animals in a cage.
“You’re one of those forest sprites who can turn into beasts, right?”
Judging by his tone and expression, he clearly didn’t mean it as a compliment. Sure enough, his next words made me clench my fists before I realized it.
“If you want it, then transform into a beast! Then I’ll give it to you!”
Total lunatic. I almost cursed out loud in anger, but Kakaros simply stared at the soldier without saying a word.
There was no emotion in Kakaros’s eyes. He looked at the soldier the way one might glance at a rock on the roadside.
“Please don’t insult us and step away. We haven’t even been tried yet—we have no reason to be treated as criminals.”
It wasn’t Kakaros but Elonen who firmly objected to the soldier.
“Yes. I’m still a prince, you know. If you want to be charged with defaming a member of the imperial family, keep going. Unless you want to join us in here, get lost.”
Kyle added in support, and the soldier reluctantly backed off. Still, the way they looked at us didn’t improve.
The hero’s party hadn’t even been proven guilty, but people were already treating us like criminals and criticizing us.
This was exactly the kind of thing that made me quit reading the novel in the first place. And now I was being lumped in with the hero’s party, getting mocked right alongside them.
“Gerard, I’ve got a question.”
To divert attention away from those jerks, I turned to Gerard. He’d been sitting quietly in a corner of the wagon, arms crossed.
“If it’s a pain-in-the-a*s question, I’m rejecting it in advance.”
He answered curtly without even looking my way, but I didn’t back down.
Ever since learning about Lysian’s past, I’d wanted to ask this. The term ‘great sage’ clearly implied a mage, and from the magic tome I’d found in the cave, it was obvious Lysian had used magic.
Then why hadn’t Gerard—also a mage—recognized me? Could he be like Kyle or Kakaros, secretly suspecting something while pretending not to?
“Do you know someone named Lysian Felix?”
“Sure. That’s you, isn’t it?”
Gerard replied without even thinking, as if it were obvious. I nearly laughed in disbelief.
“I don’t mean me, I heard he was some great sage…”
“Oh, the great sage in the black robe? Was his name Lysian Felix?”
This time, Kyle responded. A look of genuine surprise crossed his face.
“Huh, weird. Same name as you? That’s kind of amazing.”
“So that’s what Reynold was asking about yesterday?”
While Kyle reacted with innocent wonder, Gerard cut in with a sharp look.
“Yeah. It seems like Reynold thinks I’m that sage, but I don’t remember anything.”
I had expected more surprise from them, but their reactions were underwhelming.
“Kakaros and I talked about it. I sensed some mana from you. It was so faint at first that I couldn’t be sure. Only someone as sensitive to miasma as Kakaros would’ve picked up on it.”
“Then does that mean Lysian really is the great sage?”
Kyle finally reacted with a hint of surprise. But his face quickly fell again as Gerard continued explaining.
“Like I said, it’s not enough to actually use magic. So we’re left with two possibilities. Either he’s someone else who just happens to share the name and has a bit of mana, or he really was the great sage but lost all his power somehow.”
“Lost his mana…? Is that even possible?”
Kyle frowned, clearly finding it hard to believe. I didn’t understand it either, so I stayed quiet.
“Yeah. It’s called mana depletion. It’s not even that rare. If you push yourself too far using large amounts of mana, your mana core can break down completely, leaving you unable to use magic.”
“So what you’re saying is—Lysian might be the sage, but either way, he’s useless now? Just tell it to me straight.”
Seemed I wasn’t the only one who found it hard to follow. Kyle grumbled, and Gerard let out an exaggerated sigh, clearly annoyed.
“Fine. To put it so simply even a snot-nosed kid could get it—even if you were the great sage in the past, you’re basically powerless now.”
