Unrequited Love, Lost for the Better - Chapter 27

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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Woodrow gestured with his chin toward the squad members. Seeing them, Meliano clamped his mouth shut. Their conditions were incomparably worse than his bruised ankle. Some couldn’t even move.

“But you really traveled with just a torch? You managed to escape the Shadow Puppeteer with that.”

Woodrow sounded impressed. He hadn’t used his staff to light the area—just a torch that could easily go out. It was pure luck.

Meliano thought he was being mocked.

Damn… What exactly did I “manage to escape”?

When he first opened his eyes, he hadn’t even known this was the Labyrinth. Alone in the dark space, his staff had been broken.

The squad member he barely found was taken in an instant by some beast—Shadow something. If that person hadn’t been dragged away instead of him, he wouldn’t be alive.

Seeing Meliano break into cold sweat, Woodrow assumed he was frightened. He patted Meliano’s damp back and chuckled.

“Relax now. It’ll be easier to handle things once we all move together.”

Saying that, Woodrow pulled out a round, flat locket from his pocket. Opening it revealed a compass.

“Huh? That…”

Recognizing the object, Meliano perked up. Woodrow grinned as he watched the compass needle detect the flow of mana in the air.

“You recognize it too? That young lady researcher made it.”

“Of course I do. She’s my direct senior.”

Subtly boasting that she was his senior, Meliano searched for Collette with his eyes. Soon he spotted her—still with that ridiculously large, older man.

“…….”

If not for that bastard, the spot beside Senior Collette would be mine.

Meliano glared at Valerian, who was firmly planted at Collette’s side. Just then, Woodrow muttered in a flustered voice.

“Huh? What’s wrong with this?”

Woodrow’s compass had lost its direction and was spinning in circles.

Meanwhile, Valerian was having a verbal spar with Collette.

“How could you treat an injured person like that?”

At her reproach for how he had handled Meliano like a piece of luggage, Valerian furrowed his brow and shot back.

“He may be younger than you, but he’s still a man much larger than you. Trying to support him will just get you hurt.”

When he pointed out that she had nearly fallen over together with him just now, Collette winced. Every word was true, but she had her own argument.

“You could have helped me support him. Instead of throwing him like that.”

“If he couldn’t move at all, maybe. But why should I?”

“Valen.”

“What matters to me is you, Collette. Not some brat playing petty tricks.”

“What…”

Petty tricks? Valen’s attitude of putting her first made her heart ache, but still—was that any way to talk about an injured person?

Collette couldn’t believe that Valerian, who prioritized his team’s safety above all else, was acting this way.

“Why do you hate Somerset so much?”

“Me?”

Valerian snorted as if he’d heard something absurd.

“Why would I hate him? He’s nothing.”

“Really? I’ve never seen you act like this before.”

“Act like what?”

“You’re being irritable.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ha…?”

Even as Collette stared at him in disbelief, Valerian played dumb. And it was true—he didn’t know. He himself couldn’t understand why he was acting this way.

But the fact remained: Meliano Somerset, that bastard, was daring to play his sly tricks on Collette. It was plain as day, and he couldn’t just stand by and watch.

“Ha……”

Just as Collette, dumbfounded, narrowed her eyes to retort—

“…Commander!”

A commotion arose from Meliano and Team Leader Woodrow’s direction. Then someone shouted.

“Anomaly!”

At those words, Valerian’s head whipped around. The space they were in was filled with a pale white mist.

The mist carried a strange light. Unlike the glow from mages’ staffs or torches, it was different in kind. It looked dark and bright at the same time—uncanny.

Seeing the mist rising from their feet, Valerian’s face twisted. Damn it. Swallowing a curse, he quickly pulled Collette close. At the same time, from within the thickening mist, a sound like insect wings began to emerge.

“Huk…!”

At the buzzing, Meliano froze. It was the same sound he’d heard when he was nearly dragged into the darkness. Pale with fear, Meliano clung tightly to Woodrow, who was creating light with his staff. Valerian, pulling Collette close, shouted.

“Form up!”