Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day

Chapter 291: Sweet As Raspberry [II]

For the next two days, we didn’t stop at all.

Not for rest, not even for food.

There was no safe place to set up a camp.

And in pitch-black darkness, we couldn’t even light a fire without drawing unwanted attention.

We still paused from time to time to drink water or eat snacks, but, like I said, no proper food.

Every break was cut short within minutes.

So aside from Michael and me, everyone was running on fumes now. Meaning they were beyond lethargic, extremely hungry, and just barely hanging on.

But the one in the worst condition was Lily.

Since that girl had been using her Origin Card nonstop to guide us, her Essence was utterly depleted, and her head was killing her.

In her own words, the migraine was so intense it felt like her skull was being split open.

So Michael copied her power and took her place instead.

Which meant I had to take his place on the frontlines. And I hated all the extra work.

To help me see better during fights, he gave me a ⟨Heat Vision⟩ Card, which did help... somewhat.

And by ’somewhat,’ I mean I could now see the blurry, glowing shapes of creatures that wanted to murder me a few seconds before they tried instead of one.

Amazing upgrade. Truly life-changing.

...Still, it was better than nothing.

Being able to see the glowing silhouettes slithering, crawling, or sprinting through the darkness toward us at least gave me a fighting chance every time we were ambushed.

Not a good one, but a chance nonetheless.

But stepping into Michael’s role was way too much for someone like me who wasn’t suicidal and loved his life dearly.

Now, I know you must be thinking I was overreacting a bit here.

I mean, I was fighting before, right? So what was the big deal about doing the same thing on the frontlines?

It was!

It was a big deal!

I wasn’t a frontline fighter!

While I was comfortable being a Brawler, my preferred role was either support or midline like a Sentry or Caster!

A frontline fighter has to take the brunt of the damage during attacks, and they’re usually the first to die among the Brawler class!

I didn’t want to be the first to die! I had these fools for that!

Regardless, I played the part.

We were attacked multiple times during those two days, and I fought valiantly without using anyone as my meat shield.

Yeah, I know.

Like I always say, miracles do happen.

By the end of it, however, I had grown a little paranoid of the darkness.

Every shadow felt like a beast lunging. Every faint sound felt like a claw inches from my face.

So every time something snarled or moved too fast in the corner of my vision, I’d instantly throw my axe at it.

One time I almost took Vince’s head off by mistake. He never sneaked up on me after that for the entirety of our journey.

Meanwhile, Michael, now behind me, was calmly predicting attacks just like Lily was doing earlier.

”Left.”

”Duck.”

”Don’t go there!”

”Idiot, I told you not to go there! That’s not a tree, that’s a thing with teeth! Move!”

I swear at one point he said ”Right,” and when I stepped right, he muttered, ”Not that right.”

I nearly took his head off too. This time, not by mistake.

•••

By the start of the third day, Lily had recovered a lot. So she took her position back, and Michael took his.

I didn’t complain. My last fight had been a horrible one, and I had a shallow, claw-shaped gash on my chest.

My shirt was shredded and even my robe was slightly damaged. Luckily, its spatial pocket was still working fine.

Since my injury was nothing serious, we didn’t slow down our pace.

After all, we desperately wanted to get out of this dark region as fast as possible.

Why?

Well, aside from everyone else being hungry and sleepy... we still felt that presence behind us.

Something was still watching us. And whatever it was, that thing had been following us since our first day here.

So we wanted to get into the light as soon as we could in case we finally needed to fight it.

A few hours passed, and we kept pushing through the dark like exhausted ghosts.

Michael was still fine.

And so was I.

But everyone else’s steps had started to drag. Their breaths were also a lot shallower.

The damp earth stuck to our boots, and the towering trees loomed overhead like a cage of black ribs.

No beast had attacked us for a while now. It meant we were either close to getting out of here or nearing the caldera.

...Or it meant something was about to go wrong.

I hoped it was the first option.

No, I prayed it was the first option.

And you know things are serious when an atheist starts to pray.

As the adrenaline wore down, my frontal ribs started to throb with every stride.

The shallow gash on my chest wasn’t life-threatening, but it stung like hell, and the constant friction from walking didn’t help.

Still, I kept going.

The silence around us broke only with our footsteps and Lily’s weak, strained directions. ”Left... step... careful...”

Gods, she sounded like she was hanging by a thread. Michael stayed close behind her, ready to catch her if she collapsed.

Ray and Alexia were guarding the right flank, whisper-arguing about whether the sound behind us was breathing or just rustling branches.

Vince and Kang were on the left.

And due to my earlier contributions, I had decided to reward myself by taking the position at the very rear.

But I was so focused on scanning the dark that when fingers suddenly hooked the back of my collar and yanked me, my heart nearly shot out of my throat.

”What the—?!” I started, but stopped as soon as I turned and saw who it was. ”Wait, Juli? Wha—”

My half-formed question died in my mouth as her cold hand pressed firmly against my chest, applying a jelly-like liquid to my open wound.

A soothing coolness seeped into the torn flesh of my gash as I realized it was a... a healing potion?

I blinked and looked down at her hand, then at her face.

Her brows were faintly knitted as she concentrated, mouth slightly open, a few strands of her short silver hair falling over her glacial blue eyes.

She brushed them away impatiently, while her fingers moved in small circles, spreading the potion evenly... almost delicately.

I froze.

Because Juliana Vox Blade — my personal headache and the coldest menace I’d ever met — was... tending my wound?

Ahh, hell.

She was planning to kill me, wasn’t she?!

Now, I know it may sound insane.

Because why would she bother to mend my wound if she wanted to kill me, right?

And I admit, I didn’t know the answer! But I could only assume it was part of her some convoluted, long-term scheme!

”...It won’t fully heal with this,” she murmured without looking up, her soft voice breaking me out of my thoughts. ”I didn’t have a lot of potion left. But it should be enough to close the gash so it won’t get infected. We don’t know what kind of parasites or rot this place has, so it’s best not to keep the wound open. It completely slipped my mind, I should’ve done this earlier.”

I... was completely thrown off guard.

Her tone was full of concern. Genuine concern.

I didn’t know how long it had been since I heard that from her. When we were kids, maybe?

I stared at her as her hand ghosted over my torn skin.

She was a couple of inches shorter than me, and her face was so close that I could see her fine lashes, notice the faint crease between her brows, and feel her breath warm against my chest.

When she finally looked up, our gazes locked.

And I almost forgot what I was going to say.

Her eyes widened a fraction, looking puzzled at my lack of response. ”What?”

”...Uh, thanks,” I managed, quietly.

Her expression shifted... and then she smiled.

It wasn’t a very wide, bright, or warm smile.

It was small. In fact, it was barely there... but it was undeniably real, unlike her usual cold and practiced ones.

”Sure. It’s the least I could do,” she replied. ”You’ve saved me, like, twice already.”

I blinked again. Then smirked. ”Actually, it’s thrice. Remember, you were screaming the third time?”

Her smile twitched. ”I have no idea what you’re talking about, Young Master.”

I tittered as she slipped the now-empty vial back into her pocket and took out something else — a Card. She held it toward me.

I frowned, confused. ”What’s this?”

”Night Vision,” she said. ”Got it after the last fight.”

Oh. Right. The last fight, when I was still handling the frontlines, was against some shadowy monstrosities.

A whole horde of them.

On a few of the weaker ones, Juliana, Alexia, and Ray had landed the killing blows.

They saved me a couple of times — or that is what they claim.

I, on the other hand, claim they stole my kills!

”You’re giving it to me?” I asked, incredulous. ”You’ll be fine without it?”

She pointed casually to one of the Cards circling behind her shoulder — floating with the rest of her summoned arsenal. It bore the same rune as the one she was handing out to me.

”Alexia got a similar one,” she said. ”But since she can’t see without her Aura Sense, she gave it to me.”

”That works,” I shrugged, appreciatively taking and equipping the Card. It dissolved into my Soul Arsenal instantly, replacing ⟨Fire Arrow⟩.

Then I summoned it the very next second... and my vision shifted as soon as I did.

I could see again!

The branches, the vines, the distant stone outcroppings — everything that was previously shrouded by the dark shadows, I could see now!

It was far, far better than Michael’s useless Heat Vision!

But before I could even properly enjoy my sight again...

Juliana cleared her throat. ”But it’s not free.”

...Oh.

Of course it wasn’t.

I turned to her, narrowing my eyes. ”...What do you want?”

She held out her hand. ”Something to drink. My throat is parched.”

Well... I guessed that was fair. But it was still a very underhanded way to go about it. She could’ve just asked me.

I scoffed under my breath, reached into my robe’s dimensional pocket, and fished out an energy drink can.

She took it, cracked it open, and downed half of it in two gulps.

Wow, she must’ve really been thirsty.

But then, she stopped.

”...Arghh, it’s sweet,” her face crunched in something akin to disgust. ”Sweet as raspberry.”

I paused and tilted my head slowly.

But then I recalled something, and let out a sudden chuckle. ”Oh yeah! You don’t like sweets.”

She glared at the bottle like it had personally offended her.

I added quickly, ”But wait, you used to like raspberries, didn’t you? When we were kids, I used to bring you raspberry pastries all the time.”

And Juliana... went completely rigid — not just her expression, but her entire body as well.

It was only for a heartbeat, but I felt it. I saw it. I saw her grip on the bottle slacken.

The stillness that followed felt wrong, like I had said something I shouldn’t have.

”...You remember that?” she whispered.

The way she said those words threw me off. Her voice wasn’t cold, nor was it indifferent.

If it was anything, then it was shocked. And tinged with something that could’ve been... fragile.

Like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to ask that question. Or supposed to.

But what kind of question even was that?

”Of course I remember,” I said, my frown deepening. ”How could I not? Those were some of the happiest days before... well. Before my Awakening.”

She kept staring at me for a moment so long that I started feeling oddly self-conscious.

Her eyes kept shifting between so many different emotions so fast that I couldn’t pin any of them down.

Then her lips parted slightly, and she asked almost inaudibly, ”So why did you act as if you didn’t remember those times... when you tormented me so cruelly like I was a stranger?”

Thud—

My heart nearly stopped.

And so did everything else in the world.

The darkness, the cold, and the distant rustle of something following us. All of it faded.

My breath hitched like I was gut-punched. Like the air had been forced out of my lungs.

This was the first time she had ever spoken about that incident.

The first time she had even acknowledged that crack between us.

The first time she had asked — so openly and painfully — why I had hurt her.

And I didn’t know how to answer her.

”Juli, I—I... I—” The words tangled on my tongue, tripping over feelings so heavy I didn’t want to name or acknowledge.

I didn’t know how to explain.

Because what was there to explain?

Should I say that I grew bitter and angry by the way my father was treating me back then?

Or that I had developed so much inferiority complex that I pushed away the best person I had in my life?

How could I explain any of it — excuses so pathetic that I felt enraged just at the thought of voicing them?

Still, I was going to try.

I don’t know what I was going to say exactly, but I was going to try.

Until—

”Hey! You two! Come on!”

We both flinched.

Vince’s voice rang from ahead, bright and annoyingly loud in the deafening quiet. He jogged back toward us, waving his arms dramatically. ”We found the way out of here!”

Juliana dropped her gaze instantly. Her usual indifferent expression slammed back into place.

And just like that... the moment slipped through my fingers.

As she stepped past me, quietly following the others, I felt a hollow ache spread through my chest even though the wound had closed.