Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 93

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 93

 

* * *

 

The smell of burnt earth and wet soil nauseously engulfed my entire body.

 

I held my breath and curled up into a ball while tightly holding Ker in my arms.

 

However, even after waiting for a long time, no debris came crashing down on me.

 

When I slowly raised my head and looked around, I could see six spears of light forming the framework of a triangular spire surrounding Giuseppe and me.

 

“…A barrier?”

 

Between the spears, a transparent glass membrane like the surface of a lake was emitting hazy light, blocking the pouring debris.

 

When I realized it was none other than Giuseppe’s divine power, my teeth ground together involuntarily.

 

If there was a way, he should have said so instead of talking about fate and making me panic!

 

“Is this what the Cardinal calls fate?”

 

“I blocked the debris, but we don’t have enough time. We don’t know when the oxygen will run out and we’ll suffocate to death.”

 

Seriously, not a single reassuring word.

 

I irritably sat down as far away from Giuseppe as possible.

 

I don’t know how much time passed like that.

 

One minute? Ten minutes? Maybe even an hour.

 

Though faint light was seeping from the spears of light, being silent in this enclosed space like being trapped in a coffin felt like it would drive me insane.

 

Despite being fully prepared for this situation.

 

I gently stroked Ker, who was peacefully sleeping in my arms, oblivious to the situation, while stealing glances at Giuseppe.

 

He was sitting with his back against the barrier, one knee raised, looking unusually disheveled.

 

Unlike usual, there wasn’t a trace of a smile on his face, but he didn’t look like he had given up either. He just seemed detached from all of this.

 

‘Come to think of it, Giuseppe can’t even see this light.’

 

Though I knew that talking would deplete oxygen faster, I couldn’t help but speak up.

 

“Cardinal, when will your sight return?”

 

He answered without even opening his closed eyes.

 

“Lady Blanche often speaks as if seeing the future. How remarkable that you know my sight will return.”

 

Damn.

 

‘How could I make such a foolish mistake.’

 

In 【Hirome】, Giuseppe appeared to have no problems with his eyes. So I carelessly assumed he would recover his sight when I spoke, but from his perspective, it must have sounded suspicious.

 

Fortunately, Giuseppe didn’t press the matter further.

 

“If I pray to God, it will slowly recover. Of course, that’s only if we can return alive.”

 

“How pessimistic. Since you mentioned prophecy, you must know a way to survive. That’s why you sent my knight ahead first.”

 

I had heard about the prophecies the Temple speaks of in 【Hirome】. There’s supposedly a book of prophecies written by the Holy Empire’s seers for generations.

 

Perhaps Giuseppe had seen that book of prophecies. If so, it would make sense that he figured out the culprit of the sacred relic theft….

 

‘But for that to be the case, he seemed unaware that a landslide would occur until I mentioned it.’

 

Moreover, just how thick must that book of prophecies be to record events happening in a rural village of a foreign country.

 

While various questions arose, Giuseppe’s following words brought my thoughts to a halt.

 

“I regret that you interpreted my words that way. All I know is that a landslide would occur, but I don’t know how to save people.”

 

“What?”

 

“I simply judged that I couldn’t save everyone there and chose to sacrifice the few for the many. Among those present, Lady Blanche’s escort knight had the highest chance of survival.”

 

“…Even though you yourself are included in that ‘few’?”

 

“If doing so could save more lives, gladly.”

 

I was left speechless by his fairness in placing even his own life and worth on the scales.

 

“So if you have any confessions to make before dying, I’ll listen. Lady Blanche has accumulated particularly more sins than others, so it will take quite a long time.”

 

Look at him being sarcastic again after I’ve been patient with him. As if he knows about Belinda’s past.

 

I spoke coldly without looking back at him.

 

“Who says anyone’s dying. As you said, I’m a non-believer who doesn’t believe in God, so I don’t believe in fate or prophecies.”

 

This was both a statement to him and to myself.

 

Living here as Belinda, I had worked tirelessly to change her ending.

 

I had changed Vivian’s future, saved the Sewer Rat boss who should have died, and helped the Chaser brothers resolve their misunderstanding.

 

So believing in prophecies or fate would be tantamount to denying all of that.

 

However, on the other hand, I could understand Giuseppe’s heart, which was filled with faith in God.

 

This world was structured to make it easy to believe in God.

 

When you pray to God, answers come back in the form of divine power, and when you doubt God, divine power disappears.

 

Therefore, faith itself was practically proof of God’s existence.

 

Nevertheless, I stubbornly continued speaking as if defying that God.

 

“If you believe in God, there’s no room for human will to intervene. In the end, all of this is God’s will, but isn’t such a life too meaningless?”

 

For the first time, Giuseppe showed a reaction to my words.

 

Though our eyes couldn’t have met, somehow I felt as if he was looking directly at me.

 

“That’s not so much a non-believer as someone who’s exactly….”

 

For a moment, something like hope seemed to appear on his face.

 

But as if it was my imagination, he shook his head with a self-deprecating expression.

 

“I’ve heard the non-believer’s excuses well. If you ever stand before a holy tribunal in the future, I’d recommend avoiding such statements.”

 

He really does this at the end of every sentence!

 

Just as I was about to snap at him in a surge of anger.

 

【Bel!】

 

Suddenly, Suga poked her head out from beyond the barrier.

 

Despite appearances, Suga, being a sacred being, passed through Giuseppe’s barrier without problem and flew over to me with a flutter.

 

【Bel! Lots of smelly humans came! Suga’s piggy bank is there too!】

 

It was the news I had been waiting for so desperately.

 

* * *

 

A group of villagers and priests climbed the collapsed mountain with shovels and tools in their hands.

 

Under Lionel’s direction, they systematically dug out the debris, but the wet soil had too unstable a foundation.

 

“Priest! A secondary collapse might occur. We can’t just dig recklessly…!”

 

However, the villager’s words weren’t finished.

 

Thunk.

 

Frost began to form from where Cesar’s sword was embedded, and the debris that seemed ready to slide down dangerously at any moment froze solid.

 

After that, the full-scale rescue operation began.

 

Thanks to Cesar, they could estimate where Belinda and Giuseppe might be buried, and the demons Belinda had tamed gradually narrowed down their location.

 

But even as time passed, they couldn’t find the missing people.

 

For some reason, Rube and Bero couldn’t sense their brother’s exact location.

 

As if some sacred power was blocking the connection between them.

 

Moreover, the range affected by the landslide was too wide, making it seem too reckless to find people buried in debris in the darkness.

 

Despair slowly spread among the group like mist over water.

 

Nevertheless, Cesar silently did his job.

 

While repeatedly telling himself inwardly.

 

That it would be okay. That Belinda would be safe.

 

However, the moment his sword hilt, which had been hardening the ground with aura, hit rock, sharp regret pierced through him.

 

No, actually it’s not okay. He shouldn’t have left like that.

 

Cesar hadn’t regretted his actions very often.

 

After that incident four years ago, he had always made choices he wouldn’t regret.

 

That’s why he had left Belinda’s side, pushing aside his anxious heart.

 

He understood intellectually that her words were right, that leaving her was the best and only way to save everyone.

 

But why did he feel regret even though he had done the right thing?

 

Thunk.

 

His sword hilt fiercely dug into the ground.

 

All around was dark, and people silently dug into the ground without exchanging a single word, as if they were digging up a grave.

 

It felt as though this night would continue forever, with the sun never rising again.

 

‘No, I mustn’t dwell on such thoughts. I cannot lose my reason.’

 

Pessimistic and dark emotions would only strengthen the demonic beast’s curse clinging to Cesar’s soul.

 

Yet he couldn’t stop the negative thoughts and the regret that tore at his flesh, and just as an ominous light was about to flicker in his eyes.

 

“Knight! Here, over here!”

 

Leo, who had belatedly joined the rescue scene, spotted Cesar and came running breathlessly.

 

The child grabbed Cesar’s hand and led him without hesitation.

 

Looking closely, he could see the needle of a magically created compass spinning round and round above the red ribbon tied around his wrist.

 

“The magical tool that Belinda gave me is pointing to this spot!”

 

Leo knelt down at the spot the magical tool was indicating and began digging earnestly into the ground with his bare hands.

 

“Jui-bam-tol, step back. Let me do it.”

 

Cesar tried to stop the child, but Leo opened his mouth as if he couldn’t hear his mentor’s words.

 

“Belinda said she would come back. And if she didn’t come back, she told me to come find her.”

 

“….”

 

“So I just need to go find her. She said she would wait for me. Belinda has never lied to me. W-well, she did lie about making sherbet from snow… And about seawater too…”

 

Leo, who seemed to choke up for a moment and bit his lips tightly, rubbed his eyes roughly with his dirt-covered hands and finished speaking bravely.

 

“But she doesn’t lie about really important things, so she’ll be safe.”

 

Those words seemed to snap him back to his senses.

 

The demonic beast’s curse that had been faintly reflected in Cesar’s eyes completely lifted.

 

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted your master.”

 

How long had they been digging into the ground together with Leo?

 

Thunk.

 

Something struck his fingertips with a heavy thud.

 

A blurry human silhouette was visible beyond what looked like a transparent barrier.

 

Just then, dawn broke to illuminate the world, revealing what was buried in the ground.

 

Belinda, who frowned as if the light was blinding, looked up at them in perfect condition without a speck of dirt on her, then spoke fiercely.

 

“Who dared to get dirt on my Jui-bam-tol’s hands?”

 

Leo couldn’t hold back and rushed into the barrier as soon as it disappeared, practically falling inside.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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