You’re A Villain.

That night.

Seeing Orphe leave the house, Kikori slipped out of bed.

As Orphe flew as if she were trying to go somewhere, Kikori shouted, “Orphe!”

“…What? You were awake?”

“I woke up. More importantly, where are you going?”

“Our forest.”

“You mean where the wyverns are…”

“That’s right.”

Orphe said it as if it were nothing, and Kikori found himself at a loss for what to say.

Orphe should have known that wyverns were in that place.

And yet, why?

“Other humans might target the wyverns.”

“Huh, no, wait. That should be forbidden.”

“That’s true. But a dragon appeared, didn’t it?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Wyverns were not dragons.

They might look a little similar and might be able to do slightly similar things, but they were completely different things.

And the fact that a dragon had appeared did not connect to defeating wyverns.

“…They can’t defeat a dragon. But they want the title of being strong enough to seem like they could defeat a dragon. What’s the result?”

“What!? But they’re completely different!”

“That human said it too, didn’t he? The word ‘dragon’ is powerful. They want to become dragon slayers, but they can’t. Then they want the title of ‘someone close to a dragon slayer.’ Because a dragon appeared, that desire has been stirred up… Probably by tomorrow, someone will attack.”

Was that really true?

Were humans that stupid?

If wyverns capable of attacking the fairy forest were attacked by humans, what kind of reaction would they show?

Kikori could not believe they would fail to understand that.

The memory of the goblin attack had not even faded yet.

“…Humans aren’t that stupid.”

“I wonder. I think humans are stupid.”

“They can at least calculate profit and loss. If they attack the wyverns and this place suffers damage, they won’t become heroes. They’ll become enemies.”

That was right. Suppose they defeated one or two wyverns.

What if that caused damage to the Fortress City?

No one would ever say they were amazing because they defeated wyverns.

Rather, people would surely say, “This is your fault.” Kikori could not imagine there were people who could not calculate that.

There might perhaps be a few fools… but he could not imagine anyone with that level of intelligence surviving long enough to hunt wyverns.

Wouldn’t they simply end up on the wyverns’ dining table instead?

Would that be enough to provoke the wyverns?

He did not know. There was no way he could know.

But… the more Kikori thought about it, the more uneasy he became as well.

“…Orphe.”

“What?”

“Orphe, you want to defeat the wyverns before humans defeat them. Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“But I’m allowed to help. That’s right, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. So?”

“Then I’ll go too. So I want you to wait until tomorrow before leaving.”

Either way, even if he stopped her, Orphe would go.

Then… Kikori would also go after making every possible preparation.

Before that, he would probably have to talk to the Defense Count as well… but there was no other way.

“What about becoming enemies and all that?”

“Of course, I’ll talk to the Defense Count too. For the sake of friendship with the fairies… something like that.”

It might not have as much power as the word dragon.

But fairy was also a powerful enough word to have moved the Defense Count.

“…You’re a villain, Kikori.”

“I’d say that’s better than being a good person who abandons Orphe.”

When Kikori said that… Orphe smiled happily.