Chapter 116 : Chapter 116
Chapter 116 : Contagious Lies
Ratel eventually grabbed me and started to run away.
The problem was that he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck.
Of all the body parts, the guy who grabbed me right by the airway started running just like that.
Thanks to that, I, who was being strangled without even a moment to catch my breath, had no choice but to be dragged along like a deflated balloon as he led the way.
If he was going to save me anyway, he should have just untied the rope.
It could be called a misfortune for both me and him that I noticed Ratel had no intention of killing me.
It was a misfortune for him because I was not a conscientious and moral adult who would overlook such a good hand with my eyes wide open, and from my position, it was a misfortune because I came to know a truth that was quite uncomfortable for the heart.
I tried to resolve my guilt to some degree by enduring the pain caused by Ratel recklessly dragging me by the scruff of my neck, but I soon had to change my mind.
Because it felt like I was really going to suffocate to death at this rate.
-Skreeeeeee!!!
Only after the cries of the pursuing Orcs grew a little distant was I able to secure enough air to barely speak, and I struggled to teach the protagonist a simple solution.
“At least you should grab me by the torso!!”
However, Ratel only ran while looking straight ahead, not even pretending to hear my words.
Ratel, who had been running while dragging me with one hand, finally stopped his sprinting.
As I raised my head amidst the nausea that felt like I had been on an amusement park ride, the cause that stopped his bison-like charge entered my sight.
It was a road divided into three branches.
It was obvious that if we checked where each of the three paths led one by one, we would be caught by the Orcs chasing us with terrifying momentum.
In order to handle that number, Ratel would eventually have no choice but to use Manis.
Then, the best case would be being swept away by the water again and returning to the place where we originally woke up.
As for the worst case, I myself did not know where that bottom might be.
Fortunately, since it was a three-way fork, there was a description from the original work that came to mind.
Something entered my eyes as I quickly rolled them to find evidence that my prediction was correct.
It was a crude stone pillar situated on the right side of the middle path among the three routes.
At first glance, it didn't seem to have anything more special than the other pillars in the cave.
However, if looked at closely, one could find a shape different from the other stone pillars that had been created by rocks melting down over long years.
Furthermore, the one rising at the edge of the central path showed signs of having been inserted from above rather than growing from below.
I looked back at the path I hadn't been able to observe earlier because I was being dragged by that guy Ratel.
Although the intervals were large, unnatural pillars were similarly inserted along the path.
It seems we were dragged along a route similar to the original work.
Feeling a bit of relief that this world was indeed moving favorably for the protagonist, I raised my hand and pointed to the center among the three-way fork.
“It’s that way. You just have to go straight ahead.”
Ratel narrowed his eyes at my guidance, which was filled with quite a bit of certainty.
“It seems the book's route guidance was quite detailed.”
“It was detailed in the book.”
The book you know and the book I’m talking about are a bit different, though.
Swallowing my words internally, I grabbed the wrist of the guy who was about to start sprinting again.
“……If you just let go and go first, I can follow on my own.”
At my desperate gaze, he looked at my bound legs.
“It sounds like nothing other than saying you're going to pull some other trick.”
I wanted to snap back at him to just untie this rope he tied, but I knew it wouldn't work at all.
“……I would also like to pull a trick rather than doing the broom-sweeping with my body if only I could.”
Ignoring my murmuring, Ratel stubbornly grabbed the scruff of my neck, and I had no choice but to relax my body in order to breathe even a little more easily.
***
Moving while feeling like being dragged by a bicycle running with its leash tied, every minute and second felt so long.
It felt long enough to the point where I had the illusion that it would be sufficient to even smack the back of the head of this protagonist guy, who was like a bicycle with broken brakes dragging me along right now.
Fortunately, just before I made a rash judgment due to oxygen deficiency, the bicycle stopped running.
“Hey, it’s a fork. Which way is it this time?”
As I gasped for breath and raised my head, the wall blocking the front and the fork in the road entered my sight.
As I raised my gaze a bit more, I could clearly see three rocks embedded in a place about 3 meters up.
Having gasped out a sigh of relief and certainty that I had found the right place, I raised my two bound hands toward Ratel, who was still waiting for an answer while holding the scruff of my neck.
“How about untying this now?”
At my suggestion, he frowned.
“At this point, it actually seems like you enjoy being chased by Orcs. Seeing how you waste time with meaningless words.”
The urge to smack the back of his head tempted me once again at the answer telling me to just quietly spit out the direction since he had no intention of letting me go.
However, I soon came to my senses.
Because the thing that would break if I put it into action wouldn't be the back of his head, but my fist.
“I'm saying this because it's neither the left nor the right.”
Having answered calmly, I pointed upward with my chin.
“Here, climbing up is the fastest and safest.”
I shook my bound hands once more.
“Unless you want to perform a stunt like climbing a wall with one hand in this urgent situation as you said, I think it would be better to just let me go.”
At my urging that there was no more time to waste, Ratel looked above the wall with a face that made it impossible to know what he was thinking.
The silence did not last very long.
Because he wasn't a guy who took a long time to make a decision, as was always the case.
The problem was that it had never once been advantageous to me.
Before I could even try a proper resistance against the strong force pulling the scruff of my neck, my body floated into the air.
Having leaped up 3 meters with a light movement, the guy grabbed a protruding stone with his remaining hand that wasn't holding me.
There was a distance to the next support that could serve as a handle.
This meant he would leap upward again using the recoil.
It also meant that I, who was held like a piece of luggage, would have to taste the pain of being strangled once more.
“You crazy bastard! Where do I have a place to run away from here that you keep being so stubborn?!”
At my protest, the protagonist guy snorted.
“Was there a place to run away on the ship that you jumped off like that?”
“Yes, back then.”
“I'm also choosing the best option right now.”
The words 'Only for you' did not come out.
Because my claim that my choice on the ship was the best was also only based on my own standards.
Of course, it also felt like I would bite my tongue if I opened my mouth further because of the guy who leaped up again without warning.
As my field of vision moved further away from the ground, the sight of the Orcs who had belatedly chased us, sniffing their noses and looking for the direction, could be seen.
It would only be a matter of time before those guys found us heading upward.
That's why I'm telling you to untie these hands already.
Swallowing a sigh, I twisted my body somehow in the uncomfortable posture and reached my hand toward my bag hanging on the protagonist guy’s shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
It wasn't easy to pull the bag in an uncomfortable posture to deal with the sharp question.
I succeeded in taking out the scruffy cloth pouch protruding out of the hole in the bag that the protagonist guy had torn open.
Ratel definitely judged that I was using some strange trick again.
The protagonist guy, who was in the terminal stage of paranoia, tried to snatch the pouch held in my hand, but fortunately, he had no hands available right now.
I told you to just let me go up with my own hands.
Although the desire to tease him was great, there was a more urgent matter right now.
Without thinking further, I grabbed the pouch with both hands and threw it toward the bottom right with all my might.
The sound of the pouch bursting with a smack, and then the sound of the Orcs' clamor sensing something wrong belatedly could be heard.
A strong bitter smell followed after that, enough to sting the nose.
***
The painful screams of the Orcs, who were thrown into confusion by the terrible stench irritating their noses, filled the space below.
Whether he intended to take this opportunity to go up, strength entered the hand of Ratel, who was holding the scruff of my neck.
“Wait a little bit.”
When I spoke while lowering my voice, his movement stopped, as if he decided to listen to my words this time.
-Skreeee, skreeee!!!
It wasn't a particularly good smell even for me as a human, but it seemed to be a stench that was quite hard to bear for the Orcs, as those guys started to scatter to both sides.
After most of them split in the opposite direction from where the Oaks grass had burst, and some in the direction where the Oaks grass had burst, and the guys completely disappeared, I exhaled the breath I had held for a moment.
“What did you throw?”
A question came down from above simultaneously with the exhalation.
“It’s Oaks grass. It’s used for wound treatment, but if used in large quantities, you can chase them away like that because of the smell that Orcs avoid.”
“Why didn't you use such a thing sooner when you had it?”
At the reproach-like question, I painfully raised my head and looked at Ratel.
“Because I was busy being strangled by the guy who made a person into this state and even snatched my bag away.”
When I fluttered my two hands where the blood wasn't circulating well, he scowled.
“That’s why if you had just said so from the beginning……”
“You would have tied my legs too, asking what kind of dog-trick I was pulling.”
“……”
He shut his mouth, unable to find anything particularly to refute based on his conscience.
It seemed he had the awareness that he himself would have blocked my movements if his remaining hand wasn't already gripping the rock wall.
“If you're done with all the suspicion you wanted to have, now keep going up. Until there's completely no place left to step.”
As the world was about to look yellow due to oxygen deficiency, I retorted quickly, and strength entered the hand of the guy holding my scruff once more.
However, the pressure did not feel to the point where it was as difficult to breathe as before.
Just as I thought the grip strength might have loosened a bit, he leaped his body just like that.
Thanks to that, I could confirm the fact that there was some leeway in my grabbed collar, but I had to struggle to steady my neck, which was being bent quite intensely.
As a result, it meant that I could no longer know whether he intended to screw with me or whether he decided to trust me a little.
***
Ratel, who had been heading upward as if climbing stairs one by one, stopped his movement.
“Hey, there’s nothing more to step on and climb anymore.”
I, who had given up on steadying my dangling neck and was letting my body hang limp, painfully raised my head and opened my mouth.
“Just push the last handle.”
Ratel faithfully followed my instructions, and the sound of rocks rubbing against each other echoed.
Fortunately, since it was proven that we had come along the route from the original work, I was able to exhale a sigh of relief.
Because that last rock, which looked like it was piled up haphazardly, was the secret passage to our destination.
Since it was a path that only the leader of the Orcs knew, we wouldn't need to worry about the Orcs' surprise attacks at least until the path ended.
The moment the tension in my body loosened a bit, Ratel shoved my body into the gap created after pushing the rock like putting laundry into a washing machine, giving a warning to my loosened tension.
Certain that some emotion must have been involved, I watched the protagonist guy close the cave back up.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I'm asking if you've tormented me enough to be satisfied now.”
Ratel looked down at me, who was exhausted and rolling on the floor, without a word.
“If it’s not over yet, tell me in advance. So I can at least prepare my heart.”
It would be fine to just knock me out completely by showing a little more kindness.
The guy, who was staring at me as I was crumpled like laundry, opened his mouth.
“I didn't intend to torment you.”
Because the unconscionable words were so absurd, I looked up at him.
“After singing about lies and lies, have you decided to become a liar too?”
At my retort, Ratel’s eyebrows went up.
“Are you admitting to yourself that you're a liar?”
“What can't a person do in order to live? You live while even telling lies if necessary.”
Whether my answer was shameless, he let out a laugh, going 'Ha'.
“That’s why you can’t get trust for a lifetime.”
It’s not like we're going to live while seeing each other's faces for a lifetime anyway.
“There are also things that are comfortable because you don't know whether it's a lie or the truth. If I hadn't been able to lie, you would actually be more troubled than you are now.”
Things like how you are just a character in a book in the world I lived in, or how all the misfortunes and years you experienced are just three pages of text in a book; there would be nothing good about knowing such things.
Since my body was weary, all sorts of thoughts came to mind.
Still, thanks to having been crumpled up, does it seem like I can slowly move now?
It was the moment I was contemplating how to get up even a little less like an earthworm.
“I didn't intend to only torment you.”
Ratel suddenly started to continue the conversation I thought had ended.
Wondering if he intended to continue that lie even now, I looked up at him, but his expression was quite serious for that to be the case.
He was a guy who didn't raise his voice originally, but the following words felt exceptionally low, like a whisper.
Perhaps it was because it was content I hadn't expected to come out of Ratel’s mouth even a little.
“I just wanted to hear the words asking to be saved.”
As I opened my eyes wide in surprise, he bent his knees and lowered his body.
The protagonist guy slowly raised his hand.
Unlike my resolution to take at least one hit, his hand headed toward the rope tying my arms, not my head.
Feeling the sense of liberation as the blood circulated back into my arms and much easier breathing instead of pain, I stared at the protagonist blankly.
“You were right this time. Because I'm in front of a liar, lies come out better.”
“……My words can't help but be right. Most of the words coming out of your mouth are nutritiousless bullheadedness.”
At the retort that came out with effort, one corner of the mouth of the guy who was untying the rope rose chillingly.
“Fine, I'll be fooled by that blackmail of yours just one last time. However, on the day your lie is exposed……”
Ratel, who trailed off, pulled the rope while holding the last remaining knot.
With a snap sound, the rope was torn off along with the knot and fell to the floor.
The guy packed the remaining rope into his shirt as he added.
“Keep it in mind because there won't even be hands and feet to be tied then.”
The guy who finished the warning stood up and moved forward.
Having stood up, I followed behind him without a single word.