The Thickened Mask
Heavy silence settled over the space between us. Through the corner of my eye, I watched her growing more flustered by the second.
"Uh, um... No, that's not what I... I mean..." Her hands fluttered uselessly through the air as she scrambled for an excuse.
......
In an instant, my head went ice-cold. It felt like I'd been drifting through some fleeting illusion, only now snapping back to face reality.
I nodded, my eyes frozen with cold indifference.
Of course.
What had I even been hoping for? What kind of ridiculous dream was I having? I knew better than anyone the sheer number of curses clinging to my body like barnacles. I knew the word goodwill could never apply to someone like me. What kind of delusion had I been entertaining?
Her final reaction was unmistakably one of disgust. It wasn't some half-hearted performance—it was a genuine, reflexive response. Ironically, that made it all the more believable.
I quickly slipped my mask back on and apologized.
"I'm sorry. There was a bug on the back of your neck, so I reached out without asking first."
"No, no! It's fine. If anything, I'm the one who should apologize. I overreacted so badly. I didn't mean it like that at all. I'm truly sorry!"
Her words tumbled out faster and faster. I couldn't tell what was genuine and what wasn't, but it was obvious she was panicking.
"No, really. I'd be startled too if someone suddenly came up behind me."
I did everything I could to reassure her so she wouldn't feel too awkward. Thankfully the dismantling work was nearly finished. Otherwise we would have been stuck in this uncomfortable atmosphere for hours longer.
"Oh, it's gotten quite late. There's not much left anyway. Let's finish the rest tomorrow. You should head in and rest."
"No, we've come this far. I should help with the rest..."
"I appreciate the offer, but it's fine."
I refused her suggestion as politely as possible. As I finished cleaning up and prepared to leave, the Saintess called out to me.
"Um..."
Her sapphire eyes trembled violently. Her expression was a perfect blend of worry and guilt. She reached for my collar but hesitated, lowering her hand again before speaking.
"I don't know how you'll take this, but... I didn't react that way because I hated it. Please believe me."
Her voice carried genuine sincerity, yet I simply nodded with a blank face.
"Yes."
From now on, I needed to be more careful about trusting people. It was time to pull back a little. With that nod, I left her behind and continued on my way.
Still, having received even a moment of what felt like sympathy, I tried to feel some gratitude for it.
"Ahh..."
Yulise let out a sigh as she watched Luke's figure recede into the distance.
She couldn't let him leave like this. She had to clear up the misunderstanding. But her mind had gone completely blank, and no solution came to her. His lonely back looked so pitiful as he walked away. This wasn't what she had intended... She'd made a terrible mistake.
It was all because of that curse.
It seemed the curse Luke carried was evolving. Or perhaps it adapted its form to match the person it affected. The curses that had once only caused simple discomfort had gradually become more concrete, tormenting her.
What Yulise hated most were insects. Though she'd grown somewhat accustomed after spending a week with the Insect King, her loathing hadn't changed. If anything, the experience had only deepened her hatred.
Then at some point, whenever she drew near him, she began feeling as if bugs were crawling all over her body. It was the effect of the curse Luke possessed.
The Curse of Terror.
This curse made the target feel a portion of what they feared and dreaded most. It was also one of the reasons people instinctively recoiled from him the first time they saw him.
Even so, Yulise had endured it. She forced herself to ignore the sensation of insects crawling across her skin and the constant rustling hallucinations, approaching him anyway. After all, the one who suffered most from that curse was Luke himself.
But... she simply couldn't bear that final approaching hand. That indifferent hand brushing away a bug. It overlapped in her mind with someone who had once looked at her with rapturous eyes and reached out.
A rotten dead tree. Maggots squirming across its surface. Clumsily wrapped, blood-soaked bandages.
«Please undergo metamorphosis.»
Yulise had no choice but to slap his hand away. She could argue it was unavoidable, but the damage was already done.
I'm sorry...
Yulise stared at his departing figure for a long time.
Two weeks passed.
Though things had gone spectacularly wrong once, Yulise refused to give up. Whenever there was dismantling work, she was always there to help. If it seemed like the other party members were about to corner him, she would step in to defend him. On top of that, she poured extra holy power into her purification spells and made sure to engage him in conversation regularly—small, consistent acts of consideration.
As a result, Luke, who had been somewhat withdrawn, began speaking with her again like before.
...But.
She could sense it. The mask he wore had grown even thicker than before.
With a bitter expression, she thought to herself.
He's closed his heart again.
He was like a stray puppy that had been abandoned too many times to ever trust people again. The door to his heart that their efforts had managed to pry open had slammed shut completely with that single mistake.
Yulise bit her lip as she watched him.
But I won't give up.
Someday it would open again. She wanted to open it and support his spirit.
"But there's one thing I'm curious about."
As she was thinking this, Lily suddenly spoke up. Curiosity filled her crimson eyes.
"We're making this much noise, and the Insect King still hasn't noticed?"
"Hm? Didn't the hero mention it before? As long as we handle the one-eyed bugs properly, the Insect King won't find out."
"Well, that's true, but..." She continued. "Still, it's too quiet. The areas we've trashed could swallow up an entire territory. Even if we've taken care of the one-eyed bugs, is it really possible for him not to notice anything?"
At that moment, Luke turned around and spoke. The usual faint smile hung on his face.
"A good observation, Lily."
Even though he hadn't opened his heart, his communication skills still allowed for normal conversation.
"You're right. It doesn't make sense that he wouldn't know after all we've done. The Insect King will probably start sensing something's off soon."
The one-eyed bugs Valcan raised all traveled back and forth to the audience chamber. They needed direct contact with him to report what they'd seen and heard. But some of them weren't returning.
A few dozen wouldn't matter. Given the size of the Insect Assembly Castle, that number was negligible. But if it reached hundreds or thousands? Even Valcan would have to notice something was wrong. A full-scale patrol would begin soon.
"From the start, we were always fated to be discovered eventually."
Especially once we reached the deeper levels, the Insect King would definitely detect us. His sensing range expanded dramatically there.
"What?! Why are you only telling us something this important now?! What happens to us if we get caught?"
"Why ask that? We've been growing stronger precisely for this."
"Then can you tell when we'll get discovered?"
"Well. Considering the distance we've covered and the time that's passed..."
He paused, seeming to calculate something in his head. After a moment, he spoke quietly.
"It'll be any day now."
The tedious life in this Insect Assembly Castle was finally drawing to a close.
The party members were briefly thrown off by his sudden bombshell, but they soon regained their composure. Just as he'd said, this was exactly what they'd been preparing for.
And just as Luke predicted, it only took a few more days before the hero's party was inevitably discovered by Valcan.
The voice echoed throughout the entire castle in a skin-crawling tone, and abnormalities began appearing in the surrounding environment.
Creak. Creeeeak!
The passages were blocked off as bugs swarmed in from all directions—centipedes, scorpions, cockroaches, insect-type monsters, and more. The sight was eerily identical to what I'd witnessed in my previous life.
For a moment, Yulise's face turned deathly pale as memories of her past life flooded back. Several months had passed, but the memory of that defeat still lingered as trauma.
But that moment of fear passed quickly. Yulise slapped her own cheeks to pull herself together.
...It's okay.
The scene before them was the same, but so many things had changed. Unlike last time when they'd charged in recklessly, they had prepared thoroughly this time. They had supplemented their weaknesses, strengthened their advantages, created a meticulous plan, and gathered plenty of equipment.
The relationships between party members... honestly couldn't be called good, but at least they weren't completely ignoring him like before. At the very least, they could coordinate together. That was enough.
All that remained was to clash with Valcan using everything they had built up until now.
Yulise raised her holy power. Only one trial remained now.
They just had to get past Valcan.