Unexpected Help
Had I ever seen Ratel smile since we entered this place? No, probably not. The guy was always too busy scowling or glaring daggers at me to have any room to curl his lips upward. Not that I thought his current sneer was anything positive, though.
I took a few deep breaths, staring at Ratel as he stood before me with a crooked smirk.
"Gwek, did that give you the answer you wanted? If you want to take your anger out on me, do it after we get out of this Orc Den. Right now, our priority is destroying that hideous thing down there."
I spoke quickly to stop him from lunging at me to make me pay for deceiving him. Of course, I wasn't lying either. It was an undeniable reality that we couldn't leave this place unless we got rid of that disgusting, writhing mass below.
"Why did you hide it until now?"
Once again, he ignored my words and asked his own question. But now that things had come to this, I figured it wouldn't hurt to answer these basic questions.
"Gwek, because it's a sudden ability. I haven't had it for very long. Since it appeared out of nowhere, I don't know when it might disappear. Gwek, and since you hate the Imperial Family, I didn't think telling you would do me any favors."
This was the truth, filtered to omit the fact that I came from another world and that this place was inside a novel. If I were completely honest about that, I felt like he would actually kill me.
"...So you're saying it's an ability you didn't originally have?"
But this didn't seem to be the answer Ratel was hoping for either. I frowned as I watched the smirk slowly fade from his face. What on earth do you want me to say?
"Gwek, yes. It's a power I suddenly gained one day. Just as the rumors said, I was the black-haired Seventh Prince who possessed no abilities whatsoever."
As I spoke, thinking how impossible he was to read, the last traces of amusement vanished from his face. But the expression Ratel wore now was a far cry from his usual blank slate or murderous glare. He wasn't crying, but his expression had softened into something strangely hazy as he stared at me in silence.
"...Gwek, are you okay?"
I asked this time. I was a bit concerned by Ratel's sudden, uncharacteristic shift in emotion. But he had already reverted completely to the original Ratel—the calm, expressionless guy.
Feeling a lingering sense of unease, I stared at him. I didn't have to think hard to realize what his reaction meant. He had expected something from me, and he was disappointed by my answer. There was nothing in the world more unnecessary to take responsibility for than someone else's expectations and disappointments. Pretending not to notice his emotional shift, I spoke.
"Gwek, I gave you a proper answer. So stop bullying The Squirrel. As small as it looks, it risked its life twice for you."
"..."
At my defense, Ratel looked down at El in silence. Perhaps finding his gaze overwhelming, El flinched and lowered its head. Clicking my tongue at El's seemingly shifting personality in front of him, I spoke again.
"Gwek, do you have nothing else to ask?"
"...I'm the one who asks the questions."
I marveled at his obnoxious reply, which managed to kill any goodwill even in a situation like this.
"Gwek, if you're done with your little interrogation, leave me alone and do what you came here to do. Aren't you supposed to destroy the first Holy Relic?"
When I spoke sharply, he looked down at the sword in his hand. Feeling uncomfortable with our conversation, El let out a quiet squeak and hid back inside Ratel's clothes.
"Right, I have to do my job."
His softened face quickly hardened back into its usual firm expression. Seeing him snap back to reality at the mention of his "job," he really was the protagonist through and through.
"Gwek, exactly. So go down there and use that sword to... Wait, what are you doing?"
I was speaking to him while hiding my unease, but I had to stop when he reached his arm over my head.
"What I have to do."
"Gwek, your job is to destroy the relic!"
"My job is to eliminate the Imperial Family."
Having said that, the damn protagonist raised his hand above my head. A metallic clank echoed from above. I realized that was the mechanism holding me to the cave wall. I hastily grabbed his arm.
"Gwek, you're not about to do what I think you're about to do, are you?"
I asked, unable to believe that he would drop me down there when he still thought I was the only one who could guide him.
"It probably is."
With that reply, Ratel suddenly exerted force in his arm. At that moment, I felt the grip on the scruff of my neck vanish, and my body was pulled downward by gravity. To prevent myself from falling, I gripped Ratel's arm with all my might. Since Ratel was holding onto the wall with his other hand, he couldn't easily shake me off.
"You bastard, if I'm falling, I'm taking you with me!"
He must have read my determination to at least drag him down as a companion to the grave, but he remained perfectly calm.
"That's not going to happen."
As he spoke, Ratel opened the palm of the hand I was holding onto. This gave me a clear view of a small light gathering in his hand. Knowing the destructive power of that tiny spark, I couldn't afford to keep clinging to his arm. Falling down in an Orc's body was a safer bet than taking that blast head-on. Both options were garbage, but at least the second one didn't carry the risk of having a chunk of my body vaporized. I quickly let go. I was definitely falling fast, but his receding face was strangely clear.
"Don't ever show your face to me again."
Even the words leaving his mouth were crystal clear.
The black mass covering the cave floor cushioned the impact of my fall, but it immediately began dragging me down the moment I landed. Pushing against the dense black sludge, I managed to pull myself halfway out and spotted an exit not too far away. It was the exit leading to the long path I had traveled with Jing and Lia. Praying that this black mass hadn't eroded that area yet, I flailed my arms. I tried to move forward bit by bit, but I was sinking faster than I was advancing. I thrashed wildly, but the more I struggled to escape, the deeper I sank. Only when the arm I had thrust down to push myself up became so firmly wedged that I couldn't pull it out did I realize that my entire body, save for my neck and head, was completely submerged.
I let out a groan, staring at the exit that was just within arm's reach. Just a little, just a little bit more. Even as I thought this, my body sank further. Following the suffocating pressure squeezing my neck, a disgusting, foul-smelling black substance blocked my mouth and nose. As my eyes were slowly swallowed up, the exit—which had felt like a lifeline—vanished from my sight.
I'm really dying now. I should have found a way to swap the novel's protagonist to Jing instead of Ratel a long time ago.
My absurd thoughts cut off completely as the already scarce oxygen was entirely blocked. Just as my fading consciousness was about to slip away entirely—I felt a powerful force grab the scruff of my neck. With the last of my awareness, I had the useless thought that the scruff of my neck was really taking a beating today. That powerful force yanked me upward. The pressure blocking my eyes, nose, and mouth vanished, and oxygen rushed into my lungs.
"Cough! *Hack*! *Gasp*! *Pant*...!"
I gasped desperately, trying to inhale as much oxygen as possible. Meanwhile, I felt my lifted body being set down on a hard floor rather than the squishy mass. Only after inhaling enough oxygen for my brain to function properly could I open my eyes. Through my blurry vision, I saw two legs. They were far too thick and massive to belong to a human, and there wasn't a single patch of flesh-colored skin to be found. I looked up. A familiar face was staring down at me.
"Gweeeeeeek! Don't, die, yet! Gweeeeeeek!"
Along with it came a squealing, pig-slaughtering voice that I could never get used to.
"Squeak?! Squeak, squeak, squeak!"
Having realized too late that Ran had fallen, El scrambled out of Ratel's clothes. Looking back and forth between the expressionless Ratel and the falling Ran, he squeezed his eyes shut. He knew Ran was no longer needed. If it had been the usual El, he wouldn't have hesitated to choose Ratel.
—If you choose the right answer this time, I'll trust you completely.
—Stop it, you bastard.
But El couldn't erase the image of Ran's face from his mind—the way Ran had broken the tense situation earlier on behalf of El, who had been unable to answer Ratel's question.
—So stop bullying the squirrel. As small as it looks, it risked its life twice for you.
Even the sound of Ran's voice calmly taking his side at the very end lingered. The guy, who was currently in the form of an Orc for whatever reason, hadn't blamed El for hesitating, nor had he been disappointed. No, it was rather...
"Squeak!"
Seeing Ran's head begin to submerge, El stopped thinking. There was no time to think. He leaped downward. Or rather, he tried to. He would have, if someone hadn't swiftly grabbed him by the tail.
"Squeak! Squeak, squeak, squeak!"
El let out a screeching cry at the brute force gripping his tail. He glared resentfully at the owner of the hand. Ratel was staring down at the sinking Ran, completely ignoring El's struggles.
"Squeak, squeak..."
El whimpered, trying to pry open the hand holding his tail, but it wouldn't budge.
"Stay still. You'll only die if you go down there anyway."
No, I won't. I can survive. He wanted to talk back, but the cowardly fear of exposing his true identity kept his mouth shut. While El temporarily ceased his struggling in his hesitation, Ratel gestured downward with his chin.
"And look. He's alive."
At his words, El tore his gaze away from Ratel and looked down again. He saw a massive Orc pulling Ran, who had sunk beneath the surface, back out. Soon after, the sound of Ran's labored, gasping breaths reached them. El let out a sigh of relief and relaxed his body. Only then did he feel the pain in his tail from struggling, and the sweat soaking his tail fur. El figured that Ratel's hand gripping his tail must be just as damp as his own.
Ratel picked up the now-calm El and placed him back on his shoulder. Then, he didn't take his eyes off the bottom until Ran's figure had completely vanished from sight.