The Villain Who Invests in a Witch to Survive Chapter 103 : Chapter 103

Chapter 103: No Brains and All Sulks

“Rex, go fetch water over there.” Lillian lifted her chin slightly and pointed toward a stretch of shallower bank downstream where the current was gentler. “And be quick about it. I have no intention of lingering in a damp place like this any longer than necessary.”

“Got it!” Rex answered cheerfully, not the least bit bothered by being ordered around. On the contrary, he looked downright happy as he grabbed the waterskin and prepared to head over.

He had barely taken two steps when he let out a sudden “Huh?” and pointed across the creek. “Miss, look over there. There seems to be soone from our year resting on the opposite bank too. Should we say hello?”

“Say hello to whom?” Lillian did not even raise her head. She was carefully brushing mud spots from her sleeve, her tone full of impatience. “Everyone is fighting their own battles right now. Do you think everyone is like , willing to let an idiot like you trail behind them?”

“Heh.” Rex scratched the back of his head, ruffling his black hair into even more of a ss. “I think you treat pretty well, though.”

“Wh-Who is treating you well?!” Lillian reacted like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on. Two suspicious streaks of red instantly flew across her fair cheeks, and her voice rose with them. “Stop flattering yourself! I just… I just happen to need a lackey who can fight decently! Enough nonsense. Go fetch the water!”

“Oh, all right.” Rex was not offended in the least. Still grinning, he turned to go.

Only then did Lillian casually lift her ice-blue eyes and glance toward the student on the opposite bank.

Just one glance.

Her entire body froze as if struck by lightning.

The faint blush on her face from Rex’s teasing vanished in an instant, replaced by a deathly pallor.

Her fingers, which had been smoothing out her sleeve, went rigid in midair and began to tremble slightly.

Those eyes that were always trying so hard to maintain an air of cool pride were suddenly seized by an overwhelming surge of terror. Her pupils contracted sharply as she stared fixedly at the figure across the creek, who was calmly chewing jerky.

Ryan Velt.

How could it be him?! Why was he here?!

“Re-Rex!”

Her voice was so dry it barely sounded human. She suddenly reached out and grabbed Rex’s arm just as he was about to head for the riverbank, gripping him so hard her nails nearly dug into his skin.

“What’s wrong, Miss?” Rex jumped in alarm and hurriedly turned back. The mont he saw her pale face and violently trembling body, his expression filled at once with worry. “Are you feeling sick? Are you hurt?”

“N-No…” Lillian’s voice shook. With her other hand, she pointed across the creek, and even that fingertip was trembling. “It’s… it’s Ryan Velt! That person over there is Ryan Velt!”

“Ryan Velt?” Rex blinked those eyes of his, full of obvious confusion, and looked carefully at the calm-faced boy on the opposite bank, trying hard to search his mory for the na. “That na… sounds kind of familiar. Ah! I rember now!”

He smacked his forehead, realization dawning. “That’s the really strong top student from our year, right? I heard he’s ridiculously powerful. He even beat that Senior Eleanor you like so much, Miss!”

“Nonsense! He only won because he used underhanded thods! Senior Eleanor did not lose!”

The mont her idol was ntioned, Lillian refuted him almost by reflex. Her voice rose again with emotion. But she imdiately realized that this was not the ti to argue about such things, and fear swiftly took over again.

“This is not the point right now, you fool! Are you genuinely ignorant, or are you pretending to be? Ryan Velt! That sinister, vicious, ruthless person! What if… what if he is here to steal our runes?!”

“Steal our runes?” The instant Rex heard that, his face filled with intense vigilance. Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped sideways and put himself squarely in front of Lillian, shielding her completely. At the sa ti, he drew his broad-bladed greatsword with a sharp hiss. Its tip pointed toward the ground, but every muscle in his body had already tensed. “Don’t worry, Miss! I’ll protect you!”

“Wh-Who needs your protection?!” Lillian’s face turned red again, this ti with equal parts anger and embarrassnt. She shoved hard at his sturdy back and lowered her voice in agitation. “I can fight perfectly well myself! What I an is… we should stay as far away from him as possible! You idiot, stop standing there posing like that!”

On the opposite bank, Ryan popped the last bit of jerky into his mouth and calmly watched the two of them transform in the space of a few breaths from bickering playfully to acting as though they faced a mortal enemy. Especially that one called Rex—being cautious was one thing, but to tack on a dramatic “I’ll protect you” at the end…

The corner of his mouth twitched.

Were these two really here to take part in a survival assessnt? Why did it feel more like they were on an academy-funded date?

By now, Lillian seed to have finally forced herself to calm down a little, though the pallor of her face and her tightly clenched fists gave her away.

She drew in a deep breath, straightened her back—albeit rather stiffly—and, across the murmuring creek, tried her best to make her voice sound steadier than it was.

“Ryan Velt! Wh-what are you doing here?”

Ryan swallowed his food, lifted his waterskin, and took a drink before finally raising his eyes to look at her.

“Getting water. Resting.”

His gaze swept over the point of Rex’s sword angled toward the ground and Lillian’s strained posture before he added, “I do not recall seeing anyone’s na written here saying they are the only one allowed to be here.”

Rex froze for a mont, then whispered to Lillian, “What he said… kind of makes sense, actually. And he really does just seem to be eating and relaxing.”

“Be quiet, you idiot!” Lillian looked as though she wanted to clap a hand over his mouth. She glared at Rex fiercely, then turned back to Ryan. The vigilance in her ice-blue eyes had not disappeared, but she seed to have judged that he had no imdiate intention of attacking.

She bit her lower lip, then said quickly, “In th-that case… this area is yours. We… we’ll go upstream.”

The mont she finished speaking, she did not wait for any response. She grabbed Rex’s arm at once. He was still standing there half out of the loop and even looked as though he might wave at Ryan before Lillian’s glare terrified him into thinking better of it.

“Move! Why are you still standing there?!”

“Oh, right, right. We’re going, we’re going.” Rex let himself be dragged along, stumbling a little as he followed her. Even then, he could not resist glancing back once more at Ryan across the creek, muttering under his breath, “Honestly, I do not think he seems nearly as scary as the rumors say…”

“If you say one more word, I’ll have Father throw you back to the border to dig potatoes the mont we get ho!” Lillian’s cheeks were flushed bright red now, this ti entirely with anger. Dragging Rex with her, she hurried upstream so quickly that it was practically an escape. Her retreating figure radiated utter panic.

Ryan watched the pair of troublemakers argue their way into the trees at the bend of the creek before finally withdrawing his gaze. He looked down at the now-empty wrapping paper in his hand and shook his head lightly.

That brief, noisy little interruption had made his impression of the two of them much more vivid.

One was a proud young lady who insisted on saving face only to make herself suffer for it. The other was a hot-blooded fool so honest he nearly crossed the line into stupidity… In a certain sense, they were oddly well matched.

Still, none of that had anything to do with him.

He stood up, filled his waterskin, and filtered the water clean.

He now had eleven runes in hand, along with a fair number of duplicates. Yet that ever-missing twelfth kind remained nowhere to be found, as though it had evaporated entirely from the eighty percent of the assessnt area he had already explored.