We fell into their trap and were transformed into statues.

However, our minds were still clear, and we could hear what they were saying.

"Hey, you dumb guy. Can you hear me? You have no idea what’s going on, right?"

I knew exactly what was happening.

It's obvious we were ambushed and petrified.

But do they even realize this?

No matter how much they restrained the men, the women left behind were also incredibly skilled.

If they try anything funny, their limbs won't stay intact.

"Oh, are you thinking about that? That we might attack your remaining companions?"

"Hahaha, it's obvious what guys like you would think."

It was as if Eric and Lion were responding to my thoughts, almost like they were used to situations like this.

They seemed unconcerned about the remaining group's strength...

Soon, Eric approached me, putting his face close to mine, and continued speaking.

"Are we crazy? Do you think we'd attack S-Class and A-Class people? Sorry, but our aim isn't something as petty as robbery."

He then flashed a sly smile and licked his lips.

"You guys will remain petrified for about two weeks. But your sight and hearing will stay perfectly intact."

The fat priest Babidi approached with a lecherous grin.

"Oh, ho ho, I really like that blue-haired one."

"Then I'll take the redhead. I’ve been eyeing her large chest."

Babidi and Lion massaged their groins with perverse smiles.

These bastards.

“Did you hear that? That’s the plan. Haha, we’ll lie and say you were attacked by monsters. You’ll need to wait for two weeks.”

Eric stuck out his tongue and sneered at me with a snakelike expression.

“And just watch. Watch how your female companions are conquered during those two weeks.”

“Hahaha! I’m already excited!”

“Ohohoho! There’s nothing as satisfying as taking someone else’s woman.”

That was the moment I realized.

Their goal wasn’t robbery.

They targeted newly formed adventurer parties, enjoying the act of taking the women right in front of their male companions.

It was what they called an NTR Party.

‘You perverted bastards!’

Even though I cursed at the three men who were grinning lewdly and drooling, no voice came out of my petrified mouth.

Damn it, these guys didn’t care about our strength in the first place.

All that mattered to them was the presence of women.

‘If they even use some weird magic tools like the petrifying one.’

I struggled, but my petrified body wouldn’t budge.

“Wait here for a moment. We’ll bring your precious teammates to you.”

In the end, I could do nothing as my body was frozen in place.

The three men leisurely walked away.

And soon after...

“This way, over here!”

From the direction we initially came from, I heard the sound of multiple footsteps and Eric’s voice delivering a performance worthy of a top-tier actor. They had brought Raphne and the others to this place.

To show them that we had been petrified by monsters.

“Ah! Ken!”

Soon, Raphne, Mary, and Emily spotted me and urgently rushed over.

While they anxiously checked my condition, Eric and the remaining men behind them began to talk.

“Ugh, we got careless. It was definitely an easy monster, but that fat guy over there messed up.”

“Yeah, and because of him, the other two got caught as well. It's a petrification curse.”

Lion added to Eric's words.

‘These bastards!’

It seemed they wanted to make their lie more believable by blaming it on my mistake.

The truly aggrieved party, me, couldn’t even explain because my body was frozen.

Because of my supposed mistake, the girls would have to wait for two weeks.

Meanwhile, these bastards planned to do something underhanded during that time…

Soon, Mary turned her head with a dark expression after listening to them.

“Ken, made a mistake?”

“That’s right. He’s a clumsy guy. Even though we warned him about the petrification curse in advance, he still fell for it. Damn. If we knew this would happen, we should have left him out.”

Eric's dramatic performance continued.

Lion and Babidi nodded in agreement.

But I could not refute anything.

At this rate, everyone would be deceived by these snake-like lies of theirs.

I wanted to bite my lip in frustration, but there was nothing I could do. I could only rage silently within the petrifying curse at their lies.

A sense of helplessness flooded over me.

Then Eric, with a smile, approached Mary.

“Don't worry too much. Even though it was your companion's fault, we'll wait together. We're loyal like that.”

He wore a kind smile, like a good neighbour.

As if they were considerate and kind-hearted, he whispered sweet lies with a false tongue.

Trying to reassure them by pretending they weren't dangerous.

‘No! Don't trust them! Mary! Emily! Raphne!!’

I could vividly imagine the consequences if they fell for their deceitful words.

Desperately, I tried to shout, but my petrified body allowed no voice to come out.

In the end, I couldn't do anything.

I could only stand here for two weeks.

Forced to watch how their glib tongues would continuously make me look foolish.

And how, during that time, they would grow closer to the girls...

Boom!!

“Ugh!!”

Suddenly, ice pillars shot up sharply from beneath Eric, who was struck by the cold emitted by Mary. With the weight and speed enough to be called a mace, the ice pillar struck Eric's abdomen.

Eric screamed in pain and was thrown into the air.

“What... What are you doing!!”

Shwing!

In response, Lion drew his sword and took a stance, while Babidi, sweating, muttered,

“W-What...!”

“What are we doing? We're going to kill you for what you did to Ken, of course.”

“So, you figured it out, huh?”

Screech.

Emily also fastened her shield and drew the sword from her waist.

Her sharp gaze, something never seen before, was directed at the three men.

Overwhelmed by her gaze, Lion gritted his teeth and spoke.

“Ugh, h-how did you find out?”

Mary responded with a snort, as if finding his question ridiculous.

“The idea that Ken got hurt by monsters because of a mistake doesn’t make any sense.”

“Exactly. The Ken I know would never make such a mistake. So, if something like this happened, it must have been you who did it.”

Emily chimed in as if it were the most natural conclusion.

Lion, hearing their confident words, looked flabbergasted.

“You're... you're attacking us based on such flimsy reasoning?!”

Honestly, his reaction mirrored my own thoughts.

They judged their words to be lies solely based on their trust in me.

It might seem unreasonable.

But I felt deeply moved by their unwavering trust.

I really thought they would fall for their lies.

“Hey, Raphne, what should we do with these guys?”

“First, we need to find a way to lift the petrification... Raphne?”

Since Mary’s pre-emptive strike had already settled the situation, Emily asked Raphne about the next steps.

However, unlike Mary and Emily, Raphne wasn’t paying them any attention.

She just stood dazedly in front of me, staring.

‘Wh-What’s going on?’

I was tense, as she often did the unexpected.

“Hey, Raphne?”

Emily called out to her, flustered, but Raphne didn’t respond at all.

And then.

“Ugh.”

Suddenly, she took off her pendant.

“Kyaaa! R-Raphne!! If you're going to take it off, warn us first!!”

“Ugh, my, my head... Sobbing.”

As expected, the moment Raphne removed her pendant, her curse immediately took effect, causing Emily and Mary to react in their own ways.

And for the three men experiencing Raphne’s Curse of Fear for the first time:

“Gah, gruaaagh! …H-Help! What’s happening?!”

“Uwaaa! My, my head!! It feels like it’s going to split open!!”

“Please, spare me!! We’re sorry, we were wrong!! Please spare us!!”

They vomited, clutched their heads, or were paralysed with fear, each responding differently.

But Raphne didn’t spare them a glance as she smiled and placed the pendant around my neck.

Then,

Crack, crack.

The petrified surface crumbled, and the petrification curse was lifted.

“Wow! As expected, it's a pendant made by Ken! ...Phew, thank goodness."

Raphne was delighted as she saw me freed from the curse. She clung to me and rubbed her face against my chest.

'So that's it! Because it's a pendant that blocks curses.'

Thanks to Raphne's quick thinking, we could easily break free from the petrification.

If those guys had said, 'If you want to save your companions, follow our orders!' it would have been troublesome.

Thanks to her, the problem was solved smoothly.

I patted Raphne's head and embraced her, appreciating her cleverness.

"Ehehe."

Raphne let out a satisfied, giggling sound, clearly in a good mood.

"K-Ken! F-First, give the pendant back to Raphne!"

"Oh, right."

Seeing the other two, whom I had forgotten in my relief, I hurriedly took off the pendant again.

"Ugh, I really hate this curse..."

"Ra-Raphne. ...Please warn us next time."

The reaction of the people settled down as the pendant was placed back on Raphne’s neck.

As the curse subsided, those who were suffering slowly stood up, staggering.

"K-Krrgh. W-What was that just now."

And there was Eric, holding his head and glaring at us.

But I wouldn’t give him the chance to stand tall so brazenly.

Because I had heard clearly what they intended to do to her.

I was extremely angry right now.

'Rapid Crafting, Iron Mace.'

I created a blunt weapon similar to one held by a certain adventurer.

As the magic was swiftly depleted from my body, a metal club materialized in my hand.

Immediately, I pushed off the ground and charged at Eric.

“W-Wait, No, Aaargh!!”

Thud.

“Aaaaaargh!!”

The iron mace struck precisely at his right knee joint, rendering his right leg useless and dangling.

Eric screamed in pain as he collapsed onto the ground.

“You bastard!!”

Lion, who had been watching, drew his sword and charged at me.

Despite being the best among the three, he was no match for my eyes, honed daily through training with Siegfried.

I swiftly crafted another weapon.

'...Hydra Knife.'

I made a 'Hydra Knife,' which has a paralysing effect.

Swoosh!

"...Ugh! Gah, gah..."

The throwing knife that left my hand flew and hit Lion’s shoulder with pinpoint accuracy.

Caught off guard by the sudden throw, Lion was helplessly pierced by the knife.

Due to the paralysing effect, he couldn't even scream loudly as he fell to the ground.

“W-Whoa!!”

Babidi, who was left, was pathetically crawling on the ground, trembling in fear.

I approached, tapping my club in my hand.

“So, you saw what happened to your friends. Now, will you tell me how to lift the curse and reveal the shortcut?”

Of course, I could easily lift the curse with Raphne's Pendant.

But I need to find out the way to lift the curse in advance.

Their petrifying magic tool might come in handy for me.

“W-Whoa!!”

For the guy screaming weirdly without answering, I gave him a thorough beating with the club as a reward.

“Ken, why did you take that magic tool?”

After getting answers about how to lift the curse and find the shortcut, we set off again.

Raphne, who was walking next to me, asked.

“Oh, that’s...”

I can’t truthfully tell her.

The fact that I’ll need this magic tool for something in the future.

I was considering visiting a magic tool shop or potion shop in the Tower of Tarlos if necessary.

“I took it because we can’t let them do any more bad deeds.”

I gave a vague excuse.

“Hm, but since it’s already hard for them to survive, they probably won’t be able to do anything bad, right?”

“Oh, is that so?”

We made sure they paid dearly for messing with us.

Of course, we didn’t kill them. I’m still repulsed by the idea of murder.

I just made sure to break Eric’s other arms and legs, too.

The same treatment was given to the others.

And I didn't forget to gag Babidi, the priest.

He could use recovery magic if he said the incantation. Then we just left them in the forest.

By now, Lion and Eric are probably yelling their heads off.

If someone comes to rescue them, they’re lucky. If monsters are drawn to the noise, they're done for.

Everything is left to the will of the gods.

“What, I thought Ken had the same idea as me again.”

“Huh? Same idea about what?”

Raphne smiled wistfully after hearing my answer.

Same idea about the petrifying magic tool? What could that be?

“Well, if we research the petrifying curse and turn everyone except us into stone, it would just be you and I left, right?”

Raphne smiled at me as she answered my question.

Then she suddenly hopped up and hugged my arm.

When Raphne’s familiar and soft body wrapped around my arm, I felt my heart skip a beat.

But.

"Wouldn’t that be romantic? Hehe, I really thought you felt the same way, Ken.”

However, the occasional empty look in her eyes completely changed the meaning of my heartbeat.

Raphne, thinking like an evil overlord, are we now?

From behind us, I noticed Adrian flinching.

I raised my hand and lightly tapped Raphne on the crown of her head.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t entertain such weird thoughts. I’m not leaving your side even without doing something like that.”

“Ugh, it was just a thought. Can’t I at least have a little fun imagining things?”

Raphne puffed out her cheeks while clutching her head.

I mean, sure, you're free to imagine, but it makes me uneasy cause it feels like you might actually try it.

Feeling a bit sorry, I lightly patted Raphne’s head.

“Keen~!”

Just then, Emily and Mary, who were ahead of us, waved in our direction.

“We can see the Tower! We’re almost there!”

Excited by the news that we would soon arrive, Emily rushed forward with Mary following closely behind.

The two leading figures seemed to have spotted our destination.

Finally, we have arrived.

At the Tower of Tarlos.

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