I Became The Male Lead’s Female Friend

 

‘A blond guy.’

 

If the words made me instinctively think of a man, it wouldn’t have been strange.

 

‘Lord River?’

 

Honestly, I couldn’t help but think of him.

 

He’s been a busy man ever since he arrived in the North, and he’d left some dubious remarks at the party about how I should be careful.

 

And worst of all…

 

Did I ever tell him about the demonic insect?

 

No, I couldn’t think of any.

 

In the first place, neither he nor I were familiar with the north, and as I said before, I had only been here a few times. I didn’t think I would get any information from him, so I didn’t bring it up.

 

So why was he asking around about the insect?

 

Did he overhear me asking about the fiend, or…does he know it has something to do with the Princess of Hessen’s illness?

 

‘No way…’

 

I had every suspicion, but there was no way I could have known his intentions all by myself. If it makes things a little easier, he’s not the only blond man in the world.

 

‘I’ll think about that later.’

 

Hiding my inward chagrin, I stared ahead. The old man was getting more on edge, as if my silence was making him uneasy.

 

I smiled nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.

 “So, you said you saw a flying insect, where did you see it?” “What? Oh, well…” 

Roughly, I anticipated his response. If I was right, he would answer like Kassar

, ‘I saw it when I happened to be deep in the forest.’

 

But his answer was different.

 “I saw it once on the outskirts of the forest, once inside the forest, and again in a remote mountain range far from the village…” 

He nodded dismissively.

 “Now, wait.” 

I interrupted him, puzzled.

 “You mean you haven’t seen it once or twice?” “I used to follow my father around and see it often.” “Often? No, you just said it wasn’t a well-known creature, that the average person wouldn’t even know it existed…” “Hmm, I don’t even know where to begin with this…” 

He rubbed his jaw for a moment, then began to tell his story.

 “My father was once studying the geology of the north.” 

Especially up north, where it’s rumored to be buried with a lot of precious magic ore.

 

Despite the danger, many people flocked to find the ore, some of them researchers.

 

His father was one of those people. Already interested in the unusual terrain of the north, he thought there must be other places besides the Dark Forest where ore was flowing, so he and his son used to travel to the outskirts in search of it.

 “Were you able to see the fiendish insects each time?” “Well, to be precise, they would sometimes appear whenever we got close to the lode, but they were so quick to disappear as soon as we spotted them that we never thought to catch them.” “Certainly, when I saw them.” 

Beside me, Kassar nodded in agreement. I swallowed hard at this unexpected bit of information.

 

‘A lode, and it disappears in an instant…’

 

Vanishing in an instant was one thing, but only appearing where there was a lode was definitely a problem.

 

The only place you could easily find them was inside the Dark Forest, and anywhere else you’d have to hunt for them.

 

Should I hire someone to find the lode, and how long would that take? While I was still pondering, a sudden thought struck me and I gazed at him.

 “So, since you’ve seen the fiends, doesn’t that mean you’ve found the lode after all? What happened to the fiend ore?” “That’s…” 

He hesitated but soon gave in,

“Even if we did find it, it was useless to people like us.” “What…?” “Because wherever there’s magic ore, there’s always a fiend, and we can’t afford enough mercenaries to defeat them…” 

Nodding, I wondered if there might be a way to safely obtain it without entering the Dark Forest, but if what he said was true, then that was it.

 

The best I could hope for was to stumble upon one of those fiends around the outer lodes.

 

I swallowed a sigh and said.

“I see.” 

That was the end of our conversation.

 

He told me a few more tidbits of information and then said he had nothing more to share. I nodded and got up from my seat.

 

Besides, when I asked him,

‘Do you have any maps of the lode you found,’

he nodded and said,

‘I haven’t looked at them in a long time, but I’ve been keeping track of them.’

 “Neither have I. It has been a long time since I last looked at it, but I have one that I kept with me, and you can take it if you need it.” “Would that be okay?” “Sure, because I don’t need it anymore.” 

And with that, I turned to him and thanked him for so graciously handing over the map. He waved his hand as if it was no big deal, but smiled as if he was relieved.

 

Smiling back at him, I asked him a question that suddenly occurred to me.

 “By the way, you know, the guy who said he was looking around the other day.” “What?” “Did he only ask about the fiendish insect?”

I asked, half-heartedly, to be honest.

 

Up until that point, I had been preoccupied with how Lord River knew about the insects.

 

The reason he came here was because of them, I concluded to myself.

 

It never occurred to me that I was mistaken.

 “Well… there was one more thing…” “What?”

He spoke with a bemused expression.

 “He mentioned that he’s looking for a certain girl.”  

‘Looking for a certain girl.’

 

When I heard those words, I was secretly convinced.

 

‘It must be Lord River.’

 

Of course, there was no reason to assume that it was Lord River who was blond and looking for someone.

 

But the only reason I could think of was the expression I’d seen on his face not long ago.

 — ‘Did you find what you were looking for the other day?’

 

What had he said when I asked him that?

 

Something bad happened after that, so I didn’t get the answer I needed. But I think the look on his face said it all.

 

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made that face.

 

‘Now that I think about it, he never said that what he was looking for was an object.’

 

He just said,

‘I’m looking for something important,’

so of course I assumed it was an object… He never hid the fact that it was a person, but why does it feel so strange now that I know?

 

I stared blankly ahead until I was suddenly startled out of my reverie by a voice.

 “Princess? Princess!” “Uh, huh?” “What happened to you? You don’t look so good.” 

Before me stood Lord Leona, looking at me worriedly.

 

I quickly composed myself and smiled nonchalantly.

 “No, nothing happened.” 

As it turned out, only Lord Michel and Kassar were inside the house, with the rest of the division commanders waiting at the door.

 

Rudrick had gone out with the rest of the knights, saying he was going to take a look around, just in case.

 

And sure enough, they were looking at me curiously. I smiled and told them briefly what I had heard.

 “…So it appears where the lode is?” “Yep. Are you deaf now?” “If it’s too much, let’s go!” “So what are you going to do about it?” 

Sir Ethan asked, and I made a clicking sound.

 “I don’t think it’s changed anything, except that we now know why it’s been mentioned that the fiends live in the Dark Forest.” “Sure… the lodes are clustered toward the forest.” “That’s right, but even if we can find the outer lodes, it’s hard to locate them, and I’ve heard that wherever magic ore is gathered, demons appear more frequently, so I’m guessing it must be different from the rest of the forest.” “That’s right. Magic ore is a staple food for demons.” 

I nodded in silence, my eyes widening at the unfamiliarity of the words.

 “A staple food?” 

At my bewildered question, the division commanders replied as if it were obvious.

 “Didn’t you know? Magic is the source of life for demons, and magic ore is the best nutrition for them.” “So, wherever there’s a lot of magic ore, there are a lot of magic beasts, and there’s a high chance that there are high-level magic beasts!” 

‘Aha.’

 

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but make a dejected frown.

 

After all, I had entrusted him with the appraisal of the Mountains East of Pelitos, a magical mountain I received from the Crown Prince before coming north.

 

I had thought it would be a simple matter of going with a geologist to assess how much ore was buried there, but if the division commanders were right, I fear I may have set myself back.

 

‘I’ll have to call Jeron later and ask him what happened.’

 

With that thought, I flipped through the map I’d been given earlier.

 

Honestly, I wouldn’t have recognized it if I didn’t know better, but there were three northern natives around me now.

 

Asking them where the marked places were, I thought it would be good to plan.

 

And they readily agreed to my request. On the contrary, Lord Leona was eagerly interested and immediately took the map from me.

 “Of course! When will I ever be of use to the princess at a time like this…” 

She stopped, staring at the map. The longer she stared at the map, the more her face grew rigid and grim, and her eyes grew darker and deeper.

 

Finally, she crumpled up the map and turned to her fellow division commanders.

 “…Hey, isn’t this below the Scania Mountains?” “Yes.” “But isn’t the Scania Mountains some distance from the Dark Forest?” “The forest’s territory extends that far, so I put this place in the search area as well, so what’s wrong with knowing that?” 

At the questioning glances of the other division commanders, Lord Leona swallowed hard and spoke up.

 “The lode… runs this way?” 

For a moment, the faces of the division commanders stiffened.

 

Before I could take in the situation, they moved quickly. Kassar took the lead and began walking toward the carriage, flanked by Sir Ethan and Lord Leona.

 

Moreover, Lord Leona had one arm around my shoulders, urging me on.

 “My lady, I think you should hurry.” “My lord? No way, that would be…” “His Excellency will be back soon enough, so you should go to the carriage, join him, and then leave quickly…” 

But her words were left unfinished.

 

For in the distance, a knight’s shrieking cry could be heard.

 “It’s a beast!”