Taming The Villainesses
Chapter 430: The One Who Halts (5)

Following the arrows turned out to be harder than expected.

I’d thought it would be as simple as going in the direction they pointed. But in this city, where the laws of physics were twisted, even determining “direction” wasn’t so easy.

Here’s an example.

↑

Elga narrowed her brows as she looked at the arrow painted on the wall.

“This symbol here. Doesn’t it obviously mean ‘go straight’?”

Despite the common-sense assumption, Mirna shook her head.

“Maybe it doesn’t mean forward, but upward.”

Shk.

When Mirna lifted her head, she spotted an upside-down staircase suspended above us. Her guess wasn’t unreasonable.

“It’s straight ahead.”

“It’s up.”

Just like that, we kept getting split over the meaning of a simple ‘↑’. And so, we ended up walking in circles through the same areas again and again.

Eventually, the sun began to set.

Not knowing what might happen at night in this suspicious city, we decided to rest in one of the nearby buildings.

Unsurprisingly, the building was completely empty. So empty, in fact, that there were hardly any traces of past human life. Everything inside was blanketed in a thick layer of dust, and the eerie silence only made it feel more desolate.

“So quiet.”

Stella, peeking through the vines covering a broken window, clicked her tongue. She looked like she couldn’t believe how silent a city this vast could be at night.

Of course, if you listened closely, the low hum of the sky-rift was still there—Uuuuuuunnnggg—like some ancient machine turning, or maybe a monster growling low in its throat.

Stella pulled her head away from the window and muttered,

“Are we... the only ones in this city?”

To that, Mirna—gently brushing the cloud-beast Yingying’s squirming body with a comb—shook her head.

“Those strange companions, remember? Miriam, Rene... and the hunter? They must still be somewhere in this city too.”

━Yingyingya-ying.

True. They had to be somewhere around here as well. Most likely heading to the same goal we were—the sky rift. For all we knew, they may have already found a shortcut to it.

Looking back, maybe we shouldn’t have parted so easily. Maybe I’d been too hasty in letting them go.

Zzzzzzt—

That’s when I felt a vibration from the Marmar tail bracelet wrapped around my wrist.

It meant Marmar was trying to contact me, so I shifted focus from my surroundings and listened inward.

━Marmar? What’s going on?

━Comrade—today well—potted—Mormor tail—water—Narnar’s condition—improving—worry—

Zzzt—krrrk—shhhht.

Her voice crackled in my head like a broken radio, the signal warped and broken. Hard to understand, but I pieced it together.

She was just checking in to ask how I was doing. She’d watered the Mormor tail we’d planted. And the good news—Headmistress Imp Narnar’s condition had improved a lot.

Good news, at least.

Still, the fact that Marmar’s voice was so garbled left me a bit uneasy.

The dimensional portal magic wasn’t working.

Communication with Marmar through telepathy wasn’t going well, either.

This city was full of inconveniences.

━Everyone’s worried—take care—stay safe—

Still, I could faintly feel her concern. That much got through. So I focused and responded carefully.

━We’re all still doing fine. You don’t have to worry.

Zzzzzzzt.

And with that, the connection cut out completely.

I wasn’t sure if my message had gotten through. I hoped it had. I didn’t want everyone back home worrying for nothing.

Turning back, my eyes landed on my wives, curled up in blankets and leaning against the wall.

There was a fire going in the center of the room. They were all half-asleep, and anyone could see they were exhausted.

They were women who had been raised like royalty, accustomed to being treated with reverence no matter where they went. Sleeping rough in a crumbling ruin like this was far from normal for them.

And yet they’d followed my reckless lead without complaint. The realization made me both grateful—and guilty.

At least Narmee seemed to be in good spirits.

While the others sat silently, staring into the fire as if lost in thought or simply too tired to speak, Narmee was chattering away as usual.

“This is the farthest I’ve ever been from home. It really feels like an adventure! You think there might be hidden treasures Solomon stashed somewhere around here?”

“......”

“Hm? What do you think, sis?”

Mirna simply yawned and covered her mouth, mumbling, “Hmmm—.” She was clearly sleepy.

Seeing Narmee about to end up talking to herself, and Mirna trying to keep up while half-asleep, I decided to step in.

“Treasure, huh?”

“Yeah! This is the city where Demon King Solomon died, right? Rumor has it he holed up here before he died, and hid all sorts of treasures around the city!”

Solomon’s treasures... Yeah, I’d heard the stories. Forbidden relics, cursed legacies, and grimoires supposedly written by a mad Solomon himself.

Most of it was just myth, inflated by time.

But a few of those relics were real.

Maybe there really were hidden treasures scattered throughout this city—left behind by Solomon in his final days. If we were lucky, maybe we’d stumble across one.

***

Maybe it was because this place was so unfamiliar—but I couldn’t sleep.

Every time I closed my eyes to try, the humming from the broken sky above only grew louder and louder, until it felt like it was going to swallow me whole.

Maybe it was just in my head.

But it felt like that sound was calling to me.

“Come.”

“Hurry.”

“Throw yourself into me.”

—Or so it seemed.

Of course, I figured it was just auditory hallucination caused by a strained mind. I hadn’t been sleeping well lately, and I couldn’t say my mental state was in the best condition either.

Ssshh, ssshh—

I rose carefully so as not to wake the others. Feeding the flickering fire some mana to keep it burning, I quietly approached the window.

Rustle.

That was when I noticed movement beneath one of the thick blankets. Turning, I met a pair of dark eyes staring straight at me.

“Ayra-nim.”

“Teo, you haven’t been sleeping lately.”

“I just... can’t seem to fall asleep.”

“Me neither.”

Sshf.

Ayra rose and walked over to stand beside me. She joined me at the window, gazing out at the same twisted city. I wondered what this place looked like through her eyes.

“It’s beautiful. Twisted, warped, and strange, yes—but you won’t find anything like this anywhere else. Teo, thanks to you, I’m experiencing something truly unique.”

She gave a quiet yawn after speaking. She’d said she wasn’t sleepy, but she clearly needed more rest. Still, she wouldn’t sleep until I did—that much I knew.

So I turned away from the window and was about to return to the blankets and lie down when—

━━─.

I heard something. Something strange. It wasn’t the low, constant hum of the rift above. It wasn’t the wind either.

It was... something else.

I snapped to attention.

“Ayra-nim, did you hear that just now?”

“Hear what?”

Ayra tilted her head ❀ ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) like it was the first she’d heard of anything. Maybe she really hadn’t caught it. Or maybe only my overly sensitive half-elf ears could pick it up.

It had sounded like something fluttering. Something like...

I started scanning around the window, glancing this way and that.

“You’ve been too tense for too long. When your body falters, your mind follows. Especially for people like us—mages. If we’re not careful, we fall into spiritual madness.”

Ayra grabbed me by the arm and gently tugged.

She pulled me down and laid my head on her lap, then began slowly stroking my hair.

Then, with that soft mouth of hers—

“In the storming wind, a name called from longing... the sound that follows is a quiet sorrow...”

She began to whisper.

“A fairy weeping in silence... unseen, unheard...”

That’s when I realized—Ayra was singing.

I’d never heard her sing before.

Ssh, ssh—

As her fingers brushed through my hair and the lullaby flowed from her lips, the tension in my head and heart slowly began to unravel.

“Sleep now. And...”

The Queen whispered something more near my ear—but I didn’t catch the rest.

***

The next morning in the Final City was surprisingly refreshing.

Maybe it was all the giant trees growing throughout the city, but the air was surprisingly clean.

“Nrghhh...”

Stretching both arms wide, I let out a long yawn. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept so soundly. My mind and body both felt light, as if a weight had been lifted.

Next to me, Ayra let out a tired “Haahm...” and yawned as well. She looked exhausted. Probably because I’d kept her awake last night.

“Ayra-nim. Thanks to you, I slept really well.”

At my grateful words, Ayra gave a simple nod.

“They say nymphs are weak to lullabies. Guess that turned out to be true. This’ll be useful when it’s time to capture Punchnoi or Yujinoi.”

“......”

Nymphs are weak to lullabies... That was some trivia I really didn’t need to know.

After a bit of stretching and prep, we all left the building. I hoped today’s progress would be better than yesterday’s. With that mindset, we resumed following the arrows.

Drip-drip-drip-drip...

“Look! There’s water running over here!”

Narmee shouted, pointing toward a shallow pool. Or rather, it wasn’t so much “water running” as it was flooded houses. It looked like a sunken village at the edge of a reservoir.

The water was so clear and luminous that the interiors of the submerged houses could be seen in detail.

Swish.

Stella filled a glass bottle with water and gave it a little shake before saying,

“This water’s unbelievably clean. You could probably drink it straight. Should we bottle some? I’d like to wash up too.”

Sounded like a good idea. So we all freshened up a bit with the cool morning water. After refilling our canteens, we were about to move on when—

Flap.

I heard something flutter in the wind. Like a flag caught in a gust.

And suddenly, a memory came back to me.

Last night.

Yes—right before Ayra put me to sleep with her lullaby, I’d heard this exact sound.

Shff, shff—

An uneasy feeling swept over me. I lifted my head and looked up.

And that’s when I saw it.

Something massive was soaring through the air, moving swiftly across the sky above this twisted fortress-city.

Flap, flap—

It had enormous wings. Flying in from the far horizon, heading straight toward us.

Even before I could open my mouth, Elga was the one to shout—

“Shit...! A wyvern...!”

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