How To Survive A Cute Ghost Yandere
Chapter 24: Valkas Herion

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Valkas Herion

"How’s he doing?"

Hearing Eiros’s voice, the Saintess, who’d been watching him with a complicated swirl of emotions, flinched, hurriedly diverting her attention, her face looking almost ready to cry again.

"...He’s fine."

Eiros nodded, letting himself sink down exhaustedly. He could see his own legs, riddled with wounds, still spilling out a considerable amount of blood.

Faint tremors still rippled through the surroundings now and then, reminding him that whatever battle was raging up above clearly hadn’t ended yet.

He had no idea how Alen and the others were doing. But since it was Alen, surely he could trust that everything would turn out fine, right?

"Phew....."

Eiros closed his eyes, letting out another long sigh. Right then, he felt the Saintess’s gentle hand touch his own.

Eiros opened his eyes, glancing at the Saintess, who stared at his wound-covered body with a whole mix of regret.

"...This bracelet is a healing artifact, y-you’ll heal once you use it."

"....."

The bracelet sat snugly around Eiros’s wrist. Then it pulsed weakly, slowly emitting a bright, shimmering glow.

’It feels warm.’

It felt as though he were being embraced by that very light. The pain faded, the gaping wounds across his body closing up on their own, though it didn’t heal him entirely.

It only administered first aid, enough to suppress his life-threatening condition temporarily.

"I’m so sorry..."

While Eiros savored that sensation, he could hear the Saintess’s weak voice, thick with regret. Her expression fully conveyed just how much sorrow and suffering she felt over everything that had happened.

"In the entire history of the sacred temple, I must be the worst Saintess there’s ever been, right?"

Her voice sounded calmer now, followed by a small, forced laugh, standing in stark contrast to how harshly she was putting herself down.

Eiros felt the healing artifact finally stop working. He let out a relieved breath, feeling the pain diminish.

"Don’t dwell on it too much, Lady Saintess. When the day comes that your Stigmata finally awakens, that’s when everything will change. You’ll be needed everywhere—isn’t that exactly what the prophecy says?"

Eiros clicked his tongue, tasting a sharp, metallic tang. He then recited a line from that very prophecy:

"A child born without a crown shall wear the sacred light. She will become the hand that reaches out to offer salvation, even as her own hands remain covered in wounds."

The Saintess fell into thought, smiling bitterly at hearing that.

"...It’s other people who get hurt because of me, not me saving them, not me getting hurt. Maybe I’m not even the real Saintess at all? Maybe the sacred temple simply mistook me for the one from the prophecy?"

Watching the girl’s confidence crumble bit by bit, Eiros stayed quiet for a moment before answering:

"That line isn’t meant for right now, Lady Saintess. It’s meant for the future."

"The future? When? Is a disaster like this supposed to just wait until then? By the time it comes, how many people will already be dead? Won’t I be too late?"

Her voice rose slightly, thick with despair. In a moment like this, having Alen here might have actually helped.

Who knew?

As the protagonist, he probably had some line or another that could genuinely move someone.

But Alen wasn’t here, and Eiros didn’t have much confidence that he himself was capable of anything like that.

So he looked at the Saintess and offered the only comfort he could think to give.

"Before that... you don’t need to worry."

".....?"

"I might have only just revived, and I’m not exactly strong either."

The Saintess looked at him, her expression questioning, while Eiros started laughing, awkwardly, hesitating before finally getting out his next line:

"...But I’ll try to save whoever I can."

Eiros wanted to live more than anything else in the world. He wanted a world where he could genuinely relax and enjoy himself, free of worry or burden.

Because of that, sacrificing himself to save a few people wasn’t exactly an ideal path for him. He genuinely rejected the idea.

But here he was.

Doing something that ran completely counter to what he wanted.

’Well, if this is what it takes to calm down a girl this deeply depressed, then fine, whatever.’

He’d also made sure of one thing—that he’d only save whoever he actually could save. So the moment things turned genuinely dangerous, he wouldn’t get involved.

That was the one line he refused to cross.

The Saintess looked at him, her emotions clearly churning at that moment. Her lips pressed tightly together, about to say something in particular, but she stopped herself at the very last second, catching the sound of approaching footsteps.

Eiros felt it too. Both their gazes turned toward the depths of the cave passage, revealing a student walking forward with calm, measured steps.

It was a student with red hair falling to his shoulders, his red pupils sharp, faintly reptilian in nature.

His body was drenched in blood, several parts of him clearly wounded, but the student didn’t seem to be in any real danger.

Then Eiros’s blood-red gaze met that matching pair of pupils, their stares locking together.

"Ah...! Are you two okay? Looks like there was a nasty fight down here."

The student gave a small smile, though his expression turned genuinely grim as he stared at the two-headed Basilisk lying lifeless nearby.

Eiros himself felt a sense of relief seeing this student he recognized. He didn’t know exactly how strong this guy was, but he was definitely a character bound to be extremely powerful, brimming with potential.

’Heir to the Sky Realm, and a dragon.’

His name was Valkas Herion.

"By the way, name’s Valkas. Glad to see you’re both okay, Lady Saintess, and you too."

"Ah...! Yes...!"

The Saintess flinched slightly, since Valkas looked completely drenched in blood and covered in wounds, yet still managed to act so calm, even fairly cheerful.

"Hmm...? Sorry, you really are the Saintess, right?"

"Huh? Yes, that’s right."

"Ah, I see. Sorry, I’m actually kind of closed off usually, so I was just guessing based on your appearance."

Valkas gave a small laugh and stepped closer.

"I’m Valkas, from the combat class. Nice to meet you, Lady Saintess, and..."

"Eiros."

"Alright! Eiros! Nice to meet you too. What class are you from?"

"Ah, I’m from the Other class. Though I think I’ll probably get transferred after this."

Hearing that, Valkas raised an eyebrow, looking interested. Then he quickly arrived at a conclusion:

"You just awakening...?"

Eiros nodded.

"Forget about that for now. Since you’re from a different area, I’m hoping you might at least have some information about where exactly we are?"

Like, why did the ground beneath the academy’s forest have such a massive cave, packed with monsters like this?

Hearing that, Valkas paused for a moment, scratching the back of his head, giving an awkward smile.

"Hmm... How should I even explain this? Bottom line is, this whole thing is genuinely strange."

"....?"

"Well, this isn’t exactly a cave. While I was exploring, I found some architecture and several rooms full of research equipment."

"An abandoned structure that’s been here for a while?"

Valkas shook his head.

"No. I already confirmed it through a few documents—this place seems to have been built about thirty years ago. And their research was something genuinely disgusting."

His expression turned grim as he reached that part, then he continued, clearly reluctant:

"Not sure who, but whoever owns this place was trying to create monsters fused together from parts of different creatures. They also had research aimed at making those monsters submit to them completely."

Shrugging his shoulders, Valkas gave a smile.

"And those are exactly the monsters, products of that research, that I’ve been running into along the way—not willing to risk fighting them head-on."

’....This sounds like a genuine headache.’

Eiros nearly clicked his tongue. He held himself back and steadied his thoughts.

"So, what’s your plan?"

"What else? Don’t you think we should regroup with everyone else? Who knows what other kind of monster might come after us while we’re alone. It’d be a lot better if we could find some Radiant-tier professors. That’d make things a whole lot better."

"...Right."

Just the two-headed Basilisk alone had been brutally difficult to kill. And if what Valkas said was true, it’d be an outright disaster if they ran into even more of them.

The situation left them boxed in either way.

If he stayed put here, the monsters would find him eventually. And if he started moving, the monsters would find him too.

Which was exactly why Valkas had chosen to move. The forest behind the academy might be large, but a cave that was actually a research laboratory shouldn’t be nearly as vast as the whole forest, right?

With that in mind, aside from the risk of running into monsters, there was also the chance of running into other students.

Eiros thought it over for a moment, glancing at the Saintess, who stayed quiet, seemingly waiting on his decision.

Then, after a few seconds, Eiros made up his mind:

"...Alright, we’ll come along too."

***