Chapter 12: Chapter 11 – The odds of winning

Snow dances mid-air before slowly landing on the thick carpet of its peers. The sky was grey and gloomy, the usually bustling town was quiet and cold. Today, I’m walking towards the forest to collect some firewood with a group of other townspeople. To protect the people from any monsters which are more violent and rampant during winter, a squadron of knights will escort us along.

Putting the commoners in the middle, the knights encircle us in a tight formation - with vanguard, rearguards and flanking on both sides. I frown when I see one of the 4 pastel-haired knights I saw the other night. The ones described apparently “talented” and supposedly “inhumane”.

This one has pastel blue hair, the one who was clung onto by the drunk purple haired pretty girl that night. It seems she is also present today. The two’s gazes often meet and the girl blushes heavily while the guy would satisfactorily smirk at her reaction.

I swear inwardly at this sight - no I’m not being a bitter single lady. If both male and female leads are here and they’re still not being honest with each other about their feelings, there bound to be some commotion/event to push the plot along. 

Look at the surroundings, it’s a fucking forest. At the season when “monsters are rampant”. I don’t need a fortune teller to foretell our chances of being attacked today.

While main characters have close to 0% chance of dying, this does not apply to mobs. After all, there are mobs who simply need to get injured within first minutes of monster encounter to indicate how strong it is. Then there will be more mobs dying to describe how hard it is to defeat. 

But in the end, the male lead will overcome all adversities and save the female lead from the brink of being attacked.

Let’s hope I don’t die.

Though I wanted to turn my heels around and run back home, I have no choice but to go. If I don’t get enough firewood stored for this winter, I’ll either freeze to death or starve from not being able to cook. I sigh at this thought, focusing instead on picking up some dry twigs and sticks along the route.

“It’s quiet today” A middle-aged woman starts speaking to a knight during rest, dextrously tying up the wood sticks into bundles.

“You can relax. We’re only on the outskirts of the forest, so there’s no chance we’ll run into some high-spec monster.” The young knight replies.

I glare at the knight who spoke these words. Fuck, that’s the trigger isn’t it?

Growl…

A low-frequency growl emerges and with the ruffling of the bushes, a large bear-like creature appears. Its fiery red eyes and sharp beast-like rows of teeth show clear hostility. When the beast stands up, it easily exceeds size of two grown men. 

The young knight screams, “Midnight Bear! It’s known for its sharp fangs and brute strength are rumoured to take at least 7 experienced knights to take it down. A horrifying beast marked in history for its tough leather hard to penetrate even with the sharpest swords! What is an A-rank monster doing here?!”

I get he’s doing his job giving information as a mob, but why do I feel so annoyed?

I observe the knights accompanying us, many are youngsters who just joined the knight order this year. I feel they’re several steps away from “experienced”. 

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Yeah obviously this fight’s gotta be a challenge. An easy-win match won’t help with the romance.

Now. There’s obviously a few choices I can take from here:
1. Scream and run, befitting a mob. But literally anyone who does that dies 2 seconds later.
2. Fight. But honestly I’m not a superhero trained in martial arts or anything of that sort. I’d die before I get anywhere near the bear.
3. Stand back and look at the knights engage in the fight. This would reduce my chances of dying, but it’s not zero. I’m still in the splash zone.

Last but not least, also the best way to avoid getting involved… is to not be in the scene at all. 

Nonono it doesn’t mean I’d run away and leave them here. That’d make me the “selfish asshole character” who’s okay to kill. In fact, those characters are most satisfying to see dead. Readers genuinely wish to see them murdered and mutilated.

I stealthily climb up on the tree near the scene to overlook how the fight unfolds. Being on a tree means I’m “out of frame” - imagine a manga where the scene unfolds, the focus is on a lot of main characters and people, but never the background. 

Hide. It doesn’t matter if it makes you cowardly. But obviously, heroines would think otherwise.

They'd preach about how this is wrong and how ‘the knights are fighting so you should help as much as you can’. Bullshit!

That’s just selfishness on your part. If you can’t help, you’d just be a deadweight in the fight. You’ll be a weakness for the people who now need to focus not only on fighting but also protecting you. 

Those types of heroines who can’t do jackshit and only pull back the male lead in fights are the ones hated most by the readers. I remember my past life swearing generously in the comment sessions at these scenarios.

As I observe, some townspeople have already been injured, many huddling together in fear. Knights surround the big bear and engage the massive beast with swords and spears, but they’re already showing signs of losing.

But they won’t lose.

As the bear shoves one of the young knights and head for the villagers, the purple haired female lead screams in terror.

Nice. It seems like the battle’s ending now.

The male lead knight, hearing the scream, rushes towards the bear, jumps high enough to kick its head and stab its eyes. 

“Even if your hide is tough, it doesn’t protect your eyes!” He gloriously explains to no one, stabbing it once more in the mouth when the bear opened its mouth to scream.

Bruh. As for why he didn't think of this simple thing sooner... might be plot convenience as well.

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