Switching to a Reverse Harem, But the Male Lead Changed the Genre (19)

"That's right. First time ever I see Captain act that way to a woman. I give up, clean."

Give up? On what, exactly? What did we ever do, Muki? Natalie thought, dumbfounded. Shouldn't you save words like that until after you've actually confessed to someone?

It was nothing short of a madhouse — enough to make her want to tear her hair out. I really wasn't doing anything, so why are you all acting like this toward me?

She wanted desperately to state her position — that she and McLane were truly nothing to each other, that everyone had it all wrong — but she could already tell that no one would believe a word of it. The way they kept sneaking glances at her, averting their eyes with oddly knowing expressions, made it clear that every possible rumor and wild speculation had already made the rounds among them.

"Well then, I'll head up ahead. Enjoy your meal, everyone."

Unable to keep from making a face like she was about to cry, Natalie simply fled the table. It felt as if all her motivation had been snuffed out at once.

Even back in her room, she couldn't untangle the knotted mess of her thoughts. The first thing she had to do was calm the impatience and anxiety that kept rising up for no good reason. Rather than rashly jumping to conclusions about how things stood, watching a little longer and giving it time would let her make the wiser choice.

So she did her best to steady her whirling mind as she packed her things and headed out.

Not a single one of the squad members, who under normal circumstances would have come bouncing over to chat her up, came anywhere near her. On the rare occasion their eyes met, they offered an awkward smile and found something else to look at.

She had resolved to take things slowly, but watching the members keep their distance from her while anxiously gauging McLane's mood left Natalie's heart in turmoil all over again.

How long had they been traveling by carriage?

The pace seemed to slow, and before long the convoy came to a complete stop. Wondering what was going on, she poked her head out the window and saw the squad members at the front of the column bustling around with something. She was still debating whether to get off the carriage when McLane approached, looking sheepish.

Ordinarily Orlando would have come over to explain the situation, but apparently the members' misunderstanding hadn't cooled enough for that — even that duty had been left to McLane.

"Just ahead is the northern border of Delloa Territory, and the Erosion Zone begins the moment you cross it. Bertel will lay down basic blessings before we enter, but if there's anything you can do — anything at all — you should get it done in advance."

She had assumed Bertel was explaining entry strategy to Orlando and the Msamati brothers at the head of the column, but it turned out he was performing blessings for them. Casting a blessing required, at minimum, faith and a certain measure of divine power, which was why the task generally fell to priests and holy knights attached to the Temple.

It had never occurred to Natalie that Bertel might belong to the Temple, and the revelation made her eyes go round.

"Sir Vail can perform blessings?"

To her skeptical question, McLane answered in a voice that was neither warm nor cold.

"He was originally… a holy knight of the Temple. Since joining my command, he's been excommunicated…."

"Oh… I see."

A holy knight was a knight who served a god — which meant every holy knight ought to be affiliated with the Temple. And yet he had chosen to join the expedition even at the cost of excommunication.

It was safe to read that as a hint of some enormous history between McLane and Bertel, one she knew nothing about. It even crossed her mind that Bertel's sudden sharp drop in favorability might be connected to that same history with McLane.

Natalie was still watching Bertel perform the blessing at the front, turning over speculations about the relationship between the two men, when it happened.

The blessing had just ended, and the moment Orlando turned his gaze forward, his expression contorted violently. An instant later, his urgent voice split the air.

"Captain! The Erosion Zone is advancing on us fast!"

At Orlando's shout, the members who had dismounted leapt back into their saddles in one motion.

"Damn it! The blessing isn't even finished yet… The Erosion Zone is coming! Everyone, fall back!"

Face twisted savage, McLane gestured sharply for Natalie to get in the carriage as he swung up onto the driver's bench. With the urgent crack of whips, the carriage lurched and picked up speed.

Tense voices relaying the situation drifted into the jolting carriage from outside.

"Damn it! The Erosion Zone is expanding way too fast!"

"Watch it — don't break formation!"

Anxious now, Natalie stuck her head out the carriage window and scanned their surroundings, trying to grasp what on earth was happening. She had never actually experienced an Erosion Zone firsthand, so she had no idea what to do or where to begin. All she had was the textbook definition memorized by rote — a place corrupted by the Demon Realm's energy, where monsters appeared constantly and one could easily slip into a delirious state.

But when she saw the colossal tide of darkness bearing down on the convoy, a ragged breath escaped her. The ominous darkness was advancing with its maw gaping wide like some enormous monster, impossible to capture in the dry passages of a theory textbook.

While a panicked Natalie debated whether she should fling herself away with flight magic right that second, Jorel's urgent voice rang out.

"It's nearly caught up to us!"

"Push the speed as high as it'll go!"

Despite McLane's order, it wasn't long before the Erosion Zone swallowed the column whole.

Darkness fell in an instant. Even with the zone on their heels, the convoy didn't stop moving — they had to find the safest ground possible, finish the unfinished blessing, and regroup. Charred-black landscape rolled past as though some massive explosion had just gone off.

Every trace of life vanished at once, and it was as if night had come crashing down in a heartbeat — the sky growing darker by the second.

Natalie chewed her lip and rued her own foolishness. She should have been memorizing every spell she could that would matter in the Erosion Zone, not wasting her time on nonsense about favorability ratings. If there was any mercy in it, it was only that she had studied the zone's environment like a woman possessed in order to join this expedition. She was straining to dredge up that old knowledge, searching for a spell that might help in their current situation, when—

The carriage suddenly shook violently, and Jorel's desperate voice tore through the air.

"There's something beneath the ground!"

"A spatial barrier! Everyone, don't scatter — gather up!"

A spatial barrier?

She had barely registered the panic threaded through McLane's voice when shouts erupted from all around the convoy.

"What is that thing?! There's a mental barrier layered on top of it too, guhk! Captain!"

"Get a hold of yourself! Don't break away from the column!"

Someone's scream seemed to act as a signal, and Natalie, riding inside the carriage, was confronted with a scene from a nightmare of her own. Bang! KRAKOOM! A flash of blinding headlight glare — headlights? — split the dark, and the carriage lurched wildly as though it had collided head-on with something. CRACK, krrk-krrk! Splash-splash-splash! The windshield in front of the driver's seat shattered, and through the broken frame, lake water came pouring in like a mad thing.

"Oh my god! There's water in the carriage!"

Even in her shock, Natalie immediately caught the wrongness threaded through the scene before her eyes. Something's off. Glass — since when did the carriages in this world have glass windows? And a horn? Headlights?

Before she knew it, the interior of the carriage had transformed into the inside of some automobile. Water was flooding in through the shattered window, and the car was sinking slowly beneath the lake.

It was the familiar nightmare that still tormented her every now and then.

It's an illusion, obviously!

The moment Natalie realized it was a fantasy conjured by the mental barrier, her lips moved in a flash — and the rushing water vanished in an instant.

Only then did a voice that had been crying out for her, frantic, strike her ears.

"Natalie! Take my hand! Quickly!"

McLane was reaching for her, his face desperate. Behind his shoulder, she could see the landscape he stood in rapidly receding — as though something were dragging the entire scene violently backward.

If this goes on, I'll be left behind alone in the Erosion Zone.

"McLane!"

Urgency seized her, and Natalie threw herself toward him, snatching his hand without a moment's hesitation.

She had just clasped his firm hand and felt the flood of relief—

With a long, rending shriek of something hard tearing apart, the world went black.