I'm Done Being the Heroine's Stand-in

He is the heir to the Marquis of Heidegger and an Esper with the power of ‘enhancement’.

Known for his black hair, slightly tanned skin, and red eyes, he was famous as a knight who wields two swords.

It is said that Lambert’s enhanced swords can cut through almost anything in this world.

He was known as the ‘man who doesn’t need a fight of spear and shield’.

Although Lambert might seem better than Baron, who speaks rudely, in reality, …… as far as I could tell, he was just the same.

Lambert also enhanced his legs for rapid movement, but he never took me along with him.

And that guy…

When I was thinking this far, one of the Espers lying nearby started a conversation with me.

“……You must be Guide Yerena, right?”

“Yes!”

It had been almost three months since I joined the Alan Knights. Though I always felt discarded, yes, I was Yerena.

“If you don’t mind me asking, would you like me to take you to the center?”

“Wow, really?”

“Yes. Thanks to the Alan Knights, our knights didn’t die. As a token of gratitude… I’m sorry if this is rude.”

The Esper who said this smiled a sorrowful smile. I wasn’t sure which noble family he belonged to, but I took a liking to him.

“I would be so grateful if you could take me to the center!”

“Sure. Please wait a moment. I will move our knights first and come back for you.”

“Yes, yes!”

I let out a deep sigh of relief.

It would take a good three hours to walk from here to the center, so waiting a bit seemed insignificant.

At that moment, the man returning to his knights suddenly looked back at me as if he remembered something.

“…Oh, by the way, is Benjamin not deployed today either?”

Benjamin Vicente.

Knight Commander of the Knights of Allen, heir to the Duchy of Vicente, and the number one ranked Esper in the Empire.

I hadn’t seen him in a month.

He was an Esper whom I barely saw during the three months since I joined.

Was it at the first meeting where we exchanged greetings that I looked at him the longest?

Even if I said ‘longest’, it was only about 30 minutes.

I had hardly talked to Benjamin. He never went out unless an S-rank monster appeared.

So, behind his back, people used to secretly criticize Benjamin for being arrogant.

However, the reason they couldn’t openly criticize him was that everything about Benjamin was perfect.

Benjamin’s appearance was so beautiful that rumors circulated that he wasn’t human, and despite not being an Esper who wielded a sword, his physique was exceptional.

He was the heir to the Duchy of Vicente, a family so powerful that even the imperial family could not control it.

Challenging Benjamin meant risking one’s life.

As his abilities were not widely known due to his reclusive nature, only his ‘clairvoyance’ ability was somewhat known, allowing him to see through the weaknesses of everything.

‘But Benjamin has even more terrifying abilities hidden than clairvoyance.’

Having read the novel, I knew Benjamin’s secret. Anyway, I didn’t want to get involved with him.

In the novel, he is dangerous, and he is also the most disturbing character in the story.

Living as Yerena, who was already in dire straits, there was no need to associate with the most dangerous individual.

‘Let’s not cross paths until I leave this place.’

I didn’t want to face death here.

***

Having arrived at the center with the help of another knight’s group, I lay down on my bed.

The capital of the Eldora Empire, Chelsea.

The Chelsea Center, named after the capital, existed there.

This place managed everything related to guides and Espers and also took care of guides and Espers who had nowhere else to go.

This included me, who had been sold off by my parents. Sigh.

But fortunately, the room I was given wasn’t that bad.

“At least it’s much better than the tiny studio I lived in while studying for the civil service exam.”

I recalled the place where I used to live before taking over Yerena’s body.

That studio of palm size where only a small bed and a table could fit in.

The walls were so thin, a Post-it would stick on my door whenever I farted.

「Hey, could you please stop making filthy noises?”」

Excuse me. Farting is a physiological phenomenon, there is nothing dirty about it.

“Ha…… I passed the civil servant exam; thought I was finally saying goodbye to that life.”

Substituting for the heroine—calming down the Alan Knights—then dying while possessing Yerena’s body.

Life was truly bizarre.

In the novel, the day Yerena died was one of the days when there was a sudden increase in gates in Pandora Forest.

At that time, S-rank monsters suddenly appeared, causing all Espers to struggle.

Even the Alan Knights, known as crazy dogs, that never let go once they have prey, struggled.

Baron and Lambert also suffered fatal injuries.

Despite everyone being injured, Benjamin did not appear.

Yerena met her demise on the battlefield while guiding, torn apart by monsters, not just dying, but being ripped to shreds.

Until Yerena drew her last breath, Baron and Lambert didn’t come to her rescue.

The reason was simple: their attention was stolen by the heroine.

The day Yerena died was also the day the heroine made her debut as a guide.

The late-blooming heroine was deployed on a scene where almost all the guides were slaughtered.

Of course, the knights of the Allen Knights didn’t pay attention to her just because she was pretty without any reason.

There was a clear reason.

Because the heroine reminded them of ‘someone’.

Benjamin only appears after Yerena dies and takes care of the monsters one by one, who were running amok.

Despite others being in disbelief, he single-handedly killed them all.

Then, he coldly muttered as he looked at Yerena’s lifeless body, “The ugly doll has died.”

It was an emotionless, cold statement.

Ugly doll. For some unknown reason, Benjamin referred to Yerena like that.

Then, for the first time, he laid eyes on the newly appeared heroine. It was a moment when a glimmer of emotion flickered in Benjamin’s previously indifferent eyes.

‘If that bastard had come sooner, Yerena wouldn’t have died.’

Benjamin is a person who doesn’t care whether people die or not, hence his late arrival.

Of course! Even now, he hardly participates in battles regardless of who dies.

All in all, Benjamin has been missing in action for a month.

No one at the center knew anything about Benjamin’s whereabouts.

During Benjamin’s absence, a gate was appearing almost every day in Pandora’s forest.

The only relief was that only A-grade monsters had shown up so far….

But I had a feeling that Yerena’s dying day would not be far off.

‘I need to get away from here before that. But how?’

Of course, I could have quit being a guide. There was no obligation.

The problem was the money Yerena’s parents took from the center.

If I left the center without paying that money, I could be branded as a wanted person.

It would take decades to repay that money with my guide’s salary…..

Moreover, these days, there were rumors that the center was struggling financially, and there were talks of salary cuts.

As if to confirm those rumors, salaries were delayed until the center director changed!

I didn’t know about others, but I was genuinely furious about delayed salaries. If I could, I’d grab the center director by the collar.

The amusing fact is that the salaries of S-tier or A-tier guides are gradually increasing.

The justification is so they can pay enough to prevent these high-ranking guides from being stolen by other empires…

‘So are the lower tiers supposed to starve to death?’

“Ah, my head.”

What to do next. A throbbing pain came through my skull.

At that moment, someone entered my room without knocking. I looked at the intruder.

Even though it was quite late, there was only one person who would come into my room without manners.