How an Omega Villain Survive chapter 41

“What a coincidence.”

At the sound of Kayla’s cheerful voice, Henry turned his gaze from where he had been looking around. The person Henry had been searching for was Kayla.

Kayla was the one who had stumbled upon the treasure by chance. Not knowing the terrain of the mountain range or where the treasure was hidden, Henry had decided to follow Kayla.

Fortunately, they hadn’t crossed paths, and since Kayla had recognized him first, it was easy to naturally stay by his side.

“I was just worried about crossing this mountain range today since there are so many accidents. But seeing someone show up like this made my heart race.”

Kayla’s unique sociability shone through as he spoke to Henry. Seeing him like this, one couldn’t help but find him endearing.

It reminded Henry of the scene in the original story where Kayla kept trying to engage the aloof Edwin in conversation.

‘Compared to that, I’m…’

Henry was all sharp edges and prickliness. He was an overly sensitive and irritable character, and his unrequited feelings for Edwin only made him more twisted.

Seeing himself like this, Edwin must have been utterly exhausted, and Kayla’s friendly nature must have been a great comfort to him.

“I’m glad to see you again too.”

“Hmm… Really?”

At Henry’s casual response, Kayla trailed off, as if deep in thought.

It was a trivial reaction that could easily have been overlooked, but Henry shot him a questioning look.

“Have you really forgotten about me?”

“I… forgot about you?”

Henry widened his eyes as if hearing something completely new.

In the original story, Henry and Kayla hadn’t even exchanged greetings. Kayla had entered the empire after Henry’s death.

“We actually met when we were kids. It was a long time ago, but I recognized you as soon as I saw you.”

As Kayla continued, Henry’s expression only grew more puzzled.

No wonder—he had no knowledge of any events outside the original story.

“When you didn’t recognize me, I figured you must have forgotten.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Henry quickly apologized, but Kayla shook his head.

“There’s no need to apologize. I’m not going to tell you how we met; I want you to be curious.”

Kayla playfully withheld the information as if to encourage Henry’s curiosity. Even so, his smiling face, with one eye almost completely closed, showed no sign of malice.

“Please be careful from here on.”

In the meantime, the guide who had been leading the way suddenly cautioned them. Henry picked up on his signal and became tense, scanning the surroundings.

In the original story, Kayla had entered the mountain range with a guide and had ended up falling after a misstep.

And with immense relief, Kayla, having narrowly escaped with his life, moved through the mountain range alone until he discovered the hidden setup.

“Is this the place?”

Henry, like Kayla before him, had no intention of falling. He simply kept an eye on the places where Kayla had lost his footing.

“The sun will set soon. Shouldn’t we start looking for a place to stay?”

The sun always set quickly in the mountains, which meant that it had been half a day since Henry and Kayla had met and begun traveling together.

“It might be better to rest early rather than push on too hard… Oof.”

Kayla was in the middle of giving instructions to the guide when his words were cut off, and he stumbled violently. His body leaned dangerously to the side, as if he might fall at any moment.

“Kayla!”

Henry, who had been watching Kayla closely, was the first to react, reaching out his hand toward him.

It was close, but if he just reached a little further, he thought he could catch him. So Henry extended his arm with all his might, and soon succeeded in grabbing his hand.

“Young Master.”

But in his strong desire to catch Kayla, he neglected to secure his own safety. Henry felt a surge of panic as his center of gravity shifted sharply.

Even Sir Teher called out to him, a sign that the situation had become dire.

It was only a split second, but Henry, using his body as a sacrificial anchor, pulled Kayla up with all his strength.

Once he confirmed that he was safe, he let go of his hand. As he started to fall backward, he caught a glimpse of Kayla’s shocked expression.

The goal had been to save Kayla and find the treasure, but instead, Henry found himself falling in his place.

“What if this isn’t the right spot?”

Even as he thought that, Henry’s body was plummeting rapidly. Just before closing his eyes in fear, he thought he saw something dark, but he was too disoriented to remember.

He wished he could just faint so he wouldn’t feel the impact when he hit the ground, but there was no time for regrets as his body continued to fall.

Now, all he could hope for was to avoid breaking any bones and to withstand the impact. Then, something strange happened.

In the midst of everything happening so quickly, he felt something wrap around his body. After a momentary illusion that something had pierced through him, a significant impact struck his body.

“Ugh!”

A dull pain radiated from his back, causing him to cry out. The impact on his back was the strongest, but soon similar pain spread through his limbs as he hit the ground.

The fortunate thing was that the pain was bearable. Henry opened one eye, which he had squeezed shut, trying to make sense of what had happened.

He clearly felt something wrap around him mid-fall, and even now, that thing was still attached to his body. It seemed that thanks to this, the impact had been somewhat cushioned.

“Black threads?”

What caught Henry’s eye were thin, short black threads. As they fluttered in the air like dust, he realized they were hair. This meant that the person who had caught him was human.

Was Sir Teher’s hair black? His mind wasn’t processing clearly, maybe because his head had also taken a hit. Instead of trying to remember, Henry lifted his head to check the other person’s face.

Thankfully, his body obeyed.

“…Why are you here?”

He was so surprised that he forgot to even say the person’s name. He was sure he had left him behind.

At Henry’s question, Edwin slowly raised his head and then pulled himself up. After moving his body around to check his condition, he looked down at Henry.

“Are you hurt?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Then get up and check if you’re not planning to lie there forever.”

At Edwin’s cold retort, Henry awkwardly lifted his arms. He placed his hands on the ground and slowly pushed himself up, concluding that while his body creaked, he wasn’t in bad shape.

He followed Edwin’s lead, standing fully and testing whether he could walk, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

“It doesn’t seem like anything’s broken.”

“Did you really need to move around to figure that out?”

“…”

When did he tell me to check?

Henry bit his lip, suppressing the urge to curse in response to Edwin’s exasperated remark.

Given the circumstances, Edwin seemed to have jumped down to save him, and it wouldn’t be right to respond with insults instead of thanks.

“…How did you know where I was?”

Why can’t I just say thank you? Henry berated himself for his own narrow-mindedness as he looked Edwin over.

He had seen him checking his own body after getting up, but still wanted to make sure he wasn’t hurt.

Edwin’s clothes were black, so blood wouldn’t show, but as Henry scanned for any wet spots, Edwin finally responded.

“Did you set off something in the mountains?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I did something like that.”

He had caused a small explosion while trying to find treasure because someone was trying to rob him. Henry nodded in agreement, then froze.

Come to think of it, Edwin’s answer was to how he knew where Henry was.

“So I ended up giving away my location.”

That explosion, intended to scare off the robber, had inadvertently revealed his own position.

“But how were you so sure it was me? And if I didn’t tell you where I was going, it means I had personal business. Why were you looking for me?”

The object that made the noise wasn’t something rare enough that others couldn’t obtain it.

However, Henry’s puzzled questions were met with silence as Edwin simply brushed the dust off his clothes. Feeling ignored, Henry pursed his lips and glanced around.

Finally, he looked up at the spot from where he had fallen. It seemed like he had been falling for a long time. When he looked up, he saw the round hole above, with the sheer cliff face visible beyond it.

It seemed something had blocked the hole when Edwin and he fell, which must have cushioned their fall, preventing any broken bones. Relieved, Henry surveyed the area lit by the light streaming in from above.

“A cave? Is this a cave?”

Henry’s face slowly brightened as he looked inside the tunnel-like structure leading from the round entrance.

He had worried that Kayla had misstepped in the wrong place, but it seemed they had found the right spot.

“Thank goodness.”

His body still ached from the fall, but they had reached their destination. Henry looked from the cave back up to where they had fallen.

The light from that hole was the only source of illumination. The sun was about to set, which meant they’d have to wait until morning to explore the cave unless they found another light source.

Henry looked over at Edwin.

“Do you happen to have a torch or something…”

Of course not.

After scanning Edwin’s nonexisting belongings, Henry shook his head without asking further. He then searched his own pockets.

‘I came prepared for this.’

He had brought a torch to use in the dark cave, herbs to ward off wild animals, and even emergency rations…

“What?”

Henry suddenly realized something and opened his eyes wide in shock. There was nothing in his pockets. That meant he, too, had nothing with him.

He remembered that he had left his belongings tied to his horse. When he had rushed to save Kayla, he hadn’t had time to think about anything else and had reached out to him, falling in the process.

“Edwin, I must be an idiot.”

Henry’s words, full of self-deprecation, caused Edwin’s eyebrows to twitch. For someone who rarely shows any expression, Edwin seemed surprised by Henry’s response.

“I have nothing.”

Henry pointedly dusted off his coat, signaling that he was not prepared at all to enter the cave. Ignoring him, Edwin turned his back.

“We have to go back.”

Technically, they needed to enter the cave, but couldn’t. Since Edwin ignored his words, Henry spoke up again.

“The sun will set soon, so we have no choice but to stay here tonight.”

“True, but what about tomorrow?”

Edwin walked along the wall, examining the debris on the floor. Henry sighed, frustrated by how nothing was going smoothly.