The Life, Death, and Relife of the Mushroom Mage

Chapter 16

Yeah.

It was fine.

It was totally fine.

They were actually going to cry.

"Well, I have to go cancel some things now, so would you two mind if I took my leave?" they asked directly, and the prince looked at them with his green eyes gleaming with amusement.

"Of course. We wouldn't want to keep you, Mally," he said, and great, now Mally had to dip into their rapidly dwindling funds to get a nicer outfit for tonight and a mask. "I'll meet you at the guild hall at seven."

"I'll see you two then," they said and came to their feet before they bowed. "Thank you for the tea."

"Get back home safe," the prince said, and they nodded and made their way to the door. The knight followed them out, and they felt the maid's eyes boring into them as they left. Gods. This was a fucking nightmare. They were going to die before they reached eighteen. No, they were going to die before they reached sixteen. This was the worst case scenario. Artesia needed to stop using them as a meatshield. They weren't even made of meat. Gods. Fuck.

Did that girl not even consider that they may have more to hide than her??

It was fine. They just had to get through this event and come out on the other side. It was fine. There was no way events would keep finding them. They were trying to have their shounen, dammit. Why did all of this shoujo shit keep inserting itself into their story? Was this the curse of a nonbinary protagonist? It was like the plot kept trying to assign them 'girl' against their will, and they were not having it.

Artesia needed to get over her paranoia about death flags already. Georgina was dead. There was nothing to panic about. She had smooth sailing from here on out.

Annoyance rose and fell in a wave, and they were led down the stairs and out into the courtyard and waiting carriage.

"We will take you back to the guild hall," the knight said, and they climbed on board and flung themself into their seat.

"Wonderful," they gritted out, and the knight gave them a hard look.

"Mention this to no one," he said, and they nodded tightly.

"I'm not stupid, don't worry," they said, and he hummed and closed the door. They watched as he swung onto the horse, and they wondered how many knights and paladins were going to be disguised in the crowd. Probably a lot. They were going to be everywhere, and now he would have to awkwardly third wheel as Artesia's lack of social graces charmed the first prince.

Dammit. Why did a second ML rear his head all of a sudden? The first prince hadn't been the second ML in A Saint's Life. He was just an extra. What was going on?

Objectively, Mally was aware that they were going to throw the plot out of whack by killing Georgina. However, they hadn't anticipated that it would be this out of control. It was like the plot was trying to repair itself and restore them to the position of villainess. Well, they were not having it. No, thank you. The plot could try to repair itself all it wanted, but Mally was not going to play the game.

Mally was not going to play the game.

....

"Hello?" Mally called as they stepped into the bookstore, and the old bookseller poked his head out from behind the stacks.

"Ah! Mally! It's noon, what are you doing here so early?" he asked, and Mally grimaced.

"I'm here to tell you I've been press ganged into an outing by some other people I can't refuse," they said, and the bookseller visibly wilted. "I'm sorry."