I’m Not the Final Boss’ Lover

very order as a subordinate,” he added. 

“I swear.” 

“Very good.
Let us meet tomorrow morning then, at the main gates.” 

We shook hands then.
Although our motives were different, as far as appearances went, we couldn’t have looked any more harmonious.

* * *

On the next morning, I donned the mask of an ignorant vice-captain who entered the corps through the backdoor and joined the Blue Flames.
Its team members, clad in black armor as befitting of a Dark Knight, welcomed me with hostile gazes.
Wipera looked particularly confident as he dragged me along to make an introduction to the rest, perhaps because he was before his men.
“Now, now! We have two new faces joining the dungeon raid this time.
I’m sure everyone here knows Jun Karentia? She’s a support mage and our exalted vice-captain-to-be.”

The others were quick to respond to my introduction with sniggers and irritated sighs.
Wipera’s tone was practically dripping scorn—his thoughts were almost written on his face, and I knew he wasn’t going to give me the treatment a vice-captain was due.
“I want everyone to leave a hardworking impression on our rumored vice-captain…” he continued.
“And this here is Sevi Ventus, the archer who’ll be standing in for Jaeger, who died in the previous dungeon.”

“I look forward to working with you all.” Holding a bow that was taller than himself, Sevi’s bobbed hair fluttered as he gave a deep bow in greeting.
The boy’s expression was terribly cold, much too unfriendly for a rookie who had been newly assigned to a team.

I stared at Sevi—no, Mayer disguised as Sevi and mouthed at him, “Your expression! Manage your expression!” Somehow, it was deeply disturbing to call him Mayer with the way he looked.
Sevi-Mayer frowned, but complied; with a sigh, he put on an awkward smile and I couldn’t help but wonder why he was acting so poorly.
Normally, he could smile so well… Then again, the man had probably never dreamed he’d one day transform into a brat half his age.

There had been no need to even ponder on who Mayer would transform into.
We had no clue who the accomplices involved were, and if the transformation target was too well-known, we’d risk being exposed.
Choosing Sevi, on the other hand, posed the least risk as he was a recent recruit.
Looking at Mayer’s skills now, I patted myself in the back for such a good decision.
He most certainly wasn’t cut out for infiltration.

Acting was, in essence, paying attention to how others saw you.
One would present oneself in a better way, or hide one’s inner self, and so on.
Mayer, though, had no reason to do any of those things.
Even the emperor tip-toed around the duke; how could he have ever experienced playing to somebody’s mood? In any case, the others didn’t seem to think much of Sevi, perhaps because most of their attention was on me, and that was a huge relief.