Chapter 55 – Play
“It’s alcohol…”
Come to think of it, even though we all drank together, this is the first time we drank together like this.
To put it bluntly, it was the first and last time I drank with Yuria when there were only two of us at a party in the beginning.
“I have an early start tomorrow, so as long as you don’t drink too late, that’s fine.”
“Then I’ll adjust the amount appropriately, so let’s go quickly.”
After she came to Elysium, she was Lina who had been researching Behemoths in the library, but it wasn’t too difficult for her to find a store she could go to.
There may be slight differences due to the income level or characteristics of the city, but the structure of the city was all there.
For Lina, who has traveled to many cities, it was not too difficult for her to find a tavern to go to in her first city.
That’s how the hero and Lina arrived. It wasn’t a high-end store, but it wasn’t a low-end store either.
The store is a place where many people gather, and at first glance, it doesn’t seem suitable for talking about secrets, but because of this noise, small talk on the contrary will be mixed with the sound.
Lina went inside, sat down, and lightly ordered two beers and miscellaneous snacks from her clerk, and the hero sat across from Lina.
And soon after, when the snacks and beer glasses they ordered were placed in front of each other, Lina first quenched her throat and said.
“Big… Actually, I’ve been craving this since yesterday. Drinking after work has become almost a daily routine.”
“I see, I’m sorry I made you stay one day because of me yesterday.”
“No, what are you sorry about… On the contrary, I’m sorry this side wasn’t helpful.”
“What are you saying… I couldn’t have done it without you guys.”
In fact, the warrior was able to win not because of humility, but because of a lot of help.
The current victory was because Lina collected her information and her friends, including Martha, protected the paralyzed hero.
“… It’s embarrassing to say that, but I shrug my shoulders a little too.”
“It’s okay to shrug. Because I was just telling the truth.”
The two of them chatted about miscellaneous things, and when Lina’s glass was almost empty, Lina cautiously opened her mouth.
“Excuse me… Warrior, that’s what I said. What I was going to say when I was with Horde… Was that sincere?”
“…”
To answer that question, as if even a warrior needed courage, she barely opened her mouth after emptying her glass in front of her.
“Yeah, that’s true. If YuRia was in that state, I would… She might have kicked Yuria out of her party.”
“…”
Lina, who had been working as an adventurer for a long time, could guess the reason even without the hero telling her.
No matter how powerful she is, if she is mentally unstable, she risks endangering her allies, including him.
Therefore, the party leader has an obligation to prevent such a situation in advance, and the way to do that is to get rid of her exile or her mental anxiety.
Knowing that well, Lina worked her brains out for a short time and resolved Yuria’s dissatisfaction today.
With Horde as a punching bag, she relieves Yuria of her anger and her stress, and realizing what she was trying to do, she comforts Yuria with Mirian.
Fortunately, the plan worked out, and Yuria, although not completely, has recovered to a fairly acceptable state now.
‘The hero’s choice is right. But…’
But why?
If Rina had been a hero, she would have given the same or similar answer, but why was it so sad that the words of expelling her comrades came out of the mouth of the hero?
“… The hero has changed a little.”
It was not unreasonable that such words came out of Lina’s mouth casually.
Hearing that she had changed, the warrior, who had been staring blankly at her empty wine glass, said with a blank expression.
“Shall we talk about the old days?”
“An old story?”
“Well, it’s an old story, it happened only 7 months ago. I am… At some point, I thought this journey was an adventure.”
A common adventure in which a hero gathers allies and together with them defeats the demon lord.
From a certain moment, the warrior thought of this journey as an adventure that could only come out of a fairy tale.
However, the more she heard the cruel rumors of the Demon King’s army coming through the wind, and the more companions she joined, the more she realized that this journey was not an adventure.
“… My hometown was attacked and destroyed by the Demon King’s army. Her family and friends all died then. Maybe I thought I was taking an adventure because I wanted to run away from the past.”
“… Warrior.”
“But you can’t do that now. This… Between humanity and the demon army… It is a competition for survival.”
What was going on now wasn’t even a war. If it was a war, he could have surrendered, but the Demon King’s army does not accept surrender.
There was only slaughter, and just like the hometown of the warriors, all those who could not escape ended up turning into cold corpses.
“So, I might end up making such a heartless choice in the future. I can’t let innocent people die because of the greed of wanting to go to the castle of demons with my colleagues.”
Now that she is carrying countless lives besides Yuria and her other comrades, she can’t stay in the mood of an adventure forever.
Listening to the hero’s words, even though she didn’t want to understand it, Lina had no choice but to accept the fact.
“Warrior… You have grown up.”
“I can’t be a child forever. … It’s late, should we stop going in now?”
“… Alright, let’s go in now.”
After paying the bills at the counter, the two went back to their lodgings in the cold night breeze.
I was about to come out without a long stay, but perhaps because the story was getting longer, the number of passers-by was noticeably reduced compared to before.
That’s when the hero and Lina, who returned to the lodging, open the door and try to go inside.
“… Uh? Mr. Horde?”
“Ugh!”
Horde ran away from the Great Library earlier, but all their luggage was in the dorm and there was nowhere else to go, so they had no choice but to return to the dorm.
Horde flinched momentarily when he saw the faces of the hero and Lina, but then gathered up the courage to approach the two and ask.
“Excuse me… YuRia…”
“Yuria is fine now. What… Half of it is thanks to you, so I’ll be grateful.”
Horde was relieved by Lina’s words, and when she let out a sigh of relief, the hero, who had asked her, but didn’t know the circumstances, tilted his head.
However, the fact that Horde eased YuRia’s mood remains unchanged, so the hero lowered his head to Horde and said.
“I don’t know what happened, but thank you for making YuRia feel better.”
“… No.”
Horde, who still had Yuria’s handprints on his neck and the feeling of his throat being choked, felt a surge of excitement when he heard those words.
But I didn’t have the courage to say anything, so I just nodded my head and roughly agreed.
“Then go inside…”
The hero raised his head, saying let’s go in, but when he saw the handprint on Horde’s neck, he stiffened.
“Mr. Horde, the handprint on that neck…”
“Ah, that… This…”
How should I explain these handprints? At the time when Rina was confused by an unexpected situation.
Ironically, what resolved this situation was the hero’s words that brought about this situation.
“If… Is that a play?”
“Yes, yes? P-play?”
Horde and Lina were flustered because they couldn’t understand what the hero was saying, but the hero calmly continued.
“I heard from an adventurer I know before that besides a man hitting a woman to excite her, I heard that there is also the opposite. … I wonder if he let go of Yuria’s anger with such a play…”
At that, Lina desperately held back her laughter, and Horde desperately held back her anger.
“That Horde… ?”
“…”
Even Horde couldn’t just laugh this off, so he didn’t respond to the warrior’s words and went back to his lodgings without a word.
“… Lina, did I make another mistake?”
“Oh, no… Whoops… !! I’m just shy, so you understand.”
“… Is it?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Now let’s go in quickly.”
*****
…
Early in the morning, the hero and Grindella’s adventure group boarded an airship at the same time as dawn and headed for Mardis, a city of trade.
Originally, it would have taken a while to find an airship that could accommodate 100 people, but thanks to the help of the guild master of Elysium in advance, I was able to leave for Mardis right away.
During the few days left for Mardis, the warrior practiced sword training with adventurers on deck during the day and received miraculous guidance from Marta at night.
Compared to magic or aura, miracles were still far from perfect, so there was a lot to learn from Martha.
For the warriors who train day and night, Martha changes the day and night to sleep in the morning and wake up at night to teach the warriors.
Even though it only lasted a few days, the hero’s holy power increased significantly.
“You are wonderful! At this rate of growth, by the time you get to Tektis, you will surely be able to surpass me!”
“Martha is too humble. I am still far from Martha.”
“No, I mean it from the bottom of my heart, not humility. It may have been thanks to the training alone, but the speed of growth is truly amazing.”
Time passed quickly along with such a daily life, and although it took longer than it had to come because of the number of 100 people, the Hero and the others arrived in Tektis in less than two weeks.
After grabbing a lodging, unpacking, and heading to the adventurer’s guild, Bonji, the guild master, saw the warrior and Grindella’s party and scratched his head.
“Oh, this is so…”
I expected that maybe the number of colleagues would increase, but even so, this was far beyond that expectation.
The 100 ex-knight adventurers were amazing, but the Allenbaut family’s daughter, Rose, and the 6th Circle wizard were going to be added as many as 10 people.
Is the person chosen as a hero different from other people in terms of personal clothes?
“He only stayed for a month or so. What the hell happened to you?”
“That… To explain, I have to start with the story of defeating the Behemoth…”
“Yes?! Yes?! Behemoth dies?!”
The magazine’s mouth did not close at the shocking remarks that continued to be heard.
“Looks like you’ve been through a lot…”
“Yes, it was a long and short time, but a lot happened. By the way, how many troops have you gathered?”
“Oh, actually, that… The situation is not very good.”
Although they managed to gather 15,000 people by scraping together, it was not enough to destroy the demon king’s base.
It is said that a siege can be defended even if only 1/10 of the guards are defended, but rather than the same number, it is rather inferior in terms of troops.
Even if 10 Circle 6 wizards and 2 Circle 7 wizards were added to this, there were three corps commanders in the Demon King’s army, a powerful force.
Of course, there were warriors who were second to none compared to the corps commander, but the situation was still hopeless as the number was three.
Besides, it was supposed to end with a short-term decisive battle, but if it went wrong, the base could not be captured and only the existence of the hero could be found out.
If that happens, you can’t even imagine how many troops the demon army, wary of the warriors, will send to support.
“… If that’s the case, I have a good idea.”
At the sudden words of the hero, the headquarters and everyone present looked at the hero with their eyes flashing.
“Me, really?! Then, please let me know what you think!”
“Yes, what about…”
As the hero’s explanation began, the light gradually disappeared from the eyes of the people, and they looked at each other and asked if they were serious.
After the explanation of the operation, which was embarrassing to even call it an operation, Marta said with a smile while everyone was shocked.
“Warrior… Did you turn around?”
