Revelation

What followed the plan for dealing with the cultists was a simple round of introductions we hadn't bothered with on the way here.

Of course, I had no intention of devoting brainpower to people I wasn't particularly interested in, and there was no need to give them information about Asilie, so I ended up being the only one to introduce myself.

"You probably already know, but my name is Eldmia Ega. I'm currently training to take the head of the bastard who destroyed my village, and as you've experienced, I tend to have a violent reaction to anyone trying to fuck with me. That's important, so remember it well."

As if he found it too difficult to bring up what they'd done, Kals cautiously watched my reaction and threw in a response.

"...The enemy who destroyed your village?"

"The Demon King's Army commander who ordered my village wiped out when I was a kid and then ran. I'm going to hunt that bastard down and kill him."

Eight pupils darted around fiercely as they began debating among themselves how to react. It was plain as day they were agonizing over whether to write me off as a lunatic or take it as a joke, but I didn't bother adding any further explanation. Partly because Sen's follow-up reaction was quicker than any elaboration I could've tacked on.

"Ah, so does that mean you're from the East? With how close you are to the people in this city, I was absolutely certain you were from around here."

"No. I'm from a nameless village a bit further west of here."

"...Excuse me? But just a moment ago..."

"The Demon King's Army's first invasion wasn't in the East. It was my village. Seven years ago."

I'd thought that was a fact quite a lot of people knew, but were these guys just lacking in that kind of information? Just as that thought crossed my mind, Merdela threw out a question with a strange reaction.

"I definitely heard it was the first invasion too, but that there were no survivors..."

"Ah, that's probably the commonly accepted version. I'm the one little-known survivor. It's a fact everyone in Ogwen who knows me is aware of."

".....Ah, I apologize, but in that case, your current age...?"

"Fifteen."

"...Huh?"

"Fifteen, I said. Why? Does it piss you off that some kid's been dressing you down and talking down to you this whole time?"

"Not at all! Hahaha! It's just such an unimaginable age that I froze up for a moment without realizing it. Ahahaha!"

"Doesn't sound like it. Sounds more like you got pissed off for a second there."

"Oh come on! You're hilarious!"

Unlike Sen, who somehow managed to keep laughing it off casually, the others looked shocked enough that their eyes were practically spinning, in more ways than one. It wasn't hard to guess what the way their gazes kept flicking between my sword and my build meant, so I decided to just let it go.

Considering they'd nearly died and survived, a reaction like that was only natural.

After that, I wrapped things up by roughly instructing them on what actions they needed to take the next day. Though it amounted to nothing more than setting a meeting time—something like, come to the Holy Light Cross Order by such-and-such hour.

The moment Asilie and I stepped out through the inn door after wrapping up the conversation, I heard Sen loudly ordering beer. I badly wanted to go back in and crack her on the head, but I let it slide for now.

"They're a really hard bunch to pin down."

"Huh? What is?"

"They can't easily overlook injustice, and they seem to know how to keep gratitude and grudges straight... so why did they make that choice when they first met us?"

"Maybe they just couldn't see anything in front of them because they thought they were about to die?"

"Hmm. If they'd cared that much about their own lives, wouldn't they have avoided trying to save Bellesica in the first place?"

It was something I hadn't given much thought to, but hearing it, it did seem to make sense. It wasn't that I couldn't just conclude their methods and means were simply on par with the average adventurer's character, but if I considered that there might be some other reason, one or two possibilities did feel like they might pop up.

But since it was a problem in a domain I didn't particularly care about, I just ran my mouth off roughly.

"Maybe their character was actually below average, but the Saintess unconsciously inspired them and practically compelled them to save her."

"That's a profoundly blasphemous statement."

"I firmly believe that since I saved the saintess once, she'll let something like this slide. O fair Rubisca of the Scales."

I assumed the prayer posture of the Holy Light Cross Order with exaggerated formality and muttered the words half-heartedly, making Asilie burst into a baffled laugh.

"Come to think of it, Eldi, you've always been strangely devout since the old days. You don't particularly ask the gods for anything or depend on them, yet you never miss your prayers at the oddest times."

"Calling it devout when I don't set foot in a proper temple and just hand-wave it by tossing prayers at a nonspecific multitude of gods seems highly problematic, but there is a deep story behind it going all the way back to my past life."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there is. Is that also an Eldmia chance?"

"Tsk. How long ago was that, and you still remember."

It was something I wouldn't have done if I'd known my relationship with Asilie would continue like this. The childish acts I'd occasionally put on in my own effort to keep things amicable, even holding back my sage-mode moments, began flashing through my mind like a panorama.

Ha... fuck. Someday I'm definitely going to have to tell her I reincarnated, and seriously, what kind of face am I supposed to make when that day comes?

"Every moment I've spent with Eldi is a memory. How could I not remember?"

"...Teacher? If you remember the days when I was half my size and still launch waves of affection at me, the public might call that child..."

"Do you want me to get mad?"

She said it with a smile, but the intent behind it was so extraordinarily firm that I decided to shut my trap. Whew, I almost left a huge scratch on my life thanks to a bad joke.

It felt a bit like a consolation move, but I quickly linked my arm with hers and clasped her hand. It seemed it wasn't a bad call, because Asilie's expression softened right away and she smiled contentedly.

Having barely escaped the crisis of ruining the mood with a bad joke, I wiped the cold sweat away and headed for Madam Alisha's orphanage.

◈

After Eldmia left with Asilie.

Unlike Sen, who had boisterously ordered beer, the others couldn't easily reach for the mugs in front of them.

"...Fifteen? With that level of skill?"

There was one thing they all felt in common.

"Did I, maybe, live my life for nothing...?"

"Oh come on. What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that! Drink your beer. It's going flat!"

Sen, who laughed heartily and raised her glass alone to toast their safe return and downed her beer, was inwardly just as flustered.

But unlike the others, it wasn't because she felt a sense of inferiority about his skills—it was because his age had completely missed her expectations, so she was able to maintain her smile. There was no way Eldmia would have deliberately lied about his age just to watch them flounder. Especially when there were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠countless other ways he could have flustered them anyway.

Looking at his face after hearing the story, it wasn't impossible to accept. His large build, muscles, and the unfiltered way he spoke like a grizzled thirty-year-old mercenary had just overshadowed it; his face, apart from its sharpness, had a distinctly youthful air to it. At first, she'd just assumed he had a baby face... but it turned out he'd just had an old face instead.

In fact, even calling it an old-looking face felt like a stretch. His presence was just that overwhelming. For the Human Race, there was a good chance his face would still look the same five years from now.

'Still, I'd estimated he was at least eighteen.'

His speech. His skill. His judgment. His boldness. His resolve that didn't hesitate to kill. They said there were limits even to genius, but that seemed like a saying that truly did not mesh well with the words 'there's always an exception.'

She didn't feel the same sense of emptiness as the others. Partly because the Pulling as a race were naturally specialized toward celebrating others rather than envying or being jealous of them, but also because a word that clearly denoted people who displayed such an enormous gap in ability firmly existed in this world.

"There's more than one or two geniuses in the world, right? If anything, I'd say it's more proper to be grateful and celebrate that we ran into someone like that and survived. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Don't you think?"

"...That's also a fair point."

"More than just a fair point. Think about it right now. What if the ones we ran into had just been some ordinary adventurer and an elf? Even if things worked out so we luckily dealt with those ten, we wouldn't have avoided injuries, right? And then we ran into the other twenty chasing us in that state? Instead of drinking beer, we'd have been corpses getting pissed on by thieves."

It was cynical chatter and simultaneously an extremely cold, hard reality and fact. And it was also exactly what her comrades, who were on the verge of falling into a pathetic self-loathing, needed most right now.

"Be grateful you survived. Isn't that a saying perfectly suited for our situation right now?"

"Is it really...? At the very least, that part where that person talked about killing a Demon King's Army commander or whatever didn't sound like a joke to me."

"Why does that matter?"

Kals lifted his beer mug with a complicated expression, holding back his words. At the same time, Sen understood in an instant what he'd been about to voice out loud.

"You're worried he'll use us as arrow fodder?"

"...Exactly."

"I don't think so."

"You really are impossible to figure out sometimes. Why?"

It was less an interrogation and more a question filled with genuine curiosity. Sen, who felt like throwing both legs up on the table and leaning back in her chair, had to settle for simply shrugging her shoulders because the table was built mainly for the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tall races, and answered without hesitation.

"Think back to those thieves yesterday. The person who told me to clean it all up the first time—why did he get up himself that night?"

"...Because it was a hassle?"

"Broadly speaking, that's not entirely wrong, but in the end, I think it was because he has the kind of personality that has to see a problem resolved with his own eyes."

Once she confirmed that the gazes of her comrades, with whom she'd spent over a decade, were all gathered on her, Sen slowly began to voice her hypothesis.

"Right here in this godforsaken place crawling with thieves, some of them ran away just from seeing his face. It's the same with what he shouted when we first met. Eldmia had a reason for telling us who he was. And what I predict is, that reason is the runaway thieves themselves."

"...What the hell does that mean?"

"It means his goal was to spread the word through the whole region: don't you dare fuck with me."

The thieves' reactions. The attitude of treating those who show respect with respect in return. The face that had revealed a subtle satisfaction watching the fleeing thieves. And most decisively, that blatant expression of 'having a violent reaction' if anyone tried to play tricks on him.

"Sometimes you see kids with too many mouths to feed who develop intense food cravings, or youngest children who always get hand-me-downs and develop strong possessiveness, wanting their own belongings. Fifteen? If what he said earlier was true, that means when his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠village was wiped out, that person was eight years old. Do you get the sense of it?"

What had I been doing at eight, she wondered. Probably fighting with the neighbor kid over a swing or something. It was such an old memory she couldn't even remember it well anymore.

"...You're saying an excessive self-defense mechanism developed as a compensatory psychology for loss?"

"Just what you'd expect from a mage—look at that refined wording. Yes. But instead of just biting at anything that comes near, he also cleverly uses his head. With that skill level, if thieves ran into him, do you think they could actually survive? It'd be impossible unless he deliberately let them live."

It was a body trained to the absolute extreme, plain for anyone to see. That was never something made out of a single day's effort, nor could it be just talent. Everyone here could sympathize with the fact that it was the result of thorough, grueling work.

"His reasons for killing are definite, but his reasons for letting people live are definite too. The reason we survived was because we staked our lives on vowing to prove our usefulness, and Eldmia made up his mind to accept that. It might depend on how we act from now on, but he's not the kind of person who'd just throw away a card he chose to keep alive like that."

If anything, he'd ask only what matched their abilities so he could keep them around and make use of them. He wouldn't even expect anything beyond that. That was why he'd tried to deal personally with the thieves who came back last night.

"This might even be an opportunity. As long as we don't try any stupid tricks from here on and consistently repay goodwill with goodwill, enough to build the trust that makes up for our actions at the first meeting."

"...Why would that be an opportunity?"

"Because that 'self-defense mechanism' Merdela mentioned wouldn't just apply to his own body and nothing else. It'd extend to the people around him too."

Eldmia hadn't said it was revenge for his parents—he'd said it was revenge for his village. He was acting to avenge everyone in that village.

"Right now, if anyone so much as laid a finger on Asilie, I could bet my entire fortune on their head getting lopped off. If someone among the villagers who was close to him got harmed by anyone, those people would regret it their whole lives or die without even getting the chance to regret it. Trust me. Right now we're in a very decent situation. It's just a little... terrifying, that's all."

Smile. Then most will become your friends.

Recalling the old Pulling adage, Sen put on a smile.