Blooming
Blooming
After finishing my conversation with Jin, I packed up my supplies and hurried back.
I'd be raiding Madam Alisha's food stores for a while anyway, so there was no real problem. Once I arrived at the encampment, I quickly pulled Seneran aside. She wore an exasperated look when I returned far sooner than expected, and after I told her what I'd heard from Jin, she reacted as if something she'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
"It's the Demonfolk, isn't it?"
"That's what I figure. Maybe those half-wits had backing from that side all along."
"...Could they have noticed even with the imprint contract?"
"It's not like there's absolutely no way to rip the information out if they're willing to let them die, but... no, not those bastards. It's more likely they had some other method and managed to pick up our trail."
"Do you have a reason for thinking so?"
I asked because it was curious how Seneran answered with such certainty, as if there were no need to deliberate at all. She only gave me an odd look, as if asking whether I was seriously asking that.
"I told you I broke the tunnel code back then, didn't I? If I wanted to live, I absolutely wouldn't have gone back to the tunnels. And those who didn't go back to the tunnels—there's no way the Demon King's Army could track them with impunity on Itisel soil."
"Huh, the code was that kind of thing? They got bold enough to stick to us anyway, didn't they?"
"They're either stupid, or they got offered a commission fee big enough to make them stupid. Which do you think? Anyway, worrying about those bastards now is pointless. Whether they get here sooner or later, the only difference is time."
"What will you do?"
"Why are you asking me? You should decide."
Wiping her glasses, which had gotten grimy without her noticing, Seneran calmly put her thoughts into words.
"The fact that they're moving this aggressively must be because of this temple's existence and the order. Whether they're mere horses following orders or the ringleaders, I can't say, but this is absolutely not a situation that'll end with just talking... and if I guess at the reason they ultimately took the relic, isn't this a situation where they might even throw their lives away the moment they see you?"
Because the fact that the Hero of the Demon God is a member of the Human Race is never good news for the Demon King's Army.
Putting her glasses back on, Seneran fixed me with a clearer gaze than ever and concluded.
"So you decide, since you're at the center of this. Being pushed around by others doesn't suit you, does it?"
It was a perfectly reasonable deduction, and from my perspective, an entirely convincing conclusion. I just hadn't expected Seneran—who'd ended up spending all that money for nothing—to be the one to say it first.
Still, since she was handing me the decision, I gratefully accepted.
"Well... let's gather everyone and talk it over, then."
"Talk?"
"The more people you have thinking about how to fuck those bastards over and dig into their trail, the more efficient it gets, doesn't it?"
We might look like some battle-obsessed warrior race itching for a fight, but since they'd gotten tangled up with our village, the basic premise was to smash first and ask questions later.
◈
After roughly explaining the situation to Asilie and returning to the ruins together, the others—who'd already heard some of it from Seneran—greeted us with grim faces.
No one raised the possibility that it might be some baseless rumor with nothing to do with us. On the contrary, the order's members and the Saintess actively reviewed their own movements, starting with whether they might have left traces. Through a smooth exchange of opinions—the kind you'd hope for in a group project—we reached the firm conclusion that the pursuers were definitely the Demon King's Army.
The real problem was what came next.
"Widra and Seneran, I think it would be best if you both hurried your return."
At Saintess Deoni's suggestion, both of them let out heavy sighs but couldn't argue back.
Everyone knew that excluding two people who could be considered major combat assets when we couldn't properly assess the enemy's strength wasn't exactly a desirable decision. But because of the positions they held, they simply couldn't engage in direct combat.
Since this was absolutely not a situation that could be settled with a light skirmish, a fierce battle was a foregone conclusion. Even if they hadn't yet factored in the Hero, anyone brazen enough to pursue the saintess and heresy inquisitors while also planning to face a mage who'd been making a name throughout the kingdom wouldn't come at us with half-measures.
If those two major forces clashed, no matter how much they fought in secret within the forest, rumors would inevitably spread and traces would remain.
The traces left by Magic Power, magic, and Holy Arts couldn't be erased before the kingdom—belatedly getting word of it—launched an investigation. And once it became known that the two of them had participated in the battle, the royal family would launch intensive interrogations.
"If we're unlucky, everything up to the illegal border crossing gets exposed. A scenario where we'd already pulled out and then Demonfolk latched on afterward would be better."
I nodded and backed up the Saintess's words, though it was probably an unnecessary gesture. My teacher nodded calmly as always, and Seneran twisted her face through a whole range of expressions before grudgingly accepting it and getting up first to prepare magic tools for my safety.
"That aside... Saintess, and the rest of the order—are you all right?"
No matter that I was the Hero, it couldn't be easy to turn against your own kind for the sake of the Human Race. When I thought of that and asked the question, the Saintess shed the calm demeanor she'd shown just moments ago in an instant and answered with a voice full of fury.
"How could we possibly be all right?"
I'd expected a response along the lines of regretting that it had come to a meaningless fight against their own kind, but the Saintess's reaction was completely different.
"They dared defy Epaga's will and commit such atrocities, and far from repenting, they continue to heap up their own sins—how could those who serve the divine possibly be all right?!"
"Ah... yes... I see."
I'd forgotten right away because I'd been focused on Holy Art lessons, but when I thought back, the one who couldn't contain her rage upon hearing about the severance from the sacred relic and rammed her horns into the wall was Saintess Deoni.
When the other heresy inquisitors who heard that story also took similar actions, I'd briefly thought that maybe this was, among Demonfolk-kind, a relatively normal way of expressing anger. But seeing the horrified look on Priest Mender's face as he stared at them, I'd realized their reaction wasn't normal in the slightest.
Not long after that, they'd gone quiet as if nothing had happened, so I'd thought they were fine. Apparently, that was not the case at all.
"Even if the Demon King himself gave the order, it is an outrage that can never be forgiven. To track us down using violence when even immediately coming to kneel and confess would be insufficient? This is a clear expression of hostility, an attempted murder of clergy, and sacrilege itself!"
Correction.
They weren't just not fine—they were blazing with fury to the point of being ready to headbutt anyone and anything again.
Even the heresy inquisitors who'd been listening quietly behind her weren't trying to stop her but were grinding their teeth right along with her. So to calm them down, I hurriedly spoke up.
"I-if they're soldiers, there's a chance they're just following orders and don't even know what they're doing, isn't there? Maybe the ones coming don't even know this place is a temple."
If that really were the case, I'd be very, very disappointed, but we still had a long way to go before the fight, and it was better to spout anything than to let them burn through their energy in indignant fury already. Fortunately, the Saintess and the heresy inquisitors set aside their anger, saying it was a plausible enough possibility. By the time the discussion began to settle, we'd started debating how to receive the bastards when they arrived.
But when it came to tactics and strategy, there wasn't anything special to note right away. The enemy had a clear target in the ruins, so after concluding we'd use that to create a situation for an ambush from the rear, everyone was about to get up and go about their tasks. That meant I once again had to open my mouth first—to clarify a subject that I couldn't understand why no one had brought up yet.
"Lastly, I'd like to capture as many of the enemy alive as possible. Does anyone have a different opinion?"
Unlike my teacher, who didn't care since he was leaving anyway, or Asilie, who reacted like it didn't matter either way, the faces of the order's people were truly colorful.
Half of them looked like they'd just heard someone say cancer cells are also living beings. The other half looked like they'd just seen a saint forgive the enemy who tried to kill them. As both halves gathered into one and poured toward me, the Saintess asked before I even had time to wonder what the hell they'd been thinking to produce that sort of reaction.
"Hero. You don't need to be so considerate just because we are of the Demonfolk. As I just said, they may well be the very ones who committed acts that could not be called anything but heretical..."
What a fucked-up world.
Judging by the reactions of the order's people who kept nodding along as they listened to the Saintess, they'd apparently taken it as me showing some sort of grand mercy.
"I think there's been a misunderstanding. This is purely a matter of practicality. You can't extract information about who's behind this from a corpse, so of course we keep them alive."
Since letting them harbor that sort of fantasy would do no good, I cut it off firmly and clearly. Yet for some reason, what came back was a reaction mixing strange satisfaction and admiration—'As expected. Hero has thought of everything.' Even the Saintess reacted that way.
Wow, this is seriously hard to get used to.