Hero
Hero
The Empire.
The country's actual name was apparently Eshnua, though everyone simply called it the Empire far more often. It occupied a huge share of humanity's territory.
I'd heard it exactly once in my life. Just now.
"Welcome to Bistim Tel Nua, capital of the Eshnua Empire, Margrave Ragnis Lien da Levien of the Itisel Kingdom."
A man with long golden hair that suited him annoyingly well greeted Ragnis with a slick smile. He looked like some absurdly pretty playboy, and the introduction he gave had clearly been shortened from a much longer formal version.
Yeah, fuck it. I was only describing him that way because I was jealous. The truth was that a ridiculously handsome nobleman had greeted us with a smile overflowing with charm. He looked like a perfect pretty boy who'd stepped straight out of a comic, enough that I suddenly understood why Asilie had never classified me as handsome.
The bar for handsome men in this world was fucking high. Sure, looks like his obviously weren't common or I'd have realized it sooner, but the gap was so huge it actually pissed me off.
"I am Esdel La Bende. In the name of my house, I guard a portion of His Majesty the Emperor's lands."
All territory in the Empire belonged to the Emperor. So much so that even a tiny village marked on a map was named under imperial decree.
There were exactly two exceptions: lands granted to honor the great deeds of the dead, or lands granted to a marquis. Which meant, unless this man was dead, he was a marquis.
"I hadn't expected you to greet us personally. Thank you for such a generous welcome, Your Excellency, Marquis Bende."
Marquis Bende had been alone when he greeted us at the gate, but Ragnis's description of it as 'grand' wasn't wrong. When someone of a marquis's rank in the Empire took charge of hospitality, the standard procedure was for a close aide to greet the guests first and guide them to the lodging where the marquis waited.
Most likely, after this meeting, he'd assign a subordinate to guide us to our quarters and then hold a formal audience later, but showing his face even before such an arrangement was made was, I understood, an unusual move.
"It is only natural when welcoming those who defend the continent from the Demonfolk threat. The Hero's deployment has been delayed so that every preparation can be made, but this welcome also serves as an apology for that delay. I hope you won't feel burdened by it."
At his answer, both Radnelbandes and Ragnis stiffened. No matter how high a marquis ranked, the word 'apology' was not something one could toss around lightly as a representative of the Empire.
Which meant those words were relayed directly from the Emperor.
And to a mere margrave who, for now, was a margrave in name only.
"...Thank you."
That was likely the only response Ragnis could give. A shadow fell over Radnelbandes's expression as he watched the two of them walk slightly ahead and talk, but I decided to stop worrying about their intentions or the situation.
What the Empire's motives were, what problems Ragnis now faced because of it—that wasn't my job to figure out. It was Ragnis's.
If she were the type who couldn't fend for herself, she'd never have made it this far.
After walking through the gate hall for about three minutes and stepping outside, Marquis Bende introduced a man he called his close aide and then took his leave. The carriage we boarded again began moving under the aide's guidance, and I took in the sights of the imperial capital, leaving Ragnis, who was still wearing a grave expression, to her own thoughts.
Honestly, the city itself didn't look all that different from the kingdom, but I could tell there were more parks and that the average quality of the citizens' clothing was on another level entirely.
It was a city so peaceful and prosperous you could almost forget there was a war against Demonfolk raging on one side of the continent.
"You really feel like sightseeing without a care in the world right now?"
At Ragnis's grumbled complaint, her cheeks puffing out like she couldn't stand the look of me, I just laughed and answered shamelessly.
"Yep. Of course. Still, even the Empire's capital isn't anything that special. It's pretty similar."
I dodged Ragnis's attempts to kick me in the shin, and before I knew it we'd reached our destination. The problem was, it was somewhere I'd never expected. Once we got out of the carriage and followed our guide inside, I ended up saying exactly what I was thinking.
"Our destination... was the academy?"
"The Hero is receiving his education here, isn't that only natural?"
"No, I figured he'd be getting private tutoring or something."
I'd never imagined the training would take place in an actual school. Sure, Sheryl attended the academy too, but... this was the Hero. I'd assumed there'd be something different about it. But finding out he was just going through the regular curriculum—even if age-wise that made sense—I couldn't help but feel a little deflated.
"Now that I think about it, how old is the Hero exactly?"
"I heard he came of age a year or two ago, but I don't know precisely. He's either the same age as me or a year older."
It was hard to understand how little interest she seemed to have in him. He was the Hero meant to save the world and a wildcard who might contribute enormously to reclaiming her territory. Still, that was how Ragnis put it.
"Ah, right. I looked into it after talking with you last time, and it turns out the Hero was chosen four years ago."
"What, that's not as long ago as I thought."
I'd been sure it was six or seven years, but apparently that had only been my subjective sense of time. Did that mean he'd been some once-in-an-era prodigy who'd already shown both exceptional learning and major accomplishments at only twelve or thirteen?
"Right? It honestly feels like it's been about ten years. Four years ago was when you first met me, wasn't it?"
"It... was? That thug boss. Right?"
I remembered it clearly—killing him with a single kick.
"Heh heh. Right. Anyway, it seems the Hero's racked up quite a lot of achievements in that short time. The rumors going around aren't bad, I'm told."
The examples Ragnis gave were standard fare—wiping out bandits, exterminating monster colonies—but the number and scale of them were genuinely impressive. My cold assessment was that in only four years, he'd practically handled every heroic deed around the Empire by himself.
"And they say it won't be long before he deploys to the front lines with the allied forces in cooperation with the kingdom... I'm a bit excited to see it."
"Maybe not everyone, but you can afford to expect a lot from him."
"It's not quite that much. And anyway, if he falls short of expectations, won't our dear Eldmia Ega somehow manage it himself?"
"If a Hero chosen by the gods falls short of expectations, isn't the whole thing already fucked?"
Since I was a special case myself, a reincarnator, I'd fall into the category of the chosen if you looked at it that way, but ultimately, I'd been utterly ordinary until I got swept up in the war. I wasn't on the level of a Hero, who was born with the fate of being the Demon King's adversary.
"You're plenty exceptional in your own way, so won't you manage one way or another?"
"I don't even think I'm that exceptional, but even if that were true—if the Hero's something I could handle just by being a guy who stands out a bit, wouldn't that be its own kind of disappointment?"
I'd probably be pretty damn disappointed.
Ragnis just smiled and gave a bland, "I guess that's true." As we chatted and walked through the academy, a bespectacled man I'd never seen before came running toward us from the other side.
"It's been a while, Master!"
Judging by Radnelbandes's reaction and expression, this man was clearly the root cause of the whole situation. He approached with a bright, energetic smile and immediately received a heavy knuckle rap to the top of the head from Radnelbandes.
"Gahk!"
"You brainless fool!"
To be fair, from his perspective it might've felt unfair. He'd only been trying to praise someone's talent and happened to mention another talented person he'd seen before. If anyone asked whether he'd imagined that would snowball into this enormous butterfly effect, the only reasonable answer was, of course, "How could I have known?"
Even so, Radnelbandes was convinced he'd made a disastrous slip of the tongue and kept rapping him on the head hard enough to look like he meant to split his skull, while the bespectacled man shielded himself with tears streaming down his face.
"I'm sorry! I really had no idea it would turn out like this!"
"A mage! Speaking! Carelessly! Like that!"
He did seem to understand that he'd made a mistake. Still, he'd run up looking genuinely delighted to see them, and watching him get pounded on over and over apparently started to weigh on Ragnis too. Only after she stepped in was the bespectacled man's skull finally safe.
"I'm happy to see you, but I really am sorry about how this turned out, Ragnis. Still, it hasn't been long since I last saw you and you've already grown again! Your talent amazes me every time I see you."
Given the master-disciple relationship, he was naturally a familiar face to Ragnis as well. They fell into various conversations so naturally that I ended up awkwardly tagging along without even learning the bespectacled man's name.
"You'll be staying at the academy under the privileges afforded to a noble, in the capacity of an observer. Have you heard anything specific about your lodgings?"
"No. I haven't been told anything except that Marquis Bende has made the arrangements."
"If a noble arranged it, it'll be taken care of properly. Speaking of which, my next class is up right after this, so why don't you kill a little time and then come with me to see the Hero?"
"The sooner the better. What subject do you teach here, though?"
"Hahaha! What could a disciple of Master possibly have to teach?"
His easygoing laugh ended, and the bespectacled man's expression shifted into the smile of a sadistic drill instructor.
"Practical Combat."
J-just look at that damn smile. This guy wasn't normal either.