Why He's Needed (2)

Right after Hero Esmeralda declared she would come find me.

KWA-DRDRDRDUK!

Far in the distance, I could see the hero approaching, snapping every tree in sight with her sword as she carved her way through the forest.

The fact that she committed such unhinged violence with such a bright, sunny face sent a chill straight down my spine.

"I-I'm fine, really."

"Hee... You really are, huh?"

The hero, Esmeralda, had closed the distance before I even noticed, and now she was peering up at me with those emerald eyes of hers.

Her gaze felt like it was seeing straight through to my very core, and I flinched for a moment—

"So, shall we go get something to eat?"

"Ah... yes."

Is this dumb hero's head filled with nothing but thoughts of food? Knowing she's this strong, yet like this—life is a bitter thing indeed.

"Anyway, we decided to eat lavishly today! It's not the gukbap you love so much, Jim, but it's Irina's special stew, simmered with plenty of spices!"

"Oho, that does sound delicious."

"Right? I snuck a taste earlier, and oh my, it's just..."

Human Realm food generally tasted a bit bland to my palate. That's why I preferred a gukbap closer to purgatory soup—something that seared the tongue clean off.

Of course, spiciness alone wasn't the whole story. How deep the flavor ran and how rich the aroma was mattered just as much in deciding whether a dish was good.

And on top of that, Irina—who was an excellent cook—had gone out of her way for me again today. It was enough to bring tears to my eyes. If she weren't a saintess, I might have proposed to her even knowing she was human.

"Come on! Let's go, Jim."

"Yes, ma'am."

When I responded, Esmeralda beamed and grabbed my arm, tugging me along.

Her usual bright smile paired with her usual high-handed behavior. ...Or maybe it only felt like being hauled off to my own execution because I had nothing to feel proud of? Probably that.

The hero, Esmeralda, took a slow spoonful of stew while staring intently at Jim—who until moments ago had been colluding with demons.

'Even after all that, you never gave up on trying to escape, did you, Jim? Amazing. Since when did the Demon King Army have that kind of loyalty to its own?'

She had long since eavesdropped on the conversation Jim was having. She hadn't heard the other side's voice, but Jim's half of it alone had been enough to reconstruct the whole flow.

Which was exactly why she was surprised.

So the Demon King Army—fabled for its merciless cruelty—had pressed an operation forward just to retrieve a mere mid-rank platoon's worth of soldiers. A platoon including a lieutenant colonel had even been wiped out in the process.

Anyone would find that exceptional situation strange.

"Oh! This is really good, you know?"

It was almost funny that the man himself hadn't noticed a thing.

The Jim that Esmeralda had observed was a fairly sloppy piece of work. He couldn't act to save his life and tended to simply do whatever his heart told him.

"Seriously, how does anything taste this good? Would it be all right if I had another bowl?"

"Y-you don't have to praise me that much, but of course I'll give you more."

At Jim's lavish compliments, the saintess Irina flushed red and ladled more stew into his bowl. Esmeralda watched the scene for a moment, then put a spoonful in her own mouth.

It was tasty. A stew packed with all manner of spices, simmered into a deep, layered flavor—of course it was delicious.

But was it that worth making such a fuss over? She'd have to say no.

Esmeralda looked at the stew again. Stared hard at it, confirming for herself the reason Jim was praising it to the heavens.

"Wow, this stew really does melt your tongue right off, huh?"

"......"

At the sight of Jim, blissfully unaware that his tongue was actually melting, Esmeralda clicked hers. As expected, if Jim had secrets, it seemed she'd have to hear them from someone other than the man himself.

'It's not like I want to cut Jim loose.'

A demon who had infiltrated the Hero Party. The reason Esmeralda kept such a Jim alive was simple.

'It has to be you. No one else will do.'

Esmeralda's eyes flicked between the stew and Jim, then finally turned toward Irina. Those green irises of hers began to glimmer with light.

One of the hero Esmeralda's authorities: the power to see straight through anyone.

On that alone, it went without saying how invaluable Irina was to this party.

However...

"......"

What she hid behind that graceful, kind-hearted mask—Esmeralda could not overlook it.

And that was exactly why Jim was necessary.

Because he alone could absorb the danger this party posed.

Irina Saintis followed Jim around to an frankly excessive degree.

To any bystander it might have looked like love, but to the man himself—and to the one person watching over it all—it registered as something else entirely.

'The reaper is right behind me. Is this how I get dragged down to hell?'

As a demon, Jim felt a creeping dread everywhere he went at the way Irina would simply appear at his back. Every time their eyes met and she gave that sweet smile of hers, anyone would admit it was quite lovely—but to Jim, it felt like receiving a personal death threat.

"......"

And to Esmeralda's eyes, Irina's behavior looked less like a girl in love and more like a dog owner doting on her puppy. The way she subtly treated him as frail and beneath her said it all.

It probably wasn't malicious on her part, but even Esmeralda sometimes found it unsettling.

Well, of course she did—look at what Irina was hiding in her trait list. Sinister didn't even begin to cover it.

'Then again, in a way she works as a suppressant, so I suppose that's a blessing.'

When Jim had first joined the Hero Party, he'd babbled nervously in front of Irina trying to fit in—compared to that, this was enormous progress. Back then, Irina hadn't even wanted to exchange words with him, yet at some point she'd become the one initiating conversations.

It was just that, now, it had escalated far past the point where Jim was suffering for it.

'Whatever happened to him back then... I'd better not ask, huh?'

Irina had originally come to keep watch over Esmeralda herself.

Bearing the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠title of the Order's saintess and declaring she would join the hero's journey, refusing her hadn't really been an option—that was Esmeralda's excuse, anyway.

Just glimpsing what lay beneath the surface was enough to make her dizzy, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Irina's acting had never once cracked, never once revealed her true nature. Esmeralda surrendered on all counts to that performance. But somewhere along the way, the woman's interests had drifted away from her.

She had zero intention of reaching out first with some clumsy "did something happen?" just to manufacture a moment of shared feeling.

Esmeralda squeezed her eyes shut and said a quiet prayer for Jim's soul.

What she was doing was groundwork. Precisely what kind of scheme she was laying was still unclear, but Esmeralda was certain it would mean nothing good for him.

'Mm. I'll just leave them to it.'

And the moment she pictured Jim suffering, Esmeralda's mood brightened considerably.

The hero, the saintess, and the pack-mule known as Jim were making their way through the forest when it happened.

This was already contested ground between demons and humans, so running into demons was a frequent occurrence. And unfortunately, perhaps because the region sat half-straddled between the Human Realm and the Demon Realm, many of the demons they met failed to recognize Jim for what he was.

"Kek kek kek."

"A human... it's a human!"

"Hand over everything you've got, and we'll let you live!"

Frankly, if thugs who actually knew Jim had approached him like this, that would have been the surprise.

Stragglers of the Demon King Army, spouting textbook third-rate villain lines while still promising to spare their lives. No—given the circumstances, perhaps she should call them deserters turned bandits now.

'If even bottom-rank grunts like those can desert their posts, then what does that make me?'

Jim felt a wave of self-loathing.

He'd enlisted as an officer, only to suffer through every hardship there was. Why was it that he, an officer, found his life threatened more often than the common rank-and-file?

He let out a long, heavy sigh and waited for Esmeralda's decision.

Would she kill them for being demons? Or, against all odds, just rough them up a little? Not every hero was a slaughtering butcher who cut down demons on sight, after all.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Granted, if it ever came out that Jim was a spy, the odds of a slaughter rose considerably—but that was another matter.

"Hmmm..."

Esmeralda deliberated. The reason for her hesitation was nothing complicated.

A vivid portrait of the desperate demon's life.

Because Esmeralda could see straight into people's true hearts, she was comparatively quick to show mercy and try persuasion first. It would probably be much the same this time, too—she intended to placate the demons and talk things through.

Except, there was someone who thought otherwise.

"Oh my, there's a bug."

THUNK!

The saintess of the Heavenly God Order, who could not tolerate the very existence of demons—Irina Saintis.

Blunt Weapon Mastery Lv. 30

With a soft, gentle smile still on her lips, Irina swung her morningstar in a clean arc and blew the head off one of the three demons.

"Uh...?"

An action that did not match that smile in the slightest. The demons couldn't process what had just happened and stood frozen in confusion.

Irina Saintis frowned slightly as she watched the blood sliding down from the spiked head of her morningstar, soaking into her hand.

"...How filthy."

Jim trembled like a leaf and dove behind Esmeralda's back.

Esmeralda knew exactly why he'd done it, and she let it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slide.

She glanced at Jim, then looked back at Irina. No matter how she looked at it, this was excessive. She knew Irina hated demons—but not this much.

"Ah......"

Esmeralda nodded slowly.

A teenage girl tormenting the boy she likes—it's a tale as old as time.

Right. Nothing to be done about it, then.

'Not my problem~'

Esmeralda chose to look the other way.