Because I Raised Him♡
Abel snatched up the holy sword and sprinted off at once. Watching him go, Estelle let out a soft little laugh.
"He's just so cute...♥"
"But can the Hero really take down a Horn Tiger already?"
A Horn Tiger. A monster that always hunted alone. The fact that it was considered every bit as dangerous as a pack of middle-class monsters said everything about how strong it was.
Of course, among the Heroes currently active, there wasn't a single one who couldn't kill a Horn Tiger without a blessing. But you had to remember that the other two Heroes had seven and five years of experience respectively.
And Abel? He'd only been chosen as a Hero a little over three months ago, and he'd only been properly traveling for just under three.
Celine's doubt was only natural. Heroes grew faster than ordinary people, sure—but already hunting something like this?
Estelle, the Saint traveling at Abel's side, shot that doubt down without hesitation.
"He can do it, so just relax and watch~♡"
Faced with an answer that was practically a guarantee, Celine could only nod for now.
The moment the Horn Tiger spotted Abel, it let out a roar and charged. True to its resemblance to a predatory tiger, its speed was monstrous. Abel wasn't stupid enough to meet that rush head-on.
Slash!
He twisted his body to the side and cut across the flank of its foreleg with the holy sword. A Horn Tiger's thick fur and hide normally shrugged off ordinary cold steel, but against a holy sword, none of that mattered.
In a single exchange, Abel had dodged the Horn Tiger's fast, brutal charge and disabled one of its strongest weapons—a foreleg.
"...Good judgment."
That was Celine's assessment. The decision-making didn't look like it belonged to someone who'd only just picked up a sword.
The Horn Tiger saw the wound on its foreleg and only grew more enraged.
"Grrraaaah!!!"
That roar alone made its fury unmistakable. It charged again, swiping with a foreleg, but this time Abel twisted the other way, slipped past the attack, and raked the holy sword across the remaining foreleg, carving a deep gash.
Stripping away the opponent's strengths first. Excellent judgment once again.
With both forelegs badly wounded, the Horn Tiger lowered its massive horn and set itself to gore him. Head down like a charging bull, it launched itself forward.
The rush was far faster than before—and Abel stared it down straight on.
"Wait—he's going to take it head-on!?"
"...Hmm."
His judgment had been solid until now. Why suddenly this? Watching Abel, Celine fretted in place.
Even Estelle found his choice a little strange. There was no real need to do it this way. She narrowed her eyes and watched closely.
Abel lowered the holy sword. His hips and knees dropped with it as he waited for the Horn Tiger to close the distance.
It came into the range he wanted. The instant it did, Abel bolted straight forward.
Celine was horrified by the reckless move; Estelle was simply puzzled. Then Abel's next action left them both stunned.
Shhhk!
"Die, you oversized house cat!"
Abel deliberately threw himself into a slide, skidding under the Horn Tiger's belly. From there he drove the holy sword upward with everything he had.
The blade punched into the creature's chest and split its underbelly wide open. With its stomach torn open, the Horn Tiger had nothing left. It slammed its head into a tree and toppled sideways.
The massive body hit the ground with a heavy thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Koff! Cough!"
Abel waved a hand through the dust, coughing. He was covered in blood—but none of it was his.
...A little reckless, but well done♥
Estelle smiled in satisfaction and started forward to check whether he'd been hurt anywhere.
That was when Celine turned to her with a faintly shocked look.
"...How on earth... How did Hero Abel get this strong so fast?"
Estelle answered with a bright little smile.
"Because I raised him♡"
After taking down the Horn Tiger, we butchered the horn and hide and sold them off at the Adventurers' Guild. They gave us forty thousand gold.
...Why only that much?
"Saintess, how much gold did we get for the loot when we killed those Forest Wolves?"
"Thirty thousand gold."
"...That's about the same as a Horn Tiger?"
Forest Wolves were lower-class monsters. A Horn Tiger was one of the stronger middle-class ones. For that difference in difficulty, the price felt...
"Back then there were several Forest Wolves, and their manes have all kinds of uses, so demand is high. They're especially popular in magical research and alchemy. That's why they're worth so much."
"...Alchemy!?"
There's alchemy here too!? First I'd heard of it.
"Are you interested in alchemy?"
Of course I was. I'd had a blast watching Fullmetal Alchemist. Did they draw transmutation circles here too?
But if I got too excited she'd probably give me grief for it, so I answered like I was only mildly curious.
"Ah... yeah, a little."
"Alchemy is far more complicated than magic. With a Hero's brain, you probably wouldn't understand even half of it♡"
"...You don't know that."
I was pretty confident I could handle equivalent exchange just fine.
"Well, you can look into alchemy later when we have more free time. First, let's find an inn for tonight~♡"
"...Fiiine."
Alchemy. I was definitely learning it someday.
When we stepped out of the Adventurers' Guild, Celine was waiting outside and greeted us with a bright smile. She really was pretty, too.
"All finished?"
"Yeah. We got forty thousand gold."
"Wow, that's a lot. The horn must have been in good condition."
...So that was a lot. Guess Horn Tigers just don't pay well.
"Where are you headed?"
"We're looking for an inn."
"Oh—in that case, I think there's one that way. I saw a lot of people who looked like travelers going in earlier."
"Oh, really?"
No time wasted hunting for an inn, then.
The place Celine pointed out really was an inn. Sharp eye. The innkeeper was a middle-aged woman who looked us over and asked,
"How many rooms do you need?"
"One."
When the Saint answered like that, Celine nearly jumped out of her skin.
"E-Estelle? You're only taking one room?"
"Yes."
Estelle looked at her as if to ask what the problem was.
"B-but the Hero is a man. Sharing a room is a little..."
"Oh, it's fine. Nothing Saintess Celine needs to worry about is going to happen. The Hero is a vir.gin, after all~♡"
"What does that have to do with anything!?"
...Whoa. I was genuinely moved just now.
Yes. That was a normal reaction. What the hell did being a virgin have to do with it?
...So Cloe really hadn't been right in the head either.
Estelle tilted her head and went on.
"There's no way a virgin Hero would have the guts to jump us, right?"
"What kind of logic is that!?"
...You little shit. I'm already holding myself back. Keep talking and I really will jump you.
In the end, Celine's fierce opposition won out, and we rented two rooms. The innkeeper handed over two keys, and the Saint who took them said,
"I'll be sleeping with the Hero."
"...What?"
"What!?"
...Why would you be sleeping with me.
"Saintess, that's a bit—"
"I was joking~♡ What were you hoping for, you pervert♡ You filthy-minded Hero♡"
"...Haah."
She was completely insane.
As I watched the two Saints head upstairs, the innkeeper called out to me.
"Hey, young man."
"Yes?"
"Our inn's got good soundproofing. Feel free to sneak over at night, all right? Want me to throw in some condoms while I'm at it?"
...The women in this world were genuinely not right in the head.
Celine followed Estelle into the room and regarded her with a puzzled look.
"Saintess Estelle."
"Yes?"
"...Don't you like the Hero?"
"...Excuse me!?"
Estelle startled so hard she stared at Celine as if she'd said something absurd. But Celine had already seen right through her. Anyone who'd watched the two of them this closely and still failed to notice would have to be an idiot.
Every time Saintess Estelle looked at Abel, honey practically dripped from her eyes. That wasn't a look you could produce without liking someone.
Which made one thing hard to understand. Downstairs just now, and all the other times—why talk to someone you liked like that?
"You do like him. Hero Abel."
"...M-me, like the Hero? What kind of nonsense is that~? As if I'd ever fall for a virgin scrub of a perverted Hero."
"...You're a terrible liar, Saintess."
"Ngh...!"
Estelle's brow twitched as she rounded on Celine.
"So what am I supposed to do about it!? Don't tell me Saintess Celine is a sneaky little cat after our Hero too!?"
"What?... No. I don't have any thoughts like that at all...."
She'd admit Abel was handsome, but they'd only just met. How could she already like him? He seemed like a decent person, sure, but there hadn't been nearly enough time for feelings like that.
This wasn't a novel. Fairy-tale love at first sight didn't just happen.
Celine's completely flat reaction left Estelle more flustered than anything. Back when Cloe had asked her the same kind of question, Cloe had confessed her own feelings and flipped the whole thing around on her.
"Then why ask me something like that...."
"Oh, I was just curious. You only ever say mean things to the Hero. I wondered if there was a reason you'd do that when you like him."
Estelle hesitated over whether to answer. But her feelings were already exposed; how long could she really keep hiding them?
Celine had said she had no interest, and her reaction made that almost certain—unlike Cloe, she was safe. Treating it like a bit of girl talk, Estelle spoke honestly.
"...Because the Hero is cute."
"Pardon?"
"His reactions are so cute I just can't stop!"
"......Ah. So you were teasing him?"
"Hm? Of course I was teasing him."
Celine made a thoughtful sound and tilted her head, wondering if she'd misunderstood the word tease.
"Usually... even if you're teasing someone you like, you don't go quite that far, do you?"
"...What?"
Estelle's eyes went round, as if this were news to her. Looking at that face, Celine was left speechless.
"...Is that not right?"
"Who taught you that treating people like that counts as teasing?"
Estelle fidgeted and mumbled,
"...The sister who raised me."
"...Ah. So you grew up in the Church, Saintess Estelle."
Planting that kind of warped common sense in a child—what a piece of work, Celine thought. Which meant the way the Saint talked to Abel was largely that sister's influence.
"From what I've seen, Hero Abel puts up with it because he knows you don't mean it. But people are people. Keep hearing unpleasant things long enough, and even knowing they aren't sincere still gets on your nerves."
Estelle thought back to the handful of times Abel had actually gotten angry. She gave a small nod, and Celine let out a quiet laugh.
"Saintess Estelle, if you truly like the Hero, why not try speaking a little more sweetly starting tomorrow? He'd like that."
"...Sweetly?"
Estelle tried to picture it. Herself, praising Abel—telling him he was handsome, that he was cool.
Just imagining it made both her cheeks burn. Even when she'd quietly called him amazing after they'd beaten the chimera, careful not to let him hear—how mortifying had that been?
"...I-I can't."
"Pardon?"
"It's too embarrassing! How am I supposed to say things like that!?"
Watching Estelle's reaction, Celine thought,
Someone who gets embarrassed over that has no business tossing around the word 'virgin' all the time...
Celine let out a long sigh.
"Saintess Estelle, how old are you this year?"
"...Seventeen."
"Still young, then. I thought we were about the same age."
"Hm? Then how old are you, Saintess Celine...?"
"I am not old enough to be called 'how old are you' in that tone!?... I'm twenty-two."
Five years older than Estelle. Celine offered her advice.
"Saintess, it would be better if you were a little more honest about your feelings."
"...Do I have to? I think there's plenty of time to take it slow...."
"Do you believe the Hero will stay by your side forever?"
"......For life?"
"...?"
Celine looked at her as if she'd said something ridiculous. Estelle looked back as if she couldn't see the problem.
"...A Hero is someone who always heads to the battlefield to defeat the Demon King. How exactly is he supposed to stay at your side for life?"
"Hm? I'll just protect him, won't I?"
"...What?"
Celine couldn't make sense of that. It wasn't the Hero protecting the Saint—the Saint was going to protect the Hero?
Granted, the holy restraint that had held Celine before had been too strong for her own holy arts to break, but that still didn't make "I'll protect the Hero" sound reasonable.
Even if Hero Abel was relatively weaker than the other Heroes right now, he was still one chosen by a holy sword. Sooner or later he'd have the strength to crush a Saint without breaking a sweat.
And yet she talked about protecting him. It was pure nonsense.
As if she herself is even a 'true Saint'...
"Heroes eventually have to fight truly monstrous things—Behemoth-class, Leviathan-class high-threat monsters, Barbatos-class, Amon-class, and worse. They take on dangerous missions like invading nests to kill Mothers. How exactly do you plan to protect him every time that happens?"
"...Ahh."
Estelle made a face like she'd understood. Celine nodded—but Estelle hadn't understood it in the way Celine meant at all.
She doesn't know, does she?
That Estelle herself was different from other Saints. At the Solaria Church, by Estelle's own request and the Pope's decision, they had never once publicly declared that she was a true proxy of the Goddess.
"It's all right."
"Pardon?"
"Saintess Celine doesn't need to worry about that. Still... I'll take your advice to heart."
Through her talk with Celine, Estelle had reached a certain realization. The insight she'd gained from their conversation was this:
I should probably tone down the words a little when I tease the Hero.
Quitting the teasing entirely never once crossed Estelle's mind.