A Meat Party Today!!!
Today was a meat party!!!
In the capital city of Delphoi in the Apollo Kingdom.
Although the city was famous as the capital of the Apollo Kingdom, it was also very famous for an entirely different reason.
Right here in this city stood the headquarters of the Solaria Church, the largest church organization on the entire continent, and the seat of the Pope.
Because it was a church that worshipped the goddess of the sun, the Papal Palace had been built in the capital of the Apollo Kingdom, the nation closest to the sun.
As a result, while the Apollo Kingdom did not suppress other religions, it had designated the Solaria Church as its state religion.
And now, in Delphoi, citizens had poured out onto the streets to wait for the return of the Saint of the Sun.
“It wasn’t with that hero from the Mars Empire, was it?”
“It’s probably just a quick stopover.”
“They say that hero who was traveling with the Saint did a huge job of hunting down Amon-class monsters this time.”
People shared the rumors they had gathered and waited for the Saint’s return.
And at last, a carriage marked with the Solaria Church emblem entered the main road of Delphoi.
“It’s the Saint!”
“Saint!!!”
“May the Grace of Solaria be with you!”
Most of the Delphoi citizens who were followers of the Solaria Church welcomed her return with intense cheers.
The Saint of the Sun, Estelle, riding in the carriage, answered by extending her hand out the window to greet them.
The carriage raced down the road amid the citizens’ cheers.
Some citizens felt concerned watching that.
“She must be busy.”
“She probably would have shown her face if she were her usual self.”
“Is something wrong?”
Leaving the citizens’ worries behind, Estelle headed for the Papal Palace in the carriage.
“Saint, we have arrived.”
“...Thank you for your hard work.”
Estelle stepped down from the carriage and immediately entered the Papal Palace.
The priests, nuns, and attendants who saw her hurrying inside without a moment to spare bowed their heads.
Estelle answered the greeting with a slight bow of her head and made her way to a certain private office that no one could enter carelessly from the Papal Palace.
The knight guarding the door of the private office greeted her with respect rather than blocking her approach upon seeing her.
Estelle opened the door of the private office without answering after a brief knock.
“Your Holiness!”
“Oh, Estelle. You haven’t even been told to come in yet. There’s a guest here.”
Estelle glanced at the person who had already arrived first.
He appeared to be a high-ranking noble of the Apollo Kingdom, but she had no time to care about such things now.
“We’ll talk about that later, Lord Covert.”
“Yes, yes...May the Grace of Solaria be with you.”
“The Grace of Solaria will be with you.”
The man hurriedly left the room, and once the door closed, Estelle stepped straight toward the old man before her.
Pope Pabiano of the Solaria Church looked at the Estelle who had come to see him, his long white beard brushing his hand.
Estelle plopped down into a chair and said,
“...Why did you call me here, Grandfather!”
“Grandfather? You should call me Your Holiness.”
“Even if no one else is around, what’s with calling me that.”
“Heh heh. You used to be so obedient when I first met you. What happened to make you grow up so mouthy.”
Pabiano spoke that way, but the way he affectionately called her Grandfather didn’t seem bad at all.
“The reason I called you here is—”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t it obvious? The hero might have died, so I called you.”
Estelle’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
Pabiano, who wouldn’t miss even the smallest change in her expression, asked,
“Why? Weren’t you already considering that?”
“...Our hero wouldn’t die so easily.”
“Of course he wouldn’t. Just hearing the rumors told me that much. He was doing an incredible job.”
Estelle nodded slightly at Pabiano’s words.
“But Estelle, you don’t know where he fell, do you? If the hero fell in a safe place where he could survive on his own, that would be a blessing, but it might not be.”
Pabiano’s tone was gentle, but his words were brutally realistic.
Estelle found it hard to hear because everything he said was exactly what she had been thinking.
“...Grandfather, stop it.”
“What if he fell in a dangerous place like the Glacier Mountains...”
“Grandfather!”
Estelle shot up from the chair and shouted,
“Abel isn’t the type to die!!!”
She was surprised by her own outburst.
Ever since she had been raised by Pabiano since childhood, she had never once thrown a tantrum at him.
So, Estelle immediately apologized.
“S-sorry...I wasn’t actually thinking of yelling...”
“...Now you’re finally acting your age.”
Estelle looked at Pabiano in surprise, and he laughed with a chuckle and a warm expression.
“You have to throw a tantrum sometimes and live.”
“...I wasn’t going to do that.”
Pabiano pulled his chair closer and reached across the desk.
He gently stroked Estelle’s hair and said,
“...Seeing you call me by name, it seems you were the ideal hero you always longed for.”
“...Yes.”
“I don’t want to lose such a hero either. There already aren’t many heroes in this generation, and losing one in this situation would be a great loss for humanity. But thinking realistically, I called you here. Because something unknown could happen.”
Estelle nodded slightly.
At that, Pabiano asked,
“Estelle, will you participate in the search?”
“Yes?”
“We’re planning a search in the direction of the Glacier Mountains this time. It’s dangerous, but as I said earlier, losing the power of the hero is even more serious. Originally we weren’t planning to search deep because it’s difficult, but just around the mountain range...if you join, the situation will change a bit.”
Pabiano pulled a sheet of paper from the drawer and handed it to Estelle.
“This is the map of the Glacier Mountains. Go search as far as you can with it. Just don’t go alone. There’s no guarantee the hero is there, and monsters live there.”
Estelle listened carefully to Pabiano’s warning and respectfully accepted the map.
She bowed her head deeply.
“Thank you, Grandfather...”
Pabiano looked at Estelle with eyes like he was looking at his granddaughter and smiled benevolently.
“All right, the search starts at ten o’clock. You should head out soon.”
#
After that, Celine and I continued our steady descent down the mountain.
Now the weather was starting to get warmer, so we were probably almost at the bottom of the mountain.
Of course, Celine had said we should be careful even after completely leaving the mountain.
The Glacier Mountains were not a single mountain but a range of mountains.
After a short stretch of flatland, more mountains might appear.
If we were moving to a mountain close to the Apollo Kingdom, that would be good, but if not, we might have to climb another mountain as Celine said.
...Please don’t let that happen.
“Celine, Celine.”
“Yes?”
“Can we eat that?”
“...Hero, that’s just grass.”
...Damn it. I’m starving. My butt is glued to the saddle.
The dried snow pig meat we had packed was all gone, and we hadn’t eaten anything all day.
Celine was also sensitive to hunger, so she must be starving too.
Maybe she didn’t want to worry me, because she showed no sign of it.
“Celine, let’s eat something and move first.”
“There’s nothing to eat.”
“That’s why we have to find it. We’ll starve if we keep looking while we’re going down.”
“...You’re right. You’re correct, Hero.”
In the end, we decided to hunt.
Just like when we hunted snow pigs, Celine and I set out looking for something edible.
But even after a long time, no prey appeared.
Wild animals were said to hide when they sensed a person approaching, but it was still hard to find them like this.
“...Ah.”
In our field of vision came a small, cute creature.
A rabbit with big ears and brown fur.
“A rabbit. We can fill our stomachs just right.”
Celine was already thinking of it as rabbit meat.
Her mouth was even slightly drooling.
...I was just as hungry, so I understood.
Honestly, it was cute and fluffy, but all I saw now was meat.
I immediately drew the Holy Sword of Order.
Before the rabbit could react—
“Hero, the rabbit is running away!”
“Huh!?”
At Celine’s urgent voice, I looked up and saw that the rabbit was indeed bolting.
Where to!!!
“Celine, we have to hurry!”
“Yes?...Kyaaah!”
I scooped Celine up just like last time and ran.
Celine said with her butt again.
“W-wait! Too fast!”
“You’re talking with your butt again...”
“Don’t make weird noises!”
“But the rabbit is that fast. If I slow down, I’ll lose it.”
Wild animals were said to be much faster than humans, and this rabbit was that fast too.
It was cute how it bounced along on its hind legs, but I was irritated by its quickness while I was starving.
The rabbit leaped swiftly and disappeared into a hole.
I thought I had struck it lucky.
“Celine, that looks like a rabbit hole!”
“Really? For real?”
Celine’s eyes sparkled with delight.
Damn it. We had searched everywhere.
Today was a meat party!!!
With that happy thought, I ran toward the hole where the rabbit had disappeared.
I blinked, and the moment I opened my eyes, my mind froze.
I had only blinked for a second, but the landscape in my view had changed.
“...Huh?”
Why was the ground...?
As Celine made a sharp gasp, I slammed my face into the ground, and my vision went black.
#
BOOM!!!
“Kyaaah!”
Estelle, who had been carried by Abel, tumbled across the ground.
That was because Abel, who had been running with her on his back, had collapsed to the ground, squished by something.
Abel’s face was slammed into the ground by the sudden appearance of something, kicking up dust.
Estelle coughed, hacking and spitting dust while looking around.
“Ugh...what is this...?”
As Estelle tried to check on Abel’s condition, a fist appeared right in front of her face as the dust suddenly cleared.
There was a creature with four arms.
It had long, slender limbs like a human, stood on two legs, and had a transparent membrane fluttering on its back like a cape.
Its four small eyes were arranged in an X shape as it stared at Estelle.
“...A monster?”
The monster struck Estelle’s stomach with its fist.
“Kuk...!”
Estelle crumpled forward without enough strength to hold her belly.
After falling heavily, the monster stared at her calmly, then spoke.
“...Secured.”
Like a modern person talking on the phone, the monster spoke into empty air.
Estelle watched it with narrowing eyes.
“...Why...doesn’t it kill...?”
That was Estelle’s last thought.
Estelle fell unconscious with her head bowed, and the monster picked her up.
It then approached Abel, kicked the Holy Sword of Order out of his hand with its foot, and sent it spinning across the ground.
The monster glanced at the spinning sword on the ground, then hoisted the unconscious Abel onto its shoulder and kicked off the ground to jump.
At that moment, the thin transparent membrane on the monster’s back fluttered, and it naturally flew into the sky.
Like a superhero from somewhere.
“Your Majesty. I will return now.”
#
Someone walking through the bushes made a rustling sound where Abel and Estelle had been taken.
The walker looked down at the Holy Sword of Order lying on the ground and gently picked it up with one hand.
“...Abel.”
The bright amber eyes looked up at the sky where the monster had disappeared.