Unexpected Guest
Before parting ways with Ceryll and stepping into my room, I took a deep breath first.
Even if Jinny is standing there completely naked, I absolutely will not be surprised.
With that firm resolve, I opened the door.
And my determination shattered into pieces on the spot.
"I have missed thee so!"
So declaring, Goddess Eru charged straight at me.
My face ended up buried deep in Goddess Eru's enormous breasts.
I could barely breathe, but to be honest, it did not feel bad at all.
…In fact, it felt rather good.
"G-Goddess, why are you here?"
I managed to ask while still smothered against her chest.
"I could no longer endure without seeing thee."
"Pardon?"
"I was deeply moved by thy exploits! Truly… this goddess is so very happy to have chosen thee!"
She hugged me even tighter.
Now I genuinely felt like I was going to die from lack of air.
"P-Please calm down."
"Ah, yes. This is no time for such things! Time is short, so I shall state my business and nothing more."
Goddess Eru released me as she spoke.
Then she flicked her fingers.
Snap.
At once, two objects materialized between us.
Description: Holy water brimming with Goddess Eru's love. Upon consumption, holy power increases.
Description: Allows one to scale walls with ease and freely vault between obstacles and walls.
Holy water that increased holy power was extremely rare.
The only force capable of piercing the curses that protected the apostles of the evil god was holy power.
Yet if that holy power was insufficient, the curse could not be completely shattered.
In other words, the more holy power one possessed, the better.
Nice.
But even better than that was the other gift.
To think she would grant me a talent.
Talents were normally obtained only at birth.
Apostles, however, were different.
The evil god bestowed items that allowed one to acquire post-natal talents called "after-talents," while the goddess simply granted talents to her apostles in this manner.
Considering how much easier life became with even a single talent, having one more could hardly be a bad thing.
Parkour, huh…
There was nothing wrong with having it.
I was an archer, which inevitably meant I often needed to reach high places.
Making it easier to scale upward with parkour was pure benefit.
"I have resolved to support thee with all my strength. Yet being able to offer only this much is truly lamentable."
"No. I am truly grateful."
I meant it.
This was only our second meeting, and already she was showering me with such generous gifts.
I could feel just how much sincerity Goddess Eru was pouring into me.
"To speak so considerately for this goddess's sake…! Indeed, choosing thee was the right decision."
Goddess Eru nodded as though she had made up her mind.
"I am convinced once more that forming an apostle contract with thee is the proper course. Let us complete the contract we could not finish back then, right this very moment."
That was what Goddess Eru said.
An apostle contract…
I had refused it until now because I hated the idea of becoming more endangered.
Even now, I still did not want to put myself in danger.
Getting involved with the apostles of the evil god meant my life would be at risk.
But that was not the only reason.
…If I lose, everyone else dies too.
In other words, I had believed that someone who could not save others forming an apostle contract would only become a burden.
However.
…If it is with Ceryll.
I had already stepped into this dangerous world.
And together with Ceryll, I had overcome that hardship.
The next one to become an apostle will be Ceryll.
Before long, Ceryll would become an apostle.
So I would not have to fight alone.
I was not the protagonist.
But with Ceryll at my side, we might be able to save many people.
…And if I pull out now, Ceryll will have to bear every danger alone.
Ceryll was strong.
That did not mean she was immortal.
In the original story, both Ceryll and the Original Protagonist faced death more than once.
Even when they shared the burden, it had been that bad. If she were alone…
I should form the contract.
Still, not right now.
…I'll form it when Ceryll does.
There was no need to expose myself to danger starting from this moment.
Besides, I could already use holy power even without the contract.
Goddess Eru could only remain in the mortal realm for a few minutes at most.
After somehow sending Eru away, I was just about to rest properly.
Knock knock.
At the sound of knocking, I furrowed my brow.
Who the hell was interrupting my rest?
"Student Reina, a meeting request."
A meeting?
Reina's parents?
According to the original story, Reina and her parents had a decent relationship.
They had visited for these meetings from time to time.
…If I meet them now, won't they realize I'm not the real Reina?
Avoiding them was the correct choice.
But.
…If I'm this poor, then her parents must be just as hard up, right?
They had scraped together what little money they had to come all the way here. Refusing to see them felt a little wrong.
"…I'll go."
What had the original Reina's personality been like again?
I would try to imitate it as best I could.
Thinking that, I followed the dormitory supervisor.
Meetings took place in the consultation room located between the boys' and girls' dormitories.
And there I came face-to-face with a very familiar face.
"Reina, what are you doing in the consultation room?"
It was the Original Protagonist.
Since he also got along well with his parents, he had dropped by the consultation room like this from time to time.
…Looks like he came with Reina's parents.
Considering that Reina's and the Original Protagonist's parents had always arrived together in the original story, there was nothing strange about it.
"Yeah. Looks like my parents came to visit."
I tried to keep the conversation brief and end it there.
But.
"Your parents came looking for you, Reina? That's impossible."
At the Original Protagonist's words, I froze.
"What do you mean?"
"Well… you and your parents don't get along at all. Worse than that… it always felt like they outright hated you."
What?
"What are you talking about…"
"Well, you've changed a bit lately, so maybe they have too. Not sure, but hang in there."
Leaving only those words behind, the Original Protagonist walked off.
…Reina and her parents had a bad relationship?
In the original story they had gotten along so well.
That made no sense.
Yeah. The Original Protagonist must have been mistaken.
Unfortunately, I had no way of verifying whether his words were true or not.
"You've arrived."
The person waiting for me was not my parents, after all.
"I am Ann Strauss. Father of your homeroom teacher, Anin."
I already knew that.
Ann Strauss.
In the novel, he had been an enormous ally to the Original Protagonist.
The one who blocked the political pressure flying toward the hero.
That was possible only because Ann Strauss wielded tremendous power.
The Strauss family was a house that had produced a hero.
And not just any hero—an extraordinary one.
The god with whom the ancestor who built the modern Strauss family had contracted was none other than the Great Goddess, the highest of all deities. That said everything.
Even now, the remnants of that ancestor continued to exert enormous influence over the kingdom.
The reason the evil god's apostles in prison could neither receive power from their god nor communicate with him was also thanks to the Great Goddess's power, right?
In any case, because the family had produced such a figure, the prestige of the Strauss house within the kingdom was immense.
That prestige rivaled even the emperor's!
And such a man was—
"Sit."
—saying that to me right now.
The die was already cast.
Having come this far, there was no fleeing.
"Yes."
So I sat down for the time being.
"I prepared some snacks. I wasn't sure what children these days enjoy, so I simply bought whatever seemed popular… I hope they suit your taste."
"Ah, thank you."
Out of courtesy, I picked one up and ate it.
I could barely taste anything.
Why is Ann Strauss here?
As befitting the Original Protagonist's ally, he was a force for good…
But Ann Strauss was not supposed to appear until around the mid-story.
…Around this time he should be supporting the Apostle of the Shield at the border marquisate, shouldn't he?
A man who ought to have left the kingdom for the borderlands was sitting here, so of course I was flustered.
What on earth did he come to see me about?
There was something that made me feel a little guilty.
The apostle who had defeated Lutin.
Anin had said she would not dig into it, but Ann Strauss might well have ignored that and conducted his own independent investigation.
Perhaps he had realized I was the hero and come to make contact like this.
If so, will he offer support the same way he did for the Original Protagonist in the original story?
Since I was planning to form an apostle contract anyway, receiving that kind of support would not hurt.
Thinking that, I brought the teacup to my lips.
"Would you become my daughter?"
"Pfft—!"
I spat out the tea.
And sitting right in front of me was Ann Strauss.
In other words, I had just sprayed tea on a man whose power rivaled the emperor's…
"I-I'm so sorry."
"It's fine. More importantly, what do you say to my proposal?"
"I'm sorry. I think I misheard you, so could you please say that again?"
Yeah. That had to be auditory hallucination.
"I asked whether you would become my daughter."
…It was not.
"Why… would you suddenly make such a proposal?"
"I looked into you. I'll be direct. I know you are the hero who recently caught the bomber."
So I really had been found out.
"Having learned of the hero's existence, I decided to support you. And I concluded that the best way to do so would be to adopt you as my daughter."
Even if it was only adoption, becoming a daughter of the Strauss family meant even the imperial household would not be able to touch me lightly.
…Looking ahead, it was not a bad offer.
"If you become my daughter, I will push you forward with every resource at my disposal. Not only that—I will also block any dangerous or troublesome individuals who approach you."
"Dangerous or troublesome individuals?"
Was he offering to clear out the other apostles of the evil god as well?
"I mean Ceryll Rayford."
In that instant I froze solid.
"Why Ceryll?"
"Why? Is she not the very person who brought your house to ruin?"
…What?
That was the first I had ever heard of it.
Reina's family's downfall was connected to Ceryll?
Considering Ceryll's true identity, it was not entirely impossible.
But…
…That wasn't the setting in the original story, was it?
"Above all, Ceryll Rayford's mother is a demonkin."
I already knew that information, so it did not surprise me.
In the original story that truth later became a twist showing that even among demonkin there could be good people.
"And so?"
"That means the girl is the daughter of a demonkin."
"Even if that is true, Ceryll is still Ceryll."
Ceryll had said she would love me no matter which Reina I was.
I felt the same.
No matter who Ceryll's parents were, Ceryll was Ceryll.
The fact that she was a demonkin's daughter did not change how she had treated me.
More than anything, I had read the original story, so I knew how good a person Ceryll was.
Even if I had not known, after spending all this time with her, how could I fail to notice?
"Are you not a hero?"
"What I oppose is not the demonkin, but the evil god and his apostles."
"The demonkin are the apostles of that evil god."
I shook my head.
"Not every demonkin can be considered an apostle of the evil god. There are good demonkin as well."
"What did you say?"
Ann Strauss seemed unable to easily believe that good demonkin existed.
Well, if I had not read the original story, I might have felt the same.
In reality, every demonkin who had appeared in the kingdom so far had been nothing but evil-god apostles who committed only wicked deeds.
"Just as not every human is good, might not the same be true of the demonkin?"
"You…"
In a way, this was an extremely dangerous statement.
Even so, I could not stop.
Because hearing Ceryll insulted like that left a bitter taste in my mouth.
"And you said the demonkin are apostles of the evil god—but did you know this? There are quite a few apostles of the evil god among the people of this kingdom as well."
"What…?"
"Try investigating your family's butler sometime."
Thud.
With those final words, I stood up.
"I'll be going now."