Why Are You Coming Out From There? (2)
Do you know what happens when a person is truly, utterly flabbergasted? I didn't really know either—until just now.
When the shock hits that hard, no thoughts form at all. You lose any sense of how to react and just end up staring blankly ahead. Whether she could tell the state I was in or not, Ser-Aria lightly swept the yard dust outside as she spoke.
“Hahaha, what's wrong? You've got such a dumb look on your face!”
“…Why on earth are you still here?”
I couldn't help being flustered that she was standing right there when I'd been certain she left yesterday. Especially since Ser-Aria had been the most nonchalant of all the party members.
When I asked without even trying to hide my bewilderment, Ser-Aria laughed cheerfully as if it were nothing.
“Hm? I moved in!”
“No… so why did you move here?”
“It just kind of happened?”
“Are you going to keep dodging the question?”
When I spoke with a slight frown, Ser-Aria took a light swig from the liquor bottle she was holding along with the broom.
She's clinging to booze from early morning…
“Puhah, I never dodged. It really just kind of happened.”
“What? You expect me to believe that?”
“Then why do you think it's a lie?”
“Do I have to explain that for you to get it?”
After the way things went yesterday, if the people involved suddenly turned up next door, anyone would connect the dots.
“Albrecht, even so, do you think the kids would stay for such an ugly reason?”
“…Then what is it?”
“Hmm, teaching you for free seems a bit much.”
Ser-Aria held the liquor bottle out toward me.
“Keep me company for a drink and I'll tell you!”
“…I have to head to the Magic Tower soon, so no drinking.”
“Aria.”
At that moment another person appeared behind Ser-Aria. I was even more flustered than before. The one who stepped out somewhat defenselessly in her sleepwear was none other than Letisia—the same Letisia who had confessed her feelings to me only yesterday.
Having just woken up, her half-lidded eyes and still faintly red rims from crying, paired with hair she hadn't managed to comb, gave off a strikingly decadent beauty. For a moment she almost looked like someone else entirely.
Letisia glanced at me and simply bowed her head in greeting. I knew that somewhat indifferent greeting was consideration for me. She understood I was uncomfortable.
“Don't say weird things and just tell him. He needs to know too.”
“I need to know?”
“Aww, that takes the fun out of it.”
“Then shall I tell him?”
Ser-Aria smacked her lips as if she had no choice, then looked at me.
“Albrecht.”
“Yeah?”
“Listen carefully to what I'm about to say and remember it.”
“What kind of story is so serious…”
“It might be a matter of life and death.”
At Ser-Aria's words I froze.
“…Life and death?”
In fact, last night the party members had not agreed with Ser-Aria's suggestion to live in Parvata. Common sense alone said that people who had just been rejected settling down in the same place as the person who rejected them was, even by their own standards, far too much of a nuisance.
On top of that, it was ugly. Setting pride aside, it was obvious how Albrecht would feel about it.
“It's a bit… no, a lot weird. I don't think that's right.”
“…I think similarly. At least I don't want to cause Albrecht any trouble.”
“…Looking at his face every day like this? I'd rather be tortured.”
Ser-Aria, who had brought it up expecting easy agreement, was thoroughly flustered. Even after the great sorrow they had just endured, they remained rational—true to being the Hero and her party.
“Uh… I said it thinking of you guys. If you don't like it, I have no intention of forcing anything.”
“…Yeah, of course.”
“…Sorry for reacting so sensitively.”
“Ah, no, it's possible.”
Ser-Aria scratched her head. Going back like this would clearly not end well, yet with the parties involved refusing, there was nothing she could do.
Just as she was wondering what to do, a man appeared in front of her. The party members, Ser-Aria included, showed not wariness but puzzlement at the sight of him.
“Your Highness the Princess.”
“Hm? Why are you still here?”
It was the Forest Shadow operative who had been tracking Albrecht under Ger-Senia's orders and gotten caught by Clara.
“I have a separate matter to report to Your Highness, so I sought you out like this.”
“To me?”
“Yes. More importantly, did things go well?”
“Um… please don't ask about that for now. So what's the matter?”
He lightly nodded at Ser-Aria's request and changed the subject.
“In fact, while investigating Parvata, we discovered strange traces.”
“Strange traces?”
“Yes. We found them while investigating Your Highness's comrades… There were people who had been investigating the movements of Your Highness and Your Highness's party recently.”
“……What?”
Ser-Aria was uncharacteristically flustered, and Erinn, Letisia, and Freya who overheard widened their eyes, wondering what that meant.
Erinn stepped forward.
“I am Erinn, the Hero and leader of the party.”
“Ah, Hero. It is an honor to meet you.”
As befitting the High Elf King's intelligence unit, he did not give his name. Erinn did not find that strange and simply pressed for details on what he had just said.
“I would like you to explain in detail what this is about.”
“Yes. The first place we went to track your comrade was the information guild in Parvata. While checking information there, we found traces of investigations into your movements starting from about a month ago.”
“…Why would the information guild investigate our movements? Did you not find out?”
The Forest Shadow operative shook his head.
“Of course, since it concerned Your Highness the Princess, we used force to learn the reason. So it was not something they did on their own, but a commission from someone.”
“A commission?”
Who would commission the information guild for something like that? Investigating the movements of a foreign Hero's party, no less. It could not help but feel extremely fishy.
“Who is that someone?”
At Letisia's question the Forest Shadow operative seemed to ponder for a moment, then spoke to the party members.
“In fact I hesitate a great deal whether to tell you, because even I find it hard to believe the information is accurate, but…”
He continued.
“According to what we found out, it was the Holy Spear Hero who looked into it.”
“……What?”
Not only Erinn, but Letisia, Freya, and even Ser-Aria hardened their expressions. Ser-Aria went so far as to doubt the reliability of the information.
“…Is that information really certain?”
“According to the information guild's confession, yes. However, there is a possibility it is a lie… and since it is such unfathomable information, we plan to look into it further on our own.”
“…I understand. If you find out more, let me know.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The Forest Shadow operative offered the party members a brief greeting and vanished. Left only with confusion from the conversation, the party members were silent for a while.
The first to speak was the party's leader, Erinn.
“…Why is that person looking for us?”
To Erinn's question,
“Could it be… because of what we did in Mahendra before, and he's chasing us?”
“…No way.”
At the time they had left no traces of entry, of course, nor of exit. The only one who had expended mana on the ground was the dragon Caesius, so their own mana would have been impossible to infer either.
There should be no evidence.
“He might have judged and moved based on circumstantial evidence.”
“That man? No way.”
The man Erinn knew was not the type to do that.
“He would move more coldly than anyone. Moving just on circumstantial evidence?”
The Holy Spear Hero, Karna, was an extremely cold and cruel person… yet not someone who would make wrong judgments. As much as he was called cold-hearted, he was a man who always judged and acted on clear grounds no matter the situation.
“Unless there's another reason…”
“…Ah, come to think of it.”
Freya spoke as if she had just recalled something.
“Isn't the Holy Spear Hero currently… supporting a certain prince?”
“The Crown Prince Shah Bahadur. Why is that?”
“The other reason I just mentioned.”
Freya said to Erinn.
“If there's no reason for the Holy Spear Hero to show such behavior without grounds, that means there is a reason…”
“…Right?”
“The only person who can make him move regardless of his own judgment is that prince, right?”
“Wait.”
Listening to the story, I could not hide my bewilderment and stopped Ser-Aria. She, who had been chattering away, closed her mouth and quietly looked at me. Letisia likewise showed no particular reaction, as if everything said was simply fact.
“…So what you're saying is that the prince of the Shah Zar Kingdom might have the Hero target our lives?”
“Yep!”
What do you mean “yep,” answering so cheerfully? Does this girl not grasp how serious the situation is?
I was so dumbfounded I gave her a piece of my mind.
“Why would you blab about that in that prince's front yard!? No—you shouldn't even be here in the first place!”
This was none other than the capital of the Shah Zar Kingdom, Parvata. If they knew that fact, they should have told us to move somewhere else—why were they settling down here themselves?
“Ehh, running away would actually look more suspicious.”
“No, still…”
“There's a saying that it's darkest under the lamp. The prince probably won't know we're hiding here either?”
“……”
It wasn't entirely wrong, but…
“Have you not thought that you stand out a ton for that? If I were that prince and Hero, I'd find you right away.”
“That's why we're going to hole up in the house! When we absolutely have to go out, we'll disguise ourselves!”
“……”
I was so dumbfounded I just blankly stared at Ser-Aria. Was that even something to say right now…
“…Haa.”
If I argued further only my head would hurt, so I stopped.
“…But even if it's the prince's order, why would a Hero harm a Hero?”
“Hm? Why wouldn't there be a reason?”
“What?”
“They're people before they're Heroes. They can move for political reasons as much as they want. Of course they should try not to, but most Hero parties are in a position of receiving support from their affiliated country, right?”
Ser-Aria continued.
“So they have an obligation to grant the affiliated country's requests to some extent. Especially the Holy Spear Hero… has even declared support for Crown Prince Shah Bahadur.”
…It felt awkward precisely because it was too realistic. When you say “Hero,” isn't a Hero supposed to be someone who saves people based on justice?
“…So they have no hesitation in harming fellow Heroes either?”
“Well… if there's some reason, they might. Of course, since Heroes are all allies when facing the Demon King's army, most would avoid it as much as possible, but…”
“The Holy Spear Hero is extremely cold-hearted as a person.”
Letisia took over Ser-Aria's explanation.
“Honestly, he's so cold it feels like he lacks humanity. Previously, when he was battling the Demon King's army, the Demon King's forces that had been driven onto the defensive took a small village hostage…”
The Demon King's army, on the verge of being subjugated by the Hero, seized a human village as a last desperate measure. At that story I already had a gut feeling the rest would not be pleasant.
“…At that time the Holy Spear Hero annihilated both the Demon King's army and the village. Even though if he had simply spent a little more time he might have been able to rescue the people as well—with his own hands.”
“…Why?”
“Because that is efficient and certain. Considering the variables that could arise while rescuing the hostages, simply blowing up the entire village is the most certain method.”
My head went a little blank. Letisia spoke to me like that.
“That incident still hangs on the Holy Spear Hero like a tag. Some people even call that Hero a massacrer.”
“…I can see why.”
“But after that, do you think the Holy Spear Hero stopped making such judgments?”
“He probably didn't.”
“That's right. He's someone who acts without hesitation if he judges it to be right.”
Hearing Letisia's story, a bit of doubt rose in me.
“Then that means he moves based on the justice he himself believes in.”
“That's right.”
“Yeah.”
“Can targeting other Heroes be included in the justice he believes in? That doesn't make sense no matter the situation.”
At my question Ser-Aria nodded and spoke to me.
“I told you earlier, right? It seems the prince is targeting us because of the incident when we cleaned out that underworld organization.”
“Yeah.”
“The fact that the prince reacted to just that means the organization we cleaned out wasn't an ordinary underworld outfit—it was the ‘Royal Shadow.’”
“Shadow meaning…”
“The cleaners who do all the dirty work in place of the royal family.”
Ser-Aria took a swig from the liquor bottle and said,
“We cleaned them out without knowing any of that, cheerfully—hahaha!”
“…Is that something to laugh about?”
“Anyway, what Aria is trying to say is this: we handed them a justification. Of course they wouldn't kill the Hero herself over something like that—it would mean preparing for all-out war with the Empire—but…”
Letisia looked at me.
“What if it's already not a Hero party member, but Erinn's ‘childhood friend’ and former ‘party member’? From the prince's perspective, wouldn't that make for excellent revenge?”
“…Ah.”
Only then did I understand. Why these people had moved to Parvata—and right in front of my house at that. And what the life-and-death story Ser-Aria had mentioned really was.
“So if the Holy Spear Hero is targeting lives, me or Clara would be the ones most in danger…?”
“Yes.”
“That's right.”
I laughed hollowly. To think the action I had taken in the past just to make a little money would come rolling back as a massive snowball.
“Fuck this.”
I guess that's why they say people shouldn't get greedy for money.