The Hero of the Holy Flag
“Mmm….”
It felt so comfortable.
My mind was at ease, my body was at ease… I just wanted to stay like this forever.
A hazy, dreamlike sensation wrapped around my entire body, as if I were floating in dreamland itself.
I just want to live here…….
Thud!
“Aagh!!”
Something slammed hard into me, sending a massive wave of pain surging from my forehead. Thanks to that, I was yanked out of my peaceful slumber and the happiness I’d been savoring, straight back into cold reality.
“Pfft, loser~♡”
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?!”
“What do you think~? We’re here, so I’m waking you up~♡”
“Huh?”
Looking around, it wasn’t just me. Freya, already awake, was rousing the others who were still asleep. Which meant….
“…We’re already at the Estire Kingdom?”
“The border, yeah. So stop sleeping like some thirty-something NEET and get up already~♡”
“….”
I was in my twenties before the possession and I’m still in my twenties, you brat.
I got up and peeked out from under the carriage canopy. A long line of people waiting to cross the border stretched out behind us.
They’d said it was a country with heavy exchange with the Dern Empire, and looking at the crowds, it showed. While I’d been asleep, we’d managed to get pretty far forward in the line.
“Where will you be heading back from, coachman?”
“I plan to cross into the kingdom first, pick up some other adventurers, and head back. I saw some ominous things along the way… it’s making me uneasy.”
“Ah, I see.”
That made sense. Better to take on adventurer passengers for safety.
I went back inside the carriage and asked.
“Once we cross the border, is someone from the Estire Kingdom side coming out for us?”
“We’ll have to ask at the border post to find out~? Well, if they have any sense, they’ll show up♡”
Surely they wouldn’t send no one at all.
Soon enough, it was our turn. We had to get down from the carriage briefly to have our identities checked and to confirm nothing was amiss inside.
That meant unpacking the carefully arranged luggage and packing it all over again—double the work—and of course I was the only one stuck with the annoying part. While I was reorganizing the inspected luggage, a soldier who had finished checking our identities saluted and greeted us.
“You must be the Hero of the Dern Empire and her companions. Welcome!”
“How do we get to the northeast~?”
“According to what we’ve been told, it’s like this. First, we’ll provide you with horses, so please head up to the capital. From there, you’ll move to the northeast together with our kingdom’s Hero!”
“Hmm, with the Hero of the Holy Flag, you mean~?”
What? Did I mishear that just now.
“…Yes. You’ll be moving with the Hero of the Holy Flag, Lord Orlando.”
I hadn’t misheard. Wait…… how is a Hero’s title “Hero of the Holy Flag.”
I could guess what it meant. Just like Erinn, who wielded a sword, was called the Hero of the Holy Sword, this Hero named Orlando must possess a holy armament in the form of a flag.
But of all things, a flag? There are bows, spears… plenty of other options, so why a flag of all things.
I felt a little pity for him. He must know how weird it sounds to be called that and probably hates it… but since it’s not wrong, he can’t really complain either.
“Poor guy….”
“…What’s poor?”
“Whoa!?”
I didn’t know when she’d gotten there, but the thief was staring at me from right beside me. She wasn’t thinking I was talking about her just now, right?
I hurriedly got ahead of it.
“Thief, don’t get the wrong idea. I wasn’t talking about you!”
“…Yeah, I know.”
“…Oh, you do?”
“…I just got here.”
I guess I worried for nothing. I cleared up the misunderstanding and explained.
“Well, Hero Orlando’s epithet can sound a bit weird, you know. It seems like it causes a lot of misunderstandings and he gets teased a lot.”
“…It’s not his real name anyway.”
“That’s true, but there’s a reason we call them epithets. It’s another name that represents the person.”
“…Names really are important, huh.”
“Yeah….”
When I nodded, the thief stared at me intently.
There was a look of expectation in her eyes. Was she about to ask about the name we’d talked about last time? But since nothing had come to mind yet, I could only offer an apology.
“Sorry, I’ll think about it a bit more.”
“…Okay.”
Come to think of it, this thief girl didn’t seem to be thinking of anything herself either, if you looked closely.
“Have you been thinking about it?”
“…Yeah.”
She was always slow to answer, so I couldn’t tell if she was hesitating or not. Was she really thinking about it….
“Loser~♡ Hurry up and load the luggage~.”
“…Got it.”
As I was about to start carrying the luggage, the thief suddenly spread her arms out.
“?”
“…I’ll help.”
“…For real?”
“…Yeah.”
I almost felt moved for a second. No one had ever offered to carry my luggage for me before. Even if her self-esteem was a bit low, the thief was a good kid after all.
As I was having that thought, the thief suddenly let her arms droop and her expression turned sour.
“…You don’t want me touching the luggage, huh. Sorry for saying something unnecessary. I didn’t think about how I’d just get in the way….”
“Huh? No, no! I didn’t say anything!”
“…Then why won’t you give it to me…?”
Am I not allowed to feel a little moved? This girl is more impatient than I thought.
I pointed with my chin at a box I hadn’t picked up yet and said,
“Then not this one—could you grab that box over there?”
“…Okay.”
The thief and I carried the luggage out, and the party members were bringing over the horses they’d received from the border guards.
“Which horse do we load it on?”
“It’d be better to split it up. We can’t have just one horse slowing down.”
Following Freya’s suggestion, the thief and I divided the luggage among four places. Thanks to the thief, what would have taken two trips only took one, so it was quick.
“Everyone knows how to ride a horse, right~?”
The party members all nodded—except for one person who couldn’t quite bring herself to.
…That was me.
How the hell do you ride one.
Erinn looked at me and went “pfft,” laughing.
“Forgot how to ride a horse too, loser~?”
Forgot? So originally I knew how to ride. How did some country bumpkin from a rural village ever learn to ride a horse….
Anyway, the fact was I didn’t know. When I honestly nodded, Erinn giggled and said,
“Then the loser will just have to walk~♡”
This brat, after I got her a carriage and everything, she’s repaying kindness with betrayal….
Just then, Freya stepped in to stop Erinn and spoke up.
“We can’t do that. We can’t leave Allen behind after he even got us a carriage. Allen, ride behind me.”
“Uh…?”
I was grateful for the offer, but… Freya’s back was a bit of a problem.
The way she was dressed left nowhere safe to put my eyes, and even if I tried not to notice, being that close would instinctively draw my gaze to that unnecessarily alluring body of hers.
If Erinn or the others saw that and started saying something… just imagining it made me dizzy.
“…Want to ride behind me?”
“Huh?”
The thief asked me that. Of course I nodded.
“Is that okay?”
“…Yeah.”
I wouldn’t have to look at Freya’s body, and everyone knew the thief’s personality so there’d be less teasing. They couldn’t tease me and risk making the thief cry, after all.
For me, it was the absolute best choice.
“Hmm, then the thief can take the loser. If the loser gropes anywhere weird, tell me right away~♡”
“…I wouldn’t.”
Who do you take me for, a pervert?
Thanks to the thief’s offer, I was able to climb onto the horse with peace of mind. The thief lightly hopped up and sat in front of me. Up until that point I thought there’d be no problem, but I realized too late that this had a big problem of its own.
“…You should hold on tight to my waist.”
“Uh….”
Waist? I looked at the thief’s waist.
It was covered by her cloak, but true to being a thief, she was wearing light, agile clothes. Meaning… her top and bottom weren’t connected. Like thief classes in most games, she was showing her midriff.
Holding her waist meant touching bare skin. At this rate, it was no different from riding behind Freya. Maybe even worse….
“…Allen?”
“Huh, yeah?”
“…We need to go.”
“Ah, right.”
No choice. To not fall off, I had to wrap my arms around her.
“…Excuse me.”
I casually asked for permission and reached my arms forward. Then I lightly pulled the thief’s waist into an embrace. It wasn’t out of any affection—just securing myself so I wouldn’t fall.
Yeah, that was all it was…….
…Her waist is ridiculously thin.
I tried to think of it as just that, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought. Every one of them was an outstanding beauty, and the thief was no exception—even if she didn’t draw attention to it, she was extremely pretty.
Lightly holding that slender waist with both arms, even if I tried not to notice, her face would float into my mind and make me conscious of it. The firm feel of her skin transmitted clearly through my arms, so I couldn’t ignore it.
…This was exactly why I’d avoided Freya’s back, but this was a danger zone in its own right.
“Pfft♡ Clinging to a girl’s back like that makes you look like a parasite~♡”
“…Shut up.”
“Let’s head out.”
“Yeah~ Everyone, straight to the capital then~♡”
I’d heard that riding to the capital wouldn’t even take half a day. That was because Stellium, the capital of the Estire Kingdom, was extremely close to the empire’s eastern border… or from the Estire Kingdom’s perspective, its western border.
The real long journey was the distance from the capital to the northeast.
Since we’d arrived at the border in the morning, we should be able to reach the capital by afternoon. I just didn’t know how to handle a horse—riding for half a day wasn’t beyond my stamina.
The other party members had no issues, of course. The one I was a little worried might be a problem was Ser-Aria, who was galloping while sucking on a liquor bottle.
She’s chugging booze even while riding a horse… isn’t this drunk driving? Is there no legal penalty for drunk horseback riding?
As I was thinking that, Erinn, who had been leading at the front, suddenly reined her horse to a stop. We all stopped our horses, and Ser-Aria pulled the bottle from her mouth and asked.
“Pwahh! What’s up, Erinn?”
“Looks like they’re in quite a hurry over there too~♡”
“Huh?”
Wondering what she meant, I looked ahead and saw a group in dazzling attire approaching from a short distance away.
Pure white plate armor and shields, even the scabbards of the swords at their waists pure white. The decorations on the armor were mostly silver or gold.
Anyone could tell at a glance they were holy knights. These were the paladins of the Estire Kingdom.
And leading the paladins was a mismatched group of four.
A pretty-boy-looking man dressed in pure white armor like the paladins, but holding a large flag instead of a sword.
A bald, tattooed pig of a man who looked even bigger than me.
A hooded hikikomori who looked like he’d be into isekai anime.
And among them, like a flower on a cliff, a mage in a pure white robe.
Letisia answered in my place.
“Those must be the Estire Kingdom’s Hero party.”
“That’s right~♡”
Then the man riding at the very front was….
“…The Hero of the Holy Flag?”
“Puhaha!”
“Kuk, Allen, don’t say it like that in front of the person himself.”
Ser-Aria laughed outright, and Letisia tried to stop me but was laughing too. But I hadn’t said it to be funny….
“Pffft♡ Saying it like that is too much~♡”
You’re the ones being too much by not even trying to hide your laughter, you brats.
They approached until they were at a proper face-to-face distance. Then the Holy… no, the Estire Kingdom’s Hero dismounted first, and Erinn dismounted as well.
“Do we need to get down too?”
“…No. The Heroes will talk, so it’s fine.”
As she said, Orlando’s companions from the Estire Kingdom stayed mounted. So we could just stay like this.
But for some reason, the hooded hikikomori was sending a gaze our way. Not a friendly gaze—more like he wanted to devour me.
…Did I do something to that guy before I possessed this body?
I ignored it and looked at Erinn. This was the moment my chosen character met a Hero from another country. I couldn’t not take it in.
Orlando, the Hero of the Estire Kingdom, slightly bowed his head and greeted her politely.
“It’s been a while, Erinn.”
“Have we met somewhere before~?”
“We saw each other’s faces and exchanged introductions at the Hero summons, but… you don’t remember?”
“Ah, did we~? Sorry, I didn’t know. Your impression was so faint♡”
Erinn giggled. The way she was treating him wasn’t all that different from how she treated me. No, if anything, it felt even sharper.
Is she allowed to act like that…?
But Orlando seemed to have a very generous personality, as he didn’t say a single word about Erinn’s attitude. Then Erinn spoke.
“Ah, I do remember your name.”
“I see. Even that is an honor….”
“Hero of the Genitals, Lord Orlando♡”
……?
“Ah, Hero of the Holy Flag, right~? Sorry, I got them mixed up♡”
That… that crazy bitch, what is she doing?!