Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Fake Hero...?(1)
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After leaving the Duke's mansion, we headed straight for the mountain where the black mages had appeared.
Fortunately, the people at the Duke's mansion didn't suspect us in the slightest and saw us off with expressions of concern.
They'll probably be utterly shocked if we run into them again on the mountain.
I'm already looking forward to their reactions by then.
"This is the way, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
Under Yumi's guidance, who knew the terrain around the Duke's mansion like the back of her hand, we climbed the rugged mountain.
The place was so frigid that the ground was frozen solid everywhere, and every now and then a bear would burst out to give us a good scare.
"Why come to a dump like this for a field trip?"
Laura grumbled while peering at the stark white landscape visible outside the plant carriage.
I agreed with her complaint.
Any proper club outing for a field trip should be to someplace warm and full of sights to see.
Who in their right mind vacations in a treacherous snow-capped mountain range like this?
It was an utterly baffling hobby.
"Hey, there's a knight order over there."
While comfortably ascending the mountain thanks to the plant carriage adapting to the terrain, we spotted knights from the Mastain Duke's family struggling up the slope.
It was a pitiful sight, watching them slog upward in their heavy, cumbersome armor with snow piled up to their necks in this frozen wasteland.
Especially the one at the front, carrying the knight order's banner—it struck me as pointlessly inefficient.
Swoosh.
While the knights dawdled, our plant carriage sped up the mountain.
"To the left."
"Go around that big tree."
Now fully accustomed to her role as a living navigation system, Nania guided us in her flat, mechanical tone.
I'd been at a loss on how to track down the black mages, but she said she could detect their mana since it was similar to demonic energy.
Bringing along a navigator was the right call.
"It's just ahead."
"Got it."
Finally arriving at the scene, we disembarked from the carriage a short distance before the black mages' hideout and began surveilling it.
In front of a cave that screamed suspicious, several students in academy uniforms were chatting amiably.
The standout detail was the gender ratio: a perfect male-dominated imbalance of 2:4.
The girl with pink bobbed hair wore a bright, innocent smile as she talked with the boys.
The one ordinary-looking girl with black hair seemed timid, hanging back on the fringes without joining the group.
"Wow, what a lineup."
Rainy, who was peering at them alongside me, let out an impressed sigh.
"I don't know about the two girls, but those guys are all big shots."
"Who are they?"
"The academy chairman's son, the imperial prince, the next tower master, and the heir to one of the empire's top three merchant houses. Total powerhouses."
"..."
I turned to check the most important reaction: Laura's.
I'd guessed that the club member who discovered this hideout was the same girl who wanted to douse it in holy water.
I was curious if my hunch was right.
"Wha—what the hell is that bitch doing here?"
As expected, Laura looked flustered upon seeing them.
Running into the girl who provided the pretext for her expulsion from the academy must feel oddly complicated.
She might even be pissed.
If Laura lost her temper here and flew off the handle, it'd be a problem, so I put on a worried expression and asked her.
"Are you alright, my lady?"
"I'm fine, but..."
Fortunately, Laura seemed to have mostly moved past the trauma of her academy expulsion and didn't show much repulsion.
"If that's the case, shall we go say hello to those friends?"
The moment Laura said she was okay, there was no need to keep hiding.
We approached them openly, without bothering to conceal our presence.
"Daisy, get back."
"Y-Yes...?"
One of the boys, with sharp senses, detected us and swiftly hid the pink-bobbed girl behind him.
If it turned out Pinky was a demon, it'd be mortally embarrassing for him.
After all, he'd stepped up to protect her without realizing a demon was right under his nose.
Amid the spectacle of the glasses-wearing guy shoving Pinky's head behind him while the other boys belatedly noticed us and raised a fuss in alarm.
One odd detail stood out.
The boys were entirely fixated on Pinky, completely ignoring the black-haired girl.
To the point where even I felt sorry for her watching it.
Sure enough, the black-haired girl wore a subtly cowed expression.
"You're academy students, right?"
"Yes, but..."
I greeted them with the most harmless smile I could muster, despite their blatant wariness radiating off them.
They eyed our group suspiciously, then froze when their gazes landed on Laura.
"Lady Laura...? Weren't you exiled...?"
The boys edged backward like they'd seen a ghost, but Laura replied coolly, her expression unchanging.
"I got to come out after joining the hero party."
"Hero party...?"
Predictably, the boys were shocked again.
Getting that reaction every time someone heard "hero party" was starting to wear thin.
"No way!"
Pinky, who had been glaring at Laura from behind the boys, pushed forward with a look of disbelief.
Her face was full of conviction that Laura couldn't possibly be in the hero party.
Laura muttered coldly at her.
"Why are you so sure of that? Daisy?"
Daisy.
The more I chewed on the name, the more it reeked of protagonist vibes.
Overpowered by Laura's firm tone, Daisy hesitated, then squeezed her eyes shut and blurted it out.
"Because..."
"Because?"
"I'm the hero of the hero party!"
"..."
Daisy's bold declaration froze the air.
Nania's eyes gleamed like she'd stumbled on fascinating material.
The rest of our hero party stared at her like she was a lunatic.
Same for me.
"If it's Lady Daisy... then yeah, she could be the hero."
"See? Our Daisy's such a kind soul because she's the real hero!"
How head-over-heels were they for her? The boys, who had looked shocked at first, now wagged their tails in unison, backing Daisy up.
The black-haired girl alone watched Daisy with wavering eyes.
"Hah, get real."
Snorting a laugh, Laura turned to me and stated firmly.
"Raden, show them your power."
"Sure... alright."
I wasn't thrilled about putting on another hero party authenticity show, but since it was to expose a fake hero, I accepted my fate as the clown.
I closed my eyes and drew up my holy power.
One of the boys, the glasses-wearing smart type, must have sensed it, because his eyes went wide.
"Th-this is holy power? It's overwhelming..."
"Really...?"
Thank goodness there was someone on the academy side who seemed versed in holy power.
No matter how impressive my holy power was, it'd be worthless if no one recognized it.
I didn't bother with anything flashy like a Heavenly Demon Death Beam; I simply unleashed a small Purifying Flame.
A beautiful Purifying Flame burst from my fingertips, warmly enveloping the surroundings.
"Th-this is the Purifying Flame?"
As I'd hoped, Glasses Guy recognized it.
"What's that, Tower Master?"
"It's a holy power technique that only heroes or saints can use."
"Th-then that guy's the real hero? So Daisy is...?"
The boys wavered at my Purifying Flame demonstration.
I shot Daisy a confident look.
A mere impostor like her couldn't possibly replicate it.
Contrary to my expectations that Daisy absolutely couldn't do it, she flashed a smug smile.
"Hmph, I can do that much too."
I figured it was obvious bluster on Daisy's part.
But.
Whoosh.
'Crazy...?'
Daisy abruptly grabbed the black-haired girl's hand and ignited a Purifying Flame at her fingertips.
One arguably larger and more beautiful than mine.
Rainy was the most shocked by Daisy's Purifying Flame.
"What... the hell? Are you this year's saintess?"
She asked as if she thought there was a chance Daisy was the saintess of this generation.
Daisy shook her head with utter confidence.
"No. I'm using the Purifying Flame as the hero, not a saintess."
"Wha... this is insane... That means there are two heroes... What's going on here?"
Rainy clutched her head, unable to make sense of the situation.
"Y-Yeah... right?"
I was just as baffled by it all.