The Regretful Hero. The Passionate Mage Division
Ashtar.
In the Ashtar Territory, the Hero was deep into his training. He had grown considerably stronger hunting monsters in the nearby dungeons, yet even so he felt hopelessly inadequate.
Because now he had a woman he truly desired.
Not the easy, lighthearted types like Ella or Siria—a real woman.
Olivia.
Imperial Saint, Princess of Ashtar, hero of the expedition. Was there any higher ideal of womanhood? And that was exactly why the frustration burned so deep.
“Damn it. If only Noah were still here…”
“Why are you bringing up that gloomy mage again?”
“Because he was the one who actually did everything, wasn’t he?”
The elf Ella’s face twisted in pure irritation. What was the point of saying that now? The gloomy mage had never shown his face even once. They had hoped that if he were dead he might at least come back somehow—he hadn’t.
“Which is exactly why you should stop talking about it. Maybe that gloomy mage leaving us was the most natural thing in the world.”
“Still, we don’t even know where to look for that mage.”
Yeah. Right. How many times had they gone around this same circle? The Hero knew perfectly well that every failure sat on his own shoulders. And he resented the two women standing in front of him for it. Even if he himself had been lacking, if these two hadn’t been around, that bastard Noah would still have been at his side, helping him look at least halfway like a proper Hero.
“If I hadn’t gotten so tangled up in your bodies—”
“So now it’s our bodies’ fault?”
“‘Now’? I’ve said it a hundred times.” The Hero never tired of aiming his bitterness at the two of them. “You two threw yourselves at me, admit it. And thinking back on it, Siria, you’re the weirdest one. A Saint, and you treat your body like that?”
“You were the one who said you liked it, Hero!”
Yeah, that was always the comeback. But today’s Hero was different. Now that he had Olivia—the woman he actually wanted—everything was different. He would become a perfect Hero no matter what. And for that, he first had to put some distance between himself and these damn whore-like women. Drawing a line and recruiting new comrades from the Empire might not be a bad idea. Honestly, after all the years of sleeping together the chemistry was still good—which was exactly why he needed to put some space between them if he wanted to keep lust at bay.
“So am I wrong?”
“Even so—!”
“You too, Ella. I’m not just trying to dodge responsibility. You’re supposed to be a highborn elf of the Great Forest, and you still offered yourself to me. Right? Hey—look through every historical record of Hero parties. An elf and a Saint who threw themselves at a Hero like you two did? I dug through the library and found nothing. You know that?”
To cut off any rebuttal before it started, the Hero pulled out the copies he had made from the Ashtar library.
“…….”
“…….”
Faced with both the words and the evidence, Siria and Ella had nothing to say. Because it was true. They couldn’t deny it. In all the records of Hero parties, there had never been a Saint, priestess, or elf this lewd. For Ella, with her noble elf bloodline, it cut even deeper. Even in the archives of the elf village, no matter how hard you searched, there was never a single mention of a Saint or an elf being unchaste.
“Look, I know this is discriminatory, but historically plenty of Heroes were womanizers. Their comrades, though? They stayed decent.”
“So our responsibility is bigger?”
Wasn’t that obvious? In every Hero party record, women this free with their bodies were a first. If each of them hadn’t been so casually physical, he himself never would have spiraled this far—and he would have left a better impression on Olivia.
“I have to say it straight. You both had goals you wanted to achieve through me. That’s why you worked so hard offering yourselves. Hey—grab any random guy on the street and ask him. When women just hand it over, who the hell turns down a free meal? It’s male instinct. How many times do I have to say it?”
As far as the Hero knew, no such man existed. That much was certain. Pretty women offering themselves and a man refusing? Only a eunuch with zero reproductive drive could pull that off.
“So you’re just going to keep being pathetic and dump it all on us?”
“That’s right! Fine! We’re a couple of easy sluts with loose hips! That high-and-mighty princess Olivia is on a completely different level from us! But Hero, doesn’t constantly doing this make you feel even more pathetic?”
The women’s counterattack landed. Yeah—put it that way and the Hero had nothing left to say. No matter how well they treated him, no matter the male instinct, a Hero who was supposed to defeat the Demon King had still let lust drag him under.
“I only do this because it pisses me off otherwise. Because it’s unfair. Hah. And honestly, are you even useful in a fight?”
“Why are you bringing that up again?”
“Because one thing always leads to ten! All you two ever have in your heads is sex, so of course you never get stronger!”
He wanted so badly to become worthy of the title of Hero, but Olivia was simply too high above him. And that only made losing Noah hurt worse.
“Oh, look at you, so great. So what if a Hero gets chosen? In the end the final decision on who joins the party is the Hero’s. You chose us!”
Just as the argument was reaching full boil, Noel walked into the room the Hero party was using.
“That’s enough fighting. Why does worrying about the Hero always turn into internal strife like this? It’s sad that my older brother is missing, but the rest of you still deserve to be happy, don’t you?”
“We came here out of concern and suddenly we’re being treated like whores! Out of nowhere he acts like we got in the way of his precious romance!”
I seriously don’t get why these people are even a Hero party.
Noel quietly watched the Hero. She had to admit it—he had already fallen for Olivia so thoroughly that no amount of seduction from her would work anymore. More precisely, for her former older brother. She never would have imagined she would lose a contest of feminine charm to that former brother of all people… but at least he had arranged a chance for her with Ashtar’s Second Brother, so she would have to be satisfied with that.
If he was going to do it, he should have just cut off the elf’s and that filthy Saint’s heads long ago. Whining now because of her former brother was just pathetic.
“Anyway, whether it’s my dead brother or my current one, both of them are problems.”
The Hero was regretting the loss of his former brother because of the current one. It was almost too absurd to believe. She was curious just how hard the Hero would actually try.
Ashtar’s Mage Division was something else entirely.
It was completely different from Atlina. It was similar to an educational institution or academy, but as a proper organization there were no such things as vacations—and of course it was crawling with passionate types.
Yeah. For example…
I was going out of my mind having to deal one by one with the young noble ladies of the Mage Division who had swarmed around me.
“Void Magic isn’t particularly difficult. The important part is that it doesn’t belong to any attribute at all.”
Among mages there was an unspoken hierarchy. I had already sorted that out last time with my Void Magic, but people were still people. Void Magic was something only I knew. Teaching it was my right, yet if I just bluntly told them they couldn’t learn it, resentment would pile up. So I had to carefully explain why it was impossible without letting that resentment take root.
“What about non-attribute magic?”
“Non-attribute is exactly what it sounds like—no attribute. In that sense it’s similar to Void Magic. Hmm… if I had to put it into words, you could say Void Magic is a higher form of non-attribute.”
Void Magic didn’t fall under the elemental system, so that was the closest comparison. Even among non-attribute mages, Void Magic would be nearly impossible to learn.
“Can’t we learn it?”
Even elementalists who commanded all sorts of elemental magics were asking me for instruction, but unless they had trained in Void Magic from the very beginning, it was hopeless.
“Anyone who learned based on elemental magic would have to completely tear down their entire magic system and rebuild it from scratch.”
“Ah. That would be difficult, then.”
The disappointment on their faces was obvious. From now on I would have to stop showing them Void Magic. Keep flashing it around and jealousy was inevitable. And among the ones asking me, there were nobles.
“Even non-attribute is hard to learn. Non-attribute is the stage of handling pure mana before it ever becomes an element. If someone reaches the point of freely controlling non-attribute through their own talent, that means their personal magic system is already complete.”
In short: learn your first magic properly.
“Then how did you learn it, Lady Olivia?”
“A long time ago I went to the Ruined Land. I nearly died there, and by chance I found records about Void Magic. That’s also why it’s classified.”
An airtight excuse. That was the beauty of the Ruined Land.
“Ah, then there’s nothing to be done.”
“Yes. From that point on I trained in other magics, and my entire magic system completely changed.”
“That must have been very hard.”
Well, my Master had forcibly crammed it into my head, but still. Looking back, it was almost a fond memory.
“Yet you still worked so hard.”
“I heard Lord Eldacrad also went through bone-grinding hardship. Then perhaps… Lady Olivia, are you…?”
“Pardon?”
“Lady Olivia, are you the reincarnation of Lord Eldacrad?”
A curse rose all the way up my throat before I swallowed it. If I hadn’t been a young lady I would have unloaded a full stream of swearing. Now they were calling me Eldacrad’s reincarnation of all things.
“It makes sense. I’ve heard the rumor before—that Lady Olivia inherited Lord Eldacrad’s will.”
“Ah, that would explain the Void Magic too.”
“Lord Eldacrad’s reincarnation… if Lord Eldacrad had been a woman, would she have looked exactly like Lady Olivia?”
“Now that you mention it, her noble bearing is extraordinary. She really does have the air of Ashtar’s hero.”
Were the nobles who followed Ashtar always like this? Or were young noble ladies just always like this? Either way, it was thoroughly annoying.
For now, not denying it was the wiser choice. If I pushed back they would only chatter more, and if I were Eldacrad’s reincarnation then Void Magic would become only natural. Void Magic wasn’t something I could freely justify with the Saint title alone. Claiming I could do it because I was Taesa wouldn’t fly here—this wasn’t the Imperial Capital, it was Ashtar. Call me whatever you wanted.
“But did you know? We might be heading to Crad Castle soon.”
“Crad Castle?”
“Yes. With the Ashtar borders expanding, there are monsters in that region as well. The next training might take place there.”
Ah, what a pain. I had only planned to show off a little skill and leave, but of course it had to turn out like this. I supposed I would just have to be satisfied with having registered as a mage.
And sure enough, Kise issued orders to the members of the Mage Division.
“Today the Mage Division reserve unit will proceed to the southern border of Crad Castle.”
The time had finally come.