The Night of the Bed and the Burden of a Soul's Purity
It took three full days to travel from East Port all the way to the Eastern Continent.
Whether we liked it or not, we would have to spend those three days on the sea, and the reserved quarters were quite luxurious. I could tell that Madame Florence had spent quite a bit of money on this.
Even a plain room would have been fine, but I never imagined she would book such an expensive place for me.
It felt as though my debt had grown even larger.
“There’s a bed, Lois.”
“Indeed there is.”
“And only one.”
“Indeed, why would that be?”
Madame Florence…!
I could almost picture the imaginary Madame Florence wiping her nose with her thumb and giving a thumbs-up.
It seemed she was worried because, essentially, I—who was more like a son to her—hadn’t even had the chance to date or marry a woman, let alone anything more serious.
It might have been her own selfish desire to see her grandchildren, but I set that aside for now.
The Hero, now fully in his adult form, walked with a measured stride and sat down on the bed.
“Lois.”
“What is it?”
“Please stop that expression on your face.”
The look in your eyes—having just thought of something good—couldn’t possibly be good for me, no matter how I looked at it.
“If I had to guess, there’s a shower and a bed, so does that mean Madame Florence has basically accepted me? ……Isn’t that a good start?”
“…….”
“Madame Florence said she’s like a mother to me, right? I must have scored pretty high with her. ……Isn’t that a nice beginning?”
It seemed she really wanted to pursue me in earnest.
Frankly, it wasn’t a bad feeling to win a woman’s affection, and I wasn’t particularly displeased with the Hero either—I simply didn’t hate her.
But I couldn’t help but worry whether this was all right in itself.
I sat on the sofa and looked at the Hero.
“Let’s ask one thing only.”
“This time, it’s size three, right?”
“Please stop the thought processes that are going to tire my brain.”
“Fine, so what is it?”
“Should I say it? ……It’s a rather rude question, but is it okay?”
I asked the question as a simple check, and the Hero, lying on the bed, nodded.
“It’s fine. My past self was even more rude to you.”
Your confidence in your own pessimism is truly overwhelming?
“Re…really? You like me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Livy hasn’t experienced any romantic feelings yet, right? So… um, I feel like you’re grateful to me.”
As I was speaking, I realized this must have sounded like I was doubting a woman’s value from the Hero’s perspective.
It wasn’t rude so much as perhaps lacking in delicacy.
But the Hero didn’t seem angry at all and simply listened to my words without any sign of embarrassment.
“That gratitude might have been mistaken for love… Is that what you wanted to ask?”
“Honestly, yes.”
“It’s true that I’m grateful to you.”
“I know.”
“But more than that. I want you to stay by my side.”
The Hero looked straight at me, and that gaze had always been there.
No matter how much the Hero might have been driven by a sense of duty or a twisted desire for self-destruction, she had always wanted to save people, and that could never have been wrong.
“We don’t know each other very well.”
“True, we really don’t.”
“…….”
“So I want to know.”
The Hero smiled.
“Tell me about yourself.”
“……I’ve been thinking about this since last time—being too direct like this is really bad.”
“People do have certain natures that can’t be changed.”
It sparkled.
She had always been like that—brilliant, warm, and full of light.
The black sun that had once weighed her down had vanished, and she could now smile with the genuine warmth of the sun’s girl.
It was truly a blessing, yet facing her directly felt a little blinding.
She was trying to invade my domain just as I had invaded hers.
“I do have one thing I’m not sure I should say.”
“Do you? Is it something like ‘I’m actually a woman’ or something?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Then it’s fine.”
I didn’t know what that meant.
“But I don’t want to say it now.”
“Alright.”
The Hero came closer to me.
“Time will pass, the days we spend together will increase, and you’ll naturally call my name and trust me… then you can tell me then.”
“I don’t think you’re a bad person.”
“I know. This is about trust. You don’t need to worry.”
That innocent smile on the face that was smiling even when it had nothing to gain made me realize she was completely different from the gloomy person she had been not so long ago.
After everything she had been through, I had thought she had grown, but it wasn’t something as simple as “she grew up.” It felt more like she had been reborn.
“In that sense, when you shower or change clothes, please don’t look? I don’t want you to see those parts.”
“……Hm?”
“It’s a part of me I don’t want to show you.”
In truth, I didn’t need to say it.
Spirit summoning was convenient enough that I could hide things if I wanted to.
But watching her purity like this, I thought it might be okay to tell her.
“Ah, I understand. ……By the way, I’m always fine with you joining me in the shower or suddenly opening the door while I’m changing. In romance, there are always moments like that, right? Where you feel the other person as a man or woman?”
“…….”
“I’m always fine.”
It was starting to feel a little scary.
She was like a beast that only knew how to charge forward.
“By the way, I heard you had died before I picked up Livy? That you died together.”
My instinct screamed to change the subject, so I immediately shifted the topic.
Fortunately, the Hero didn’t seem to mind at all.
“Eh? Why? Was there a problem?”
“No, the rumor spread throughout the small village where I was. It was after the rumor had spread that Livy was attacked.”
“Ah, that’s where it was. ……Hmm.”
The Hero thought for a moment and spoke.
“I cut through the forest without entering the village because I was rushing to reach the Royal Capital quickly to report. At the time, I had only just entered the human territory, so I killed a rather strong monster.”
If it was a strong monster by the Hero’s standards, then people would have needed to mobilize all the adventurers to hunt it thoroughly.
“I was planning to keep going, but Alex was making a fuss because it was that strong a monster. So I said I’d wait right there and told them to come report. I stayed behind alone and the three of us went to report.”
It wasn’t very wise to leave the Hero alone, but considering the balance of power, I couldn’t say it was unwise.
Moreover, the Hero hadn’t seemed to mind at all and had probably been training or something while the three of us went to report.
“If the rumor had come out then, would it have been too late?”
“I suppose… Alex, the one who spread the rumor.”
“It’s just an assumption. After the Demon King was slain, I didn’t show my face and went straight to the Royal Capital. I didn’t even contact anyone except the party members. It might have been a completely coincidental rumor. Rumors spread quickly when they’re exciting, right?”
“That may be… yes, of course.”
When had Alex started trying to kill the Hero?
Intuitively, it seemed he had begun planning her death around the time the Hero decided she wouldn’t live in the kingdom.
If so, then after that, he must have immediately spread the rumor in the village and prepared the God of Death Poison and other things in advance.
It was a rumor.
The rumor would have disappeared the moment the Hero appeared, but an incomplete rumor that spread through whispers might eventually have become the truth.
Moreover, if it had been spread by someone close to the Royal Capital, it might have been even easier than expected.
Besides that, Alex carrying the kingdom’s treasures wouldn’t have been strange at all.
As far as I remembered, there was a tool that could reach anywhere in the kingdom. Normally such a communication device could only work at short range in the monster territory, but this artifact could reach long distances.
If the assassination plan had already been established in the Demon King’s Castle and the king had already been informed and the rumor spread around that time, it would explain the gap between the actual time the Hero fell and when the rumor spread.
And.
If that was the case.
It might have been “possible” from the very beginning to discard the Hero.
In other words, if things went wrong, he was ready to assassinate her and kill her at any time.
“Ugh…”
“Livy!”
“I-It’s fine. ……It just hurts a little.”
“Here, drink this.”
I poured water and handed her a painkiller.
“In that sense, shall we lie down together here?”
“I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“……!”
As if suddenly understanding, the Hero nodded.
“True. Even though we’re not in that kind of relationship, sleeping in the same bed as a man and a woman is a bit awkward, isn’t it?”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“For example, when I’m asleep, I can’t do anything if I get covered up?”
“Ah, you’re the one who gets covered up?”
I had no doubt I could win even without the curse, having split apart a High Demon with a single blow.
Huh?
Was it really the Hero, not me, who needed to worry about her purity right now?