The Truth That Should Be Buried in Her Chest
The fact that should be buried in her chest.
“Ah, so you figured it out.”
Riere scratched the back of her head, looking embarrassed. But when I studied her expression, there was no sign of evasion or panic. It meant she hadn’t deliberately deceived me with any hidden agenda.
“When I actually tried to get a proper job, people did say things. They told me someone with my skills would do well as a soldier or a noble’s personal guard.”
The Academy’s out of reach because I lack the talent, though… She laughed as if the memory tickled her.
“You knew that and still joined the city guard?”
I asked, careful to keep my tone from sounding like an interrogation. Riere glanced around awkwardly before answering.
“This is… promise you won’t laugh, alright?”
“Is it that strange a reason?”
“No, it’s not strange, but… well… ugh…”
Her fidgeting was the textbook reaction of someone who had something to say but found it too embarrassing to spit out. For a bright, friendly kid like her to be this shy, I half-wondered if she’d followed a first love here. But Riere’s answer was nothing like that.
“I did it because I love this city.”
“Huh?”
“I know, I know! It’s childish and way too presumptuous! I know how ridiculous it is for someone who isn’t even a noble to hold feelings like these.”
Still, while that might be reason enough to suppress the emotion, it was no reason to forbid the emotion itself.
“But this is the city where I was born and raised. It’s the coolest city in the entire empire, and everyone I care about lives here.”
So she had acted. This kid—Riere—had given up the chance to gain more and deliberately stepped down to a lower station. Because that position seemed better for protecting people. Because it let her get directly involved in defending the city.
“I wanted to protect this city. Luckily, I had the talent for it. That’s all there is to it.”
To some it would sound childish. To others it might even sound blasphemous. But to me—
“That’s a wonderful dream. With your level of talent, it should be even easier to make it come true.”
I felt a sense of kinship. A passion rooted in justice, a love at first sight she had continued to nurture, getting shaken and swayed by it yet never letting go of either one. Riere had simply done the same.
Diana said the pilgrimage was something she ended up taking to save me.
Honestly, I hadn’t set out on this pilgrimage just to survive. The warning that everyone would die within three years had been chilling, but perhaps because death wasn’t yet breathing down my neck, the threat quickly grew hazy and never felt like an urgent danger. Even so, I had chosen to walk this path with her. Even though I might die. Even though nothing was certain.
And the reason was simple.
“I’m the same. I want to stay with that person, and because stepping forward feels like the right thing to do.”
The fact that she would willingly set out on a pilgrimage to weaken the Evil God just to save me could only mean one thing.
My death must be closely tied to the Evil God.
And after encountering one of its fragments in person, I understood. Its very existence was a calamity.
“I could have lived comfortably and safely. But I believe walking this path with her is the just and righteous choice, so here I am.”
It had begun with a crush, but now it moved forward together with passion. Both of my emotional pillars supported the pilgrimage; there was no chance I would quit halfway.
“So I’ll cheer for your dream too. To other people it might look foolish or stubborn, but if it’s what you truly want and what you’ve chosen, then it’s a good dream.”
“………Yes.”
Riere hung her head in embarrassment, then gave me a deep bow.
“Thank you. Everyone just teases me and calls it stupid. You’re the first person who’s ever praised it, Sir Helio.”
“Keep at it.”
Well, the biggest reason I could cheer her on so readily was that working for the guard wouldn’t hinder Riere’s future—if anything, it would help. If I succeeded in the pilgrimage and actually survived, I would become a living legend. A dream was still a dream, but it wasn’t without practical benefits. The cost-performance wasn’t bad enough to stop me from offering support.
“I respect you, Sir Helio! Can I call you Big Brother?”
Another honest motive I couldn’t voice aloud to the innocently sparkling-eyed Riere who was bouncing with joy.
“Do as you like. I won’t stop you.”
“Big Brother! Big Brother!”
Listening to her jump around and shower me with praise was one of the side effects. When I puffed out my chest and acted superior, Riere seemed to loosen up too. She giggled and added in a teasing tone.
“Actually, since I look like this, I don’t get much attention from the opposite sex, do I? That’s another reason I joined the guard. At least it would create more points of contact, right?”
“Huh?”
Because it was clearly a joke, the statement was even harder to understand. Objectively speaking, Riere was handsome. And the city guard was basically police or military. Wouldn’t that decrease contact with women rather than increase it?
“Why? You’ve got a popular face.”
It was fine for me as Helio, but if I were still Oh Ji-o (32), it was the kind of face I’d bow to in respect.
You son of a bitch.
“Ahaha, thank you for saying so. But with a face like a boy’s…”
“Wait, what?”
I let out a startled noise, but Riere didn’t catch it.
“There was an incident like this before. I’d be walking down the street and some boys would call me over to play ball. Since I like moving around, I played with them a lot. Do you know what happened?”
“U-um…”
I faltered, flustered, but Riere was already on a roll and kept firing words like a machine gun.
“They called me every single day! So eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and shouted, ‘Hey! I need to learn cooking and sewing too, I can’t play ball every day!’ Do you know what they said back?”
“I… I’m not sure…”
“‘Huh? You were a girl?’ That’s what they said. They’d thought I was a boy the whole time and kept inviting me to play.”
“…………”
Cold sweat broke out on my back. The moment my misunderstanding was exposed, another heroic tale would be added to her legend. At the same time, I suddenly realized who she was.
“Is Riere a nickname?”
“Yep. Didn’t I mention it?”
“…Uh, I must not have heard.”
If I had, I never would have made this mistake.
“Will you tell me your real name?”
“Rielana Ran.”
“…………I see.”
Now everything finally made sense. She was a girl.
She was a regular in threads like this. Good performance, huge chest, great personality, huge chest, tons of events, huge chest… It was simply the fate of the character who held the undisputed number one spot in bust size across the entire Academy Great War, far beyond any romanceable heroine.
“Uh……”
So it was no wonder Diana looked this shaken. The revelation was completely outside anything she could have imagined.
“You said her chest grew in about one or two months from now, right?”
“Yes…”
“What about Riere’s chest at that time?”
When I asked just to be sure, Diana let out a low sigh and answered.
“It was already violently large.”
“I figured.”
No wonder I hadn’t realized. The contrast between that enormous chest and her current flat figure had played a part in my assumption she was male, but the timing was the biggest issue. Who could have predicted that Riere’s chest would swell so dramatically in just a month or two?
“This is more fantastical than the actual fantasy world…”
It felt like the genre had completely changed.
“…I’ll have to rethink all my theories.”
I had no choice but to discard every hypothesis I’d built around Riere. She wasn’t connected to the culprit. She hadn’t died. She was simply… simply that.
“Hmm…”
Still, this was good news. She herself might not have realized it yet, but the fact that Rielana Ran was a romanceable character in Academy Great War meant she would eventually enroll in the Academy. She possessed a unique ability.
That’s probably why she already has Sword Master-level strength at this age.
However, this also created a slight headache. Riere was famous first and foremost for her enormous chest, but her second most notable trait was almost as big.
Knock knock.
“Who is it?”
“…It’s me.”
When I asked with a hint of wariness, a familiar voice answered.
Speak of the tiger and it appears at your door.
I sighed and opened the door.
“I only gave you a vague location, yet you found it right away.”
“…Well, at this time of year it’s easy to spot the room that suddenly gained an extra person.”
The visitor was a familiar face. Nepure Nep. I had deliberately given her an imprecise address, but she had found me with ridiculous ease.
“Sorry for testing you like that. But I needed to be sure.”
“…Sure of what?”
“Sure of your ability. And I’ve confirmed it now. I need someone with your exact set of skills. You’re the perfect person for this job.”
“………”
“Of course, if you don’t want to do it, I won’t force you… but the fact that you still came after I gave you such a sloppy address means you’re interested, right?”
Nepure remained silent for a moment. I had a rough idea what that silence meant, so I waited quietly. Eventually, a trembling voice reached me.
“Will my talent really be helpful?”
I looked at her and gave her the words she wanted to hear most.
“To be precise, your talent would be helpful anywhere. This time, however—”
“It will be helpful for a good cause.”
“………”
Nepure fell silent once more. Then, after a long pause, she spoke in a voice wet with emotion.
“I’ll do it.”
“Please let me join.”