Chapter 28: Ogre Subjugation (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 28: Ogre Subjugation (3)
For a moment, I wondered if I had misheard.
But Frillite’s expression remained unchanged, which meant she was telling the truth.
Even if this is the mid-game, level 60 is way too high.
Unlike the other Heroes who formed parties, she acted alone.
That meant she would have monopolized all the experience points without sharing. Even considering that, 60 was an absurdly high level.
“What in the world have you been doing to get to level 60?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? I’ve been subjugating monsters since I was a child. I gained quite a few levels back then.”
“Monster subjugation? Then you must have consumed a lot of cores.”
“I consumed the cores of every monster I killed. On top of that, my father provided me with more... so I suppose you could say I’ve had more than the others.”
Frillite spoke calmly.
Is this the prestige of being born with a gold spoon...?
Just how much of a head start did she get?
Maybe the reason Cloud ended up as a loser wasn’t because he lacked ability, but simply because he was born with a dirt spoon.
If Cloud had been the son of a wealthy family like her, he might have grown into a respectable Hero.
Fucking life.
Just as I was feeling the vanity of it all and about to ask Frillite for her stats, a cavalryman who had galloped from the opposite side of the forest entered the army’s formation.
He dismounted with a swift, sliding motion and ran toward the lord’s tent, shouting.
“Count Raikel! Hero! The Hero is on his way!”
Huh?
I shot Frillite a look that said, What is he talking about? She just tilted her head as if she didn’t know either.
We turned and went back inside the lord’s tent, where we were able to hear a bit more detail than before.
“Is that true? Hero Lorian is coming?”
“Yes! He said he will come as soon as his preparations are complete!”
...It looked like we were about to have a Hero meetup.
*
Upon hearing that Lorian’s party was coming, Frillite decided against heading into the forest alone. She would cooperate with them to take down the ogre.
After all, working in a group was much safer than going solo.
I, on the other hand, was thrown into deep thought by the news of Lorian’s arrival.
Should I leave before he gets here?
Or should I stay and get the ogre’s pattern?
After long deliberation, I chose the ogre’s pattern.
The return from the pattern would be greater than the risk of showing myself to Lorian and having a tail put on me.
Besides, for Lorian to put a tail on me, he’d have to contact someone in a city first. If I just moved quickly before then, it wouldn’t be too dangerous.
To put it bluntly, if I just kept running without stopping in any towns or cities, how the hell would they find me?
Camping would be a bit of a pain, but I couldn’t have it both ways.
“Here they come,” Frillite murmured.
I looked in the direction she indicated with a jut of her chin and saw eight figures on horseback approaching in the distance.
The horses gradually slowed, coming to a perfect stop right in front of Count Raikel, who had gone out to meet them.
“Ooh, Hero Lorian. It is an honor to finally meet you.”
“The honor is all mine, to meet the renowned Count Raikel. Your beard suits you even better than the rumors say.”
The handsome, long-brown-haired man leading the group spoke as he dismounted.
Long hair?
“Did Lorian grow his hair out?”
“It seems so.”
“What do you mean, ‘it seems so’? You’ve never seen him before he grew it this long?”
“I had no reason to. There was no need for us to meet. Like you, the last time I saw him was at the last imperial social gathering.”
“I see.”
As we were having this idle chat, Lorian’s party and Count Raikel made their way through the crowd of soldiers.
Lorian was walking this way, conversing with the Count. Before long, his eyes landed on Frillite.
“Frillite? What are you doing here...”
He looked pleasantly surprised to see her. That expression, however, crumpled the moment he saw me standing next to her.
“Cloud? What are you doing here...”
Same words, different feeling.
Is he discriminating between nobles and commoners just because he’s royalty?
That’s fucking harsh.
“Ah, this gentleman is James, a friend of Lady Frillite’s... Pardon? Did you just say Cloud?”
The Count, who had been about to introduce me, did a double take at Lorian’s words.
There was no need to hide my identity anymore, so I nodded and extended my hand to him.
“I am Cloud, a Hero of the Prona Kingdom.”
“Ah, yes... But just a moment ago, you said you were a friend of Lady Frillite’s...”
“I am her friend. My name just isn’t James.”
“Ah... I see.”
Instead of asking why I had hidden my identity, the Count simply shook my hand.
He was a sharp one, indeed.
Just as I was shaking hands with the Count, a familiar voice called out.
“Cloud...?”
I turned my head toward the sound.
The person who had called my name was a woman I knew all too well.
A cute-faced girl with long black hair tied in pigtails.
A wizard wearing a large witch’s hat, a thick wooden staff in her right hand.
Cloud’s former party member.
It was Eri.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen her, too.
It feels like just yesterday she was smacking my ass with her staff, telling me to at least come down for meals.
Why is she still dressed the same as back then?
Isn’t it well past time for her to change her equipment?
I entertained the thought for a moment before dismissing it. It wasn’t polite to get lost in thought when meeting someone for the first time in ages.
I smiled and waved.
“Eri, long time no see. Have you been well?”
Eri’s eyes trembled.
*
Eri Oller.
Second daughter of the Oller Ducal Family, one of the most influential houses in the Prona Kingdom, and a promising talent with an exceptional gift for magic.
Rumor had it she was a genius who could learn a spell just by glancing at a magic book.
They also said she was a tough nut to crack, with a tongue as sharp as a razor.
And so on.
That was her public reputation.
And all of it was only half-true.
It was true that Eri was the second daughter of the Oller Ducal Family. However, her mother was a maid who worked for the family. She had noble blood, but only half.
Because of this, she grew up enduring all manner of ridicule and contempt from her siblings.
It was true that Eri had a talent for magic, but she wasn’t such a genius that she could master spells just by skimming a book.
The level Eri had reached was the result of her own blood, sweat, and tears spent studying.
It was also true that she had a sharp tongue.
But it wasn’t because she was a hard person.
Having been pushed around by her family for so long, Eri had developed a persecution complex. Her harsh words were more of a defense mechanism to protect her heart from that paranoia.
Eri had lived her life with no family or friends by her side, focusing only on magic, and she had planned to continue living that way.
If only she hadn’t received the king’s order to come to the royal palace.
When she arrived at the palace, she met a boy, not knowing what was going on.
“Hello...?”
Eri had lived as a noble, even if she was only half. Most handsome men didn’t even register in her eyes. But the boy before her was on another level.
He was so handsome that even she found her breath catching for a moment.
Seeing him, she...
“Excuse me...?”
“Who does a dopey-looking bastard like you think you’re talking to?”
...spat out words to belittle him.
It was because of the paranoia that had taken root in her heart.
A man that handsome must be a noble. He’s acting friendly now, but that won’t last. Once he finds out about my birth, he might not show it, but he’ll laugh at me inside.
He’ll call me a lowly bitch.
That’s why she was so harsh from their very first meeting, hoping he would leave her alone like everyone else. But the boy didn’t.
He just smiled awkwardly and scratched his head.
“Um... I guess I am a bit dopey. But did I do something wrong? If I did, I’ll apologize. I really didn’t mean to offend you.”
“...What?”
That was Eri and Cloud’s first meeting.
Much later, the king appeared and revealed that he was the Hero.
And that she had been chosen as the Hero’s companion.
When she heard that, Eri’s heart swelled with hope.
Her family had never acknowledged her, no matter what she achieved.
But what if she, as a member of the Hero’s party, played a major role in defeating the Demon King?
With such a great achievement, wouldn’t even her cold-hearted family have to acknowledge her?
Clinging to that hope, Eri set off on a journey with the Hero’s party to defeat the Demon King.
The journey was more arduous than she had imagined. Camping on the hard ground instead of a soft bed was a given, and there were countless times she couldn’t wash for days. For her, who had lived as a noble, they were dreadful days.
But that didn’t last long.
She gradually began to find the journey enjoyable. As time passed, she grew close to her companions, and she came to like them a lot.
They acknowledged and respected her without her having to do anything special.
For the first time, Eri felt at ease with her companions.
And it was all thanks to Cloud.
In the early days of their journey, when even Ophelia and Neria couldn’t get close to her because of her prickly personality, it was Cloud who kept approaching her.
No matter what harsh words she threw at him, he never lost his smile.
Even when she hit him on the head with her wooden staff, he never showed any sign of being upset.
A foolishly kind person.
To put it bluntly, he was a pushover, but it was because of him that she was able to open her heart to others.
Thanks to him, her temper, which used to stab people’s hearts like a knife, had dulled to a mere scratch.
And so, several years passed...
A sense of impatience began to bloom in a corner of Eri’s heart.
She had wasted several years, but she hadn’t grown. It wasn’t that she hadn’t grown at all, but it was nowhere near her own standards.
The reason was simple.
It was because Cloud was weak.
When he was first chosen as the Hero, he was just an ordinary boy.
A weak boy who had never learned the sword, had no knowledge, and had never killed anything.
Because of that, they had wasted most of their journey’s time on helping him grow.
Eri sighed endlessly, feeling as if she had thrown away precious time. At her worst, she even had a certain thought.
Cloud was like a sweet poison.
Being with him was fun and happy, but if she stayed by his side, they would one day be ruined together.
She might never receive the acknowledgment from her family that she had longed for since birth.
As her heart was being eaten away by such impatience and fear, Eri met Lorian.
A handsome man, though not as much as Cloud.
A background as the heir to the Karta Kingdom.
And on top of that, he possessed outstanding skill and talent.
Except for his face, he was a man far superior to Cloud in every way.
And that man expressed his interest in her.
At first, she refused.
She spat harsh words and showed her reluctance.
But Lorian didn’t give up. He smiled kindly like Cloud, approached her with the same persistence as Cloud, and showered her with affection.
As he did, she began to compare Lorian and Cloud, and eventually, she reached a point where she was weighing the two on a scale.
The scale, naturally, tipped toward Lorian.
Every time he showed a side of himself that was like Cloud, she grew more certain.
Certain that if she followed him, she could have it all—kind companions, an enjoyable journey, and a happy future.
To have everything, Eri took Lorian’s hand.
The result—
She lost everything.
“Eri, long time no see. Have you been well?”
Cloud, whom she met after so long, greeted her with the same smile as before.
Eri tried to smile back and greet him, but she couldn’t.
Because she had long since forgotten how to smile.
“Long... time.”
Barely squeezing out the words, she lowered her head to avoid Cloud’s gaze.
She knew she shouldn’t be like this with him after so long, but...
She couldn’t help it; she felt too pathetic.