What Kind of Place is Dilbart?
"Sister has so little shame." She clearly doesn't want to be alone. Well, this isn't my problem to get involved in. The hero party's issues should be solved by the hero party. This wasn't something a third party should carelessly interfere with. I'm just an outsider, after all. It's only because we share the common goal of hunting demons that I'm traveling with them. Once the demons are dead, I'll part ways with them cleanly, just like always, and go my own way.
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After Sirmiia entered the shower, the hero and Angelica left in the living room couldn't hide their discomfort. The hero was suspicious of Angelica, and Angelica disliked the hero, so the atmosphere was close to the worst.
"When Sirmiia comes out, we'll eat dinner right away. So, could you wake up the Saintess who's probably sleeping in her room?"
"Understood."
The hero didn't ask Angelica anything. He knew well that she wouldn't tell him anyway. The moment Sirmiia went to talk with Angelica, that was when he planned to strike. Once he gathered solid information from their conversation and grasped the situation to some extent, he would help Sirmiia then. That was his way.
After knocking, I entered the Saintess's room and woke her up.
"Hehe... Ian, you're really something. That place isn't ready yet.."
Pretending not to hear, I came back out to the living room. I told Angelica, who was boiling soup in the kitchen, that I'd woken the Saintess, then approached Seria, who was sitting on the sofa reading a book, and sat down beside her.
"What book is it?"
Seria paused for a moment before opening her small mouth to answer.
"It's a romance novel called Eternal Spring."
The hero didn't like books. Even back on Earth when he attended school, he preferred sports like soccer, table tennis, and badminton over reading.
"What's it about?"
"It's about a knight rescuing the heroine who's been captured by demons and fallen into danger, and the two of them falling in love."
It was the kind of story you'd only find in old fairy tales.
"A common story."
"Yeah... it's a common story."
Seria closed the book and turned her gaze to the hero.
"Hero oppa, can I speak casually?"
"Do as you like."
From the start, it felt strange hearing Seria call him oppa. Though she looked like a girl under fifteen, her true age was that of a 223-year-old grandmother.
"Can I call you Ian?"
"Yeah. Doesn't matter."
It might have been his imagination, but Seria seemed slightly pleased.
"Ian. You said it last time, didn't you? That if you kill the Demon King, you'd die for me."
"I did."
Seria fidgeted with her fingers before speaking hesitantly.
"..Why did you say that?"
"Didn't I tell you then? Because I'm the hero."
That wasn't what Seria was curious about.
"You're just a hero who was summoned here. It's not even the world you lived in—you were dragged here. Aren't you angry? Why would you sacrifice yourself?"
The hero was momentarily at a loss for words at Seria's question.
"Ian. Why can you die for them?"
That was...
"I'm not sure if this answer will satisfy you, but I'll explain anyway."
I explained the things I'd experienced as an adventurer.
"In those three years, there were many times I nearly died. Back then, I didn't have the holy sword and hadn't received the baptism yet."
"Is that why you can die for them?"
"Listen properly."
Leaving the impatient Seria aside, I continued.
"Every time, it was the people living in this world who helped me."
When the hero knew nothing about adventuring, when he was starving after being pickpocketed, there was a child who gave him bread without asking for anything in return. The hero had asked the child why they were giving him bread. The child smiled brightly and said that he looked hungrier, so of course you give bread to someone who's hungry. That day, thanks to the child's pure kindness, the hero didn't go hungry.
When the hero first made adventurer companions, he was betrayed after trusting them unconditionally. But he didn't fall into distrust of humans because there were adventurers who helped him without expecting anything in return. The place where he was betrayed by his companions was the boss room on the 22nd floor of a dungeon. With one leg severed, he had crawled across the floor, desperately fleeing from the boss. The boss toyed with him like a plaything instead of killing him easily, but the blood loss was so severe that his life was in immediate danger. Yet that day, another adventurer party exploring the 22nd floor risked their own lives to enter the boss room and carry the burden that was him to safety. That's why the hero was still alive.
After that incident, when he was infected with poison after falling into a trap while exploring a high-level dungeon with new companions, there was a mage companion who, defying expectations that they would steal his belongings and betray him, quickly administered emergency treatment. That's why the hero survived.
Beyond that, the hero had received countless help from the people of this world. And they performed those acts of kindness without expecting anything in return.
"Probably... that's when it started. When I began wanting to protect the people of this place."
When the hero finished speaking, Seria wore a completely unsatisfied expression.
"In the first place, being summoned here was the Empire's fault. Don't you feel any hatred or anything?"
"Of course. I did."
Before he started adventuring, he had cursed this world. He only thought about returning home as quickly as possible.
"But once I started adventuring, my thoughts changed. I still want to go home, but my desire to save the people of this world has grown just as much."
"Then what about saying you'd die? If you die, you can't go home."
For a brief moment, the hero's expression looked incredibly sorrowful. But he quickly returned to his usual face and spoke to Seria with a serious look.
"I'd rather you not tell the others about this."
"..What is it?"
The hero wore the most serious expression he'd ever shown and answered.
"I've come close to death countless times until now. And those experiences piled up, one after another, until they finally made me who I am today."
But excessive power comes at a cost. At the young age of twenty-five, he possessed combat ability equal to seasoned warriors, the skill of a swordsman on the verge of breaking through to Transcendence, and even magical talent comparable to a Transcendent. To make all of this his own, Ian had trained without rest. Naturally, he had crossed the threshold of death several times.
"I don't have much lifespan left. At most, maybe ten years."
"What?"
Seria was genuinely shocked. The average human lifespan was around eighty years. Yet more than half of it had already vanished?
"What on earth did you do?"
"I forced my body to the limit in extreme battles. I'm no genius when it comes to swordsmanship—only magic. I simply pushed my abilities to their limits through battles that crossed the line between life and death. Repeating that, I came to understand my remaining lifespan to some degree."
How hard had he worked to handle the holy sword, to elevate his talent in swordsmanship slightly above average? Remembering those trainings, he could still feel the tearing pain in the hand that once gripped the sword.
"And I've had my body treated hundreds of times right before death. So of course my lifespan would be lacking."
"That can't be true."
Seria couldn't easily close her mouth at the shocking truth.
"So, I'd like you to keep this fact a secret from the others."
Seria gave no answer to the hero's request.
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After Sirmiia finished showering and came out, we ate the dinner the dragon had prepared. Honestly, I hadn't expected much, but it was surprisingly delicious and I was a bit taken aback.
"Wow... Angelica-nim, this meat is really good!"
"Is that so? I'm glad it suits the Saintess's taste."
Angelica accepted the praise indifferently. That dragon was always like this. When it came to matters involving Sirmiia, she expressed a variety of emotions, but when conversing with the other party members, she spoke only what needed to be said with a blank expression. It was as if she considered all humans besides Sirmiia to be nothing more than flies buzzing around.
'Well. Half of that seems true, at least.'
We finished dinner and each went to our assigned bedrooms. Seria said she was going to shower and headed to the changing room with her clothes, while the Saintess softly locked her door, saying she would pray inside her room. I entered my room, sat on the bed, and immediately spread out my senses. Then, waiting for the moment Sirmiia and Angelica would meet, I quietly closed my eyes.
Creak.
"Follow me, Sirmiia."
It was detected faster than expected. I'd been prepared to stay up all night, so this was fortunate.
Hide
Suppressing my footsteps, I quietly tailed Sirmiia. Sirmiia and the dragon walked in silence for a long time. The place they arrived at was a small warehouse located on the outskirts of Dilbart. It seemed the outskirts hadn't been developed yet; unlike the glamorous city center, it had an old, gloomy atmosphere.
Before Sirmiia could lock the warehouse door, I quickly slipped inside through the gap. And there, I witnessed a rather shocking scene.
Smack.
The dragon slapped Sirmiia's cheek without a word, naturally, and Sirmiia...
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I won't do it again. Please forgive me just this once.."
She was begging the dragon for forgiveness in a servile manner.
'Why isn't she fighting back? Sirmiia.'
Currently, the dragon had no mana left. Even the little mana she'd had left had been used yesterday to stop Sirmiia's rampage, or so I'd heard. So I couldn't understand why Sirmiia was being beaten by the dragon. Simply because she couldn't win against the dragon with a sword? No. That couldn't be it. I knew best, having fought Angelica at the cathedral, what her swordsmanship was like. She wielded a heavy and fast sword, but that alone didn't make her stronger than Sirmiia, who used elemental mana. When dealing with the bandit group, Sirmiia had displayed remarkably refined and beautiful movements. As if she'd learned swordsmanship from a noble family. She possessed that level of excellent swordsmanship. Of course, since Sirmiia had the physical strength of an ordinary girl, she would inevitably lose in terms of physical ability alone against the dragon. If they fought with pure physical strength, she'd probably lose even to an average adult male. But that only applied when Sirmiia wasn't using mana. If Sirmiia enhanced her body with mana and used elemental mana like when she fought me, I was certain she wouldn't lose to Angelica, who wasn't using magic. So then, what was this current situation?
Roughly guessing, it was probably either something Sirmiia wanted, or she was being threatened by the dragon, or for some reason she couldn't use her power, or there was a curse involved. One of those four. And my intuition was clearly telling me there was a curse involved. Otherwise, Sirmiia wouldn't burst into tears so easily like an ordinary girl. The Sirmiia I'd seen and known until now was that kind of girl. A girl with a strong will more than anyone, yet with a clumsy side. Not a girl crying servilely like this.
"S-sorry... I'm sorry.."
I'd originally thought about hearing the circumstances before stepping in, but watching Sirmiia cry like this didn't sit well with me. I decided to save Sirmiia not out of the hero's duty, but purely from Ian's personal will.
Whoosh.
The thrown dagger grazed Angelica's nape.
"..Haa. So you came after all."
"You knew I'd come?"
Angelica traced her nape and used regeneration magic. Her bleeding neck healed as she glared at me.
"Hmph. Seeing those annoying eyes of yours, I figured even an idiot would follow. Hero."
Sirmiia, who had been sitting on the floor, looked up in shock at the word "hero."
"Hero? How on earth did you.."
Sirmiia looked quite flustered. Of course she would be. She'd walked all the way here with such a gloomy expression that she hadn't noticed even the slightest sign of being followed. But separate from that, the fact that he'd come to help her was a considerable minus. Clearly, even if it wasn't what Sirmiia wanted in her heart, on the surface she hadn't wanted help. So I naturally said what I'd always been thinking.
"I came because I wanted to see Sirmiia."
"What..?"
Sirmiia's eyes were bloodshot red. Her eyes were moist, and blood was flowing from her torn cheek. Even so, Sirmiia widened her eyes, wondering if she'd misheard. So I said it once more so she wouldn't have any doubts.
"I came because I missed Sirmiia so much."
Sirmiia had a bewildered expression, as if asking what on earth he was saying. Honestly, that look was cute too. It was ten thousand times better than the sight of her crying and begging for forgiveness. So I won't let you cry anymore. I'll save both you and the Julius Commander you want to protect, with my own hands. I made that vow in my heart.