The Third Hero (4)
I knew this wasn't just my imagination.
I wasn't the kind of man who couldn't tell the difference between someone who simply happened to be headed the same way and someone who was genuinely tailing me.
Someone was definitely following me right now.
No one comes to mind, though...
So who on earth was it?
No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't come up with anyone who would have a reason to trail me. I wasn't a Hero anymore, and this wasn't even the Empire, where I used to operate. This was the remote Artes Kingdom. Sure, I'd put down a rebellion here, so it wasn't as if I'd been keeping a low profile—but I hadn't done anything that warranted a stalker, either.
Besides, who would dare tail a Hero? You'd have to be seriously unhinged to even try.
So what exactly was following me?
Curiosity got the better of me, and I waited for whoever it was to show themselves.
"..."
And when they finally did, I felt my interest deflate a little.
"A beastman?"
Nothing special. The figure that stepped out in front of me was just a beastman girl with black ears and a black tail—roughly Ria's age. Aside from being rather cute, there was nothing particularly remarkable about her.
So why had she been following me?
The reason was obvious at a glance. Her ragged clothes and slightly gaunt frame said it all. She must have been drawn by the smell of the food I'd brought for the memorial offering.
It wasn't uncommon to see beastmen wandering around half-starved. In the Empire, they were targets of discrimination—treated like humans with ears and tails slapped on, as if that alone made them repulsive. Persecution drove them into all kinds of dirty work, which only invited more persecution, locking them into an endless cycle of prejudice.
I never really saw the point of discriminating against them. If anything, I'd have liked to put an end to it. But as a Hero, I'd been too busy dealing with the demons to spare the attention.
"Is this what you want?"
Well, if she was hungry, there was no reason not to share. I'd been planning to leave the food behind anyway. I couldn't finish it all myself. If I could spare some, why not?
I asked the beastman girl.
"Hand it over."
Whoa. Listen to that mouth. For someone so cute, she had a seriously foul attitude.
Oh? Look at this one. Acting like I owed it to her.
"Say 'please,' and I'll give it to you."
Hearing her talk like that killed any impulse I had to just hand it over. I could have given it to her for free, sure—but the person receiving something ought to show at least a little gratitude, shouldn't they?
I dangled the food in front of her face, needling her just a bit.
"..."
She ground her teeth, glaring at me. The look on her face said she wanted nothing more than to lunge forward and snatch the food right out of my hands.
If she put her beastman physique to full use, she could probably take down an ordinary grown man. But she didn't dare rush me. Her instincts must have been sharp.
Beastmen possessed a kind of primal sense—an instinct that told them whether someone was stronger or weaker than they were, and by how much. The sensitivity varied from one beastman to another, but the girl in front of me seemed especially attuned.
Nafira hadn't been like that...
She was probably feeling a considerable amount of fear coming off me—the former Hero.
"I told you. Say 'please,' and I'll give it to you."
The only reason she still hadn't run was that she was simply too hungry. I didn't bother saying more. Who was going to eat her? One little word and she could have as much delicious food as she wanted. I couldn't understand why she was being so stubborn.
I waited patiently.
"...If I say please, you'll give it to me? Really?"
At last, the beastman girl's tail drooped. The wariness in her posture had eased somewhat as she carefully asked me again. Not that her guard was completely down—she just wanted the food badly enough that this was her only option, and she was doing it grudgingly.
"Yeah. I'll give it to you."
I confirmed it for her one more time. Say it, and it's yours.
"Please."
Once she had my word, the beastman girl answered immediately.
"Here. Eat up."
She'd done as I asked, so I had to keep my promise. I stepped aside so she could get at the food.
"Om nom nom."
She finally had her hands on it. The beastman girl dove in instantly, stuffing her cheeks until they bulged while still clutching more food in both hands. Honestly... chew a little slower. It's not going anywhere.
I couldn't help but snort out a laugh at the sight. But the smile faded almost as quickly as it came.
Come to think of it, I met Nafira the same way, didn't I?
A memory of my former party member—the beastman Nafira—surfaced unbidden. Back when I was still the Hero, traveling with my party, I'd found her: a half-starved cat beastman. I'd fed her, then brought her into the party. She'd talked about wanting independence for her tribe, and I couldn't bring myself to turn her away. She had talent, and she worked hard. I'd thought well of her for it.
What a goddamn bitch...
In the end, she'd been a traitor. Who could have seen that coming? After everything I'd done for her, the second the Chancellor stripped me of my Hero title, she dropped me like a bad habit. Even now, I couldn't believe someone like that actually existed.
If I'd known, I never would have been kind to her. Never would have given her food. Never would have let her into the Hero's party.
"Alright. Time to get moving."
I let out a breath. Thoughts of my old party members had crept in again—bitter ties I never wanted to revisit, no matter how much time passed. We were strangers now. I needed to start treating them as such.
I still had a long way to go. Enough idle thoughts. Time to leave.
I was just about to walk away when—
"Why are you still following me?"
I turned my head. There she was—the beastman girl I'd just fed—trailing about ten meters behind me.
No, seriously. Why was she following me...?
"Th-that's..."
The party members desperately wanted to dodge Alex's question. As previously noted, nothing he had asked was the kind of thing you could answer lightly. But Alex pressed them relentlessly, and they had nowhere left to run. Sooner or later, they had to say something.
"Of course we should follow you, Hero. We are members of the Hero's party, after all. If we don't place our trust in you, then who would we trust? We have at least that much faith."
In that impossible situation, Ayla had no choice but to step forward. She declared that she would follow the Hero. For now, they just needed to get through this moment...
Of course, she understood perfectly well what those words meant. Agreeing was tantamount to joining a conspiracy, and she was fully aware of that. But she said it because she truly had no other option.
Every member of the Hero's party had their own goals they couldn't afford to abandon. What if they pushed back against Alex now and he refused to accept them as party members? They would be the ones left stranded. And they couldn't exactly report him to anyone else, either. They were already the party members of two Heroes who had failed to subjugate the Demon King. Would anyone believe them over a Hero appointed by the Chancellor himself? The answer was obvious.
Right now, all they could do was be grateful that Alex had taken them in and go along with whatever he said. They'd worry about the rest later.
"I see. So the Saintess intends to follow me. Haha. That does put me in a good mood."
Alex's face lit up with a thoroughly satisfied smile. He'd just heard exactly what he most wanted to hear.
"And the rest of you?"
"I... I'll follow you as well."
"Me too."
"Same here."
Once Ayla had spoken, the other party members fell in line. They were thinking the exact same thing she was. Even with the risk of treason hanging over them, they couldn't give up the reasons they'd joined the Hero's party in the first place. Right now, what mattered was earning Alex's trust. Getting cut from the party was not an option.
"Haha. Thank you. To receive this much faith... I'm truly grateful."
Every last one of them had come around. Alex looked over his party with a pleased grin.
"Of course, I didn't mean any of that seriously, so don't worry yourselves. Haha. It was only a joke."
And then he stressed once more that it had all been a joke—that he'd merely been asking a question.
"For now, we need to defeat the Demon King. Let's get moving."
Alex took the lead. After all, a Hero's duty was nothing other than bringing down the Demon King. He would take his party and set out for the next destination.
...Should we really be following a Hero like this?
One by one, the party members fell in behind him. And Luna, the mage of the Hero's party, had no choice but to follow as well.
But the worry wouldn't leave her. Was it truly alright to trust a Hero like this and go along with him?
She'd been uneasy during Herald's tenure as well—the Hero before Alex—but never quite like this. Herald, at least, had never given her the sense that he would deliberately put the party in danger.
Alex was different. Following a Hero like him... she couldn't shake the feeling that something truly terrible was going to happen.