The Third Hero (7)
"Please. Food."
The dog beastkin girl spoke to me in a plaintive voice.
Her eyes were full of expectation, and her ears and tail swayed gently as she unconsciously tried to charm me.
Had she instinctively figured out that acting like that would get her food?
Honestly, that look made me hesitate quite a bit.
Just like when I'd taken Nafira into the hero's party in the past, I felt a faint urge to take this girl with me and look after her for a while...
But I shook my head and cast the thought aside.
I was never raising another one like Nafira.
Betrayed once was enough. Was I going to get betrayed twice?
I had absolutely no intention of taking her in.
So I decided to ignore her completely.
"..."
I went on my way, paying the beastkin girl no mind.
I pretended not to see her, pretended she didn't exist, even as she kept circling around me.
"Um...?"
The beastkin girl tilted her head at me.
She couldn't understand why I was acting this way.
So she waved a hand in front of my face, then spun in circles around me.
She kept doing things designed to draw more attention.
But I still ignored her.
Just get lost already.
None of that was going to make me give her the time of day.
I simply kept going, hoping she would leave me alone.
Hmm... is it working?
The dog beastkin girl's energy had dropped off sharply compared to before.
She also wore a distinctly dejected expression.
She was still trailing after me, but at this rate it would be over soon enough.
She had to be reaching her limit. I waited, hoping she would finally leave me alone.
But then something unexpected happened.
Thud...
"Hey. Why are you collapsing there?"
The dog beastkin girl who had been tagging along at my heels suddenly went down.
When I turned to look, she was sprawled on the roadside, thoroughly exhausted.
I pressed a hand to my forehead and let out a sigh.
Seriously, why chase me until you collapse?
Normally you'd peel off before you dropped and go find something to eat.
Following me right up to the point of collapse was just absurd.
Haah... for real.
At any rate, I could no longer ignore the beastkin girl.
If I left her like this, she was going to die one way or another—starve or get eaten, it was a certainty.
If she was going to die, I'd rather she not do it right in front of me.
In the end I went over to the dog beastkin girl and laid her down somewhere decent.
Then I started dripping a little water into her mouth.
"Ugh..."
"Haa."
Fortunately, she opened her eyes quickly.
It must have been a light faint.
The dog girl blinked awake and stared up at me with bright, round eyes.
Looking at her, I could only sigh again.
I couldn't afford to get the wrong idea here.
This was nothing more than saving her so she wouldn't die. It absolutely did not mean I was taking her with me.
"I'm not planning to raise you. Go somewhere else."
I said it clearly.
Give up already and go your own way.
"...No."
But that was rejected without hesitation.
This girl clearly intended to keep following me.
Even if she collapsed again.
"There are plenty of other people. Why are you so hung up on me?"
"...A feeling."
"Hah."
And why me, of all people?
There were plenty of other people in the world.
Sure, some of them were kind and some of them weren't, but that still wasn't a reason to trail after me specifically.
Besides, she didn't even need to live with a human. Beastmen could live among themselves.
Nafira had definitely set up a proper place for the oppressed beastman tribes.
I'd heard the beastmen were living happily there these days.
Wouldn't living with other beastmen be far happier than tagging along after me?
"Go back to where the beastmen live."
"I can't go back there anymore."
"...? Is there some reason?"
"..."
Huh...? What was that supposed to mean?
Was there some problem at the beastman stronghold Nafira had built?
At my words, the dog girl in front of me looked distinctly uncomfortable.
I didn't know the details, but whatever the circumstances were, they seemed pretty bad.
"So. You're planning to keep following me?"
"Yeah... I'll be good. Let me come with you."
One way or another, this beastkin girl's will to stick with me was crystal clear.
There was nothing I could do about that resolve.
"Haa. One month, then... just one month, okay?"
In the end, I raised the white flag.
Really just one month.
I'd keep her around for exactly one month, then we'd part ways later.
Having decided that, I agreed to go together for now.
"Hehe."
"So. What's your name?"
"Don't have one."
She didn't even have a name?
I couldn't just keep calling her "dog beastkin girl."
Giving her a decent name here wouldn't be so bad.
"Then from now on, you're Aji."
"Aji?"
"Yeah."
"Okay... I'm Aji."
Having received a name, Aji looked thoroughly pleased.
"You've worked hard."
There had been plenty of twists and turns, but the parade was over.
Having made his existence known to so many people of the Empire, Alex wore a look of satisfaction.
"Now that the parade is finished, you'll be setting out, won't you?"
Of course, his party members felt nothing of the sort.
This kind of parade held zero interest for them.
All they wanted was to defeat the Demon King as soon as possible.
Defeat the Demon King, achieve their own goals, and put as much distance as they could between themselves and this hero who was plotting a rebellion.
So they pressed Alex to go after the Demon King already.
They made it clear with their looks: stop wasting time.
"Yes. We should set out."
Whether Alex picked up on those looks or not, he had no particular desire to drag things out either.
As a Hero, he had no intention of leaving the Demon King unslain.
The parade was done, so he agreed with his party members and said he would depart as well.
"Before that, though, there's one last thing I'd like to ask of the Saintess."
But he said there was just one thing he still needed to do.
Once that was finished, he would leave immediately.
"And what would that be?"
What was he going to ask for this time?
Irritation surged through Ayla, but she held it down and asked.
He'd called it a final request, so if she just endured this one last thing, it would be over.
Whatever it was, she decided to hear him out and get it done quickly.
"I would like you to baptize me. Personally, Saintess."
"Excuse me...?"
And what she heard was truly shocking.
Was he serious right now?
"Hero, do you understand what you're asking?"
Ordinarily, a baptism meant a cleric of the Goddess Church sprinkling holy water on a believer.
Through that process, the person became a full member of the Goddess Church.
That was a normal baptism in the Goddess Church.
But asking the Saintess herself to perform one was an entirely different matter.
The Saintess never performed baptisms herself, and the reason was that a baptism from the Saintess was that special.
A baptism from the Saintess was a far more noble and glorious act, and it was regarded—or rather, had to be regarded—differently within the Goddess Church.
How best to explain it?
If she had to put it simply: receiving a baptism from the Saintess did not mean "this person is a believer who serves the Goddess." It meant "this person is one favored by the Goddess herself."
That was why, to a Goddess Church devoted to serving the Goddess, a baptism from the Saintess was an act of extraordinary honor.
And so the Saintess baptized no one, and no one dared demand a baptism from her.
The Saintess was capable of performing a baptism, but in the entire history of the Goddess Church, not once had a Saintess ever done so in person.
And yet this Hero was asking her to baptize him herself.
Surely he didn't know what it meant?
Ayla stared at the Hero as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Yes. I know. I know that a baptism from the Saintess is special."
But Alex understood perfectly well.
He knew just how special a Saintess's baptism was.
That was exactly why he was asking her for one.
"Even so, I am the Hero, and I will be the one to defeat the Demon King. Won't you baptize me?"
Later, when the time came for him to stage his rebellion, having received a baptism from the Saintess would certainly help.
At the very least, the countless believers and clergy who followed the Goddess Church would have no choice but to support Alex.
Alex kept pressing the Saintess.
She'd have no choice but to do it, wouldn't she?
Alex already knew nearly everything about the Saintess's situation.
He knew that Ayla was only in the hero's party to keep her position as Saintess.
"..."
Ayla was genuinely cornered.
If she baptized him, she would become his accomplice with no way out.
If she refused, she might be cast out of the hero's party.
And if that happened, she wouldn't be able to keep her position as Saintess either.
Never mind going back to being a novice nun—she might be expelled from the Goddess Church entirely.
Failing to defeat the Demon King would mean exactly that for Ayla.
Giving in to Alex's demand might be the rational choice.
"I refuse."
But this was different.
This crossed a line.
Ayla rejected Alex's request.
"Hmph..."
Hearing that, Alex's expression turned distinctly sour.