Waiting (20)
“Mm… yeah, mwah, smooch….”
“Haa… ngh! …ahh, mmph, chuup….”
When their lips, sticky and clinging, finally parted, the woman spoke.
“Hero, you’ve gotten pretty used to kissing, haven’t you?”
Looking at his lover’s flushed face, Hero Kang Jinhyuk laughed.
“Kissing’s nothing by now.”
His tone carried just a trace of arrogance. It was hard to believe this was the same man he had been only a few months ago. But Fiora, his lover, was used to that side of him. Besides, if he had been chosen by the Goddess as a Hero, then perhaps that much was acceptable.
He can be a little excessive sometimes, but honestly, this is easier to read than before.
Holy Knight Fiora liked Hero Kang Jinhyuk as a man. That much was true, just as Kang Yuri, Jinhyuk’s twin sister, had guessed. But at the same time, she had approached him with political goals in mind. If she had to put a number on it, maybe seven parts affection to three parts calculation. If she hadn’t truly loved him, she never would have done this in the first place.
Still, the Jinhyuk of now was far easier to handle than the one she had known before. Not only as a lover, someone she could love and be loved by, but also as a subordinate serving the Hero, and even as the one who had once taught her.
“I’m going first.”
“...See you later.”
Without even waiting for Fiora’s answer, Kang Jinhyuk left the room.
“……”
Fiora felt strange.
Until just a moment ago, she had accepted Jinhyuk’s change in a positive light, but as a lover, it wasn’t exactly pleasant. It was good that he was confident as a Hero, yet the problem was that confidence extended in every direction, toward everyone.
Especially recently, the way he treated her had felt off.
The simplest example was how he addressed her. He seemed to adore the title “Hero” so much. It wasn’t as if he was making her call him that in private. Even when it was just the two of them and she carefully called him “Jinhyuk-ssi,” her lover would give off the faintest hint of displeasure.
He didn’t scold her. He didn’t even openly frown. But there was no way she could miss that he disliked it. In just a few months, outside of his own family, she had become the person closest to him in this world, the one who knew him best and had grown most intimate with him.
“That’s disappointing.”
But there was nothing she could do about it.
Her partner was the Hero who had gathered the Church’s highest hopes. By comparison, she was only a talented Holy Knight, one among hundreds or thousands. Even as lovers, the gap between them was vast.
If she followed her heart, she might have picked a fight with him over it, but because she had political motives, even that was impossible. She had to keep appeasing him and guide him in the direction they wanted. If Kang Jinhyuk was doing this deliberately and knew exactly what he was doing, he would have been a terrifying man—but he didn’t seem like that kind of person.
Carrying all sorts of frustrations, Fiora also left the room.
For some reason, she found herself unusually full of thoughts today.
What began as dissatisfaction with her lover, Kang Jinhyuk, had already spilled over into other matters.
At first, to be honest, she hadn’t felt it was real. A perfectly ordinary man from a place without mana or magic had been summoned as a Hero? The only saving grace had been that he seemed quite eager. But as time passed, he had shown the bearing of a true Hero.
Not in personality, but in growth.
Whether because of the Goddess’s blessing or his innate talent, Kang Jinhyuk’s rate of growth was astonishing. The same was true of Kang Yuri, who was also a Hero, but Jinhyuk was especially remarkable. There were even cautious murmurs that within a few years he might reach the level of the former Hero Pedro.
Father said that was absurd, though.
It seemed to be the difference between someone who had felt it firsthand and someone who had only heard rumors.
As for her personally, it didn’t stir much in her.
Even if Kang Jinhyuk truly surpassed the Master and reached the highest realm, even if he successfully carried out the Goddess’s mission and became a hero of the continent, she felt the outcome would still be the same. Their relationship was already unstable enough; if he climbed even higher, the future was obvious.
“And then there are the rumors.”
Fiora stopped walking, and a faint trace of irritation darkened her face.
They were still only rumors, with no clear evidence, but she had heard more than once that Kang Jinhyuk was fooling around with other women. He wasn’t exactly seducing them openly and spending hot nights in bed, but he supposedly didn’t turn away women who came to him either.
And being an exotic-looking Hero chosen by the Goddess, he was hardly the sort of man who would lack popularity.
“Haa….”
Worry rose in her before she could stop it.
Then the door to the room where Fiora had paused opened, and a woman appeared.
It was Fiora’s friend, the twin sister of Hero Kang Jinhyuk and also a Hero in her own right—Kang Yuri.
“Fiora? Why are you sighing out here?”
“Ah… well, haha….”
Faced with the question, Fiora could only laugh awkwardly.
She wasn’t a fool who would say, Because your little brother is the reason, because my lover is making me miserable and I’m hurt by it. Still, seeing Yuri’s face did improve her mood somewhat.
Maybe more than her lover Jinhyuk, it was Yuri who had become the person she was closest to. Perhaps it was because they were both women, because Yuri was her lover’s twin, and because they had spent so much time together. Yuri’s naturally outgoing personality had helped too.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but come inside.”
“Yeah….”
When Fiora stepped into Yuri’s room, she saw a desk covered in books and notes, as if Yuri had been studying magic.
“You were studying?”
“Ah, yeah. Classes are over now, but… I’m still nervous about a lot of things.”
“……”
Fiora swallowed the exclamation that nearly escaped her. If she praised Yuri here, her friend would definitely get embarrassed. And that would make it feel like she was teasing her, which Fiora didn’t want to do.
Still, there was one thing she absolutely wanted to say.
“You’re amazing.”
“Huh? Ahaha, come on. I’m just reviewing on my own. Compared to Jinhyuk, I’m still lacking in ability. But we’re Heroes, and we’ve been given these gifts, so I should at least pull my weight.”
“Even so.”
It was still impressive.
Once the Heroes had reached a certain level, the Church officially announced their existence to everyone. After that, the training had ended. If a Hero was said to be learning from someone else, it would make them look a little less impressive.
In any case, even if the two twins still fell a little short of the Master, they had become shockingly strong compared to just a few months ago. Even if they were taught more now, their skill wouldn’t keep rising dramatically. More importantly, although the twin Heroes hadn’t announced it to anyone, the Pope and the Saint had already realized that the two of them possessed an unusual secret to their growth. So they hadn’t interfered.
After that, the differences between the Heroes became clear.
Kang Jinhyuk spent only an hour or two a day loosening up his body and refreshing his swordsmanship, then spent the rest of his time idling. He toured the city where the papal headquarters stood, built friendships with others, and seemed to be enjoying a final vacation before setting out on his journey.
Kang Yuri, on the other hand, devoted herself more seriously to magic studies and quietly sought out her former instructors to ask questions whenever she didn’t understand something. Thanks to that, the teachers who had instructed her were extremely fond of her. A smart and beautiful female Hero who also worked hard—how could anyone not find that adorable?
In a different sense from her twin brother, she was popular too.
“So why did you come here?”
At Fiora’s praise, Yuri bashfully changed the subject.
Instead of mentioning the sigh she had let out in front of the door, she asked why she had come in the first place.
“No, I just… followed my feet, and they brought me here.”
“Hmm… I see.”
Intuitively, Yuri realized this was a problem related to Kang Jinhyuk. But she closed her mouth, worried that giving advice would only make things worse. In any case, Fiora didn’t seem eager to talk about it much either.
So Yuri changed the subject again.
“How’s the atmosphere these days?”
“The atmosphere?”
“Yeah. I don’t get out much, so I don’t really know, but… you know, all kinds of things.”
“Hmm… it’s noisy everywhere.”
Fiora smiled.
That was exactly it.
Even though more than a week had passed since the announcement, the whole place was still buzzing about the two new Heroes and the darkness. Less than twenty years had passed since the war ended. There were still plenty of people who remembered the chaos of that time.
“Ugh… that sounds exhausting….”
“Hehe. But I’m sure you’ll do fine, Yuri.”
“Yeah.”
As Yuri nodded, a thought suddenly occurred to her, and she turned her head.
“By the way.”
“Mm?”
“What do you think about the party members who’ll be your companions?”
“My companions? They haven’t even been selected yet.”
“No, I mean, like, the likely candidates. You know, people like that.”
“Ah.”
Fiora understood.
That was true. Many people had gathered in hopes of becoming the Heroes’ companions, but unless something unusual happened, the most likely candidates were the already well-known promising talents. It wasn’t common for an unknown prodigy to suddenly appear and steal the spot.
“There are quite a few.”
“I’m curious, so tell me about them.”
“Okay.”
Fiora began explaining things to Kang Yuri.
Since Fiora herself had already been chosen for the Hero party, she knew a great deal about this side of things. Even so, it was useful to learn in advance. That way she could build connections early, and also weed out anyone whose character or faith seemed deeply questionable.
“I’ll go by country of origin. First, here in the Simon Holy Kingdom…”
“Mm-hmm.”
The first stop was the Simon Holy Kingdom. Though it was a small nation heavily dependent on the Church of the Goddess and the papal see, it was still a kingdom in its own right. Many talented people worked for the royal family and the noble houses. Even so, truly exceptional talent usually entered the Church of the Goddess, so only two or three names came out of Fiora’s mouth.
Next came the neighboring Dezac Empire, the largest nation on the continent. Because it held nearly half the land and possessed the most advanced magic, the conversation naturally grew longer, and it drew Yuri’s interest as well. More than ten promising candidates alone came from the magic towers.
They went on through the Tri-Allied States, the Union Republic, and the Ventorino Kingdom, before finally reaching the Ulsro Kingdom.
“Lastly, the Ulsro Kingdom. Here… um….”
At Fiora’s hesitant groan, Yuri tilted her head in confusion.
“What is it?”
“Actually, all of the candidates from there have already arrived. They were apparently very carefully selected, because they even came along with the envoy led by the First Princess.”
“And then?”
“The Ulsro First Princess is famous, but since she’s royalty, she can’t participate. Which means the next most likely candidates are two people. One is Sir Ethylene Propylene, the eldest daughter of the Marquis Propylene’s house. And the other is…”
“The other is?”
“……”
“What is it? Stop dragging it out and just say it already.”
“Well, he’s a knight now, but until recently he was a commoner… a half-demon.”
“A half-demon, and he’s a knight?”
Kang Yuri looked genuinely surprised.
She had come from another world where, at least on the surface, everyone was equal. But after arriving here, she had studied history and learned the realities of this place. Because the continent had fought a war with the demon race less than half a century ago, already poor perceptions of demons had become far worse.
In particular, among half-demons under the age of thirty, most were born not from love but from violation and rape. Naturally, the victims were overwhelmingly commoners, while the demon parent had been an enemy who had slaughtered countless people. To prove how real that situation was, not a single half-demon had been among the companion candidates Fiora had just mentioned.
So for one to become a knight, and not even as a mercenary—that was more than enough to be shocking.
“In the Ulsro Kingdom, they periodically hold a martial tournament in memory of the Hero. He placed second there. The Sir I just mentioned, Ethylene, was the winner.”
“Hee… so if you win there, do you become a knight right away?”
“Basically, yes. But this boy was first taken in as a squire-knight, then earned merit and was promoted to a proper knight.”
“Wow… huh? Wait, boy?”
“Yeah. The runner-up was only about six months ago, and he became a knight around three months ago.”
“……”
She lost the ability to speak.
Even Yuri, who still wasn’t very familiar with this world’s circumstances, could tell how incredible that was. A commoner young enough to be called a boy—moreover a half-demon—had achieved that much. There was no doubt his abilities must be extraordinary too.
“I don’t know what kind of merit he earned, but… isn’t that practically a lock?”
“It would be, but… he is a half-demon.”
“Ah… so there might be suspicions he’s a spy.”
“Exactly.”
Moreover, the Church of the Goddess was fundamentally hostile to demons. The reasons for that hostility were long and well known, but to put it simply, the Goddess hated demons. Add in the suspicion that he might be a spy, and it was almost more surprising that he could become a companion at all.
“I’m curious.”
So Yuri became interested in him.
For someone who had come from another world, she didn’t carry any prejudice toward half-demons. In the end, a bad person was bad, whether human or another race. And if he had been born from the scars of war, perhaps she would even pity him rather than dislike him.
“What’s the boy’s name?”
“...Valdes.”
Even while watching Yuri show interest in a half-demon with concern, Fiora gave her the name.
“Valdes….”
Yuri repeated it to herself, engraving it deep in her mind.
For some reason, she found herself eagerly looking forward to meeting that boy.
Not knowing what would later happen to her because of him.
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