So, the Hero Has Indeed Returned
"A Goddess's Sanctuary in a place like this..."
It was a simple, rugged cave.
Seeing the Goddess's emblem engraved before a cave with a single, straight path, Arciel felt unease rather than the reverence expected of a Saint.
The anxiety was even worse for Nydrian, who had tracked down the cave herself using her tracking skills.
Both women instinctively knew that Lucy and Rin had stopped by this cave.
"Found it," Tigria said.
Tigria, who was casting detection magic, discovered the traces of the battle between Rin and the succubus.
A dark red pool of Rin's blood that had settled despite a day having passed, the charred corpse of the succubus, and the crunching glass scattered around it.
"Appears to be glass bottles that contained holy water."
"I know that," Arciel snapped.
Because she had made them herself.
Because it was holy water created by praying to the Goddess and receiving her blessing.
As far as Arciel knew, there was only one person in the world who possessed this holy water.
The porter.
Holy water was not something that could be mass-produced like in a factory.
Only the Saint could create it by invoking the Goddess's blessing, and its efficacy lasted only as long as the Saint of that generation remained alive.
Just in case, three bottles of holy water, which had taken a whole week to make, had been entrusted to the party's porter.
"Appears to be a low-ranking demon. Judging by the remaining corpse..."
"The demonic energy hasn't dissipated."
"How could this be..."
The mage was calm, the Saint bit her lip, and the elf gasped.
The reality they wanted to deny had revealed itself in the worst possible way.
The Hero?
Alive. And with her strength restored.
Demons?
Still existing. Presumed to be hiding throughout the Empire.
"Will report to the Imperial Family," Tigria stated.
Faced with Tigria's extremely businesslike attitude, Arciel wanted to stop her and tell her not to report it.
She had no objective reason, but she felt she had to.
But Tigria wouldn't listen.
Arciel and Nydrian sighed at the same time.
The one the two of them had requested to join the subjugation squad was Tigria.
If ordinary soldiers encountered demons, they would be worse than meat shields, and they would surely panic and spread rumors.
If they were unlucky enough to run into the Hero and the porter, what happened on the day of the Demon King's subjugation might be exposed. Thus, Arciel left even the Holy Kingdom's soldiers behind in the capital and got approval for the mage to join instead.
However, the emotionless mage was not being very helpful.
"This blood belongs to the porter. However, no other corpses are detected nearby besides this demon. Therefore, it appears the porter, despite being mortally wounded himself, defeated the demon and fled with Lucy."
"A mere porter defeating a demon? It must have been the Hero."
Tigria shook her head.
"If it were the Hero, she would have obliterated it without a trace using the Holy Sword, or torn it apart with her bare hands."
"The Hero has no arms."
We tore them off ourselves.
She swallowed the uncomfortable afterthought.
"By the way, how do you know it's the porter's blood?"
"I periodically analyzed and checked the blood data of all party members to prepare for emergencies and manage daily health. By cross-referencing with the accumulated data, I confirmed this blood belongs to Rin."
"I-I don't recall ever giving you my blood."
Tigria shrugged at Nydrian's suspicious look.
"During battle, we all bled constantly."
Realizing it hadn't been drawn directly from her body, Nydrian felt relieved.
"I didn't want to know that, but since we've confirmed everything we need to, let's withdraw."
Although the subjugation squad leader, Arciel, ordered a retreat, Tigria stared intently at the pool of blood.
A strange light and curiosity flickered in her narrowed eyes.
"Highly curious."
"About what?"
"I am curious as to why Rin goes to such desperate lengths to rescue, protect, and carry the Hero around."
On the way out of the Goddess's Sanctuary, the mage could not hide her excitement and kept talking.
"Even on the day he fled from us, as a non-combatant, there was almost nothing he could do."
"That guy was hiding a top-tier ultimate skill scroll. The Art of Earth Shrinking... I believed it only existed in legends."
"The ultimate skill scroll is not important. What is important is that he resolved to stand against us and save the Hero. I am curious about the fact that Rin, who struggled just to protect himself in every battle, acted with such courage, and I am curious about his motivation."
"Hearing you put it that way makes me curious too."
When Nydrian agreed with her curiosity, contradicting Arciel's dismissiveness, Tigria felt uncharacteristically smug.
To anyone else, it wouldn't show, but she herself recognized that she was highly excited.
So, she said something she normally wouldn't have.
"This is affection."
"What?"
"This series of events cannot be explained unless Rin harbors affection for the Hero."
"My goodness, to hear the word 'affection' come out of your mouth, Tigria...!"
"..."
When her hypothesis was immediately dismissed, Tigria fell silent.
Affection.
It was undoubtedly pure affection.
Sharing it with others was indeed dangerous.
The mage decided to return to the virtue of silence.
"So, who is Rin anyway?"
But Tigria found Arciel's follow-up question absurd.
Who was Rin?
"Contextually, you mean the porter, right?"
"That's how I understood it too," Nydrian chimed in.
When collecting blood from the Hero's party, there was only one person whose blood she had obtained through a different method: the porter.
Since he had no choice but to be passive in combat, it was difficult to obtain Rin's sample on the battlefield.
So she had asked him directly, but Rin had initially refused.
"It is to prepare for emergencies and manage daily health."
"I'm sorry, but, well, I'm not used to other people looking out for me."
"Neither am I."
To Tigria, Rin was somewhat unusual.
Their ways of treating people were completely different, yet they were subtly alike.
For the first time in her life, Tigria felt something akin to intimacy.
"Given the environment I grew up in, anyone who knew even a little bit of information about me tried to exploit it."
"In that case, I will provide you with my own information that no one else knows. In exchange, you must keep it confidential."
"Uh..."
At the time, Tigria had blurted out her secret without even waiting for an answer.
Rin had panicked and covered her mouth.
"Does anyone else know about that?"
"Only you."
She didn't know why, but realizing that Rin was the only person who knew her secret made her feel good.
"That's far too much information to exchange just for some blood."
"I think so too."
"But you're the one who said it without my consent, Mage."
"Whether to end this transaction here or negotiate properly is up to you."
"Sigh."
After pondering for a moment, Rin had to share two secrets to balance the scales.
"My name is Rin."
"Do not consider that highly valuable information."
"I lived in the same neighborhood as the Saint until I was young."
"Consider it a topic that some might find interesting."
With that, the transaction was concluded.
Since Tigria's secret was so monumental, the information Rin gave felt like nothing in comparison.
Rin had also shared it because he knew the mage wouldn't go around gossiping about his information.
Though that didn't mean Rin had been completely honest about everything either.
"Rin."
"Yes."
"Were you close to the Saint when you were young?"
"...Let's just say we were acquainted."
"If you tell the Saint, the party's treatment of you will improve significantly."
"No, absolutely not."
"Understood."
It was strange.
Unlike Tigria, who remained indifferent, the other party members treated the porter harshly.
Since he had said himself that he didn't wish for better treatment, there was no need to care.
Yet, a moment later, Tigria asked another question.
"Who else knows Rin's secrets?"
"I wonder. But there are a few."
She was somewhat dissatisfied with that.
From that day on, whenever they were alone, the mage began to call the porter by his name.
Not that the total amount of her interest in Rin had increased, though.
"Hey, Tigria!"
This time was different.
"Who is Rin..."
"He is the porter. Learned it by chance. Hope this answer was helpful."
"...You talk so damn rudely."
If he was moving like this solely out of affection, Rin was more than worthy of monopolizing all of Tigria's attention.
Intriguing.
The appearance of a new subject of observation, other than Rheinfold, excited Tigria.
"Whew... We've confirmed the existence of demons, but the Hero's resurrection is still just circumstantial."
"The Holy Sword literally flew through the ceiling of the Imperial Palace. And the ceiling of that cave earlier was pierced too."
"Still, without seeing it with my own eyes..."
Tigria felt annoyed by the two interrupting her thoughts.
Having no choice, the mage pushed past Nydrian to take the lead. As soon as they arrived in Epaltelga, she guided them to the location she had located using detection magic.
Only when they finally reached the spot did Arciel and Nydrian stand with their mouths agape.
"This is... damn it...!"
It was a clearing.
A clearing that looked as if the mountain ground had been forcibly crushed down.
Though not wide, the surrounding trees were uprooted and scattered, and the earth was deeply gouged.
It was the exact trace Lucy left behind whenever she leaped with all her monstrous strength.
"That is why I told you at the Imperial Palace,"
Tigria declared again, with a touch of irritation in her polite tone.
"The Hero has returned."