That Partner Is Me!!
It was right after Roen and Ilena had finished breakfast and parted ways.
“Then you too.”
“See you later.”
“Hehe… Yeah!”
When Roen waved, Ilena turned around with a bright smile.
“Hmm, hm-hmm~”
Still unable to believe the situation, she hummed a little tune as she headed for Hesed’s farm.
“Huh? Tiphereth?”
Tiphereth, who should have already been at the farm, was standing in the middle of the path.
“What’s going on? Why aren’t you at the farm?”
“We have a guest.”
“A guest…?”
Judging by Tiphereth’s grim expression, it clearly wasn’t a welcome one.
“An intruder?”
Tiphereth nodded.
“But how did they get in? I placed high-level barrier magic over the entire village…”
“It’s someone we know.”
“Someone we know?”
“The woman who nearly stabbed the Demon King.”
“Ah…!”
Ilena immediately recognized the intruder from Tiphereth’s description.
It was Silvia, who had once been part of the same hero party as Roen.
In the past, when they had faced the hero party, only Roen had been able to fight Ilena head-on.
But the only hero who had hidden their presence and aimed for a decisive strike was Silvia.
Of course, she had been stopped before she could pierce Ilena’s powerful defensive magic.
“If it’s that woman, I understand how she slipped past my barrier.”
“The birds told me, so I found out as well. She’s hiding in the warehouse now. What will you do? Should I summon the other legion commanders first?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. Continue with your work.”
“Are you sure you’ll be all right? She’s an assassin. Her compatibility with Roen is poor. If she came here to harm him…”
“Enough.”
Tiphereth shut her mouth, realizing her mistake.
“I’m sorry. I spoke out of turn…”
“Please don’t say things like that, even hypothetically, Tiphereth. I’ll handle this myself. Go back to what you were doing.”
“Understood. Please be careful.”
Tiphereth bowed and hurried off toward the farm, practically fleeing.
Ilena knew full well that if Silvia had truly come to harm Roen, it would be catastrophic.
But Roen had been the undisputed leader and core of the hero party. Unless there was some tragic circumstance like the one she had heard about before, Silvia was unlikely to truly seek his life.
Still, she had a bad feeling.
Her intuition warned her that the real danger wasn’t to Roen’s life, but to something else.
She probably didn’t come just to hurt him. I need to watch secretly and find out her true purpose.
Now that she had decided, the question was how to observe without being noticed.
First, I can’t use magic. Roen would sense it immediately. In that case!
Ilena compressed every bit of mana inside her body into a single point.
She was careful not to let any leak out and give her away.
At this level, unless Roen was actively searching, he wouldn’t detect her presence so long as she didn’t get too close.
The downside was that she would have to spend a long time later unpacking all that compressed mana if she needed to use magic again.
Good. This should be enough. Then…
Ilena made her way toward the warehouse behind Roen’s house.
This time, since it wasn’t magic but her presence that might be detected, she moved as lightly and silently as possible.
Yet her impatient heart kept urging her to hurry, turning her careful steps into something rather comical.
Ack, even I can tell it looks ridiculous. But that doesn’t matter right now!
Fortunately it wasn’t far, so she reached the warehouse quickly.
But an unexpected obstacle was waiting.
Oh…!
Ilena hastily hid herself.
She had nearly run straight into Glinis, who was just coming out of the warehouse.
“Take your time.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t be gone long.”
Roen’s voice drifting from inside the warehouse sounded unusually serious.
Sure enough—
“What are you doing in there, Silvia?”
“…You’re one to talk. What are you doing here, Roen?”
It was a voice Ilena remembered well.
“Emolus ordered his men to find you and kill you without fail. If they didn’t, he’d kill them instead.”
“That bastard… So what are you going to do? You’ve found me.”
“What else? I have to kill you. To save my precious subordinates.”
“Haah, Silvia…”
Just listening to the exchange made it sound deadly serious, yet Ilena was certain.
She really didn’t come here to kill Roen.
“Have a safe trip!”
“Ugh…!”
Thud. The sound of a body hitting the floor.
Ilena squeezed her eyes shut.
Even though she knew Silvia wouldn’t actually kill him, and that Roen wouldn’t fall so easily, the anxiety still gripped her.
“You’ve gotten pretty rusty, Roen.”
“You’re the same as ever, Silvia. But… you don’t actually plan to kill me, do you?”
At Roen’s confident tone, Ilena let out a quiet sigh of relief.
As expected, he had already guessed that Silvia had no real intention of killing him.
But then— smack.
“Ack…!”
“You know me too well, Roen.”
“It would be stranger if I didn’t. After all the time we spent together? Anyway, if you’re not going to kill me, could you get off me first…”
Smack.
“Ugh.”
“Be quiet, Roen.”
Every smack made Ilena grit her teeth.
How dare she lay a hand on him…!!
She wanted nothing more than to burst in and give Silvia a proper lesson, but she held herself back. If she did that, she wouldn’t be able to hear the rest of the story.
What followed was mostly information Ilena already knew.
That Roen had returned to his hometown to live out the rest of his life in peace.
But what came after that was completely unexpected.
“How about coming with me?”
The moment Silvia said it, Ilena doubted her own ears.
What…?
“I’ll take good care of you. I’ll make sure you can live a comfortable life in a better place.”
Silvia’s voice was gentle and full of affection.
It was clearly a kind tone toward Roen, yet for some reason it slowly scraped at Ilena’s nerves.
What is this woman saying right now??
“No. Thank you, but I’ll have to decline.”
Fortunately Roen refused without hesitation.
Ilena felt her chest loosen in relief once more.
But that relief did not last long.
“Why…”
“Hey.”
Silvia’s voice changed completely.
The warmth vanished, replaced by heavy intimidation and killing intent.
“Last offer. Say you’ll come with me obediently.”
“And if I refuse?”
“I’ll take you by force.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the sounds of another struggle erupted.
“Ugh… Let go!”
“Do you think I will?”
“Let go of me, I said!!”
From the flow of the fight, Roen did not seem to be losing ground.
As expected. A surprise attack might have worked, but there’s no way he’d be pushed back in a fair fight! Give her a proper beating!
Although she couldn’t cheer out loud, Ilena clenched both fists and rooted for him with all her heart.
“It’s a sleeping fragrance.”
“Get some good rest. Leave everything to me.”
“Sorry, but I can’t. My mother is waiting for me.”
There were moments when it sounded like Roen was in real trouble.
Yet even then, his voice remained perfectly composed.
“Hmph. My apologies to your mother. But I never gave you a choice.”
“Besides, there’s one more important reason.”
“What is it?”
“I…”
Roen trailed off, then burst into laughter.
“What? What is it? What’s with that strangely relaxed laugh!”
“You’ll be surprised when you hear it. I now…”
Roen spoke a little shyly.
“Have a partner.”
The moment she heard those words, Ilena’s legs gave out and she sat down hard on the grass.
Fortunately the soft grass kept her from making any noise, but that was the last thing on her mind.
Her face flushed bright red in an instant. She pressed both hands to her cheeks.
In a voice so small it could barely be heard, she murmured.
“P-partner…”
While she was still trying to steady herself, more violent sounds continued from inside the warehouse.
“Partner? What do you mean by… Hiiyaaak!”
Something else seemed to be happening, but Ilena’s ears barely registered it.
Then a sound snapped her back to reality.
Thud.
The sound of a body collapsing without strength.
“Hey, Silvia. You didn’t…”
There was no power left in Roen’s voice at all.
“You won’t be able to get up for a week now.”
“Just how strong a paralysis poison did you use…?”
A paralysis poison. And one potent enough to keep him down for an entire week?
“No, Silvia. I told you, didn’t I? My mother is here, and also…”
“Now that you mention it, you said you had a partner? Doesn’t matter.”
Ilena slowly rose to her feet.
Her eyes were wide open.
“I’d like to see what she looks like. It’s obvious I’d be better, but… Huh?”
Silvia had been speaking with triumphant confidence.
But the moment she saw Ilena stepping into the warehouse, her face froze.
“Who are you? I didn’t sense any presence at all. Wait— no, don’t tell me you’re…!”
As soon as she realized who Ilena was, pure terror flooded Silvia’s expression.
“How are you here?!”
Ilena saw Roen lying helplessly on the warehouse floor.
She began drawing out every ounce of the mana she had forcefully compressed inside her body.
Blood started flowing from her eyes and mouth as a side effect, but she paid it no mind.
“It’s me.”