Confession
"S-so you're saying—Evan, you've become a Swordmaster or whatever that is?"
"Is that a good thing?"
"Yes, sir! It's extraordinarily impressive! You're treated as a viscount at the very least, and you've become the person His Majesty the Blue King favors most of all!"
My parents let out gasps of wonder at Anya's explanation. Not only had their son become a noble—he'd earned the personal favor of His Majesty the Blue King?
For a couple who'd spent their lives in a backwater village hunting a few beasts to get by, it was a station beyond anything they could have imagined.
Father looked at me and cracked a joke.
"Well, well. So you've been a big shot all this time. Forgive me. Should I get on my knees right now?"
"While you're at it, why not throw in a full bow?"
"You little—! You think I won't?!"
Watching my father actually plant himself upside down in a handstand, I burst out laughing. In that short exchange alone, I'd laughed more than I ever had in the city.
Then again, there hadn't been anyone in the city I could truly open up to—so maybe that was only natural.
No friends. No girlfriend. No family.
The city wasn't all sunshine and roses.
"By the way, Evan. Now that you're a Swordmaster and all, I suppose you've managed that goal you set when you left for the city."
"…No. Not yet."
"Hmm? Then this young lady who came with you—isn't she your girlfriend?"
Mother pointed at Anya as she asked. The moment Anya heard the word girlfriend applied to herself, her face flushed scarlet, and she started waving her hands so fast they nearly vanished.
"N-no, ma'am! Mother! S-someone like me would never dare…! I'm merely a maid—an attendant who serves the Swordmaster!"
"Oh my, how modest… Come now, what do you think of my son? And I'm not just saying this because I'm his mother—the boy really does have a handsome face."
"I-I… w-well, if the Swordmaster would only…"
"Evan, look—your mother just found you a girlfriend."
"M-Mom!"
I shouted at my mother, who was grinning slyly in my direction, then stole a few glances at Anya.
She had her head bowed low, face burning from my mother's shameless matchmaking. If I pushed just a little harder, we could probably start dating right then and there. We already had the bond of master and maid, after all.
But dating someone just because it was easy… Anya was a little too plain for that.
"Anyway—today's a feast day. It's been ages since we threw a party for the whole village."
"Is that going to be enough? Want me to go catch a wild boar or something?"
"Hmm—you've got a point. It might be a bit short if we're inviting everyone."
"I'll go. Dad, you stay and help Mom unpack. Anya, I'm counting on you."
"Y-yes, sir! Have a safe trip, Swordmaster!"
"Aw, I could come with you…"
"And leave Mom alone while she's pregnant? I'll be faster on my own."
My father, a hunter by trade, tried to tag along, but I flatly refused and told him to handle the luggage instead.
He was a fine hunter, sure—but only by ordinary standards. He couldn't match an adventurer who hunted monsters, and compared to me, a superhuman, there was no contest at all.
Leaving Anya behind, I headed alone into the surrounding forest and managed to bag a few pigs, a deer, and a couple of rabbits.
Been a while, but I haven't lost my touch.
Far from rusting, my hunting skills had only gotten sharper thanks to my improved swordsmanship. Chuckling to myself, I stuffed the carcasses into my subspace storage and headed straight back to the village.
On the way, I spotted a familiar set of footprints branching off down a certain path. I turned my feet and made for the secret place that only one other person and I knew about.
"—What are you doing here?"
"…Evan."
Arriving at the secret spot known only to Eri and me, I found her sitting alone in a sulk and tilted my head.
She glanced at my face once, then turned away to look down the hill into the distance.
A vast plain stretched out below, and beyond it, the faint, hazy outlines of the city's structures.
This was where I'd nurtured my dream of going to the city. What kind of dream had she been dreaming here?
"—You're back."
"Hm? Ah, yeah. I'm back."
"Did you… achieve your goal?"
"You too, huh. Not yet."
At the words not yet, Eri whipped her head around, eyes going round as saucers.
She stared at me with an expression of pure disbelief, then pointed toward the village as if to say it couldn't possibly be true.
"Th-then who's that woman who came with you? Didn't you bring her to show off your girlfriend?"
"Bring someone to show off as my girlfriend…? Who even does that?"
"Normal people! Normal people do! You introduce them to your parents and everything!"
"Isn't that a wife, not a girlfriend?"
With that, I explained Anya's actual identity. I'd been granted some grand title called Swordmaster that I still didn't fully understand, and as a sort of dignity-maintenance perk that came with the rank, I'd been assigned a maid.
Eri froze for a moment. Then her hands clenched into fists, and she started trembling all over. After shaking alone for a good long while, she suddenly flung one arm up and jabbed an accusing finger at me.
"You idiot! You moron! Don't talk back to me!"
"What? No, you're the bigger idiot!"
"Shut up! The real problem is people like you who bring a girl home and make people misunderstand! You idiot!"
Eri stamped her feet as she shouted, as if dumping out every scrap of frustration bottled up inside her all at once.
I'd seen that exact display every single day when we were kids. Whenever something rubbed her the wrong way, she'd clench her fists and stomp her feet.
I could handle her tantrum just fine after all these years—but the hillside she was standing on couldn't take the weight.
Crumble—!
"—Huh?"
The ground beneath her gave way in an instant. Eri's eyes flew wide as she lost her balance, and she thrust a hand out toward me.
A four- or five-meter drop. A human body falling from that height hits the ground in less than half a second.
Unlucky, and it could kill you. Eri squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for the end.
Evan, Evan—ah, aah—I liked him so much…
"You okay?"
"Uh… uhh…?"
A moment later, Eri opened her eyes in confusion, realizing she felt no pain at all. My face was right in front of hers.
Only then did she understand that she was cradled in my arms. It didn't feel real. She'd clearly lost her footing and fallen—and I'd caught her from that height in the blink of an eye?
Ahh. So this is a dream.
Her brain, still reeling from the shock, couldn't tell whether what was happening in front of her was reality or fantasy. It was too dreamlike, so she simply assumed it must be a dream.
In that hazy state where real and imagined blurred together, Eri carefully reached up, brushed her fingers against my cheek, and said something she would never have said in her right mind.
"Evan… I like you."
"…What?"
"I've liked you since we were little… I always wanted to say it…"
"…Eri?"
"—Kyaaah?!"
I set Eri down with a soft thud. She landed on the dirt pile, rubbed her backside, and looked up at me.
And then, belatedly, something felt off. Wait—so heaven has pain too? That couldn't be right.
"Ah… aah—"
"…Hmm. Eri. So you've been thinking of me that w—"
"—Shut uuup! Die, you idiot!"
Eri threw a punch out of nowhere and took off running toward the village. I tilted my head just enough to dodge her fist, then watched her flee into the distance and let out a dry laugh.
"Running won't help you."
This was a tiny rural village where everyone knew how many spoons and forks their neighbors owned. Where exactly was she planning to hide?
Turning Eri's confession over in my mind, I headed back to the village.
"Alright, everyone—today, with the food my son Evan brought back…"
A full-blown feast was underway in the village. Every delicacy I'd hauled in had been cooked and laid out on display, and the villagers gasped in awe at dishes they'd never seen before in their lives.
"Evan…"
"Said he was going to the city, and look at him—back in just a few months, already a success."
"Now all that's left is to get him married off."
The villagers talked among themselves as they dug into the spread. I, the guest of honor, was no different.
"Here you are, Master."
"Thanks, Anya."
I took the plate Anya the maid handed me and immediately passed it over to Eri, who was sitting right beside me.
Even with expensive food she'd never see in a place like this sitting right in front of her, Eri kept her head bowed in silence.
I snickered and tossed her own words from earlier right back at her.
"I like you… Evan, there's only you…"
"I-I never said it like that! You moron!"
"Didn't you? That's how I heard it."
Watching Eri fume at my shameless fabrication, I speared a bite of the food in front of me and held it out to her.
She accepted it without thinking, then her eyes lit up as the taste hit her. It was something she'd never eaten in her life. Embarrassment be damned—she wanted another bite, and another…
"I'll accept it."
"…Huh?"
"You confessed. I like you too."
"Wh-what?"
For a second, Eri wondered if she was hallucinating. Was this real? Not a lie, not a joke—was he actually saying yes?
Her face went red as a beet. She trembled as she stared at me, as if pleading for it to be genuine.
"If I can't find a girlfriend in the city, then I'll come back and accept yours."
"…You absolute lunatic."
But the moment she heard the rest, every warm feeling in her body went cold. She let out a hollow laugh. It was the kind of answer that could kill a thousand years of love.