Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Reunited - 2
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Her voice was utterly drained. It was definitely not the kind of voice you'd expect from the hero who had defeated the Demon King.
I turned away from her as she stared fixedly at the tips of her boots, her shoulders slumped.
Click-clack, click-clack.
Claire's boots echoed through the corridor. Ignoring it, I wondered how long I walked like that.
Even when I reached my room, she followed me without saying a word.
I opened the door and asked her, who was hesitating awkwardly.
"If you have something to say, say it."
There was no reply. Wasting more time on her as she just moved her lips, searching for words, was pointless.
So I left her there and went inside.
How much time passed?
-Knock knock.
I ignored it. Right now, checking my future plans took priority over her.
-Knock knock knock knock.
The princess's mentor role and the S-Rank Adventurer achievement.
And things I still had to do... Ah, I haven't hit the jackpot at the casino three times yet. Gotta do that, and get the Girl's Hymn achievement too.
-Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock. Knock knock knock knock knock knock. Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock. Knock knock knock knock knock knock.
"H-Hyunwoo! Hyunwoo... Just a moment... Just a moment is fine. Please! Huh? T-Talk to me. Please... Please, I beg you. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please."
-Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang.
"I-I have something to say. Something I absolutely have to tell you. Please. Please, I beg you. Just a moment is fine. Huh? Huh? Hyunwoo... Hyunwoo... Just show me your face once. Huh? Once is fine. Just once... Please. Please... Pleeease..."
Her voice was laced with madness, but it didn't give me chills. Dealing with my own tasks came first, not worrying about her.
I pushed aside the sounds from outside the door and her despair-filled pleas, continuing my thoughts. Once I'd sorted things out, I opened the door.
"Ple..."
Claire, still trapped in a pit of despair, didn't even notice I'd opened the door. Her head hung low as she stared blankly into space.
How hard had she knocked?
Her pale hands were stained red, and the door had a slight crack.
Even rotten fish is still mackerel, they say.
A hero is still a hero, after all.
"Hyun, Hyunwoo..."
When I opened the door, Claire smiled as if the gates of salvation had swung wide. It was a smile full of happiness, one I hadn't seen in quite a while.
"Hyunwoo... Sob... Um... Me. I a bit..."
"Don't just stand there—come in. People are watching."
I pointed down the corridor. A few ministers and maids stood there, their faces full of bewilderment as they watched us.
But Claire didn't care about that. Or more precisely, she didn't have the luxury to.
Of course, I was the same.
"Show's over?"
It was quite the spectacle, really. You wouldn't often see the hero who defeated the Demon King and saved the world falling apart like this.
But those who understood my words scattered like frightened rabbits.
"What are you doing? I said come in."
Claire, however, sat there with her legs folded under her, unable to stand. She just looked up at me blankly from her spot on the floor.
"M-My legs gave out..."
She really was something else. I pulled her to her feet, and Claire looked at me with her tear-streaked face before lowering her head again and sobbing.
"Th-Thank you... Thank you..."
"No big deal."
I sat the wobbly girl in a chair. As she slumped powerlessly, shoulders drooped and head bowed, mumbling something, the maid waiting in the room hurriedly prepared tea with a startled expression.
Once two cups of tea were placed on the table, Claire alternated her gaze between the teacup and me.
What are you staring at?
Was it because she could drink tea with me?
A faint but unmistakable light returned to her eyes.
Hope.
That I would come back to them.
A utterly vain hope.
"...Th-Thank... you..."
As the maid left, Claire grasped the teacup lightly with both hands. The white steam from the warm liquid touched her tear-stained face.
Claire always drank tea like that. Savoring the aroma first, then the warmth, and finally the taste.
Even back during our journey, when she drank the tea I brewed, she always did it that way.
"...Haaa..."
A hoarse sigh escaped her dry lips. I took a sip of my tea as well.
"...It's good..."
"I figured."
"...It's the flavor I like. Similar to the one you brewed..."
It was tea the maid had made, but to her, drinking tea with me meant drinking the past.
The past, huh.
Yeah, I suppose so.
"I remember all your tastes. I worked pretty hard at it."
"You did. You were always... always like that..."
"Of course, that effort never got repaid. But whatever. I didn't expect much anyway."
She flinched at my words, her shoulders trembling.
The past between me and the hero party wasn't all sweetness, as proven by the tea's bitter aftertaste that stung the tongue just right.
Savoring that bitterness, I took another sip and set my cup down.
"Um, Hyunwoo."
Hyunwoo.
Yoon Hyunwoo.
Before things got awkward after Chapter 5, Claire called me by my name, Hyunwoo, more often than Sage.
Starting from the end of Chapter 2, when I eased her burdens and relieved her stress.
The name Hyunwoo had given a bit of specialness to our relationship.
Her using "Hyunwoo" instead of "Sage" now was probably an attempt to show and hold onto some intimacy with me.
"...I, I... missed you. R-Really. Really... Sniff. Drinking tea with you... brings back old memories..."
There were so many events, I wasn't sure which one she meant.
As I looked at her, Claire rambled on incoherently.
"Ah, I saw earlier it's almost summer... The summer festival's coming up."
"Ah. That?"
"Yeah. Remember? Back then at the summer festival. We wandered around so much..."
To conquer the summer festival, we visited every shop, played all the mini-games, and collected medals.
Our teamwork was solid, so we cleared the achievement pretty easily.
While I recalled that time, Claire watched me.
No, she was watching the past we'd shared.
"It was... really fun. Right? Huh? We were so good together. I was full and wanted to stop, but you grabbed my arm and dragged me along... B-But you know? It wasn't annoying or anything. I just liked you taking me around like that."
"Hm. Yeah."
Claire's words lacked any order. She seemed so desperate that she was blurting them out without even thinking.
"You know, even though I was chosen as the hero, I didn't really feel it until then."
I remembered. I knew the story.
Claire, a girl from a rural village, became the hero by pulling the hero's sword and being chosen.
Etiquette, swordsmanship, magic.
And how brutal and grueling battles with monsters were.
The fate of the innocent village girl who knew nothing shifted then.
She became the hero and set out on her journey, aware of her duty as one.
But even during the journey to defeat the Demon King, Claire's true feelings remained those of a timid rural girl.
She hid it well.
Buried it under her hero's obligations.
"But then I realized. People... people praised me a lot, cheered me on."
Yeah, traveling with Claire meant people recognized her and gave us extra service.
Thanks to that, we cleared achievements easier than expected.
"That's when I knew. Ah, I really am the hero. My existence gives these people courage. But you know..."
Claire swallowed hard and stared at me blankly.
Her eyes shook not like those of the hero who felled the Demon King, but like someone intoxicated.
"To me... it was you... It was you. Only... only you gave me courage. You made me able to move forward, to fight... And I only realized it now... Aren't I such an idiot? I knew you were struggling, but I turned a blind eye, pretending not to know, just hoping the party would hold together. What a real idiot... idiot... Someone like me... isn't even a hero."
Recalling the past with a joyful smile, Claire grabbed her arm with trembling hands. She scratched at the part covered by cloth.
Scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch scritch.
Scratching until the fabric tore, Claire just muttered blankly.
Unaware I was about to speak, she kept pouring out what was inside her.
"You always worked so hard for us, always so diligent, but we didn't even appreciate it. Sob... I was nothing. In the end, I was just a clueless idiot who couldn't do anything or even know what I should do. It was because of you that I could fulfill my hero's duty, but I was too stupid to realize... idiot fool moron..."
With her head bowed deeply, Claire kept mumbling nonstop.
Her sun-like eyes lost focus, darting around, her hands clutching empty air where my smile's rope had been.
Her shoulders slumped, her legs against the table trembled.
Tears dripped steadily, staining the floor.
Unable to look at me properly, just shedding tears nonstop, she barely grasped my clothes and spoke in a wet, broken-radio voice.
"I'm sorry... Sorry... Sorry... I'm sorry. I'm sorry... Sorry... I..."
She trembled. Like someone addicted to drugs suddenly cut off.
Like someone sentenced to no more doses from you.
- Whoosh!
Just as I was about to speak, the door burst open. Looking over, a cute girl in a red dress stood there.
Princess Lucille Ermeyer.
She must have rushed here, panting heavily as she alternated glances between me and Claire.
"Princess? What brings you here?"
"Haa... Haa... Um, M-Mentor."
At the word "mentor," Claire startled and looked back and forth between me and Lucille. Her eyes held confusion and disbelief.
Why did she come?
More importantly, I hadn't taught her much, but she was already calling me mentor.
Things were looking smooth ahead. My mood lifted considerably.
The future's bright!!
If things go well, I could knock out this achievement in a month or two?!
"...Mentor. I, um, I want to learn more about what you taught me earlier... Is... is it okay if you could spare some time?"
"Ah. Sure. Whatever. Hey, Claire. We'll talk later anyway. I have to go out for some business. Oh, and get that arm treated... Oh? Perfect timing."
A priestess had followed the princess and was standing outside the door.
A priest for the princess would have stronger heals than me, so she could treat it properly.
I called her in to treat it, then approached the princess.
Up close, it was clear.
For someone whose self-esteem was rock bottom and rarely left her room, coming here herself was a huge effort.
Panting roughly, legs shaking like a newborn fawn, I gently steadied Lucille.
"But Princess, why are you here?"
"W-Well..."
She glanced nervously at Claire, who stared blankly at us without even blinking.
"Let's go out first."
Claire, face a mess of tears, staring blankly our way.
Lucille peeking at her.
Whatever was between them, no need to stay in the same room.
I took Lucille outside, and only then did she whisper softly, just for me.
"I know about... the hero and Mentor's relationship. S-So I was worried the hero might harm you or f-force you to go with her..."
"Haha. No worries there."
That would be crossing the line, making an enemy of me.
Only after my reply did Lucille beam, her smile blooming like peach-colored camellia flowers.
Then, realizing what she'd done, she paled and slumped. I helped her up as she breathed raggedly, clinging tightly to me. Her condition seemed off.
"S-Sorry. I b-barged in forcefully... without manners..."
"It's fine."
I escorted her back to her room, and only then did she relax, leaning against me more comfortably.
Just like the people of that now-ended relationship used to lean on me in their tough times in the past.