Chapter 209 – [Hero’s] Commitment
When I opened my eyes, I was alone.
How many times does it happen alone like this?
The room without her was somehow empty.
The room is narrow like a single room, but why does it look so empty?
I sat in her seat for a moment and thought of her.
It took quite some time for her to come down to some extent.
Is Yuni still sleeping?
Or not… Did you wake up already?
In front of her door, I pondered for a while, but eventually passed by.
I had no qualifications to knock on her door.
When I came down to the first floor, she was also sitting at a table.
“Miss Ertina…”
“Hello.”
She must have been waiting for me with her tea, and there was only one cup on the table.
Ertina looked at me with a pitiful expression.
“I’m sorry about what happened at that time, but Uni heard about it.”
“Ah, that, that’s right.”
You also talked
If she had been someone else, she would have been a little uncomfortable, but Ertina didn’t feel that way for some reason, maybe because Ertina recognized her as an ally.
“First, let me give you words of comfort. I wished the two of you well…”
“… If only I had done a little better…”
“Don’t beat yourself up too much. If you keep suffering like that, you won’t be able to do anything.”
That’s right.
I raised my head at Ertina’s words.
“So, what are you talking about…”
At those words, Ertina also straightened her posture and looked at me with her serious eyes.
“It’s a story about me and you and everyone.”
Feeling the weight of her words, I felt nervous.
“Do you remember when you were chosen by the goddess?”
“Ah yes…”
I had a dream one day
She came out as a goddess with a sense of divinity, and with the words that she was chosen by me, she gave me the mission of extermination of the demon lord.
“It is an irresistible mission. In other words, they forcibly entrusted you with the task of defeating the demon lord.”
Seeing that Ertina also said this, it seems that she doesn’t like goddesses very much.
The reason I hate it so much is because the goddess arranged everything… ?
“But they are different.”
Ertina interrupted my thoughts that could have continued.
“What, what?”
“They had a choice. To be with you or not to follow.”
But in the end, everyone chose the path with me.
If… Could this be the Goddess’ intention?
“Well, I don’t know that far. Certainly, as far as I know, there has never been a refusal… Well, if you think about it simply, it would be more correct to see it as a revelation to people with a high probability of being together.”
Relief… Should I say
If the process of being together on this journey had been done forcibly, it would have been a little uncomfortable.
No, but we already…
How far is our free will, and how far is the goddess’ intention?
“But you are the only one who has to kill the Demon King. They are nothing more than a role to help you.”
“Ah…”
I heard and saw it.
The hero kills the demon king, and the hero’s companions assist the hero.
In the first place, they did not directly kill the demon lord.
“It seems to me that the girls now do not support you enough. Everyone has a will, but it’s not a priority anymore.”
However, Yuni is still…
“I’m putting my last hopes on her, but since even her string of being her lover has been severed, I can’t be honest with her anymore.”
Is it.
Maybe she’s right.
To be honest, even I am almost certain that Yuni will fall for him.
If that happens, receiving his love will become her top priority rather than the demon lord.
“Oh…”
“If you want to go to kill the demon king alone, please tell me.”
“Yes?”
The Demon King alone… ?
It’s not impossible.
No, I would rather die, so of course it’s possible.
I might be able to get them to stay here or somewhere safer, and then I can quickly go and sort things out by myself.
It’s not that I haven’t thought of this.
I used to think that way from time to time as I learned the purpose of the demon king and felt that the bond was gradually fading.
Do I really need to keep the current party?
But each time I ended up coming to the same conclusion.
“You are not abandoning them. This is where they go first…”
“Miss Ertina.”
I asked her
“Only one thing… Is it okay if I ask?”
Maybe it’s stupid
Little… No, it may be a very stupid idea.
“Yes, what is it?”
But nonetheless I asked her.
“Did the last hero leave you behind?”
At those words, Ertina’s eyes shook.
Ertina answered after a short silence.
“… No.”
“I heard that he and I were in similar situations.”
The truth about the three women who loved him, the betrayal that followed, and the fate.
He eventually collapsed and fell as part of his demon tribe.
“Still, he was with you until the end.”
“… Yes.”
Ertina was lost in her thoughts for a moment, as if recalling her past.
Then she closed her eyes and bowed her head to apologize.
“Sorry. I said something useless.”
“Thank you so much for the offer.”
Of course, from Ertina’s point of view, it must have been a proposal made considering my situation.
Just because I stay in the party now, there’s nothing to be gained.
Not only is there nothing, but there is nothing to lose.
Still, I decided to stay at this party.
It’s not because of the vain expectation that they might come back,
It’s not even the slightest desire to get along like before.
I just wanted to see the end with everyone. Directly with these eyes.
There is no grandiose reason or reason to do so, but I want to.
“Are you feeling a bit stupid?”
When I said it with an awkward smile, Ertina shook her head.
“No, it looks like a hero.”
Saying that, she smiled at me.
***
After talking with her, I came up to her room.
Ertina suggested that I move my accommodation, but I politely declined.
But now that I’m thinking about it, if I said I was moving, where on earth would I have been thinking of guiding me?
I heard there are no other inns here.
Maybe it’s where she sleeps?
Oh, no, it won’t be.
I shook her head to drive out the useless thoughts.
There was nothing to do, so I lay still, and it seems that I fell asleep before I knew it.
When I came to my senses for a moment, it must have been because I was lying in another room.
This is… It’s a strangely familiar space.
It’s strange, but somehow it’s familiar.
It looks like an ordinary family home.
It’s not the village chief’s house.
Then where are you? Have I ever visited a house other than the chief’s?
Suddenly, something passed through my mind.
UNI.
This is the house I saw in my dream, Yuni and I.
Bubbly.
I heard someone approaching through the closed door.
U, uni?
Could it be a uni?
Oh no, more than that, why do I suddenly have a dream like this?
I was startled and at a loss for what to do, the door slammed open.
“Voila!”
She has round bread in her hands… Holding the same
That kind of thing is called a cake, I think Seria or Arin taught me.
“… What are you doing?”
I asked, looking at Sera holding the cake.
“I baked this myself. Ah, it was a dream, so I didn’t cook. Ahaha!”
She set her cake down in her room, laughing at her odd joke as if it were funny.
“I brought it as a souvenir.”
“Commemoration?”
When I asked back, she looked at me with a disappointed look.
“… Did you forget?”
“What, what?”
What was… ?
“Ha… Have you already forgotten? Today is our wedding anniversary.”
“Yes… ?”
Oops, I forgot such an important day…
No, wait!
“W-what are you talking about! Don’t say such strange things!”
“Oh, I’m not fooled.”
She smiled and sat down.
“Well, actually, the word commemoration is correct.”
“Muh, what kind of celebration is it?”
As Sera cut her cake with her own tail, she sliced her cake neatly like her sharp knife.
She dipped some of it into her own tail and held it out to me.
“A celebration of not giving up.”
The cake was exactly blocking her face from my gaze.
Her face tilted slightly to the side of the cake.
“… Maybe?”
A smile on her lips.
It wasn’t a mocking laugh.
“I-I just…”
“Normally everyone would have gone out there.”
It must have been something you talked about with Ertina today.
I don’t know how he knew, but he seemed to have heard me.
“Well, I knew that I wasn’t a bold enough person to say that I would go out there, but…”
She chuckled.
“I didn’t expect you to answer me like that.”
“Ugh, ugh…”
What is it, it’s very embarrassing to hear this.
“Now, eat it quickly before my tail falls off.”
Cook Cook.
Her tail stabbed my mouth.
“Now, wait… I’ll eat with my hands…”
I was a little sorry to take it like this, so I picked up the cake with my hand.
“Do you like sweets?”
“… Shi, I don’t hate it.”
To be honest, I’m close to liking it, but for some reason I didn’t want to be honest.
“There are a lot of them, so be careful.”
After taking a bite, it was indeed a sweet cake.
“That’s a lot.”
Really… It was a sweet cake.
