Chapter 214 – [Porter] Ring
Feeling uncomfortable because of the dream, I prepared to go out.
“Um… Master?”
“It comes and goes.”
“Yes…”
Seria opened her eyes slightly and looked at me, then she went back to sleep.
If Uni isn’t out… Well, I should take a walk or something by myself.
I was a little worried about that, but luckily I didn’t wait long and Uni came out.
“Oh, you came out too?”
“…”
Her face, which had been dark, brightened for a moment when she saw me.
But as soon as she thought of her situation, she couldn’t speak easily, and she only hesitated for a moment.
You make people so much trouble.
I held out her hand to her.
“Come on, let’s go.”
Of course, Uni didn’t hold my hand.
But not completely ignoring me, she slipped to the side.
“… What are you doing?”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Seeing her quietly approaching her, perhaps missing the warmth of her person even though she was trying hard to reject me, I walked down the street with her.
“I’m not wearing a ring.”
“… I wasn’t here.”
After all, that’s what I was looking for.
“Hmm, I’m still a bit sorry. Why don’t you take a nap for today?”
“No.”
Saying that, Yuni turned her head away.
“Yeah, don’t.”
Don’t like it
If I didn’t have the ring itself, I would have said I didn’t bring it.
In other words, even if you don’t put the ring on right now, wouldn’t it be holding it?
Of course, it can’t be helped if it’s my mistake, but I thought that I had it for some reason.
“Your complexion looks a little brighter these days.”
“What?”
Looking back at me, her face was noticeably better than before.
When she broke up with the hero and went alone, she was like a dead person, but as she interacted with them again, it felt like Yuni’s face was also revitalized.
After all, I don’t like being alone because it’s lonely.
The fact that she stubbornly insisted on being alone may have been a punishment for herself.
Since she lost the opportunity to be resentful of the hero, maybe she is trying to assuage her guilt by driving herself instead.
I think it’s really stupid, but well, she’s not in her right mind right now.
Anyway, the self-inflicted penance became more painful as I attached them again.
It made me feel the pleasure of interacting with people again at a time when I was barely getting used to being alone.
The feeling of loss would have been greater when he was alone.
Maybe that’s why her face brightened for a moment when she saw me.
“… Don’t say anything strange.”
Saying that, she turned her head.
But her body was fidgeting.
“Hmm, yes.”
Did you not realize it, or did you not want to admit it?
It didn’t seem necessary to touch either of them.
After walking with her for a while, she suddenly saw a particularly dilapidated building among the others.
The buildings right next to it are fine, but why is only that building so old?
It seems as if it was deliberately neglected.
“… Church.”
“Huh?”
“That’s a church.”
After hearing her words, looking back, it was clear that the roof had been destroyed. It was just a church.
“… Hmm.”
Because the goddess of dawn doesn’t like monsters that much.
It is natural for the church to disappear in this land occupied by demons… Is it?
“It wasn’t destroyed at all, and I don’t understand why it’s left in such an ugly state.”
“… I know.”
Now, he even makes a joke.
I checked her deadpan face and looked back at the church.
Seeing it destroyed like that, the people who live here must not believe in that goddess.
That church was evidence of the departed hearts of the people here.
“Why are you so interested?”
“No, just curious.”
Actually, I’m not a big fan of church either… I think Arin will be a little sad when he sees it.
“… Perhaps everyone here has forsaken God.”
“Okay?”
Actually, it’s not a story that I’m interested in, but I didn’t want to waste the story that Uni voluntarily brought up, so she pretended to be moderately interested.
“Teacher… You were like that The people who survived here have a common idea.”
Be a master
The training between Ertina and the two of them did not go any further, but even so, Uni seemed to still consider her as her mentor.
“What are you thinking?”
Maybe the reason Uni talks to her like this is because they talk to her every night.
It must have been fun talking and spending time with them to spend her silence.
The person who ran away from the warmth with his own feet was seated in front of the bonfire again.
He may not like it, but he doesn’t want to escape the warmth again.
“… Why didn’t the goddess help them? What this…”
“That’s right.”
Basically, the goddess rejects monsters.
So, if you look at those who cry out for subjugation of monsters on a fictional day, there are only two types.
Either a guy who is a bit popular in the church, or an aristocrat with ties to the church.
Actually, what do I know about the nobles?
“If the monsters are in such a bad mood, maybe I can help them, right?”
“… Huh.”
Yuni made a slightly subtle expression.
Ah, come to think of it, his teacher is that monster.
“Let’s go.”
I need to stop talking about this soon.
If her heart of respect for her teacher still remained in her, she might hurt her feelings by cursing more.
“Oh.”
“Huh?”
I was about to pass the building, but suddenly two people came out of the collapsed church.
A very familiar couple.
Hero and Ertina.
“… UNI.”
“Eric…”
The two looked at each other for a moment.
Then, looking at the opponent, he turned his head at the same time.
“… You.”
Ertina looked at me disapprovingly.
“I just went out with the same party members for a while.”
Of course, I don’t believe in either.
I turned my head for a second to see how the hero reacted, but I could see the depth of his face.
What?
It seems like he doesn’t care too much about this.
Did you break free?
No, the expression is too bad for that.
Like… His expression seemed to have already received all the shock he was supposed to receive.
What?
What happened inside?
“What are you going to do? I’ll leave it up to you.”
In that situation, Ertina was saying that to the hero.
It’s a rather friendly attitude.
At least Uni must have thought so.
Her hands were tightly gripping the hem of her skirt.
I wanted a chance and gently touched her hand holding the hem of her own dress.
“… Awesome!”
Yuni looked at her hero in bewilderment, but he wasn’t looking at her because he was worried.
“…”
Taking advantage of the gaps where Yuni didn’t deny me, I touched her hand and put mine in place of the hem of her dress.
Back.
Power was in her hands.
“… Both of you, no, we have something to talk about tonight.”
He saw us holding hands, but he didn’t point out.
As if they were not going to react, their gazes, which stayed in our hands for a moment, quickly went up.
“… It’s an important story.”
For some reason, I think I could feel the anger in his gaze for a moment.
But it was so fleeting that I wasn’t sure.
Ertina looked at him sadly.
“Should I talk to you then?”
“… No, I will.”
Ertina looked at him wordlessly and nodded her head.
Then he looked at us, or rather at me.
“… Why?”
“Do you remember what I said?”
“Are you good at choosing?”
“Yes. Please don’t forget.”
What is it?
Annoyingly, this woman didn’t keep up with her words.
She just said that and shut her mouth.
“Hero, let’s go.”
“… Yes.”
He looked at Yuni for a moment, hesitated for a moment, then jerked his body around.
Uni inadvertently took a step, but that was it.
When I squeezed her hand tightly, Yuni put her foot back inside her and only lowered her head.
“The hero didn’t even say anything.”
“… That’s right, we’re not lovers anymore.”
Her expression looked slightly depressed.
Looking at her situation alone, it seems like she has been abandoned, but she is actually the one who betrayed her first if you look closely at her.
But in this situation, she doesn’t have to point out the fact and hurt her.
Because it’s the warrior who hurts, and it’s me who soothes them.
Whether it’s her fault or not, that doesn’t matter.
Although when she is alone she blames herself, resents and hurts herself.
She should make Uni happy and effortless when she is with me and them.
So she’ll crave my warmth.
“At least the hero seems to have completely let go of you.”
“Oh…”
“If you still have feelings for the hero, wouldn’t it be better to just think about him and forget about it?”
Uni seemed to hesitate at my words.
Shall we go here for sure?
“Give me the ring.”
I held out her hand to her.
“… Why why?”
“Hurry.”
She hesitated for a while, then took one of her rings out of her pocket and placed it on her hand.
It was the ring I gave you.
“Phehe… Not this.”
“Oh… !”
I was holding it too.
Embarrassed, she took out another ring and handed it to me.
It is the ring that the warrior should have given you.
“You won’t need this anymore, will you?”
“That, that…”
She hesitated and fidgeted as I held his ring.
“Or do you still want to return to the hero?”
“…”
To this she did not answer, but I waited for her to answer.
“… No.”
“Then you don’t need it, right?”
Long silence.
Finally, Yuni spoke.
“… Huh.”
OK, done.
I confiscated his ring from her.
I thought about throwing it away right away, but I thought it would hurt me if I did so, so I ended up putting it in my pocket.
You should throw it away where you won’t see it later.
No, it would be better to have them throw them away right in front of their eyes after the fall.
I put his ring in her pocket and picked up mine that she casually handed to me.
“Oh…”
“You don’t have the ring you used to wear, so you feel a little empty, right?”
“That, that… “
I held her hand
“If you don’t like it, take it off.”
I put the ring back on her hand.
Ring finger of the left hand.
This ring was just the right size for her ring finger.
For a moment she looked at her hand.
“Let’s go.”
“…”
She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t do anything in particular.
The ring I half forcibly put on, she didn’t take off that day.
***
After spending time outside like that, the evening returned to the front of the accommodation.
I broke up with Yuni in front of her room.
“I’ll see you again soon anyway. Because the hero called us.”
“Huh…”
She replied weakly.
“Are you lonely at the thought of being alone?”
“Oh, no…”
She replied startled, but she didn’t look very persuasive.
“If you’re lonely, it doesn’t matter if you visit me for a while.”
“Who, who cares… ? It’s just that I have a lot to think about…”
Well, it must be a mess in the head.
It must have been a shock that the hero didn’t care about him, and if he was left alone, he might blame himself, saying that he had no right to be sad.
“Because I’m the bad kid.”
“What?”
At her sudden words, I peeked out her face at her looking up at me, she said.
“You can blame everything on me without thinking too complicated. Because I am a bad boy.”
“… Oh, I know…”
Yuni said that with wavering eyes, and when I pushed her face further, she closed her eyes tightly in embarrassment.
I approached her lips so close that they almost met, and I patted her on the head, determined to be ready.
“I am going.”
“… It’s okay.”
She looked at me with her surprised eyes for a moment to see if she knew how to kiss me, then she started beating herself up by hitting herself on the head.
Funny
I fell away from her, and Uni couldn’t take her eyes off me for a while.
Her hand of her uni, who had hit her head, was rubbing the part of her where my warmth had touched her before she knew it.
***
And more time passed, and before going to bed, we gathered on the first floor.
It was to listen to the story of the hero, but it was a bit funny that everyone was sitting across from Hero.
Although Yuni is a bit far from us, she was thinking about something while looking at the hero and me alternately.
“So what are you talking about?”
Her Arin spoke her first, and the hero looked at her for a moment and hesitated.
“… It might be a more difficult story for Arin.”
“Yes?”
Only for Arin?
Looking at us in bewilderment, the hero cautiously opened his mouth.
“… There are no goddesses here.”
