Chapter 221 – [Hero] Relationship
I got out of bed and washed my face once.
Shaking off my sleepiness, I put on my clothes and went out into the hallway.
“Oh.”
“… Scale.”
Is it because it’s a bit early?
I ran into Arin who was out in the hallway.
“Hello.”
“Huh.”
To be honest, I’m not in the mood to share her story with Arin right now.
Her mischievous personality is only giving me subtle irritation these days.
I tried to walk right past her, but she called me from behind me.
“… Warrior.”
“Why?”
You are a warrior
It’s a word I hear really quickly.
“What the master said… It’s definitely not a made-up word.”
At that, I paused for a moment.
What he said
His words that he had no intention of becoming the Demon King.
It was something we wanted to hear, but we couldn’t be relieved.
It was a spirit that Ertina had been saving, and she tipped off that it was not a lie.
So I know what he said is not a lie.
But Arin doesn’t know that.
So this is what he said to me.
Just in case you think I don’t trust him.
“… I know.”
At my words, she looked a little surprised.
“That, is it? Relief…”
“Still.”
Still, I can’t let go of my mind.
“Because you don’t know what will happen.”
According to the bridle, he is supposed to be the demon king.
In the end, you may suddenly change your mind, or even if you don’t want to, you can forcefully become the demon king.
What we need to be careful of is this.
How does the bridle make him the demon king?
“… Yes.”
“You wouldn’t stop him if he wanted to become the Demon King, right?”
Arin’s eyes seemed to waver at those words.
“… Master will not become the Demon King.”
“It’s something we don’t know yet.”
“We will make it that way.”
Arin bit her lip and looked at me.
“There must be something we can do. … For sure.”
“… I’ll look forward to it.”
I walked down her hallway with her behind her.
Will they be able to stop him when the time comes?
It would be nice if that were the case.
In the conversation I just had, I said it would be, but unless the time comes, you won’t know in the end.
Still, it can be said that it was successful in that she confirmed that she had the will to do so.
I headed to the back of the yard where I had collected the water and found a familiar figure there.
The woman crouching down to wash her face was Yuni.
She was washing her face with her back to me as if she hadn’t noticed me yet.
Her hair is loose.
After Uni finished washing her face, she turned around and noticed me.
Startled, she awkwardly averted her gaze.
“… Me, I’ll go…”
“UNI.”
I stopped her for a while as she was about to go.
“Your complexion has brightened lately.”
“…”
At my words, Yuni touched her face for a moment.
Her face is noticeably better than before.
It’s not the face at the time when I thought I would die soon after parting with me.
“Thank god.”
“… Thank you.”
Uni didn’t know how to answer, she hesitated, then she replied.
“Now I don’t have to care.”
Her eyes widened at my words.
Uni looked at me with surprised eyes for a moment, then she smiled awkwardly.
“… I see.”
What kind of lover was I to Uni?
Equal lovers?
Or not… An existence like a younger brother to take care of?
Sometimes I get the feeling that I’m the latter, so I wanted to tell her about it.
Now I don’t need your protection
Even without Uni, I can live.
“… You can live on your own.”
“Huh.”
Yuni responded to my words like that.
She hesitated for a moment, as if she was contemplating what to say.
So I told her
“If you hadn’t taken care of me when I was young, the village chief wouldn’t have helped me either.”
“… I just talked to you because you looked lonely.”
She said it was no big deal, but she was shy.
“You were the one who scolded the bullying children, right? Thank you.”
“That’s because they did something bad…”
Yuni hesitated and tried to look at me, then lowered her head.
“Thank you so much for inviting me to your house often.”
“I just called it when there was a little too much rice.”
She said so, but she knew that Yuni had asked her to make a lot of her own mother on purpose.
“If it wasn’t for you Yuni, I wouldn’t be here right now. Thank you so much for helping me so far.”
At that, Yuni grabbed the hem of her clothes.
“To me… You don’t have to thank me. I am not worth it.”
“No, Uni, you always helped me. … Thank you.”
“… Whoops.”
Yuni’s shoulders trembled slightly.
“And… Please don’t mind me now.”
To say goodbye to her.
To protect me from her, to get away from her who used to protect me.
I… So that I can stand up alone
“Thank you so much.”
“Huh… Oops…”
Yuni let her tears flow.
So I said goodbye to my childhood self.
***
“Bo, were you watching?”
“… Sorry. I didn’t mean to, but I’m afraid the two of you will notice if I move…”
And I soon ran into Ertina, who looked apologetic.
… It’s a bit embarrassing to hear that you’ve been listening to the entire conversation just now.
“So she decided to break up with her completely?”
“… Yes. Because I can’t depend on her forever.”
To me as a child, she was more like a parent than her unknown parents.
At the same time, he was a friend and also a family member.
I used to be a lover, but not anymore.
“Really, it feels like I am growing differently every day.”
“Is that so?”
I laughed awkwardly at her smile.
“Yes. Really…”
She stretched out her hand to me, but she noticed it too late and took her hand back.
It seems that it was something I did unconsciously.
“Mi, I’m sorry. Stop habitually…”
“What were you trying to do?”
It was a question I was really curious about.
However, Ertina’s face quickly heated up at my question.
“… I’m really nothing… Forget it.”
“Yes? Ah… Yes.”
I don’t know what… I guess it was a shame
Judging from where her hand was pointing, I’m guessing she was probably trying to put her hand on my chest…
Seeing that he had no intention of answering, I felt like I couldn’t know for sure.
It’s a chest
Did she ever want to raise her hand?
Maybe it was something I often did to the hero before me.
“… Everyone, when everyone gets up, we start again.”
“Yes.”
After such an awkward morning, we set off for the next town again.
***
“Our warrior, have your skills improved?”
“Yes?”
At her sudden words, I tilted my head.
This is… Is it a dream again
“I’m done being a bad boy, quite simply. Making women cry in twos.”
“Two, two?”
Who else besides Uni…
Oh, in advance.
The thought of her made her a little shy.
“Do you know how much Miri was sad because of you?”
“Ugh…”
“You even seduced the umma and your skills are no joke, really.”
Sarah stabbed me in the chest with her tail.
“That, that’s…”
I have nothing to say.
As I lingered, Sarah burst into laughter.
“Don’t worry too much. It’s because Miri is a bit naive. I’m becoming a mature yumma while trying to break up like that.”
“Well, then Sera-san also has a heartache… Evil!”
At my careless words, her tail swatted me in the face.
“Mi, I’m sorry.”
“Heh, that’s enough to know.”
Of course it didn’t hurt.
I rubbed the strange feeling left on my cheek and thought for a moment.
Why does Sera keep appearing in my dreams?
“Congratulations on your graduation.”
“Joe, are you graduating?”
“Students who have completed the academy courses graduate and go out into society. Since our hero also escaped from her and went outside, isn’t it some kind of graduation?”
“Yeah, that’s right…”
Ertina and her as well, is it because she is an old person?
Sometimes it seems like a strange metaphor.
She sighed at my stupid answer, then asked with a slightly serious face.
“Anyway, it looks like you’ve made up your mind.”
“… Yes.”
Maybe it’s about the bridle.
I felt a little nervous at the sudden change of atmosphere.
“I could?”
She asked, looking at me.
It was a serious eye without a smile.
“I will.”
And I answered Sarah like that.
Sera, hearing my answer from her, slightly opened her eyes wide, and then she smiled generously.
“Really, where did they come from and what did they eat to make people change like this… Somehow, Ertina seems strange these days.”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing.”
Her tail waggled merrily.
“That girdle is what it is. It’s not a physical entity, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”
“Yes?”
“Um… In any case, it certainly exists.”
“Yes…”
Well, that’s right… I guess?
“Perhaps we will see soon… At that moment, you will think of one thing.”
“What do you think?”
In response to my question, Sera said with a firm expression.
“I think this will break soon, I think.”
Then he looked at me and spoke.
“… But that in itself is a trick. A malicious person who gives hope for nothing and then drops people to the bottom again…”
“Um, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You will know when you see it.”
She let out a deep sigh.
“… Many warriors have tried, but none have succeeded.”
Sarah was seeing something else in me, no, through me.
“If you can do that…”
“Do it, what if you do it?”
She suddenly hit me.
A strangely tickling, sweet scent emanated from Sarah’s body.
“You become a true warrior.”
“Yo, warrior…”
Sarah smiled right in my face.
“For a hero who has completed an adventure, of course, shouldn’t there be an appropriate reward?”
“Ah, that…”
It was always like that in the story.
The hero who defeated the demon king obtained all kinds of goods and lived happily with the princess…
“Whoop whoop…”
She laughed mischievously and patted my lips with her tail.
“To expect.”
“Yes?”
What, what?
Saying that, Sera lightly ran her tail over my body.
“I will wish you success.”
Mind… It gets blurry.
Are you waking up
“… Yes, definitely.”
I don’t know if she heard my last words.
***
Early in the morning, I woke up and went out of the tent for a while.
A gloomy black castle visible in the distance.
It is the Mawangseong.
… The end was not far off.
