Chapter 232 – [Porter] After That
“Your girls are very nice.”
Bawk!
“Geuhup…”
Damn it, it hurts.
***
The warrior has won.
He succeeded in killing the demon king, which was his original purpose, and even cut off the bridle itself that had been handed down from generation to generation beyond that.
No matter what anyone says, a true warrior.
Compared to the first appearance, he is a completely different person.
“The party is now disbanded.”
The hero said so and went down first.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that I’m going to scatter here right now and go my own way.
Perhaps the reason why only me and them were left behind was that the bondage was broken, so let’s talk and come down.
But if there’s something he hasn’t thought of…
“… It’s okay.”
Yuni’s body trembled.
“Ugh, sobbing…”
Tears began to flow from Yuni’s eyes little by little.
“Huh, ugh…”
It must be that I didn’t anticipate how the girls left behind would react.
“… Attacked.”
Yuni’s voice trembled unsteadily.
“I, I… Eric… I attacked Eric…”
The guy didn’t know.
Now that their emotions have been released, I couldn’t think of how painful the things that had happened in the three of them would be.
Maybe it’s because I overcame it.
But… They couldn’t
It was also too short a time for that.
“I am… Me, i…”
Arin is confused.
I could see the pattern had been erased from their shoulders.
In their heads, things that have happened and emotions that should have been naturally heard are probably rising one by one.
Standing on the side of the demon king and attacking the hero.
That the goddess, the bridle she created played with them.
And… That he gave his body and mind to someone like me.
Dump.
Uni fell down
And after that, Arin and Seria sat down.
“Huh… Black, uh…”
“Ahhh…”
Their hearts, which slowly returned, were crumbling.
So now what am I supposed to do here?
First of all, let’s get up, shake off the dust from our clothes, and take a step toward them…
Seria bowed her head and held out her hand to me.
It means don’t come any further.
“… Boo, please…”
Her voice was very trembling.
“Don’t come closer…”
Her voice was very weak unlike her usual.
However, there is an obvious hostility in it.
“Otherwise… I might kill you…”
Her reaction is probably the most rational.
That she might even kill me, she said.
“… Hmm.”
Erased text.
And their rejection.
Yeah, that’s right too
I failed.
If I remain like this, they will probably kill me.
Even if the hero doesn’t want that, their feelings won’t be able to withstand me.
Seeing that, I came down the castle alone.
***
“Are you running away?”
“… It would be nice if you could say that they broke up a little earlier.”
The warrior looked at me with a disapproving face.
“You can also be seen as a victim of bondage, but that doesn’t make it an indulgence. As for your faults, you deserve them…”
“Mr. Geren. Did they forgive you?”
Calm down Ertina and he asked me.
Forgive me
Did they forgive me?
“They don’t want to see your face anymore. That’s why I want to turn it off.”
It’s actually a lie.
They haven’t said anything about me yet.
It’s just that Seria exaggerated a word she spat while she was confused and wrapped it up in a plausible way.
After I said these words, Ertina looked at me with her cold eyes and whispered something of hers to him.
“… Okay, go.”
The hero heard Ertina’s story, thought for a while, and released me.
What was she really talking about?
I don’t know what that means, but permission fell first.
“…”
I looked at him for a moment, then turned and walked away.
Where to go now
The role of the porter of the warrior party is over.
Then I will have to go back to the way I was before.
… It would be nice to go back to the old city too.
After all, I was the porter of the warrior party.
You won’t have to worry about running out of work.
I didn’t know when they would come after me, so I quickly ran away.
Retrace the way you came and go back, beyond the territory of monsters and back to the territory of humans.
Strangely, I never encountered hostile monsters.
I was lucky.
Even though I didn’t have the heart to become the Demon King, and I couldn’t… Maybe there is still something left for me.
I thought so.
Something.
Something different from others.
As I moved with only that thought in mind, I was approaching the capital before I knew it.
I thought I ran pretty fast, but the story of the hero was already spreading in the village where I stopped for a minimum rest in the middle.
The hero and his party finally succeeded in defeating the demon lord.
Be a couple
Actually, Hero did it all by himself.
Me and them were rather hinders.
I don’t know what happened to them after I left, but they’ve probably been in quite a bit of trouble.
It won’t be a wound that can be sutured so easily.
“It’s a passerby.”
“… For a moment.”
I decided to stay overnight in the capital.
To find another village, they had to walk a long way, but this was the best option in terms of the remaining food and time.
I didn’t know about such a big city, but… Well, it should be fine since there were no problems during that time.
I was about to pass the checkpoint without much thought, but the soldiers stopped me.
“What… What?”
“Go and call people.”
“Yes.”
Didn’t the people in front of you have this procedure?
“I’m sorry if it’s a misunderstanding… I guess I need to check it out.”
“Confirmation… What the hell?”
What?
I feel insecure.
It’s like stepping into the jaws of a giant monster…
“Here.”
“Is this one?”
“It looks just like what I heard.”
And soon, a group of wizards approached me in groups.
Wizard?
Why are there so many wizards…
“Hey there.”
“… Is there a problem?”
“Is your name Jeren?”
… Shit!
“Your expression has changed. The master is right take me.”
“What, what! What are you listening to… !”
Damn it
Now that I had lost all my strength, I had no means to resist them.
“I heard that the hero dealt with the demon king. I don’t know what you did as a member of the party, but you yourself know why. Follow me quietly.”
… Did the news already reach the capital?
Is that even about me?
No, I don’t think I know the whole story from what I’ve heard.
Damn, did you just let me hold you? So fast?
“… Did she make it?”
“Don’t answer anything other than the question.”
Bawk!
A wizard was hit in the head by a staff.
“Big… Shit…”
That’s how I was caught again after running away from them.
It wasn’t until a familiar figure came to visit me long after I was imprisoned in the Mage Tower that I finally heard all about what was going on.
“That’s right. It was left on purpose. You went and sent the news straight away by magic. If you see this man, grab him right away.”
“… Why?”
Outside her grate, she crossed her arms and looked down at me.
“… If we went all the way to the capital together, I thought I would really kill him.”
A bloody word.
What she thought of me now, she knew everything just from the way she spoke.
And that meant, at least, that Seria wasn’t as confused as it was back then.
“You look fine now.”
“… Are you okay?”
Seria laughed.
“I’m glad you see it that way. I felt like I was going to go crazy during the welcome ceremony.”
It’s a welcome ceremony.
Was it the day the hero and the girls returned to the capital?
Although I couldn’t see it myself, the atmosphere was vaguely conveyed to the bottom of this mage tower.
“Do you know how we felt then? Everyone claps and sheds tears and rejoices… There really is no such thing as a thorn cushion. Everyone just greets us without knowing anything… Eric sincerely forgave us, but we just couldn’t sit still.”
Right.
Perhaps the road to their return was not so smooth.
“It’s such a pain…”
Bang!
She kicked her bars.
“… Forget the stupid consolation.”
“… Okay.”
She lowered her feet and, after clearing her mind a little, continued.
“Actually, you are lucky.”
“… Are you lucky?”
What is this trapped situation?
“If it wasn’t for me, you would probably have been taken to the Church Headquarters.”
“… Right.”
Is it because he touched Arin?
So, I’m here for the same reason that I touched Seria.
Maybe if I went there… I won’t be able to live for a while.
And by saying this, doesn’t she at least not intend to kill me?
“The magic tower is. There are always not enough people.”
She said looking down at me.
At one point I looked down on her, but now I’ve become the opposite of her.
“… When studying magic, there are times when you need people. Quite a lot of that too.”
Don’t touch the wizard.
That everyone knows.
It seemed that this was not just because of the strong power of individual wizards.
Right.
If you touch the wizard, the mage tower could be dispatched.
I don’t remember hearing anything like this. Why?
“Ten years. You will be a subject of magic experiments in the Magic Tower for the next 10 years.”
According to Seria, 10 years is the average sentence for magic subjects serving in the Mage Tower.
“Well, it’s still better than being dragged there, right? Although they are test subjects, they are not tortured, and food, clothing and shelter are provided. In a way, it may not be the comfortable life that I so longed for.”
As she said that, she came closer to the bar.
“… I will get an apology in 10 years.”
Her subtle expression looking at me.
The emotions in her eyes were so mixed that it was not easy to know what they were.
“While serving the advancement of magic… Let me reflect.”
Seria walked away from me with those words.
“Hello, master. Next time I see you, I hope we both look different.”
And she went up.
***
I was soon transferred to the subject quarters, where I was mobilized for various experiments.
Apparently, the Mage Tower had its own rules, and it didn’t use as painful and cruel magic as I thought.
That doesn’t mean he respected me.
Just a subject.
I was the only one.
Yes, one of the subjects who don’t have anything special.
One year, two years passed like that.
The anger slowly faded.
Entering my third year, I heard about Seria for the first time.
I accidentally overheard the experimenters of the Mage Tower chatting for a while, and I heard that there is an oddball researching imprint magic following the missing Professor Lue.
And after four or five years, a change took place in the Magic Tower.
Among the people passing by the tower, there was a group of strangers.
Those guys… It’s obviously a monster.
Why are you in this place?
As six, seven, and eight years passed, the monsters gradually settled down in the Magic Tower.
The opinions of the human wizards were half and half, but there was no need to dig further to find out who the person who insisted on actively accepting the monster.
Nine years, and finally ten years.
One day… So the end has come.
***
Squeak!
A demon opened the door.
Maybe it’s not like a secretary.
Lab.
A woman was sitting in a chair in that laboratory, which was about as high as a high-ranking position in the Mage Tower.
Books were piled up in bookshelves everywhere, and several people and monsters, whether disciples or colleagues, were standing and looking at me.
“Come in.”
I heard her voice and approached the desk.
“Congratulations. It’s been 10 years since today.”
“… Okay.”
Now, Seria and I have grown apart to the extent that we can’t even see each other’s faces unless it’s something like this.
After accumulating her great achievements and quickly becoming a key figure in the Mage Tower, she put her glasses on and looked at me.
“How do you feel?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Yeah, I’ve been through a lot.”
Having said that, she has matured a lot.
I had hardly seen her in her 10 years, but she could tell that she had changed little by little.
Her strong emotions that I had felt when I first met her were gone, and I could feel her calm and intelligent side.
Maybe that’s why the way she treated me now didn’t have the same anger back then.
Seria tapped the desk with her finger.
“What are you going to do now?”
“… Well.”
A lot seems to have changed during her 10 years here.
Humans and monsters.
From what I’ve heard, you can’t even use the expression “Monster” Anymore.
The demons and humans began to coexist.
“It will be difficult to do the physical work now. Humans will never exceed the power of minotaurs or trolls.”
“… Right.”
The only things I know how to do are gambling and physical work.
Is it a gamble?
However, I am not good enough to make a living by gambling.
“It’s going to be hard to even cheat against demons with sensitive senses.”
Then… What should I do?
It looks like I’m going to starve to death right away before I get used to the car of 10 years.
“… I know that?”
When she said that, she looked at me and smiled.
“What do the subjects of the Mage Tower do the most after they finish?”
The answer she gave was
“I will continue to stay in the Magic Tower.”
Maybe it was prepared from the beginning.
“It’s already hard for you guys to go back to the outside world. It’s also related to the secret experiments of the Magic Tower, so you’ll have to live under constant surveillance, especially now, times have changed a lot.”
I didn’t agree to this.
Well, there’s no way I had a choice in the first place.
“If you stay here, you can’t become a wizard, but you can be an assistant below him. There are things I have seen and heard in the meantime, so at least you will adapt faster than someone completely different.”
Okay.
That’s why I’ve never heard of rumors about convicts in the Mage Tower.
As it were… I’m being tricked
If you serve as a test subject in the Magic Tower for a few years, you will be released.
However, while spending time here, the person himself becomes unable to live outside the Magic Tower.
“Help my students studying the imprint magic. That is the path I suggest.”
“… Do you want to serve again?”
“Yes.”
She looked curious about the relationship between a mere subject and a high wizard, but no one asked her about it.
Seria wasn’t particularly worried about this either.
It doesn’t seem like it’s been revealed openly, but at the same time, it’s not desperately trying to hide it.
As she watched it, she felt certain.
She probably knew that her threats and threats would not work on her in the future.
Of course, I don’t have the strength to do that anymore.
“Or just leave.”
Whether it was living as an assistant to beginner mages in the Mage Tower, or stepping out into an unfamiliar society that might have changed.
In the end, I had only one choice.
“… I will stay here.”
“Good idea.”
Seria introduced me to her students and told me to lead them to her other assistants.
“Oh, sooner or later the day will come when the four of us get together. At that time, you should also attend.”
If you look at the four, Seria, Arin, and Uni. And… Is it the day even the warriors gather?
I don’t know when that day will be, but maybe then I’ll have to face the anger that’s been there for 10 years or more.
“You know what to do then?”
Originally, I would think of a way to escape somehow, but…
Maybe it’s because I’ve been here for 10 years.
I didn’t feel like that at all.
I can’t, and I have no intention of doing it.
All I have left is to face them.
Now I just calmly accept it.
Could it be that you thought of this and put me here?
I looked at her and met her eyes that I couldn’t understand her inside.
“It’s good to go out now.”
“… Okay.”
So I reached a turning point.
