Chapter 19
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Within the ‘Hero Party’ formed around Elijah, Trisha the priest occupies a somewhat unusual position.
There isn't much for her to do in a fight or anything else, after all.
Even so, the reason she’s never overlooked by the group must be that she has strengths of her own.
She was usually the one who lightened the mood so everyone could get along.
And as the one responsible for that role, Trisha was currently feeling an overwhelming sense of danger.
‘This is bad...!’
The way divine power affects people varies greatly from person to person, but it's widely known that it awakens some kind of special ability in each individual.
And Trisha's ability was to see other people's emotions.
‘Why is Elijah acting like that...? ’
Trisha trembled inwardly as she looked at Elijah.
Elijah's face was smiling brightly as usual, but the emotions Trisha could see were surging violently beneath the surface.
To put it bluntly, Elijah was furious...!
“...That’s the last one.”
Luca said as he split a wolf-shaped spirit beast in two with his massive double-bladed axe.
“Looks like there’s something around here, judging by the strong spirit beasts they’ve placed.”
“Exactly.”
Falco adjusted his monocle as he agreed with Luca. His gaze was fixed on the blue-glowing rocks scattered nearby.
“It’s a rare mineral deposit. We won’t get a low score if we take back even a few of these.”
“Oh, then Luca can carry all of them.”
“...Get over here and help too, Grid.”
While Grid was dragged away with a listless look on his face, Trisha quietly trotted over to Elijah.
Elijah wasn't exactly saying anything out loud, but there was no doubt that Elijah had been sitting by herself, lips pressed together, deep in thought for a while now.
Besides, dark, sinister colors were still surging inside Elijah. Watching her just made Trisha too uneasy to leave her alone.
“Hey, Elijah.”
“Hm?”
“Is something bothering you?”
When Trisha asked carefully, Elijah smiled brightly and shook her head.
“No, nothing in particular.”
Liar.
Even as Elijah said that, black energy was still welling up inside her.
“If something’s bothering you, I’ll listen. I’d like you to tell me instead of hiding it.”
“Come on, we’re friends. There’s nothing like that I’d keep from you guys.”
...Liar.
Trisha broke out in a cold sweat.
Emotions were generally steeped in a person's nature, so if you paid close attention to the colors they usually showed, you could get a rough idea of their ‘nature.’
Of the people Trisha had seen recently, the most unusual were Lady Tristan and Elijah.
Lady Tristan was usually a featureless gray, but sometimes black things welled up from within her. A shade of black so dark and viscous it was unlike anything you usually saw.
Though it did seem like she was doing her best to suppress them.
‘...I’ve seen that a few times.’
It wasn't common, but Trisha had personally encountered a few people like that in House Tristan.
Elijah, on the other hand...
‘Elijah’s really strange.’
Usually, people who were thoroughly sinister had emotions that were dark and murky all the way through. They constantly gave off those feelings.
But Elijah always maintained a color close to pure white, and then, every so often, shades of black so dark they startled even Trisha would appear.
Possessiveness, a desire to dominate, a need to have someone all to herself... Something like that.
As if those feelings came out whenever such a kindhearted person thought of ‘someone.’
Elijah probably wasn't even aware of it herself yet.
‘...Elijah definitely wasn’t like this before.’
It felt like it had started after the freshman welcome party. The incident where the magical beasts had been set loose, but were fortunately subdued without any casualties.
What had happened there?
“Still, you’ve been thinking about something this whole time.”
And right now, Elijah was angry enough for those colors to have come right to the surface.
Trisha couldn't stand the anxiety unless she soothed Elijah.
“...Was it that obvious? I can’t fool you, Trisha. You’re incredible at spotting lies.”
Ah, this time Elijah meant it.
Trisha smiled with relief when she saw a surge of white light rise up inside Elijah.
Then she racked her brain, trying to keep the conversation going.
When had Elijah started getting this angry...?
“Ah, could it be that Dowd Campbell—”
Trisha immediately fell silent.
She could see Elijah's emotions being swallowed up by black all over again.
Elijah's face was still smiling brightly, which made it even more frightening.
“Well, it is about him.”
Fortunately, it looked like Elijah was willing to talk about it.
“Well, recently, I got involved with him in a few different ways...”
Elijah began, then went on to explain this and that.
They'd become friends somehow after he asked her to. Recently, she'd ended up owing him a favor, so she'd even played matchmaker with the person he liked. After she'd gone that far for someone from House Tristan, her family's sworn enemy, surely he couldn't just coldly say they weren't close...
Trisha blinked several times, dumbfounded as Elijah rattled off one sentence after another.
This couldn't be what she thought, could it?
“Elijah, you really think of him as a friend?”
“...Huh?”
Seeing Elijah ask in confusion, Trisha hurriedly shut her mouth.
She'd blurted it out without thinking after seeing all sorts of emotions getting tangled up inside Elijah as she spoke.
Whenever Elijah was with the rest of them, her emotions’ colors never wavered, no matter what happened.
“N-no, it’s nothing!”
“...”
But when Trisha saw Elijah fall silent after hearing that, she was gripped by a suffocating tension.
This was a face Trisha had never seen before. Elijah looked hesitant, as if she'd never even considered that thought herself. The already murky colors of her emotions became even more confused and tangled.
“...Still, he drew a clear line and said you weren’t that close, didn’t he?”
When Elijah managed to force out that answer, Trisha grew even paler.
Even darker things were creeping up from inside Elijah. Her emotions, usually white, had now turned murky all over.
I have to say something to soothe her...!
“Th-that person didn’t mean it when he said that!”
“Then why say it?”
How should I know?
But Trisha couldn't say that.
“Th-that’s because... maybe he was being considerate of you?”
“...Considerate?”
“That Dowd guy is from a baronial house without any backing, right? If someone like him sticks by someone with the title of Hero candidate, there are bound to be people who complain...! Maybe he wanted to prevent that from happening in the first place...!”
“...”
Trisha managed to squeeze out the excuse.
It was flimsy, but at least she didn't think it was wrong.
“...”
Elijah, who had actually heard those words, held her chin and thought for a moment.
“...Would someone normally go that far? I mean, he does seem like the sort of person who'd do something like that without saying a word to anyone... But still, to go that far for just a friend...”
“N-next time you ask him, he’ll definitely say he didn’t mean it when he said you weren’t close! Yeah!”
“...You think so?”
“Like, he’ll keep a little distance from you until his reputation is settled! But deep down, he feels really close to you...! Maybe...!”
“...Is that so?”
Please stop asking me questions.
Just be convinced and calm down.
Trisha thought, her eyes spinning in circles.
“Oh, wait. Isn’t that Talion?”
Fortunately for Trisha, one of the groups of men busily mining nearby said that.
“Where?”
“About thirty minutes from here, give or take.”
“...You can see that, Grid?”
It was Grid who spoke while staring at a place a long way off.
It was probably the kind of eyesight you'd expect from a sharpshooter who specialized in long-range weapons.
“Talion... You mean the one from House Armand, the viscount’s family? The guy who’s good with a spear?”
“But something’s weird. I’ve never seen that guy this angry. He keeps muttering curses.”
“...He’s cursing?”
“Yeah. Let’s see...”
Grid narrowed his eyes and focused on Talion’s mouth.
“...kill. I’ll kill him. You fucking fraud. I’ll kill you. I’ll turn you into a skewer.... Whoa, that’s scary.”
Everyone tilted their heads at Grid’s words.
Anyone from House Armand would know Talion as the very picture of exemplary conduct and self-restraint.
What could possibly make someone like that so angry over a class?
“...”
There was only one person.
Elijah alone flinched at the word ‘fraud.’
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Actually, I hadn't meant to provoke him that much.
I was just planning to tease him a little and gradually test the limits of my Gift’s ability.
[ The target ‘Talion’ has reached the limit of his rage! ]
[ Inflicting an irreparable humiliation! ]
[ A negative influence has been imprinted! ]
[ A reward is available to claim! ]
[ Skill: Dominion of Evil activated. You have gained one usable command over the target! ]
“...”
That worked way too well.
All I did was a little something.
Actually, when you're a freshman, the routes you can take are pretty predictable. That's true even for Talion, whose skills are already beyond the freshman level.
So I just went ahead to the places Talion was heading and took everything before he could get there.
Just in case the provocation wasn't enough, I threw lines at Talion, who always arrived after me, like ‘How impressive! You’re late!’ ‘Thanks for the fine materials!’ ‘I’m grateful for your incompetence!’ and ‘Keep trying a little harder and you might catch up!’
They were all voice lines that played in the original game when you used priest skills.
The politely sarcastic tone was a real masterpiece.
I did that... about twenty-five times.
“...”
Now that I think about it, I can see why he’d be that angry.
Thinking that, I ran for my life from Talion, who was chasing after me.
He couldn't care less about class. Right now, he was so desperate to stick his spear into me that his eyes were blazing.
[ A crisis has been detected. ]
[ It has been judged that he intends to injure you. ]
[ Skill: Life-or-Death will be applied at C rank. ]
No wonder this sort of thing had appeared.
Getting hit wouldn't kill me, but it meant that model student was angry enough to at least want to knock my jaw clean off.
‘The problem is...’
If he kept chasing me like that, I'd have to fight him sooner or later.
I wasn't keen on fighting Talion right now.
For one thing, Headmaster Atalante had warned me that nothing good would come of drawing attention to myself. For another, Talion was directly connected to the final boss, ‘Purifier.’
It was one thing to make him angry, but actually fighting and beating him risked erasing the ‘connection’ between him and the Purifier.
I wasn't about to do that.
“Hey!”
So I tried to talk to Talion, who was chasing after me with a monstrous look on his face.
“Let’s just say I lost. Want to split the stuff I gathered fifty-fifty?”
[ The crisis level has increased. ]
[ It has been judged that he intends to seriously injure you. ]
[ Skill: Life-or-Death will be applied at B rank. ]
“...”
Well, that didn't work at all.
I wasn't teasing him this time.
I kept running, leaving Talion behind as he transformed into an even more demonic-looking figure than before.
‘...But if I keep running like this, he’s going to catch me.’
Even with Life-or-Death, Talion was an elite whose skills were close to Elijah's. At rank B, I was clearly losing out in terms of speed.
If he caught up, would I really have to fight him then?
As I was worrying about that, I nearly collided with someone who suddenly appeared in front of me.
“...!”
As I hurried to stop, I started to lose my balance, but the person caught me with a firm grip.
“What on earth are you doing, sir?”
Elijah sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead. A priest was running after her at her side.
‘That’s Trisha.’
The priest in the Hero Party. The players called her the ‘Living Lie Detector’ because she could see other people's emotions.
I recognized her, too, and had just turned to look when Elijah continued in an even voice.
“Trisha. Can you obscure our presence?”
“Y-yeah!”
A hemispherical circle formed around us. It was a barrier that kept people nearby from recognizing us.
Then Elijah spoke to me, her expression still calm.
“Why are you picking a fight somewhere else when you could just get along peacefully with us?”
“...No, there’s a reason for this.”
Elijah turned her head toward me with a dissatisfied look.
“What reason? I rescued you, so you can at least tell me that much.”
Her voice was still even, but seeing Trisha grow pale beside her, there must have been some rather... ‘intense’ thoughts going through Elijah's mind.
It was proof that Elijah was getting angry with me for answering like that.
“...”
That thought made me come to my senses.
There was a world of difference in importance between making Talion angry and making Elijah angry.
I'd just obtained a Gift that could cover people in all sorts of strange effects by tainting them with a ‘negative tendency.’
That might be fine for a mere midboss, but if I used it on the ‘protagonist,’ one of the main characters in the scenario, who knew what kind of butterfly effect it might cause.
So, well.
Trisha was right there beside us, a living lie detector. A half-baked excuse would only make things worse.
I should tell the truth this time.
“That guy started it.”
“He picked a fight?”
“He asked why someone like me was friends with you.”
Elijah and Trisha both wore strange expressions.
“...?”
Was that really so surprising?
“...Why would he pick a fight over that? No, considering what he said about fraud and all, I guess I get it.”
How could something like that actually happen right away?
Elijah muttered that, then looked at me with an awkward expression.
“Then just leave him alone. Why fight him? Talion’s pretty strong. And by your own words, we’re not even that close...”
“How could I ignore that?”
A perfect target for casually testing how my Gift worked had just appeared right in front of me.
“...”
Elijah looked away slightly and cleared her throat after hearing my answer.
The back of her neck was a little red.
...Wait, was Elijah still angry?
I’m telling her the truth as much as I can.
“...”
“...”
But Trisha's eyes began to sparkle when she heard my answer. Then she poked Elijah in the side, as if urging her to ask something.
Elijah reluctantly opened her mouth.
“...Sir, did you know this was going to happen?”
“What do you mean, this?”
“Did you know from the start that he’d act like that?”
What, did I know Talion would get that angry?
I deliberately got under his skin. How could I not know?
“How could I not? Anyone with a little sense can tell.”
“...Is that why you didn’t hang around with me from the start? Because guys like him might show up and cause trouble for me, too?”
“...?”
Uh, no?
I don't see what me getting under Talion's skin has to do with trouble coming to you.
[ The affection of ‘Elijah’ has increased! ]
[ Affection stage has risen to ‘Interest Stage 2’! ]
[ Additional rewards are available to claim! ]
[ Rewards are reduced because the target has a Good alignment! ]
“...”
And I had no idea why this had suddenly popped up, either.
While I stood there dumbfounded, Elijah sighed and turned toward Trisha.
“Trisha. Can you take down the barrier?”
“Huh? Why?”
“No, just because.”
As Elijah said that, she reached for the hilt of her sword.
“I’ve always hated people who meddle in other people’s business. Especially when it comes to relationships.”
“...Uh, Elijah?”
Trisha called out to Elijah, stiff as a board.
The expression on Elijah’s face right now couldn't possibly suit a Hero candidate.
“If someone lays a hand on my friend, I should return the favor in kind. Don’t you think?”
I haven't been able to blow off any stress lately, either. This is perfect.
I heard Elijah mutter that.
[ ‘Elijah’ has been influenced by you and feels intense anger toward ‘Talion’! ]
[ A negative influence has been imprinted! ]
[ A reward is available to claim! ]
[ Skill: Dominion of Evil activated. You have gained one usable command over the target! ]
“...”
What was this?
What on earth was going on?
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