Chapter 53
Leaving their companions behind in the cabin, Broad and Se-on headed to Broad’s home.
To retrieve the Yubel mascot costume that was there.
“Hmm, there must be a reason you came along with me. What exactly do you want to ask?”
“Yes, then may I ask—”
“Ah, you can drop the formalities. We’re already on casual terms, aren’t we?”
“……Then.”
Broad didn’t object when Se-on, on edge over Broad’s apparent interest in Yubel, dropped the formalities.
He’d been the one to tease Se-on first, and he was naturally an easygoing sort.
“Have you ever heard of the ‘Holy Sword’?”
“The Holy Swooord? Did you say the Holy Sword just now? You’re asking me about that—”
Just then, Broad cut himself off and began studying Se-on’s face.
“Wait a moment…… Huh, now that I look at you. Could you be the Hero?”
Se-on nodded without a word.
Broad’s eyes widened.
“Kwahaha! I never thought I’d get to meet the Hero! And a Hero who’s come looking for the Holy Sword, at that! If this is fate, then it must be fate. I’m Broad, grandson of Vulkan, the man who forged that very Holy Sword!”
Broad spread his arms and shouted, seemingly overcome with excitement.
Se-on’s face brightened at that.
“R-Really? Then do you know where the Holy Sword is now?”
Broad froze.
“Ah, ahem……. Well, you see…….”
“Hm?”
Hearing Se-on’s question, Broad looked away, feigning nonchalance.
It was obvious something had gone wrong.
As soon as they reached Broad’s house after walking for quite a while, Se-on found out what the problem was.
“Hero…… I’m sorry, but the Holy Sword……”
Creak—
As the wooden door creaked open, Se-on’s gaze fixed on one spot.
On the pedestal in the middle of the house, where a sword should have been embedded.
“It went off in search of freedom. Kwahahaha……”
“……”
Se-on stared at Broad as if asking whether he was joking.
Avoiding his gaze, Broad went inside and continued.
“There was nothing I could do. After the previous Hero used it, the Holy Sword returned to our house. Then it ran off outside all on its own.”
“It doesn’t have legs, so how exactly did it……?”
“That’s right, it didn’t have legs. But it could fly. The Holy Sword is an ego sword with a will of its own. You could even call it a little fairy.”
“What?”
An ego sword?
Could it fly just because it had a will of its own?
Se-on thought for a moment, then asked a different question.
“Then could the Holy Sword come back here?”
“I doubt it. The Holy Sword seems content where it is now. ……The fact that it hasn’t returned in decades is proof enough.”
At Broad’s words, Se-on let out a deep sigh.
In the end, that meant he’d have to set out on an adventure across this vast continent to find the Holy Sword.
But Broad tilted his head as if puzzled.
“Why are you sighing? Then just go find it.”
“I don’t even know where it went, so how am I supposed to—”
“But I know.”
“……?”
A question mark appeared over Se-on’s head.
“I never said I didn’t know where the Holy Sword was. I only said it ran away. Kwahaha! Right now, the Holy Sword should be at the witch’s dwelling up on that snowy mountain. Finding it is another matter, but you were planning to go there anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
As he spoke, Broad went into the storage room deep inside his house to look for the mascot costume.
Then he added one more thing.
“And if you’re going to pretend to be lovers, you should hold each other a little more naturally. Even if you try to pass it off, you still reek of being amateurs. Tsk, tsk.”
“!!!”
He’d been found out.
This dwarf had already seen through the fact that they were acting.
When Se-on looked surprised and flustered, Broad snorted.
“Still, that girl Yubel doesn’t seem completely uninterested in you, so give it your best shot. I’m a married man, after all, so you can trust my advice.”
“Ah, uh, th-thanks?”
“Kwahahahaha! Don’t mention it. You don’t need to worry about that.”
The two of them then walked back to the cabin where their companions were.
Carrying something other than the mascot costume.
***
‘Come to think of it, isn’t this actually a good thing?’
Yubel decided to accept the whole situation.
In the most positive way she could.
No. Even without trying to put a positive spin on it, this was definitely a good situation.
After all, taking down one of the Four Heavenly Kings was one of Yubel’s ultimate goals.
In any case, one of the Four Heavenly Kings would be the Demon King.
‘The Hero gets a forced-return ending if he kills the Demon King. If I’m lucky, the Ice Witch might be the current Demon King…… Ah, is that too much to hope for?’
The chances of the Ice Witch, the Snow Woman, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, being the Demon King were slim.
After all, she was too weak.
Yubel had even been able to beat her easily despite heading to the snowy mountain at the beginning of the eroge.
In terms of combat ranking, first was the vampire, second the Demon Dragon, third the Black Knight, and last was the Snow Woman.
There wasn’t much difference between the first three, but the Snow Woman was so weak that you might think she’d joined the Four Heavenly Kings through nepotism.
“Mom……. Mom, when are you coming……?”
‘……Tsk.’
For a moment, Yubel remembered the Ice Witch’s last words before she died.
The way she’d kept resisting to the very end, calling for her mother.
For some reason, Yubel’s mood sank.
‘Sigh……. My life’s already like this, so why worry about someone else? I’ll just think of it as taking down one Demon King candidate. Besides, I never planned on fighting her myself. I’m going to sneak away.’
Yubel had no intention of meeting the Ice Witch.
Facing her would only bring Yubel trouble.
So before meeting the Ice Witch, she planned to make up some excuse and slip away.
What excuse, you ask?
I’ll leave that to my future self.
My genius brain will come up with some brilliant idea.
Yubel closed her eyes and sank into thought.
“U-Um! Lady Yubel……”
“Hm?”
Prea approached her hesitantly.
Her expression looked somewhat urgent.
‘……What is it?’
After that, Prea moved her lips for quite a while without speaking.
She seemed to have a lot to say, but was still organizing her thoughts.
Then, a little later.
Prea finally opened her heavy lips.
“Y-Yubel-niiiim……. Is, is that really t-true……?”
“W-What is?”
“Earlier, you and Lord Se-on, um, said you were dating……”
“Hm? Oh, yeah. He and I are lovers.”
“!!!”
Yubel replied immediately.
She’d already told Broad they were lovers, after all.
If she wanted to keep the lie going, she had to fool the people around her first.
Even if Prea misunderstood, it was better than having dwarves hit on her.
It would all come out naturally later anyway.
That she’d only been pretending to be his lover.
Besides, what did “later” even mean?
The moment they left this place, she planned to tell her.
But then.
Drip, drip.
‘Hm? W-What!? Why is she crying?’
Tears welled up in Prea’s eyes, then fell one by one onto the wooden floor.
“H-Hahaha……. S-So that was it! And here I was, not knowing…… Hehe……”
Prea hurriedly turned her head away.
Only then did she realize how pointless everything she’d been doing was.
As she recalled her memories with Se-on.
“Haha……”
The memory of being drawn in by Se-on’s gaze and impulsively joining the Hero’s party.
The memory of giving him a blessing alone in the prayer room.
And even the memories of riding in a carriage with her companions and chatting together in a warm, friendly way.
They passed by one by one like a panorama.
But……
‘In those memories, Lord Se-on……’
He’d never once looked at her.
The first time he’d come to see her had been to treat Yubel.
Even in the prayer room, when they’d been alone, he’d only worried about Yubel.
Even in the carriage with the Hero’s party all together, his eyes had always been on Yubel.
In other words, there had never been any place for Prea to fit in.
Maybe even after that……
‘Ha, haha……. What was I expecting……?’
She shouldn’t have let herself hope.
She shouldn’t have acted on her feelings.
If it was going to hurt her heart this much.
If it was going to make her resent someone like this.
Prea gazed into Yubel’s eyes.
“Haha……. Lady Yubel. Come to think of it, didn’t you say last time that you almost got pregnant?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah……. I did say that, didn’t I? Anyway, you be careful.”
“……Ahaha, yes. I’ll be careful.”
Yubel remembered being ambushed with a kiss and answered out of concern for Prea, but……
The person she was talking to heard it a little differently.
‘You’re telling me not to even dream of it…… right?’
It was fine if Yubel, his lover, got pregnant, but Prea, who meant nothing to him, shouldn’t even think of making a move on him.
That was the meaning hidden in those words, “be careful.”
At least, that was how Prea interpreted it right now.
Prea felt more and more miserable.
Since this was a world where polygamy was allowed, she found Yubel, who could say such things, all the more loathsome.
‘What part of her is supposed to be innocent……?’
A mask called innocence.
In Prea’s eyes, Yubel looked like a witch wearing a mask and deceiving her.
A shameless witch who rubbed herself against men because she was innocent, slept naked beside them without realizing it because she was innocent, lifted her skirt and showed her panties because she was innocent, and wedged a man’s hand between her thighs because she was innocent.
Crack…….
She was a demon who toyed with people.
A girl loved by everyone thanks to her looks and status, and also a cunning villainess who casually threatened others whenever things didn’t go her way.
‘She probably lied about her trauma and about not receiving a proper education as a child, too.’
Prea’s expression darkened.
The holy glow of her purple eyes dimmed a little.
‘……I hate you.’
“Um, are you okay? Is your mind about to crumble or—”
Smack—!
Prea slapped Yubel’s hand away.
She must have hit it with all her strength, because Yubel’s body swayed, too.
‘T-To threaten to break my mind even at a moment like this……!’
Thump, thump, thump!
Her startled heart pounded nonstop.
On the floor was Yubel, who had fallen when she lost her balance.
She looked at Prea with an expression that said she had no idea what was going on.
For a moment, Prea realized there was no malice in that gaze.
‘……Huh?’
Haa, haa…….
Prea panted for breath.
The sound of her breathing filled the room.
Then the emotions that had surged up just moments ago began to subside little by little.
“……Ah.”
After coming to her senses, Prea looked at the hand with which she had pushed Yubel away.
Her palm was faintly red.
Her heart gave a slight pang.
‘Ah……. But that doesn’t mean I should have pushed my companion…….’
A sudden wave of guilt washed over her.
A Saint was supposed to have a broad heart, capable of embracing others in the face of any threat.
A Saint was supposed to trust her companions and use that firm faith to bless them so they could protect themselves.
But in a moment of emotion, she had put strength into her hand and pushed the other person away.
As a Saint, it was an undeniable violation.
‘Am I going to fail to uphold even my own identity as a Saint……?’
Prea trembled in fear.
As time went on, she felt like she was drifting farther and farther from herself.
The longer she stayed here, the more ominous it felt, as though she were being swallowed by darkness.
Tap, tap…… Tap-tap-tap-tap!
So she ran out of the cabin.
To avoid Yubel, the person making her feel like a stranger to herself.
Yubel watched her go in a daze.
“Why’s she acting like that?”
Seeing how strange Prea looked, she’d tried to check whether the Hero had used one of his skills on her.
But then, out of nowhere, Prea had slapped her hand away and run off.
‘Was she bored staying here? Well, Riella’s taking a nap, too.’
Yubel didn’t think much of it.
But even after Se-on and Broad returned, Prea didn’t come back for quite some time.