Chapter 10
It had already been four days since Aria was, more or less, kidnapped by the Hero, Ashtein.
Naturally, the Erotic Cult was thrown into an uproar.
They'd never expected the Hero to pull an outrageous stunt like kidnapping the saintess.
The cult filed a formal protest with the Kingdom of Gallia, demanding an explanation for the Hero's conduct.
The kingdom countered that the saintess was going to accompany the Hero anyway, so what was the problem?
To be fair, he'd only stirred up resentment by disregarding the proper process and formalities.
The end result itself wasn't a major problem.
The saintess hadn't died or been injured, after all.
It had only looked a little bad.
The cult understood that, too, which was why it couldn't make the matter any more public.
From another perspective, that would be like bragging that the cult's security had been breached by a single man—the Hero.
Meanwhile, the Hero and saintess who had set off this dispute between the two sides arrived at a village halfway up Mount Asendio, the largest mountain in the Asendio Range.
The two found an inn, but as luck would have it, only one room was left.
Ashtein had expected Aria to whine, ‘A man and a woman sharing a room? How improper.’ But……
“I don't mind, but isn't it uncomfortable for you to share a room with me, Mr. Ashtein?”
She seemed to take the matter in stride.
He decided to raise his opinion of Aria.
Though the difference was hardly meaningful.
Once they entered the room, the two went their separate ways.
Ashtein took a seat and polished his sword with a dry cloth, while Aria threw herself onto the bed.
A brief silence settled over the room.
After a while, Ashtein finished polishing his sword and glanced at Aria, sprawled face-down on the bed.
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head without lifting her face from the bed.
Her black hair fluttered softly against the sheets.
“………I'm dying.”
It was a rather harsh choice of words for a saintess, but Ashtein let it pass.
Aria looked exactly like a hothouse flower who'd been pampered all her life.
“Riding in a carriage for four days straight must've been rough.”
They'd spent almost all their time in the carriage, aside from meals and sleep.
Even a modern car with soft cushions and barely any bumps could leave you aching all over after four days.
And if even modern transportation could do that, imagine a carriage built with the crude technology of the Middle Ages.
Aria was so frail that enduring the aftereffects of the carriage ride had been quite a challenge.
She stopped groaning and shot Ashtein a narrowed look.
“………Why do you look fine, Mr. Ashtein?”
Ashtein found something oddly amusing in the resentment behind Aria's question.
He'd thought she was good at hiding her emotions. Was she simply bad at expressing them?
“I'm used to it.”
“How long do you have to ride in a carriage before you get used to it?”
Ashtein gazed at the strange brown stain on the inn's ceiling and thought back.
How much had he thrown up and suffered before he finally got used to riding in a carriage?
It had taken quite a while.
Even thinking back on it, those memories made him queasy.
When he finished reminiscing, he noticed Aria looking up at him and answered.
“It varies from person to person, so it's hard to give you a definite answer.”
Someone as delicate as you will probably take a while.
He swallowed the rest of the thought; it was unnecessary.
But judging by the Hero's expression, the saintess seemed to have guessed what he was about to say.
Aria's face turned ashen.
“……I'll have to take a carriage back to the cult, too, won't I?”
Her voice was steeped in despair.
Ashtein answered as if he'd just heard something absurd.
“Were you planning to walk?”
“……It's not impossible.”
Not impossible, huh.
To him, that sounded like an incredibly dangerous thing to say.
“Don't even think about it. You'll get sick.”
“…I don't want to go through this motion sickness twice.”
“It's good to show such determination, but with your stamina, Saintess, it'll be tough.”
“……I'm used to marching.”
“You really don't look like it.”
There was no way Ashtein could know that Aria was a saintess who'd served in the military.
Though who would know that, anyway?
“Huuuh.”
The thin breath she let out was closer to a sigh.
Ashtein gazed at the saintess sprawled on the bed like melting chocolate.
Her curvaceous figure showed through her vestments.
Aria's features seemed strangely flushed.
The situation might have looked rather suggestive, but he spoke in a bored tone.
“If it's that bad, why not use your holy arts?”
At the Hero's suggestion, Aria gave a faint smile.
“………I've already used them. This is me after that.”
“I see. That's a shame.”
The conversation stopped.
Neither of them was particularly talkative, and there was no reason to force the conversation along.
Just as Ashtein was thinking, ‘Aria's taken the bed, so I suppose I'll sleep on the floor,’……
“Mr. Ashtein.”
A bashful voice reached him.
“What?”
“……I've been wearing the same clothes for four days. I feel grimy.”
It was true that Aria's vestments were dirty.
It was only natural, since she hadn't washed them once in four days.
“Don't you have a change of clothes?”
Her reply came back sharp.
“Do you seriously think I had time to pack clothes in that situation?”
Ashtein recalled his first encounter with the saintess.
Hadn't she been just about to pull up her underwear after using the bathroom?
Remembering the circumstances, he understood.
“Sorry for barging in while you were peeing. Still, at least you weren't taking a dump……”
“No! Why did you have to take it there?!”
She'd been groaning just a moment ago, and now she was shouting at full volume.
Ashtein frowned and covered his ears.
“Anyway, what's your point?”
Aria's eyebrows slanted as her face twisted into a grimace. She took a deep breath.
Then, in a tiny voice, she said,
“……I was wondering if you could buy me some clothes.”
“That won't be hard.”
“……The cult will reimburse you later.”
“Forget it. This happened because of my mistake, so the decent thing to do is buy them for you.”
“You don't have to……”
Ashtein cut her off and stood up.
“Even this backwater should have a clothing shop. Come on, Aria.”
“Huh? Right now?”
Outside the window, the sun was setting.
It was late, so she'd planned to ask him to buy some tomorrow……
“Didn't you say you felt grimy?”
“……Th-that's true, but……”
Having underestimated the Hero's decisiveness, Aria found herself on her way to buy clothes before she knew it.
Ashtein had never bought women's clothes in his life, and Aria had spent every day wearing only her vestments.
The situation of those two going shopping for clothes could inspire all sorts of fantasies, but the clothes they actually bought were quite ordinary.
The reaction, however, wasn't quite so ordinary.
“………This is strange. This is so strange.”
Aria's voice trembled without fail.
She'd worn plenty of revealing outfits against her will, but this was the first time she'd ever worn proper women's clothes.
“What's strange?”
“L-look. It's a s-skirt.”
“What's wrong with a woman wearing a skirt?”
It was impossible to argue with that logically.
Feeling profoundly out of place, Aria looked down at the skirt she was wearing.
Beneath the flowing A-line skirt, her pale legs were boldly exposed.
There must have been plainer clothes. Why did she have to wear this?
Her face burned hot.
Her steps were more demure than usual, plainly showing just how shy she felt.
“……It really is strange.”
“It suits you fine. Quit whining.”
It suits me?
That was an insincere compliment.
After all, Ashtein hadn't even looked at her once.
“……Don't tease me.”
“You caught me?”
“……….”
“You're about to bore a hole through my forehead. Stop staring.”
The two walked back toward the inn.
The sky, once glowing red, had turned a cold, dark navy at some point.
The air had grown quite chilly, and white clouds of breath drifted from their mouths.
Aria watched her breath dissipate into the air, then cupped her hands and blew warm air into them.
Her cold hands warmed a little.
“Winter will be here soon.”
Ashtein gave a short nod at Aria's remark.
Winter.
Winter was coming.
The season when living things unable to endure the low temperatures withered like flames in the wind was already right around the corner.
Would this be her second winter in this world?
Aria wore an expression that suggested she was lost in thought.
Ashtein glanced at her and asked in a low voice,
“Do you like winter?”
Like it or not.
It was hard to pick one.
……Still.
“I'd rather be cold than hot.”
She shuddered as she remembered this year's summer.
The double act of mosquitoes and cicadas was a damn nuisance in any world.
“I'd rather be hot.”
“So we feel differently.”
“Yeah, I guess. Got a problem with that?”
“People have all kinds of preferences. I have no intention of arguing over them.”
“Neither do I.”
After that, they exchanged more dry remarks.
Aria, who was fairly perceptive, realized Ashtein was being more indifferent than usual.
So she asked him directly.
“……Did I say something wrong?”
“No, I've just got a bit of a persecution complex.”
“Pardon?”
Why had he suddenly brought up a persecution complex?
When Aria tilted her head at his puzzling answer, he gave her a mischievous smile.
“You grew up privileged, didn't you?”
Privileged.
Aria thought about what that meant.
Blessed with good fortune.
Taken literally, it meant having good fortune, and that was probably what Ashtein meant, too.
For a moment, she was left speechless, her mouth hanging open.
“……Me?”
“Yeah.”
The thoughtless remark hurt Aria's feelings.
Privileged?
Her?
She'd been thrust into an unfamiliar world and forcibly molded into someone who fit the mold of a saintess.
Whenever she refused or rebelled, she was subjected to humiliating abuse under the pretext of punishment until she nearly lost her mind.
And he thought she was privileged?
Where was the blessing in this miserable existence?
“You look aggrieved.”
“I really am.”
At Aria's now-colder tone, Ashtein gave a bitter smile.
“Why do you prefer winter to summer?”
“……I'd rather be cold than hot.”
“Why?”
Why?
Aria started to answer from a modern person's point of view, but then realized Ashtein's eyes were serious.
So she closed her mouth.
When she fell silent, Ashtein slowly spoke up.
“Sorry. I was too touchy.”
Ashtein admitted he was at fault.
For some reason, Aria felt as if he were running away.
Wasn't that ridiculous?
A man bold enough to kidnap a saintess just to save time was avoiding a conversation now?
She didn't want to leave the conversation dangling like this.
Wasn't that cowardly?
He'd arbitrarily decided she was ‘privileged,’ and now he was backing out.
“Then, Mr. Ashtein, why do you like summer more than winter?”
At her challenging tone, he gave an awkward smile.
His expression seemed forced, and it reminded Aria of the smiles she often wore.
It was like the smile of someone whose insides were rotting away in darkness.
“People rarely die from the heat, but people die from the cold all the time.”
It was a somewhat indirect explanation for someone as blunt as Ashtein.
Fortunately, Aria wasn't foolish enough to miss his meaning.
“………I'm sorry for speaking thoughtlessly.”
“No, I was wrong to pick a fight over something pointless. That's why I told you I'm a little too sensitive about it.”
Aria looked at the self-centered Hero again.
His eyes looked a little sad.
The eyes of someone who had lost something were always empty.
“………Still, you're not the only one who's unhappy.”
“Yeah. Everyone has their own troubles, as long as they're human. I shouldn't have said that. Don't be too angry.”
Aria looked at Ashtein without a word.
He scratched the back of his head and sighed.
“I said I was sorry.”
“Why would I be angry? I'm the one who made the mistake.”
At Aria's words, Ashtein's eyes widened, and he let out a faint laugh.
“You don't have a mean bone in your body, do you?”
“………?”
“Ah, I didn't mean that maliciously. I mean, out of everyone who's been by my side, you're the best.”
“I'm not happy to hear that.”
“I didn't say it to make you happy.”
As they talked, they soon arrived at the inn.
Once they reached their room, Aria looked at Ashtein as if she'd just remembered something.
“Um, thank you for buying me those clothes.”
“Took you long enough.”
“I'm sorr—”
His large hand covered Aria's lips.
“Don't apologize. I was joking.”
Ashtein grumbled that the saintess was so uptight she couldn't even take a joke.
At first, she'd thought, What a rude man. But he was better than she'd expected.
Somehow, Aria thought she could understand why people called him the ‘Hero.’
Ashtein changed the subject and asked,
“By the way, what about the shower? Do you want to go first?”
The shower.
She did need to wash.
“You go first, Mr. Ashtein. I tend to take long showers……”
“Sure, whatever.”
Ashtein immediately began stripping off his clothes.
With a calm expression, Aria neatly folded the clothes he tossed aside.
Ashtein seemed dumbfounded by what she was doing and asked,
“What are you doing?”
“I'm putting your clothes away.”
“I know that. I was asking—never mind. I'm one to talk, but you're something else.”
At that, Aria's eyebrows furrowed.
“I'm not an oddball like you, Mr. Ashtein.”
“I never said you were an oddball.”
“Wasn't that what you were implying?”
“……Don't most people get flustered when a man takes his shirt off? Well, it's better than screaming your head off, I guess.”
“If you know that, why are you taking your clothes off like that?”
“It's funny watching you get flustered.”
Aria thought it over again.
He really was a strange Hero.
“Not at all.”
“You're no fun.”
Ashtein went into the bathroom.
Aria finished putting his clothes away, then sat on the edge of the bed and waited.
The soundproofing must have been terrible, because she could hear the water running at regular intervals.
Before long, Ashtein came out, damp, with a towel wrapped around his lower half.
“I'm done. Go ahead.”
“Okay.”
Aria headed into the bathroom, gathering up her things.
Just as she'd said, her showers took a long time.
An extremely long time.
It had already been four hours since Aria entered the bathroom.
Evening had passed, and it was nearly dawn.
‘What is this?’
No matter how you looked at it, wasn't she taking way too long?
Ashtein suddenly had a bad feeling.
He tended to trust his instincts, and once he made up his mind, he didn't back down.
So instead of knocking, he tried to open the bathroom door.
Clunk, clunk.
The door was, of course, locked.
He acted quickly.
He broke the door down and went inside.
He couldn't find the words.
“……Hey, you.”
“………Ah, s-sorry. I've been in here too long, haven't I?”
Aria spoke as if nothing was wrong.
But her skin was covered in red abrasions here and there.
Some spots looked like they were about to bleed.
How hard had she been scrubbing herself with that bath towel to end up like this?
Didn't it hurt?
“I'll be out in a minute. It's been so long since I washed properly that I lost track of time.”
Ashtein's eyes narrowed at her casual response.
Aria showed no anger or embarrassment at him barging in while she was washing herself.
Something about this felt sinister.
“Those wounds……”
At Ashtein's words, Aria finally looked at the abrasions on her body.
“Oh, these?”
Her bright voice didn't fit the situation.
“You have to wash the dirt off.”
She said it with an untroubled expression, as if it were simply the right thing to do.
He was stunned.
This girl was privileged?
Bullshit.
Ashtein berated himself for speaking carelessly.