Chapter 13
Aria and Ashtein spent nearly half a day wandering around Mount Asendio.
Ashtein slaughtered every monster they came across, making him seem more like a butcher than a Hero.
Whether young or old, physically impaired or not, he killed monsters without distinction.
Aria sensed unmistakable hatred in his actions.
Watching him behave as if he meant to wipe out every last monster, she found herself wondering.
Why did he go that far?
Was it a sense of duty that came with being the Hero?
From what she'd seen so far, Ashtein was hardly the kind of person to obsess over his duties as a Hero.
So whenever they had a little time to spare, Aria would sometimes ask him personal questions.
“Mr. Ashtein, why do you hunt monsters?”
As he wiped monster blood from his sword, he looked as if he'd never heard such an absurd question before.
Ashtein seemed about to snap at her, but apparently decided there was no point. In a listless voice, he said,
“Because someone has to do it.”
Someone has to do it.
He'd said it with conviction.
“But it doesn't have to be you, does it?”
Aria's persistent question made Ashtein's eyebrow twitch.
“……Are you interrogating me?”
“You don't have to answer if you don't want to.”
Aria spoke as if it made no difference to her whether she heard his answer or not.
But deep down, she was curious about the circumstances of this peculiar Hero.
“I don't want to answer.”
Unfortunately, Ashtein had no desire whatsoever to spill his personal circumstances to someone else.
“……That's a shame.”
Aria was disappointed by his cold response.
Still, she could understand.
There were things she couldn't bring herself to tell him, either.
As the sun sank and the shadows began to stretch like taffy, Ashtein suggested they head down the mountain.
Exhausted from the grueling march, Aria agreed at once.
By the time they reached the village, both of them were covered in blood.
Ashtein was one thing, but why did Aria look like that?
She'd been carried the whole way by the blood-soaked Hero.
It was inevitable that she ended up stained with blood, too.
The villagers were appalled at the sight of the bloodied Hero and saintess, but they didn't show any hostility.
That was entirely thanks to the vestments Aria was wearing.
A nun of the Erotic Cult couldn't possibly have committed a crime.
There had to be some story behind it.
At least, that was what the villagers seemed to think.
It was a good example of just how much influence the Erotic Cult wielded throughout the kingdom.
Ashtein let out a low whistle of admiration.
“When I walk around looking like this, nine times out of ten people give me shit. Is it thanks to you? Good. Saves me time.”
Aria pressed her eyelids as if she had a headache and replied,
“……Mr. Ashtein, you really should care at least a little about what other people think. I suggested we wash up by the river nearby before coming into the village, remember?”
Ashtein shuddered.
“Wash up in the river in this weather? And with night almost here?”
“We might be a little tired, but at least we wouldn't get strange looks.”
Like we are now.
Aria was deeply uncomfortable with the many eyes fixed on her.
She'd never been fond of attracting attention, but after possessing this body, being stared at by so many people had become even more unbearable.
“You seem to care a lot about what people think.”
“………Even if I don't look it, I'm a saintess.”
Ashtein looked down at Aria for a moment, then picked a dried scab of blood from her hair as he spoke.
“Honestly, I wouldn't mind washing in cold water.”
The Hero said it as if it were no big deal.
Aria felt irritated.
“If you didn't mind, we could've washed up by the river.”
He pressed both of Aria's cheeks as she grumbled at him.
Her soft, squishy cheeks stretched like dough.
“Ew?”
Caught off guard, she flailed and tried to resist, but there had been a clear difference in their size from the start.
Her resistance crumbled easily.
Ashtein poked at the saintess's cheeks and said,
“But listen. There's warm water waiting at the inn anyway, so why bother washing in cold water? Because you're worried what those people think? Why should I care about them?”
Ashtein's words went in one of Aria's ears and out the other.
She was too flustered by the situation she found herself in.
W-what was with all this touching?
She looked up at him as he toyed with her cheeks as he pleased.
He had a mischievous look on his face.
“L-let go. Wh-what do you think my cheeks are?”
“Hmm, bread dough? They feel like it.”
“D-don't do that!”
“All right. I'll let go, I'll let go.”
He let go of her cheeks more readily than she'd expected.
He must have pinched them pretty hard; both sides still stung.
“Ugh, that hurt.”
Aria rubbed her face with both hands.
Ashtein watched her with a laugh, then said,
“I don't mind washing with cold water. But what about you?”
“What?”
“I'm asking what you'll do, since you're so frail. Wash in a river cold as ice in this weather? You might wake up tomorrow burning with a fever and sniffling. Will you be okay with that?”
Aria stared at Ashtein with her mouth open.
……Was he worried about her?
The words wouldn't come out. They lingered in her chest instead.
“Th-that's something I can worry about myself……”
“There's nothing more foolish than worrying about what others think until you can't look after yourself. Take it from someone who's been there, you fool.”
Ashtein's large hand gently ruffled Aria's small head.
She lowered her head and bit her lip.
Her face was burning for a different reason now.
How long had it been since she'd received such ordinary kindness?
Warmth seeped into her frozen heart.
But it had been so long since she'd felt that warmth that it hurt.
Aria took a deep breath and stepped back.
“I-I have plenty of experience dealing with people, you know?”
“Then why do you seem so clueless?”
“………Be quiet.”
Strange.
The weather was definitely cold.
So why was she so hot?
Aria shook her head vigorously.
At Aria's sudden quiet, Ashtein looked puzzled, then hurried his pace.
“Enough squabbling. Let's just get to the inn. Aren't you cold?”
“……I'm coming, I said I'm coming.”
The two of them reached the inn.
Washing up came before eating.
When they arrived at the room they'd booked on the second floor, they looked at each other as if on cue.
Who would wash first?
In their current filthy state, it was a fairly serious question.
“Mr. Ashtein, you go first……”
Aria intended to take a long time washing, so she was planning to let Ashtein go first.
……Or so she'd thought.
“You go in first.”
Ashtein folded his arms and jerked his chin toward Aria.
His attitude made it clear he wouldn't accept any objections.
“You're in much worse shape than I am, Mr. Ashtein.”
She tried to find some way to insist she should wash afterward, but……
“Quit worrying about other people and wash.”
Aria was practically pushed into the bathroom.
Soon, his voice came from beyond the door.
“There's someone waiting behind you, so wash quickly and come out.”
“I-if that's the case, wouldn't it be better for me to go afterward?”
“Quit whining.”
Shut up and wash.
That was the message she'd gotten, so she had no choice but to give in.
“……Mr. Ashtein, you're so forceful.”
“You're talkative.”
As always, his tone was indifferent.
But why was it
that his words made her feel relieved?
Aria took off her vestments and underwear in the bathroom and neatly folded them in the corner.
When she lifted her head, she saw water in a large wooden tub.
Steam rose in white wisps, and the water looked warm at a glance.
She used a nearby dipper to scoop up water and pour it over herself. The dried blood softened in the hot water.
The more blood she washed away, the stronger the stench of blood became.
Its heavy, pungent scent stung her nasal passages and made her head spin.
‘Mr. Ashtein… Has he been fighting like this the whole time?’
Ashtein.
Strip away the title of Hero, and at his core, he was a fighter.
A man who faced monsters and killed them.
He must have endured plenty of hardship and despair.
And yet he remained unshaken.
Like a tree that had stood for thousands of years.
Like an immovable mountain that would never disappear.
Through it all, he remained himself.
He was a strong person.
‘He's incredible… Nothing like someone like me.’
He was so different from her, who had given up and accepted her lot in less than a year.
Maybe that was why his occasional arrogance seemed so dazzling to her.
Lost in thoughts of Ashtein, Aria had finished washing the blood from her body before she knew it.
After cleaning herself thoroughly, she went to the bathroom door and knocked.
“Mr. Ashtein?”
“What?”
His reply came quickly.
Aria hesitated, then worked up a little courage to ask,
“……Um, would it be all right if I got in the tub?”
“Why are you asking something like that? Just get in.”
“You'll need the water too, Mr. Ashtein. I-I did wash myself clean, of course.”
Aria stammered, embarrassed.
He scoffed and answered without much interest.
“Do whatever you want. Next time, don't ask me about such trivial things.”
“Th-thank you.”
“You thank me for the strangest things.”
With his permission, Aria sank into the large wooden tub.
Warmth enveloped her entire body.
It was blissful, as if the exhaustion of a grueling day were melting away.
“Haaaaah.”
Her sigh of delight went on and on.
Her tense body began to relax, growing pleasantly languid.
There was one thing Aria had overlooked.
The exhaustion built up in her body was greater than she'd realized.
Within minutes, Aria had nodded off in the tub.
* * *
No matter how long I waited, Aria showed no sign of coming out.
Was she hurting herself?
That saintess was a real fucking nutcase.
BANG.
I sighed as I looked at the bathroom door I'd broken down again.
The inn's attendant was going to complain again.
“Aria, I told you not to take so long washing……”
I stopped mid-sentence.
“………Maybe this is for the best.”
Aria was slumped in the wooden tub.
There were no visible injuries.
She seemed to be asleep.
“What a hassle.”
I'd sent her into the bathroom first in case she tried to hurt herself again.
I figured that if I was planted right outside, she wouldn't hurt herself, since she was always so conscious of other people's eyes.
I hadn't expected her to be sleeping so peacefully, though.
“I'm not her babysitter.”
I quickly washed the blood off my hands, then lifted her out of the tub.
She was so light that I wondered if she even ate properly.
I carefully dried Aria off with a towel hanging in the bathroom, then tossed her onto the bed.
I'd thrown her roughly to wake her, but all I heard was her faint breathing.
Someone could carry her off and she wouldn't even notice.
“Does this woman have no sense of caution?”
Even so, I'm a man too.
Or did she not care what happened to her?
Looking at Aria sleeping soundly, I was reminded of my older sister, smiling brightly.
Seen this way, they really did look alike.
If my dead sister had come back to life and grown up normally, would she have been like this?
A pointless sentiment.
No matter what happens, the dead never come back.
I smiled bitterly and went into the bathroom.