Chapter 17
Aria felt sick to her stomach.
The rattling, miserable ride in the carriage was one reason, but the main one was that Bishop Ronin—the man who had utterly crushed her spirit—was sitting in the seat ahead of her.
Aria’s eyes met Ronin’s as he read his book.
Even after all this time, he still had that chilling look in his eyes.
She thought he seemed even more sinister than before.
Scary.
His gaze.
His expression.
His actions.
Her teeth clenched.
When she bit her lip, the metallic taste of blood touched her tongue.
You’re good at enduring things.
Just hold on a little longer.
It’s for Mr. Ashtein’s sake.
Aria steadied her breathing.
The four of them—Hero Ashtein, Saintess Aria, Bishop Ronin, and Nun Gina—were riding in the carriage.
They were headed for the cult.
The reason was simple.
The Holy Sword.
Aria recalled what had happened earlier.
At the inn, Ronin had mentioned the ‘Holy Sword’ and asked Ashtein and Aria to visit the cult again.
‘I don’t need the Holy Sword.’
Ashtein had no intention of traveling all the way to the cult just to get a Holy Sword.
Bishop Ronin asked with a troubled smile,
‘Are you sure you won’t regret it?’
Regret?
Ashtein thought it was a ridiculous threat.
‘I’d rather spend that time killing one more monster on the front lines.’
In the first place, there wasn’t much for him to regret.
He’d managed just fine without that Holy Sword.
But Aria thought differently.
‘……Why don’t we go, at least for now?’
At her suggestion, Ashtein furrowed his brow.
‘Why?’
‘The treatment a Hero receives after being recognized by the Holy Sword is worlds apart from the treatment of one who hasn’t.’
The ‘Holy Sword’ was said to have been bestowed upon the world directly by God.
A Hero who wielded it was a cause and a righteous purpose in their own right.
In a world where the Demon King ran rampant, the title ‘Hero Chosen by God’ was indispensable if one wanted to move freely without anyone standing in the way.
Think about it.
Who could raise their voice against a ‘Hero Chosen by God’?
Ashtein waved a hand, seeming largely uninterested.
‘I don’t hunt monsters to be treated like a Hero.’
‘It’s not just about how you’re treated. Simply possessing the Holy Sword lends weight to your words. It can also serve as proof that you’re in the right. It’ll be a great help if you run into trouble down the line.’
Aria’s reasoning made sense.
……It did, but.
Ashtein shot Ronin a sidelong glance, then whispered in Aria’s ear.
‘You don’t want to go back to the cult.’
Flinch.
She looked up at Ashtein with unsteady eyes.
Her gaze was full of worry and concern.
His thoughtfulness made her eyes sting.
Of course, she had no desire at all to return to the cult.
The Erotic Cult was the very place where her trauma had been born.
Even so, she was willing to go because she wanted to help a man named Ashtein.
She wanted to help him enough to give up the temporary freedom she’d finally found.
The physical and emotional pain she might suffer along the way hardly mattered to her.
She had lost her purpose, her hope, and her will to live.
Like a ship run aground on a reef, she could only flounder beneath the sea of despair.
She would simply adapt to reality, endure it, and keep living until the day she died.
Ashtein was the one who had brought her out into the light.
For the past month, he had gently tended to her wounded heart and kindly looked after her.
He was the person who had breathed new hope into an empty shell with no hope left.
He was a light to Aria, her salvation, and the ‘Hero’ from a fairy tale.
That was why she wanted to help Ashtein, even if only a little.
She didn’t want to hold him back.
‘It’s something you need.’
The ‘Holy Sword’ was a symbolic item for a Hero.
Even if he said he didn’t need it, there would surely come a day when it would prove useful.
Ashtein regarded Aria with a skeptical gaze.
‘Does that really matter?’
‘Yes, it matters.’
He saw a firm resolve in Aria’s eyes.
When she was this stubborn, it was hard to change her mind.
‘……If you’re going to be so insistent, I’ll hear you out. Well, I’ve nearly wiped out all the monsters in the Asendio Range anyway. I could use a little rest.’
‘Thank you.’
‘No need to thank me.’
And so, after nearly two months, the two of them set out for the Erotic Cult.
Ashtein, who had been watching the scenery flash past the carriage window, turned to look at Aria.
“Aria.”
“Yes, Hero.”
She’d called him Hero, not Mr. Ashtein.
The way Aria had put distance between them soured Ashtein’s mood.
She was probably being careful with what she said because Bishop Ronin was reading in front of her.
“You look really carsick. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
How could she possibly be fine, sweating like that?
When they’d reached the mountain village of Asendio, Aria had been so carsick she’d retched and said she felt like she was going to die.
And now, less than two months later, she could handle the carriage ride?
No way.
She was just pretending to look calm.
Ashtein was already itching to call the whole thing off.
Ronin closed the book he’d been reading and watched him.
“Hero, you seem very concerned about the Saintess.”
The muscle beside Ashtein’s eye twitched.
He was skilled at getting under people’s skin.
“We’re companions.”
“How devoted you are to your companion. Isn’t that right, Saintess?”
Aria answered reluctantly.
“……Yes, the Hero is a kind person.”
After that, silence settled over the carriage.
A long silence.
The carriage traveled along the road for a long time.
It wasn’t until the sun had set and the sky had turned pitch-black that the carriage stopped.
They climbed out of the carriage.
They managed a simple dinner and went to sleep.
It was an uncomfortable night.
* * *
Someone’s hand tapped my shoulder.
It was so icy that I jumped in fright.
“Gasp.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a deep blue sky and a glittering morning star.
Dawn still seemed a long way off.
“I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“……Bishop Ronin.”
“It’s about time you woke up.”
Time to wake up.
That’s right.
I was on the last watch.
After I folded up my blanket and stood, Bishop Ronin walked over to the campfire.
I followed him toward the fire.
My thoughts, groggy from just waking, slowly came back to life like the tide rolling in.
“You must not have slept well. Are you cold?”
“………I’m fine.”
“I see.”
Crackle, crackle.
For a while, all I could hear was the campfire burning and the insects chirping.
Bishop Ronin tossed a dry branch into the fire.
“You’ve regained a lot of your vitality.”
“……Have I?”
“Yes. You look much better now than you did when you were cowering at the cult.”
What should I say to him as he spoke to me so familiarly?
I didn’t know.
He continued speaking.
“Are you satisfied with your life alongside the Hero?”
I liked it.
I was satisfied.
I was happy.
I didn’t let those feelings show.
Because that man would surely be pleased to see them.
“……It’s not bad.”
“Then it seems my efforts were worthwhile.”
“……What do you mean?”
“You may not know this, but I was the one who suggested that you accompany the Hero. I also strongly urged His Eminence the Cardinal to have you take part in public activities. Heh heh, I still remember it vividly. Cardinal Mavlov looked at me with such displeasure, saying I was making trouble for no reason. I never would have guessed the Hero would cause an incident by abducting you, though.”
I fell silent at his words.
I’d never imagined my meeting with Mr. Ashtein had been part of this man’s scheme.
Suddenly, Bishop Ronin’s brown eyes gleamed menacingly.
“Life at the cult must have felt stifling.”
“………….”
“So I thought it would do you good to have a change of scenery. Did you find my intentions unpleasant?”
“……No.”
“I’m glad. Dawn will break soon, so I should get some sleep myself.”
“Please do.”
“……Ah, before that, may I ask you one last thing?”
Whoooosh.
A hollow, chilly breeze blew through the early morning air.
The eyes Bishop Ronin turned on me were as hollow and cold as the wind.
I barely managed to open my mouth, which seemed to have gone stiff.
“Yes, go ahead.”
Bishop Ronin looked at Mr. Ashtein, who was sleeping soundly, and spoke.
“In your eyes, is he an ideal Hero?”
It was a question about Mr. Ashtein.
I answered without the slightest hesitation.
“……Yes. He’s more suited to being a Hero than anyone.”
Ronin clicked his tongue and sighed.
“That must be unfortunate.”
“What is?”
“You’re not an ideal Saintess, are you?”
I’m not an ideal Saintess.
His words stabbed into my heart like a sharp dagger.
“……Bishop.”
My heart pounded.
For all the wrong reasons.
“How could someone as promiscuous as you, who lies beneath men and seeks pleasure, possibly be called an ideal Saintess?”
His insult made my stomach churn.
My hands began to tremble, too.
“That’s…… going too far.”
“I don’t know. Isn’t it true?”
He smiled nastily.
I couldn’t argue with him.
Because it was true.
“You seem to be hiding it well from the Hero.”
“……….”
“You must be sexually frustrated, aren’t you?”
His fingers traced down my waist and rubbed along the crease between my buttocks.
The sensation of something crawling over my body made me slap his hand away.
“Don’t.”
Whatever it was about my words that pleased him so much, Bishop Ronin’s lips twisted like a bent bow.
“Ah, what a lovely reaction. You’re worth the effort. But tell me…”
If you don’t stay quiet, the Hero will wake up?
At Ronin’s words, I clenched my teeth.
“It would be a problem if he woke up……….”
“It would be a problem for both of us, wouldn’t it?”
His hand groped my thigh.
I couldn’t slap it away as rashly as before.
“Do you hate having your body toyed with? When you were at the cult, you accepted it as if you’d given up on everything.”
His words were just like a cactus.
Pointed, and painfully sharp.
“Don’t.”
“You seem quite intimate with the Hero. Have you perhaps slept with him?”
Slept with him?
At those words, I slapped him across the cheek.
Smack.
Bishop Ronin’s head turned to the side. He didn’t even groan; he simply rubbed his cheek with a blank expression.
“……How can a bishop, how can you say something like that?”
“Hmm. Judging by your reaction, it hasn’t happened yet. Then why not let him have you while you’re at it? Surely that wouldn’t be difficult for you, Saintess?”
You’re a cheap woman.
That was what his words seemed to say.
My fingers curled tightly on their own.
It felt as if my feelings for Mr. Ashtein had been thrown to the ground.
As if they’d been trampled into the dirt.
As if someone were telling me to my face that I had no right to love him.
I couldn’t bear it.
“Shut up.”
“Heh heh. Is there any need to get so worked up?”
“Shut your m—”
“What do you think the Hero would say if he found out?”
“……What did you say?”
“Ah, I was talking to myself.”
An unpleasant thought flashed through my mind.
What if Bishop Ronin told Mr. Ashtein every last detail of the truth I’d been hiding?
What if, after learning the whole story, he despised me for treating my body so carelessly?
There was no worse possibility.
Only now did I understand exactly why Bishop Ronin had told me to hold on to hope.
He wanted to watch me suffer.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing. Not yet.”
Bishop Ronin smiled.
“Not yet.”