Chapter 33
The Hero and the Saintess lived happily ever after.
If this were a fairy tale, most stories would end with a grand finale like that. But regrettably, reality keeps going, never offering such a clean ending.
Yes.
It goes on, and on, and on.
Until the protagonist dies.
Reality was no easy thing.
Even so, Aria wasn’t all doom and gloom.
If she had walked alone until now, from here on, she would walk with Ain.
With him by her side, even this tiresome road would look a little different.
It was an optimistic outlook, but so what?
Just having Ain by her side made every negative possibility seem to fade away.
Wouldn’t everything be all right as long as she was with him?
‘I’m pretty far gone, too.’
With the help of two men, Aria had been able to put the misfortune she’d suffered behind her.
Ain had protected her from the clutches of Cardinal Marblov, Bishop Ronin, and the others.
Makarov had exposed their abuses in no uncertain terms and ensured they received just punishment.
The two men had gone about it in very different ways.
But both of them had done everything they could to protect Aria.
There was no doubt about that.
She had received an immense kindness from them.
She wasn’t in a position to repay it just yet, but she wasn’t in a hurry.
An opportunity to help them would surely come someday.
Until then, she would live with gratitude toward the two men who had freed her from despair.
No, she would be grateful for as long as she lived.
She would pray to the Goddess of Eros that this precious feeling would never fade, either.
“Again with that silly look on your face.”
A man’s teasing voice reached Aria’s ears.
The voice belonged to Ashtein—the man she called Ain for short.
“What’s wrong with my face?”
“Want me to spell it out? Your face is pretty, but your expression is silly.”
The word pretty bothered her more than silly did.
How could he say such embarrassing things so naturally, with such a calm expression?
Was he made of stone?
“……You’re so mean, Ain.”
“Whenever you make that face, you’re usually thinking about some pointless fantasy.”
That wasn’t true at all.
How could being grateful to the two of them be a pointless fantasy?
Aria lowered the corners of her mouth and furrowed her brows.
“No, I’m not.”
Ain waved a hand dismissively.
“Sure you aren’t.”
It was a petty little argument.
Even that argument felt dear to Aria.
She realized she was smiling, and Ain frowned at her.
“You haven’t gotten even dumber after everything you’ve been through, have you?”
Just as Ain said, she had been through a lot.
To briefly list it all: the Pope, who had stood by and watched, had personally bowed his head and apologized; Ain had announced that the Holy Sword had acknowledged him; and the Cardinal and bishops had been severely punished through proper procedures.
There had been a few other minor incidents, too, but by now they hardly mattered.
Wouldn’t this count as a fairly ideal ending?
Having gathered her thoughts, Aria smiled with her eyes and gazed at Ain.
“That’s right. I’ve become a fool who can think of nothing but you, Ain.”
Her smile bloomed like a flower in full bloom.
Rarely, Ain blushed and fell silent.
He’d been sunk by Aria’s counterpunch.
“………Why, why aren’t you arguing back?”
Seeing his embarrassed reaction, Aria found herself blushing, too.
Ain drew her into his arms and nipped her earlobe.
“Eep.”
“Looks like you’ve managed to seduce me, Aria.”
S-seduce him?
She hadn’t meant it that way.
Aria couldn’t hide her fluster.
“A-Ain, w-we’re in a carriage……?”
Aria’s face turned as red as pomegranate seeds as she stammered and gave Ashtein a few light smacks.
She hadn’t pushed him away because his embrace was so comfortable, and for no other reason.
Probably.
“So what? You don’t like it?”
“……I-I don’t dislike it, but the d-driver might hear us.”
“I don’t particularly care.”
Ain’s face drew closer.
Aria’s heart pounded so hard it felt as though it might shatter.
“Y-you’re right. I-I like it, too.”
She gently closed her eyes and leaned her upper body and face toward him.
Her posture said she wanted his kiss.
Once Ain got fired up, he was the type to see things through to the end.
At this rate, they would end up making passionate love in the carriage.
Even knowing that, she didn’t resist.
Aria was willing to give herself to him whenever and wherever he wanted.
“Dummy.”
Smack.
It was a sharp flick to the bridge of her nose.
Aria clutched her nose and squeezed out a few tears.
“Ow, you—you made it sound like you were going to do it.”
“Do you think I’d do it here?”
When she opened her eyes, Ain was grinning at her.
What a mean man.
She turned away in a huff, but he caught her by the chin.
“L-let go.”
“I don’t want anyone else seeing my woman all disheveled.”
It was possessive of him to say, but to Aria, with her fragile self-esteem, there could hardly be anything sweeter.
“………Are we doing it tonight, too?”
“Did you think we wouldn’t?”
Ever since their relationship had progressed, the two of them had been intimate every day without fail.
Just as young men and women in their prime tended to be.
“……Aww.”
At Ain’s words, Aria imagined herself pinned beneath him, utterly disheveled.
She imagined herself letting out lewd moans of pleasure of her own accord.
She shook her head vigorously.
Perhaps the thought was too stimulating, because heat spread through her body.
Aria bit her lower lip and looked up at Ain.
To him, it probably looked like she was a little displeased.
“All right, I’ll stop teasing you.”
Naturally, Aria was surprised by what he said.
“D-do I look angry? I-I’m not angry at all!”
“Then should I keep teasing you?”
Aria lowered her eyes and spoke quietly.
“………Yes.”
“Hah.”
He looked dumbfounded.
A silence fell between them for the first time in a long while.
It wasn’t an unpleasant silence.
After a moment, Ain spoke.
His tone wasn’t playful; he was utterly serious.
“Aria. Are you really sure you’re okay with staying a Saintess?”
Ain asked as if he was genuinely worried.
Aria loved him so much for that she could hardly stand it.
“It was my choice, Ain.”
The Pope had told her she could give up her position as Saintess if she didn’t want it.
He had even officially declared that there would be no repercussions for doing so.
But Aria had refused, feeling there was nothing to gain from giving it up.
Wouldn’t she be able to support Ain more as a Saintess than as an ordinary girl?
On the journey ahead with Ain, the title of ‘Saintess’ would be useful in all sorts of ways.
She didn’t want to give it up just because it made things inconvenient for her.
Perhaps he sensed her resolve, because Ain stroked her head.
“If it gets hard, tell me anytime.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Aria gave Ain a strained smile.
“Then, Ain, it’s hard for me to hold on.”
He didn’t ask what she meant by hard to hold on.
Ain already knew.
Aria leaned against him.
Rattle, rattle.
The carriage rocked violently.
Aria felt the dull ache of a familiar migraine coming on.
It was a sign her motion sickness was about to return.
Ain asked her,
“Want me to tell the coachman to stop?”
“No, I need to get used to it, too. Instead…… could you hold my hand?”
Ain immediately offered his hand.
It was two or three times bigger than Aria’s.
“Hehe.”
Aria let out a silly laugh and took his hand.
The two of them were heading back toward the Asendio Mountains.
* * *
Azazel Anaid.
She had been called a magical genius since she was young.
All it took was seeing a spell formula a few times for her to understand it and use it however she pleased.
Her bloodline may have played a part, but there was no denying she possessed extraordinary talent.
So they were only too eager to praise Azazel.
To those people, she must have seemed like the incarnation of a dragon, master of magic.
But Azazel herself felt a terrible weariness and boredom.
People were complicated, bothersome creatures by nature. Things were a problem when they were too easy, and a problem when they were too difficult.
After receiving nothing but praise and reverence for so long, Azazel Anaid eventually grew tired of everything.
So she let it all go without hesitation.
The faction she had built, the Magic Tower, her research—everything.
She had simply lost interest.
And so the days kept passing, wasted on meaningless things.
A life with almost no stimulation.
It was enough to make Azazel forget what it felt like to be alive.
Then one day, it happened.
The kingdom summoned her, and she met that rude Hero.
In truth, Azazel had no desire to go adventuring with the Hero.
Wasn’t that obvious?
The Hero and Demon King were both inferior to her anyway.
What did it have to do with her if they bickered among themselves?
She had opened her mouth to refuse when—
‘I don’t need you.’
That was the first thing the Hero, Ashtein, said.
Had he just ignored her?
Me?
Azazel felt a faint heat pass through her head.
What an unbelievably insolent brat.
So Azazel provoked Ashtein.
‘I can defeat the Demon King all by myself. I don’t need a half-baked Hero like you.’
She said it in a tone that plainly invited him to a fight.
Ashtein was a man who never backed down.
He immediately answered her provocation.
‘How convenient. I was just thinking I could take down the Demon King perfectly well without someone like you.’
‘You’re pretty cocky, Hero. How about we see who’s better?’
‘You’ll regret it.’
And so, their duel was set.
It ended in Azazel’s crushing defeat.
It was the first loss on record.
‘You’re weak.’
The Hero’s words lodged in her ears.
Weak? That was the first time anyone had ever said that to her.
Until then, no swordsman, mage, cleric, or anyone else had ever beaten her.
You should have been beaten, too.
You should have been.
Why?
That must have been when it started.
When Azazel Anaid began following the Hero around.
She irritably scratched her head.
‘Why isn’t he here?’
A petite girl with abundant red hair and red eyes.
Azazel sat at a table, radiating an intimidating presence as she kicked her feet.
She was deeply dissatisfied with the situation.
The person she’d wanted to see wasn’t in this town.
‘I heard he was hunting monsters in the Asendio Mountains.’
No matter how thoroughly she searched, she couldn’t detect even a trace of his mana.
When she made inquiries, she learned he’d left quite a while ago.
That was strange.
‘Given that monster-lover’s nature, he should’ve wiped out every last monster in the area.’
There was no way that bastard would make an exception.
He was a genuine lunatic who claimed the only good monster was a dead monster.
If the day ever came when he made an exception to hunting monsters, the sky would split in two.
“……Hmm.”
That wasn’t the only thing that was making the girl unhappy.
She questioned a man who was flattened against the floor.
“Is what you told me true?”
“W-what do you mean, miss?”
Without a word, the girl conjured a sphere of flame in midair.
The gesture clearly meant, ‘Use your head.’
Witnessing the unreal sight of flames blazing fiercely in midair, the man panicked and spilled out his words in a rush.
“I-it’s true. The Bloody Warrior and the Bloody Nun left here quite a while a-ago.”
The Bloody Warrior must have been Ashtein.
His fighting style was so rough that he often ended up drenched in monster blood.
He’d earned the same nickname elsewhere, so it was almost certainly him.
What actually caught Azazel’s attention was the Bloody Nun.
A Bloody Nun? Was there another person like Ashtein?
For some reason, Azazel felt unhappy.
The very thought made her head spin.
Her instincts were sounding the alarm, too.
“So who’s this Bloody Nun?”
“S-she’s a beautiful nun who travels with the Bloody Warrior.”
A beautiful nun?
Why was Ashtein with a woman like that?
“Just what kind of woman is he shacking up with?”
If there were such a thing as frozen fire, this must have been it.
Azazel’s red eyes burned coldly.
“I-I don’t really know……”
“I wasn’t asking you, so shut up.”
Snap.
With a snap of her fingers, the man who had been prostrating himself on the floor was flung into the wall.
Azazel was biting her nails, about to sink into thought, when—
Creeeeak.
The door opened.
“……Looks like someone got here before me.”
A familiar low voice.
Familiar clothes.
A familiar face.
The man she had been searching for so desperately.
Ashtein.
“Oh, Ash……”
As if her displeasure had vanished in an instant, Azazel started to speak brightly, but—
“This is an inn. Isn’t it only natural for there to be guests?”
There was someone beside him.
And it was a very pretty woman.
What was this?
Azazel felt something twist in her gut.
Her stomach gave sharp little stabs, like she had appendicitis.
Her gaze met theirs as the two entered the inn.
The nun looked puzzled, while the Hero looked as if he’d found something bothersome.
What was that look for?
Why were you looking at me like that?
“Explain what’s going on, Ashtein.”
Azazel fixed him with a sharp glare and demanded an explanation.
Ashtein slowly opened his mouth.
“Why do you need to know?”
His words were cold.