Chapter 168
The story continues off the page
The Dare in the Back Room
Two academy girls, one lethal measure, and your slate paying for it
Leon was more keenly aware than anyone that he was the odd one out.
He understood that most of the Hero Party weren't pleased about his presence.
Of course, Leon felt he had been treated unfairly too.
It wasn't as though he'd rolled in here by choice. Someone had simply thrown him really damn hard.
Leon would say
that he was a victim too.
‘But what can I do? It’s already happened.’
Years of being worked to the bone as a slave had taught him that whining all day wouldn't change the situation.
It was far more productive to do his best where he stood.
In that sense, his conflict with Ash was unavoidable if he wanted to protect the future.
“I'm back.”
Leon returned to the inn.
Shabel, who had been busy playing with the innkeeper's daughter, greeted them.
“Didn't you just leave? You're back already?”
“I have something to tell the Hero.”
“What is it?”
“Shabel, listen. This slave bastard was saying…”
Ash had been bold in front of Leon, but perhaps it had been bothering her, because she hurriedly tried to come up with an excuse.
Before she could say anything, Leon slid across the floor like a baseball player stealing a base.
He clung to Shabel's leg.
“Sob! Hero!”
“Huh...?”
Shabel was completely flustered.
“W-why is he suddenly doing this? Q-quickly, get off her. You're scaring the child!”
Shabel pressed down on Leon's head over and over, trying to pull him away, but Leon didn't budge.
“Excuse me!”
“Now, Hero, please hear me out. We went to the market to buy supplies, and I told Lady Ash that we should focus on preserved provisions with good value for money.”
“I said that too. So what?”
“But Lady Ash said she didn't like preserved food. She was going to ignore your orders and buy expensive ingredients, you know?”
At those words, the strength in Shabel's hands as she tried to pull Leon away weakened.
“Expensive... ingredients?”
“Yes. She said we needed the pleasure of eating even on an expedition, and insisted on buying expensive meat. With taxes collected through the people's blood, sweat, and tears.”
Shabel's gaze slowly moved to Ash.
“Ash.”
“No, you see, it's...”
“I'm sure I've told you countless times. You mustn't squander money.”
“Even if you call them expensive ingredients, it's only a little. Eating nothing but preserved food takes the joy out of living. Maintaining morale is important too.”
“So it's true, then.”
“Haha...”
Ash laughed awkwardly.
Shabel sighed.
“Ash, that money was support funds for necessary supplies, not spending money for our own enjoyment.”
“I earn that much money, don't I? We're the Hero Party, for crying out loud. Do we really have to fret over a few coins?”
“You know it's not about money. Have you forgotten how many times our schedule has been thrown into disarray?”
Leon had known Ash was excessively wasteful since the first time he met her.
That itself hadn't been a major problem.
Ash was a capable adventurer.
Even if she squandered money, she earned just as much.
Even when she impulsively bought expensive things, within days she earned more than she had spent.
If she earned it and wanted to spend it, Shabel had no reason to interfere.
But things changed once they formed a party.
Whenever Ash accepted a quest, they had to postpone their planned schedule, losing time they could have spent chasing calamities.
By the time they heard that an incident had occurred and rushed there, it was already too late.
Once, they had even been stranded in a city for months because they missed a ship.
That vicious cycle had happened with Rahav too.
Otherwise, they would have reached the capital much earlier and could have taken part in the subjugation of Rahav.
But in the end, they were one step too late, and Leon ended up subjugating it alone.
Since then, Shabel couldn't take Ash's wastefulness lightly anymore.
It had gone beyond something she could understand and let slide.
“If you keep this up, I can't put you in charge of supplies anymore, Ash.”
“So, Shabel trusts that slave more than me now?”
“That's...”
Shabel couldn't answer readily.
That moment of hesitation said enough about what Shabel currently thought of Ash.
Ash's lips twisted into a crooked smile.
She tossed the money pouch at Shabel, who caught it reflexively.
“Then you all do it yourselves. Don't ask me to.”
“A-Ash?”
Shabel called out in confusion, but Ash didn't look back as she kicked open the inn door and left.
Ash passed Esca, who was just returning from morning training.
“What happened, Princess? Ash looked fierce just now. Did you two have a fight?”
“……”
Shabel said nothing.
Esca exchanged glances with the other companions, but their expressions weren't bright either.
Only Leon was satisfied with how things had turned out.
“That's for the best, Hero. Now the money won't be wasted on strange things.”
“……”
“Then shall the two of us go shopping at our leisure?”
***
I went to the market once more to procure supplies.
The party members were different from before.
Ash had been replaced by Shabel.
She walked beside me with an expression so gloomy it could sap the energy from anyone who saw it.
The fight with Ash seemed to have been quite a shock.
“If you keep looking so gloomy, the merchants will overcharge you.”
“……I'm like this because of someone.”
“Because of Ash, I assume. Surely you don't mean me?”
“……”
Perhaps she wasn't shameless enough to dump the responsibility on me, because Shabel remained silent.
“Why act like this is some new revelation? You knew there was a problem from the start. You were just deliberately ignoring it.”
Was it only Ash?
The remaining three were riddled with flaws too.
From a gamer's perspective, you could overcome those problems through trial and error.
But Shabel, who couldn't do that, must have been knocked around this way and that, going through all sorts of trouble to clean up after them.
The fact that they hadn't managed to capture even one calamity so far made that obvious.
‘Under normal circumstances, I would have pitied her.’
Why did she have to drag innocent me into it?
I couldn't even feel sorry for her.
Honestly, part of me wanted to see her bawling after failing to capture even one calamity.
But then I'd be in trouble too.
So I'd cooperate until the subjugation was over, and no longer.
“You don't need to worry so much. I'm here. No matter what happens, I'll make sure you get to subjugate the calamities.”
“And what am I supposed to trust about you?”
“I'm the only person in the world to have subjugated a calamity. If you won't trust me, who will you trust?”
“But you're a villain. What if you suddenly betray us and become an enemy of humanity?”
“I'm asking because I genuinely don't understand, but why am I a bad person?”
What on earth had I done wrong?
Was stealing a boss really so bad that I had to be treated like a villain and dragged all the way here?
No, Rahav wasn't yours to begin with.
“Why? You helped a witch. I heard all about you helping her escape.”
“……”
“……Didn't you?”
Shabel's tone grew cautious.
It was as though she had just considered the possibility that the information she knew might be wrong.
Had she brought things this far based on such a flimsy conviction that a single sentence could shake it?
“That's true. I did, but...”
“I-it is, right? I haven't gotten it wrong, have I? You are a bad person, right?”
A faint flush of relief spread over Shabel's face at my answer.
It was unmistakable relief.
Relief from knowing she wasn't forcibly dragging an innocent person along and exploiting him.
Seeing it made a sigh escape me.
“Hero. What am I?”
“A heinous criminal.”
“A slave, right? What does a slave do?”
“Work.”
“Someone who obeys their master's orders.”
I explained the basic concept of slavery to her.
“A slave is someone who has to do as their master commands. If you ordered me to kill someone right now, I'd become a murderer, wouldn't I? Would that make me a bad person?”
“That...”
Shabel couldn't readily continue.
Unlike a knight loyal to their master, a slave had no free will whatsoever.
They were literally no different from an object. You couldn't accuse an object of a crime.
The same went for a slave.
A blade wielded according to its master's will.
It made no sense to impose moral judgment on how it was used and hold it responsible for a crime.
“B-but I heard you were the witch's bodyguard knight?”
“I was a knight, yes. A slave knight.”
Shabel's face went deathly pale.
“A slave knight...? Then you didn't help the witch escape of your own free will? You were forced to do it because of the witch's order?”
“No, I did do it.”
“……What?”
It was true that I had done it.
Because I had ignored Renoa's order when she told me to run away with her.
“What? Then you really are a bad person after all!”
“Did I ever say I wasn't?”
“When you suddenly started talking about slaves, of course I thought I'd been horribly mistaken! You scared me half to death for nothing.”
Shabel sighed in relief.
“What's this? Why are you happy about the fact that I'm a bad person? Shouldn't a Hero want me to be a good person?”
“Ugh. Th-that...”
“Don't tell me you're thinking, ‘Thank goodness I'm alive’? Are you saying a Hero is happy just because she herself is safe?”
“N-no.”
“Then what did that sigh mean?”
Shabel moved her lips, avoiding my gaze.
Watching her, I let out a derisive laugh.
“The world really has come to an end if someone like you is the Hero.”
“W-what do you mean, ‘someone like this’?! At least I haven't committed crimes like certain people!”
“Of course not. Good grief, a Hero who should be embracing her companions, yet does nothing but torment them.”
When I clicked my tongue and shook my head, Shabel could take it no longer and let out a sharp shout.
“Who says you're a companion?”
“Am I not a party member?”
“You're only a temporary traveling companion. That's clearly different from being a party member.”
“If I'm only a temporary traveling companion, that means we'll part ways once the subjugation is over. What great riches do you expect to gain by keeping someone around for days just to……”
Shabel crossed her arms with a prim expression.
“I'll see for myself what kind of person you are and judge whether you truly deserve freedom.”
“I don't know what authority you think you have to judge something His Majesty the Emperor already approved, but what will you do if I fall short?”
“Then I'll keep you with me by whatever means necessary.”
“For life?”
“For life. It's my duty as a Hero to do so for everyone's sake.”
Hmm. Should I take that as a proposal?
I'm not exactly thrilled.
“So if you want to be free, watch your conduct. Because I really hate people like you.”