Chapter 49
Hermes is a dangerous city.
Since that's the case, not many people travel there via magic circles.
Magic circles are basically so expensive that only wealthy people—nobles, at the very least—can use them casually, so there aren't that many people who use them.
And if the destination is none other than Hermes, the most dangerous city in the world, then naturally the line is bound to be short.
So why am I explaining all this?
“Wow..”
Cecilia looked around, her eyes shining brightly.
Ruril also seemed too busy taking in the sights of a city she had never seen before.
The Hero had been here before, so he didn't look quite as amazed, but he wore an expression as though he had returned to his hometown.
Since he said he had regressed, he must have come here before as well.
Anyway, by now, you're probably wondering why I was explaining magic circles and Hermes earlier.
If I've said this much, I think you would have realized why I brought it up even without me explaining it.
I had thought it would be a fairly long journey, but arriving in Hermes less than an hour after reaching the magic circle station left me with a strange feeling.
I didn't have to sleep outside or worry about anything dangerous, which was nice, but I was worried that at this rate, I might not be able to grow stronger even if I wanted to.
It was an erotic game, but it had plenty of RPG elements, so it also had a system for developing the characters.
In other words, I was worried that if we kept traveling from place to place by magic circle like this, it would become difficult to face enemies that had grown far too powerful.
However, that concern melted away as soon as I remembered the Hero's martial prowess from before.
Since he had regressed, that meant he had unlocked the holy sword's full power.. The last time, there was a very high chance that he had deliberately failed to cut through those tentacles in one blow so he could hide the truth from me.
To begin with, it would be absurd by any reasonable standard for him to appear at exactly the right moment, defeat the enemy, and save me.
The only possible explanation was that he had deliberately waited to avoid revealing his identity, then stepped in to save me when things became truly dangerous.
Well, I had no intention of blaming the Hero for that.
If he could save me while revealing his identity as little as possible, then that was the right thing to do.
Still, when that huge thing came toward me to rape me, I had been truly terrified.. If he was going to save me, shouldn't he have stepped in sooner? Since I kept thinking that way, I felt as though I was beginning to resent the Hero for no reason.
Something had felt strange lately.
More than anything, I had noticed it since last time, but it seemed as though I kept thinking only about the Hero.
Now that we were inside the city, I should put thoughts of the Hero aside for a while and think about what to do about the quest.
If you're wondering why I'm suddenly bringing up the quest, it's because the information we can obtain in Hermes is extremely important. More precisely, it's because of a quest posted here.
Since the Hero had told both me and the others that he had regressed, they assumed there had to be a reason someone who knew the future had come here and followed him without question. But I knew why the Hero had come here.
The quest we needed to accept here was none other than a dungeon-clearing quest.
In the game, it remained available until someone accepted it, but the longer it was delayed, the more dangerous it became, so he seemed intent on finishing it quickly.
The reason we had to accept the quest was that only adventurers who had accepted it could go to the location mentioned in the wanted notice.
It was a place that had been thoroughly sealed off because it was recognized as a dangerous area.
“Are you really going to take this quest..?”
The request as originally written was a simple one: investigate the strange aura recently sensed in the area and find out why people had begun disappearing. The reason no one had accepted it until now was simple.
It was far too dangerous.
A typical erotic-game trope.
Most monsters that appeared in dangerous areas would rape any female character, then either eat her on the spot or use her as a broodmare for the rest of her life.
Just as described, it was where most people who wanted to see a hardcore bad ending went.
Going there guaranteed that you could see a truly hardcore bad ending.
There was no such thing as a second chance.
If you died there, then unless you had something like a potion, you went straight to a bad ending.
Of course, if we could defeat the Demon King's army lurking there, we could obtain an enormous reward. One of the greatest rewards was that the Demon King's army would become weaker.
In the game, this was depicted as their stats weakening, but I didn't know what would happen here.
But the Hero must have come because he thought this quest had to be done, regardless of all that.
Judging by the Hero's personality so far, I thought he would accept the quest simply because people were disappearing. As for the game's setting.. No, there was no need to mention the game's setting anymore.
The Hero I had come to know would step forward immediately upon hearing that people were disappearing.
After all, if people were disappearing, how could a Hero not step in?
As expected, the Hero accepted the quest.
It was only natural.
After we accepted the quest, the Hero said he had something to tell us, so we moved to a corner of the inn inside the adventurers' branch.
I didn't know why he had come all the way here to talk instead of simply saying it where we were.
Was it something that shouldn't be overheard by the people around us?
“Why did you come all the way here to talk?”
Cecilia also seemed puzzled about why he had deliberately brought us all the way here to talk.
The Hero had been silent for a while. Then he turned to look at us and opened his mouth with a determined expression.
“I’ll go alone and come back.”
...
What?
What kind of bullshit was he saying now?
What on earth was he thinking, telling his own party members that he would handle the entire quest alone?
Of course, it wasn't as if I couldn't understand him at all.
Cecilia and Ruril couldn't understand what he meant because they had no idea how dangerous the place we were about to visit was. But I had already experienced it through the game, so I knew how difficult—and how dangerous—it was.
It was virtually the most difficult location accessible during the early game.
The Hero had also said in his own words that he had regressed, so he would know that as well.
“This place is too dangerous. I can handle this quest by myself..”
See?
I knew he would say that.
He was planning to go alone, cut everything down, and come back.
Of course, since he was the Hero who could unlock the holy sword's power all the way to the end, perhaps this really was the right choice.
He possessed power strong enough that we didn't need to worry about him.
However, even if he claimed he was protecting us, trying to shoulder everything alone wasn't a very admirable thing to do. It was a difficult area, but it wasn't somewhere we couldn't clear; it was merely harder than other areas.
This was reality, and we couldn't know what might happen, but it was obviously much safer for all of us to go together. What would happen if something happened to the Hero while we waited here?
If that was how things were going to be, why had we traveled together instead of him setting out alone?
“Do you hear yourself?”
“It’s just.. Before I regressed, we went there together too, and we nearly died more than once, so I just..”
Then he should have simply not gone.
Did he think he had to go but didn't want to put us in danger, so he had decided to go alone?
Judging from the way he spoke, he really was something else.
I sighed inwardly.
Still, I supposed I should be grateful that the Hero had at least given us an answer.
I glared at the Hero.
Feeling my gaze, the Hero flinched.
I was a little angry—no, very angry, actually.
It wasn't that I couldn't understand the Hero's feelings.
If he'd nearly died there the last time, then his reaction was understandable.
I acknowledged that.
But how were we supposed to feel, hearing that?
It made me wonder whether he trusted us as comrades at all—whether he saw us as nothing more than people he had to protect.
- Hero. We aren't so weak that you need to protect us all the time. Don't you trust your comrades?
I spoke to the Hero through telepathy with a serious expression.
I made sure the Hero, Cecilia, and Ruril could all hear me.
It was their first time hearing my telepathy, so they were bound to be surprised, but given the circumstances, they seemed to agree with me and glared at the Hero as well, perhaps intending to ask about it later.
Cecilia.. probably not, but Ruril was fairly strong too.
The only reason Ruril had nearly died to the goblins was that Ruril had run out of arrows and been overwhelmed by sheer numbers when a whole unit's worth of goblins attacked. Ruril's actual skill was quite impressive.
Otherwise, Ruril wouldn't have been able to join the Hero's party.
- Say something like that one more time and I'll hit you.
With magic, too.
I gave him a cold look and pointed the rod Cecilia had given me at the Hero. Only then did he seem to realize that he had made a major verbal blunder, and he lowered his head.
“I didn’t mean it that way.. Sorry, everyone. I just got ahead of myself.”
Good, as long as you understand.
I abruptly turned my head away.