Chapter 7
Ah.
Ah.
I wish someone would kill me.
Now I don't care about the world anymore, so I just want to go somewhere and die where no one will find me. Once I'm dead, what does it matter whether the world is destroyed or not?
“..! ..!”
I want to say something, but this sorrow of being unable to get the words out is...
Ever since my mana returned, I was worried I might accidentally speak, so I sealed my mouth with magic—and now I couldn't speak even by accident. It was magic I'd put in place with the resolve to undo it only when no one was around.
No, that's not important.
I want to die so badly...
“Wow... I think we had times like that too... Right, Hughes?”
“I don't think we did...”
“Ahem.”
Especially because of those two bastards, I feel like I'm losing my mind even more.
Somehow, they'd gotten close enough to drop formal speech with the Hero.
No, there was nothing wrong with dropping formal speech itself.
Unless someone was a terrible person, becoming close to someone wasn't bad.
On the contrary, becoming close with the other party members in a situation like this would strengthen their bond, which I thought was good for everyone. The problem was that I was reacting this way not because of that, but because they'd all seen everything that happened back then.
I glanced toward the Hero just in case, and he looked as though he wanted to forget what had just happened.
No, I was the one who wanted to forget it, so I couldn't understand why he was acting even more embarrassed than I was. Still, thankfully, they only looked at us as if they were watching a sweet young couple and didn't mention anything beyond that.
“I see the village!”
Everyone brightened at the driver's words.
Thank goodness.
I was so happy at the thought of being able to part ways with these people.
That was all that mattered for the moment.
.
.
.
.
It was still a small village on the frontier, but it was much larger than the one we'd arrived at before.
At first, when I heard we had to go to the Holy Kingdom, I worried about how long it would take, but fortunately, thanks to the Hero's privilege, we could get there using a teleportation magic circle. Apparently, once we reached a major city, we could go straight to the Holy Kingdom's grand cathedral.
“I'd heard rumors lately about slave traders abducting people while disguised as carriage drivers...”
The guard looked down at the men sleeping, bound inside the carriage, with sweat beading on his brow.
“Thank you so much for catching them!”
At the guard's thanks, the Hero scratched his head awkwardly.
When we first boarded the carriage, I had wondered how things would turn out, but it seemed to have worked out somehow. When the guard asked us to stay in the village for a while so they could identify everyone and pay us a reward, the Hero nodded.
In any case, the more money, the better.
I hesitantly turned to look at the Hero.
Hmm...
Although he was an effeminate pretty boy, he was fairly strong and fit the concept of a kind eunuch, just as in the game's setting—but something still felt strange.
I could let his strangely familiar behavior toward me slide.
I didn't even know when I'd first met this Hero, so perhaps we'd actually known each other for quite some time.
That was why I shouldn't jump to conclusions.
But what happened with the carriage this time was clearly strange.
As far as I knew, in the game, the Hero was supposed to pass out after being drugged by the soporific incense.
But thanks to the Hero's unique strength, he was less affected by the soporific incense and woke up, then fought on the spot. Of course, since this functioned as a sort of tutorial, the early enemies were strong. Just when it seemed he was going to die, Lumia fortunately woke up and used magic to rouse everyone, bringing the situation under control.
I didn't remember it exactly since it was just a game setting, but that was more or less how it went.
But this time, things had unfolded completely differently from the original setting.
It was strange for things to be this different.
Of course, I didn't know exactly how Lumia acted in the game, but she was one of the characters I liked, so I had a pretty good grasp of her personality. Ah, no—of course, I did do something un-Lumia-like, but I was half-asleep then, so I don't really remember it either.
Since even the Hero seemed to avoid bringing up what happened then, I must have done something pretty crazy. I don't remember exactly, but apparently, while I was being given a lap pillow, I burrowed even deeper into his lap in my sleep or something.
...
If he told me that much, how could I not know?
To be honest, it feels pretty fucking shitty.
Anyway, that wasn't what I was trying to talk about, so I'll set that aside for now... What I mean is that the Hero's actions are incredibly suspicious. The fact that he brought up the need for caution, and the fact that he tried to take me hostage—both were incredibly suspicious.
The most plausible guess was that he'd said something to those people when he went to deal with the carriage earlier. Maybe he'd told them there was soporific incense inside, or, knowing it was a slave carriage, threatened them: if they didn't want to die, they should simply transport us for a cheap price.
“Lumia?”
Given the Hero's personality, it was hard to believe he'd done something like that, so it was probably the former—or at least something close to it.
That left the question of how he knew about it...
“Lumia!”
“..!”
W-whoa, that startled me.
I almost spoke again, but thanks to the magic I'd placed over my mouth beforehand, no words came out.
I turned around to see what was wrong and found the Hero pointing at something with an awkward smile, asking whether I wanted to eat it.
It wasn't that I particularly wanted to eat anything, but perhaps he'd mistaken the fact that I'd been staring in one direction while thinking deeply for me continuously looking at it because I wanted it. I was a little worried he might take me for a glutton, but I was hungry, so maybe I should eat.
I nodded.
“I'll go buy it.”
Why does he keep trying to do things for me?
I shook my head and stood up.
“You're going?”
Of course.
I nodded.
“Are you sure? It might be hard to communicate.”
“...”
Ah...
That's true.
It's not like I can't speak, either.
Before, I really had been unable to speak, but now that I could use magic to some extent, I could communicate with the Hero directly, if only in a telepathic sort of way. If this had been our first meeting, and he didn't know why I couldn't speak...
If we'd truly only just met, I might have considered telling him that I could actually speak, but this Hero seemed suspicious no matter how I looked at it.
Just in case, it would be best not to reveal my identity.
After thinking for a while, I found a compromise.
I stood up and grabbed the Hero's sleeve.
It felt wrong to casually take a man's hand.
But grabbing his shoulder or arm would have been strange in its own way, so I carefully took hold of and tugged at his sleeve—a place that wouldn't look particularly strange to anyone and wouldn't put me in direct contact with him.
“Uh... You want me to come with you?”
I nodded.
“Well, then...”
The Hero looked worried, but soon decided it would be fine if we went together and approached the shop. Since it was a village on the frontier, there weren't many shops, but some rather delicious-looking bread was on display outside.
“Could I have one of these?”
“Sure~ Just a moment~”
The middle-aged man cheerfully laughed and said that, since it had been a while since the village had seen customers, he'd give us some bread he'd just finished baking. A moment later, he handed me a freshly made, piping-hot loaf. I worried he might be giving it to me for free, but fortunately, he handed it over with something to protect my hands from the heat as well.
It looked like paper, but didn't seem to be paper... I had no idea what it was, but who cared?
I took a bite.
Oh, what the...
Mmm...
Holy shit, this is delicious.
I hadn't expected much merely because it was a fantasy world, but judging by the existence of teleportation magic circles and this delicious bread, it seemed to be a fairly developed world. Relieved that it wasn't some utterly medieval world, I chewed away and turned to look at the Hero.
What the hell, why didn't he buy one?
Still, I thought it might be better if he at least tried it, so I cautiously held it out toward the Hero.
“Uh... What's this?”
I'm giving it to you so you can try it, too.
I waved my arm as if urging him to take it quickly, and only then did the Hero realize what I meant. He hesitated, then cautiously took a bite.
Is it good?
“Thank you.”
The Hero said it with a smile.
Well, as long as he liked it.
I thought that and brought it back toward myself, only for the spot where the Hero had bitten it to catch my eye.
Even so, eating from that spot didn't seem right, so I carefully turned it around to the part he hadn't bitten and took another bite.
Mmm.
Oh, right. I forgot something.
I looked around, spotted a bench, and lightly tapped the Hero.
“Hm?”
I pointed toward the bench.
“Oh, you want to rest?”
No,
- I have something I want to talk about.
The Hero froze on the spot at my sudden telepathic message.