Chapter 44
Thus, the two of them went outside the inn.
"'Taken away by a man who looked like an adventurer wearing expensive-looking armor'...?"
When they asked about it, it seemed that was indeed what had happened. The only person who came to mind was Oscar of 'Eternal First Star.'
The two of them headed for the Adventurers Guild—and on the way, the 'Four-Element' mage from 'Eternal First Star' came toward them. Though she wore a severe expression, the first thing she said was,
"...You saved me yesterday. Thank you."
She bowed deeply.
"No, it's fine. It's only natural to protect one another when fighting the same monster. More importantly, have you seen the child who was with our party?"
"I was just looking for—We were looking for 'Silver Balance,' too. It's about the boy."
Dantes and Mimino exchanged glances.
Before they reached the Adventurers Guild, the mage explained the situation. Mimino learned for the first time that Reiji was being pursued by the domain soldiers—he had left because he didn't want to cause trouble for 'Silver Balance,' after all.
The mage said,
"If we wait at the Adventurers Guild, Oscar, our leader, should return as well. But..."
"But?"
"...It's pretty noisy in there."
She was telling the truth. Though it was morning, the uproar from the Adventurers Guild could be heard all the way out on the street.
Mimino immediately realized what was happening.
A memorial.
For adventurers who lived with death at their side, the death of a companion was—putting it bluntly—something that happened often.
Since they couldn't stop for long each time, they held a memorial that day. They drank, raised cup after cup, and talked about the adventurer who had died. Then, starting the next day, they took another step forward.
That said, the Adventurers Guild normally wasn't a place for drinking. The Guild only provided alcohol when there had been an especially great victory or an especially great loss of life.
Yesterday's fierce battle had claimed many lives. So Mimino imagined that the drinking at the Guild must have gotten wild—but even now, after a full night had passed, the powerful smell of alcohol and the uproar were still wafting out of the Guild.
"'Hard Silver Greatshield' has arrived."
As the mage said this while entering, the Guild fell silent at once. Immediately afterward,
——Wooooooo!!!!
an outrageous roar went up.
"Are you all right now!?"
"Greatshield, I'd have died if you hadn't been there..."
"The hero has arrived. Another round!"
"Idiot, you ordered the next round before he even came."
Men who were rough-looking and still filthy from yesterday's battle, with even their minor injuries untreated, swarmed over and dragged Dantes away.
"Ah, his burns haven't completely healed, so don't force him to drink, okay?"
When Mimino called after them, a deep "Yeah" came back.
Oscar wasn't there, as far as she could tell. They had no choice but to wait here until he returned.
Good grief, why did men always connect everything to alcohol so quickly? That was what Mimino thought, but on the other hand, their energy felt somewhat forced as well.
The scars left by the calamity wrought by the dragon and the subsequent battle with Krista were deep enough to break their spirits if they didn't force themselves to act cheerful.
"'Silver Balance,' you came."
"Joseph-san."
Yesterday, after the dragon was defeated, Joseph had been running around treating the wounded, and Mimino had met him again then. She had known him from the goblin-clearing operation Joseph and Dantes had fought in the past, since she had participated as a member of Dantes's party.
Mimino noticed that Joseph's eyes were red. Since he had put down roots in this city, she guessed that he had lost many acquaintances.
"I'm glad you managed to protect this city."
"Well... I'd planned to drink away the somber mood and be done with it, 'Greatshield,' but seeing you makes me want another drink."
"Sorry, but I still have burns..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I wouldn't force the hero who protected his companions to drink."
Joseph gestured toward a chair at a table away from the uproar.
"Joseph-san. Actually, there was someone in our party—"
"Ah, wait a moment. Let me tell you what I came to tell you first."
What did he have to tell them? Mimino tilted her head. What could Joseph possibly want to tell them?
"Actually, 'Silver Balance' will be receiving a reward."
"For defeating the dragon?"
"Yeah. A considerable portion of the scales was ruined, but it was huge to begin with, so enough scales should still be sold as materials. Its fangs and eyes are mostly intact, too, and they got a huge amount of meat, along with a great deal of organs used in high-grade medicines. Rewards will be paid to the adventurers who participated this time and to the families of the adventurers who died, but you made an especially great contribution in the battle. You'll probably receive several hundred Federation gold coins."
If Reiji had heard that number, he would have fallen over shouting, "Tens of millions of yen!?"
"That much...?"
"This isn't special treatment just for you, so don't hesitate to accept it. The submaster is a miserly bastard, just as he looks, but he really comes alive when it comes to bargaining. He demanded a huge sum from the ducal family. Well, the domain soldiers were useless, and Krista=La=Krista, a Heavenly Silver-ranked adventurer, more or less killed the dragon at the cost of her own life. The Guild's losses are far greater, so it's only natural."
"........."
"What's with the gloomy face? You're about to get a fortune."
"No... I didn't do anything."
"...You came at the very end, didn't you? And you lost a companion too, right? That must have been hard."
"Um, what exactly happened with the dragon's defeat? I thought I saw something like a black sword cut the dragon."
"That's the thing."
Joseph leaned forward and lowered his voice.
"...The domain soldiers have been searching for the boy from your party since this morning."
Mimino nodded and told him that Reiji had gone missing, and that she was looking for him now.
"What did that boy do? I figured from the way he moved that he wasn't exactly normal, but... Sorry. Even if I ask, you wouldn't answer, would you?"
"Yes. But Reiji-kun is my companion."
Mimino said it clearly. The word "companion" came naturally to her. Joseph, too, believed that although Reiji looked like a small child, both the sword stroke he had displayed at the training grounds and the way he had confronted the dragon were in no way inferior to those of a frontline adventurer.
"—The kid's safe."
A voice came down from above the heads of the two seated people.
Startled, they looked up. There was a dubious smile on the face above them.
"Oscar? Where have you been wandering off to?"
"M-more importantly, Oscar-san! You know about Reiji-kun, right!?"
"Yeah. He's already left the domain capital. I took care of things."
"You helped him escape?"
Dantes stood behind Oscar. He might have noticed Oscar entering the Guild and come over.
"...Yeah. It's my way of repaying a debt."
"Thanks for going to the trouble."
As Dantes bowed, Mimino stood up from her chair.
"Dantes!? Why are you thanking him!? We were looking for Reiji-kun, and we—"
"Mimino, you're being loud."
Beyond where Dantes glanced, domain soldiers stood on the main street, watching what was happening inside the Guild.
The fact that domain soldiers were after Reiji came crashing down on her, and the color drained from Mimino's face.
"B-but that's because you were saying strange things, Dantes..."
"Reiji knew he was being pursued. He was trying to leave the domain capital as quickly as possible. Isn't that right, Oscar?"
"Yeah. That kid's sharp despite being so small. He's a scary one."
"Reiji may be much smarter than we think. If someone like that left the domain capital immediately, he must have had a good reason."
"But..."
"Mimino. This is my responsibility."
For a moment, Mimino was at a loss for words.
Dantes looked more anguished than any expression she had ever seen on him.
"Reiji may have wanted to talk. If he had told us everything, we would have said we'd support him with everything we had."
"Of course we would have."
"But because I was suffering from burns, Reiji couldn't tell us anything. I'd do the same in his position. Right now, I can't travel long distances, and I'm a burden..."
"But—"
"This is a fact, Mimino. Because of me, I forced him to set out alone."
Dantes, who already seemed to be in considerable pain just from standing, supported himself with one hand on the chair.
"But, Mimino, I haven't lost all hope."
It occurred to Mimino that this might be the first time Dantes had ever become so talkative.
That was how worried he was about Reiji.
Dantes looked at Oscar as if feverish.
"If Oscar helped him leave the domain capital, we can deduce where Reiji is headed."
"I told the kid to avoid the Light-Sky Knight Kingdom. Travel's easier within the Federation, so he should go that way."
"Good. Rather than search the vast domain capital, I have a better chance of catching up if I heal my wounds quickly and follow the highway."
"W-wait a moment, Dantes. Now that you've recovered, we have to return Non to the Church, and besides..."
When Mimino faltered, Dantes gave a small laugh.
"I'll have Non travel with us for a while. The Church knows perfectly well that petrification doesn't heal so easily."
"What!? Are you saying we're going to deceive the Church!?"
"Wait, Greatshield. Does that mean your petrification has been cured...?"
"Look."
Dantes opened and closed his left hand in front of Joseph.
"How...? What did you do?"
"Reiji cured me. That child knew of a medicine we didn't know existed. At first, I thought he was being pursued because he'd gotten his hands on some prohibited item, but apparently that's not the case. If so, perhaps he's being pursued because he's an escaped slave."
Neither Joseph nor Oscar said anything at Dantes's guess. Their failure to deny it was confirmation.
Dantes turned his gaze to Mimino.
"Mimino. Reiji saved me. In the same way, you saved me, too."
"...Me?"
"Yes. I thought I would die after being petrified, but you didn't abandon me. You came all the way here with Non."
"But it was Reiji-kun who saved you—"
"And you were the one who saved Reiji. So it was because you were there that I'm alive. That I can go on living. That I can still have hope for the future."
"...Yeah."
"So this time, you be selfish. Asking the Church to wait a little isn't a big deal. I'll support you with all my might."
Those words made Mimino's chest grow warm.
She felt unbearably proud to be Dantes's party member.
"Dantes. I want to go after Reiji-kun. I hate for that to have been our goodbye. If Reiji-kun is a slave, I want to buy him back!"
When Mimino said this, Dantes nodded firmly.
"Yeah. I understand how you feel. Let's go after Reiji."
"Yeah!"
By now, Reiji was already a member of their party. They had only been together for a few days, but they had thrown themselves into the battle against the dragon together, saved Mimino when she was in danger, and cured Dantes's petrification.
(We feel a debt to Reiji-kun that we could never repay.)
It was strangely the same as what Reiji had been thinking.
The two of them paid their final respects to Raikira's body, which was being kept at the Guild. Raikira would be buried in the adventurers' communal cemetery.
That farewell was also the beginning of a new departure.
On this day, information concerning the dragon's appearance and defeat was sent to every country through long-distance magical communications. The death of Heavenly Silver-ranked adventurer Krista=La=Krista was reported as well.
Officially, it was recorded that Krista had defeated the dragon in a mutual kill, but Daniel=Ahhenbach, the next duke, and the Geffert kings, who stood at the top of the Federation, knew the truth.
It was a Talent: "The six-star 【Shadow King Swordsmanship★★★★★★】 can kill even a dragon with one blow."
They searched everywhere, their eyes bloodshot, for the escaped slave Lark. But they had no idea where he had gone. The other slave, 'Nameless,' had also vanished from the domain capital like smoke.
The adventurer party 'Silver Balance' needed three days for Dantes's wounds to heal, but with the goal of "finding their companion," they set out on a new journey.
And then—four years passed.