Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside - Volume 1 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Fire Mage Dir’s Scheme

Approximately two years ago, in the Duchy of Loggervia.

Rit the hero, Princess Rizlet of Loggervia, rose back up. She had managed to persuade her father, the king, to write a letter requesting aid from the surrounding countries in exchange for relinquishing claims to various watering holes and quarries. The official statement would solicit reinforcements from two neighboring countries, the Duchy of Sunland and the Republic of Beryllia.

Sunland lay on the other side of the bewitching woods. Receiving reinforcements from them in particular would be decisive in determining the outcome of the battle. As was perhaps standard for neighboring countries, Loggervia and Sunland had a history of disputes before the demon lord’s invasion had even begun. In fact, the two countries were openly hostile, and Beryllia supported Sunland’s claim and, as such, had been on poor terms with Loggervia. But in order to save Loggervia, it was essential to get help from both of them.

The final war council over, I was mentally exhausted. I walked down the hall as I tried to stretch my stiff shoulders.

“Big Brother.”

A voice stopped me in my tracks. It was the blue-haired Hero, looking up at me with the same quiet expression she always did.

“Hey, Ruti. The meeting’s over. In the end, they went along with all our suggestions. I imagine we’ll be heading out tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.” Ruti nodded but seemed a little sullen.

“Is something wrong?”

“Not really.”

“You seem a bit annoyed.”

She probably intended to be expressionless, but there was a slight tension to her lips, betraying a touch of melancholy. I had been with Ruti since she was little, so I noticed things like that. Everyone else thought she was antisocial and expressionless, but on the inside, she actually had a pretty wide range of emotions.

“You’re getting along well with Rit.”

“Hmm? I suppose? She’s the sort of person you can’t just leave be, I guess?”

“Is that so…?” Ruti’s eyes narrowed the tiniest fraction as she glowered at me.

“Ah, I’m sorry. But since she, Ares, and I are dealing with the diplomatic relations, it can’t really be helped.”

Situations like this were sort of a specialty for me thanks to my training as a knight. Ares had been a high-level government official before joining the party, so he was well qualified, too. Well actually, Ares did know the etiquette and how to compose diplomatic documents, but he didn’t really have any sense of diplomacy itself. Perhaps because of the impulse of the Sage blessing, even if what he wanted was to be done, he just couldn’t let someone else get the credit for it. His clear self-assuredness that he was the smartest person in the room and his bad habit of looking down on everyone else inevitably reared their heads in those sorts of situations.

But Danan, a martial artist through and through, was out of the question, Theodora the Crusader was an archetypical military sort, too, and Ruti wasn’t a skilled orator. She would just end up using the effects of the Hero’s charisma to make the other side agree.

It wasn’t like I was particularly adroit at negotiations when I was a knight, but Ares and I still ended up being the most qualified for the job. It was a bit of a poor showing, honestly, considering this was humanity’s strongest party.

“But Ares is slacking off.”

“Well, yeah.”

Once a vague course of action had been settled, Ares stopped coming to the meetings. He was laying the groundwork with the nobility of the country by arranging a small-scale get together every night, apparently, though he was probably going to enjoy the inevitable fawning over him, too. He liked that sort of thing.

“The three of you are talking late into the night, but if Ares isn’t there…then it’s just the two of you,” Ruti said with a look of dissatisfaction before tapping my chest. “I want you to be with me today.”

“Okay, I get it, I get it. Why don’t we get ready for tomorrow together, then?”

Hearing that, Ruti finally looked satisfied and nodded with a quiet expression.

True to the plan, the first thing we did was scatter the demon lord’s forces attacking the forest village. The lower-tier demons making up the infantry of the force there withdrew without too much resistance.

“Gideon! You finally came!” a long-eared high elf exclaimed as she wrapped me in a powerful hug.

“I’m glad to see you in such good spirits, Yarandrala. Sorry for being late.”

“It’s fine. They weren’t serious about attacking this village anyway. The hug was just because I was happy to see you!”

Yarandrala beamed gallantly as she kept her arm clamped around my waist. She was close enough that our cheeks were almost rubbing together.

Generally, high elves kept a distance from others until they made friends, but once they did, they apparently enjoyed a physical sort of intimacy. It wasn’t particularly related to love or anything, but even knowing that, a human like me still got a bit flustered by it. It seemed high elves found it amusing when humans they got along with became embarrassed, which just aroused their affection even more.

“Gideon, who is she?” Rit asked, shocked by the high elf who suddenly engulfed me in a hug when we reunited.

“Ah, this is Yarandrala, a high elf. She’s the one who can help us get through the bewitching woods.”

She was the other crux of this plan. The bewitching woods along the border of Loggervia was the dangerous forest that the wood elves around here had chosen as the location of their final stand back in the era of the previous demon lord. They had cast countless layers of magic to transform it into an inescapable and unexplored region. It was unknown exactly what had become of those elves who had fought here, but it was a fact that the bewitching woods had swallowed up dozens of skilled adventurers.

“I have a blessing that allows me to communicate with plants and borrow their strength,” Yarandrala said proudly as she looked at Rit. The power to speak with plants was one of the benefits of the elf’s blessing of the Singer of the Trees.

“The magic placed on the bewitching woods has no effect on beings born in the woods, so by talking to the plants, it is possible to learn the correct way through.”

With Yarandrala, we could make it through the bewitching woods. The perimeter the enemy had formed was thinner near the deadly forest, and they would be completely defenseless once we crossed. The members of our expedition were Ruti, Rit, Yarandrala, Ares, and myself. With the five us, the odds of success were high.

Glancing around, Ares was conspicuously absent. After searching a bit, he appeared to be spurring on a man who was the head of a mercenary band. It was a rare sight, since Ares usually didn’t pay much heed to soldiers’ morale.

“All right, I leave the rest to you,” Ares said to the man wearing a hat-style helmet with a wide brim called a kettle hat.

“Aye, sir. I’ll be sure that the residents get there safe. And you can count on me for defense, too!” the man said, bowing his head.

The kettle-hat man was named Dir. He was a mercenary, hired by Loggervian aristocrats, who had served as an intermediary between Ares and the aristocrats and had helped out with gathering mercenaries.

The force of fifty or so sellswords had officially been gathered by Ares. His role in the upcoming fight was to go with the group headed out to call for reinforcements, but he had arranged to have a mercenary force under his name in order to be able to claim that he had helped with the defense of the battle as well. Money earned by the Hero’s party was only to be used for dealing with the demon lord, not for personal glory. However, Dir had approached Ares with such flattery and assembled more than fifty mercenaries without any payment.

Their efforts and accomplishments would be credited to Ares, and pleased by that fact, rather unlike himself, Ares went out of his way to offer encouragement to them, even going so far as to cast some modest support spells and the like on them.

“But to cross the bewitching woods and solicit reinforcements, I’m in awe of your bravery, sir.”

“Thanks to you, we were able to gather information necessary for the trip. Just between us, Gideon was the one who came up with this plan. He has a fondness for gambles with low chances of success, so I always have to follow behind to clean up after him.”

Ares had asked Dir about any dangers lurking within the bewitching woods that had made the rounds among the nobles. How much faith could actually be put into the rumors passed around by wealthy men who had never ventured farther than their own estates, though? For Dir, the truth didn’t matter. As long as his reports sounded believable, it was fine.

“I thank you for your faith in me, sir. And the decisiveness to act on it is to be expected of the great Sage.”

Ares happily accepted the praise, more pleased than he had ever been. Dir’s face was hidden in the shadow of the kettle hat as he lowered his head, careful that neither Gideon nor Rit could see it.

If they could have seen his face, they might’ve recognized the man glaring sidelong at Rit as the fire mage the blond princess had run out of that town.

“Haaaaah.” Rit sighed.

In the bewitching woods, the voices of the spirits she should have been able to sense because of her Spirit Scout blessing could not reach her. The illusionary magic confused even them. Partly because of that, Rit could not even tell whether their group was actually advancing through the woods. Her sense of direction and the passage of time seemed to have vanished. All the young woman could do was suffer, stewing in her unease and impatience.

And…

Glancing over, she saw the beautiful high elf chatting intimately with Gideon. Her chest tightened at the sight. She felt stupid for having spent so much time with him in Loggervia.

Gideon was one of the Hero’s comrades. He was a true hero, who would lend a helping hand to anyone in need. Of course, the young man tried to encourage her when she was depressed, and of course, he would do his best to save the princess’s home.

How long had it been since she had stopped being able to look him in the eye? When she spoke with Gideon, she’d often end up smiling or blushing. To hide it, Rit had taken to covering her mouth with a bandanna. Something about it was just so embarrassing. To hide the feeling, she began speaking more harshly.

Just yesterday, when they had been talking about Loggervia, the topic had shifted to how Gideon would have run the country, and even though they had just been making idle conversation at first, she ended up yelling at him, saying “It’s not like I want you to stay behind in Loggervia! Don’t get the wrong idea!”

Gideon looked flabbergasted after that outburst, and Rit regretted it from the moment the words crossed her lips. She had not meant it to be like that, but for some reason, she’d lost the ability to have a proper conversation with Gideon. She’d averted her eyes from him, her face red.

“…”

And in avoiding him, she met the gaze of Ruti, who stared coolly at Rit. The princess had buried herself in her sleeping bag to escape and closed her eyes.

The next day, she had intended to apologize to him, but for some reason, he was smiling at her warmly, and the young adventurer felt she’d missed her chance to broach the topic.

She’d been like that ever since they had set out. Compared to Yarandrala, who was walking beside Gideon and chatted so easily with him, or Ruti, who, despite her expressionless demeanor, still managed to demonstrate a deep affection for Gideon in everything she did, Rit was just spinning her wheels.

“What am I doing?”

Struck by a sense of self-loathing, Rit hung her head as she walked at the tail end of the party. According to Yarandrala, they would exit the forest tomorrow. Rit had subconsciously complained about how everything looked the same a few times, but Gideon had tried to cheer her up.

Did I ever properly thank him after that?

Rit was feeling increasingly depressed.

“Hey.”

“Hmm? Oh, Yarandrala. What is it?”

At some point, the elf had started walking next to her. The woman was bent over, peering at Rit’s face, which was focused on her feet.

“I asked a white birch tree, and apparently, there’s a river a little past here,” Yarandrala said. She tugged at Rit’s clothes. “Your clothes and body are dirty, so why don’t we take a break and go bathe?”

“Huh? Bathe?”

“It’ll help pick you up. It’s a high elf proverb that cleanliness fulfills the body and mind while evil breeds in impurity.”

Rit was the princess of a royal family, so she considered herself someone who kept herself fairly clean, but Yarandrala was on another level. Gideon and the others would diligently set up camp and make sure not to start any fires because it’d upset the plants of the bewitching woods, despite causing their party more difficulty. Yarandrala, however, would shamelessly use a full bucket of water to rinse herself. Rit could not help but admire it. Even she could not bring herself to do that much, so instead, she helped Gideon and the rest of the party. But it was apparently just part of high elf culture to be finicky about cleanliness. Their values were a little different from humans’.

“But—”

“We’re going to go ask for reinforcements after this. You looking like that won’t be doing us any favors. Let’s go. Hey, Gideon! We’re going to go wash up a bit, so you all should take a break.”

“Eh? I didn’t say I was going…”

But when Gideon glanced over at them:

“Yeah, I suppose it’s about time for a break,” he said with a nod.

“Are you really going to indulge Yarandrala again?!” Ares groused indignantly.

But Gideon just patted the other man’s shoulder.

“It’s fine, isn’t it? And we promised to follow her instructions while we were in the bewitching woods, didn’t we?”

“Your softness is the reason that…!”

Gideon was taking the blame for the high elf. When Rit realized this and was about to speak up, Yarandrala just gently shook her head.

“It will be fine. Just leave it to Gideon and let’s go.”

“But.”

Looking over to the young man, he just waved his hand, gesturing for Rit to not worry about it and go ahead. He had a wry smile, as if he felt bad for having made the blond princess worry about him at all. Seeing his expression, giddiness rocked her mind. She could not really understand it herself, but a strong urge to hug Gideon washed over her. If Yarandrala had not taken her by the hand, she might actually have run over and embraced him.

The river was a small one. At its deepest point, it barely came up to the waist.

Because it was in a forest entirely untouched by humans, though, the water was totally clear and clean. So clear that Rit was hesitant to submerge her dirty body in it. Yarandrala, however, seemed unperturbed as she immersed her beautiful, naked figure in the river.

“Come in, Rit. It’s cool and feels lovely.”

“This isn’t the season for that.”

It was currently autumn. Beneath the forest trees, the climate was strangely warm, to the point that Rit had worked up a sweat after walking for an entire day, but it still wasn’t really temperate enough to be playing in a river.

Rit sat down on the riverbank and dipped her feet in its clear water.

“Cold!”

The young woman reflexively pulled her feet back. Then she gradually lowered her legs, enjoying the comfortable coolness as she slowly grew acclimated.

In the end, Rit also stripped and entered the river.

“Phew.”

It was cold. There was a calm voice in the back of Rit’s mind asking how exactly they were going to warm up after getting out of the water in the bewitching woods where they couldn’t build a campfire, but her desire to cool her head was stronger.

“Hey, Rit.”

Yarandrala seemed to be freely enjoying herself, swimming uninhibited. Rit had been idly wondering whether high elves were naturally more resistant to cold than humans.

“You like Gideon, don’t you?”

“Huh?” Rit suddenly snapped back from her daydreaming. “Wh-why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“If you could see yourself, you’d know,” Yarandrala said, breaking into a laugh.

Rit’s face turned red, and she submerged herself under the water.

Yarandrala swam over to Rit.

“You’re a wonderful person, and Gideon’s pretty taken by you, too.”

“…Really?”

“But you should probably work on your habit of getting angry when you’re embarrassed.”

“Ugh…yeah…,” Rit said, mortified.

Whenever Rit got harsher with Gideon, it was generally because it had become obvious she was embarrassed.

“If you’re going to try to hide the embarrassment, then just go all out with the affection and play it up a bit. If you’re going to get so flustered, at least say something worth getting embarrassed over first.”

“Even if you say that…it’s not like I can just flip a switch…”

“Really? I’m sure if you express your feelings straightforwardly, Gideon will respond to how you feel.”

“What about you, then? You seem to get along well with him… Do you have the same sort of feelings as me?”

“Me? You’ve got it wrong.”

“Really?”

Yarandrala was smiling, but to Rit, her expression conveyed a faint loneliness.

“High elves have a bit of a longer life span than humans. I wouldn’t end up loving a human like that. I’ve learned that the hard way. You could almost say the great tree in the capital is my true love now. I’m the Singer of the Trees, after all.”

“…”

“I might not look it, but I’m pretty old, you know? A high elf’s appearance doesn’t change much, so it can be hard to tell.”

“Y-yeah.”

“So to me, Gideon is more like a best friend, or a comrade in arms, or even the human I consider most trustworthy. But that isn’t love.” Having said that, Yarandrala wrapped Rit in a tight hug. She could feel the warmth of the high elf’s body. They may have both been women, but they were still both naked. Rit, with her human sense of values, could feel a shyness welling up in her. Yarandrala’s serious tone quickly dismissed the girl’s feelings, however.

“I want Gideon to be happy. He has always borne all the hard work for his comrades and will probably continue to do so, but I want him to live a bit more for himself. I want him to be able to enjoy a more standard, straightforward sort of happiness living with someone he loves.”

“Yarandrala…”

“I can’t share Gideon’s worries. None of them realize it, but Gideon’s strengths lie beyond things like blessings and skills. I can’t take his place.”

“Yeah, I understand. If he hadn’t said what he did…I don’t think I would be here now. Because he was there for me, I was able to reach a place where I could try to fight again.”

Rit understood the feelings Yarandrala held for Gideon. She felt the same way. It was a deep affection, the sort of feeling one might bear for a precious friend or a sibling. A respect for someone, simply wishing the best for them.

“Gideon is strong. But he isn’t invincible. He can be hurt by heartless words, and when he’s sad, he cries like anyone else would. Everyone has taken it for granted that they can rely on Gideon, but I think if things continue the way they have, there will be problems.”

Rit could not respond. To her, Gideon seemed an even more perfect person than the Hero. On an intellectual level, she could understand what Yarandrala was saying, but it was not really something she could visualize.

But I want to understand.

All she had seen so far was Gideon’s strength, the heroic man who always came to save Rit when she was suffering, but that was not all there was to him. He was human, just like her. Their blessings were different, but he was a man who could be hurt just as easily as anyone else.

Yarandrala smiled sweetly at the blond girl’s expression.

“I think you and Gideon just might be able to make it work, and you might be able to do more than simply depend on him. You could help support him, too.”

“Me…? But I’ve only ever been supported by him.”

“That’s fine. Because in the end, you really love him.”

“…Yeah, I do. I love him.”

“Then it will be fine. When Gideon’s suffering, he’ll lean on you.”

Yarandrala seemed sure of this. Rit was surprised the elf held that sort of opinion of her. It was a bit embarrassing, but the princess also felt much closer to Yarandrala, who cared so much for Gideon.

From Rit’s perspective, everywhere in the bewitching woods looked the same. No matter how much they walked, it never felt like they were making any progress. It was just day after day of torturous changelessness. However, that finally came to an end, and they made it out of the forest that was said to swallow up all who dared enter.

And what should have greeted them was hope, the lands of the Duchy of Sunland, famed for its bazaars.

The bright vista they should have seen, though, was instead being trampled by a dark horde of orcs.

“Why…?”

Rit sat on the ground, shocked.

The party was hiding in the shade of the trees as they peered out at the scene. The road a short distance beyond the underbrush was filled with horses clad in riveted leather armor. It was a battalion of orc hussars. They were patrolling in shifts, executing careful rounds so as not to miss anyone coming out of the woods.

The party’s gambit was dependent on the demon lord’s army’s belief that the bewitching woods were impassable. It was for that reason that Gideon and Rit had limited the number of people who knew the whole plan to the bare minimum. They had only told the nobles that they would use the abilities of the Hero, a sage, a guide, and Rit to break through the enemy encampment without being noticed.

Gideon had not even scouted the bewitching woods because he did not want it getting out that he’d been in the area. He had merely trusted Yarandrala’s word when she said she could make it through the forest and had made no effort at all to corroborate that. He had said as much to Ruti and Ares, explaining why, but…to Ares the Sage, entrusting his life in an unknown place to the word of a comrade he did not know that well was unacceptable. He had subsequently leaked details to the mercenary, Dir, in order to further research the woods.

Rit was in utter despair, and Ares was speechless. Gideon merely faced the reality of the situation. Internally, he wanted to rampage, to scream and shout, but it was not as if doing that would improve their situation. The young man had trained himself in that sort of emotional control.

Besides, having heard Ares talk so much about the bewitching woods during the trip, it was not as if he hadn’t considered that something like this might happen. To the extent he had envisioned this possibility, Gideon could have been said to be as calm and collected as Ruti. The Hero herself stood beside her brother and observed the fiendish forces placidly.

“Big Brother, what should we do?” Ruti asked.

There was no fear or panic in her voice. As the Hero, despair was something to move beyond, not to be overwhelmed by. Reassured by his younger sister’s tone, Gideon studied the orc hussar troops with the keen eye of a hawk.

“Their forces there are a bit thin. If we were going to break through, that would be the place.”

“Yes, I agree. But it would be hard as we are now.”

If they were leading a force of one hundred, they would undoubtedly be able to breach the enemy lines. Orc hussars made up the core of the demon lord’s army, but they were not well trained and were well-known for retreating when their enemy had the upper hand. Their strength was in flanking attacks and wide-range pillaging, things that took advantage of their mobility.

Indeed, because they were so quick to retreat, they could continue ransacking elsewhere without being wiped out, which made them difficult to deal with. No experienced knights of any country on the continent of Avalon would lose to such creatures in battle. However, because the knights wore heavy armor, they could not catch up to the hussars and truly rout them.

In this situation, all the party needed to do was get past them. It was a much simpler task than wiping them out.

But there were only five of them.

Just five people. Before their meager group was a force of at least two thousand. They would have to defeat several hundred orcs with nothing more than their own power. All while continuing to run. Every one of the five of them had a strength that would never lose in a one-on-one battle. Even against dozens of hussars, none of them would fall. If the five worked together, they could probably even vanquish a hundred, but that was their limit.

There were just too many.

They were each heroes who might one day be so overwhelmingly powerful as to be able to face those sorts of odds, but at that moment, they were still at a level that the five of them together could not match a force of such strength.

“All right, here’s my idea,” Gideon said, steeling his resolve. “I’ll draw away the enemy. Ruti and Rit, while that’s happening, I want you to try to break through their line.”

The blond princess had still been feeling down, but suddenly looking up at Gideon’s face, the young woman appeared as if she was about to cry.

Rit was on a drake borrowed from Sunland and riding hard. Her usual willful attitude was nowhere to be seen.

A bit of a silver lining to the terrible situation in which they had found themselves was that Sunland had been wary of the demon lord forces deployed along the edge of the bewitching woods and had sent their own army along the border. Having broken through the enemy’s line, Ruti, Rit, and Ares met up with the Sunland army. The three had requested aid on the spot from Prince Blaze, the commanding officer in the field, and then moved back across the border with a force of Sunland drake knights.

Altogether, there were five hundred of the fearsome soldiers. Both riders and steeds were heavily armored. Following behind was a compliment of two thousand infantrymen, but it had already been more than an hour since Gideon and Yarandrala had drawn the enemy’s attention to create an opening for Ruti and Rit’s group. Waiting for the infantrymen to catch up would’ve taken too long.

“I beg of you, Almighty Demis and Larael, guardian of hope, please watch over Gideon. Victy, guardian of martyrs, please don’t take Gideon away,” Rit prayed as she spurred her drake on.

The force they had secured would surely be enough to save Loggervia. That alone should’ve been enough for Rit to rejoice. But in that moment, Rit forgot all about her home country and prayed only that Gideon still lived.

Faced with five hundred drake knights charging in formation with spears at the ready, the orcs were swept up in a moment’s fearful stir, but upon seeing Ruti and Rit riding at the head of the force, the monsters started jeering loudly.

“Look! The cowardly Hero came back to give us another feather in our cap!” The orcs believed they had just cornered the Hero’s party. It was true that Ruti had cut down countless orcs who stood before her in order to pass through their lines. It was also true, though, that the Hero’s party had desperately fled to escape the onslaught of sabers that had borne down on them like a storm. The wounds had only been minor, but the orcs’ blades had cut their flesh and drank of their blood.

“We’ve got more soldiers! Surround and crush ’em!”

Using their superior mobility to flank the enemy was the standard maneuver for the hussars. Drake knights would normally be forced to perform a series of hit-and-run-style clashes when facing an enemy that outnumbered them four to one. But in terms of mobility, the orcs—with their lighter armor—were much more agile. The fiends should’ve been able to take care of the knights and head home with another achievement to boast of before the distant infantry ever arrived.

Rit knew this, of course. She had raced there driven by her concern for Gideon, but she could feel a sense of dread as she saw the dull flashes of the orcish weapons through the cloud of dust.

“Rit,” Ruti said as she rode alongside her.

“Wh-what?! I’m not scared!”

Ruti was expressionless as she quietly looked at her flustered blond companion.

“Disperse.”

“Eh?”

Ruti suddenly raised her left hand. It was the signal to break away. The knights’ commanding officer responded immediately, sounding a bugle. The next instant, the orc forces unleashed a hail of arrows.

“Don’t worry, orc hussar bows are diversionary. They’re only fired randomly, so they aren’t a threat as long as none of us are too bunched up.”

Readying their swords, Ruti and Rit cut down any arrows that came their way. They could hear the sound of the metal arrowheads glinting off armor behind them. There were a few cries of pain, but because the knights had properly distanced themselves, the damage they suffered was minimal.

“But at this rate—!”

Their scattering also reduced the strength of their charge. For a cavalry charge, it was best to maintain a dense formation while breaching at a single point in the enemy’s formation. A dispersed charge was devoid of any impact or force.

Doubt reared its head in the back of Rit’s mind, and she wondered whether it might not have been better to accept a few more losses in order to maintain the formation. Ruti’s cool expression remained unchanged, however, as she held the Holy Demon Slayer aloft and urged her drake to run even faster.

“Wh—?! Wait! Charging alone?!”

Ruti moved faster and faster atop her mount. Rit could only assume she must have had some kind of riding skill. The princess turned adventurer tried to keep up, but it was a rate of acceleration she could not match. The lone Hero reached the army of two thousand hussars. Even with a blessing that had reached a level that one could truly call heroic, Ruti needed everything she could muster just to protect herself. At first, Rit assumed it would be a repeat of when she and the Hero had been surrounded by the foul creatures, desperately trying to escape their ranks.

The thought was quickly proven wrong, though, as orcs and their horses suddenly went flying through the air.

“Huh?”

A single swing of Ruti’s sword sent five of the hussars flying. Every orc sailing through the air had been cut in half, armor and all. Masses of flesh thudded to the ground. Some of the felled monsters’ comrades were knocked down by the corpses or else bucked off their steeds panicked at the gruesome sight before them.

Ruti swung her sword again and again. Every swipe of her blade sent large groups of orcs into the air.

“Wh-wha—? B-bastard! When did you learn to do that?!” one of the orcs screamed, his ferocious face twisted in terror.

“I couldn’t make a scene before. I’m serious now.”

With the plan for Gideon and Yarandrala to lure the enemy away, Ruti could not afford to fight seriously. Had she stood out, it would’ve just drawn the orcs after her, rendering the risk those two had taken meaningless. It would have compromised the entire plan.

Three orcs, including the commander of the hussar forces, roared and charged, though they were obviously frightened. However, Ruti just swung her blade at them head-on. The sabers of the orcs were infamous for the swathe of destruction they’d cut across Avalon. Yet they shattered easily, and the bodies of their bearers were left twisted, collapsing to the ground, still clutching the hilts of their severed swords.

One after another, the orcs fell. Even as the drake knights approached, the orcs could not take their eyes off Ruti as she flicked her blade to remove the blood splattered on it. They were unable to look away; they dared not, because the Hero was terrifying. If a man-eating dragon were right next to you, would you really be able to take your eyes off it? Even as the monsters were about to be run through by the spears of the knights, compared to that terrifying Hero, spears were…

The force of the hussars began to weaken. Rit and the Sunland knights finally arrived and charged toward their enemy. The orcs could not even put up a proper resistance, instead collapsing in the face of Rit’s swords and the knights’ spears. The spirit scout adroitly slashed two orc hussars who rushed her, easily knocking them to the ground. The orc sabers that had seemed so menacing when she’d been fleeing now felt like a scant showing.

“So this is the strength of the Hero…”

Before Rit even realized it, the knights were roaring victoriously, even though they had only just seized control of the first contact. The orcs were already on the verge of a full retreat, and some had even started to run. The rout was just a matter of time.

The key to victory in a battle pitting five hundred versus two thousand had been the lone Hero. The way she had cut into the enemies head-on and her immense martial prowess and charisma caused the enemy to cower and her allies to forget their fear. That was the war fought by the Hero, Ruti.

But Ruti did not even exalt in the victorious cheers of her allies. She just continued fighting detachedly.

“Yo.”

In the middle of the battlefield, Yarandrala and Gideon stood battered and bruised but still alive. Gideon continued to look fairly hardy thanks to his Immunity to Fatigue, but Yarandrala appeared exhausted. Her neat high elf face betrayed her overexertion.

After the two of them had pulled off the feint, they had apparently kept the ruse and continued running. They must have stolen some orc horses partway through, too, because there were two mounts that looked quite unhappy snorting next to them.

“I’m only still alive because Yarandrala came with me.”

“Me, too. If it wasn’t for Gideon, there’s no way I would have made it.”

They grinned at each other. Their wounds had already been taken care of by healing magic, but their armor was covered in scratches, proof that the two of them had suffered a number of wounds and continued fighting regardless. Gideon’s trusted sword, Thunderwaker, was still covered in a thick coating of orc blood.

“Y-you idiot…”

Elated, Rit was about to rush to them, but…a smaller-framed girl cut in even faster from the side.

“Big Brother.” Ruti gently touched Gideon’s face with both hands. “I’m sorry. There wasn’t any other way. Never again.”

“It’s fine. As you can see, Yarandrala and I are safe.”

“Never again,” Ruti said with quiet, firm determination.

Ruti was usually so calm, never showing emotion. There had been no exaltation, pity, or even hatred as she killed the orcs, yet now she showed a powerful affection for Gideon, even though her expression did not change.

Neither Rit nor Yarandrala could bring themselves to say anything.

When Gideon had said he would face the orcs himself and lure them away, Rit had been against it, of course. Ares had criticized it as rash, too, but Ruti had reined them in.

“Trust him.”

“B-but.”

“Yarandrala, I want you to go with him.”

“Got it. Leave it to me.”

“Wait, Ruti! I can’t accept that…”

“I’m giving orders to my comrades. I don’t need your consent,” Ruti said as she looked Rit in the eye. The Hero did not glare; it was her default expression.

“Ah, uh…”

But Rit had been unable to say anything under the pressure of that gaze. Gideon patted Rit’s shoulder as she recoiled.

“It’s fine. I don’t try to do things I can’t do.”

Despite the fact that he was the one doing the most dangerous job there, he had gone out of his way to reassure Rit. At the time, in her heart, Rit had been enraged at the thought that the Hero would sacrifice her own brother for the sake of some supposed justice, but she realized now that she had misunderstood.

Seeing the two of them holding each other like that, Rit could not hide her shock.

I never thought Ruti could look like that.

Ruti had actually been more concerned about Gideon than anyone, but there had still been no other way. Because he understood that, Gideon had volunteered to be the diversion. He didn’t want Ruti to have to be the one to suggest sending her brother to near-certain death.

“It must be nice,” Rit muttered to herself as she looked up at the sky a short distance from the two of them.

In the end, Rit did not join the Hero’s party. Gideon seemed disappointed. To the princess, Ruti looked relieved.

Part of the reason she had stayed behind was to help oversee the restoration of Loggervia, but even more so, she had felt it wrong to come between Ruti and Gideon. At least for now. Gideon was still too important to his younger sister.

After the man she loved left, Rit cried by herself for a little while.

“Tch!”

With his things hastily gathered in a bag, Dir the Fire Mage fled Loggervia looking annoyed.

He had betrayed humanity and sided with the demon lord’s army for the promise of money. Realizing the situation had turned against him, he immediately moved out. The man had gotten into the castle under the auspices of the head of the royal guard, Gaius—the transformed Shisandan—and knew he would get caught quickly as soon as the war was over. It was the right time to leave.

“Don’t you dare forget this, Rit. I’m a vengeful man. Someday, when you’re happiest, I’ll appear and destroy everything you love.”

There was a hideous hatred in his sinister gaze as he spat on the road and then fled. He kept turning to look back, unable to let go.

Present day. Zoltan’s slums, Southmarsh.

Southmarsh was home to a conspicuously out of place manor. It was the residence of Bighawk, the number two man of the Thieves Guild. Feared for his brutal methods, the giant of a half-orc had migrated to Zoltan from lands beyond.

A thug known as Dir, who stood before Bighawk, had a menial smile plastered across his gaunt face. The vengeful fire mage readily bowed his head to Bighawk. Dir’s stance conveyed extreme obsequiousness toward one more powerful than him, but there was no hint of fear in his manner.

This is nothing compared to dealing with the demon lord’s army’s Asura demons.

Even after fleeing Loggervia, Dir had continued his life of infamy, working as a mercenary outlaw all around the continent. Along the way, he had been an informant for the demon lord’s forces as well. The result was that he’d burned all his bridges and had to flee to Zoltan and the frontier.

“Anyway, what I’d like you to do is take care of the Rit situation.”

“I’d be happy to do anything within the limits of my capabilities.”

“The Thieves Guild would rather Rit not retire from adventuring. Do you know why that is?”

“Ummm, because they don’t want to lose someone to hire for difficult jobs?”

“No.”

Bighawk slammed his tree trunk–like leg down on the floor with a thud. Dust fluttered down from the ceiling and sprinkled over Dir’s head. The fire mage felt an urge to brush it off but resisted.

“Cases we can’t handle ourselves, we can just get Albert’s party to take care of. The problem is if someone with interests opposed to our guild contracts Rit the hero.”

“Ah.”

“She’s this country’s wild card. Every group with any sort of power in the area would pay a steep price if she stood against them. When she gets involved in something, even the Thieves Guild just sucks it up and backs down.”

“So why not celebrate her retirement?”

“Because it’s not that simple. In the past, if there was a situation where we absolutely could not afford to have her stand against us, we could just send her an unrelated request to keep her far away from Zoltan while we took care of things. Now, though, she’s always going to be in town. What if she goes against us on a whim? It’s gonna be bad for business in ways you can’t begin to imagine.”

“I see.”

That was the point that really concerned Bighawk. The wild card they had been able to control to some extent had entirely slipped its leash. And if they tried to pull one of their tried-and-true assassinations, they would be targeting a genuine hero strong enough to have the upper hand in a brawl with the entire Thieves Guild. The Thieves Guild chief and every last one of the higher-ups all agreed that making a move on someone like that would be suicide.

“So we come to you, Dir. You seem to have some kind of dirt on the girl.”

“Or something, at least. It might not be enough to get her to do whatever I say, but it might be enough to at least get her to go back to adventuring or else to push her out of Zoltan,” Dir intimated with a sly grin.

It was no coincidence that this man had been summoned by Bighawk. He had been playing dumb before, but knowing that the Thieves Guild was struggling with what to do about Rit retiring, Dir had implied to a member of the organization that he knew something about her past.

“Huuuh. That’s quite intriguing. I’d like to hear a bit more, but…you don’t really plan on telling, right? Our group’s got no intention of taking a stance on Rit one way or the other.”

“H-huh?” Dir was flustered at the unexpected turn as he looked up at Bighawk’s face.

The half-orc avoided meeting his gaze, grabbing a walnut from a plate nearby and crushing its shell with his thick fingers before tossing the nut into his mouth. He chewed the walnut with an audible crunch. Dir was taken aback as he waited for Bighawk to explain.

“Basically, the gist of it is that I’d be quite happy if this problem just took care of itself.”

“!”

Dir nodded, understanding where Bighawk was going.

“And if that problem resolves itself, might I happen to get a nice little something?”

“You’d get nothing at all, since the Thieves Guild has nothing to do with this. Perhaps you might find yourself a nice job carrying baggage shortly afterward or something. Maybe those bags would be filled with money.”

So basically, instead of a reward, just “steal” that money. Catching Bighawk’s drift, Dir cackled.

“Understood. I’ll be taking my leave now, then,” he said.

“All right. Sorry for calling you out here. Hey, one of you show him out.”

Some rather unpleasant-looking men from the Thieves Guild showed Dir to the door with the utmost courtesy. A little parting gift, a bag of silver coins, had been slipped into his breast pocket.

“I’ve been rotting away in obscurity to the point of washing up in a piece-of-shit town like this, but looks like my luck’s finally about to change.”

I’m gonna get to smash Rit’s happy little life.

The thought of that made Dir want to cackle, but he forced himself to stay quiet.

Maybe it’s a bit premature, but I, Rizlet of Loggervia, am currently utterly happy.

I never would have dreamed I would get to live together with Gideon—no, Red—when I left Loggervia.

“Lunch is ready,” Red called.

“Okaaay.”

Hearing the voice from the kitchen, I hang the ON BREAK sign on the store’s door and headed to the living room. My stomach is already preparing to enjoy some more of Red’s delicious cooking.

“Today we’re having bacon gratin, a seafood soup, and some bread.”

The ingredients themselves are not particularly expensive or rare, but his cooking always looks and smells so delicious. Just seeing the grill marks on the bacon gratin is enough to pique my appetite, and the smell of the sea from the soup is irresistible.

“Thank you!”

First, I drink a bit of water to cleanse my palate. Then I take a spoonful of the gratin… Mmmm, the steam has such a delectable smell… Hmm, but it seems a bit hot; maybe starting with the soup was better? It would be a waste if I burned my mouth and couldn’t taste the food he made.

The soup has a bit of red fish meat and two shellfish in it. It also has some vegetables—cabbage and little green things. Herbs? The addition of those as a garnish to decorate the amber soup is just superb.

I blow on it a little to cool it, and then the taste of the sea fills my mouth as I hold it there for a moment. But it doesn’t have a fishy sort of flavor. Supposedly, boiling the seafood in an alcohol of some kind gets rid of that fishiness. Is this taste from the wine he used for the preparation?

I can’t wait; what about the bacon gratin?

The surface is fried to a golden brown, but the inside is pure white and soft. It gives off a rich steam. Thick-cut bacon, a generous helping of macaroni, and onions to go with it. Simple ingredients, but they’ve all been prepared carefully and properly seasoned. In other words…

“Delicious!”

Red smiles happily when I say that.

In the morning, Red had been preparing more medicine, but after lunch he sits at the counter with me. Neither of us is so busy as to need the extra help, so Red said I could take a break, but why would I want to spend less time with him?

“Eh-heh-heh.” I have to be careful; looking at him from the side, my mouth just sort slips into a slack smile.

Maybe noticing I was watching him, Red adjusts his clothes just a hair. He has a faded scar that runs from his neck down across his chest. He doesn’t normally mind it, but he must have felt a bit awkward when I looked at it. I don’t mind it at all, though. It’s honestly endearing. Proof of the life he’s lived.

It isn’t like I enjoy him seeing my scars, either, so I understand the feeling.

“Come on, don’t hide it.”

But I still want to look.

“H-hey.”

“It’s fine. It’s not the end of the world.”

Besides, seeing Red’s face blush in embarrassment is a cute side to him entirely different from his usually cool demeanor.

Today it’s my turn to deliver the fragrance bag to Zeff’s sauna.

Zoltan’s summers are as hot as ever. Though it’s technically already fall if you go by the calendar. Having grown up in the cool temperatures of Loggervia, part of the reason I chose Zoltan was to live someplace warmer, but I never would have thought it would be this hot.

Once I finish the delivery, I aimlessly walk in the direction of home.

“How can it still be this hot?”

The sun has dropped pretty low in the sky, but it’s still warm. I wipe the sweat on the back of my neck with my bandanna.

“So hot.”

All I can do is grumble about it, though.

“Missy,” someone calls out to me.

“What do you want?”

I’m already a bit fed up because of the heat, so an edge of annoyance creeps into my response. But it is what it is. Besides, I’m the uncouth princess who always sneaked out of the castle. While I might know proper etiquette, that doesn’t mean I like using it.

Turning around, squinting, I see the guy who called out to me looking a little surprised. He’s hunched over, his cheeks are sunken, and he has a dangerous sort of glint in his eyes. I have a vague sense that I’ve seen him somewhere before, but I can’t place him.

“Do I know you? You need something?”

“Ah, um, I’m a C-rank adventurer by the name of Dir. I had something I wanted to talk with you about.”

“Really? Then make it quick.”

“It’s not really something to discuss in public. Maybe we could head somewhere to relax and chat over a beer or two?”

“Not interested. See you.”

I have the feeling I’ve met him before somewhere, but the fact that I’ve forgotten means he couldn’t have been that important. I just ignore him and start leaving at a brisk pace.

“W-wait a minute!”

“I told you to make it quick.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? I know where you hail from.”

“It’s not like I was particularly hiding anything.”

“Not just that. I know your real name, too, Rizlet.”

“…Hmph.”

“Kh, no need to make such a scary face.”

This guy is getting unpleasant, and my ire flares a bit without me realizing.

A look of fear flashes across Dir’s face, and then, maybe annoyed at himself for being scared, he makes an arrogant show of spitting on the ground. I furrow my brow at his performance.

“So? Start talking.”

“You sure you want to have this conversation out here?”

“You heard me. It’s not like I was particularly hiding anything.”

“Ha-ha, that’s the one and only Rit the hero for you. A true princess does things head-on and in the open, unlike a guy who lives in the shadows, like me.” Seeing me reach for my shotel, Dir gets flustered again. “I came to give you a warning.”

“About?”

“Don’t be so standoffish. Try being a bit nicer, like you are with Red— Gh?!”

I draw my blade, slamming the hilt into his solar plexus. His face pales as he recoils and hunches over. The three people passing nearby glance our way, wondering what’s happening.

“I’m a former adventurer. I’m not so high-minded and polite as to laugh it off and forgive someone looking down on me. Got it?”

“Ugh…gh… Y-you asshole…”

“So warn me about what? If you aren’t going to talk, I’ll just leave.”

I feel like beating him down a bit more, but given that I work at an apothecary, maybe I should leave things as they are?

“W-wait a damn minute!”

“What now? If you’ve got something to say, then quit putting on stupid airs and just spit it out already. You could have saved yourself some pain that way.”

“I’ll tell Loggervia that you’re living with Red.”

Hmph, so that’s what this is about?

Seeing my quiet response, Dir smirks as he stands back up.

“Heh-heh, cutting loose when you’re far from home is all well and good, Princess, but you should realize the position you’re in.”

“…”

“Put simply, Princess Rizlet, I’d suggest you might want to either stop your little fling with Red and go back to adventuring or else head on home to Loggervia. Hasn’t the whole succession problem just about been resolved there now anyway? You’re around the age to be getting married off to some tubby old noble, right? ‘For the prosperity of both our houses’ and all, eh? So sad. But that’s the role of a princess, isn’t it? I guess it can’t be helped. We can’t have the princess becoming damaged goods at the hands of some no-name, backwater apothecary, after all.”

Perhaps a little mindful of the surroundings, Dir lowers his voice as he prattles. I just heave a disinterested sigh.

“Whoopsie. You’re probably better off not trying to take me out here. I’ve arranged for a letter to be sent to Loggervia immediately in the event that I die.”

The gaunt man mistook my sigh for a murderous impulse, I guess. He sure is getting all high-and-mighty talking about what the precautions he’s taken. Sheesh… This guy needs to get a grip already.

“Do as you please.”

“Huh?”

“Tell my father or whomever else you want,” I say before turning on my heel and walking away.

“O-oy! I’m not bluffing here! If Loggervia finds out, you might even get disowned! At best, you’re in an awkward position! A hero princess more popular than the prince—you can be sure there are tons of people who would love the chance to be rid of you…”

Man, he’s persistent. I decide to delay my return home just a little bit longer.

“You seem to misunderstand, so I’ll keep this short and simple. I couldn’t care less about my position as Loggervian royalty.”

“What?!”

“If it was for Red’s sake and to maintain this day-to-day life, I wouldn’t mind being disowned as both royalty and a hero. If we can just be Rit and Red in our apothecary, I don’t need fame or wealth or anything more than just that.”

“Y-you’re lying! There’s no way your blessing could be satisfied with such an unremarkable life!”

“My blessing? Probably not. But this is what I want.” I leave and don’t look back. Dir must have been dumbfounded; he didn’t say another word.

The Fire Mage blessing is one of the four main Mage blessings. Its special characteristic is that, in exchange for not being able to use water magic, the skill level required to activate fire magic is lower than for other mages. In addition to that, fire magics with high offensive output can be used at an earlier stage.

One particularly notable difference is that Fireball, which causes an explosion, is a lower-level spell rather than an Intermediate Magic spell as is normally the case. Fire mages are the most popular of the four Mage blessings because, in terms of pure power, they can punch above their level. They are so popular that it was said that even at level one, people with the Fire Mage blessing would not be turned down when trying to join a party.

That’s only while everyone’s levels are still low, though.

There are a wide variety of offensive spells within the flame magic school. However, that also means that a single kind of energy resistance spell could counter everything a fire mage brings to the table.

Dir the Fire Mage made it as an adventurer for five years. That fifth was the year he was kicked out of his first party. But Dir already understood the peculiarities of his blessing by that point. It granted him a strength that surpassed his level, as long as he faced opponents with a lower level than his own.

The people of this world had a distaste for fighting those not on par with them. Even when goblins attacked a village, it was thought that adventurers of a level similar to the goblins’ should be the ones to defeat them.

Blessings developed and grew by fighting and killing opponents who also had a blessing, but if the opponent had a lower blessing level, the efficiency of that growth dropped dramatically. The holy church taught everyone that this was an expression of Demis’s will, forbidding the exploitation of weaker people. In a world where good and bad people alike sensed the presence of Demis through their blessing, the holy church’s teachings were treated as fact.

But Dir trusted his own blessing over that dogma. He made a living as a mercenary outlaw who pillaged and robbed the weak. Seeing the low-level warriors who protected their small villages being burned to a crisp with no way of resisting evoked a feeling of satisfaction.

The impulses of the Fire Mage blessing led to enjoying seeing things burning in flames. Pillaging a village and then setting it on fire, with the villagers standing there in a daze. All of that triggered a joyous emotion that proved to Dir the correctness of the life he had chosen to live.

“Heh-heh-heh, make a fool of me, will you?”

He was unable to restrain the twitchy grin that crossed his face as he considered what he’d do next.

Dir stood in the shade of the building that neighbored Red & Rit’s Apothecary. He had just placed some dried kindling and a vase of oil at the foot of the structure. What for? Arson, of course.

“Ahhh, I’m gonna burn that insolent bitch’s happy life to the ground. All because she made a fool of me. Heh-heh!”

Dir had used Shadow Hide, a concealment magic, before starting the preparations for his revenge.

People killed in a fire set like that would not count toward leveling up his blessing, but Dir had successfully killed a knight far more powerful than him using this method in the past. Four other innocent bystanders who’d happened to be staying at the targeted lodge that day had been killed in the blaze, too, but that was a trivial matter to him.

Unfortunately for the would-be arsonist, the person with whom he was dealing this day was not someone who could be fooled by a cloaking spell of that level.

“Hey,” I called out to the man about to set fire to my shop.

“Eep?!”

What an irrational guy, just straight-up trying to start a fire like that. I figured someone might try something like this over the thing with Rit but hadn’t expected it to go this far.

“If you don’t want to get hurt, then don’t do anything stupid. Attempted arson’s not as serious a crime as going through with it.”

Arson was a gravely serious offense. All the more so in the working-class part of Zoltan with so many wooden homes. Even attempted arson would merit a pretty stiff sentence, but actual arson meant death, so it didn’t take much to appear light in comparison.

The man in front of me looked around restlessly but smirked when he realized I was alone.

“I heard about you from Ares. You didn’t have any real skills and were only in the Hero’s party because you were her big brother,” he said as he readied himself.

“If you want to have at it, then fine. I’m honestly ticked at you, too.”

“Heh-heh, so you remember me?”

“Yeah, you caused more than a few problems in Loggervia.”

I knew this man. We had some unfinished business.

I had guessed that the reason Yarandrala and I ended up in the situation with the orcs was because of him getting information out of Ares, but he’d run away before we could know for sure. However, more importantly… Well, it might’ve been a bit late, but I was still annoyed by the way he’d made a pass at Rit in that bar. He’d put his hand on her shoulder.

I drew my bronze sword and took a step forward. Dir had a Fire Mage blessing. People with Mage blessings tended to have trouble in one-on-ones at close range, but Dir still seemed pretty confident.

When I took another step, Dir’s stance faltered slightly. The moon hung at his back.

“It’s been awhile since someone was that cautious of me in a fight.”

It was almost nostalgic; I’d been getting by as D-rank adventurer here in Zoltan. Honestly, I thought I’d never be in a position like this again.

While I was busy awkwardly getting all emotional in the middle of a fight, a nervous smile crossed Dir’s face. When I took a third step, Dir’s face twisted into a broad smirk.

“Do it now!” Dir shouted, raising his left arm high.

He was looking toward a watchtower that stood in the distance. It would be a great place for a sniper with a bow or crossbow. Yet…nothing happened.

“Huh? Hey! What are you doing?! Shoot already!”

He kept raising his arm over and over, but there was no response.

“This makes it twice now,” I said.

Dir’s face paled.

“I-it can’t be? Not again!”

“The roles are somewhat reversed this time, though.”

The reason Rit wasn’t around was because she had guessed that Dir would try to get rid of us and had taken a detour to gather some information. While she was gathering intel, she’d heard there had been some two-bit thug adventurer asking around for someone with a Sniper blessing, and just like I had long before, she had preemptively taken care of the problem.

“Grr, damn you!”

Dir started to cast Fireball, but before he could, my sword pierced his shoulder.

“Gah?!”

I hadn’t hit a vital point, but it cut to the bone, the pain causing his spell to fail. Concentration was required to activate magic. This was why spells had a disadvantage at close range. Mages could not exhibit their true value without someone there to defend them.

“Ugh! Kh!”

I held my sword pointed at his brow as he recoiled in pain. The vile man toppled back onto the ground. I lowered the blade of my sword to keep it pointed over his head. I only needed the slightest movement to pierce his forehead. It was my win. There was nothing else he could do. Just as I started to put some force into my right hand…

“W-wait!” Dir shouted in a panic. But his next words were not a surrender. “I-if you lay a hand on me, the Thieves Guild won’t take it lying down!”

“What?”

“Bighawk thinks you guys are bad for his business! If you kill me, you won’t be able to stay in this town!”

“…”

I slowly lowered my weapon.

“Is that so?” I murmured in a low voice.

Dir had committed a grievous mistake. But when he saw my quiet response, he broke out in a triumphant grin.

“Heh-heh-heh, either way, you won’t be able to stay here, though. Once you’ve made an enemy of the Thieves Guild, you can never sleep safe again.”

Dir slowly scooted back, still clutching the wound on his shoulder. Then, still acting as though he’d won, he ran away.

“Yeah, it isn’t a good idea to make an enemy of the Thieves Guild.”

My words never reached Dir as the cowardly fire mage escaped into the night.

I cleaned up the kindling and oil he had left behind. As expected of a fire mage, both were of high quality.

“I’ll help myself to the fuel, thanks.”

Since Zoltan was surrounded by wetlands, kindling was a bit on the expensive side. I happily reaped the spoils of war. There was something nostalgic about it.

Returning to the house, I put the wood to quick use and lit a fire to prepare a bath. A little while later, Rit returned.

“I’m back!”

“Welcome home.”

I met her at the door. For some reason, Rit froze up for a second, and her cheeks turned red.

“What is it?”

“No, it’s just, hearing you say ‘Welcome home’ made me feel really happy all of a sudden.”

Hearing her say something like that, there was no way I wouldn’t have gotten embarrassed, too.

“H-here, I’ll take your cloak, so change into something comfortable.”

“S-sure…”

We both smiled clumsily as Rit headed to the bedroom to change.

“Here you go.”

When she came back, I handed her a cup of hot milk.

“Thank you… Ah, this is delicious; there’s honey in it.”

“It’s a specialty of mine that I made a lot as a kid.”

“Coffee’s good, but sweet drinks are really nice, too.”

That satisfied smile Rit got after eating something delicious overtook her face. It was satisfying enough just watching her in that state. How long had it been since I started thinking about her when I prepared food?

“Something this delicious, I’m going to want to have it again tomorrow.”

“All right. I’ll make it again tomorrow—and whenever else you want it.”

“Hooray!” Rit cheered, looking pleased.

I was just as happy as she was. Making food for her was way more enjoyable than when I was only cooking for myself. That was probably exactly what I wanted out of a slow and easy life.