Chapter 24

I found out that the same information was sent to the guild as well.

The knights and guilds that received the information sent people to investigate and found out that the demons were acting in groups.

The number of demons found in the investigation was too small to be called a stampede, but it was a group that could easily destroy a nearby village.

We could determine that there would be no invasion of the royal capital, but the village would certainly be destroyed.

As expected, we couldn’t just ignore them and finish the investigation.

The knights and the guild formed a team to defeat the demons and go to the village’s rescue.

“It’s information from an A-rank adventurer, and I guess the Knights and the Guild couldn’t ignore it as expected. In addition, it seems that there was a horde of demons that almost developed into a stampede, so the information from Alexei was treated as quite useful.”

If the provider of this information had been a mere villager or a low-ranked C-rank adventurer, no one might have acted.

The guild and the knights are not charities.

There is a risk involved in making a move.

If we move people on a large scale, it will cost money and time.

If the information is a hoax, the loss will be great.

In that sense, the organization judges that if a person is as good as an A-rank adventurer, he or she is providing information based on solid achievements and experience.

In this world, there are no more than a hundred so-called A-rank adventurers.

An adventurer who rises to the rank of “A” must be able to survive the harshest of conditions and make accurate judgments.

Adventurers range from F, a rookie, to S, the highest level.

An ordinary adventurer is considered to be a D, and a good adventurer is considered to be a C. A B-rank adventurer is considered to be a top-ranking adventurer.

And the A-rank adventurers in question are superhumans and experts who can deal with national matters.

Therefore, the guild and the knights dispatched people to various places because they were informed by A-rank adventurers.

Also, as a side note, S-rank adventurers do not exist in this world…

It’s like a living legend, the ultimate destination for those who have stopped being human.

In the past, there were only five S-rank adventurers in the guild’s history of several hundred years.

And that’s a quiet story.

“Now that I understand the situation behind the scenes, I realize that Ares’ actions were strange in many ways.”

“Right. we were made to change the route,『 I feel like going this way today 』, but… in short, it was Ares’s plan.”

“That’s right. Probably, he deliberately went near the village that was being attacked by demons to make us hate him. Whenever he changed his route at will and came across a village being attacked, he could have noticed many things…”

“But I didn’t notice.”

Our feelings for Ares had robbed us of our ability to make calm judgments.

At any rate, even Sofia, who had the class of Sage, could not sense the discomfort of the situation because of her bad feelings toward Ares.

It was as if she had been manipulated by Ares’ intentions.

“Emotions are a tricky thing, aren’t they? It’s easy to lose one’s cool. In that sense, we fell right into Ares’ trap. He’s quite a guy.”

said Toka jokingly, but I couldn’t laugh back.

“But I still can’t forgive him.”

“…I see. You too?”

“So you’re like that too, huh?”

“Of course. I’m sure Sofia has some unresolved anger towards Ares.”

“Right, because… he…”

―――It means that he didn’t trust us.

“Who the hell do you think you are, taking all this on yourself?”

He did not want us to participate in the final battle against Demiurgos… so he made us hate him and leave him.

That means that he didn’t trust my power… or the power of the three of us.

“We’ve been traveling together for a long time, and we thought we were getting stronger together. It’s not as good as a hero’s class, and it’s not as versatile.”

Even so, a party is one in which each person plays his or her role and makes up for any shortcomings.

You can accomplish what you can’t do alone if you have friends.

And yet, that guy is…

They wouldn’t let us cooperate in the most important part.

“I’m not weak. Even Touka and Sofia were strong enough to be counted as forces to be reckoned with. And yet, he cut us off.”

“I took all the risks myself, he said. In short, to Ares, we were an object to be protected, not a partner to fight with on the battlefield.”

“Yes.”

When I learned this fact, I was overwhelmed with disappointment.

I had a very hard time with Ares’ thoughtfulness…

“Hey, Martina… what if we grow old, live out our lives, and meet Ares again in the afterlife?”

“Haha, that’s a long way from reality. But, right…”

“What if I die and I see Ares again?”

“First, I’m going to beat his face to a pulp.”

“Wow…”

Tohka gave me a look of surprise at my comment.

I’m going to beat up the person who went to death alone to save our lives! If I had said that, anyone would have reacted like Touka.

But I still want to beat him up as hard as I can, even if I can’t go as far as beating him up.

“Not only that, but I’ll be sure to thank you, just in case.”

“It’s almost as if it’s an afterthought. You don’t seem to have the heart for it.”

“No, it’s not. I’ll give a thank you with all the bitterness I can muster.”

“You are…”

Tohka looks at me with a dumbfounded expression.

I narrowed my eyes and smiled at the nostalgic exchange.

“And the last one is…”

“Yeah? What’s the last one?”

Yes. The last one. This is probably the most important part for me.

Even though we parted in that way, I realized this feeling afterward.

“I was thinking of confessing to him in the afterlife and reserving a slot for my lover in the next life.”

My cheeks were burning, and my voice was muffled at the end, but I told Touka.

“…………”

“P-please, say something!”

But Tohka looked puzzled, her mouth hanging open and her eyes blinking.

To be honest, I am aware that I am saying something embarrassing, so I would like to get a reaction from the other person if possible.

The silence stimulates my shame even more.

“N-no. It’s the first time I’ve seen you show such straightforward affection for someone. In addition, your statement that you are going to reserve a slot for your lover in the next life is…”

“I’m sorry, can you please stop now, or rather, forget what I just said!”

After a moment of silence, Touka’s comment made me feel hot all over.

If you think carefully, you will realize that it was an outrageous comment that even a most modern girl would not say, such as reserving a lover’s slot in the next life…

Ugh~, what am I saying~~~~?

I managed to suppress the urge to faint and roll around in agony.

If I do that here, I’ll be adding to my shame.

“Ahh, geez! I shouldn’t have said that!”

“Haha… Hmm, but you’re right. Martina said of him… But where did that come from? We trusted each other reasonably well at the beginning of the journey, but it was probably the worst part of the journey.”

“Yes. I’m surprised at that too. I hated that guy so much I wanted to kill him.”

“So you fell in love with him after he saved your life?”

“No. Probably not.”

I’m sure I liked him a long time ago… Even before he changed.

Even though he’s a hero, he still didn’t have the strength to fight when we first met, but he was given the power of the class by me, Touka, Sofia, and others, and gradually built up his skills.

At that time, he was a man who did not hesitate to use his power for the benefit of others.

He was not the kind of guy who would leave a person in trouble alone.

“When I first met him, he was definitely a brave man. He was straightforward, honest, and incredibly good-natured. I think I probably fell in love with that part of him.”

“I see.”

“Yes…”

I’m sure I was angry at Ares for changing and behaving so arrogantly, but somewhere deep inside, I was sad.

The fact that the man I recognized and even liked had turned out like that.

I think that’s why I couldn’t look at him as carefully as I should have.

“I mean, come on! What about you! What are you going to say to Ares when you see him in the afterlife?”

“Who, me? Well, I’m… that…”

Touka’s gaze swam at the sudden contradiction.

In addition to her staggering gesture, which was unusual for her, she had a hint of blush on her cheeks.

I could tell just from that.

“Haahh… It’s not that I hadn’t thought about the possibility, but you too? I mean, you were mad at him, weren’t you? Two years ago and now.”

“You’re the one who’s angry enough to want to beat him up… And yet you have feelings of love for him, isn’t that a contradiction?”

“It’s okay. This is not the same thing. I’m not going to forgive him for what he did if I hit him.”

“That’s absurd, my dear.”

“I understand that, too.”

But, as Touka said, emotions are a tricky thing to deal with.

There are superficial emotions that come out on the surface, and there are also emotions that lie deep down, that you are not even aware of.

And what’s more troublesome is that even contradictory emotions can coexist together, making them truly troublesome.

I’m currently feeling resentful that Ares didn’t trust me and was in love with him at the same time.

It’s really a mess.

So, in the afterlife, I have to make sure that Ares takes responsibility for making me feel this way.

“Hahh~, it’s going to be a mess in the afterlife for sure. You and me.”

“Even after I die, I’ll have to fight you face to face, and then there will be a woman’s fight… It’s a hard world.”

“That’s what happens when two people fall in love with one person.”

Well, even if such a fight were to start over there, I have no intention of losing.

I’ll take Ares for sure.

“Right… As long as it’s just me and you.”

“Eh?”

“Well, it could be all three of us, actually.”

I was annoyed by Touka’s words.

Because the third person would be that girl, no need to think about it.

“Ehh~…… No way Sofia’s coming in~……”

“But, I’m almost certain of it.”

Sofia is now the head librarian of the Library of Magic.

When she hinted that even she might become a rival for my love, I felt like holding my head for a moment.

“We’ve got a messy love life, don’t we?”

“Seriously.”

Despite this, we both gave each other a small smile.