CH 38

In his previous life, the term ‘troublesome followers’ existed.

These are followers who admire their idols, but to an extreme degree which causes them to repeatedly engage in actions that are close to going out of control.

In most cases, they were labelled as ‘bad guys’ and often made fun of, but from their own perspective, those feelings were undoubtedly genuine.

“Hehehe, I finally got the Haishin-sama badge!”

She was a girl one could find anywhere.

She was carrying the Haishin-sama badge sold in the capital city, and she was thinking of buying any merchandise related to him as soon as it was available.

“I made a contribution to Haishin-sama today! It’d be not wrong to say that this life of mine is devoted to him, and I will continue to invest more and more to support him!”

The girl was giving off a slightly dangerous vibe.

It’s not that she’d commit a crime or anything like that, nor it’s wrong to think that by buying her own Haishin merchandise, she’s investing in him and able to support him.

“Hey, although you’re giving so much as a donation already, what would you do if Haishin-sama found a girlfriend?”

“… Ah?”

A friend asked her what she would do if her beloved, Haishin-sama, had a girlfriend.

Haishin is a human being, and he will definitely have a girlfriend, start a family, have children, and live happily ever after, the friend said.

She heard that, but… there was no way in the world she would accept it.

“That’s impossible. Haishin-sama is our… mine alone. Even though I think about him so much, there’s no way he could have a lover. It’s impossible, absolutely impossible.”

She had supported him ever since she became a fan and even bought his merchandise. She was prepared to offer him more in the future and had that kind of determination, and that’s why she couldn’t even think of him having a girlfriend even as a joke.

Being a hardcore fan can sometimes make you a troublesome follower. Even now, there are quite a few troublesome people around Kanata, but it is true that there are many girls like her who are obsessed with him beyond the point of love.

Because he was an idol-like figure they would never meet, these women think of him as if he were a sacred being.

******

“You will form a group of four from here.”

Kanata and the other S-class members were in front of a temple-like structure a short distance from the royal capital.

Today was finally the day they would enter the dungeon like they were told.

The gate that welcomed them was truly a nest of demons. The commoner students who were with Kanata were trembling with fear.

“I-is it going to be alright…?”

“It’ll be alright… probably.”

“Besides, there are also adventurers… right?”

As the teacher said, there were some adventurers who were willing to help this time.

Each one of them seemed like a relatively high-rank adventurer. There were some with a charismatic atmosphere and some without. 

It seemed that there would be a hit or miss. 

Kanata sighed.

“Kanata-sama, shall we go together?”

It was also Alphana who approached Kanata, who was wondering who to go with.

Alphana stood by Kanata’s side, ignoring everyone around her, who looked at her and wondered why she was there.

Apparently, she wanted to be with Kanata, which Kanata understood very well.

“… Thank you, Alphana.”

“… No, it’s because I wanted to do it.”

After all, Alphana is a kind and wonderful woman—Kanata praised her in his heart.

Since they had to make a group of four, they would have needed two more, but since their team is a combination of Alphana, a saint, and Kanata, someone greatly valued by the teachers, it was decided that just the two were sufficient.

“Then it’s just the two of us ♪.”

“…”

Kanata’s heart beat heavily as he slightly blushed and averted her gaze while Alphana spoke to him that way.

Even though they have been friends for a long time, he couldn’t help but feel something when he saw her beautiful smile. Kanata tried to hide the fact that his face was getting hot.

“Well, I guess I’ll watch you guys then.”

Of course, the two of them together represent trust, but an intruder, an adventurer, would follow along.

The man who appeared before Kanata and Alphana was quite flamboyant, and the adventurer rank badge on his badge was silver… In other words, B-rank.

The rank system also exists for adventurers, and since there are only A- and S-ranks above B, it is no wonder they are quite highly valued.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

Aside from Kanata, Alphana also seemed completely uninterested, and her voice contained no inflection whatsoever.

Since this adventurer had just talked to the teacher, she would be treated with a proper understanding that Alphana was a saint… or so he thought.

“You’re cute, Alphana-chan. What are your hobbies?”

“…”

Kanata sighed, thinking, “So he’s the type of person to do this right after entering the dungeon.”

Since the purpose of the training was basically to go inside and fight demonic beasts, excessive contact from adventurers was supposed to be forbidden. Yet he treated Kanata as non-existent and only cared about Alphana.

“Isn’t it hard, being a saint and all? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“…”

Well, Alphana did not respond at all and was so thorough that it seemed as if she was not even aware of his existence, let alone his interest.

(… This guy seems to be wearing a lot of masks.)

That was something that Kanata sensed intuitively.

Somehow… It was just a feeling, but Kanata felt that the adventurer had a vibe of someone who pretends to be a good person and uses women for his own benefit, like a player he had seen in his past life.

“I’m the party leader, and I’m in trouble every day because people depend on me. But as a leader, I―”

“…”

Alphana seemed to be erasing his existence from her mind without a thought.

It was obvious. But even if the other person was a famous adventurer, Kanata had no intention of standing by and doing nothing.

He positioned himself to shield Alphana from the man and lined up firmly next to her.

“Kanata-sama ♪.”

“… Ou.”

Her composition changed from the blank expression of earlier to smiling, and the adventurer’s expression changed to one of being bothered.

This guy… named Chilian, an adventurer, finally said to Kanata.

“Hey, hey, I’m talking to her right now.”

‘So get out of the way,’ he said.

Kanata let out an understandable sigh at Chilian’s actions and replied as he would to a child in trouble.

“Weren’t you told that excessive contact with students is prohibited?”

“What does it matter?”

“…”

Kanata sighed even more heavily, “What’s wrong with you?”

Apparently, even though he was a renowned adventurer, when he was in the presence of a good woman, his true nature… No, he guessed this man was like that in the first place.

While he had his back to Alphana, a wolf-type monster jumped out on her out of nowhere.

Before Alphana could even raise her hand, Kanata quickly activated a low-grade magic spell, Fire, and shot it toward the monster.

There was a suitably loud sound on impact, and the magical beast evaporated without a scream.

“Let’s go, Alphana.”

“Yes.”

“…”

Even with lower-grade magic, the power released by a person with infinite magical power was tremendous, and Chilian stared at the place where the magical beast had been, stunned.

As they went further inside, it got darker, and naturally, Kanata put his hand on Alphana’s shoulder.

“… Ah.”

That might be an unnecessary concern, but it was an action taken because he wanted to protect Alphana.

Thinking it’s bad manners to touch a woman’s body without permission, Kanata quickly removed his hand.

“Kanata-sama, please keep it that way.”

“… Are you okay with it?”

“Yes. It makes me feel very safe.”

Apparently, it was all right.

He placed his hand on Alphana’s shoulder, and they continued to move forward together… but it seemed that Chilian was bothered by this.

When they came out to a slightly wider space, Kanata was pushed from behind by Chilian.

“Huh?”

“Kanata-sama!”

A trap got activated as Kanata got thrown out alone.

Numerous beings called skeletons with bone bodies appeared from the ground and tried to surround Kanata.

But at this point, an even more mysterious phenomenon occurred.

“… Eh?”

“Ara?”

Before they knew it, Kanata was back by Alphana’s side.

And conversely, Chilian was thrown in Kanata’s place.

“W-what the h**l is happening?!”

Then, of course, the skeletons’ target shifted to Chilian.

He fought back, pulling out the sword from his waist, but he got outnumbered overwhelmingly by the skeletons and couldn’t handle them at all.

Although his action was unforgivable, Kanata couldn’t just overlook it.

“… Why?”

Just as Kanata unleashed his magic on the skeleton horde, Alphana muttered behind him.

“… Kanata, why are you protecting the trash that tried to kill you?”

Of course, Kanata could not hear that whisper.

Alphana, who had a completely different atmosphere than before, whispered something that Kanata couldn’t understand and then returned to her usual self, helping Kanata.

Earlier, Alphana’s eyes were glowing light blue, just like the goddess Kanata had met before.