A galnt beauty with long, bck hair. Kind but serious, and with a strong sense of duty. As soon as I heard her voice, I immediately recognized her. It’s the heroine! The protagonist from the game! I pyed as her! She’s followed by Abby, her healer childhood friend.

  I’m a bit confused, though… In the game, there’s an option to choose the gender of the protagonist. For some reason, I was under the impression that the protagonist would be the guy. Like, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard people talking about a hero…

  Oh… It’s all coming back now… She’s the heroine, but her official title is like the Hero of Humanity or something… Yeah… That’s how it was in the game, and I remember it being kinda confusing. Looks like that didn’t change.

  Either way, she sure is a cutie. Sometimes I feel like the protagonist of a story is not portrayed as a character that you’re supposed to like. At least not in the same way as the main girls. But personally, there are a couple protagonist characters that I really like. They have a certain unique energy exactly because they’re the protagonist that makes them really cute. I’d love to get along with her, so why does it look like we’re heading for a fight?

  “Wa- wait!” The heroine approached us with her weapon in hand. Carol and Sarasa were quick to draw theirs. By the time I turned around, tensions between us were already building up. “Lower your weapons.” I gestured for the two at my side. “We’re not bandits, and we’re definitely not working for any demons. There’s no reason for us to fight.”

  Carol and Sarasa did as I asked. “He- heroine Galene…” Sarasa gulped as she muttered the heroine’s canon name. Good to know no one changed her name. But why is Sarasa gulping?

  “That’s right! There’s no reason for us to fight!” Sarasa stepped forward with a high-pitch voice. She rubbed her hands together and forced a friendly smile on her face. “We’re not suspicious people. The great heroine wouldn’t hurt anyone innocent, right? We really don’t mean any harm. In fact, it’s an honor to meet you!”

  For some reason, Sarasa tried to suck up to her really hard. Seeing that made my face twist with a bit of disgust and anger. The way she’s acting is like she’s trying to get away with something… Are we actually in the wrong for being here? No way… Was there something she didn’t tell us? She’s the one who asked us to come with her. Sarasa, what have you done?!

  “Hmm…” Galene lowered her sword but kept her distance. She looked at the four of us before speaking. “If that’s the case, I want to know what you were doing here. Do you know where you are? What is your business so close to an abandoned pace? Were you trying to loot the pce?”

  “No… Just retrieving an artifact…” Sarasa hid behind me and nodded vigorously over my shoulder, confirming the story.

  “Retrieving an artifact… Bandits, then.” Galene raised her sword again. Panic returned.

  “No no no no no!” Sarasa stepped forward, waving wildly. “We’re not bandits cause we’re not doing this for profit! I’m an adventurer on a quest! We were asked to retrieve an artifact, and that’s what we did. Nothing else! No looting!”

  “That’s pretty suspicious… Who gave you a quest like that? You may not know, but that pace is an important pce. It’s not the kind of pce just about anyone is allowed to approach. Are you some kind of prestigious adventurer?” Galene didn’t back down. She could see us panic and was determined to uncover our lies.

  “Well…” Sarasa thought for a moment. “We took on the quest rather than directly receiving it from someone… I can’t really tell you who gave us the quest…”

  Wrong answer. Galene frowned at Sarasa’s response, but Abby, the girl behind her saved us. “*Gasp!* You’re Feather Touch Sarasa! I knew you seemed familiar!” Abby’s hat bounced backwards as she pointed at Sarasa in surprise.

  “Ehh? You heard of me? Nyahahahaha!” Sarasa puffed out her chest. “I wasn’t expecting someone from the hero’s party to recognize me… That’s right! That’s me! I’m kind of a big deal, so it’s totally fine for me to be here! Just leave the ‘Feather Touch’ part out. Makes me sound like a weakling.” She added at the end with a whisper.

  “You know her?” Galene asked the girl behind her.

  “Yeah… She’s a renowned adventurer known for her agility… But…” Abby remembered the rumors she heard about Sarasa and stopped to think.

  The sudden reveal of Sarasa’s true identity caused the other side to start gossiping, but our side was no different. “Is she bluffing? There’s no way that idiot could be a well-regarded adventurer…” Carol whispered to Ririna.

  “Ahahaha… Maybe idiocy is a respectable trait among adventurers… I’m not quite sure.” Sarasa could hear them quite clearly. She maintained a confident posture as she faced Galene, but her face was getting slightly red.

  “I see…” Galene answered Abby. “And who are the others? Do you know about her companions?”

  “Hmm…” Abby looked at us with a scrutinizing look. “Don’t know. Never heard of them.”

  Sarasa’s embarrassment immediately vanished, and she looked at us with a mocking grin. For the first time ever, I think I’ve understood the value of fame.

  “Well, that’s fine for now…” Galene sheathed her sword and took a few steps towards us. “I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I can’t just let the four of you go. We have business in the pace, and I’d like you to wait here for us. If you are as innocent as you cim to be, I want you to accompany us back to Ebrilyon and expin your situation there.”

  Galene approached me for an answer. Since I was the one who told them to put their weapons down, she may be thinking I’m the leader of our group. “Well… Sure… I guess we can wait…” I may be rushing things, but I really don’t want to be on her bad side.

  Before she could say anything else, the ground suddenly started shaking. “Hm!?” Galene’s hesitant smile instantly turned into hostility. She jumped back and reached for her sword again. “No way…”

  The shaking came from the direction of the pace, and in the next second, a beam of darkness destroyed it from the inside.

  “The seal is broken…” Galene muttered. “That was your doing, wasn’t it? I knew it! You’re working with the demons!”

  We turned back around, and Galene was ready for a fight. This is even worse than before! “Ehh?! Seal? What are you talking about?!”

  “Don’t py dumb. That pace was being used to seal a monster from a thousand years ago. A powerful monster that died in an unlucky encounter with the Violence Witch. He got revived years ter, then finally sealed.”

  Wait, a monster? Looking back at it, the beam of darkness was gone along with the pace. All that remained was a small figure in the middle. It was hard to see from this distance, but he looked like a headless suit of armor with a red cape and a big scythe. Bck fmes leaked from the gaps in his armor.

  “I- is it strong?” Galene still didn’t trust us, but at this point, her primary target was the monster that had appeared.

  “You have no idea!” Abby said in a panic. “That monster was revived after the previous hero’s death, and there was no one strong enough to defeat it! The demons screwed up the revival, and the monster turned into a creature that only knows how to mindlessly kill. If we don’t stop it here, it will head straight for Ebrilyon, Galene!”

  Was there a way to trigger this in the game? I had no idea there was a monster like this here. Is this our fault? Did we screw up that much?

  “You four get out of here. You’re too clueless to be the culprits, and I don’t have the time to deal with you.” Galene shook her head and walked past us, sword in hand. “Tell the people of Ebrilyon what happened here.”

  Abby followed Galene, and the two of them were ready to leave us. “Wait!” I reached for Galene’s shoulder. “Can you actually beat that thing?”

  Galene shook off my hand and turned her back to me. After a long dey, she answered. “I’m the Hero of Humanity. It’s my duty to keep people safe. No matter who I’m up against, I can’t lose.”

  Her response didn’t inspire any confidence, and even Abby seemed worried. “Can you do something about it, Iroha?” Ririna suddenly grabbed my arm. “I’m scared of what might happen if she fails… If that gets to Ebrilyon.”

  “Ehh? I don’t know if I can…” I can tell how powerful that thing is just by looking at it. Part of me immediately wants to get out of here. “Looks so strong that I’ll probably die if I make a single mistake.” I don’t think it’s impossible. He’s not as strong as the girl from the endless silver, but still, it’s a bad fight.

  The mood got gloomy as soon as I said that. Ririna and Carol both looked disappointed, while Sarasa quietly looked away. It is what it is. Well… “I think I can give it a try.” At least a small try. There are people I care about in Ebrilyon, and if this is our fault, I can’t just leave, can I?

  “If we work together, we might have a chance against him.” I wrapped up with that, and morale returned to our group.

  “No… It’s not possible. Even with the four of you, it won’t be enough.” Huh? Who said that? It wasn’t Galene or the sorceress, and it wasn’t any of the others.

  I looked around for the source of the mysterious voice, and the girls to stared me in confusion. Did they not hear it? What’s going on? It won’t be enough even with all of us? Really?

  Then I heard the voice again, coming from the sword at my waist. It was surprisingly carefree considering the negative forecast. “I’ll expin ter, but be careful. This is not a fight you can win by yourself.”

  “You… What the hell?!” I pulled out my sword and extended it right away. I wanted to scream at it and ask for expnation. But I was getting enough weird looks as is.

  “Iroha, what are you doing?” Carol probably thought I was going crazy and looked a bit worried.

  What’s going on? Why did my sword start talking to me? I wanted to know more, but… “It’s nothing. Actually, we may not be able to defeat that monster on our own. But I’ve got an idea.”

  I quickly caught up with the heroine and her companion and stopped them. “Galene, let’s work together. We’ll help you deal with that monster. You can’t quite beat it by yourselves, right? It’s the same for us, so let’s put our forces together.”

  “You want to fight with us…?” The rest of the girls caught up, and Galene looked at us. She seemed conflicted. It was true. With our combined strength, we might be able to defeat it. On the other hand… “No, thank you… I can’t fight alongside people I can’t trust.”

  “But you can’t defeat that thing by yourself, can you? I know you caught us at a bad moment, but I promise you we’re not bad people. Let’s work together, okay?”

  Galene hesitated again but eventually let out a sigh. “Fine… I can tell you’ve got some talent at least… Don’t get in our way, and don’t try anything funny. I still don’t believe you’re completely innocent.” I nodded, and we all headed in the direction of the monster.

  Sigh… Why did we have to meet like this? I really didn’t want to be on bad terms with her. This is awful! At least she still gave us a chance. We can earn her trust in battle.

  Bam100