“Samantha… wasn’t she the ‘Sand Dust Witch’?”
Having prepared our equipment, we were following Dolton’s instructions to meet the former magician. Apparently, we would be taught about the ways of an adventurer magician and her role with the “Rainbow Sword”…
“I wonder what kind of person she is?”
Samantha Samantha, a legendary adventurer who remained active until the age of one hundred despite being human… Well, judging by the fact that she uses her own name as a surname and makes her family use it, I’d say she’s quite a character. But when I asked Aria, she tilted her head, which was rare for her.
“…’Senile’?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Gaa…”
My involuntary question made me stop in my tracks, and the black cat phantom on Aria’s shoulder chimed in. I wonder if Kitty has met her before?
If she’s elderly, that might be the case, but Aria’s way of saying it sounds a bit different.
“Well, we’ll find out when we meet her.”
Apparently, Samantha is in the Dance Marquisate. It’s about a two-week carriage ride from the Royal Capital, but we’re walking there.
Walking, yes, walking. With our own two feet. There are many inhabited places on the way to the Dance Marquisate, so we can’t travel on Kitty.
If I could use my Divine Protection freely, I could use Spatial Transfer, but I don’t intend to raise my Dark Magic and Light Magic levels any further than they are now.
If I were to raise them, I’d rather spend my time and research on Ice Magic and Thunder Magic, and besides, “Light” and “Dark” suit Aria better.
“But, even if not a passenger carriage, wouldn’t it be better to hire a carriage?”
We have money, after all. Not mine, though.
“Snow should build up her stamina by walking.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
Well, whatever. I don’t dislike walking that much.
But, could you please stop preparing an amount of food that I can’t possibly finish every meal? I can tolerate the unique seasoning using strange herbs, but my stomach, which has only ever eaten what was necessary to survive, isn’t that big, you know?
“I see. Then I’ll try changing the ingredients.”
“I’d prefer it if you changed the cooking method, if possible.”
We were traveling while camping in the forests along the road. I thought the highlight of such a journey would be the meals, but from the very next meal, Aria prepared food that I couldn’t even tell if it was food, let alone what the ingredients were.
“…What is this?”
“Bee larvae with cheese and honey.”
It looks nutritious…
Aria hunted in the forest… or rather, she didn’t just take them, she killed all the large bees that could kill a person with just a few stings with a knife, and brought back the bee larvae in their nests, as well as the milky white liquid used to raise the queen bee.
She boiled it with Aria’s special herbs, mixed it with cheese, put it in a bowl, and then poured plenty of honey on top.
Is this cooking? Isn’t it alchemy? The ingredients are too strong for medicine, and the visual impact is too strong to eat as a snack.
Well, I’ll eat it, though…
“I’ve already told Dolton, but I’ll share the information with Snow as well.”
After somehow finishing the meal and having some herbal tea, Aria, who was on the opposite side of the bonfire, said this while stroking the phantom Kitty on her lap.
“Is it about work?”
“No, it’s just a rumor I heard from Elena, but I’d like to hear Snow’s opinion as well.”
A rumor. If the princess, who is a realist because of her dreamy brother, told Aria, and Aria is sharing it with Dolton, then it’s not just a rumor.
“It’s about the ‘Hero’.”
Hero… a courageous person. One who appears when despair visits the people and gives them courage.
A fairy tale that even children in this country know.
Most of them were stories about people being attacked by evil wizards or Evil Lords, and the Hero and Saint defeating them and living happily ever after.
However, the “Saint” who appeared in this country was just a strange woman, and the being called “Evil Lord” was actually just the king of an Evil Race Nation. The Evil Race themselves were enemies of the humans, but he alone didn’t have the power to destroy a country.
But, the Hero and the Saint aren’t just legends.
It wasn’t in the Lester family’s forbidden books, but it was written in the forbidden books I found in the Holy Church’s Temple. Of course, I read them without permission, but I’m glad I was able to take them out before burning down the Temple.
“Don’t tell me, you’re saying a Hero has appeared.”
“Apparently, that’s the ‘case’.”
“…Are you kidding me?”
According to the rumor that the princess told Aria, the “Hero” arrived by ship in the Mern National Federation, located in the north of the continent, several months ago.
“I see, it’s annoying that the credibility increases a little when you put it that way.”
“That’s how it is when you consider history.”
Originally, the white-skinned Mersenians like us didn’t live on this Searth Continent, and it’s said that we arrived by ship from another continent to the north, along with the Holy Church.
The Mern National Federation is a union of seven small countries, each of which claimed to be the first Mersenian nation established on this continent, so they never united after all. However, a great power established later began to gain power, and the countries reluctantly formed a union to counter it. That country is the Mern National Federation.
The fact that the Hero arrived there means that he came from that other continent.
Originally, the Mern National Federation seemed to have continued trading with that continent, so he may have come on one of those trading ships.
And, the Holy Church’s forbidden book stated this.
The Hero is chosen by the Spirits and saves the world when evil appears in the world.
The Saint is loved by the Spirits and saves the people when a crisis visits humanity.
This isn’t a legend or a fairy tale, but a fact recorded in the Holy Church’s history.
Since both are definitely crises, the Hero and the Saint are often chosen together, and they’re often depicted together in fairy tales.
Why is it a “forbidden book” and not available to the general public?
That’s because of the existence of the “enemy” that the Hero has fought.
It’s an existence that can’t be compared to the Evil Race King, an existence of the “Evil Lord” class… a legendary Evil Dragon, or a demon even higher than a Greater Demon. The “Hero” was chosen by the Spirits to counter them.
The Holy Church is hiding the fact that such a threat to humanity existed in the past. Perhaps they were spreading the fairy tales of the Saint and the Hero to dispel the people’s anxiety, centering on the Holy Church, in case a real threat appeared.
“But in the current situation, I don’t think there’s any ‘evil’ on this continent that would cause a Hero to appear?”
If there really is such an evil that could destroy a nation, I think there would already be signs of it. At the very least, if the Hero felt it on this continent and came over, it should have been at least a year ago, so wouldn’t it be caught in the Shadow Unit’s information network?
Aria narrowed her eyes as if she was stunned by my consideration, and for some reason, she stared at me intently.
“…That’s right.”
“Gaa…”
“What do you want to say?”
In the end, the matter of the Hero was put on hold… or rather, since it was unclear what he came to do, I could only say that I couldn’t understand even if I considered it. In the first place, the princess can’t move unless it involves the Kingdom of Claydale, and neither will Aria.
Well, it would be nice if he defeated something on his own and went home on his own. I’m not interested either.
“More importantly… that’s in the way.”
“Gaa.”
“Well, has Kitty completely become a ‘cat’ now?”
I couldn’t help but give a sidelong glance at Kitty, who was basically not leaving Aria’s shadow and yawning on Aria’s lap as a phantom.
Behind me, the bandits, two young women, who had underestimated us and attacked, had turned into ice statues with their weapons still in hand.
If it were fire, I could have erased them without a trace, but with thunder, the corpses wouldn’t be pretty, so I had no choice but to freeze them.
“Right?”
“Clean it up.”
I have no choice… I used the application of [Shadow Walker] to sink the ice statues into the shadows of the forest and threw them away somewhere out of sight.
And so, we continued our monotonous journey and arrived at the Dance Marquisate two weeks later… But, where does Samantha live, the person we’re here to see?
“I heard it’s in a suburban mansion in the Dance Marquis’s capital. I should have sent a letter in advance, so…”
Just as Aria was about to say that, we saw something raising a cloud of dust and approaching from beyond the road where we could see the town in the distance.
…Is it a monster?
“–Ice Lance–“
For now, I attacked without even confirming. Aria didn’t stop me either.
However, the several [Ice Lances] I fired were intercepted by the same number of [Ice Lances] fired from the dust cloud, and as if taking advantage of the gap, it jumped over us, and behind us, a small old woman appeared from the dust cloud.
“Welcome, young girls! I’m Samantha Samantha!! Who are you?!”
I see… so it’s a “blunder,” is it?
Sorry to keep you waiting, it’s Samantha.
Traveling with Snow and the others, who are capable of clearing Dungeons with just the three of us, really takes the edge off.