“That man… is the ‘Hero’?”
Aria muttered, gazing in the direction the man had disappeared.
It seems I was targeted as well, not just Aria… Well, whatever.
As I tried to walk towards Aria, my foot faltered slightly, and Aria instinctively supported me.
“Snow… you’re getting much better, but don’t push yourself.”
“Yes… you’re right.”
The Magic Stone that had been compressing my heart has shrunk, and there’s almost no problem with moving as a Magician, but even so, there’s still more pressure than a four-element Magician would feel.
“I’ll make some medicine for you later.”
“…Do I have to drink it?”
My body has improved considerably. Still, my body, which had been strained for over ten years, is in tatters, and I should be resting while taking medication for many years.
Well, Aria probably realized that it would be impossible for me to do that, and as a result, I’m being forced to drink that terribly bitter and smelly medicine… I wonder how much my grandmother’s health methods can heal my body.
…If it were the old me, I could have pushed myself because I was operating on the premise of dying, but now I can’t push myself that far.
The pain of death is just suffering, but the suffering of life is painful, so it’s troublesome.
If it were the me from back then…
I might have been able to kill even that Hero.
“Hey—! Aria! Snow!”
“Are you safe!?”
At that moment, I heard such voices, and I saw Jesha and Feld, the two warriors, who had gotten off the carriage, rushing over with their drawn weapons.
It wasn’t just Aria who came out because the battle had intensified… the elderly group is on standby, though.
“Let’s go back for now.”
“Yes, let’s…”
I returned to the carriage with Jesha’s escort and was resting while drinking tea when Aria and Feld, who had been investigating the aftermath of the battle, returned late, and Dolton, who had his arms crossed and a frown on his brow, opened his mouth.
“You guys, tell me what you saw.”
He commanded in a low voice as the leader of the “Rainbow Sword.” Should I speak first?
“Someone was being attacked. Probably an Assassin.”
I told them that since they had completely erased their characteristics while wearing the exact same equipment, I felt that they were an assassination squad from a noble or wealthy family, not the Assassin Guild.
“Yeah. Assassin Guild members are basically selfish, so I don’t think they would wear the same equipment.”
“If it’s a noble’s assassination squad, that characteristic wouldn’t be strange. Since they might usually change their faces, we couldn’t tell anything since they were dead.”
Aria, from the perspective of a former Assassin Guild member, confirmed the battle site. Feld affirmed it from the perspective of a former noble.
That Hero might have wanted to keep some of them alive and take them back, but it can’t be helped if they died.
“That man said he lured out the Assassins.”
“A high-ranked individual being attacked by a noble’s forces… and, as a result of getting caught up in the battle, he called us ‘Hero-class,’ so Snow and I believe that person is the ‘Hero.'”
“Besides, he was stronger than us.”
When I continued Aria’s words while drinking tea, the inside of the carriage became silent as if frozen for a moment.
“No way…”
I understand how Jesha feels. The Royal Capital was half-destroyed in our battle with Aria.
In terms of skill, he was almost on par with me at rank 6. Since he was also on par with Aria in swordsmanship, that person’s skill is at least level 6 in Magic and level 5 in close combat.
That’s just the minimum level, though.
“Snow, could you see that thing’s(・・) combat power?”
“…No. I couldn’t see it either.”
Not “person” or “man,” but already treated as “that thing.”
I didn’t have time to appraise him carefully, but with my and Aria’s levels, we should have been able to get a rough appraisal by feeling his skin and Mana, but I couldn’t see it(・・・・・・).
If that’s the Hero, is he receiving the Divine Protection of a Spirit? Is that why I couldn’t tell?
No, that’s not it.
Probably, the nature of his strength is beyond our expectations.
He might have special powers like Aria’s “Iron Rose” or my “Soulthorn.”
…What should we do to kill that thing?
As if thinking the same thing at the same time, Aria and I turned our gazes towards each other.
“Aria, do you know any poison that would work on that thing?”
“If the Hero is receiving the Divine Protection of a Spirit as the legends say, ordinary poison won’t work.”
“Not poison resistance, but poison immunity? Is that even possible?”
“Poison works physically by being absorbed into the body. The pink-haired Melrose woman is less likely to get sick thanks to the blessings of the Spirit. But that doesn’t nullify the poison of the disease, it simply makes her body able to withstand small amounts of poison.”
“So, we just need to use more poison than that.”
“Corrosion Poison would probably work, but the amount needed to kill that thing would kill the person who spread it.”
“Then acid would be easier to obtain. But if we can break through his defenses, it would be faster to inject the poison directly.”
“Then we could ask Galbas to make special arrows. But…”
“That’s right. It would be more certain for Aria to cut him directly.”
“Should we aim to weaken him to be certain?”
“At that time, we’ll eliminate the surrounding people one by one, isolate him, and then…”
“Wait, wait, you guys! Why are you trying to kill the Hero!? This time, we’re also at fault, and if we attack without being clearly antagonized, we’ll be at odds with the Holy Church too!”
“Ah…”
I inadvertently started planning to kill the Hero for real, and Dolton’s retort brought me back to my senses.
That’s right. We did end up in a battle, but the other party is not an outlaw, but the Hero-sama, who has a name and status. I was having too much fun thinking about the assassination plan and forgot.
By the way, the others seemed to be dumbfounded by the sight of the two youngest girls gleefully making assassination plans.
For now, it was decided to postpone the decision until we arrived at the Holy Church’s main temple, as we couldn’t judge whether the Hero would really become an enemy or whether it could be settled amicably.
The problem then becomes the “Hero’s” position within the Holy Church.
The Hero was being attacked. He has clear enemies with a certain status. Moreover, he was trying to lure them out and annihilate them. In other words, it means that his life has been targeted several times before.
If you hear it from the sidelines, it’s like a picture book of good and evil, with a powerful person who is jealous of the Hero’s reputation, but there is no black and white in politics.
There is only one’s own ideology and biased justice. I’m not saying that’s bad, and some people are saved by it, but some people resent it.
Whether that ideology, the Holy Church seeking only the happiness of the human race, and the Hero’s ideology do not match, or whether one of them has a fatal problem… I guess that’s something to look forward to after we meet again.
But…
(I don’t like it.)
I don’t like the way that man looked at Aria.
I don’t like that man’s smile that looks down on Aria.
Because for me, “Hero” and “Hero” are… only “Aria.”
Gekiomo! It’s so Snow-like, it’s great.
Two books and one manga will be released this month. For more information, please check the activity report along with the cover!