“…Understood.”
That voice echoed, and for a moment, the meaning escaped me, leaving the room in silence. I was the first to grasp its significance, and a gasp escaped my lips.
“What are you saying, Aria?”
In the next instant, those who realized Aria was the speaker began to stir, and Feld’s voice rose in reproach.
“Aria, you—!”
“Oh, excellent, then it’s settled, Aria-san. I’m glad you understand.”
Before Feld could continue, Hero Klein cut him off, deciding it was a “consent.”
“Then, about the details—”
“—However.”
This time, Aria interrupted Klein’s words as he tried to continue.
“Elemental Dragons have wills. I’ll confirm its will first.”
“Hoh…”
Klein wore a thin smile at Aria’s words.
Indeed, dealing with an Elemental Dragon is not the same as exterminating rampaging monsters…
Adventurers fight monsters for materials, for a living, for survival… in a broad sense, it’s “survival of the fittest.”
They defeat them because they’re obstacles to survival. They defeat them because they need their meat. They defeat them because they were attacked. They kill because it’s necessary, not because they want to kill.
The Fire Dragon was merely eliminating pests that had entered its territory.
For over a thousand years, they’ve coexisted on this continent. If someone desires that place and considers the Fire Dragon an obstacle, then that person or nation should fight for it. There’s no justice in that; it’s just a quarrel between neighbors. That means…
“…Is that alright?”
All eyes turned to me as I spoke again.
“Isn’t the Fire Dragon being a nuisance just Zentol Kingdom’s problem? Are you saying the Holy Church’s Hero-sama is going to fight for the benefit of one country? Is that alright? That’s so…”
—The existence of the Hero is cheap—
My words, interjected, were directed at Vincent, the leader of the Temple Knight Order, at the end.
Understanding the meaning, Vincent made a loud noise as he slammed his heels together.
“Of course! A Hero would never act for the benefit of one country!”
The Cardinal remained silent, perplexed by those words, and the Hero turned his gaze between Vincent and me.
“I see. Is that your opinion? If the Fire Dragon attacks a human city because of that, who will take responsibility?”
“Such a thing…”
Vincent was bewildered by the sudden talk of responsibility.
“It might attack. There happens to be a Hero here. Isn’t it necessary for the sake of the people?”
As Vincent began to be swayed by that argument…
“That’s why I said I’ll confirm the Fire Dragon’s will.”
Aria voiced her opinion once more. Everyone’s attention returned to Aria, and Klein shrugged as if to say, “Oh well.”
“If, as a result, we let it go and it attacks later, can you take responsibility?”
“If, as a result of fighting, the Fire Dragon attacks a city, will you take responsibility?”
“If we defeat it, it’ll be resolved.”
“Then, will the Holy Church guarantee that the Hero will win for sure? If there are casualties, will the Holy Church take responsibility?”
“That is, of course—”
“—Don’t be ridiculous!”
Finally, as the conversation turned to the Holy Church’s responsibility, the Cardinal, who had been fading into the background, raised his voice.
“This talk of responsibility is just a pointless argument! Klein! Go and confirm the will of that creature and the Fire Dragon! Vincent! You go with him!”
Klein shrugged at the Cardinal’s outburst, who looked like his blood vessels were about to burst.
“Oh well, I suppose it can’t be helped. I just wanted to know the young ladies’ abilities, but confirming the Fire Dragon’s will is more troublesome than defeating it, you know?”
Klein continued to complain in his usual sarcastic manner. Perhaps I should interject as well?
“You’re a Hero, aren’t you? Maybe I’m mistaken?”
If you’re a Hero, you should be able to do that much, right? When I said that, provoking him, Klein gave a nasty smile and bowed like a nobleman with an obsequious attitude.
“I hope you’ll show me your power as well, lovely young lady.”
The meeting ended there. The story of Aria joining that guy’s group aside, we ended up going to subjugate the Fire Dragon in a fait accompli.
Confirming the Dragon’s will is fine, but why did Aria go out of her way to accept such a thing? Well, I have an idea.
“Aria… are you there?”
“Snow?”
That night, I headed to Aria’s private room assigned by the Holy Church. She stopped tending to her weapons and looked up.
“Still abstemious as ever. Mira is so angry that she invited Jesha to go drinking in town, you know?”
I entered the room without permission and sat in front of Aria, who was working at the table.
“Why are you going along with what that guy says?”
There’s no need to go along with such nonsense. He may be a Hero, so it’s not easy to kill him, both in terms of ability and politically, but wouldn’t Aria be able to assassinate him?
“It’ll cause trouble for Elena.”
“I thought so.”
To me, Aria is someone worth risking my life for, but the two of them are friends, after all.
I sighed in exasperation at Aria’s words, and she smiled faintly, pouring water from the provided pitcher into a cup.
I cooled the two offered cups with my cold air, pushing one back to Aria.
“Elena would tell you not to worry about it. But it’s not a good idea to ruin the Holy Church’s reputation.”
“That’s true.”
The Holy Church owes the Kingdom of Claydale a debt because of that fake-chan and the demon incident.
What I was wondering was, I thought Elena could refuse without worsening relations with the Holy Church that much.
But the Holy Church also has its pride. And there are factions within the Holy Church.
The Holy Church on this continent is based on the Holy Church on another continent. The Holy Church here can’t refuse the request of the Hero dispatched from there, and that Cardinal has connections with the Holy Church over there, so he can speak to the Hero, but he doesn’t care about the Kingdom of Claydale.
But, more than that…
“Do you think that Hero might directly harm Elena?”
“…There’s a possibility.”
This is really troublesome… It seems that Hero doesn’t care about this continent at all.
He can do as he pleases and just go home if it becomes a problem, and he might hurt someone out of spite… Was this how the opposing factions felt when Aria was working behind the scenes? Well, the Hero is even worse.
“I’ve seen people with that kind of mental structure before. I intend to discern that in the Fire Dragon incident. Then, I’ll get Elena’s permission and change my approach.”
“…I suppose it can’t be helped.”
I sighed again and drank the cold water in the cup.
“Is it okay to cause trouble for me?”
When I said that, being a little spiteful as a form of retaliation, Aria looked puzzled and smiled slightly.
“Is it too late to ask that now?”
Yes, really… Aria is unfair.
A precious person I want to protect.
A precious person, but also someone I can rely on.