“Samantha… if I recall, she’s the ‘Sand Dust Witch,’ right?”
After preparing our equipment, we followed Dolton-san’s instructions and went to meet the former Magician. It seems she’ll teach us about how to act as an adventurer Magician, her role in the “Rainbow Sword,” and such…
“I wonder what kind of person she is?”
Samantha Samantha… a legendary adventurer who, despite being human, was said to be active until she was a hundred years old. Well, considering she made her own first name her surname and had her family use it, I think she’s quite the character. But when I asked Aria, she tilted her head, which was unusual for her.
“…’Dotty’?”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Graa…”
The Phantom Image of the black cat on Aria’s shoulder chimed in with my murmur as I involuntarily stopped and asked. I wonder if Kitty has met her before?
If she’s elderly, that might be the case, but Aria’s way of saying it sounded like it had a different nuance.
“Well, we’ll know when we meet her, I suppose.”
It seems this Samantha lives in the Marquis Dance Territory. From the Royal Capital, it’s about a two-week journey by carriage, but we’re heading there on foot.
On foot, yes, on foot. Walking with our own legs. There are many inhabited places on the way to the Marquis Dance Territory, so we can’t travel by riding Kitty.
Back when I could freely use my Divine Protection, I could also use spatial transfer, but I have no intention of raising my Dark Magic and Light Magic levels any further.
If I were to raise those, it would be much better to spend that time on honing and researching Ice Magic and Thunder Magic. Besides, “Light” and “Dark”… they suit Aria best.
“But, even if not a shared carriage, couldn’t we just hire one?”
We have money, after all. Though it’s not mine.
“Snow, you should build up your stamina by walking.”
“That’s true, so I can’t say anything.”
Well, fine. I don’t dislike walking that much.
But, could you stop preparing an amount of food I can’t possibly finish at every meal? I can tolerate the unique seasoning using strange medicinal herbs, but my stomach isn’t that big, having only eaten enough to survive until now, you know?
“You’re right. In that case, I’ll try changing the ingredients.”
“If possible, I’d prefer you change the cooking method.”
We journeyed, camping out on the highway that continued through the forest. In such a situation, I think the highlight would be the meals, but from the very next meal, Aria prepared food where it was hard to tell if it was even food, let alone what the ingredients were.
“…What is this?”
“Bee larvae with cheese, drizzled with honey.”
It looks nutritious…
It seems Aria hunted them in the forest… no, not ‘gathered,’ but she killed all the large bees—the kind that could kill a person with a few stings—with her knife, and brought back the bee larvae from their nest along with the milky white liquid that nurtures the queen bee.
After boiling them with her special medicinal herbs, she mixed them with cheese, arranged it in a bowl, and then served it to me, generously drizzled with honey.
Is this cooking? Isn’t it alchemy? The components are too strong for medicine, and isn’t the visual impact too strong to eat as a sweet?
Well, I’ll eat it, though…
“I’ve already told Dolton, but I’ll share the information with Snow too.”
As I somehow managed to finish everything and was having my post-meal herbal tea, Aria, who was on the other side of the bonfire, started saying that while stroking the Phantom Image of Kitty on her lap.
“About work?”
“No, it’s just a rumor I heard from Elena, but I want to hear Snow’s opinion too.”
Just a rumor. If it’s a story that the princess, who became a realist because of her dreamy older brother, told Aria, and Aria also shared it with Dolton, then it’s not just a rumor, is it?
“It’s about the ‘Hero.'”
Hero… a courageous one. One who appears when despair befalls people, giving them courage.
It’s a fairy tale that even children in this country know.
Many of them were stories about people being attacked by evil magicians or Evil Lords, and the Hero and the Saint defeating them and living happily ever after, or something like that.
However, the “Saint” who appeared in this country was just that peculiar woman, and the being called the “Evil Lord” was actually just the king of the Evil Race Nation. The Evil Race itself was an enemy of humankind, but he alone didn’t have the power to destroy a country.
But, neither the Hero nor the Saint are mere legends.
It wasn’t a forbidden book from the Lester Family, but it was written in a forbidden book I found in the Holy Church’s temple. Of course, I read it without permission, but I’m glad I managed to take it out before burning the temple down.
“You’re not going to tell me a Hero has appeared, are you?”
“It seems that’s precisely the case.”
“…You’re kidding, right?”
According to the rumor the princess told Aria, a few months ago, that “Hero” arrived by ship in the Meल्स National Union, located in the northern part of the continent.
“I see. That makes it a bit more credible, which is annoying.”
“Considering history, that would be the case.”
Originally, we fair-skinned Mercenians didn’t live on this Searth Continent; it’s said we arrived by ship from another continent to the north, along with the Holy Church.
The Meल्स National Union is a federation of seven small countries. Each claimed to be the first Mercenian nation established after arriving on this continent, so they never united into one. However, larger nations established later began to gain power, and the Meल्स National Union is a country that reluctantly formed a federation to counter them.
The fact that the Hero arrived there means they came from that other continent.
The Meल्स National Union apparently continued to trade with that continent, so they might have come on one of those trading ships.
And, in the Holy Church’s forbidden book, it was written thus:
When evil appears in the world, the Hero is chosen by the spirits to save the world.
When a crisis befalls humanity, the Saint is loved by the spirits to save the people.
This wasn’t a legend or a fairy tale, but apparently a fact recorded in the history of the Holy Church.
Both are crises, no doubt, so when a Hero appears, a Saint is often chosen as well, which is why they are often depicted together in fairy tales.
Why did this become a “forbidden book,” hidden from public view?
It’s because of the existence of the “enemies” the Heroes fought.
These were ‘Evil Lord-class’ beings, incomparable to the likes of the Evil Lord of the Evil Race… legendary evil dragons, or demons even higher-ranking than high-ranking demons. To counter them, the “Hero” was chosen by the spirits.
The Holy Church is hiding the fact that such threats to humanity actually existed in the past. Perhaps, if a real threat were to appear, they spread the fairy tales of Saints and Heroes to dispel the people’s anxiety, with the Holy Church at the center.
“But as things stand, I don’t think there’s any ‘evil’ on this continent that would warrant a Hero’s appearance, though?”
If such nation-destroying evil truly existed, I think signs would have already appeared. At the very least, if the Hero sensed it and crossed over to this continent, at least a year or so should have passed, so wouldn’t it have been caught by the Shadow Unit’s information network?
At my analysis, Aria narrowed her eyes for a moment as if exasperated, and for some reason, stared intently at me.
“…You’re right.”
“Graa…”
“What are you trying to say?”
In the end, the matter of the Hero was put on hold… or rather, since it was unclear what they came to do, all I could say was that speculation wouldn’t lead to answers. In the first place, as long as it doesn’t involve the Kingdom of Claydale, the princess can’t act, and neither will Aria.
Well, it would be fine if they just defeated something on their own and went home on their own. I’m not interested either.
“More importantly… that, it’s in the way.”
“Graa.”
“Well, I wonder if Kitty has completely become a ‘cat’ now?”
I couldn’t help but give a sidelong glance to Kitty, who basically never left Aria’s Shadow and was yawning on Aria’s lap as a Phantom Image.
Behind me, the bandits who had underestimated us, two young women, and attacked, were now ice statues, still holding their weapons.
If it were fire, I could have erased them without a trace, but with lightning, the corpses aren’t pretty, so I have no choice but to freeze them, right?
“See?”
“Clean it up.”
I guess it can’t be helped… Using an application of my 【Shadow Walker】, I sank the ice statues into the forest’s shadows and disposed of them somewhere out of sight.
And so, we continued our monotonous journey, arriving at the Marquis Dance Territory two weeks later. …That said, I wonder where the crucial Samantha actually lives?
“I believe I heard it’s a mansion in the outskirts of Marquis Dance’s domain capital. A letter should have been sent in advance, so…”
Just as Aria started to say that, I saw something kicking up a cloud of dust and rapidly approaching from beyond the highway, where a town was visible in the distance.
…A Monster, perhaps?
“—【Ice Lance】—”
For now, I attacked without even confirming. Aria didn’t particularly try to stop me either.
However, the several shots of 【Ice Lance】 I fired were intercepted by an equal number of 【Ice Lance】s launched from the dust cloud. Then, as if to exploit the opening, it leaped over us, and behind us, a small old woman’s figure emerged from the dust.
“Welcome, little brats! I’m Samantha Samantha!! Who the heck are you lot!?”
I see… so she’s the ‘airhead’ type, huh.
Sorry to have kept you waiting. I’m Samantha.
With Snow and her group, who can clear a Dungeon with just the three of them, even a journey itself isn’t very tense, is it?