Episode 253
"What exactly... do you think you're doing?"
"...Hmm."
In the situation room of the Hero Party's temporary residence, Aria glared at Venel as she spoke.
"Please give me an acceptable explanation. Otherwise..."
"First, please take a seat."
Venel, interrupting Aria's words midway, politely gestured toward the table with her hand. Aria, wearing a cold expression, began heading in that direction.
"...Where exactly am I supposed to sit?"
But Aria soon had no choice but to stop her steps. The table was completely full with no empty seats.
"U-um..."
Thanks to this, in the atmosphere that had turned unbearably frigid, Rosewin, who had been watching the situation, cautiously raised her hand.
"U-um..."
She began to speak with an extremely earnest expression.
"I heard that F-Frey is alive, so I came... But where is Frey...?"
"That is..."
"That is a matter that hasn't been confirmed yet."
Venel, raising her hand to stop a member who was about to say something, quietly gazed at Rosewin and answered.
"Y-yes? But from what I heard... it was definitely..."
"Regarding that matter, Miss Rosewin, let's talk separately. So, excuse me, but could you please step outside for now?"
"Ah, under... stood."
Hearing those words, Rosewin nodded with a pale expression and rose from her seat.
'N-not... confirmed...'
It was a request that would normally have been quite puzzling, but for her, who wasn't in her right mind, she had no room to concern herself with such things.
[Helper System]
> Hero's Identity
- The hero's identity is, as you know....... [Frey ]
System recovering... [90% complete]
The countdown of the 'Helper System,' unclear whether it was a blessing or a curse, was suddenly racing toward its end at a rapid speed.
- Thud, thud...
Thus, with a face that had become powdery from not seeing sunlight for a while, she staggered out of the situation room.
"...Why did you send her out?"
Aria, who had sat in the empty seat created after Rosewin left the situation room, fixed her gaze on Venel and asked a question.
"To be honest, I... am suspicious of her."
Venel, who had been resting her chin on her two hands, answered in a sharp voice.
"The one who gave 'that potion' to the Hero... was none other than Miss Rosewin."
"......."
"So I'm suspecting that she might have some kind of connection with Frey, or with the Demon Lord's army."
Whether intentional or accidental, she had harmed the Hero, so Venel was the type to suspect first and investigate later.
"I also received the contact that my brother is actually alive."
Aria, still looking at Venel with disapproval, crossed her legs as she sat askew in her chair and continued speaking.
"And, I also received a request to participate in the Hero Party as an advisor in my brother's stead."
"Yes, that was also my request. Only Frey was particularly in the wrong, but the Starlight family itself... are descendants of the previous Hero, after all."
"I don't particularly intend to deny that. However..."
When Venel agreed with her words, Aria tilted her head slightly and asked in an angry tone.
"...An assassination operation? Isn't that going too far?"
"Are you covering for him because he's your blood relative? Frey is a criminal. The atrocious deeds he committed..."
Venel, slightly excited, leaned forward and began to speak, but.
"I have no intention of covering for him at all."
As Aria interrupted her words midway with a cold expression, she stopped speaking and quietly began to look at Aria.
"My brother is, without a doubt, an irredeemable piece of trash."
Saying that, she quietly took out some documents from her bosom.
"These are documents I found in a secret space I discovered by chance when I returned to the mansion after my brother went missing."
Pushing them toward Venel, Aria said.
"He spread false rumors to the press that he was 'terminal,' creating sympathetic public opinion. The actual reason for his frailty... was a side effect of the power he received from the Demon Lord."
"He probably failed to dispose of them. He wouldn't have expected things to turn out that way."
Aria, watching Venel slowly reading through the documents, placed her hand on the desk and resumed speaking.
"My brother needs to be punished. Demotion to commoner status, confiscation of all assets and status, permanent exile from the mansion, things like that."
"......."
"The eternal humiliation and contempt from me and the people will be his punishment. In short, it's karma."
Aria, who declared that with a firm voice, looked at the dissatisfied Venel and murmured in a low voice.
"But... killing him is where I draw the line. I cannot allow that."
"...Why is that?"
"I don't think I have an obligation to tell you that."
"Tsk."
Venel, who had been looking at Aria whose eyes slightly wavered, made a cold expression and bowed her head, quietly whispering.
"He is no longer the good person you and I knew from before."
"..........."
"He is simply a cancer of the Empire that must be eliminated."
Aria, ignoring such Venel, rose from her seat and then glared at her with fierce eyes.
"I cannot tolerate any further abuse of authority. Cancel the operation immediately before I intervene directly in the name of the Starlight family."
Saying that, Aria began heading toward the exit, leaving the people in the situation room behind.
"...I'm on my way to meet my brother directly now, so please keep that in mind."
After the door closed like that, silence flowed for a while.
"This won't do."
Venel, grinding her teeth in that silence.
"I will personally put an end to..."
She rose from her seat with a cold expression and reached for the sword she had placed on the floor, but inadvertently bowed her head to grab the sword and fell into silence.
Rye bread with butter slightly placed on top as a snack, along with coffee, was entering her field of vision.
"...How unpleasant."
Venel, looking at that, frowned intensely as if recalling old memories.
"Who was in charge of today's snack?"
Her expression becoming increasingly crumpled, she asked in a cold voice, and one servant from behind stepped forward.
"W-why do you ask...? Is there something wrong with the food...?"
"No, it's just that these are the foods I hate most in the world."
Answering like that, she covered her mouth and made a pale expression.
"It's to the point that I feel nauseous just looking at them."
"Ah, I see..."
"So, don't bring these before me in the future."
"Understoo..."
- Crash...!
After pondering for a moment, Venel emitted fierce sword energy and crushed those items, then quietly left the situation room, muttering.
"I will put an end to this personally, Frey."
.
Time passed, and just as the sun that had been in the sky was beginning to set.
"Frey, are you okay?"
"......."
Serena, who had succeeded in walking arm-in-arm with Frey after a fierce battle of wits and blood, asked with a worried expression when she saw his complexion wasn't good.
"Don't pay attention to me."
"Huk."
When Frey deliberately turned his gaze aside and answered coldly, Serena made a hurt expression and opened her mouth wide.
"I-I can't do something that difficult."
"What?"
"How can I not pay attention to you when you're right beside me? Especially when we're arm-in-arm, how exactly am I supposed to do that?"
"........."
"It would be easier to create a formula that deconstructs divine power. Don't ask me to do something that difficult."
When Serena said that in a sullen voice, Frey, who had been walking, slightly hardened his face.
"Serena."
Then, Frey asked in a low voice.
"Why do you like me?"
Hearing those words, Serena answered instantly without even a second of hesitation.
"I'm writing a paper related to that."
"........"
"There are so many and various reasons why I like you that it has academic value. So..."
"That's creepy."
"Eek."
Serena's eyes, who had been planning a grand plan to move Frey by expressing love academically, wavered.
"J-just a joke... haha, why would I really do that, right?"
'The plan to submit a paper to the academic community as a marriage proposal is scrapped. Good thing I probed a bit. Wait, then... what kind of proposal should I make...'
Though she said that, her grand and perfect plan from marriage to childbirth, and even child-rearing and retirement, was being modified in real-time inside her head.
"Ugh."
"F-Frey?"
At that moment, Frey, who had been walking with her, suddenly began to stagger.
"What's happening...!"
Serena, whose face had turned pale blue as a result, quickly began to check Frey's condition.
"...Ah."
She soon realized that he was in a considerably exhausted state.
"P-please get on my back...! Frey...!"
Serena, who had been hesitating for a moment, bent her waist and looked behind her, whispering like that.
- Thump, thump...
Her heart, thoroughly excited by the fact that she could carry Frey on her back, was trembling wildly.
"You don't know your place."
However, Frey made a startled expression and said that, then took a step back from her.
"Please have some dignity."
"Yes..."
Serena, whose spirit had been crushed as a result, began walking ahead with a slightly depressed expression.
"........"
Frey's gaze, watching such Serena, was fixed on her limping footsteps.
"...Hoo."
After a while, Frey, who let out a short sigh, slowly approached Serena.
- Slide...
"Huhk!?"
Then, Frey wrapped his arm around Serena's waist.
"W-what are you???"
When Frey went further and leaned his head on her shoulder, Serena, who barely managed to hold onto her reason that almost flew away from Frey's scent that wafted over, asked a question.
"Tonight, let's rest at that inn over there."
"Ah...?"
"We need to get there, don't we? Hurry up and support me properly."
"Yes, yes...!"
Frey, who had positioned himself exquisitely so that if Serena applied strength they would support each other, glanced at her with a face flushed red as she cautiously pressed her cheek against his, then turned his gaze away.
Frey, who had been tilting his head for a moment, headed toward the inn with Serena, muttering.
'Since earlier, I've been feeling something strange for some reason...?'
A slight strength entered Frey's hand that was wrapped around Serena's waist.
.
While Frey and Serena were heading to the inn.
"Ugh... ugh..."
"Hwaam..."
In a forest far away from them, Peru-loche, bound by black chains, was glaring at someone.
"Ri... Ritra..."
"Really? Are you really going to do that?"
She was none other than the youngest saint.
"You can't turn back now, you know?"
No, she was a slightly different existence.
"You've been deceiving everyone like a rat until now... but now I know that too."
With red eyes glowing, the saint whispered in a cold voice.
"And, you've already reached your limit, haven't you? This is essentially the last retry, isn't it?"
"........."
At those words, Peru-loche quietly bowed her head, and the saint, with a chilling smile.
"Stay here quietly."
Gently stroking Peru-loche's chin, which had tired eyes, she walked away, muttering.
"Then... shall we go see our fragile protagonist's face?"
Something in the form of a saint slowly disappeared like that.
"..........."
Peru-loche, who had been bowing her head for a while after that.
"...Gugu, now."
Soon, with gleaming eyes, she murmured.
"Goo."
At the same time, her pet bird that had been hovering around the inn began to descend rapidly.