52 – Scar-6

“Thank you for your hard work! Well, let’s ask…”

The porter could only watch the mythical battle.

The hero’s arm was torn, and the magician’s own spells burned the tips of both of his fingers black.

The saintess looked fine at least, but the sweat on her forehead and her wobbly steps showed how fierce the battle had been.

Even the archer, who was supposed to shoot arrows from a safe place, was bleeding here and there from the branches that looked like bullets from the giant tree monster.

The tree monster that was encroached on by demonic attacks hit the hero with its huge trunk, and at the same time attacked those who were supporting from afar.

Of course, it was the archer’s role that drew attention. She roared and drove her arrows deep into the tree, sharing the tree’s wrath with the warrior.

The thin clothes showed off her figure, soaked in sweat, but the porter couldn’t bear to think of it as erotic.

The liquid on her clothes wasn’t just sweat. Blood, dirt, and pieces of crushed wood were entangled with her clothes, weighing down her body.

The porter did little, nothing. Even if I did something, it wouldn’t have changed anything.

At least he opened the canteen to bring water, but the archer cut off his words with a cold face.

“Don’t come closer.”

Even the archer was aware that his reaction was not rational.

Not a hero with strength and nobility, but just a savage and weak human being. However, his actions were unmistakably goodwill.

It may not be as pleasant as the elf’s kindness, but seeing a dog or a monkey wagging its tail to welcome its owner was definitely something to be delighted with.

But Nerwen was not genuinely happy. The battle just now was not satisfactory, and the body that had been overworked to the limit was exhausted.

And no matter how well he tried to look at it, the porter’s body was far too fine compared to her who had just passed the point of death and shed blood all over her body.

“All right!”

The porter was a little taken aback, but immediately moved to support the others.

Nerwen also knew that showing hostility to the porter here was unreasonable. Even if he had participated in the battle, he would not have been able to tear off even a single piece of bark from the tree full of demonic energy.

However, emotional anger was a different matter. It didn’t feel good to see someone hiding in a safe place when someone was fighting to the death.

Unlike priests and wizards, he had no means to protect himself. If it hadn’t been for him, it would have been fine to have drawn the tree monster’s attention with a little less noise.

Besides, considering the smell, there was no way I would ever like him.

Even in the middle of it, he was urgently running to find the next person.

“Are you feeling better, warrior?”

“Ah, is it you… You can bear it. Thank you.”

The hero, who had been hit by a huge tree trunk and flew several meters away, did not lose his composure.

The hero, who looked around for a while, whispered to the porter in a small voice.

“…I’m sorry. This wasn’t what was promised to you.”

At first, what she and her father promised was a comfortable life. It was a promise to take on the responsibility that was not his from the beginning and to receive that power.

But on the journey of the warrior party, time was life. In the form of escorting him through the army from a safe place, as he had done before, he could never be on time.

It was not a small unit, but an army could not enter the demon king’s land, so it was a way that could not be maintained.

“it’s okay.”

It was his own choice to lift the burden or to help others in any way.

“thank you.”

“It’s okay if you leave it to me more. I’m afraid to say this, but… it’s necessary.”

Ironically, it was the porter who reacted most sensitively to the death of a person.

The wizard and the archer had a reaction of regret and sadness, but nothing more than that.

The saintess was saddened whenever someone died, but she was also someone who had seen quite a few deaths. He was a person who had the resignation that life and death were unavoidable.

However, that man accepted the death of a person who had nothing to do with him as a huge incident.

As if something terrible, hideous, and never should have happened.

I don’t know where he came from, but there must have been a war there too. It would not have been without friends and family who died from animals, accidents, or disease.

But he tried desperately to prevent death, as if he were completely unaware of it.

“As long as I can, I’ll hold out.”

“I may have to give you more work. I hate to admit it, but if you say… I’ll make demands of you.”

“It doesn’t matter. As long as it’s necessary.”

Until then, the porter thought so.

/////

-Huh… good. There, on the hilt… Oh, cool.

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

He was just wiping his sword with a handkerchief. Although it was in relatively good shape, perhaps because of its mysterious power, even the slightest foreign object could cause the sword’s trajectory to shift.

“So, what are you going to do?”

“…will stay.”

I have no intention of giving my life for these people. I’ve already done enough.

However, this is absolutely not dangerous. At the extreme, even if you are in the middle of a battlefield, you still have the energy to get out. In that case, it would be like leaving all the soldiers who came out to fight together to die and only saving my own life.

As long as I don’t run into a group of orcs alone to protect them, there is no harm in my life.

“As far as I can, I’ll try…”

However, the war may not be as hopeless as he thought. The number of troops that could be conscripted could be more than expected, and reinforcements might come.

If all these people die because I wasn’t there at the time, it would be too bad.

-Well, if you’re a hero, you should! don’t worry. As long as you hold me, you will definitely win… Hey!

I tapped the hilt of the Holy Sword with my palm. With a cute scream, the holy sword closed its mouth.

The holy sword sometimes says something useful and is basically on my side, but to be honest, I can’t trust it.

To put it mildly, he’s overly positive and doesn’t want to do the calculations well.

– No, it’s real! really…

“You’ve changed a lot. I didn’t know then… but now I do.”

“what?”

“I didn’t think you would think about this and decide.”

Nerwen was looking at me with pity, pity. It wasn’t a pleasant thing.

“So, are you feeling bad?”

“Whatever choice you make, I will not dispute it.”

Nerwen, who was sitting in the corner of the inn room, was still carving wood into arrows. Normally, Nerwen would not use a similar arrow, but now there were too many enemies to kill.

“I swore to you. I’ll do anything you want, as long as you take me to the World Tree.”

“It did.”

“Even if I told you to kill them all, even if I told you to hunt down all the orcs alone, you would have carried out that order.”

She values lineage and honor more than that hero. It would be a greater humiliation for her not to keep her promise to a monkey than to bow her head to a monkey like me.

“In my personal feelings, there is no mean meaning. But, still…”

Uncharacteristically for her, Nerwen slurred. I didn’t attach much importance to the conversation with her, so I polished my sword again without paying attention.

“The thing I broke was really beautiful. That’s how I came to think.”

So, I couldn’t understand her words.

/////

“Oh… you’re a difficult person to welcome. What brought you to this shabby place?”

It was an old man in plain priestly clothes.

But even by hearing his voice, Celia could immediately sense his fearsome devotion and disciplined body.

“I have a question…”

Celia, with her head bowed and her eyes covered with a cloth, staggered, relying on the staff in her hand.

She couldn’t see it with her eyes, but the old man’s kind smile had hardened slightly, and it was strangely stiff.

“For me, I can’t think of any reason why the saintess of the Church would come to our Church of Erinis. If, by any chance, she’s thinking of revenge against the Baron…”

“Oh no! I don’t need or want revenge! It’s just… I’m curious…”

Silence passed. However, Celia felt the tension ease a little.

“It’s fortunate. Even so, it was quite a struggle to cut out the requests coming towards you.”

“J-Really? But this place… I’ll accept everything…”

The goddess of vengeance does not discriminate against people. It doesn’t discriminate between sinners and saints, and it doesn’t discriminate between beggars and royalty.

Of course, this was an orphanage and a church, and all you could do here was pray. However, with that alone, the success rate of revenge was quite high.

It was because people who made money by acting on behalf of revenge could contact those who wanted revenge, or the goddess of revenge could bless them, giving people comfort and hope for success.

“That’s right. However, when asked to bring the victim himself, he usually shut up. Erinis is not the goddess of condemnation, but the goddess of vengeance, so she cannot move a hair without the victim’s will.”

“ah…”

“But apart from that, there are many religious people who have a grudge against you. I’m afraid that just by talking to you here for too long, they’ll alienate me.”

Celia tried to retort aloud, but quietly shut her mouth. Even if it was common sense within the Church of the Goddess, it was clear that it would be dismissed as just a joke here.

“So, why are you here?”

“Yes, priest. So, that…”

Celia shuddered and told her why she was here.

“Can you hear the voice of God?”