And so, despite being hit by unforeseen troubles, we gradually gained strength. Along with that, our range of activities expanded… It’s been three months since we teamed up with Hero Burn. We had arrived at the second ruins where the hero’s power slept.
“Whoa, it really does exist!?! As expected of Ed, you’re super incredible!”
“…Even the church with the most historical documents in this area did not have this information. How on earth did you come to know of this place?”
“Hahaha. Well, let’s just say it’s a long story.”
The second ruin, too, was deep in the forest. Faced with a mossy stone building entwined with ivy, I evaded answering with some vague words.
Needless to say, the reason I found this place wasn’t due to my incredible intelligence, but because I used the [Akashic Compass] as always. While I was still keeping the existence of my banishment skills a secret, I believe I can tell Burn about this. However, I could only foresee a future where Burn slips his mouth to some bigwig.
“So it’s inside a proper building again… Does that mean someone was guarding the power of the Hero before?”
“Probably. But heroes only appear once every few hundred years, so I guess it’s been forgotten.”
When a hero appears… for instance now, a large-scale re-investigation was being conducted at the Shitorowa ruins where Burn acquired the thunder magic. Once that’s over, it seems the national army will be guarding it.
However, if Burn defeats the Demon King as is, that ruin will effectively lose its value. It will regain its importance when a new Demon King appears far in the future.
Of course, a wise ruler would try to protect the ruins in preparation for such a future, but not everyone was wise. A hundred years pass, two hundred years pass, how many people and how much budget would a new ruler, who knows nothing about the Demon King, allocate to protect a ruin they’ve only heard about?
For that matter, even nations don’t last forever. There could be wars or changes in government during that time, and in the confusion, information could be lost, or the protection of now-useless ruins could be deemed wasteful and discarded.
The result of such accumulation was this. Once the threat was gone, people forget and take it lightly. The last hero appeared a little over 300 years ago, and while fragmented information about the existence of the Demon King and Hero, or the lightning magic only the Hero can use, remained, details like this had been lost.
“Ah, or perhaps the previous Hero didn’t absorb the power present here. There seem to be a few other places, but it’s not necessary to gather everything, right?”
“Oh, I see. Of course, there’s a possibility that we missed some ruins.”
In response to my offhand remark, Tia nodded thoughtfully. Alexis had missed the Holy Sword until my second visit, so maybe these kinds of oversights were more common than we think. The important thing was to become strong enough to defeat the Demon King, not necessarily to gather all the power.
“Hey, hey, hey, there’s more of these!? That’s super! Don’t we absolutely have to gather them all!?”
“Yes, indeed. I think it’s very important for the church to know the location of all the powers. If we know where they are, it might be more important than defeating the Demon King.”
“Right. I don’t know if there’s another one, but it would be useful to gather information here. But that could also be dangerous…”
Because no one knows about it, both the Shitorowa ruins and these ruins have been completely abandoned. But if they were known, there’s a chance that greedy humans or the Demon King’s army might have taken control of the ruins. If they have a detection method like me, being unknown can be the best defense.
“Hey Ed, it’s super useless for us to think about such complicated matters, isn’t it!? What will happen to this place in the future after we’re dead, it’s super out of our hands!”
“…You’re right.”
At Burn’s straightforward remark, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Ah, indeed, he’s right. We can’t take responsibility for such a future matter, and it’s for the people of that time to decide what to do with it. For someone who’s just an outsider and will disappear once the Demon King was defeated, like me, to worry about such things was exceedingly arrogant.
“So, let’s just not worry about the future and go ahead and collect the power. Though I have no idea what it specifically entails.”
“Whoa, I’m super excited! Let’s go, everyone!”
“Wait a minute, Burn! It’s dangerous to run like that!”
“I’m fiiiiiiine!?”
“Sigh… Euralia, please prepare your healing magic.”
“Understood.”
Chasing after Burn, who was likely already caught up in something, we entered the ruins. Apparently, this place had been used as a den by bandits or something in the past, and some old traps seemed to still be set in a working condition.
Of course, there’s no way Burn would be affected by something of this level now. He was just surprised and let out a scream, and several arrows that were cut off lay at his feet.
“Are you okay? Be careful, a rusty arrowhead is more troublesome than a poor poison.”
“Super! Understood!”
“…Um, Ed-san. I’ll heal you.”
“Euralia? Was there anything in our conversation just now that indicated I got injured?”
“But, I prepared it because…”
“Ah, is that so? Well, it doesn’t really matter.”
“Excuse me…”
“…”
While Burn was breaking every half-broken trap in sight, Euralia, for some reason, used her healing magic on me, who wasn’t injured at all, and Tia was staring at us with an indescribable look on her face… It’s a situation that’s been happening quite a bit recently, and it’s extremely uncomfortable no matter how many times I experience it.
“…I’m done. Um, Ed-san? How are you feeling?”
“Feeling? Well, I feel fine… especially after receiving the healing magic.”
“That’s good… that…”
“Hey, Ed! Do we go underground again!?”
“No, I don’t know yet, so just wait a minute! Sorry, Euralia, what were you saying?”
“…No, it’s nothing. Then, I’ll go after Yuusha-sama.”
When I asked her, she answered in a small voice, bowed her head, and scurried off towards where Burn was. As Euralia left, Tia approached and began to touch my body.
“Tia? What’s wrong?”
“…You’re not feeling any pain or anything, right?”
“Huh? Of course not. I wasn’t injured in the first place.”
“…I see.”
“Hey, what’s really going on? Could it be that something’s wrong with Euralia and I just haven’t noticed?”
Tia has been acting like this for a while now. I still believe that I don’t want to ask about things she doesn’t want to talk about, but caring for her and not worrying are two different things. In response to my question, Tia, with a gloomy expression, says,
“What would you do if I said something was wrong?”
“Well, it depends on what that ‘something’ is.”
From my perspective, Euralia may be a bit quirky, but she’s a competent person. She’s certainly skilled at healing magic, and aside from the somewhat awkward interaction with Tia, she wasn’t a problem in the party. Also, the uncomfortable feeling was mostly because of Tia’s attitude, so it’s not really fair to blame Euralia.
“But it’s rare for you to distance yourself from others like this. Could it be that there’s a problem I’m not aware of?”
Generally, Tia was quite friendly and didn’t keep her distance unless the other person showed clear hostility. But from my point of view, it didn’t seem like Euralia had such an intention, which is why I don’t know what to do.
“I’m just asking, but you’re not being secretly harassed by her or anything, right?”
“Of course not! Euralia is a good girl. She’s certainly a bit different… but she’s a good girl. I can tell that she’s considerate towards you, Burn, and even me. But that’s why…”
“Hm?”
“Sorry… It seems like there’s something inside me that just can’t accept Euralia. It’s been like this since we met, and maybe it’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need to apologize… But that’s just the way it is, right? We’re humans, and there will always be people we don’t get along with.”
It’s not about good or bad, there are just people who, for some reason, don’t mesh well together. If that person for Tia happens to be Euralia… then there’s really nothing that can be done about it.
I see. Is that why Tia asked me to stay with her? Normally, there’s an option to apologize profusely and leave the party, but with Burn being the Hero, that’s not possible.
“I see. Then don’t push yourself too hard. I don’t know how long it’ll take until we defeat the Demon King… but until then, bear with it and handle things well. I’ll always be here to listen if you need to talk.”
“Thank you, Ed.”
Suddenly, Tia embraced me. The hands around my neck were surprisingly slender, and the warmth of the cheek that touched mine was subtly cool, probably due to the outside air.
“…..Now I have some energy, let’s go!”
“Right!”
To Tia, who was forcing herself to be cheerful, I responded without saying anything else. This world’s story was a tale of a Hero’s party adventuring along the classic path, which I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I was hoping to enjoy it with Tia… but just as when I found out that the adventure tale I longed for was entirely fictional, the world unfolding before me appeared slightly dimmed.