The Best (2)

Birthday.

Simply for the reason of being born.

Simply for the reason of being alive…

A day to hear the words of celebration.

But after even the last remaining people left, it was never celebrated.

I myself didn’t particularly feel like celebrating it either.

After all, it was just one day out of the 365 days in a year.

Even if I tried to give it special meaning, I would only feel the emptiness of what had already departed.

…Was that why?

“Happy birthday!”

At that moment when a cake with candles suddenly appeared before my eyes.

At that moment when I faced a gaze of a kind no longer familiar, appropriately mixed with affection and joy.

-Drop.

“Huh…?”

The emotion that should have been nothing more or nothing less than bewilderment and surprise finally flowed down my cheek with warmth.

My heart, which had gradually begun to waver without my noticing.

Memories of childhood, which I couldn’t even properly remember when they occurred, sporadically emerged and created noise.

But these were things I had clearly emptied out and forgotten.

Things that would no longer come.

Things that could no longer be heard.

Things that could no longer be possessed…

“This is… for me?”

What I forcibly uttered through my gradually constricting throat was a question to which I already knew the answer.

It was a foolish question that didn’t need to be asked from the moment the faintly flickering candles were presented before me.

Yet I wanted confirmation.

I wanted to hear from someone else’s mouth that it was solely for me, not just one of many options for increasing favorability.

I wanted to be told that the memories I had been unconsciously longing for were no longer something I could only see in my memories.

“Was being told to buy the cake I wanted… really about buying the cake I wanted… to eat?”

In the end, I uttered a question that confused the listener even more.

As expected, the voice was slightly perplexed by the completely unexpected question.

“Yes, it’s your cake. So, make a wish!”

However, by affirming my question so easily and making it impossible to deny anymore.

In the end, I extinguished the candle I had thought belonged to someone else with my own breath.

Right after that, question marks that had been filling up to my chin for some time began to leak out.

“Why… do you do all this for me?”

No matter how much I thought about it, there was no reason to be so considerate.

There was no particular value worthy of allocating the time of the busiest person in this vast and enormous building.

Even if I were a cherished younger sibling.

Even if I possessed unusual abilities…

Until recognized as a combatant, I was just a burden requiring constant care.

I dare to confidently say that Asha had matters more important and urgent than my birthday spread far and wide.

Therefore…

“Because it’s you, Lua.”

I couldn’t accept such a simplistic answer.

There was also a feeling that something within me had been gradually going wrong.

“…I’ve been nothing but a demanding child.”

I questioned almost accusingly, based solely on facts.

I indirectly said that I had only used Asha for my own personal goals.

Someone who only received and never gave anything in return…

I deliberately belittled myself, asking why she cared so much for someone who couldn’t be more selfish on the surface.

Afterward, I continued to utter highly inefficient words that would yield no benefit, saying there was no reason for this.

Yet the answers that came back contained nothing but pure sincerity, untainted by any intention or calculation.

As a result, I only verified that I myself had been calculating at every moment.

“…Do you really cherish me?”

Forcibly suppressing the faint ache in my heart, I asked one last time.

The answer that came not even a few seconds later was, as expected, of a kind I had already heard several times.

“Yes. So, don’t have strange thoughts. The cake and everything else are indeed yours, Lua.”

Only after the slender index finger that had briefly pointed toward the cake finally left a snow-white whipped cream mark on my cheek did I acknowledge it.

That the vast and enormous building was filled with people who cherished me for my existence itself, not for my value as a hunter.

At the same time, that I had been unknowingly leaning on and depending on those people for some time.

“…Thank you.”

What I showed to the familiar face along with a quiet laugh was the purest sincerity I had ever expressed.

Only, I also realized that I could no longer exclude emotions.

In the end, from the first day I fell into another world, I allowed people to cross the line I had been subtly drawing.

So that all people’s kindness toward me, including Asha’s, would approach as kindness.

So that the preciousness given without any compensation would no longer be utility.

-Hug.

“Uh, um… Lua?”

“…Please stay still for a moment. Just for a moment, really…”

So that I could accept that the warm heat that began to be felt throughout my body was the warmth of a person like me.

So, I remained in Asha’s embrace for quite a long time, making the word “moment” seem meaningless.

I let go of the heartbeat heard right in front of me only after a careful question about whether I was curious about the birthday presents.

After that, I spent time unwrapping the birthday presents that had been gathered separately in the room right next to the office.

My heart wavered even more than before when I heard birthday wishes from guild members who came to find me in between… but it didn’t matter.

I had no intention of turning away, thinking they were just passing acquaintances.

As long as they were right in front of me and within reach, they were reality.

Therefore, I decided to do my best in a slightly different way than before, for the sake of those who had given me affection until now.

While there’s no particular harm in not clearing non-combat achievements right now, combat achievements are the exact opposite.

Since most combat achievements were focused on rescue and protection, clearing combat-related achievements meant saving people.

Unlike non-combat achievements that could be postponed without much concern, combat achievements were also directly related to people’s lives.

“Well, I’ll be going now. Don’t wait for me, and go to sleep~.”

For a while, I remained lost in thought even after being brought home at a time when I would normally have been falling asleep.

Lying on the soft mattress, I calculated the number of people I could save during the two weeks of free time given to me.

One way or another, the sooner my cheat-level stats and skills are properly demonstrated.

In other words, the sooner the day comes when I can enter dungeons.

The number of people who wouldn’t have to be hurt or killed by dungeon monsters would gradually increase.

“…I wonder if it’ll be okay.”

However, as I thought about dungeons, memories of the monsters I had previously encountered naturally filled my mind.

Because memories that couldn’t be called good even as a white lie rose like bubbles, one after another.

After that, I tossed and turned for a long time, trying to calm my heart, which had begun to beat faster and faster.

I covered the fear that had risen without my knowledge by overlaying the image of a shield over the monsters that appeared even when I closed my eyes.

The determination and resolve I could only muster after about 30 minutes had passed.

Well, it’s not like I could be recognized as a combatant by Asha right now… but there are ways to enter dungeons besides being recognized as a combatant.

Of course, if I’m caught entering a dungeon without Asha’s permission, I probably won’t get away with it easily.

The key is whether I can deceive the eyes of not only the guild members inside the dungeon but also those managing the dungeon entrance.

Specifically, ‘how long’ I can deceive them.

“…How many minutes did the transformation potion last again?”

I was thinking of obtaining potions that change appearance and using them just before entering the dungeon.

I was concerned that in the first playthrough, I had only delivered appearance-changing potions but never consumed them myself… but what else could I do?

One way or another, it takes at least an hour, even at the minimum, to rescue people in crisis due to monsters and then escape from the dungeon.

In other words, I needed to appear in a form that wouldn’t matter being in the dungeon for that hour.

It was strictly not this youthful appearance but the transformed appearance due to the potion that needed to be seen by others.

Only then would word of a young child entering the dungeon not reach Asha’s ears.

The goal was to save other people Asha cherished without causing her worry.

I thought that was the only way to repay the affection I had received so far.