Chapter 5: Hero: Yerin’s regret, Part 3

Sh*t…！

I wasn’t expecting to run into her this soon… What do I do?

I’m not ready to start the regret phase yet…

Well, I don’t have a concrete plan, but I’ve read enough isekai to improvise.

Come to think of it, meeting in a place filled with memories is a cliché itself.

I can work with this.

“…Reminiscing? Coming to a place like this.”

I keep my back turned, lowering my voice.

“…Yeah. I come here whenever I’m in the capital. But… I felt like I had to come today… What about you, Allen? Are you here…”

“Don’t get any ideas. I’m here for herbs and potion ingredients. And I don’t want to see your face.”

“Are… are you angry at us…?! I want to apologize, Allen! There must be a reason why you left… We… we did something wrong…!”

Wow, Yerin is already reflecting. I expected this, though. If she’d gotten angry and demanded an explanation, I’d be the one panicking.

“So?”

“Huh?”

“You think I’d accept your apology?”

“What?”

“Even if you apologize for everything, it won’t change what I went through. I’m not forgiving you. And I’m definitely not going back to that living h*ll.”

“N-No, Allen…！ Please give me a chance! A chance to make it up to you, to make you come back…”

Yes, despair. That’s what I need to drive this story.

“F*ck off. Just leave me alone.”

“Oh…”

Alright, that should be enough for now… Time to—

“Allen, is the reason you changed… because of your status?”

“…?”

What is she talking about now?

“Your status now has ‘???’ next to it. It wasn’t there before.”

“It appeared after you collapsed during the fight with the Demon King. Is that why you’re acting strange?”

Wait, is she talking about my transmigration?

Sh*t… does the hero’s status screen show that?!

I don’t understand what she’s saying, but…

“…It’s hatred… No, something more than hatred.”

“What?”

“Think of it as… all the emotions I feel towards your party, besides hatred.”

I give a vague answer and…

Rustle rustle

Time to run!

“W-Wait, Allen! Where are you going?! Don’t go!!”

It was time to leave anyway. Ideally, in a regret story, the protagonist is the one who walks away, leaving the heroine begging them to stay.

But Yerin wouldn’t let me go that easily. She’d try to hold me back. So, I have to be the one to run.

Leaving like this, without a proper explanation, might actually be more effective.

“No! Don’t go!!”

As expected, she’s chasing after me. But I have another reason for running: I know this forest far better than she does.

I sprint as fast as I can, then… now’s the time…

“Here!”

I take a sharp turn and…

“Gasp… pant… Where did he go?! He’s slower than me, he can’t have gone far…”

There’s the perfect hiding spot.

I hold my breath, waiting for her to move on. Once she’s far enough away, I can slip back to the inn.

Yerin is persistent.

She left the immediate area after a few minutes, but I could still hear her moving through the underbrush.

Luckily, I made it back to the inn safely in the early afternoon.

“Oh, Allen, you’re back— Wait, why are you out of breath? Were you playing tag or something?”

The innkeeper’s casual joke… hits a little too close to home.

“Huff… Just… some exercise… huff… a little… running… huff…”

“Is that so! Have you had lunch yet? It’s a bit late, but I can whip you up something for a silver coin…”

“It’s okay… huff… I ate already…”

“Oh, that’s too bad.”

Too bad for you, you cheapskate.

“Haaa…”

Thud

I slowly climb the stairs, enter my room, and collapse onto the bed.

I think I ran faster today than I ever did in gym class back on Earth.

I’ll rest for a bit, then start making potions.

The encounter with Yerin was unexpected, but it just moved things along.

The ending was perfect. I may have been the one running away, but judging by Yerin’s reaction, the regret route is working as intended.

It’s a bit faster than I anticipated, which could lead to unforeseen complications, but so far, so good.

I’ll make the teleportation and paralysis potions today, send the luggage tomorrow, and then meet another party member. Since I’ve already met Yerin, it’ll have to be someone else.

I need to give some time between encounters, to allow for reflection and character development.

I’ll meet them all eventually, but I don’t know when. I’ll have to wait and see. Even a cliché expert like me can’t predict everything. I can only anticipate likely scenarios and act when the time is right.

There are too many variables to plan every detail. I’ll just go with the flow and seize opportunities as they arise.

“Oof.”

I get up, go to the table, and pull out the ingredients and my potion-making kit.

“Alright, let’s do this~!”

“…Where did you go? Don’t you remember we have to prepare for tomorrow?”

Yerin finally returned in the late afternoon, after Lilia and I waited for her. She’s covered in leaves and looks exhausted and dejected. She doesn’t even answer my question.

There’s only one reason why she’s so down.

“…Did you… see Allen?”

“!!!”

Her reaction confirms it.

“I… I’m going to my room… Angelina…”

She rushes off without another word.

Yerin has been the most affected by Allen’s departure, but I’m also confused.

Allen’s sudden personality change after he woke up…

At first, I thought it was mind control. But a mind-control spell lasting for over a day? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Even the Demon King shouldn’t be capable of that.

But I can’t explain Allen’s change otherwise.

The gentle, kind Allen we knew… the hostility he showed us… the change in his tone of voice… it was all so shocking.

And the hatred I sensed… it was so intense it almost felt like I was the one casting a rage-inducing spell on him. That wasn’t the Allen we knew.

Something must have happened.

I need to talk to him, to understand. But how…

Yerin saw him. Maybe I should ask her…

But… how did she even find him?

Thud

“This sucks.”

The first curse word I’ve uttered since arriving in this world. I knew curse words back on Earth, but I never used them. But right now… this just sucks.

Slam! Bam! Bam!

I punch the bed in frustration.

After what Allen said… I can’t just act normal.

When I first arrived in this world and became the hero, my only goal was to return to Earth.

The king said that once the Demon King was defeated and the ceremonies were completed, heroes summoned to this world could return home.

That was my motivation. I was nineteen when I arrived, and now, three years later, I’m an adult.

But now, I have something more precious than returning to Earth: Allen.

I don’t care about being the popular, cute, overachiever anymore. I don’t care about the attention I used to get.

I received many confessions back on Earth, but I never truly liked anyone.

Allen, with his pure, kind heart, was the first person I fell for.

For Allen… no, for myself… I decided not to go back.

But… but… I disappointed him. I drove him away.

He said he wouldn’t forgive me. He said he wouldn’t come back.

Does that mean he’ll hate me forever?

No. I don’t want that. I don’t want that at all. But…

He might never look at me the same way again…

What am I going to do? How am I supposed to live without him?

Knock knock

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, Helena. Why are you crying again?”

“It’s… nothing. What do you want?”

“Well, it’s tomorrow, you know. It’s late, but now that you’re back, we should start preparing.”

“Oh, right… Okay…”

Tomorrow… the final ceremony, the festival…