Ch.115Waiting People (1)

The Hero and the woman began conversing as they returned to their base after failing their mission to assassinate the reincarnator.

“What are we going to tell the Demon King?”

“Let’s say the mage interfered.”

“That’s too obvious.”

“Then how about saying a new Hero got in our way?”

The Hero spoke with obvious displeasure. It was likely due to the incident that had just occurred.

As they quietly made their way back, the woman suddenly entered a store.

“What are you doing?”

“Buying snacks for my junior.”

“…Do you understand what situation we’re in right now?”

“We have magic that makes us look like ordinary people anyway.”

The Hero glared fiercely at the woman, but she paid no attention and began selecting food items.

“…What exactly are you?”

“A researcher on a business trip.”

“You know what I meant.”

“Then I’ll correct it to department manager.”

“…”

Hearing the woman’s absurd response, the Hero sighed deeply and asked her:

“What are you fighting for?”

“To completely escape from the past.”

“What past?”

“A past of complete failure.”

“Can’t you ever give a straight answer instead of being so vague?”

“You go first then.”

The Hero thought for a moment before answering her question.

“Because I don’t want their deaths to be in vain.”

“I asked what you truly want.”

“…”

For a while, the Hero couldn’t say anything. After a short but long silence, he finally spoke.

“I just want everyone to die. Me, him, everyone.”

A hint of anger flashed in the Hero’s eyes. Seeing this, the woman showed slight surprise and said:

“That’s similar to back then.”

“What is?”

“Just that my past and your situation are similar.”

There was a hint of bitterness in the woman’s voice. But the Hero ignored it and asked her:

“So what are you fighting for?”

“There’s something I absolutely need to eliminate using the Demon King. That’s what I’m fighting for.”

“What is it?”

“A failure from the past.”

The Hero wanted to demand she speak in a way he could understand, but it seemed unlikely that the woman would reveal anything more.

So the Hero resigned himself and began walking alongside her.

“But why are you buying dog food?”

“To give as a snack to my junior.”

“…Why would you give that as a snack?”

“I originally bought it for a dog, but my junior gave me a look like they wanted to eat it, so I just gave it to them. They ate it with enjoyment. I think they like this kind of thing.”

“…What kind of person is this junior of yours?”

“A junior from HR.”

The woman actually put dog food in her shopping basket while talking with the Hero.

“Are you really going to give that to them?”

“Yes.”

“…Who do you think is crazier: the person who enjoys eating dog food or the person who gives dog food as a gift?”

“The person who enjoys eating dog food.”

“…You’re insane.”

The Hero gave the woman a reproachful look, but she didn’t show any particular reaction.

The woman then began putting normal snacks in her basket along with the dog food.

“Why are you buying those other things?”

“For that junior.”

“Didn’t you say you were giving them dog food?”

“I’ll give them both.”

The Hero let out a thin sigh and then asked the woman with genuine curiosity:

“I shouldn’t be the one to talk since I’ve survived eating monster carcasses, but what does this person normally eat that makes dog food taste good to them?”

“I don’t know. But they must be filling their stomach somehow.”

“…”

The Hero put some ready-to-eat meals in the woman’s basket with a pitying expression and said:

“Buy them a lot of food while you’re at it. When are you going to deliver this?”

“Around Sunday.”

“…Isn’t that too late?”

“But they said they don’t have time except then.”

“Then just leave some food at their place.”

“Okay.”

With that, the Hero began putting various food items into the basket.

***

I returned to the guild with papers containing information about the Demon King’s army and good news. Ju-an welcomed me with a relieved expression.

“I was worried when I heard the guards had collapsed, but I’m glad you’re safe… So what happened?”

“I met Leo.”

“…You met that Hero and came back unharmed?”

“Leo gave me information about the Demon King’s army and sent me back.”

I showed Ju-an the stack of documents in my hand. His eyes widened in shock.

“…I need to gather some people right away.”

But Ju-an quickly composed himself, took me to a room that looked like a conference room, handed me several sheets of paper, and said:

“I’ll go gather people. Meanwhile, record everything that happened today on these.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Ju-an hurriedly left. I began recording my conversation with Leo. This feels like writing a witness statement.

As I was recording the hope that had emerged today, all the people I knew gathered in the room.

But the number of people seems a bit small. Is this really all the fighters we have?

While I was thinking this, Agath seemed to have similar thoughts and asked Ju-an:

“Is this everyone who’s coming?”

“This is all the trustworthy people we have.”

“But this seems too few.”

“Better than having too many cooks spoiling the broth. And there’s no guarantee that everyone we bring won’t betray us.”

It’s true that there aren’t many people to trust around here. Even that Holy Nation was full of traitors.

I guess Ju-an has thought this through better than I have, so I shouldn’t nitpick unnecessarily.

“So why did you call us here?”

“Lite met Leo today.”

All eyes suddenly turned to me. Then Agath spoke with a voice mixing hope and fear:

“…What happened today?”

The attention is a bit overwhelming, but I started telling everyone about what I experienced today.

***

It didn’t take much time to explain everything that happened today. After all, we didn’t exchange that many words.

But the impact of that brief conversation was enormous.

“So there’s a possibility that Leo will fight alongside us again, right?”

I succeeded in giving people hope. The proof was that Agath’s face began to brighten again.

But Agath seems surprisingly simple. Is it because her emotions show so clearly?

While everyone was beginning to feel hopeful, Tae-yang suddenly voiced a concern.

“But isn’t there a possibility this is all a trap?”

“…Why do you think that?”

“Making us let our guard down and then ambushing us from behind, or giving false information to confuse us… No, it’s nothing.”

Tae-yang lowered his gaze to the floor with a terrified expression. Why is he suddenly acting like this?

Looking around, I saw Agath glaring fiercely at Tae-yang. She really is a simple person.

Tae-yang does have a point though. Leo has been deceiving us all this time, so he could easily deceive us once more.

“Then shall we check the information Leo provided first?”

“It wouldn’t hurt to verify it, so let’s take a look.”

It’s worth a try anyway. After all, we currently know next to nothing.

As we were examining the documents Leo had given us, we discovered blueprints of the building where the Demon King was located.

Rebecca stared at the blueprints and then said with a bright smile:

“This matches exactly with the place I saw in my dream today…!”

“…What kind of dream did you have today?”

“I dreamed that we all charged together toward where the Demon King was.”

“How did that dream end?”

“We were all annihilated by the Demon King.”

Although it was a prophecy with a bad ending, fate can be changed as it has been before. At least now we have information about our enemy.

Thanks to this, the possibility of Leo returning to our side grows stronger. He wouldn’t have provided this information if he wanted to die.

In the increasingly brightened atmosphere, Ju-an spoke up:

“Then today we need to analyze these materials. Who wants to join?”

Everyone except me raised their hands. But I have no choice but to not participate.

I’m not very smart, so would I really be able to extract useful information by analyzing those documents? I’d be much more helpful preparing food for Ju-an.

Still, I feel bad about it. Should I make food for everyone else too?

While I was thinking about this, Tae-yang asked me a question:

“Why aren’t you participating…?”

Suddenly, Ha-eun interrupted Tae-yang and said:

“It’s that time of the month.”

“…I’m sorry.”

I don’t actually have menstrual cramps, but I decided to go with it. If I said I was skipping because I’m stupid, it would just be embarrassing.

Thanks to this suddenly created valid excuse, I was able to skip the data analysis. Now I should go prepare breakfast for Ju-an.

This time, I’ll definitely send others on errands. Going out myself could lead to big trouble like earlier.

So I began writing down ingredients for foods that Ju-an might like on a notepad.