Ch.15Chapter 15. So the Hero Definitely Returned

“A goddess’s sanctuary in a place like this…”

It was a simple, crude cave.

Seeing the goddess’s emblem engraved at the entrance of the one-way cave with only a straight path, Arsil felt unease rather than reverence as a saint.

Naidrian, who had tracked down the cave using her tracking skills, felt even more anxious.

Both women had an intuition that Luci and Lin had visited this cave.

“Found it.”

Tigria, who was casting a detection spell, discovered traces of Lin’s fight with the succubus.

Despite a day having passed, Lin’s pool of dark red blood, the blackened charred remains of the succubus, and shattered glass scattered around them remained.

“It appears to be a glass bottle that contained holy water.”

“I know that.”

Because I made it myself.

Because it was holy water created through prayer and blessing to the goddess.

As far as Arsil knew, there was only one person in this world who possessed holy water.

The porter.

Holy water wasn’t something that could be mass-produced like in a factory.

Only a saint could create it by invoking the goddess’s blessing, and even then, it remained effective only while the saint of that generation lived.

She had spent a full week making three bottles of holy water as a precaution and entrusted them to the party’s porter.

“It appears to be a lower-ranked demon. Judging by the remains…”

“Authority: Demonic energy hasn’t dissipated.”

“That can’t be…”

The mage spoke calmly, the saint bit her lip, and the elf held her breath.

The reality they wanted to deny revealed itself in the worst possible form.

The hero?

Alive. And with his power restored.

Demons?

Still exist. Presumed to be hiding throughout the Empire.

“I’ll report this to the Imperial Court.”

Arsil wanted to stop Tigria’s excessively businesslike attitude from reporting, but couldn’t.

She had no objective evidence, but somehow felt it shouldn’t be reported.

But she wouldn’t listen anyway.

Arsil and Naidrian sighed simultaneously.

Tigria was the one they had requested as a member of the subjugation team.

Regular soldiers would be worse than meat shields when encountering demons, and they’d likely cause panic and spread rumors.

If they unfortunately encountered the hero and the porter, what happened on the day of the Demon King’s subjugation might be revealed, so Arsil had approval for the mage to join instead of leaving church soldiers in the territory.

But the emotionless mage wasn’t being much help.

“This blood belongs to the porter. However, apart from this demon, no other corpses are detected nearby. Therefore, it seems the porter, despite suffering critical injuries himself, defeated the demon and fled with Luci.”

“A mere porter defeated a demon? It must have been the hero.”

Tigria shook her head.

“If it had been the hero, he would have either completely annihilated it with the holy sword or torn it apart with his hands.”

“The hero doesn’t have arms anymore.”

We tore them off ourselves.

She swallowed the uncomfortable afterthought.

“By the way, how do you know it’s the porter’s blood?”

“I regularly analyzed and checked the blood information of all party members to prepare for emergencies and monitor their health. By comparing with the data I’ve accumulated, I confirmed this blood belongs to Lin.”

“I-I don’t remember providing you with my blood.”

Tigria shrugged at Naidrian’s suspicious glance.

“We all bled regularly during battles.”

Naidrian was relieved to learn that the blood hadn’t been directly collected from her body.

“I didn’t want to know, but now that we’ve confirmed everything we needed to, let’s withdraw.”

Despite Subjugation Team Leader Arsil’s order to retreat, Tigria stared intently at the bloodstain.

Her narrowed eyes reflected a strange interest.

“I’m very curious.”

“About what?”

“I wonder why Lin is so desperately trying to save, protect, and accompany the hero.”

As they left the goddess’s sanctuary, the mage couldn’t hide her excitement and continued talking.

“Even on the day we were chasing them, there was little he could do as a non-combatant.”

“That guy was hiding a top-tier ultimate skill scroll. I thought Instant Movement was something that only existed in legends.”

“The ultimate skill scroll isn’t important. What matters is that he decided to stand against us and save the hero. The fact that Lin, who struggled with self-preservation in every battle, moved with such courage, and his motivation for doing so, is what interests me.”

“When you put it that way, I’m getting curious too.”

When Arsil objected and Naidrian agreed with her curiosity, Tigria showed uncharacteristic pride.

Others might not notice, but she was aware that she was in a highly excited state.

So she said something she normally wouldn’t have.

“This is affection.”

“What did you say?”

“Without Lin harboring affection for the hero, this whole sequence of events cannot be explained.”

“Good heavens, to hear the word ‘affection’ from your mouth, Tigria…!”

“……”

When her hypothesis was immediately rejected, Tigria closed her mouth.

Affection.

And it was clearly pure affection.

Sharing with others is indeed risky.

The mage decided to maintain the virtue of silence again.

“So who is Lin anyway?”

But the mage was dumbfounded by Arsil’s following question.

Who is Lin?

“From context, you’re talking about the porter, right?”

“That’s how I understood it too.”

There was only one person from the hero’s party whose blood sample had been obtained differently—the porter.

It was difficult to get Lin’s sample from the battlefield due to his passive role in combat.

So she asked directly, but Lin initially refused.

‘It’s to prepare for emergencies and monitor your health.’

‘I’m sorry, but um, I’m not used to people looking after me.’

‘Neither am I.’

Lin was somewhat unique to Tigria.

Their attitudes toward people were completely different, yet they had subtle similarities.

Tigria felt something like intimacy for the ‘first’ time in her life.

‘Given my background, people who knew anything about me always tried to exploit it.’

‘Then I’ll share information about myself that no one else knows. But you must keep it confidential.’

‘Uh…’

At that time, Tigria revealed her secret without waiting for an answer.

Lin was startled and covered her mouth.

‘Does anyone else know about this?’

‘Only you.’

For some reason, realizing that Lin was the only person who knew her secret made her feel good.

‘That’s too much information to exchange just for some blood.’

‘I think so too.’

‘You’re the one who told me without my consent.’

‘Whether we conclude this deal as is or negotiate properly depends on you.’

‘Sigh.’

After pondering briefly, Lin felt he needed to share two secrets to balance the exchange.

‘My name is Lin.’

‘I don’t consider that particularly valuable information.’

‘I lived in the same neighborhood as the Saint when I was young.’

‘I think some people would find that interesting.’

That concluded their deal.

Tigria’s secret was so significant that Lin’s information seemed trivial in comparison.

Lin also knew the mage wouldn’t carelessly share his information, which factored into his disclosure.

Not that Lin was completely honest about everything either.

‘Lin.’

‘Yes?’

‘Were you close with the Saint when you were young?’

‘…Let’s just say we were acquainted.’

‘If I tell the Saint, the party’s treatment of Lin would improve significantly.’

‘No, absolutely not.’

‘Understood.’

It was strange.

Unlike Tigria, who maintained her disinterest, the other party members treated the porter harshly.

Since he said he didn’t want a better position, there was no need to worry about it.

But shortly after, Tigria asked another question.

‘Who else knows Lin’s secret?’

‘Well, there are a few others.’

That was somewhat disappointing.

After that day, the mage began calling the porter by his name whenever they were alone.

Not that her overall interest in Lin had increased.

“Hey, Tigria!”

This time was different.

“Who is Lin…”

“It’s the porter. I found out by chance. I hope this answer helps.”

“…You really have a way with words.”

If he was acting purely out of affection, Lin was interesting enough to monopolize all of Tigria’s attention.

Fascinating.

The emergence of a new observation subject besides Rainfold excited Tigria.

“Sigh, we’ve confirmed the existence of demons, but we only have circumstantial evidence of the hero’s revival.”

“The holy sword literally pierced through the imperial palace ceiling. The cave ceiling was also broken.”

“Still, without seeing it directly…”

Annoyed by the two interrupting her thoughts, Tigria pushed past Naidrian to take the lead. As soon as they arrived in Efaltergard, she guided them to the location she had already identified with her detection magic.

When they finally arrived, Arsil and Naidrian couldn’t close their mouths.

“This is… damn it…!”

It was a clearing.

A clearing that looked as if the mountain ground had been forcibly pressed down.

Not very large, but the surrounding trees had been uprooted and scattered, and the ground was deeply gouged.

These were the traces left behind whenever Luci used his immense strength to leap with full power.

“I told you at the imperial palace.”

Tigria declared again with irritation but helpfully:

“The hero has returned.”