Ch.20Chapter 20. Arsil Knows Nothing

“A doll…”

Lin pondered Rabin’s words.

She doesn’t know.

How many wounds he had endured and how hard he had worked to become what he is now.

Only after becoming the “doll” Rabin mentioned did the reckless behavior of the hero party’s porter disappear, allowing him to focus on his fundamental duties.

His true role: putting party members’ items in the inventory, preparing for camping, preparing meals, handling all sorts of chores without mistakes, and hiding behind a small shield, trembling during battles.

Though he found himself pathetic, his naturally weak body wasn’t strong enough to withstand the battles between the hero party and demon clan.

The approach he pursued to rationalize and endure that pathetic state—while barely resisting magical contamination—earned him the label of being “like a doll” from his enemies.

Nevertheless, Lin remained calm.

No, she had to remain calm.

The heart is so fragile that if it accepts every blow, it would shatter completely, leaving only endless self-loathing and self-hatred.

Lin suddenly thought of Lucy.

Despite her arrogant behavior being a flaw, Lucy had shouldered the burden of being a hero and fulfilled her responsibilities.

The price she paid was betrayal by her fiancé and companions.

In the midst of despair, the only way for her to maintain herself was to depend on Lin—the only person by her side—both physically and emotionally.

Just as Lin had deadened her heart to survive, Lucy had chosen to depend on Lin to survive.

Now she could understand.

Finally, she could comprehend.

The fact that Lucy had no one but her now.

Why Lucy was so affectionate and obsessive toward her.

She felt sorry for having unconditionally kept her distance from Lucy all this time.

Lin reconsidered her cautious thoughts—perhaps she should accept Lucy until she recovered, perhaps that would be okay.

She took out the softest cloth from her pocket and handed it to Lucy.

But Lucy, who was quietly shedding tears, didn’t notice.

With no other choice, Lin wiped Lucy’s eyes herself.

“…Lin?”

“It’s okay to cry when you want to.”

“I don’t want to cry.”

She must be embarrassed in front of the thief.

After gently wiping away her tears, Lin playfully pressed her finger against Lucy’s nose.

She smiled reassuringly.

Lucy blushed shyly.

Watching this, Rabin’s face reddened with frustration.

“What are you doing in front of an old acquaintance? Are you two dating?”

“She’s my only companion. And my best companion. We need to take care of each other.”

Lucy couldn’t decide whether to be sad or happy at Lin’s words.

“And let’s be clear with our expressions. We may be old acquaintances, but I only remember arguing with you every day.”

“That’s…! Because you were under Arsil! Always taking that gorilla woman’s side! I always told you to come to our side! To our gang!”

“Wow, that’s a serious distortion. All you did was invite me twice after we’d been pointing knives at each other.”

“N-no…!”

“And that was only when I gave you a sandwich.”

“Ugh…! That… sandwich was delicious….”

Rabin was the first to back down.

Lin was satisfied with the thought of winning, but Lucy felt quite the opposite.

The two were exchanging stories from the past.

Someone who knew Lin’s old self—before Lucy knew him—was showing off right in front of her.

Someone who knew Lin before he was beaten down was having trivial conversations with him.

Lucy envied those trivial conversations desperately.

But would Lucy know that there wasn’t much intimacy in this conversation?

“So you’re not going to tell me how you ended up like this, Lee?”

“It’s too long a story. Unless you’re asking about the most recent events.”

“The most recent?”

Lin inwardly sighed at Rabin, who was still fishing for information.

On the surface, she just played around, but underneath, she was carefully observing her opponent and extracting information—that was Rabin’s specialty.

Even the arrogant Rinasciendo had to be tense around Rabin, carefully considering what to say.

“Rabin, you don’t know about the hero party after the Demon Lord’s subjugation.”

“Conversely, I know more about worldly affairs after the Demon Lord’s subjugation.”

“So we each have information the other wants?”

If the episodes had proceeded exactly according to the reincarnated Lee’s memories, there would have been no need for such trivial negotiations.

That damned detail that had been emphasized so many times.

Especially, he needed to at least guess how much the Empire, with its intelligence network nearly as good as the Thieves’ Guild, knew about Lucy and Lin.

“The Thieves’ Guild is also an information broker, right? Let’s trade information.”

“Hmm~, okay, but you go first, Lee.”

“That won’t work. You’ve just learned the top-tier information about the hero’s location.”

“I didn’t particularly want to know that.”

As if she didn’t want to know—when it was one of the highest priority targets.

Valter Crua is a major stronghold in Chapter 2.

Lin knew from the reincarnated Lee’s memories that conspiracies to advance the main episode were already underway here.

“It’s not that impressive.”

Since Rabin was the one who was anxious, she began to divulge information first.

“Hero Luciana Estel supposedly died fighting the Demon Lord, and the remaining hero party brought back the Demon Lord’s horn in a sacred coffin, declaring the subjugation complete.”

“Ha.”

Lucy snorted at the absurd lie.

Her thirst for revenge, which she had forgotten while focusing on Lin, surged again.

However, unlike her usual self, Lucy suppressed it firmly.

One of the things she had promised to abandon when begging the goddess to save Lin was revenge.

Of course, limited to voluntary revenge.

Whether by chance or fate, if they appeared before her, she planned to slaughter them on the spot.

For now, she remained quiet as winning Lin’s heart was more urgent.

And Rainford was an exception.

She intended to kill him herself if the opportunity arose.

“A grand council was held to calculate and distribute the achievements, but strangely, no delegation came from the elves. It kept being delayed. The Church came right away though.”

It made sense for the Church to come immediately to secure their sacred relic, the holy coffin.

Additionally, they had ambitions to expand their influence using the Demon Lord’s horn contained within.

“The grand council was sooooo boring. People who had done nothing in the Demon Lord’s subjugation were making a fuss, trying to claim credit, saying they did this or supported that. The Empire and the Church couldn’t reach a conclusion even after a full day about what achievements they had made and what roles each country’s leaders had played. Ah, it makes me sick just thinking about it again. Damn nobles. Let me drink some water.”

Rabin took the water jug from the bedside and gulped it down.

“Then not long after, beacons were lit. Starting from Efaltergard. The message was that demons had appeared.”

There was absolute chaos because of the Efaltergard beacon.

With demons being discovered less than a month after the Demon Lord’s subjugation, humanity trembled in fear and anxiety, pressuring the hero party, who quickly moved to Efaltergard using Tigria’s magic.

“The ones who moved were the mage, the archer, and the saint—three people.”

“What about the shield knight?”

“Our esteemed Imperial Princess and he were busy making fools of themselves in some pathetic play, but he still stubbornly refused to go.”

“A play?”

Rabin looked at Lucy and grinned.

If I punched that loose-muscled face right now, would it cause rigor mortis?

Lucy thought it was an experiment worth trying.

“They brought the lightless holy sword and the sacred coffin, trying to frame the hero who supposedly died from the Demon Lord’s magical contamination as having fallen and become the source of the demons.”

“Who fell?!”

Lucy rose from her seat in anger, but Lin quickly caught her and offered his shoulder.

“It’s not worth getting angry over, Lucy.”

“But… Lin… you know! I actually…!”

“Yes, I know. We know. Soon, not too far from now, let’s reveal the truth to the world.”

“I’ll do it with Lin.”

“Of course. For now, we need to prepare, so let’s be patient, okay?”

“Okay…”

Burying her face in his shoulder, Lucy whispered.

“I only need Lin.”

If I could nail that hero’s ponytail to the floor, maybe she wouldn’t cling to Lee and would hold her head up straight.

This time, Rabin thought of a new experiment.

“But suddenly, the holy sword emitted a red-golden light again and flew through the palace ceiling. While everyone was bewildered, the mage Tigria quietly declared that the hero had returned.”

That was a fact Lin had forgotten.

When Lucy recovers, naturally the holy sword would sense its master’s revival and fly to her on its own.

That means Lucy should currently have the holy sword Hrungnir.

…or she should, but why doesn’t she?

It was a special bound item that couldn’t even be placed in the inventory window.

Noticing his questioning look, Lucy avoided his gaze for the first time since they had been traveling together.

Ignoring their strange atmosphere, Rabin continued with her story.

“Anyway, the three hero party members went to Efaltergard, and the conclusion was that they found a demon corpse. Strange, right? Not that they defeated it, but that they found it. Someone had already killed the demon.”

At this point, Rabin was staring intently at Lucy.

As if asking, was it you who killed the demon?

Lin, who knew the truth, had no intention of revealing it.

“And currently, the slow-moving elf delegation has arrived in the archipelago, so the archer has returned, while the saint and the mage are investigating whether there are more traces of demons in Efaltergard. That’s all.”

“What’s the public opinion?”

“People are anxious that there might be more demons. Since some imperial citizens saw the holy sword soaring into the sky, there are growing voices saying they need to find the hero’s whereabouts and bring her back as soon as possible.”

It must be the commoners.

Lucy was popular among the commoners.

“Ironically, it’s public opinion created mainly by the nobles.”

Lin was embarrassed at his incorrect prediction.

“With the threat of demons being felt again, they’re clamoring for the only countermeasure to protect them. But for some reason, the Imperial Princess and the shield knight are just dawdling around.”

Having finished her story, Rabin stretched.

Her small but perky chest became prominent.

“It’s our turn.”

Where should he start?

After a moment’s consideration, Lin decided to tell everything honestly.

The thief was someone who wouldn’t betray Lin and Lucy.

Whether willingly or unwillingly.

“After a fierce battle, Lucy cut down the Demon Lord with the holy sword.”

In a calm, monotone voice, he recounted the recent history.

From how the party members crushed and tore off each of the hero’s limbs, to how he rescued Lucy and fell off a cliff, walked for days to reach Efaltergard, and after great hardship, helped Lucy recover.

Rabin’s eyes grew wider as she listened to the story.

“What…?”

At first, Rabin denied it.

“That can’t be. Arsil! She cherishes her own people terribly—that’s what we from the Sewage Alley are like!”

Lin rolled up Lucy’s sleeve.

Only after seeing the white scars on both arms, at the points of reattachment, did Rabin accept this uncomfortable truth.

“Even if I give you a thousand benefits of the doubt… I can understand not recognizing you.”

Lin agreed.

From the perspective of someone who knows everything, they might consider those who don’t know as fools, but finding and discovering is inherently much more difficult than hiding.

“But to tear off the arms of a comrade who shared life and death?”

She sat down, clutching her head in despair.

“What was the price the shield knight promised?”

Rabin’s movements, which had been tearing at her scalp and disheveling her hair, suddenly stopped.

This isn’t easy for her either.

Lin had only one body, yet somehow all the tangled threads of events in this world seemed to be wrapping around him.

What price had Arsil been promised by the shield knight and the Imperial Princess?

Rabin and Lin could easily infer it.

But before that, Rabin had to confirm something.

“Lee, don’t tell me…”

To understand the depth of the atrocious sin this foolish saint had committed, she had to confirm it.

“Does Arsil not know at all that the Sewage Alley is gone?”

Rabin had groundlessly assumed that since Arsil held the position of a saint, she would at least have some idea.

It was a wishful hope, a prayer of denial.

She had thought that when Arsil met Lin or herself, her suspicion would become certainty, which was why the porter had hidden his identity.

“Is that why you wore a hood and hid your identity until the end?”

Lin had no obligation to answer the question.

But silence itself can be an excellent affirmation.

“ARSIIIIL-!!!!!!”

Rabin let out a roar at the incomprehensible obsession and sin committed by her former rival—whom she had acknowledged and cherished even as they threw punches and daggers at each other’s throats.