Ch.31The Five Desires and Seven Emotions (2)

The Seven Emotions and Five Desires (2)

To be honest, I’m not trying to brag, but I’m quite handsome.

Being a Mage gives me intelligence, and my life as a porter has given me a solid physique as well.

Yes, I’m handsome. I became certain of this one day.

It was during our journey to the magic tower where Millia was, as we were regrouping the hero’s party members.

“Lug, if you’re really having a hard time, would you like to run away with me?”

“Uh, well…”

The Saintess made such a proposal while the hero was away.

Honestly, isn’t this a temptation?

I had been thinking that recently, the hero Esmeralda had been whispering with her a lot, and it seems they were talking about me.

Yes, the two girls were consulting each other about their innocent feelings.

“If you’re willing, we could escape together to a place where no one can reach us.”

Saintess Eirene proposed that we elope together.

Wow, what an attractive offer. No, seriously, if it had been anyone but the Saintess, I might have fallen for it completely.

If being with her didn’t cause me physical pain, it would have been worth serious consideration.

In some ways, wouldn’t being by her side be more dangerous than being in the hero’s party?

And I still haven’t met the Demon Lord. I need to meet him, talk, and come to a conclusion.

“Lug. Is it not possible?”

“Uh…”

But when she looks at me with those tear-filled eyes, it’s quite tempting.

Those eyes could draw you in.

Maybe I could just endure the pain? We could run away together, build a house on a hill, live peacefully, have about thirteen children…

“Ahaha, what are you two talking about so happily?”

As I was imagining such a rosy future, Esmeralda, who I thought had left, appeared and spoke to us, instantly bringing me back to reality.

That was dangerous.

I almost felt like I was being brainwashed.

What kind of mindset made me consider such a proposal positively?

My complacency frightens me.

“Eirene?”

“Hehe, I was just joking.”

Wow, that really was dangerous.

It seems I almost took it seriously, not realizing it was a joke.

Yes, once again, I was the only one being serious.

I’ll definitely make her pay someday for making me shed tears of blood.

I secretly wiped away my tears as I watched the two of them look at each other and laugh cheerfully.

***

It was impossible to let her guard down.

That was Esmeralda’s recent state of mind since beginning the journey.

She had managed to have a sincere conversation with Eirene at the Papal Office and reached a somewhat amicable conclusion.

Yes, now the Celestial Order was truly cooperating with Esmeralda.

That couldn’t be anything but good news.

Even Eirene was controlling herself well by setting a goal to receive Lug after the Demon Lord was defeated.

Or at least, that’s what she thought.

“Haha, Eirene, really? Making jokes like that makes me feel left out.”

“Hehe, I’m sorry, hero.”

But Eirene was no ordinary person. She had been secretly scheming behind their backs.

[Note: Subject is in stage 2 of brainwashing. With time, they can naturally regain their senses.]

Eirene had been secretly manipulating Lug’s mind. The fact that he had reached stage 2 of brainwashing suggested she had been secretly drugging him for a long time.

Esmeralda was thankful that she could detect the effects of brainwashing on surface psychology.

It was an ability she didn’t know she had—a supplementary effect of [Emerald Tablet].

Without it, what would have happened?

Would Lug and Eirene have run away?

‘That woman is capable of that and more.’

Esmeralda responded with a bright smile to Eirene, who was still looking at her with a beaming face.

‘And that bastard too.’

Then she looked at Lug, who had nearly fallen for Eirene’s manipulation.

Even if he was under the influence of brainwashing, the fact that he fell for it so completely…

“Lug, have you prepared all the items you said you would?”

Esmeralda’s nagging.

“Of course. Although the distance to Glacies Magic Tower isn’t that far, I prepared generously just in case.”

But Lug diligently unpacked his luggage and began explaining each item in detail.

His eyes were sparkling, perhaps because it had been a while since he’d done proper porter work.

He was so stupid that he didn’t even notice he was being scolded.

He seems to be getting dumber by the day.

“Ah, yes… Good job.”

In the end, Esmeralda was left speechless at the sight.

“Hehe.”

Eirene’s smile, terrifyingly ecstatic as she gazed at Lug, was even more frightening than usual.

***

Clop-clop, clop-clop.

Lug was driving the horse-drawn carriage for the first time in a long while. Until now, he had been carrying just a backpack as a porter, but that wasn’t necessary anymore.

Because they were in a safe zone.

What threats could there be traveling within the Empire, especially on the road to the magic tower?

Today wasn’t cold but pleasantly warm, with a cool breeze, and Esmeralda, sitting in the back of the carriage Lug was driving, yawned.

“I’m sleepy…”

The demon forces they had repeatedly encountered while visiting fortress cities.

The legion commander they met while searching for Lug’s hometown (which wasn’t).

The crisis they faced at the Celestial Order where they went to heal their wounds.

After such a perilous journey, this moment couldn’t help but feel boring to Esmeralda.

Of course, that’s not to say she didn’t love peace.

She was fighting the Demon Lord and the dragon race to create this kind of peace.

‘Still, just sitting around doesn’t suit my temperament…’

But even when she lived in the countryside, she spent each day productively.

A daily routine of rushing to the fields when she woke up and returning home at sunset.

While it might seem like she worked like an ox, she found her own fulfillment in it.

The harvests from her fields were quite profitable for the amount of work she put in.

“Hero, are you bored?”

“…”

And there was one person who accurately read Esmeralda’s mind. The Saintess Eirene, with her strange personality that enjoyed tormenting others.

“Eirene, what are you plotting now?”

“Plotting? We’re friends, aren’t we? There’s nothing strange about enjoying leisure time with a friend.”

Unbelievable.

Even more so with that openly innocent smile.

Esmeralda narrowed her eyes and glared at Eirene.

Lug was holding the reins at the front and had no time to observe their situation, but making a loud noise to draw attention wouldn’t do any good.

Esmeralda lowered her voice and asked Eirene.

“So? What are you trying to do?”

“This.”

Eirene showed Esmeralda an item with a bright smile.

“…A book?”

“Yes!”

Esmeralda, who had flinched and prepared to counterattack, realized that what Eirene handed over was a book and relaxed her guard.

“What’s this book for?”

She knew Lug had prepared many miscellaneous items, but she didn’t know there was a book among them.

Was this for leisure?

Come to think of it, Lug and Millia often exchanged books to read, so it wasn’t particularly strange.

‘Right, I received a book gift from Millia recently too.’

Then this must be a gift prepared for Millia.

“Reading is good nourishment.”

“Hmm…”

Esmeralda suspiciously eyed Eirene but accepted the book she offered.

[Female Knight and the Tentacle Dungeon]

“…”

“…”

Esmeralda froze in the position she received the book.

And Eirene stared at her with a smile.

“…Eirene. How would you like me to react?”

“Crying out shyly and being embarrassed wouldn’t be bad.”

“I won’t do that. What do you take me for? Do you think I’m a teenager going through puberty?”

Esmeralda quietly put down the book Eirene had given her.

There was no need to be flustered.

She hadn’t completely let her guard down even when accepting the book. Of course, she hadn’t expected Eirene’s trick to be this.

“That’s a shame.”

“Hmph.”

Eirene, perhaps because of the unexpected reaction, pouted and crawled back to her original spot to quietly pray.

Was she bored too?

Esmeralda glared at Eirene as if she were looking at a crazy woman, then sighed deeply and went back to viewing the scenery beyond the carriage.

She could see trees densely planted beyond the well-maintained road.

That’s all she could see.

“…”

Esmeralda’s gaze momentarily shifted to the book she had put down.

She knows.

This is Eirene’s real scheme.

If she can’t resist her curiosity and opens the book, Eirene will use that as an excuse to torment her.

Seeing through that much is nothing.

“…”

Glance.

But her eyes keep going to it.

Leaving the book there without retrieving it must be part of Eirene’s plan.

Esmeralda quietly turned her head to check on Eirene.

She was still praying.

With her hands respectfully clasped and her eyes tightly closed.

‘With my reflexes… I could put the book back in its original place before Eirene opens her eyes.’

Reading the book was already a decided matter.

Esmeralda had now begun calculating her physical abilities and reflexes. After confirming Eirene’s angle and the state of her eyelids, Esmeralda finally reached out her hand.