Ch.6The Reason He Is Needed (4)

The Reason He’s Needed (4)

When Tina joined the hero party, the atmosphere became much brighter.

“No, but that guy…”

When talking with Tina, Esmeralda could act like an ordinary girl, free from all constraints.

“The hero seems very happy to be reunited with you, Tina.”

“…”

“Since he’s only paying attention to Tina, should we have fun by ourselves?”

“No.”

“Hiyah! The art of bug extermination!”

“Kieeeeeeek!”

Lug, who had been half-heartedly responding while observing Esmeralda and Tina’s movements, felt Eirene’s palm strike his back.

Hit directly by Eirene’s unexpected Buddha-hand technique, Lug let out a strange scream and rolled on the floor.

“Hahaha, what was that?”

Of course, Eirene laughed cheerfully, thinking it was just Lug playing around.

“Ahem! I, I was just trying to liven up the mood.”

“You really startled me!”

“Haha…”

Lug, the bug that was nearly exterminated, had no choice but to laugh along.

Though tears nearly welled up, fortunately no wounds remained.

Perhaps an ordinary demon would have died from such an attack, but wasn’t Lug one of those rare half-demon, half-human hybrids?

“Puhehe, Esmeralda, did you see that? His acting is so convincing. Is Lug actually a demon?”

“…”

Tina turned around at Lug’s scream and laughed while holding her stomach.

Lug, who was trying to get up after rolling on the floor, couldn’t raise his head for a moment.

‘Could she really have noticed? I’m afraid to look at her face.’

But, as if understanding Lug’s feelings, Esmeralda laughed like Tina and said:

“…That’s impossible. Come on, Tina. If Lug were a demon, he would have died from Eirene’s attack just now, right?”

Esmeralda’s defense was based on standard human history information and knowledge only she possessed.

Lug felt relieved, dusted himself off, and stood up.

“You never know. Lug could be half-demon, half-human.”

“Oh, there’s no way that’s possible…”

But Tina’s attack didn’t end. Her grinning expression seemed like she was just teasing Lug, but it also looked like she was trying to trap him.

“Oh my? That could be possible, couldn’t it?”

And Eirene joined in on Tina’s joke.

Lug was in a desperate situation.

Even Esmeralda found it difficult to defend Lug at this moment.

If she got serious now, it would only raise more suspicions.

“Shall we check?”

“…Pardon?”

“Hiyah!”

This time, Eirene didn’t just touch him but embraced Lug with her whole body. Naturally, she was surrounded by holy power.

“…”

Esmeralda’s eyes widened at the sight, but she held her breath.

Now she could only trust Lug.

Fortunately, Lug seemed to have been mentally prepared since hearing Tina’s joke, as he endured Eirene’s deadly embrace without even blinking, let alone screaming.

“…”

But he couldn’t speak.

It was all he could do to endure the pain. Lug was completely stiff, which to an uninformed observer might have looked like he was stiff from embarrassment.

“What’s that? No fun.”

Though Tina had started the joke, she clicked her tongue at the scene that looked like a fresh couple who had just started dating.

‘I’m not having fun either, you brat.’

Lug gritted his teeth inwardly.

The only one having fun was Eirene, who was playing a prank on Lug.

“Hey! Get off! How dare you flirt in the sacred hero party! And you, priestess, act modestly as a priestess should!”

“You sound like our church leader, Tina. Despite the age difference, hehe.”

“What? Are you picking a fight? Esmeralda! She’s picking a fight, right?”

Esmeralda checked Eirene’s reaction on Tina’s behalf.

[Note: I’m wondering how to get rid of Tina.]

“Not at all. I think Tina is overreacting.”

“Traitor! I thought we were friends!”

Esmeralda saved Tina.

But no one acknowledged her salvation.

‘So this is the hero’s path. A lonely and painful road.’

While secretly holding back tears, Esmeralda looked at Eirene.

Was she really thinking of getting rid of someone just for saying that? Esmeralda indirectly understood how insidious the church’s internal politics must be.

“We don’t have time to rest. We should quickly join Millia, right? Tina, you said Millia was waiting at the base camp?”

“Huh? That’s right. She said she set up all kinds of trap magic, so there shouldn’t be any problems. Even if something happens, we’d know at this distance.”

BOOM!

Just as Tina finished speaking, a massive explosion was heard in the distance.

“Oh… I hope nothing happened because of what I said.”

Tina muttered awkwardly.

***

A distant explosion. Tina panicking and Esmeralda blinking in surprise.

As I watched the two rush off, I suddenly realized.

‘Huh? Now that they’re gone, I can escape, right?’

Rising excitement. Quickening pulse.

I quietly turned my body in the opposite direction from where the others were heading.

“Shall we go too?”

“…Yes.”

Then I discovered Eirene smiling brightly behind me and turned back to the front.

For some reason, a chill ran down my spine.

I felt like I shouldn’t be here. After all, I had nearly physically gone to heaven from Eirene’s holy power embrace earlier.

“Hehe.”

“…”

I ran. I decided to run with all my might. To escape the grim reaper behind me, to avoid the snow-white death that followed like a shadow.

And as I ran to escape death, what I encountered was…

“ARRRGH!”

“Please! Please kill me!!”

“AHHH! AHHH! It won’t come off my body! What is this thing! AHHH!”

Crack! Crunch! Crackle!

A hellish scene unfolding in the mortal world.

Demons screaming and amorphous objects clinging to them.

Burning, crumpling, breaking.

The demons rolled on the ground, screaming in agony, while the perpetrator merely watched with interest.

Esmeralda was speechless and Tina was trembling.

The final member of the hero party.

The joint successor of the continent’s 7 great magic towers, an unparalleled magical genius.

“Ah, Lug. Long time no see. Welcome.”

Millia Asrin.

She greeted me.

A somewhat gloomy impression, brown bob cut, red eyes, baggy black robe.

And most importantly, a chest so prominent that even the baggy robe couldn’t conceal it.

Indeed, the hero party’s strongest mage.

If Eirene Saintess was “definitely larger than average,” she was simply large without comparison to the average.

They say mages need to be smart, but it looked like she had installed two extra brains on her chest.

As I was secretly stealing glances at Millia’s chest while pretending not to, she wiped the blood splattered on her cheek with her sleeve and smiled broadly.

Don’t smile. I might get attached.

I tried to shake off Millia’s enchanting magic and asked:

“Ahem! Um… Lady Millia? What are you doing right now?”

“Hm? Experimenting? Look, it’s a new magic. I’ve imbued various elements into viscous liquids so they can deliver continuous impact.”

So you created such a terrible magic.

And you were experimenting its effects on our demons.

Deliberately keeping them alive. Millia’s appearance as she recorded something while watching the screaming and writhing bodies truly resembled that of a madwoman.

If Millia reported this magic to the magic tower, it would immediately be added to the list of forbidden magic.

It’s clearly specialized for torture. Once listed as forbidden magic, Millia’s spell would be secretly utilized by covert units of various countries.

I already felt sorry for the demon soldiers who would be captured as prisoners.

“Oh, Lug. This is a gift for you. I read it first, and it was interesting.”

“What? Oh, yes, thank you.”

As I was looking at the writhing demons with a terrible feeling, Millia handed me a book.

She occasionally gave me books as gifts like this. It’s probably because I’m the only one who enjoys reading as much as she does.

In some sense, Eirene also enjoys reading, but she only reads scripture.

This shared interest in genre fiction is unique to Millia and me.

Since Millia reads all sorts of miscellaneous books, sometimes strange ones get mixed in, but her recommendations are usually worth reading.

Now, what kind of book is it this time?

[Female Knight and the Tentacle Dungeon]

Oh, it’s an obscene book.

Honestly, being the odd one out in the hero party has been uncomfortable in many ways, so in some sense, this is fortunate.

Though I’m not sure what to think about a woman who gives such gifts.

I’ll take it as a good thing.

“Tell me what you think after reading it.”

“…Pardon?”

She wants me to share my thoughts after reading this?

Millia’s expression remained gloomy as usual, making it hard to tell if she was joking or serious.

More surprising was that she could hand over such a book while conducting cruel experiments.

“Ahem! Hmm, hmm… Well, I’ll think about my impressions later… Anyway, I’ll read the book well. Thank you for the gift, Lady Millia.”

“Mm-hmm.”

But one can’t be careless with received gifts. I decided to keep Millia’s gift safe and read it occasionally.

I’ll read it when I’m lonely at night.

How poetic.