Chapter 1: Heroine defeated

Hero, Archmage, Saintess, Grand Thief, Oracle.

The massive Demon King’s Castle was quickly conquered.

“……You will never be happy.”

The Demon King’s dying words were unsettling. But anyway, the unprecedentedly evil Demon King died by the Hero’s hand.

The Empire praised the Hero’s achievements.

Statues were erected in many places along the path the Hero had taken.

Until then, the Hero’s party was happy.

Yes, they were happy.

Until the Hero returned to his hometown and married his childhood friend, the Saintess.

“……That bastard Hero, *hic*……*sob*, *sniff*……”

A small pub in the capital.

The Grand Thief, Ariina, who had been drinking alone, suddenly burst into tears.

I was beside her as she sobbed for a long time.

I sighed and patted Ariina’s back.

She looked so pitiful, completely unlike the always confident Grand Thief.

Her ambition to seize everything in the world had long since crumbled.

Ariina chugged her beer mug and turned her head to look at me.

Her tear-filled eyes were blank.

Her usually firm expression was a mess of tears and snot.

She was incredibly pathetic.

It was as if she had lost everything in the world.

Ariina turned her gaze back to the empty air and mumbled.

Her voice was wet with tears.

“*Hic*, that Saintess……that b*tch took my, my Hero……”

“……Sigh. You’re going through a lot too.”

I sighed and comforted her.

Well, I don’t know if my comfort would help her while she was crying.

As I patted her back, Ariina wailed, “Uwaaaah!” and cried even louder.

She gulped down her beer.

That seems like the fifth glass……isn’t that getting dangerous?

“How……how could he choose that Saintess……What’s wrong with me! *Hic*, *sniff*, I could treat him so much better than her……”

Ariina hung her head low and mumbled.

Tears dripped, drip, drip onto the table.

A quick glance showed her face was dark.

Her expression was distorted with sorrow and regret.

Yes, the pain of a broken heart is like that.

Ariina was objectively beautiful.

She was confident she was second to none.

Her long black hair and red eyes were captivating, and her toned, lean body kept men awake at night.

She loved the Hero.

She didn’t show it outwardly, but I knew she kept a wedding ring hidden in her pocket.

She loved him that much.

Whenever she had a moment, she would approach me, who was always cleaning my magic staff alone, and ask for advice on how to confess to the Hero.

‘A broken heart……’

‘I also got rejected by a senior I liked when I was in Korea, drank a ton of alcohol, and then woke up in another world the next morning.’

Anyway, I completely understand Ariina’s feelings.

Getting rejected by someone you love is incredibly difficult.

A companion (heroine) not chosen by the Hero (protagonist)……isn’t this a defeated heroine?

****

CRASH!

Startled by a loud noise, I looked to my side.

Ariina, who had slammed her beer mug on the table, looked at me with a tear-streaked face.

Her cheeks were flushed red from being completely drunk, and her eyes were unfocused.

“Am, am I really that unattractive?!”

“You have a lot of charm……”

I gave a wry smile.

Objectively and subjectively, her appearance was top-tier, and her personality, aside from being ambitious, was flawless.

But her rival was not good.

It’s a cliché for the Hero to marry his childhood friend.

“Then why! Why not me……why the Saintess.

Why that Yustia b*tch……”

“Ariina……”

I trailed off, looking at the sobbing Ariina.

I couldn’t say anything.

Empty words of comfort wouldn’t help her.

All I could do was be with her on this lonely night.

Ariina chugged her beer again.

That was her eighth glass.

I wondered how such a small body could hold so much.

“……Hey, Ain.”

“Hm?”

She called my name, and I looked at her with a questioning gaze.

Ariina was staring intently at me.

The emotion in her tear-filled eyes was subtle.

“Do you have someone you like?”

‘Honestly, the Saintess, the Oracle, the Knight, and even you, I like them all……but isn’t the Hero’s party full of perfect men and women?’

“Not yet. Why?”

“Phew, I see.

Just.

I wondered why someone as good as you doesn’t have a partner.”

Ariina sighed deeply as she spoke.

A cold emotion could be felt in her eyes.

Indeed.

Why don’t people want to meet a kind and capable man like me?

My face is pretty decent too.

Though I’m far from the Hero.

The world doesn’t remember second place.

No matter how good I am, under the Hero’s brilliance, I’m not popular.

Damn it, are you the strongest even with women, Hero?

I shrugged and said,

“Well, what can you do?

I’ll find a good woman later or just live alone forever.”

“You’re just like me……”

Ariina said, looking at me with pitiful, compassionate eyes.

Hey, don’t pity me.

You’re the same, you know?

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Then……right, if it’s you…..you’re kind, handsome, and capable.”

Ariina mumbled, looking at her glass.

There was something eerie in her flat voice.

“Even if I had confessed, the Hero wouldn’t have accepted, would he?”

“……”

I couldn’t say anything.

The Saintess was the Hero’s childhood friend, and the Hero implicitly loved the Saintess too.

You could say she was the true heroine.

It would be a lie to say no.

But I couldn’t affirm it either.

I just silently looked at Ariina.

And silence was affirmation.

Ariina bit her lip tightly and turned her eyes away, as if she couldn’t bear my gaze.

“Ariina……”

“Tch! Fine.

I’ll find another man!”

Ariina shrieked.

She fumed and began to spew insults about the Hero and the Saintess.

Yes, the proud Ariina is not someone who gives up easily.

It seems like it’s time for her motto to shine: if not a diamond, then gold; if not gold, then silver.

I sipped beer with her.

Ariina’s insults dragged on endlessly, and she repeated the same thing about three times.

She was completely drunk.

She suddenly spun her head around and looked at me with unfocused eyes.

“……Hey, what do you think of me?”

“You? I think you’re beautiful.

Anyone would think you’re beautiful, wouldn’t they?

You have a great figure too.

Black hair and red eyes, that’s attractive.”

Perhaps because I was drunk, many embarrassing words spilled out.

However, it was the truth.

Words I had kept inside kept coming out.

“Honestly, the Hero’s party is just full of perfect men and women, but aren’t you truly the best?”

“Aren’t you……complimenting me too much?”

Ariina said, her face bright red, as if embarrassed.

Her hesitant appearance was incredibly cute.

Who knew the always elegant Grand Thief would have such a gap moe when drunk?

I shook my head.

“No, it’s exactly as I said.”

“……Really?”

Ariina stared blankly at me.

An expression of disbelief.

I sipped my beer and said,

“Why would I lie to you?

If you don’t believe me, go ask someone on the street.”

“But, but you never said I was beautiful before……even if you say it suddenly now.”

Ariina looked down, lacking confidence, and spoke in a small, almost inaudible voice.

I scoffed in disbelief.

“If I were you, I’d live my whole life playing and eating.

Just with your looks alone.”

“……Am I that beautiful?”

Ariina spun her head the other way and asked.

I couldn’t see her face, but her ears had turned bright red.

Her voice also dripped with embarrassment.

“I’m not someone who would just flatter you, Ariina.

You are beautiful.”

“I see……”

Ariina mumbled softly.

After saying only that, she continued to chug her beer.

As if her earlier crying fit was a lie, she silently tilted her beer mug.

“Sigh.

What does it matter?

Nothing will change by talking about the Hero and Saintess, whom I won’t meet again anyway.”

“……”

Now, it was my turn to lament.

Having worked with the Hero for so long, I had accumulated quite a few feelings about him.

No matter how good a person he was, the Hero wasn’t perfect.

Recalling trivial stories from the journey to defeat the Demon King, I chuckled to myself.

It was almost time for the pub to close, and I was about to take Ariina back to her lodging.

Ariina turned her head and stared intently at me.

The emotions in her half-closed eyes were unease and nervousness.

She gripped her clothes tightly with her hand, her lips parted as she hesitated.

I looked at her with a puzzled expression.

What was she trying to do?

After a long moment of hesitation, Ariina opened her mouth as if she had made up her decision.

“Us.

Want to date?”