kscans

Chapter 54 - Memories of Defeating the Hero

The day after returning from the mine, Hayato was in his room, surrounded by Adamantite ore.

He had managed to obtain more Adamantite than necessary from their mining expedition. This was partly thanks to the skill-boosting bracelets he had prepared, but Diite's contribution was also significant.

For some reason, Diite had an Ore Knowledge skill of 100. Everyone was surprised to see her mining Adamantite at the same speed as Hayato. The most surprised of all was probably Hayato himself.

(Impossible. I saw Diite-chan's skills. I have a vague memory of them, but I don't think she had a single production-related knowledge skill... I think she had a magic knowledge skill that increased the power of her magic, but she shouldn't have had Ore Knowledge.)

Hayato remembered that Diite had no unnecessary skills when he had looked at them. In the first place, with a skill composition geared towards a magic user, there was no room for production-related knowledge skills.

He thought it would be strange to point it out while she was mining Adamantite, so he didn't say anything at the time, but he was troubled, thinking that this was clearly strange.

(I'll try asking her next time.)

Diite was an extraordinary NPC who could learn both Holy Magic and Necromancy at the same time. He didn't know how much he could pry, but it felt somehow wrong to leave it as it was. Hayato thought so.

Nevertheless, for now, repairing the Demon Lord Lunaria's sword, Arondight, was the priority.

He had confirmed that there was no danger in getting close to the Demon Lord. He had checked with Relic and Mist as soon as he returned from the mine. Relic only expressed a sense of nostalgia towards Lunaria, and Mist, as a resident of the Demon Country, even expressed a welcoming sentiment.

(What is the Demon Lord in this world?)

In a normal game, she would be the final boss. A dangerous person thinking of destroying the world. The hero would defeat her. In most games, this would be the standard. But in this game, she was just one of the characters. He didn't know what role she was given.

It could be that there was simply no story, but he also wondered if it was okay to let such a character roam freely. Even if she was an NPC, shouldn't she be waiting in the Demon Lord's Castle or somewhere?

(Well, there's no point in me thinking about that. What's important is whether the Demon Lord will participate in the Clan War.)

As Hayato was thinking that, he heard a loud voice coming from the shop. It was a man's voice, and he was making a commotion.

Thinking that a troublesome customer had come, Hayato left his room and rushed to the shop.

There stood a man in his late twenties with dark red hair. His upper arms were exposed, and he wore a black inner garment with silver armor.

The man was leaning over the counter, pressing Esha.

"Esha! Lunaria came here, didn't she!? Let me see her!"

"You're as noisy as ever. You're bothering the other customers, so please leave at once."

"There are no other customers besides me!"

Let me see Lunaria, meaning he wanted to see the Demon Lord. He didn't know who this man was, but Esha seemed to know him, so he thought there was no danger, yet he felt a sense of unease and decided to intervene.

"Um, customer, could you please not raise your voice at our employee?"

"Huh? Whoops, my bad. Got a little excited there. Are you the manager of this shop? Sorry for shouting."

Hayato was relieved that he was surprisingly easy to talk to despite his rough way of speaking, and he decided to ask about the situation.

"Um, what's the matter? If there's a reason, I'm willing to listen."

"I'm the Hero, and I heard someone who looked like Lunaria came here, so I came to check."

"Ah, is that so—the Hero?"

"Yeah, the Hero, Ivan Forcaro. Nice to meet ya. So, what about it? Did Lunaria come here?"

(First the Demon Lord, now the Hero... I see, that's why he's an acquaintance of Esha.)

Esha had belonged to the Hero's clan during the Clan War three years ago. For some reason, she had committed the outrage of defeating both the Hero and the Demon Lord, but seeing that they still had a connection like this, Hayato thought they probably weren't on hostile terms.

Hayato glanced at Esha. She had a clearly annoyed look on her face. And when Esha noticed Hayato's gaze, she shook her head with a movement so small that Ivan wouldn't notice.

Hayato understood this as a gesture telling him not to tell Ivan about Lunaria.

"I'm sorry. A person named Lunaria has not come here. Even if she had, I wouldn't tell you for reasons of confidentiality. Our customers' privacy is important."

"I-Is that so... well, about the confidentiality, now that you mention it, that might be true... Alright, I'll go home for today. Sorry for the trouble..."

Ivan's shoulders slumped, and he left the shop.

Then, about a minute of silence. After confirming that Ivan was not just outside the shop, Hayato spoke.

"Um, what's going on? I don't think it's wrong for the Hero to be looking for the Demon Lord, but I wasn't supposed to say anything, right?"

"Yes, I'm glad my intention got across. This means that the relationship between you and me has gone up a rank. Please increase my snacks to commemorate it. I'd like almond tofu."

"Don't say weird things. So, what's the deal?"

"It's not really my place to say, but to put it simply, Ivan has a crush on Lunaria-sama."

"What?"

"I believe he wants to date her with marriage in mind. If they start flirting in front of me, I plan to fire off a Destroy."

"...I don't suppose the reason you defeated both of them in the last Clan War was—"

"Of course not. Ivan said he would confess if he won the Clan War, and at that point, there was no way for them to flirt—"

For some reason, Esha stopped mid-sentence.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, my memory of that time is a little fuzzy... The reason I defeated them both was because they were talking during the battle, but I feel like that was part of the plan... and it wasn't so much that I shot them with the Beelzebub, but more like something came from the sky—ugh."

"Esha!?"

Esha crouched down behind the counter, covering her mouth. Then she clutched her head with both hands, her brow furrowed.

Hayato panicked and went behind the counter, getting close to Esha. He didn't know if this was the right thing to do, but he rubbed the back of the crouching Esha.

(What happened? There shouldn't be any sense of pain in this game. I don't know about nausea, but Esha is an NPC. Is it possible for the AI to have programmed something like that? It might be possible for a player, but... wait, or is some kind of event happening?)

An NPC supposedly run by an AI feels sick and crouches down. That's impossible. Before, when Esha opened a box with a poison needle trap and got poisoned, her HP decreased, but she acted normally. And she was fine even when Maris's Siegfried bit her. NPCs shouldn't have a sense of pain either.

In that case, the only thing he could think of was that she was programmed to act that way when a specific event was cleared. That was how she was programmed.

However, Hayato thought that far and then shook his head.

(Events and programs don't matter. Esha looks like she's in pain. I have to help her first.)

"Esha, I'm carrying you to an empty room, so hold on a little longer."

Hayato picked up the trembling, pained Esha. It was a so-called princess carry. He then took her to a room with a bed on the second floor.

It was a room that the members of Kokuryu had used before, but now no one was using it. He laid Esha down on the bed in that room. Then he covered her with a blanket.

Immediately after, he called for Ren and Diite. He thought it would be better for a woman to take care of her personal needs than a man like himself. And Diite could use holy magic. He didn't know if she could use magic that would be effective on Esha in this state, but he decided to call her just in case.

And Hayato decided to prepare an Elixir. He didn't know if this would be effective either, but he couldn't just do nothing.

As Hayato was about to go to the storage to get an Elixir, his hand was suddenly grabbed.

Surprised, he looked at Esha. She didn't seem to be in pain at all, and had somehow returned to her normal state. She was lying down and holding his left hand with her right.

"Master, I'm fine now."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes, it was just like I ate a little too much. I've digested it now, so I'm alright."

She was clearly lying. But Hayato thought this was a lie to keep him from worrying. Replying seriously that it was a lie would be tactless.

"Then no snacks for you today."

"Wait! If I don't have that, I'll feel even worse! In fact, I might go on a rampage!"

"If you're energetic enough to go on a rampage, I guess you're okay. Snacks aside, you should take it easy today. Don't worry about the shop."

"Is that so. Then I'll take you up on your offer today and have you serve me. First, please bring me some Melon Juice. And some hotcakes with lots of honey."

"Alright, get to work."

Just as Hayato said that, he heard the sound of hurried footsteps. And the door flew open with force.

"Esha-san! Are you alright!? Ah—"

It was Ren who came in. But something was strange. She froze, looking at Hayato and the others. Then, with slow movements, she stepped out of the room and closed the door.

"Ren-chan? What's wrong? Come on in."

"N-No! I didn't see anything! P-Please, enjoy yourselves!"

Then the sound of hurried footsteps faded into the distance.

"Um, what was that about?"

"Ah, it's this."

Esha said, and slightly lifted Hayato's hand. In other words, she was still holding his hand.

This is going to be a pain to explain, Hayato sighed.