Heroes and Machine Girls Looking at Profiles

12 – Bursting with energy

Crossing the border and passing through Joltan village, we crossed the border again.

Halfus Empire.

We set foot on the land of this great nation, which is deeply connected in some way.

Our destination is the capital of the Empire, Monton Shellarke.

The reason for targeting there is, of course, to find clues to the ruins of the Goddess.

There are several ruins of the Goddess on the continent, but most of them are designated as ‘sanctuaries’ and under the control of the Church.

From the beginning, the ruins of the Goddess on Lindium Mountain are also designated as a sanctuary, and their location is not disclosed to the public.

I only knew the location because I had been there once as a hero.

Well, even if it was designated as a sanctuary or something, it seems that the control of the Church has slackened over time.

Anyway, even if the control was slackened, it’s still the case that the ruins of the Goddess are designated as sanctuaries, and if you ask at the Church, no one will open their mouth.

In the end, I had no choice but to find clues by my own strength.

That’s why I’m heading towards the city of Shailark.

In Shailark, there is a library boasting the largest scale and the highest book-holding volume on the continent.

I remember its existence, given that I’d visited the library back when I was part of the heroic party.

It was my intention to find books about the goddess, or related to archaeology there.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Reinforce spoke, concern detectable in his voice.

“You know, those despicable women live in that city.”

Of course, by despicable women, he meant the three traitors: Aines, Ciella, and Alessa.

Theirs was a royal palace locate in this city.

“Well, it’s unsettling, but we hopefully won’t cross paths.”

Before I chose Shailark as my destination, I too had this concern.

No matter how we managed to disguise ourselves, the chances weren’t completely null that they would notice my identity if we ever came across them.

And as long as the chances weren’t null, there was still danger.

However, thankfully, or at least I should say fortunately…

According to the stories of the passersby, these women haven’t shown themselves since the wedding parade, except occasionally glimpsed around the palace.

Of course, the chances of the women deciding to go out weren’t zero, but at least there should be no risk to encounter them at the library.

…

“Master, may I have a word?”

“Not at all, what is it?”

Upon hearing the soft voice from behind, I turned around.

And there, stood the girl I met on Lindium mountain, Ortlinde.

However, her appearance had changed quite a bit.

First and foremost, she was dressed in armour made from leather, replacing the remaining clothes she used to wear.

Well, to be fair, I wanted to buy her some prettier clothes.

A rural village like Jorutan still had a decent selection of fine clothes despite their lack of expensive fabric.

However, Ortlinde herself refused these clothes and wanted the armour instead.

“I am your master’s sword and shield. If anything happens, I want an outfit that makes me capable of protecting my master.”

With those stubborn words, I finally bought her the armour.

However, this was a rural village after all, so there weren’t strong steel armours. The only option was a sturdy one made out of multi-layered animal hide.

Perhaps it was because the base outfit was great.

The leather armour, fit as if it was glued to her body and it suited her so well that passers-by turned their heads.

I also bought her a leather shield, as for the sword, I promised Ortlinde to buy one when we reached Huang Dao, as she didn’t find any suitable ones here.

In any case, the girl who called me approached silently, brought her face close to mine and spoke in a hush.

“…There are those looming from behind, following us covertly.”

“Oh, that.”

I am aware.

They are mercenary types whom we passed about ten or so minutes ago.

As they walked past, they glanced over at Ortlinde with nasty smiles.

And, they were covertly treading behind us, hiding their presence.

“Leave them be.”

“Huh? Can we do that?”

“If they raid us, we’ll fend them off then.”

They aren’t bandits or fugitives, just mercenaries for now.

Since they haven’t stirred up trouble yet, we’d have no choice but to let them go if they denied following us after an attack.

So we wait for their assault.

Only then would it count as self-defense, giving us free rein to kill them without repercussions.

And, unlikely as it may be, we can’t entirely rule out the possibility that they’re simply attracted to our appearance and following us for that reason alone.

…That in itself is rather disturbing.

And if they do indeed intend to attack us, it’s high time they started moving.

In the distance, the walls of Shai Ark began to come into view.

“Master.”

“Yes, they seem to be mobilizing.”

As expected, some of those who had been secretly tailing us picked up their pace, moving ahead of us.

I had intended to let them go if they gave up chase and turned around.

However, the mercenaries who were quietly forming an encirclement around us exposed themselves.

“Hey there, would you mind waiting a moment?”

As suspected, they were the mercenaries who had passed by earlier.

Four behind, three ahead.

There had been well over ten of them when they passed by on the road earlier; seeing only seven suggested that some of the mercenary group had concocted this scheme on their own.

“…What can I help you with?”

While I have some idea of their intentions, I still ask.

“Are you a trader?”

“Yes, well… do you need something?”

Even though my identity is a fake, as a pretend merchant, I still have some goods to show.

Smiling, I showed them the sack of supplies I was carrying on my back.

At my response, the surly mercenary in the lead smirked.

“Something I need… well, yes, I do need something.”

“Uh, well, I haven’t purchased much yet, so I don’t have much… but could you at least tell me what you need?”

“That woman.”

“What?”

Whilst I had hoped for otherwise, it turned out as expected.

“We need that woman.”

“I’m sorry, but she’s not merchandise.”

“Ha ha, I see. You still don’t understand the situation.”

The man unsheathed the sword at his waist.

“Right now, you have two choices: leave the woman or die.”

“Aren’t you mercenaries? The mercenaries guild won’t overlook this kind of behavior.”

Almost all mercenaries on this continent are affiliated with the mercenaries guild.

For mercenaries without a guild affiliation, it is challenging to secure contracts, and even if they get swindled, such as unpaid task rewards, they have no access to the guilds’ assistance. Thus, it’s safe to say that almost no mercenary operates without being part of a guild.

“Ha, I presume you’ll think it’s futile, but let me tell you something–likely, they won’t listen even if you plead your case to the Mercenaries Guild.”

“…What do you mean?”

“My name is Logan Fitz; my uncle, Duncan Fitz, is one of the top executives of the current Mercenaries Guild.”

“Oh, my name is Hans.”

“Huh? I did not ask for your name.”

Of course, I did not spew my name for no reason.

Once he revealed his name, I must disclose mine.

By doing this, I achieved the terms of use for the Profile Skill.

Name: Logan Fitz

Age: 38

Class: Brawler

A member of ‘Dawn Squad’, a B-rank mercenary force active within the Halphas Empire.

Nephew of Duncan, the top executive of the Mercenaries Guild, who conceals numerous crimes committed with his subordinates.

Murder: 7 cases, Robbery: 24 cases, Harassment…

I couldn’t bear reading any more, so I shut down the profile.

I have nothing more to discuss or see – this guy is trash.

“Ortrinde.”

“Yes.”

“Can you handle all of it?”

“Absolutely.”

I could handle it myself, but here, Ortrinde took this as a testing opportunity.

Although her endless stamina and power to lift heavy objects have been confirmed, I have yet to witness her combat abilities.

“Do you need any weapons?”

“No thanks.”

Ortrinde raised the leather shield strapped on her back.

“This will be sufficient.”

The situation ended in an instant.

Ortrinde swiftly brought down the mercenaries one by one with her astonishing agility.

In reality, I could gauge a person’s strength to some degree.

For instance, the depth of mana carried by magicians.

For warriors, the intensity of fighting spirit that surrounds them.

These traits unconsciously exude out, irrelative to personal will.

Having been summoned as a hero, I developed the ability to sense over time.

However, it was impossible with Ortrinde.

Since she’s always carrying mana, her energy source, it is consistently circulating throughout her body.

The fighting spirit sensed from warriors wasn’t perceived from her.

During observation, I became aware of her physical strength and stamina, but her inherent power has been elusive.

Indeed, it would be almost impossible for anyone to defeat her.

Perhaps if someone possessed the abilities of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings, they might give Ortrinde a decent fight, and maybe the Demon King could somehow manage to defeat her.

“It’s over.”

Ortrinde brushed off the blood flowing from the part where the iron plate of her leather shield was added, and then looked back at me.

Looking at the fallen mercenaries, they had been neatly killed with precise blows to their vitals.

In cases like Logan, who had arrogantly stepped forward first when Ortrinde stepped up, he had immediately died with his head turned clean around and neck broken from just one strike with Ortrinde’s shield.

“Your attacks, defenses, and evasions are all flawlessly clean. Amazing.”

“You’re not wrong, it’s beyond what I imagined.”

“However, it seemed like your movements became rather stiff in the middle of it all. As if something was irritating you somewhere…”

Reinforce’s observational skills are quite excellent.

Since even Reinforce says this, it must be true.

“…At any rate, let’s leave this place quickly. There’s no sign of people around, but if we stay here we might draw unwanted attention.”

“Understood.”

Leaving the bodies on the side of the road, we hurriedly headed towards the distant castle walls.

The Imperial Highway of Shaleark was still bustling with people.

Having only visited once during my adventurer days, it still remained vivid in my mind as one of the biggest cities.

Thinking about the countless people living in such a city having to experience an invasion by the demon king’s army was a bit unsettling…

Well… at least I asked them not to harm civilians, it’d be nice if they could abide by that.

If there was anyone to take issue with, it’d be your own crown prince who started the quarrel with me.

By the time we arrived in Shaleark, the sun had already begun to set.

Since the Grand Library closes at night anyway, we decided to first find an inn and visit the Library tomorrow.

There were many inns befitting of a large city, so we just picked one and rented a room.

It was a fairly spacious room with two beds.

Originally, I had planned to secure a separate room for Ortrinde, but she objected saying that she wouldn’t be able to protect me then, so we ended up with only one room.

…Well, with two beds there was still a good amount of distance between them, so it should be fine.

“Ah…refreshing.”

Although it was a communal facility, it was a somewhat luxurious inn with an attached shower facility, so I had taken a shower.

I wished to soak my body in a hot bath, but most baths in this world are communal and not very sanitary, so I just ended my cleansing with a shower.

Well, it can’t be helped.

It wasn’t possible to change the water every time someone entered a public bath, and there were no cleaning agents like in my original world, so the hygiene was decidedly poor.

Well, for the rich royals or high nobility with a lot of money, they do have private baths to soak in.

I also used it a few times when I was summoned and stayed in the royal palace.

“Master.”

“Ah, you surprised me! Have you not slept yet?”

“No, I do not need to sleep.”

I remembered that indeed.

“Master, is your name ‘Hanse’?”

“Uh…? Well, it’s not exactly that…but yes, in this world my name is Hanse.”

“I see, I wasn’t aware.”

…Thinking about it, did I ever properly tell Ortrinde my name?

Reinforce always called me, “Hero,” and whenever my name was needed, I mostly gave a pseudonym, so it seemed Ortrinde hadn’t properly become aware of my name.

Maybe I should have paid more attention…?

While pondering, I recalled what Reinforce had said a while ago.

The movement of Ortlinde seemed a bit awkward. Could there be a problem?

Accordingly, I approached Ortlinde.

Her emotionless gaze met my eyes.

“Ortlinde, is there anything wrong with your body?”

“…No, there isn’t any significant problem.”

“Hmm…let’s see.”

I sat next to her and checked her body.

…It’s a bit unsettling to casually touch a girl’s body, but who knows what could happen.

“……”

“……?”

Curiously, Ortlinde’s breath…or should I say her heartbeat?

Her breathing, a little different from ordinary people, felt slightly ragged.

“Ortlinde?”

“…Yes.”

I looked directly at her face.

…It didn’t seem like anything major has changed.

That’s when I realized something.

…My profile skill was responding.

Since she is not a normal person, I thought her profile skill wouldn’t react.

On retrospection, could it be that my skills weren’t fulfilled due to not clearly stating my name?

Using the profile skill might help determine what’s wrong with her.

With that thought, I activated my profile skill.

Name: Ortlinde

Age: Unknown

Class: Valkyrie

The third in the Valkyrie series, being a fighter.

With excellent body vision which flawlessly captures the opponent’s attack, and the movement to counter it, it boasts impeccable defense.

A minor disadvantage is that upon seeing blood, it becomes excited, and the movements slow until it calms down.

……

What’s this? Has the skill finally bugged?

Looking back at Ortlinde, her face was still emotionless.

“……Master?”

…I looked at the profile screen again.

There was still no change in the content.

“…Ortlinde?”

“Yes.”

“Could you…explain the current state of your body in detail?”

“Do you mean specifically?”

“Like…how are you feeling right now, or if you’re tired, and such things.”

Ortrinde stared intently at my face for a moment before opening her mouth.

“So, you’re tired… I don’t feel the same, but if I were to express my mood…”

“To express it?”

“It’s throbbing.”

… What?

“It’s throbbing.”

No need to say it twice, really.