No to Being the Suffering Heroine!

Proving that I have no ulterior motives for Ashel was three times harder than proving we aren’t kidnappers! sigh

Even in the midst of this, Friede still refused to believe she was twenty.

“Where’s a twenty-year-old like you?!”

True, it is hard to believe.

“Here I am!”

No matter how much Friede protested, it was useless.

If this were Korea, showing an ID would have solved everything. But sadly, this isn’t Korea; it’s Hervor. I had no proof of my age.

Thanks to that, in Ashel’s mind, Friede turned into a strong yet childish brat, and I became the trash knight who touched that brat.

“Not just some bandit… how could you….”

“……”

Hey, I was the one who got touched first…!

I was seriously feeling wronged here. Honestly, I’d rather be treated like a wicked kidnapper instead.

“Even a married woman with a child…?”

She’s not my child! She’s an adopted child! Well technically, not even adopted—just a toddler forced on me!

I wanted to protest, but unable to, I felt doubly wronged.

If I denied in front of Eleadra that she wasn’t my kid, it’d lead to a ‘Not my mom…?’ situation.

So what can I do? I have to quietly bear being treated like a scum who seduced a girl young enough to be my daughter, letting out deep sighs.

“Lower than a beast…”

“……”

This is how I live my life…

◆◆

Though I felt like an unremovable stain on my honor, after a long conversation, I somehow managed to clear the misunderstanding that I was a kidnapper targeting Ashel.

In other words, my original intention to recruit her into our party was finally conveyed properly.

“You want to recruit me…? The assassin of the buzzard?”

Not really.

Well, she only knows me as Krimhilde of the buzzard, so it makes sense.

“It’s true I want to recruit you… but I’m not with the buzzard.”

“What? Weren’t you an executive of the buzzard? You clearly said that…”

“Formally, yes, I am an executive, but I’m not really affiliated with them. We’re just collaborating because our interests align.”

But lately, I wondered if our interests were even aligned… well, anyhow, that was the general relationship.

“What does that mean? Like a secret contract? Just treating you like an executive because you’re useful?”

“Pretty much.”

“So, essentially, you’re like a hunting dog for the crows. If things go south, they’d just toss you away or use you however they please.”

Ashel smirked and mocked me. It sounds nice to call it a contract, but is merely a disposable hunting dog or lizard tail, doesn’t it?

It’s an extreme expression, but not entirely wrong.

That’s how contract work is mostly. It’s to easily sever ties instead of hiring full-time employees, right?

Though Ashel and Friede could be seen as exceptions to that ‘most’ case.

“If you’re too competent to throw away, you wouldn’t have to worry about being ditched, right?”

I responded to Ashel’s sarcasm with a confident smile.

The truth is, I’m worried about being ditched, but I can’t reveal that in front of someone I want to recruit.

“So, if you’re not with the buzzard, what are you? What do you do, exactly?”

“What, you don’t know? I went through the trouble of showing my true self.”

“How the hell would I know? All I know is you’re pretty, but are you famous or something?”

“I used to be famous.”

I had a hunch she didn’t know. Maybe her hair color hadn’t gone back to normal, so she couldn’t even guess?

“So, what do you do? Um… to put it simply, we’re like adventurers. We go into dungeons, kill monsters, and bring back treasures.”

“Adventurers…? Like those ‘guild’ guys?”

“Pesengwigel Guild? Those are just thugs. Don’t compare us. We’re genuinely working hard on dungeon subjugation.”

The Pesengwigel adventurer guild merely masquerades as a guild for adventurers but is actually a group that does all kinds of illegal work for money.

Treating the members of that guild as regular adventurers is an insult to the entire profession.

Sure, some adventurers do all kinds of things for money, but at least those guys don’t openly encourage that sort of thing under a guild name.

It’s a different level.

“The problem is, we only have three members, so there are a lot of inconveniences. We need someone to take on a patrol role.”

“Three…? Are you seriously counting your daughter in that? That little kid?”

“What kind of trash is this…?”

Ashel looked at me with contempt again, as if she was looking at a rotten pig carcass.

“……”

She’s the strongest among us, you know. Even if I tell her, she wouldn’t believe it.

“Well… let’s put that aside for now. So, you want me to dig around in caves with you guys?”

“Basically, yes.”

I nodded, smiling with confidence.

“Wherever we go, it will be deeper than the ‘cave’ you’re picturing… but it’s just not a bad deal for you, right? I’ll share the profits equally.”

Whatever you imagine, you’ll gain more than that. Of course, the hardships will exceed your imagination, but deep dungeons are just like that.

“No way… you want me, in a dungeon? Why?”

Ashel asked back, a bit confused.

“That’s because—you were a member of the original hero party.”

But I couldn’t say that. Just as I was about to come up with a decent reason like respecting her talents and perseverance…

“Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. You want to recruit ‘this’?!”

Friede, who was listening on the sofa, interrupted, declaring that she was hearing it for the first time.

“…this? You just called me ‘this’? You little brat…!”

“Y-you little brat?! How dare a smelly little punk say that!”

“Smelly little punk?!”

Why are you two fighting again?

I facepalmed and sighed, brushing my hands between the two.

“Friede, calm down for now. I’ll explain everything later. Ashel, you calm down too. The kid’s asleep, okay?”

“But…”

“No, she started it first…”

“Enough.”

Stop thinking so hard. Are you two elementary kids whining to the teacher about who’s more at fault?

“Friede, I can vouch for this girl’s skills. Being a Beastfolk, her senses are off the charts, and I noticed she has good instincts and perseverance.”

“……Hmph.”

Friede pouted, crossing her arms, slightly inflating her cheeks in discontent.

Well, it’s understandable for her to feel that way.

After all, our first encounter was about her sneaking into the mansion and getting caught and bound. The conversation that followed was filled with insults.

To Friede, Ashel likely seemed like a dirty little thief with a filthy mouth.

Given that the first impression was so terrible, it’s no wonder she doesn’t want to accept her as a teammate.

“You might not trust her at first, but… just believe me for now. If we recruit her, she will definitely be a big help in the future.”

I forced a somewhat awkward smile and gently patted her shoulder to reassure her.

I understand that she doesn’t like it, but I can’t just cut Ashel off as Friede wishes.

My purpose for coming here was to recruit Ashel.

“No, that’s not the issue.”

“Not the issue?”

“Exactly. The reason we came here was…”

As Friede still couldn’t accept it and was about to raise her voice, Ashel interjected, looking baffled.

“…Hey, I never said I’d join. What nonsense are you saying?”

With an incredulous look, Ashel put her finger towards Friede, tilting her head slightly.

“Nonsense?”

“You’re talking like it’s a done deal that I’m part of your party, but did I even nod to that proposal?”

Uh… well, she didn’t nod, did she?

“So, you’re saying you refuse?”

“Yeah. It looks like this little brat doesn’t like me, but it’s the same for me—you guys don’t catch my interest either.”

Ashel nodded slightly.

“Looks like that’s her answer. Just kick her out, right?”

“Hold on.”

Friede, please just be quiet for a moment. I’m trying to talk to Ashel here.

I placed my finger over Friede’s lips, signaling her to be quiet, and continued listening to Ashel’s response.

“I appreciate the help and I’m sorry for the misunderstanding… but that’s still not enough.”

Ashel gazed at us with a complex expression I couldn’t quite decipher, sighed, and continued.

“You’re asking me to play fetch for people I don’t even know? Who’d agree to that? Certainly not me.”

Well, if we reveal our true identities, she’d only resist even more.

“So here’s the deal. I’ll definitely pay you for saving Ena and me, so let’s take that and go our separate ways. Sounds best, right?”

“Hmm…”

I approached Ashel, pretending to contemplate her proposal while stroking my chin.

“What’s with you suddenly…?”

Feeling my approach, the wolf ears atop Ashel’s gray bobbed hair twitched slightly in vigilance.

“No. That’s definitely not the best option, and you can’t refuse my proposal.”

“…Did you just ignore me? I’m not doing it, remember? If you need a tracking dog, find someone else—”

“And what? You’re just going to continue to live as you did? Is that enough?”

I cut Ashel off, gazing down at her directly. My shadow against the backdrop cast darkness over her face.

“In this filthy slum where you can’t move an inch without selling your body and soul. Living day by day, just rotting away for pocket change.”

Ashel swallowed hard when our eyes met.

“Amidst threats from those who see you as tasty prey, only soothing your tattered conscience and dignity by taking in a few orphans?”

“Shut the hell up… what do you know about me? You little—”

“Shut up and follow me, Ashel.”

I interrupted Ashel’s rising irritation with harsh facts and stretched my hand out toward her.

“I can see it in those murky eyes. You need it, don’t you? You want it, don’t you? The power, the resources, the status to escape this pitiful life—this hell.”

Ashel remained silent, her expression suggesting she was at a loss for words, as if I had hit a nerve. I twisted my lips into a smirk.

“Follow me. I’ll give you the opportunity to grasp all of that. An opportunity you could never acquire in this muck for your entire life.”

“Ha, bullshit, utter bullshit… what are you even? Why do you speak so grandly…?”

Ashel glared at my hand with trembling eyes.

Seeing her voice quaking, it seems she was slowly beginning to waver. So, it’s that time now?

“…If you want to know, I can tell you. But once you hear it, you can never turn back. So don’t regret it.”

“……”

Ashel cautiously nodded her head in response—a silent affirmation.

“Alright then, allow me to introduce myself formally.”

I withdrew my hand and pressed my chest lightly, introducing myself according to the knightly etiquette ingrained in me.

“I am Brunhilde, of the Kingdom of Rhine. The sole guardian knight protecting the hero of Rhine, Brunhilde Eisenstein.”

“……Wh-what?!”

Ashel looked up at me in shock, her face turning pale.

“The Kingdom of Rhine? A hero? Brunhilde? No way. That name, that’s… the traitor knight… right?”

Her eyes were trembling like there was an earthquake. The whiteness of her face now expressed sheer terror.

She might not know my face, but it seems she’s heard of the traitor knight. Wow, she really looks horrified. Whatever she heard, it’s all slander and misunderstanding.

“That infamous title certainly spread around. But that’s just a false accusation—”

I tried to clear up the truth that all that evil reputation was nothing but a smear campaign as I pushed my hair over my shoulder.

“And that traitor knight, who rolls around with a girl small enough to be his daughter, turns out to be a child molester?!”

“…..No, you lunatic, that’s not true.”

My pent-up frustrations exploded out unexpectedly.

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