The Porter Is Not Interested in the Hero Party

22 – Reservoir Vipers (3)

“Hero-.”

As soon as Lena stepped into the inn, she started looking for the hero. Wearing short shorts and wiggling his butt, he rested his chin on the table where the hero was sitting and nodded. The hero nodded to Lena with a serious expression, and Lena put her hand on the hero’s shoulder and said to me.

“mister. I’ll talk to the warrior for a while.”

Then I waved to Lena. He took a seat opposite the seat where the warrior had been sitting. After ordering a simple meal from the innkeeper, I tapped the table with a knife and fork, paying attention to the faint conversation.

The two of them, of course, were not talking about love.

“…That’s a big deal. Okay. Then I will write that story in the report.”

The hero said such a thing in a serious voice. It meant that some information Lena brought was important enough to shake the war situation. Lena, on the other hand, continued to speak in a bright tone, as if she didn’t care about the seriousness of the information she brought.

“yes. our warrior. It’s a lot of trouble every time. Your face looks a little worse than when I first saw it.”

“Oh, no. This is fine. Rather, Lena. are you okay? It must be very difficult.”

“I’m a person without blood or tears, so it’s okay.”

It was a conversation that was difficult to understand the context of. I tried to close my eyes a little longer and focus on the story, then remembered that eavesdropping is bad and turned my head away. Just in time, I took a bite of the onion soup brought by the owner with a spoon, and the aroma filled my mouth so strong that I couldn’t remember the conversation I had just a moment ago.

“Master! Give me some bread.”

“Yes! All right!”

The bread was soft. I thought about the lie, feeling the onion flavor spread in my mouth.

Everyone lies.

A woman she met at a bar couldn’t stand her loneliness and lied to attract an outsider. Even as Lena killed one person, she naturally hid a certain fact from everyone.

And for some reason, the hero insisted that he was from the countryside, and I was also hiding something from the party members. Both Millet and Ashuria must have a secret. I stirred the soup bowl with my spoon and looked up.

“Wow, uncle. I’m coming to talk for a while. Are you eating alone?”

Lena said as she pulled a chair. The hero also came alongside Lena and we sat facing each other. The hero started writing the report again with a serious face, but the contents were encrypted, so it was not possible to see it backwards.

The hero, who added a few more words with a firm expression, looked at me and Lena alternately and smiled belatedly.

It was as if a child caught playing pranks was trying to get out of the situation.

“I’ll go out for a while.”

And the hero disappeared before we could nod. I said as I dipped the bread into the thick soup.

“Your hero is always busy. I have to go back and forth between the military camp, the lord’s castle, and this inn every time.”

“Yeah. Even now, I’m going to meet the messenger again because of contact. It will be difficult even for a warrior.”

“These days have been more difficult. It seems that the betrayal of Earl Maindall and Baron Luke shocked you the other day.”

“I guess so.”

Lena stopped laughing and looked out the window. The figure of the walking warrior permeated through the crowd, leaving only a faint trace of blonde hair. I stretched out my hand to wipe my face from the window, and when I came into sight of the clean street, the figure of the hero had disappeared like a mirage.

“Who are the traitors? why a penny Are you willing to give up everything in the world, hoping for some kind of honor and safety? Why do they think that the Demon Realm is their paradise?”

The question that came out of Lena’s mouth contained a dark content that contrasted with her youthful appearance. I shrugged my shoulders and twitched the corners of my mouth and said this.

“It must be because I have never seen the Empire in person. Lena. Have you ever been to the Empire?”

Lena shook her head. I, too, only remembered the Empire right before I escaped. A pitch-black lump falling over the palace and a scream heard from beyond the castle wall. I was riding out of the capital then.

The huge darkness that covered the capital turned the entire castle black, and as the screams died down, each and every one of them, from the guards on the walls to the people trying to escape the castle, turned into huge stones and rolled on the ground.

Plants quickly withered on the land eroded by direct contact with demons, and demons spread by absorbing the energy of the forest without hesitation, like a raven trying to fill a hungry stomach.

“The lands of the Empire are full of death. People are trapped in magic stones, and there are no proper wild animals. The forests are still alive in places attached to the kingdom, but not a single blade of grass remains in the worst-hit imperial capital. Probably, if the demons win, the whole world will be like that. Humans cannot live on that land. Traitors betray because they know nothing. They get drunk on momentary relief and don’t understand what they gave up.”

Lena reached out to me. And touched my soup bowl. A unique sound spread as the nails collided with the bowl. Lena looked at me and said.

“mister. When you came here, you left your family and friends behind.”

I nodded. It was a painful memory. Lena winked cautiously, licked her lips, then turned her head and asked.

“That… … . I don’t mean to call you a traitor, but something like that. For example. Are you just giving an example?”

Lena was talking gibberish, frowning with a more perplexed expression than usual. He stuttered as if he didn’t know what he was talking about, then scratched his head and waved his hands in the air. Then he looked at me again and looked into my eyes.

“if… . So, if… … . If there are people willing to walk into such a worst situation… … . And if those people are like family… … .”

I stared at Lena. Some stories naturally suppressed emotions and focused consciousness. The story Lena brings up is the kind of story that invites silence and contemplation for me. Lena couldn’t look me in the eye and stirred the bowl with a spoon.

“Am I a traitor?”

I sometimes.

I used to think similarly to Lena. What on earth did my family and friends think of me as I fled while watching the empire fall? What kind of person did my colleagues think of me as I ran away in fear?

“Sometimes, it was a subject I thought about too. Am I a traitor? Ever since I left the Empire, that question has been lingering in my head. Am I a traitor? Am I just a cowardly squire who betrayed my friends and fled to the kingdom alone?”

People have different stories. A rude question asked to someone could be an act of revealing one’s past.

In Lena’s question, I substituted her for me. The people who said they would walk into the land of the demons and me who ran away from them.

People like family beckon me.

But I can’t understand the words, so I run away. Now she’s left here.

I was here too.

“Lena-sama is not a traitor.”

The sudden reasoning made Lena tilt her head. I spoke.

“But you won’t understand. So do i. I know rationally that I’m not a traitor, but this sensibility and affection got in my way. Lena. People must follow reason. Emotional judgment is bound to err on the side of things. So I decided to think differently.”

“What do you think?”

Lena looked at me with a serious expression. She was a woman with a fierce expression when she was serious. I smiled, showing my teeth, hoping that she would laugh.

“I’m going to catch the demon king. If you catch the devil, everything will become clear. So these days, that’s all I’m thinking about. I forgot whether I was a traitor, a hero or a porter.”

Lena stared blankly at me and let out a blank laugh. The laughing voice sounded like a sob, then returned to its usual high tone. After a long laugh, she shook her head and said.

“That’s too far, man. Demon Lord, now we’re starting to hit the border.”

Lena let out a small laugh as she said that. I nodded. As the saying goes, it was a very long road.

“But any road, with friends, goes in an instant. We’ll be there in no time.”

I said so.

Just in time, Ashria, who had just returned from work at the church, opened the door and came in.

She saw us eating and said.

“If it’s not too late, may I join you? I came back after praying and I am hungry.”

“Oh, yes. Please sit down.”

Lena nodded, and Millet, who was on the second floor, jumped up and shouted.

“me too! I want to eat too! Let’s have lunch together. I was just too hungry.”

The number of people increased in an instant, and the number of soup bowls increased by two. Lena looked at me with a more relaxed expression than usual, and I asked Lena as I sipped my soup.

“I’ll order another bowl of soup. I have a lot of time.”

“Is that so? I need to eat for a long trip.”

Millet interrupted our conversation. She stomped her feet, waiting for the soup that hadn’t been served yet.

“A long trip? what? Where are the two of you going? I go too!”

“I am not going away. Are you going to catch the Demon King together?”

In response to Lena’s question, Millet nodded as if she had just realized it.

“ah! Then I want another bowl of soup! You’ll have to eat hard from now on!”

“millet. Don’t eat too much. Then, if you get an upset stomach like last time, it will be a big deal.”

Ashuria spoke in a stern voice.

“It’s fine! Ashria will heal you.”

Millet said generously again.

“…I don’t know if I’ll regret it later.”

Ashuria said so, but in the end she will heal Millet again.

Lena winked at me, and I nodded and raised my glass. Our glasses clashed pleasantly, and the table for dinner was ripe.

Just as the trip ended quickly, so did our dinner.

*****

Except for the warrior.

The warrior who returned from work only after we finished drinking.

He seemed a little offended that we had a drink without him.

“No, that’s why, warrior. I didn’t intentionally leave out the hero. At that time, the atmosphere was heated… … .”

“……”

“Warrior. Don’t be like that, and listen to our story. I didn’t intentionally leave out the hero. I just ate it, so the atmosphere was like that. Eat together, have a drink together! Then I forgot about the warrior for a while… … .”

“no no! not forgotten! uh… … . So… ! A toast to the hero!”

“ah! Yes! Yeah! you’re right! A toast to you! Long live the warrior! I do. Now, warrior, shall we have another drink together? There is also a glass here.”

“Oh, I’m not pouting!”

The hero threw himself onto the bed with his face stained red.

It was harder than I thought to appease the angry hero.