I Picked Up the Hero Who Banished Me

16 – [The Hero and I – 01]

‘What the hell happened?’

I asked the question plainly.

Checking on the hero’s condition, I discovered something strange.

I had thought that after using that much magic, she’d be even more of a mess.

Not that I was going to abandon the journey, but I was going to be honest with her about her condition, and it was a tragedy that she had to bear.

‘What is it, her body is stable.’

The skin discoloration from the Reaper’s poison hadn’t completely disappeared, but it had actually lessened a bit, and the poison’s progress was somehow reversed and somewhat suppressed.

‘The holy sword’s power is suppressing the Reaper’s poison?’

That was the conclusion I came to from this inexplicable scene.

But.

The holy sword certainly has immense power, a sword made for humanity by the power of the goddess, but even so, I’d never heard of it having a detoxifying effect on poison.

The hero is someone who wouldn’t even flinch at most poisons, but that’s simply because she wasn’t human, she had resistance to them.

“Hmm…”

The holy sword doesn’t have the function to suppress poison.

But it does have the ‘function to suppress curses.’

It’s said that curses themselves were created by a god of death, who is on the opposite side of the goddess, and perhaps because of that, or maybe it’s a kind of backlash, while the holy sword can’t undo the curse, it wasn’t impossible to drastically lower its symptoms.

In fact, there were stories of past heroes who were defeated because curses they used simply didn’t work on them.

“So it’s not poison, but a curse.”

The god of death’s poison was also known as the god of death’s curse, as a nickname.

That’s because its characteristics were closer to a curse than poison.

But curses are caused by formulas, not by conditions resulting from ingestion. Is it a special kind of curse?

‘In other words, the hero isn’t poisoned, but cursed. Normally, the poison should have progressed to the point of killing him from the fight this time, but rather it was somewhat alleviated, because it wasn’t poison but a curse, which the holy sword was able to suppress.’

Thinking that way, it makes sense.

But if that’s the case, it’s even more unclear where Alex got something like the god of death’s curse.

If it’s a special curse that breaks the rules of curses, then it must be that much harder to obtain, and there was no way of knowing why Alex would have it.

Where on earth.

How?

Various thoughts swirled in my head, but no answer came.

I couldn’t tell if he created the curse himself, or temporarily borrowed it from someone, but at least this journey wasn’t just going to be a healing trip for a betrayed hero.

‘Let’s not think like that, let’s be a little more positive.’

Thanks to the holy sword, the hero’s lifespan has been considerably extended.

No matter how holy the sword is, it was impossible to completely remove the curse from a body that was already a wreck, but it was at least suppressing it, so it seemed like we could reach Elvenheim with enough time.

Of course, I couldn’t let my guard down, and even though a sudden seizure could send his condition spiraling, at least if the curse progressed like this, it was manageable.

The Hero was still sick, so it wasn’t *good*, but at least his chances of dying before reaching Elvenheim were significantly lower.

“Alive?”

“Madam Florence. I’m alive.”

“Not you.”

“Livia is also alive.”

“…….”

“…….”

“The Holy Sword, is it.”

“Yes, it’s the Holy Sword.”

“Haa, I won’t bother asking why the Hero, who was said to have died with the Demon King, is in this state. But clearly, this state is not normal.”

“That’s right.”

Madam Florence didn’t delve any deeper.

“Are *you* alright?”

“I’m fine.”

My broken arm had already healed, and I could move it without issue.

In fact, usually, a broken bone like that should take time to heal unless you have saint-level healing powers, but here I was with my arm perfectly fine in less than 24 hours.

I was always surprised myself, this inhuman recovery rate of mine.

“Your body is a little… unique, you know. Be careful, who knows when something might go wrong.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“Hoo-boy, all talk. …So, dragging a child in this state all the way to the eastern continent, your goal is probably Elvenheim, right?”

“Yes, the World Tree’s sap has an absolute effect against all kinds of poisons and curses. There’s even data from the past that confirms the God of Death’s poison was cured by the World Tree’s sap.”

Back then I thought, *that must have been some seriously powerful poison*.

I didn’t realize it was a curse back then, probably because the World Tree’s sap works on both poison and curses.

“My eyes aren’t wrong, after all.”

“What do you mean?”

“My eye for you going for a woman with big breasts.”

“Madam Florence… that’s not it.”

“Heh heh! Well then, I’ll go down ahead. It’s a bit much to say, but if he doesn’t wake up, it’d be best to just take him on the ship as is.”

“Yes.”

Madam Florence said that and went out of the room.

I knew what she meant.

That’s why, I’d wait a few more hours. If he didn’t wake up by then, I’d have to take the sleeping hero on the next ship to the eastern continent.

The time limit problem was somewhat eased so there might not be as much of a rush, but maybe a more troublesome problem than the time limit itself might follow.

The fact that the Holy Sword is here is evidence of that.

“…”

Madam Florence’s words made me glance that way, just for a moment.

I tapped my forehead, mocking myself for such thoughts.

What was I just thinking, about a sick person?

“Huh?”

“…….”

“…….”

A moment of panic washes over me.

Our eyes lock, and a silence hangs for about three seconds. My face freezes for the briefest of moments, then I force a smile.

“You’re awake, Livia. How long have you been up?”

“Since Madame Florence said you’d go for a big-boobed woman.”

“Why that specific moment? Just for the record, that’s a misunderstanding.”

“It’s fine.”

The Hero slowly sits up and says,

“They say all men like them anyway.”

“……I won’t deny it, but, ugh. What even are we talking about?”

“Anyway, my body feels good. What happened?”

“I’ll explain on the ship. Sorry for this so soon after you woke up, but it’d be best to get ready to leave right away.”

“Okay.”

Without questioning me, the Hero immediately gets up.

“You don’t seem to need an explanation.”

“My holy sword is here. ……And Alex likely took my holy sword. He wouldn’t have just left it lying around on that land.”

“Right.”

“So, unless he’s a complete idiot, he’ll immediately suspect I’m alive if my holy sword disappears. Not only that, the holy sword didn’t just arrive here quietly. It came in with a brilliant golden light that practically pierced the sky. They’ll suspect something, ten to one.”

“…….”

This guy, yeah, he was emotional, but he wasn’t stupid.

Call it instinct, maybe?

He was damn good at understanding things intuitively.

“Let’s go right now, time’s wasting. …Royce.”

“Ah, yes.”

“…Before we go, can I ask you something?”

“Yes.”

The hero looked directly at me.

That gaze was different from any I’d seen on him before, it was shining.

But instead of the somewhat murky light I’d seen when I was in his party in the past, this subtle glow in his eyes felt less like an obsession and more like resolve.

“Do you… happen to like me?”

“Huh? …Look, if it’s about what happened earlier, that’s a real misunderstanding.”

“Right? I mean, it’s weird to say this, but I’ve said a lot of awful things to you and haven’t really treated you well. It wasn’t even treatment, it was more like… ‘handling’ you.”

“Yeah, well…. that’s true.”

“So, you’d have saved her even if it wasn’t me in that spot.”

“Well, for now, yeah.”

I shrugged as I answered.

I didn’t really know what the hero was getting at, but he nodded to himself like he’d understood something.

“I’ve only ever lived as the hero, and I never cared about Olivia Reinhart’s feelings or anything like that, I never even gave it a moment. What I thought, what I felt, none of that mattered. I only ever saved people as the hero.”

“…….”

“That’s why everything is confusing, and I think human emotions are pretty bothersome.”

“Yes, that’s true… Ms. Livia, what exactly are you trying to say?”

The Hero looked straight at me as he spoke.

“You’ll stay with me until the moment this poison or curse, or whatever it is, is healed, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d answer like that… So I have plenty of time, we can take it slow. But I’m not good at that sort of thing.”

I understood even less now.

I couldn’t grasp what he was trying to say.

“Even after all of this journey ends… stay by my side.”

“Uh, what? What the heck are you talking about?”

“You’re surprisingly dense.”

“…….”

“I’m saying I like you.”

“…Uh, yeah? Wait a minute, what is this? Are you suddenly teasing me? If so, you succeeded, but what the hell are you saying the moment you wake up? Are you out of your mind, still half-asleep?”

“I suppose so. I understand why you’d react that way.”

The Hero nodded.

“I’m the one who treated you like an idiot more than anyone, so it makes sense you wouldn’t understand suddenly hearing this. …But think about it.”

“About what?”

“I was betrayed and my heart was weakened like this, but you were beside me, affirming me, healing me, and helping me to stand as a hero again, however imperfectly.”

The Hero looked down at me with an indifferent face.

“…Let’s ask the opposite, why do you think you wouldn’t fall for me? Use that pretty face and think about it.”

*I* was the one who should be flabbergasted, but the Hero looked at me like *she* was the one who was speechless.

“…….”

I stayed silent at the rapid-fire barrage of words.

“There are good people and bad people to be kind to, Royce. I’m really sorry to say this after being saved by your kindness and gentleness, but you’ll attract weird women with that.”

“I think I already have.”

“That’s right. I’m a bit weird myself… but don’t worry about it.”

The Hero smiled.

That smile was somehow different from the smiles she’d given in the past, and I found myself staring blankly at her face.

“Like I said, you probably don’t have any good feelings towards me, you might have seen me in a good light as a Hero, but you probably don’t like me as a person. ……I understand, I was pretty rough, right? If I were you, I wouldn’t like someone like me either, you probably only have bad memories of me.”

“…….”

“I wonder if you even have any good memories at all.”

Well, it was only a short journey of about half a year, so it wasn’t that serious, but considering how she acted arbitrarily and often ignored me, it wasn’t entirely wrong to say that I only had bad memories of her, if you put it extremely.

“So, I’ll make sure we only make good memories on this trip.”

“……You’re very confident.”

“When you think of ‘Olivia Reinhart’, I’ll work hard so that you can think of me as a decent woman, not the reckless one from the past.”

She was just as headstrong as she always had been.

If there was something she wanted to do, she would do it no matter what, and she wouldn’t even attempt negotiation or anything like that.

That was a disadvantage, but conversely, it was also an advantage that allowed her to grow straight and true, and at the same time, I thought that was what enabled her to become a Hero.

“Luckily, I have two things you’ll probably like.”

“Kuh-hut! Wait, hold on. There’s a huge misunderstanding here!”

“What, you don’t like big ones?”

“…….”

“……Heh.”

“Ugh, that smug look is pissing me off.”

The hero laughed and said,

“Then let’s go. This is the beginning of a new journey for the hero Olivia Reinhart. ……It looks like it’ll be fun.”

Saying that, the hero opened the door and walked out. I watched her go, then let out a small sigh.

I was silent for a moment, then ran a hand through my hair and said,

“What the hell did I just hear……?”

That straight-shooting attitude, it’s a sickness at this point.