I Picked Up the Hero Who Banished Me

19 – [The Hero and I – 04]

It takes three days to travel from East Port to the eastern continent.

Like it or not, we’d be stuck on this sea for three days, and the place booked was quite luxurious; I could tell Madam Florence had spent a pretty penny.

A normal room would have been fine, I never imagined she’d book such an expensive place.

I felt like my debt had just grown again.

“There’s a bed, Royce.”

“So there is.”

“Only one, though.”

“Yeah, I wonder why that is.”

Madame Florence…!

I could practically see the imaginary Madame Florence wiping her nose and giving me a thumbs up.

It seemed like she was worried that I, practically her son, wasn’t even dating, let alone getting married.

Though, it was just as likely that it was her own desire to see grandkids.

*Thump-thump*, the hero walked over and sat on the bed.

“Royce.”

“What.”

Stop making that face.

That look you get when you think you have a brilliant idea never seems to be good news for me.

“Looks like there’s only one shower, one bed, this is practically Madame Florence admitting she likes me, isn’t it?”

“……”

“You said Madame Florence was like a mother to you, right? Looks like I’m scoring pretty high with her. …Not a bad start, huh?”

He really seemed to be trying to win me over.

Honestly, getting a woman’s favor didn’t feel that bad, and though I wasn’t exactly *fond* of the hero, I didn’t really hate him either.

But, this was also making me worried.

I sat on the sofa and looked at the hero.

“Let me ask you something.”

“Is this where you ask for my measurements?”

“Can you stop thinking with your head between your legs for a second?”

“Alright, alright, so what is it?”

“Should I ask…? Um, it’s a bit rude, but. Is it alright?”

Just to be sure, I asked, and the Hero, lying on the bed, nodded.

“It’s fine. The past me was probably ruder to you, much ruder.”

His pessimistic confidence is kind of…intense?

“So, um, are you really…into me?”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t been exposed to those kinds of feelings before, right, Livia? So… um, what is it. You feel indebted to me, that’s why.”

As I was speaking, I realized, wouldn’t the Hero hear this as an evaluation questioning my worth as a woman?

Not so much rude as maybe an insensitive question, if I had to put it that way.

But the Hero didn’t get angry or flustered at all, she just listened to my words, completely unfazed, and then said:

“You’re wondering if I’m mistaking gratitude for love? …Is *that* what you wanted to ask?”

“Frankly, yes.”

“It’s true I’m grateful to you.”

“Yes.”

“But it’s more than that. I want you by my side.”

The Hero looked straight at me, it was the same unwavering gaze she’d always had.

Even if her being a hero was fueled by an obsession, a complex death wish, she had always strived to save people and that couldn’t have been wrong.

“We barely know anything about each other though.”

“That’s also true, we don’t know much about each other.”

“……”

“So, I want to know.”

The Hero smiled.

“Tell me about you.”

“…I’ve been thinking this since before, but being this direct is practically a disease.”

“There are some things people just can’t change, it’s their nature.”

She sparkles.

She sparkled, so incredibly bright.

Something like a black sun had vanished, and now she could smile, happy and warm enough to be called a true sun-maiden.

It was such a relief, but also, it was a bit much, too dazzling for me to face head-on.

It felt like I’d barged into her territory, and now she was trying to barge right into mine.

“There are things I definitely don’t want to talk about.”

“Oh? It’s not like, you were actually a girl, or anything like that, right?”

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

“Then that’s fine.”

I don’t know what’s fine.

“But I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“I understand.”

The Hero came closer to me.

“As time passes, and we spend more time together, and you can naturally call me by my name, and if you can come to trust me, you can tell me then.”

“It’s not that I think you’re a bad person or anything.”

“I know, this is about trust, right? You don’t have to worry.”

Even while looking at what she hadn’t obtained, that smiling face was innocent, like a completely different person from who’d been depressed not too long ago.

I’d thought she had grown through going through various things, but it wasn’t something that could be simply expressed with the word ‘grown.’

Maybe ‘reborn’ would be a more accurate way to put it than ‘grown.’

“In that vein, would you try to avoid looking while I’m showering or changing?”

“……Huh?”

“There are some parts I don’t want to show you, that’s all.”

Honestly, there wasn’t a need to say it.

Spirit magic was quite convenient, so hiding them was possible if I put my mind to it.

However, seeing her purity, I felt like it would be okay to tell her this much.

“Ah ha, I get it. ……Just so you know, I’m okay anytime, so coming in while you’re showering, or suddenly opening the door while you’re changing, that’s totally okay for me. After all, when it comes to relationships, we need that sort of incident to recognize each other as romantic partners, right?”

“……”

“I’m okay anytime.”

Now I was starting to get a bit scared.

She was like a beast that only knew how to charge forward.

“Come to think of it, before I picked you up, Livia-ssi, I heard a rumor that the hero had died? A rumor that he died taking someone with him.”

My instincts screamed that it was best to change the subject, so I quickly did just that.

Fortunately, the hero didn’t seem to mind it much.

“Huh? Why that? Is there some problem?”

“No, the rumor spread to the small village I was in, and it was after that rumor spread that Livia-ssi was attacked.”

“Ah, is it that way… hmm.”

The Hero pondered for a moment, then spoke.

“To report quickly upon reaching the Royal Capital, I cut through the forest instead of entering the village, right? And back then, not long after entering human territory, I slew a rather strong monster.”

A monster that the Hero considered ‘rather strong’ would be a beast that normal people would need to summon real adventurers and thoroughly plan out to defeat.

“I was just going to keep going, but Alex was being loud saying that a monster that strong needed to be reported. So I said I’d wait there and they should go report. I held my position alone, while all three went to report.”

Leaving the Hero alone wasn’t particularly wise, but if you considered the balance of power, there wasn’t anything that could be said against it.

Besides, the Hero didn’t care much and would probably just be training or something, which made it even more so.

“If there were rumors, wouldn’t that have been the time?”

“Is that so… Alex, the rumors you mean.”

“It’s just a guess. After subduing the Demon Lord, I didn’t show myself and went directly to the Royal Capital. I didn’t make contact with any people, not even a village, aside from my party members. Maybe it’s just a random rumor. Rumors tend to spread quickly if they’re sensational, right?”

“That’s… well, that’s true.”

When did Alex start trying to kill the Hero?

Intuitively, it felt like it started around the time he realized the Hero had no intention of staying in the kingdom.

If so, did he immediately spread rumors in the village after that and prepare things in advance, like the poison of the Death God?

That rumor.

It was a rumor that would disappear immediately if the Hero were to appear, but a rumor spreading imperfectly through hearsay almost became the truth.

Moreover, if the source was someone on your side like the Royal Capital, then spreading rumors could have been easier than imaginable.

Not only that, if it was Alex, he wouldn’t have been out of place having royal treasures.

If my memory is correct, one of the royal treasures was a tool that could be used to contact someone anywhere. Normally, such communication technology was only possible at short distances when in the monster’s territory, but with that treasure, even long distances would not have been impossible.

If they’d already set up the assassination plan at the Demon King’s castle, and reported it to the king around that time, making a rumor of it… then the discrepancy between when the Hero actually fell and when the rumor spread would make sense.

And.

If that’s the case.

From the beginning, discarding the Hero like an old shoe might have been included as a ‘possibility’.

Meaning, if things went south, they were prepared to kill him at any time.

“Ugh…”

“Livia-ssi!”

“I’m, I’m fine… It just hurt a little.”

“Here, drink.”

Pouring water, I handed the Hero a painkiller.

“In that vein, want to lie down here with me?”

“I’ll sleep on the sofa.”

“……!”

As if understanding, the Hero suddenly nodded.

“Come to think of it, even if that were the case, we’re not *that* kind of couple, so sleeping in the same bed would be a bit much for a man and a woman, right?”

“I’m glad you understand.”

“Like, say for example, if I got assaulted in my sleep, I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it?”

“Ah, so I’m the one being assaulted?”

Certainly, aside from being cursed, seeing as she cuts down high-ranking demons in one shot, I didn’t have confidence in winning.

Huh?

Is it me who should be worried about the hero’s chastity right now, not the hero himself?