I Picked Up the Hero Who Banished Me

21 – [The Hero and I – 06]

The hero isn’t fundamentally stupid.

He relies on his gut feeling quite a bit, but that’s something that can be improved little by little.

A truly foolish person leads everything to ruin without even realizing they’re foolish, while the hero clearly understands his own shortcomings.

He just voices his opinion without holding back, but if I point something out, he’s pretty good at accepting it.

In that sense, it’s undeniable he’s a bit shortsighted, but he’s not stupid.

Someone who’d lived their whole life killing enemies wouldn’t suddenly be able to think straight, not easily anyway.

Considering he was practically a suicidal case, he probably should learn how to use his head if he wanted to keep living.

Olivia Reinhardt hadn’t been part of his life until now, but if he considered the days ahead, maybe things weren’t so terrible.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I thought you really liked books, where’d you get that?”

“This ship is very luxurious, you know. They have quite a few books to keep the passengers from getting bored. I just borrowed it to kill some time, that’s all.”

“I see.”

“Want to read it?”

“I don’t like reading…”

“Books contain a person’s thoughts. Maybe that’s what you need most right now, Liviah. To see how drastically different people’s thinking can be.”

“Is that so? Then how about you just tell me your story.”

How his train of thought ended up there was a true mystery.

Could you even interpret what I said as that it’s good to see and hear various stories?

So that led to “I want to hear your story” somehow.

“I’m from the slums.”

“Huh!?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I didn’t! The, the slums? You grew up in that lawless place?”

Of course, even there, there is a law.

It just didn’t mesh well, and fists or knives were closer than the law, that was the problem.

“Yeah. So, sadly, I don’t even know who my parents are. Then, I thought things couldn’t go on like this, so I escaped the slums.”

“I see.”

“But what could a young boy do? I suffered and my condition worsened in various ways, and I collapsed on the ground, and that’s when Madam Florence saved me.”

There were gaps in the middle, but I didn’t exactly lie.

“I was picked up like that and worked at Madam Florence’s shop, and then, like I mentioned before, Madam Florence saw my talent as a spirit mage and recommended me down the path of a spirit mage.”

Saying it like this, my life really can be summed up briefly.

Well, a person’s life didn’t have to be long and elaborate.

The hero listened to my story, hmm’d, and thought for a moment before speaking.

“What about relationships?”

“Relationships?”

“Yeah, like women, or women, or women.”

Ah, was that his goal from the start?

“You seem very interested.”

“Rather, that’s my biggest interest right now.”

Has he forgotten his life is on borrowed time?

Come to think of it, he was always this kind of person.

He’s just become a little more optimistic.

“I haven’t had any real ties. Sadly, I’ve never become deeply involved with anyone. I’ve mostly kept an appropriate distance, done my work appropriately, and lived appropriately.”

“You’re surprisingly dry. I thought you were the type that everyone loved, because you’re a good person.”

“Usually, if you draw a line, people don’t cross it, right? Maybe there were people who wanted to get close to me, but I was the one who refused.”

“Why?”

“Yeah… why did I? I guess I was just a little scared.”

“Of people?”

“Maybe so.”

Because Madame Florence exists, I’m living like a human.

If she hadn’t been there, even if I had somehow survived and grown up until now, I would probably be a completely different person than who I am now.

The kindness of people, circulating around, made me who I am today.

But still, I sometimes get scared, so I tend to keep my distance from people.

You could say I live by sticking to the line, that kind of feeling. And living like that, no one has ever crossed that line and come into me until now.

But.

“….Why?”

“No.”

A fool who only knows how to go straight just barged in.

Just like I barged into her, she barged into me, and it’s certainly not a bad thing.

I thought that at best, she might see me as a good person, but suddenly she confessed, slamming me with a high-speed emotional rush, so I couldn’t help but be flustered.

Even now, her face, full of good will, just seeing it feels like a sweet fragrance entering the tip of my nose and stimulating my brain.

Such an illusion has formed in my head.

Or, maybe it isn’t an illusion.

Anyway, I have to think this through carefully.

Right now, it’s *my* virtue that’s in danger, not the Hero’s, and if the Hero can’t take it anymore and pounces, what could I even do?

Just stare at the pattern on the ceiling while my virtue gets taken; I couldn’t do anything else.

“Aren’t you scared of me?”

“Well, honestly, no one’s ever actually crossed the line, so I don’t know.”

“What about Madam Florence?”

“She was by my side before I got like this, you know? I wouldn’t be so clueless as to tell my parents to respect boundaries.”

“I see, so family’s off the table, huh?”

“…What are you thinking?”

“It’s nothing. I just thought I should become your family.”

Then what isn’t “nothing?”

“Huh, Royce’s life seems boring.”

“Could you not say other people’s lives are boring? That’s rude. You should learn to be more considerate of people’s feelings.”

“Oh, really?”

“You’ve been in a position where you didn’t need to have social skills, so frankly, you probably won’t need them in the future either. You have the name ‘Hero’, you have power, you can obtain anything. So, honestly, not having social skills isn’t really a problem.”

“Right?”

“But I’m not into women like that.”

“What should I do first? Formal speech?”

The change in attitude is so fast.

Faster than a grouse, even.

“Well, we can work on the way you speak later… First, we’ve argued quite a bit while talking, haven’t we?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it, but sometimes you get mad.”

“Don’t say things without thinking. Isn’t that how you ended up with that relationship with Elvenheim?”

“B-but…! It wasn’t all my fault! It was, it was the truth!”

I took a sip of my tea next to the bed and spoke to the hero who was protesting from the mattress.

“There are things you shouldn’t say, even if they’re true. Society, to put it bluntly, is built on lies, and manners are essentially lies too. A world where everyone spoke only the truth would be absolutely terrible.”

“Wouldn’t it be good if there were no lies?”

“Truth and fact aren’t always the same, and it doesn’t always lead to good results. You gave your all in everything, but what shape are you in now?”

“Betrayed.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Well, it’s not that being truthful is wrong.

But the world is full of people who deceive and treat badly those who strive purely and live honestly.

Even that hero is in this state, there’s no need to even imagine what it must be like for ordinary people.

“So, what are we going to do about Elvenheim? Would it work if I bowed my head and begged them?”

“Well, that’s a given. We have no choice but to swallow our pride…but it’s not like there isn’t any way.”

“Really?”

“I know someone among the elves.”

“Reina?”

“Ah, not that person.”

I’ve had all sorts of experiences, so I knew some elves myself.

The problem was that it wasn’t a very deep connection, so I didn’t know if they’d side with us.

It seemed like laying down a few insurance policies was a good idea, so I figured I should at least strike up a conversation. With any luck, they might become allies and defend the hero.

“Then I’ll leave that to you, and I’ll think about how best to apologize.”

“Shall I write your lines for you?”

“No, I want to do the apologizing myself… I’m relying on you a lot, and I’ll continue to rely on you. I’ll be sorry and thankful in advance. I’m sure I’ll be a massive inconvenience. I already am.”

“……”

“But, maybe this is something I have to do myself. …Well, if things get too hard, I might at least ask for your advice.”

“Understood.”

I was worried.

To the hero, I seemed to hold some kind of special image, and because she was rescued in that situation, I wondered if she’d become obsessed with me, or show signs of breaking down in various ways.

There were people who, after being rescued from a broken state, would dedicate everything to the person who saved them and become obsessed.

It wasn’t a healthy relationship.

But she was strong.

Though she would rely on me, her face told me she instinctively knew she shouldn’t be dependent – it seemed she understood that wasn’t the way to go.

She was strong, vibrant, someone you could call the sun.

That much hadn’t changed from before or now, I could say that with certainty.

If anything, she was shining even brighter.

“Ugh, I’ve been lying down too much. Maybe I should walk around a bit.”

“I will accompany you.”

“Overprotective much.”

“Your body is in a state that warrants it.”

“Okay.”

And with that, the hero and I headed out of the room, and it was just as we were about to walk up the hallway that it happened.

*KABOOM!!*

Suddenly, the entire ship shook, and I could hear people gasping and falling over in surprise.

The hero and I instinctively went on alert.

‘This ship is the most expensive one in East Port, it almost never shakes. If it did shake like that, it means there was some external factor.’

A monster?

Or maybe pirates?

“Pi, Pirates!”

Looks like it was pirates.

“Pirates?”

“……”

I briefly glanced at the hero.

Watching his hand slowly, almost naturally, reach for his holy sword, I nodded.

This is genuinely, not a joke, a fast way to commit suicide.

“Livia, the holy sword is too noticeable, let’s use this sword instead.”

“That’s a wooden sword.”

Killing them would make things a bit of a hassle.

It’s not like I sympathize with pirates who are all about deviance and slaughter, but using the holy sword in this situation posed more of a risk than a benefit.

“Fine, I’ll show you how it’s done with this. It’s the perfect chance to show you that I didn’t become a hero just because of the holy sword.”

“…….”

The Hero smiled, and I scowled, saying,

“I said subdue them. I didn’t ask for you to show me cutting magic with that thing.”

“Ah, um…. I knew that!”

Surely she wasn’t thinking of just slashing through them all with a wooden sword, was she?

But it seemed possible, which was kind of scary.

A wooden sword? It felt like she could do it with her bare hands or even a tree branch.