The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
The execution of the plan would take place a few days later.
As for the exact date, we decided to observe Mina's movements and keep track of her activities before deciding.
And with that, today's meeting came to an end.
Everyone returned to their respective rooms...
Since there was no reason for Chiffon and the others not to stay over, I showed them to the guest rooms.
We had remodeled the house before, so it could accommodate guests—up to around ten people, at least.
After that, I returned to my own room and was about to get into bed...
But then I changed my mind and went outside.
"It's pretty cold."
The night air was chilly.
Whenever the wind blew, I felt like my body might start trembling.
"..."
And yet, Eris was there.
She was simply standing alone, gazing up at the night sky.
"You can see such a beautiful starry sky here."
Apparently, she had noticed me and spoke to me.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes. It's a rather cliché way of putting it, but it really is beautiful, as though someone scattered jewels across the sky."
"It's one of the things I'm proud of about this city."
I had been living and working in Horizon for quite some time now.
It wasn't my hometown, nor had I settled down here permanently.
Even so, I loved this city.
The people here were kind, almost like family...
The mild climate was comfortable...
And I could see beautiful sights like this.
Horizon had become my home ground.
A place I could call my second home.
"..."
"..."
We gazed up at the starry sky without exchanging another word...
"Can I ask you something?"
Even so, I couldn't just remain silent forever, so I asked.
"What is it?"
"...Do you have some kind of history with Mina?"
I figured Eris probably wouldn't appreciate me beating around the bush.
So I decided to ask her directly.
"What makes you think that?"
"I thought so after seeing you in the dungeon. I got the feeling that you hate Mina... and that maybe something happened between you two in the past."
"...I see."
"Maybe this is none of my business... Actually, it probably isn't. But I can't just ignore it either. If you're willing, could you tell me about it?"
"...All right."
Eris shifted her gaze from the night sky to me.
With a somewhat lonely expression, she began to speak.
"Mina Lusage... is essentially the person responsible for my family's deaths."
Eris began to tell her story.
It had happened a long time ago.
A group of bandits had established a base near Eris's hometown.
They were formidable opponents, and whenever adventurers were hired to deal with them, they were defeated instead.
The town had been at its wits' end when Arios and his Hero party happened to visit.
They had only stopped by the town by chance while traveling...
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the townspeople asked Arios and his companions to defeat the bandits.
Arios and the others accepted the request...
But they didn't actually defeat the bandits.
Instead, unbelievably... they stole the treasures the bandits had accumulated so they could fund their future travels, and then simply left.
Naturally, the bandits were furious that their treasure had been stolen.
Mistakenly believing that the townspeople were responsible, they attacked the town and plundered everything they could.
And then... Eris's family became victims of the attack.
"That's what happened."
After hearing the story, I nearly buried my face in my hands.
From what I could tell, this had happened before I joined the party...
But I couldn't believe they had done something so unbelievably stupid.
...And yet, it was still too early to be surprised and appalled.
"The bandits were eventually defeated... but can you guess who defeated them?"
"That would be other adventurers, or perhaps the knights... No, don't tell me..."
"Exactly. It was the Hero party."
They had gone around spreading the flames...
And then they themselves reaped what they had sown.
It was utterly absurd.
Arios and the others probably had two objectives.
One was that they needed to defeat the bandits in order to cover up the fact that they themselves had caused the trouble in the first place.
The other was... to gain even more fame by defeating the bandits who had committed such outrageous crimes.
"Didn't you report what happened...?"
"Of course I did... But there was no evidence. At the time, I was merely an ordinary citizen. They were Heroes. There was no need to think about whose story people would believe."
"I see..."
"And so, the truth was buried. Unable to accept what had happened, I confronted the Hero party... and that was when Mina Lusage said this to me. 'This is necessary for the sake of a greater cause. We will not let your sacrifice be in vain'... Those were her words."
Knowing Mina, she probably hadn't been trying to provoke Eris.
She had most likely meant every word.
"Don't make a mockery of me...!!! My family and I didn't live our lives just to become fuel for the Hero party! My father and mother were both incredibly kind and honest people... and my little sister was only three years old. She should have had so many happy experiences ahead of her. She should have had countless smiles waiting for her... But that future was taken from her for no reason. It was taken from her by that so-called 'greater cause' of hers!"
Perhaps she was remembering what had happened back then, because Eris clenched her fists.
Tightly, tightly...
She squeezed them so hard that her nails seemed ready to dig into her palms and draw blood.
Eventually, her hands slowly relaxed.
"...That's the story. I suppose you could say it's a rather ordinary one, in its own way."
"...Eris..."
"The fact that I was sent here by the Church this time was nothing more than coincidence. The Church itself doesn't approve of Mina Lusage's recklessness and wants to do something about her... So they ordered me to capture her, or, if necessary, eliminate her."
"And you see that... as an opportunity?"
"Yes."
She answered immediately.
"I've tried not to think about what happened in the past. Instead, I trained myself to become stronger so that I could prevent such a tragedy from happening again... Then I became a Holy Knight and devoted myself to my duties day after day. So I truly never thought about revenge. But perhaps it was fate. I was given the task of capturing or eliminating Mina Lusage. And if that's the case, then I..."
This was fate.
The opportunity to avenge her family had finally come around.
That was what Eris was saying.
"What will you do, Rain-san? Will you report this to the Church? Or will you terminate your partnership with me?"
"...I can't do either."
The anger Eris carried was justified.
Seeking revenge was only natural.
So...
"Whether you capture her and take her to the royal capital, or whether you end her life... I'll leave that decision to you, Eris."
"...Thank you."
Even if she chose the latter, I would support Eris.
Because... I understood all too painfully the grief and suffering of having your family taken away from you.
Comments
Post a Comment