Chapter 36 – Fiminan, Day 2

“Then, we will be shopping today, so, for the rest of you, please stay quiet here.”

Aside from Alhart and Tedla, who would be accompanying Syltina, Milliane was the only one who nodded at what she said.

“……What happened to the others?”

“Ah, ummm, well, the Saintess would not leave the carriage, and Yuto-sama, Frackt-sama, and Mars-kun are over there……”

“I see. And? Until when will Kuro keep on sulking?”

Kuro sat on a tree not far away in cat form, wordlessly swinging his tail back and forth with a snap.

If Syltina laughed at him for pointing out that his bad mood could be sensed with just the atmosphere around him, then his tail swings with a snap once again.

“It can’t be helped, can it? We can’t all go together, because one escort has to keep an eye on her at all times, remember?”

“……”

“Besides, haven’t the townspeople seen Kuro’s face yesterday? There are enough people to go shopping, and the people have already seen Kuro’s face, so you won’t be able to walk in there in human form. If that’s the case, then, the only thing I can have you do is to watch over the people in here.”

“……”

“I’ll make sure to come back as early as I can, so I’m entrusting you with watching the Saintess. Also, make sure you make her eat breakfast. It seems she didn’t eat after what happened yesterday. If she collapses, then, I will be troubled.”

“……”

Syltina smiled again at Kreutz, who didn’t respond to her words no matter what and continued to swing his tail instead, and turned to Milliane who seemed to be uneasy about their exchange.

“He’s like that, but he will properly do what I ask him, so, Milliane-sama, I’m sorry, but can I entrust the 2 of you with the Saintess?”

“Ah, y-yes. Ummm, please take care!”

Responding to Milliane’s parting words with a wave, the three head for the Town of Fiminan.

ーーーーー

ーーー

ー

This is such a pain, Yuto thought as he kept a different face while in front of Akari, who was hugging her knees close to her chest and burying her face against it, without even making any slight movements.

It had been a little over an hour since Yuto came over to do something about Akari, who said that she did not want to leave the carriage.

During that time, Akari stayed silent, showing no reaction to the words of Yuto, Frackt, or Mars.

Get a grip, uneasily, the expression Yuto put on that seemed to say that he was indeed worried seemed to be faltering.

Well, letting out a small puff of breath as he wondered what to do with Akari, the carriage door opened and Kreutz appeared.

”Your breakfast is ready. Hurry up and eat.”

“……”

“Hey, are you listening?”

“…… Don’t need it.”

“Ha?”

“I don’t need it. I don’t have an appetite……”

Akari’s response causes a wrinkle to form between Kreutz’s eyebrows.

“I don’t care if you have an appetite or not, but Sylti told me to properly feed you breakfast.”

“Didn’t I say I didn’t need it?!? Get out!!! Don’t mind me!! Get out, all of you!!!”

“……”

“A-Akari, calm down…”

“Shut up! A-anyway, Yuto’s only kind to me because I’m the Saintess, right? Everyone only needs my power, so they don’t really care about me!”

“Akari……”

With a sudden burst of anger, Akari slaps away the outstretched hand intended to appease her.

Looking up after a long while, her face is warped in sadness, tears pooling in her eyes.

“That’s not true, Akari. For me, you and you alone are important. Even if Akari isn’t the Saintess or even if you don’t have any power, you are still important to me .”

“Lies, something like that……”

“Why?”

“I mean…”

“Hey, Akari. There’s nothing in it for me in accompanying you on this journey, you know?”

“Eh?”

“Unlike Akari and Syltina, I didn’t join because I would be rewarded if this journey ends safely. Neither did I receive a quest from the guild, nor was I asked by the King. Nonetheless, do you understand why I decided to go along with you?”

“……”

“That’s because you’re important to me. It’s because I want to protect you.”

“Yuto!!”

Embracing Yuto as if she were hanging on to him, Akari let out a small laugh.

“Akari! You are also precious to me, that’s why I’m with you!!!”

“I love you too, big sis!”

“Frackt, Mars…… thank you!”

As they said so, Akari embraced the two next.

A single teardrop streamed down her porcelain-colored cheek.

Isn’t this such a heartwarming scene?

Yuto kept a smile pasted onto his face as he watched the 3 share an embrace.

What saved the Saintess, who became suspicious because she was hurt by the selfish behavior of the heartless citizens, was the traveler who first told her that she was ‘special’, the First Prince who loved her from the bottom of his heart, and the small child she saved.

Such a touching, extremely pure, and beautiful, trivial farce.

“……Ahh, how ridiculous.”

A small whisper that seemed to be only heard by Kreutz escaped his lips as he kept smiling. From the moment the farce started, Yuto had uninterestedly leaned against the carriage’s door, closed his eyes, and slightly smiled.

“Come on, Akari. Let’s go eat. We get really worried when you don’t seem well, you know?”

“If Yuto says so…”

With Frackt holding her around the waist and Mars leading her by the hand, Akari goes out of the carriage.

“I don’t understand.”

Kreutz discreetly opened his mouth when he and Yuto were the only ones left inside the carriage.

“What don’t you understand?”

“That girl. Why does she want to be rewarded like that by other people?”

“It’s human nature to want something in return for what they do.”

“However, the girl has been prepared and told from the beginning that she will be receiving a suitable reward at the end of the journey. Yet why does she still seek to be rewarded by others?”

“She probably wants to be loved by someone. She wants to be loved, to be praised, to be revered, to be thanked, and to be needed. And so I think she wants to be the only one for many people.”

You’re stubborn enough to not give anyone the position of being your ‘one and only’, but you can’t bear to have others not giving you that position of being their ‘one and only’.

“So, while she depends on Yuto’s existence, she sometimes goes to the Prince to satisfy her expectations of being loved to a fault and being respected.”

You don’t doubt if you think you are being loved and absolutely valued.

That’s why you are afraid of those who oppose you and judge them to be ‘mistaken’.

“She still thinks of this world as a game world. As the heroine, she thinks that she will be naturally loved and unconditionally valued by everyone in this world. It would be nice if she realizes that some groups like our Dipterous Sword Guild won’t take a liking to her. That this world isn’t what she thinks it is.”

“If it were someone capable, then, they would notice once it was revealed that Sylti would escort her. As Clarina said, the lineup of participants in this journey seems to be far removed from how the game was composed.”

“Hmmm, if I’m not mistaken, in the flow of the game, she was supposed to meet Jin-sama and Ait-san, and, at a later date, join up with Rain-kun.”

“Ahh.”

“She’s a fool, isn’t she? Apart from Rain-kun, it’s highly unlikely for the First Prince and the Guild Master to undertake an escort mission for someone like the Saintess, but she still believes that. So, when she found out that they had called over Lady Sylti to be the escort, she was quite upset. Miss Milliane told me.”

“Rather, even if she noticed something and she still truly believes that she is the heroine, then it’s no wonder she’s upset and making a ruckus since things did not progress as she pictured it……”

“The citizens will be grateful to her. So, she will be welcomed and receive a token of appreciation or some other reward. This time she truly believed that going forward. However, when she tried opening the lid, the welcome was certain, but the events that followed it were far from what she expected.”

“That girl still doesn’t understand the country’s status quo. It’s so bad that I can’t even feel any pity anymore.”

“They’re both asking for the same thing, after all. I think they will be given love if they ask for it, and be saved if they ask for salvation. She will appeal with ‘because I did this much’, ‘because I was met with such cruel eyes’, ‘even if it’s so hard’, ‘even if I’ve lost so much’, but turn a blind eye to anything else. I wonder, if I said such things, will I receive a reward as well….?”

If you want to be rewarded for all you’ve done, and for all you’ve saved…

If there’s a salvation for every loss and salvation, for every hurt…

“If there is such a world overflowing with hope, then we won’t be here.”

“……That’s right.”

We received nothing in return, even when we gave, or helped.

No one saved us, even when we were hurt or lost.

That is why we are here (in a guild).

We despaired in the world where nothing was returned, and was disappointed in the world where no one saved us, so……

We created our own world (guild).

“They still don’t realize yet. The unhappiness, the despair, and the horror that is pouring on us now is just a gentle nudge. They hurt a part of our world, so, there is no saving them in the truest sense. And, by the time they notice it, their world would have already fallen into despair.”

Yuto chuckled as if he were looking forward to it when Akari called him and left the carriage.

“What do they see at the end of despair? Foolish humans……”

At the end of despair, there are those who created their own world (guild), and the possibility of the hope they wish for.

So, what then, will the people of this country who are forced into despair by them, think at the end?

“Well, I’m not interested in such things.”

They are completely uninterested in thinking of, or doing anything beyond inflicting despair.

To say it strongly, continue suffering for all of eternity.

Just like that.

“Oh well, I guess I’ll take a nap until Sylti returns.”

Let’s just leave it to Yuto to watch over the Saintess, muttered Kreutz as he changed into a black cat and went outside.

Only the sound of the closing door could be heard inside the empty carriage.