The Porter Is Not Interested in the Hero Party

75 – good friends (1)

The hero’s blush didn’t get better even after several days. Even though they looked at me and talked as if nothing was wrong, at some point, when they were conscious, their ears were stained red. Looking at such a hero, Lena joked that she was sick, and Ashuria scolded Lena for not trusting Millet.

“Warrior! really sick? yes?”

Millet, naively believing Lena’s joke, stamped her feet and wept. My role was to explain to Millet that the hero was not sick while Lena and Ashuria were bickering.

“no. Millet. The hero is not sick.”

“Then why are you blushing?”

I had a lot of bold ideas, and I was in a position to welcome women, but I wasn’t stupid enough to speak out in these circumstances. The warrior’s scandal is a problem in itself. If the center of the scandal is the porter, that fact is also a problem.

I had to join this party and go to the Devil’s Castle. I didn’t want the variable that the loud talk turned around and I got out of the party. So I pretended not to know anything.

“It looks like there are side effects to the medicine the hero has been taking recently. That’s why your face is so red.”

In the meantime, the hero cleared his throat and cleared his throat again. Then, he gestured to Ashuria and Lena, who were still chatting, and spread the paper on the table. This time, it was a direct order from the king.

“The order given this time has to do with Lena.”

Lena, who had been sitting skewed at the word that it had something to do with Lena, straightened her back and focused on the order. When the hero pointed to the place marked on the map, I immediately remembered the place. It was a cave. It was a fairly deep and wide cave, and it was difficult for anyone to access, so it was used as an outpost by the Empire in the past.

“It is a place I know. I don’t know if the terrain will be the same there.”

The topography of the empire was changing little by little as the evil spirits of the demon world eroded. Trees withered away, and the roots of demonic trees encroached on the land, changing the shape of valleys or creating hills where there were no hills.

“Before, the forest was overgrown and the topography was not revealed, but as the power of the demons grew stronger, all the trees died. That’s why the shape of the cave was clearly exposed. As a result of checking with the scouts, they said they saw people who appeared to be members of the Black Society here.”

“Then there must be a lot of traps.”

I nodded at Lena’s words, but the hero said this.

“Still, I can’t help it. It seems that there were several places where generals were assassinated by assassins while we were at the palace. ah… … . His Majesty and others must have thought that this assassination group could not be left alone any longer. I think we have to somehow break through here and subdue them.”

There were no options. Waiting for assassins to come and go and taking them out one by one would take too long, and we couldn’t lay siege with our own personnel. Patience and stealth are the preserve of assassins. If we challenged an area we couldn’t get ahead of, it was inevitable that we would suffer damage.

Lena nodded as if agreeing to that point and continued.

“…Well, that’s because you can’t just eliminate one by one while waiting for the kids to come out. As the hero said, we have no choice but to break through.”

“Then, as per this strategy, I’ll set this as the next dispatch area.”

Everyone nodded, but Lena’s face looked darker by the day. Our last night at the palace passed very quietly, so that no one would notice that we were on the move. Millet seemed to be expecting a farewell party, so she went to bed with her shoulders drooping.

*****

Time for everyone to go to bed.

I couldn’t fall asleep and lay in bed with my eyes open. The clock’s second hand moved in a nervous and quick pattern, and the stars and moon in the night sky were fixed as if nailed to their places, shining on me.

the stars are so pretty

let’s play together.

It was as if a voice came from the sky, and I shook my head and stood up. Every time I got closer to the center of the empire, my heart kept pounding and excitement rose. Just like the first time I took the knight test, the first time I was taught by the captain.

I couldn’t sleep even after measuring the distance from the map to the empire by a span.

In the end, I decided to take a walk late at night. When I opened the door, I opened the door, and a creaking sound echoed throughout the hallway, as if announcing that I was leaving. The sound drove away fatigue once again, and in the quiet hallway, the starlight created a pattern of faint light and shade.

Indigo and black colors, which exactly resembled the shape of the window, alternated between them, and the shadows of stars were faintly stuck like a carpet pattern between them. As I walked on it, my figure became elongated, and I was walking through the corridors of the shadow realm like a protagonist in a shadow play.

“mister.”

And at the end of it, there was Lena who, like me, was immersed in the kingdom of shadows and enjoyed the night view. She was looking at the town as she touched the needle. The city, which was too big to be simply called a village, was spread out wide, and colorful lights spread from the entertainment district to the downtown area. And in the large church in the center that divides the standard, the multi-colored stained glass was proud of its presence even at night, emitting a bright light like daytime.

I said as I approached her.

“Isn’t it a wonderful night view?”

“That’s right. That’s cool.”

Lena’s tone was plain. Her complicated expression told me she was in a bad mood. I thought about how to comfort her and asked the question again.

“Why didn’t you go to sleep and wake up?”

“I can’t sleep.”

I shrugged. Because I didn’t know how to interpret her answer. Lena turned her head like a doll, smiled at me, and slapped me lightly on the shoulder.

“It’s a joke. just… … . I just did it because I thought of the old days.”

“Did you think of the Black Society?”

Lena comes from a black society. And, except for Lena, most of the Black Society betrayed the kingdom and were active on the side of the demons. Lena narrowed her brows at the name of the organization that came out of my mouth, then pursed her lips and relaxed her expression.

“yes. I wandered around the back alleys since I was very young, then I was brought up in a dark society. I don’t even know how my parents died.”

I nodded at her words. When I couldn’t think of how to answer, it was nice to nod and listen. As if she wasn’t expecting a wise answer from me, she continued.

“So… … . I feel very strange. It was the black society man who raised the girl who was begging and begging for nothing to become an assassin, and the reason why I came here is thanks to my background in the black society, but now I’m on my way to exterminate that black society.”

“I understand.”

At my words, Lena widened her eyes. Then he raised an eyebrow and said.

“right? Do you think you will be very sad?”

“It is difficult to put those feelings into words. For me, even now, it just feels amazing and strange.”

Lena laughed at that. I didn’t know if it was funny to say that I understood, or if the expression of my feelings was funny.

“Ahahahaha! What is that. Strange.”

Lena’s laughter echoed through the hallway. The others seemed to have been asleep for a long time. We were talking quite loudly, but no one was looking out. Lena looked at me and bent over. Our silhouettes, buried in the shadows, overlapped with the railing.

“Hey. mister. i’m not sad at all look. You are smiling.”

As Lena said that, she showed her teeth and laughed out loud. She turned her head around like a funny clown doll, then went on with her mouth closed again. She seemed to be trying to convince me that I wasn’t sad until I was convinced.

“mister. In the first place, they were very strange people. when i was 10? I didn’t even know when my birthday was because my parents died early, but I suddenly asked for a birthday party. I suddenly decided to buy a cake, but that day must have been an anniversary. The cakes were all sold by the cake, so you decided to make them yourself, right? By the way, assassins are good at killing people, but there must have been someone who was good at baking cakes? The cream was sloppy. Bread is a mess. So they put me up to eat, but I thought it was weird and said I wouldn’t eat it, so again… … .”

Lena stopped talking. She shifted her gaze around, letting out a dejected laugh, then forcibly raised the corners of her mouth and said:

“So… . So, the other kid who brought the firecrackers said it was prepared to celebrate your birthday… … . The old man just put a gift in a box… … . ah… . That’s strange… … . wait man… . wait for a sec… … .”

Lena turned her head and shrugged her shoulders. I looked at Lena in silence. The trembling shoulders didn’t know how to stop, and I hugged her tightly and said,

“You can cry. If you don’t cry at times like this, you become a strange person like me.”

Breathing stopped. Lena slowly turned around and hugged me tightly. He grabbed my back with trembling hands, buried his face in his chest, and began to cry.

“really… ! Well, how well do you eat… ! I will live well… … . really… … . really… . Look at me and tell me what to do… … .”

I stroked her hair and sighed.

The sound of crying echoed through the hallway.

Lena covered her mouth with her collar to prevent others from overhearing it, and I hugged her head tighter.

My shirt got wet with sobs.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all today.