Chapter 28 - Just a Coincidence

"The hero Hillen Cargill has returned!"

Hillen Cargill's return sent Hortonwork into an uproar. For better or worse, his return meant a great many things.

The lord and the townspeople rushed out to learn whether he had won or lost, but he went straight to the teleportation circle and disappeared, leaving behind Granada, who had descended to carry out the Demon King's order to rebuild his mercenary company.

And Granada was faced with an unexpected reunion.

"... What the hell are you lot doing here?"

It had been pure coincidence that he spotted those familiar faces drinking and chatting in the tavern inside the Mercenaries' Guild.

"C-Captain?"

"Y-you're alive?"

"Stop."

Their eyes darted about. The men who had been about to flee gave awkward laughs and sat back down.

"Are you going to talk only after I stomp on every last one of you? Or will you talk now?"

"Haha..."

"Well, during the avalanche, we pretended we'd all been swept away and killed, then came down the mountain... It wasn't as if we could do anything that important anyway... Nothing matters more than staying alive..."

"I thought it was strange that the whole lot of you disappeared in a single avalanche..."

They hadn't died. They'd gone into hiding.

"And after pulling that shit, you still intended to pocket the money?"

These fucking bastards.

Being betrayed by a hero had left him sensitive to such things. In the end, this was no different: his men had abandoned and betrayed their captain.

"C-Captain! We're not as strong as you! We had no choice!"

"Mount Erjest was too much for mercenaries like us from the start."

Objectively speaking, the Red Hawk Mercenary Company wasn't particularly weak. It had only around twenty members, but every one of them was at least an intermediate mercenary. If they hadn't even met that standard, Berge wouldn't have paid a fortune for their time.

As he scowled, a woman sitting with the mercenaries addressed him.

"Are you the captain of the Red Hawk Mercenary Company?"

"Did we recruit someone without telling me?"

Even as he said it, he suspected she wasn't a mercenary. Her attire was nothing like theirs. She looked more like a knight.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Kaede, a hero. You must be Granada, the elf I've heard so much about."

Her emerald eyes, shining beneath brilliant golden hair, were striking. The presence she exuded was formidable, too. Above all, she was beautiful.

"A hero...?"

"That's right, Captain. This hero here had some questions for us, so she treated us to quite a spread!"

"Have a drink yourself, Captain!"

The mercenaries hurriedly changed the subject, but a glance from Granada silenced them. His tone grew a little calmer.

"What brings a hero to Hortonwork?"

"I came to join the hero's journey."

"If that's what you're here for..."

"I know. I'm too late."

Kaede shook her head.

"Circumstances prevented me from joining on time, but I came all this way thinking there might still be a chance, even if I was late."

But by the time she arrived, part of the expedition, including the hero Watton, had already descended. Defeat was looking increasingly likely. Disappointed though she was, she had found one glimmer of hope.

"I learned that Sir Hillen was still on the mountain. But I couldn't simply charge up there, so I was talking to these gentlemen."

"Exactly. We did take part in the hero's journey before coming back down, after all."

"You were the first to drop out."

"Ahem."

Bark cleared his throat.

"If you wanted to ask about the hero's journey, you came to the wrong people. They're my mercenaries, but I'm ashamed to say these bastards fled before they saw anything resembling a real fight."

"I was beginning to find it strange. They knew considerably less than I'd expected."

The mercenaries flinched.

"But I seem to be fortunate."

"What do you mean?"

"I've had the chance to meet you, Granada."

"That's bad luck, not good."

"Pardon?"

"I stayed with Sir Hillen Cargill to the very end. What do you think it means that I'm here now?"

"... Don't tell me..."

Her expression stiffened.

"Yes. The hero's journey failed, and all the remaining members, including Sir Hillen Cargill, have descended."

"That can't be..."

"Sir Hillen took the teleportation circle straight to another destination. There will probably be an official announcement soon. We failed, and we never even laid eyes on the Demon King's tower."

"... Could you tell me what happened in detail?"

"Well, my time is rather expensive..."

"Whatever it costs...! I'll pay whatever it costs!"

The desperation in her eyes kept Granada from refusing outright.

* * *

"... That's impossible."

From beginning to end, Kaede rejected everything that came out of Granada's mouth.

"The Demon King's tower wasn't at the summit? That's never happened before."

"It hasn't happened before, but can you guarantee it never will? I'm living proof."

"..."

This was what made fixed assumptions so frightening. When something taken for granted stopped being true, the shock was tremendous. That was what made Berge so remarkable: he'd ignored the Guide handed down among Demon Kings and twisted it beyond recognition.

"At any rate, we found nothing, and the hero's journey failed. I recommend you give up as well and go elsewhere."

"... I suppose I must."

The outcome was already settled. She couldn't change it after the fact.

"It was an honor to meet the Granada I've heard so much about."

"Where do you intend to go?"

"There's only one place for a hero to—"

"Welcome!"

New customers entered. With robes covering roughly half their bodies, they looked like mercenaries one could find anywhere.

Except...

'Not bad...?'

The presence they exuded was somewhat different from that of mercenaries, drawing his gaze.

"What are you doing?"

"... Something went down the wrong way."

Kaede bent low and gave a few small coughs. Her face wasn't particularly red for someone who had choked.

"Anyway..."

She cleared her throat.

"I'll go to the Heroes' Guild and look for commissions."

"There won't be another hero's journey like this for a while."

Most hero's journeys involved reaching a certain floor of a tower and returning, rather than killing the Demon King. A battle with a Demon King required both sides to stake everything, so it rarely happened unless a kingdom's heir had been kidnapped, as in this case.

"That can't be helped. Oh, I'll pay the bill as promised. Please enjoy the rest."

Kaede set down several silver coins and left.

'A typical novice hero.'

People with ability but without the mentality to support it. Their blind faith in themselves left them far too desperate for fame, and most came to a bad end.

"Stop."

"Ahaha..."

"We're a little busy ourselves..."

Bark and the other mercenaries, who had tried to slip out of their seats along with Kaede, sat back down.

"Why did you do it?"

"B-because we wanted to live?"

"... Honestly, Erjest is more than we can handle, isn't it?"

Trust and a good reputation mattered to mercenaries. These men worked with a certain pride of their own, but few mercenaries would truly throw their lives away for their reputation.

Granada didn't consider that a bad thing. It was only natural for living creatures to want to survive. And Erjest certainly had been too much for them. Had they followed him to the end, they would most likely all have become lonely spirits wandering the mountain.

'The only one who might have survived...'

Was Bark, their former captain.

"Fine. Let's bend over backward and say your argument makes sense. But that's not what I'm angry about."

"Huh?"

"You disloyal fucking bastards. You plotted among yourselves and ran off without me? Without your captain?"

"That's what...?"

Bark stammered.

"What, do I have two lives? Do you think there's anyone in this world, other than that Demon King bastard, who isn't in danger on Erjest?"

Even Hillen could only hold out for so long before exhausting his strength and becoming monster food.

"But Captain, you're..."

"Shh."

Granada silenced Bark. His gaze shifted behind them.

The men who had been picking at their food in a corner of the tavern, radiating a sinister air, stood up. The men who had caught his eye from the moment they entered, and looked nothing like mercenaries.

'Are they following Kaede?'

They were suspicious by any standard. She had seemed a little as though she were being pursued, and apparently she really was.

'Did she cause some kind of trouble?'

There were heroes who got so carried away with being heroes that they behaved as though no one could touch them, making nuisances of themselves. But Kaede hadn't seemed that bad.

'Well, it's none of my business.'

Granada had descended under the Demon King's orders to use the fame he'd gained on the hero's journey to rebuild his mercenary company. He had a mountain of work to do and no time to concern himself with anything else.

"We've found Her Highness. Southern Hortonwork, approximately five hundred meters west of the square. She just left a tavern called the Orc's Dance. Everyone assemble immediately."

The voice was exceedingly quiet. They had even put up a thin magical barrier to prevent it from carrying outside. But that wasn't enough to shut out the ears of an elf who was deliberately paying attention.

'Her Highness?'

As far as Granada knew, that honorific was reserved for members of royal or imperial families.

'... She's a princess?'

Princes and princesses becoming heroes wasn't common, but neither was it unheard of. That in itself wasn't extraordinary. But if asked which of those two identities took precedence, princess or hero, it was unquestionably princess. Unless someone was a top-ranked hero of considerable fame, being a hero offered no advantage that outweighed being a princess.

'If a princess wanted to play hero...'

Normally, a whole crowd of the kingdom's knights and soldiers would accompany her as escorts. No, before that, they would prevent her from playing hero in the first place. For better or worse, she was a member of a nation's royal family.

'I can't let this go.'

Unable to contain his curiosity, Granada rose from his seat.

"H-huh? What's wrong?"

"I'm stepping out for a moment. If I come back and you've run off again, you won't enjoy what happens."

Leaving a sputtering Bark behind, he went outside. The men had already disappeared into the crowd.

'That doesn't mean I can't find them.'

Granada closed his eyes and listened. His keen elven senses took in every bit of the surrounding noise.

'Judging by that communication, there are more of them.'

Probably a pursuit party sent to catch the princess. He searched for the sound of a group, sifting through footsteps for the regular rhythm of trained men.

'Found them.'

He bought a cheap mask from a street stall. Not content with that, he cast a recognition-obscuring spell as well. It was nothing as impressive as polymorph or an illusion, but it was better than nothing. His instincts were screaming that he must not get involved in this as "Granada."

He crossed the square and the main road, heading toward the place where those measured footsteps were gathering. He heard a small commotion, along with the clash of weapons.

It was a deserted alley, poorly lit by the sun, with a faint stench rising from it. In that place where rats should have been gnawing on scraps in the gutter stood a considerable number of people dressed much like the men from earlier.

And among them was Kaede.

"Who's there?"

SHING

One of the mercenaries forming a human barrier looked directly at Granada's position. A gleaming white blade emerged. Granada raised both hands and slowly stepped forward.

"I heard a commotion and came over before I knew it."

"Wearing a mask like that?"

"A minimal precaution. You can tell at a glance this isn't anything ordinary, can't you? And that sword looks awfully fine for a mere mercenary."

"Leave," the mercenary said in a low voice.

"This is none of your concern. Disappear as though nothing happened. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?"

Granada grinned. The mercenary's face hardened.

"You're obviously up to something shady. Planning to kill me to keep me quiet?"

"This isn't what you think it is. This is your last warning. Leave. Otherwise, we'll have no further reason to show you mercy."

Dozens of mercenaries drew their swords in unison. Their icy killing intent pricked Granada's skin like sharp needles.

"I'd like to, but..."

The corners of Granada's mouth lifted.

"The person I serve would take a very keen interest in this."

"The person you serve?"

"That woman."

Granada's gaze swept over Kaede beyond the mercenaries.

"She's a princess, isn't she?"

"Die."

A flash blazed.

SLICE

Granada's hair was severed. Before the scattered strands could reach the ground, the sword darted at him like a bee.

CLANG

The sword he had barely managed to draw trembled. He had blocked it. Yet he hadn't stopped it. Unable to dissipate the force, Granada went tumbling across the ground. He gritted his teeth at the unexpected combination of strikes.

'He's strong!'

This man was different from the others. He knew how to conceal his ability from Granada's senses.

Calmly, Granada finished drawing his sword. He cloaked it in aura and swept it outward. The fragments of aura became hundreds of leaves and shot forth.

"Cheap tricks."

The man drew a line. In an instant, a slash crossed the intervening space, shredding every leaf before arriving right before Granada's face.

CLANG

He was blasted backward through a wall. Only after being driven nearly ten meters did he barely regain his stance. But his opponent gave him no opening. A heavy sword dropped sharply, driving both of Granada's legs into the earth. The subtle attack that followed left a fine cut across his chest.

Damn it. A trickle of blood ran from his tightly closed mouth. The unexpected ambush had put him at a disadvantage.

'Do I have to use my full strength?'

No. He would be exposed. An elf's power was only complete when joined with spirits, which made it all too easy to identify. If his identity as Granada came to light, the recognition-obscuring spell would be pointless, and Demon King Berge's plans would be completely derailed.

Ultimately, his best option was to flee. But could he? A formidable opponent stood before him, and mercenaries had formed a ring around him. Turning away amid those crashing waves would be no different from abandoning his ship and jumping into the sea.

'To hell with it. I'll just kill them.'

Granada's eyes grew chilling. In the end, nothing in the world mattered more than his own life. It might hinder the Demon King's grand undertaking, but none of that would mean anything if he died.

'Besides, all I need is to leave no witnesses, right?'

If he killed them all, there would be no witnesses left. And if he then used spirits to erase even the earth's memory, no one, however extraordinary, would be able to find a trace.

The instant he thought that—

THWACK

"...?"

The mercenary who had been pressing Granada flew away, spitting blood. Black flames surged in after him, separating Granada from the mercenaries. Engulfed in fire, they screamed and thrashed.

"I thought you were taking too long."

The voice came from the sky. Everyone looked up. Slowly, ever so slowly, he was descending.

"So you've been slacking off here."

"... Does this look like slacking off? Can't you see these wounds?"

"Making a fuss over scratches you could heal with a dab of spit."

"Wow. I had no idea your spit was made of holy water."

"Do you want to die?"

"Yes, yes. I should just keep my mouth shut."

Honestly. Granada gave a hollow laugh. Berge's gaze turned to the mercenaries.

"Who are you, and why are you tormenting my slave?"

"Couldn't you call me your subordinate instead of your slave? There are better ways to say the same thing."

"I even have your ownership papers."

"No, you don't!"

"Ah, I did tear them up. Still, they existed."

"... Why on earth did you come?"

"It wasn't because I particularly wanted to save you. I didn't know you were this weak."

"... I wasn't hoping for that anyway."

"It's just a coincidence."

"A coincidence?"

"Yes."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"That's up to you."