I Picked Up the Hero Who Banished Me

22 – [The Hero and I – 07]

Hero Olivia Reinhart.

She was strong.

Unbelievably strong.

So strong it was beyond words.

Even though monsters were far superior in terms of physical ability, Olivia had the power to beat them all single-handedly.

Even the Demon Lord wasn’t a match, and I wondered if she could even take on the gods or demons said to have existed since the beginning of time.

That’s how absurdly strong she was.

That’s why I wanted to make her an ally no matter what, but she was a Hero in both the good and bad sense.

I felt an untouchable aura, a compulsion that seemed like she’d rather cut her own throat than forgive evil.

And so, Alex had no choice but to choose a method.

If she was such a powerful weapon, I wanted her as an ally to the kingdom no matter what, but in the end, she couldn’t just be the kingdom’s weapon.

There was a chance that, someday, she’d recognize the rot within the kingdom, and eventually, her sword might judge it an evil deserving of her blade.

That was the most terrifying prospect of all.

“Come to think of it, it’s odd, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“No matter how amazing the Hero is, she was that badly injured… could she really have made it all the way to East Port? Wouldn’t it make more sense to think someone helped her?”

“……”

At Belita’s words, Alex paused to think.

There was certainly a point there.

He’d been viewing Olivia as too much of a god-like figure of power, so he hadn’t even considered the simple possibility of someone assisting her.

If someone helped her, like Belita said, maybe it was possible to reach East Port so quickly.

No.

Even so, to survive the Reaper’s curse *and* that state of her body was unnatural, but then again, if it was Olivia, it might not be impossible.

If it was Olivia, maybe it was possible.

The thought wouldn’t leave Alex’s mind.

“Indeed, then it must be someone with medical skills. No way she survived those wounds and the curse. At the very least, they’d need the medical expertise to keep her alive and they must be a kind soul who couldn’t leave a dying person behind.”

“I suppose so.”

“Maybe it’s for the best. She might have been different on her own, but with a companion, the Hero can’t just abandon them. That person will surely become her weakness.”

“……”

“Any word from Reyna yet?”

“The signal’s still unstable. It’s hard to get a signal in the Eastern Continent anyway. It might be possible if she was near a town, but it doesn’t seem like Reyna’s near one right now.”

“Tch.”

Alex clicked his tongue.

He wanted to contact her right now, but it seemed like he couldn’t get through.

There was no need to be too impatient.

If Olivia’s health was bad, and on top of that, she had a group with her, she wouldn’t try to go as fast as she did when they went to Elvenheim before, and it was more likely she’d choose a common path.

If that was the case, it would take a while at least, so he could afford to be patient.

No reason to be anxious right now.

*Hoo*, Alex sighed, as if calming himself down.

“No choice, I have some business to take care of, so keep trying to contact her. If you succeed, call for me.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll go have an audience with His Majesty. He has the right to know about this matter.”

Cromwell Clifford was, like Alex, someone who cared for the kingdom more than anyone.

In that respect, their opinions matched well, and it was only thanks to Cromwell’s help that Alex was able to get his hands on the Goddess’s Orb.

But despite having broken their contract, before long Olivia had called the Holy Sword back to her and re-established their contract.

‘A hero is a hero, I guess.’

No, in some ways, there wasn’t a hero among the previous heroes who was more heroic than Olivia.

It might not sound convincing considering he’d betrayed her, but Alex had valued Olivia highly.

That was why he had wanted to make her an ally by any means, but ultimately failed and had to kill her, which he regretted.

She was beautiful.

She was strong.

She was, above all else, good.

There was a hint of self-righteousness, and a slight lack of foresight was a weakness, but she seemed to instinctively know what to do, more than anything else.

She didn’t care about politics or anything like that, only right and wrong, and if she thought something was wrong, she’d try to beat it into submission, be they noble or whatever.

At least if the opponent was human, she wouldn’t kill them unless they’d committed some truly heinous crime.

But if they’d committed ‘murder’, then in Olivia’s eyes, they probably wouldn’t even be human anymore.

She’d show some leniency, but only if it was self-defense or something like that; she wouldn’t give an inch to someone who’d committed murder out of malice.

She wouldn’t forgive evil, and her lack of flexibility made her a true hero.

‘It’s a good thing that almost nobody recognizes that golden light as the holy sword. Hardly anyone even knows that the holy sword that’s supposed to be in this castle has gone missing. If we can control the information well enough, somehow….’

“Alex!”

At the harsh voice, Alex turned and there was Lyris, panting for breath.

It felt like he’d been caught like this before, but unlike last time, Lyris’s expression clearly held hostility towards Alex.

She had keen intuition, and regardless of everything, she was still a princess, so she was bound to have access to some information.

“You need to explain.”

“Explain what?”

“Don’t think I’m oblivious.”

“So, I don’t understand what you want me to explain.”

“The light that happened in East Port, that was the light of the holy sword. And the holy sword that was in the castle has disappeared, you think I wouldn’t know that?”

“…….”

Alex paused for a moment, then spoke.

“I don’t know exactly what happened either. I’ll have to investigate from now on.”

“It’s Olivia, if Olivia’s alive, your hero party’s claim falls apart. …I’m having a terrible thought, what do you think?”

“I have no idea what terrible thought you might be having. But, well, if it’s Lady Olivia, that would be good, but it might not be Lady Olivia. Isn’t there a possibility that a new hero has been born?”

“……”

Lilis was silent.

Whatever the case, Lilis didn’t know the truth, and her information was lacking.

Even her body wasn’t in good shape, so she was someone incapable of proper activity.

“Alex.”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

“I’m going to ask one last time, the hero… Olivia Reinhart died with the Demon King. Are you sure?”

“At least that’s what we concluded back then. That she couldn’t have survived that explosion, we said.”

“……”

“……”

Lilis, hearing that answer, turned her body away without a word.

“I believe there’s a heaven.”

“Huh?”

What was that all of a sudden?

“Because then I can believe there’s salvation for those who did the right thing.”

“……”

“And.”

Lilis turned her head and glared at Alex.

That gaze wasn’t the eyes of a sickly princess, lamenting daily.

“And believe there is a hell.”

“…….”

Saying that, Lyris walked away.

Alex watched Lyris, a faint smile playing on his lips.

‘Hell, is it?’

Does she believe in karmic retribution?

Does she believe the goddess’s nonsensical words, who does nothing except for the branding and holy sword?

‘How truly foolish you are, Lyris-nim.’

*

The Hero is indeed quite strong.

Frankly, I thought he’d be subdued in a few seconds.

And yet.

“Luckily, no one got hurt.”

“What in the world were you doing?”

“Huh? W-Well, being seen would be a problem… So I passed through with a speed that’s hard for normal people to perceive and just whacked them all on the back of the neck.”

She spoke of something preposterous as if it were nothing.

“Wanna learn it, Royce? It’s a footwork I developed, if you use a little magic you can get explosive speed for a moment. Only, if you’re not used to it, you’ll be too fast, even I can’t control it.”

“When did you learn that?”

“Maybe when I was ten… I thought I needed something to move quickly, but the commonly known footwork techniques weren’t good enough. So, I developed it. Amazing, right?”

“It’s seriously something.”

I thought it before, but the Hero isn’t stupid.

Just… short-sighted.

He learns things quickly in many ways, and especially when it comes to combat, it’d be hard to find someone more of a genius than him.

If his physical abilities were that monstrous, he should at least lack skill, but his skill is also monstrous, so everything he holds in his hand becomes no different from a holy sword.

At this point, wouldn’t something like the formless sword, called the pinnacle of swordsmanship, be possible?

The Holy Sword might as well just focus on suppressing the Hero’s curse.

“You planned it to avoid being seen, and you actually subdued the pirates without getting caught, so wouldn’t you say you thought it through pretty well?”

“Well, it’s impossible for ordinary people, but since it’s a result of someone capable thinking it through, isn’t it fine?”

“Come to think of it, pirates on a ship in this East Port, that’s quite rare.”

“Yeah… the maritime patrol is around here pretty often, so pirates don’t usually come to this area.”

But because of that, it’s a place frequently used by the wealthy, so maybe they came hoping for a big score.

You might think it’s stupid, high-risk, but if they had that kind of mind, they wouldn’t be wasting their lives doing things like being pirates.

“Let’s get back quickly, it’s not good to stand out for no reason…”

“……”

“Livia?”

The Hero was silent for a moment, then came closer to me.

“Someone’s watching.”

“…We’ve been caught?”

“Amazing, they not only figured out I did it, but I can’t even pinpoint their location. They’re pretty skilled, might be stronger than Royce.”

“Could you not use me as a yardstick?”

“But, like, Royce is *right* there, in the middle ground between the strong and the weak.”

I wished they wouldn’t talk about a person like they were only good for taking out trash mobs and getting shredded by named foes.

“So, is there any hostility?”

“Doesn’t seem like it…”

“Huu.”

It was a shame we had no basis for judgment beyond the Hero’s intuition, but oh well.

“Let’s leave it be. If there’s no hostility, there’s no reason for us to approach them on our own.”

“Got it.”

Our goal was to reach Alvheim quickly.

I hoped no pointless problems would arise.