Chapter 28: A Festival

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/29/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

When I wake, the city is noisy even though it’s still early morning.
And I can hear people’s cheers.
What is it. A festival or something.
I go down to the first floor; there are fewer customers than usual, but the mistress is smiling, in a good mood.

“Ma’am, morniiing.”
“Oh, good morning.”
“Did something happen?”
“Well, you see, a Hero who’d been missing for two years has apparently returned.”

Oto. Maybe this is that?

“Would that be Katsuragi Arei?”
“That’s the one! The Heroes went missing right after they beat the Demon King, came back once, then went right out traveling again.”

…That’s just running from Kanon, isn’t it.
I don’t know, that person is scary. Only a hunch, though.
But I see. If they’re back, they’re at the castle, maybe.

“And the knight-captain has returned too, apparently. The whole capital is in a festival mood.”
“…The knight-captain?”

Come to think of it I hadn’t met them; they weren’t in the capital.
From how the talk’s going, maybe Kodama Renju, who I searched for the other day.
No, more than that. A festival mood?

“Hey, ma’am. If it’s a festival, do the stalls get free?”
“Not that far, but they should be cheaper than usual, shouldn’t they?”
“Oh! That’s nice!”

Mu. No, wait. The mistress’s delicious food or stall food, which do I take. This is a serious problem.
Uumu… anyway, I’ll look around the stalls and think.
All right. If that’s decided, first I’ll show my face at the guild.

○○○○○○○○

And so. At the old Adventurer’s Guild.

“Good mooorning!”
“Ouka, good morning. Did you hear about the fuss outside?”

Yay, Liza. Beautiful today too.
She seems in a good mood as well. All’s well, all’s well.

“Yeah. A Hero came back, right?”
“That’s right. The knight-captain, and the Hero who beat that knight-captain in a martial tournament.”
“…Eh, is Katsuragi Arei that amazing?”
“Amazing, or… hmm.”

Liza folds her arms and groans. Her chest is doing something amazing.
Ah, hey, you men around! Don’t peek!

“One of the Ten Heroes, Katsuragi Arei of ‘Gale Lightning.’ The man who was the Heroes’ leader in practical terms.”

A fierce-faced muscleman slides out from the back.
When Glad throws a sharp look around, everyone looks away at once.

It’s that, isn’t it. Glad is like everyone’s dad.

“Glad, morniiing. Isn’t the leader the Hero?”
“No. Toono Tsukasa stands with Kodama Renju among the strongest, but he isn’t the leader. People often get that wrong.”
“Hmm. I see.”
“…Well, I think you’ll get along with him, in a sense.”

I see. Well, I’ll probably get called before long, so no need to hurry. Kanon said she’d tell me too.
More than that, the stalls, now.

“Anyway I was planning to go around the stalls, but is there any urgent work?”
“No, nothing in particular. Go enjoy yourself.”
“Fufufu. Leave it to me! I’m off!”

I flash a thumbs-up and sprint out of the guild with everything I have.

○○○○○○○○

Two hours after bursting out of the guild. I went around a fair number of stalls.
I didn’t think wyvern meat would be that good, though. Does that mean dragon is even better.
But I can’t do all of them. Stomach-wise.

There are all sorts of stalls besides food, and just walking and browsing is fun.
There are fairly rare things out, too.
Gems, magic tools, tools of other races.
Well, there was nothing rarer than a talking ring.

“—Objection filed: please do not put me in a line with those.”
“Oh. Sorry, sorry. You’re the only partner in this world.”
“—Withdrawing objection.”
“Wait, what, are you embarrassed?”
“—Negative.”
“Nihi. You’re getting more and more human.”
“—Objection filed.”

This one has been changing bit by bit. At first I thought it was a ghost.
No, the part where you can’t see it is the same even now.
Nnh. Can’t something be done about that.
From the side it looks like I’m talking to myself.

“…Ah. Hey, it just occurred to me. If you can display a map, can’t you display yourself too?”
“—Affirmative: it is possible. However, data suitable for display has not been created.”
“Oh. Then make it sometime. That sounds more fun.”
“—Understood.”

Oh. A little something to look forward to.
Come to think of it, the voice is androgynous, but I wonder which Ring’s sex is.
Well, I’ll know when I see. I want to see soon.

Still, everyone in the city looks like they’re having so much fun.
A Hero’s return, huh. Hmm. I don’t know.

Everyone says summoned Heroes, but that means they forcibly called people who were living in another world, right.
They must have had lives in their original world… I wonder about that.
I kind of want to ask them, but it isn’t something you can ask out of curiosity.

What would I do.
If I got called to another world out of nowhere and told, go defeat the Demon King.
I’d probably explode and run wild. Yeah.

I tap the handguns seated in the holster, Cocytus and Inferno, lightly.
I haven’t been with these kids long, but the density is thick. I’ve been in their care quite a bit.
It’d be interesting if these kids could talk like Ring.
…No, that would be noisy, even for me?

Even away from home, I look like I’m alone and I’m not.
Ring is here. Cocytus and Inferno are here.
Glad and Liza look out for me too.
The inn’s mistress is good to me.
That’s connection. Having that cut all of a sudden would be hard.

Katsuragi Arei.
In a world with this many people, the leader of only ten strangers.
Five years ago. He came to this world—what did he think.

Did he carry himself bravely, like a bard’s hero tale.
Or. Did he get angry, the way I thought.

I look at the sky.
One white cloud is floating.
I bite the skewer I bought earlier. Delicious.

What even is a Hero.
I thought, somehow.