90 – Trash Hero
The next day, I started moving to find Milaya’s location. The only information I have now is that she left alone without any support, heading to ownerless land. When I spread out the map of the continent, the ownerless land was incredibly vast. It’s called ownerless land because it divides the continent vertically like a demilitarized zone between the Demon Realm and the Kingdom. The Horen Gorge, where we previously carried out the subjugation operation, was at the edge of the kingdom, right in front of the ownerless land. However, if I were to find the location of one person in the ownerless land, where and how to find them was daunting. It was impossible to cross the continent and find someone in the vast land that divides the continent vertically. In that case, what if I focus on Milaya instead of setting the starting point as the ownerless land? “Tina, can we request information from the guild?”
I asked Tina at the adventurer guild reception.
“Information? Rather than receiving requests, we provide the information we have to the adventurers…”
“Then, can you check if there is any information about Mireia?”
“Hmm? If it’s that person…”
“Yes. The famous woman in the gold rank.”
“Just a moment. We periodically exchange information with other guilds. Let me check.”
After rummaging through some documents, Tina came back and said.
“Do you only need the most recent information?”
“Yes, the most recent.”
“Mireia is such an important figure that there is information exchanged regularly.”
Indeed, it seems that even in the guild, there is shared information about an adventurer who has made a name for herself throughout the kingdom.
“What does it say?”
“She has moved to the capital, Pifnero, to assist the heroes…”
“Heroes?”
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What is this nonsense again?
If it’s heroes, it must be referring to that rumored trash of a hero.
Wait, wasn’t there a rumor recently about heroes?
I distinctly heard that the heroes had left to defeat the Demon King.
In that case, is Mireia with the heroes?
“Um, I’m sorry for the trouble, but do you have any information about the heroes?”
“Hmm… You’re talking about the hero, right?”
Tina rummaged through the documents again.
“I heard that recently, the hero found the Holy Sword and formed a hero party to embark on a journey to defeat the Demon King.”
“A hero party…?”
“Mireia and Dan set off together.”
What kind of hero party is that? It’s a hero duo.
So Mireia wasn’t alone….
I asked Tina for more related information, but there wasn’t much else to know.
It seemed like there had been no news since the hero left with Mireia on their journey to defeat the Demon King.
And Mireia joined the journey to help the hero defeat the Demon King.
It wasn’t really a problem, but for some reason, it felt strange.
She never had confidence in her own judgment and always relied on me to an unusual extent.
What started as defending me in order to survive somehow became accepted by her, and it has been that way since that day.
Could it be that after she thought I died, she chose the hero as a new source of reliance…?
“Yunoa, is there something bothering you?”
Tina suddenly asked me.
“What?”
“Just now, you had a very displeased expression…”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Did I really make such an expression?
Mireia, in my view, was a woman afflicted with a peculiar dependency disorder.
Who she chose to rely on was of little concern to me.
Besides, I had been in awkward situations because of Mireia more than once.
The Battle of Horn Gorge was a battle I wouldn’t have had to go through if she hadn’t been stubborn.
A hero…
I’ve heard that she has an irredeemably trashy personality, attracting all sorts of insults.
And yet, Mireia is helping that guy…
It’s not like I had any special relationship with Mireia, or any strong feelings for her.
But somehow… somehow it made me feel disgusted.
“Yunoa felt uneasy about the fact that Mireia was helping the hero, even though he didn’t possess her.
Could it be that he unknowingly harbored affection for Mireia?”
Affection? For that Mireia?
I paused for a moment at the absurdity of the narration.
I had never even considered such a thought, let alone sworn to a god.
“If he didn’t have affection, he might just be a playboy.
He had seen Silphy’s panties and buried his face in Meruru’s buttocks.
Even the gods didn’t know who would be the next victim of his desires.”
…Somehow, the narration seemed to be criticizing me more harshly.
But there was something the narration was overlooking.
I’ve grown accustomed to it now.
No matter how much groundless criticism was raised against me, there was no longer any impact.
That aside, it would be nice if someone could provide some help if they were going to betray me.
In order to find Milaya’s exact location, I needed more clues than just being on ownerless land.
『At this point, there was no definite possibility that Yunoa alone would find Milaya.
He was a useless man who couldn’t find a single person properly without any help.
But the magical researcher, Mariel, had various ways to track a person’s trace.
If it was her, she could easily track Milaya if she set her mind to it, unlike the useless Yunoa.』
That’s right, this is it.
Even though direct communication with the narration was impossible, now I had a sense of something.
Of course, there were often times when the narration came at unexpected timings, but somehow, after being painfully betrayed, it would throw me one piece of information that could be helpful in the situation I was in.
Mariel, huh…
Indeed, Mariel was not an ordinary magician, but a peculiar person who called herself a magical researcher.
For ordinary magician adventurers, the types of magic they could use were extremely limited, with only one or two offensive spells polished.
But as a magical researcher, Mariel had been researching a wide variety of magic, to the extent that she used teleportation magic to come over from her first appearance.
Moreover, she had also managed to obtain a promise that she would grant whatever I wanted by becoming an experimental subject last time.
“Thank you for telling me various things, Tina. I’ll be going now.”
I thanked Tina, who had helped me, and immediately headed for the Bellafolk Mansion, where Mariel had set up her laboratory.
* * *
The scenery of the Bellafolk Mansion had changed significantly from when I last visited.
The trees in the garden were blackened as if they had been struck by lightning, with numerous scorch marks.
On one side of the mansion wall, there were numerous unknown runic characters written densely, and above all…
“Chi… Chiiik… Intruder… Intruder… Detected…”
A crudely-made metal doll at the entrance of the mansion spoke to me in a mechanical voice.
“What is this…”
“Chi… Intru… der… Shall… be… terminated…”
The mechanical doll approached me while uttering cruel lines.
However, it tripped and fell, unable to cross the small step in front of the mansion entrance, and its head and arms separated and broke apart.
Crash!
“Crick… Creak…”
Click-
Then, it didn’t move anymore.
What is this monstrosity…
“Oops! You! Did you damage my Guardian No. 1!”
At that moment, the door of the mansion swung open, and Mariel rushed out in a panic.
Then, in front of the metal debris… no, ‘what used to be Guardian No. 1,’ she knelt down and started picking up and examining the broken metal.
I began to wonder if it was really right to seek help from this eccentric magician.
Perhaps there was an ‘accident’ with the magic used to track Milaia, and something went wrong.
“Um… what is that?”
“My masterpiece! Guardian No. 1! I tried making it by imitating the ancient guardians who protect the hero’s holy sword in ruins! Oh no! It’s completely destroyed! You! What have you done!”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh… Guardian Number 1… to end up like this after fighting against such a wicked intruder… What a tragedy!”
“Excuse me?”
“Yunoa! There! You! How are you going to compensate for this?”
Marie suddenly stood up and pointed her index finger at me, shouting.
I really didn’t do anything.
I just came to the mansion, and suddenly she started talking about intruders and then tripped on her own feet.
“I’m telling you, it’s not my fault.”
When I firmly denied it, Marie said with a sullen face.
“Ugh… Actually, I know. Guardian Number 1 is a bit unstable, with reduced walking ability and durability… But I thought you could hold on a little longer… It’s a pity… Next time, I’ll create a powerful being that will beg you to save it!”
No, I don’t need anything like that…
Marie was indeed a strange woman.
I came here to ask for help in finding Mireia, but she didn’t even get to the point and got caught up in her own thoughts.
She was definitely an unpredictable opponent.
If I don’t stay alert, I might end up being subjected to another experiment.
“No, today… I came here because I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity you gave me to fulfill any request.”
Before she could drag me further, I brought up the main point.
Marie’s eyes widened as she listened to my words, and she stared at me intently.
“Oh?! Is… is that what you mean…?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot.”
“I… I know! How could I forget! hahahaha… hahahahaha…”
The reaction was somewhat suspicious.
But since Algot stood as a witness, there was no way to dismiss it as nothing.
“So, I have a favor to ask with that….”
“Wait! Just wait a moment…. Are you really going to make that request? I….”
“You haven’t even heard it yet.”
“Ugh… You’re saying this when I haven’t even showered!”
What nonsense.
I lightly ignored Mariel’s strange reaction and spoke.
“I’m looking for someone, and I hope Mariel can help me.”
* * *