I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

11 – 11. The Unexpected Reunion

“I am glad you returned safely. Sir Carcal.”

The fortress of the Imperial Palace.

A beautiful woman seated on the leader’s throne whispered to her kneeling knight.

“I’m sorry, Her Majesty the Queen. I apologize for causing concern to His Majesty due to my disloyalty.”

“You don’t have to. Even Lord Karkal would not have expected his intervention. Rather, it is a great thing that he returned with all of his subordinate knights alive.”

It is difficult to say that they returned safely.

As long as their weapons were taken away, they had no choice but to break through the forest barefoot, and even though there were barely any casualties, most of the men except for themselves were seriously injured.

The monsters living in the Devil’s Forest were more dangerous than expected, and it was enough to be called a miracle just to break through safely without a weapon.

It remains a bit questionable that the monsters didn’t chase them to the end, but now I just think it’s a miracle.

“You may go to rest now. A detailed report can be heard after the wound has been treated. She wouldn’t have gone that far anyway.”

“No, Your Majesty. If you give me the knights right now, I will slit the heads of those evil demons and witches. Please punish those heinous men…?!”

It was then.

Shhh-!

“Keuugh?!”

Kar Kal quickly lowered himself to avoid the arrow that was flying towards him.

If I had been even 0.1 Second late, I would have been stabbed in the head.

Red blood flowed down his slightly brushed face.

This was caused by an intruder who suddenly appeared in the imperial palace.

An intruder descended from the ceiling into the center of the imperial palace as if it were natural.

“Intruder! Protect Your Majesty!”

“Stop it, get your weapons. She’s not the enemy Anyway, you guys can’t protect me.”

The knights of the imperial palace quickly surrounded the intruders, but the queen bit them.

The intruder didn’t care at all about the knights who surrounded him, and said to Karkal who was lying on the ground.

“No matter how much Karkal you are, I won’t forgive him if he talks about it. Next time, she’ll pierce right between the eyebrows, not just brush.”

“Dang, you…!”

Golden hair and pointy ears.

Blue green eyes that look like they are in the forest.

With just that appearance, everyone present could know the identity of the intruder.

“Stella, when were you here?! Didn’t you refuse to attend the banquet because of things in your hometown?!”

“Sir Stella just arrived at the imperial palace yesterday. Her close friends came to see her after all work in her hometown was over.”

In the past, one of those who subdued the demon lord together with the hero,

And he was also the only companion of the hero who survived the tragedy without being caught up in it.

“…Of course, Lord Stella’s close friends will no longer remain.”

The Queen said with a bitter expression.

All the other articles around me had the same reaction.

“A war broke out in her hometown and she had to go back as soon as she subdued the demon king, so she couldn’t even attend the banquet.”

The elf sighed and drew his bow.

Then he approached Karkal and asked.

“Karkal, you must have seen the scene when he killed everyone, right? I’ve heard about it too, but that alone doesn’t make it clear.”

“Yes, yes.”

“…Then tell me the truth about what you saw without any lies. I can’t trust anyone else, and I can only decide if I listen to you at least.”

The elf said, biting his lip.

“Should I avenge them… Or should I listen to their story?”

Kwajik!

The arrow harder than steel the elf was holding broke.

Kar Kal had no choice but to avoid her gaze and search for her nightmare-like old memories.

†††

A week has passed since Alfred met Arcel.

Arcel’s body didn’t get any better, but she didn’t get any worse either.

As long as I lived in Alfred’s castle, it was thanks to the fact that I didn’t have to use magic much or get emotional.

However, if there is one thing that bothers her, it is that she is still hiding something from herself and does not want others to know about it.

“What are you hiding?”

Alfred closed his diary and leaned back in his chair.

Arcel is no longer in her own room because her room has been fixed. She is left alone here.

It’s good that the presence in her room is gone.

However, it is a little sad that what was there disappears.

It was time for her to think of her little regret that she would rather have her stay in her own room.

Smart.

An audible knocking sound.

Only one person knocks in this castle.

“What’s your business? Did you come here because you were afraid to sleep alone because of thunder and lightning?”

“No way. Even as a child, I wasn’t particularly afraid of thunder.”

Arcel enters, laughing at her jokes.

Perhaps she was about to go to bed now, Arcel was wearing a white nightgown.

“Are you not going to sleep today?”

“Yeah, it’s a bit unfortunate that you didn’t wake me up in the morning, but right now, lifting your curse is the priority.”

There were only books on Alfred’s desk.

I am looking into other books to see if the ones I brought from my mother’s library were not enough.

I’ve already figured out how to curse, but it doesn’t seem to be an effective method for Arcel, so I’m looking to see if there’s another way.

“…Sorry. I’m really sorry that you can’t sleep because of me. I can’t even wake you up in the morning in return for letting me stay here.”

“Do I need to be sorry? Time is given equally to everyone anyway. In the first place, I don’t even sleep, so you can wake me up in the morning next time.”

Alfred opens a book with his back to the window.

There were already dozens of books floating around.

Seeing that, Arcel thought that maybe he didn’t have to worry about him.

Whenever I looked at Alfred, I felt that his view of the world was different from other people, including himself.

Of course, from the first time I met him, I felt that he was very far from an ordinary demon.

However, unlike now, there is a difference that I thought Alfred was a demon with mental problems back then.

“You are really late, so go to sleep. The curse will eat away at you as you grow weaker. It doesn’t end just because I put it to sleep.”

“Is that so, I understand. Then I’ll just go I wish the stars that you have a good night too.”

“Okay, good night then.”

Arsel went back to his room after exchanging light greetings.

Alfred also smiles, waves his hand, opens the book again, and spends the night.

Today is also a quiet day, not much different from the previous one.

Although rain and thunder filled the sky outside, the sky was still wide enough to see the blue light.

“…This rainy season rains more than the last.”

Unfortunately, however, this was not the case on the ground.

No matter how high you go, even if the blue sky turns into a world of stars filled with eternity and the unknown. In the end, the fact that you couldn’t stretch out your hand to cover the sky didn’t change.

But the ground was different.

Unlike the sky, the ground has clear limits.

Because of its limitations, disputes arose and wars broke out.

If you simply live, you will still be able to afford it to some extent, but beings with greed are not satisfied with simply living.

Of course, there is no lie in the fact that the ground of the world is also wide, but in the end, you can cover it with your hand when you go up high.

Perhaps someday, if we go to a faraway place, this world will eventually look like nothing more than a handful of dust.

Nevertheless, they slander and kill each other in order to claim even a speck of dust.

It’s unfortunate that they don’t live that long.

Alfred laughed quietly, saying that was a pity.

†††

“Where are you going?”

“There is a river to the east of the castle, and monsters don’t use it often. Thanks to that, there is nothing polluted and the water is clean, so it’s good to go to refresh yourself for a while.”

The next day, Alfred took a simple lunch and headed to the river in the woods with Arcel.

The rainy season in Devil’s Forest is not yet over.

But as if the end was coming soon, when the sun was out like this, the rain stopped or it was just a drizzle, and Alfred said that this is the best time to take a walk in the woods.

“I see…”

As the words say, you will soon see a clean and clear river.

A flowing river hidden between trees in the forest.

“Why don’t you lie down too? Although it’s not as soft as a bed, it’s fine as it is.”

“Oh, no. No. I am content with just sitting.”

“Really? Bring a wide mat, so it’s no problem for two people to lie down.”

Alfred spread out a mat and lay down on it as if he was used to it, and at his invitation, Arcel didn’t know what to do, but cautiously sat down next to him.

“Why did you come here?”

“I told you, diversion. If people are too obsessed with s*x, they will go crazy. Maybe it’s because I’ve been holding on to books all day lately, and my head is tired.”

“Ah…”

Alfred spent most of his day reading except for the last week when he was talking to Arcel.

There must have already been well over 100 books read that way, and as the thickness of the books is by no means thin, it is not easy to read all that many books at once.

“If you want, why don’t you take off your clothes and go into the river without bothering me? I brought a towel.”

“What are you talking about?! Why am I suddenly undressing and going into the river?!”

Arsel is startled.

Alfred spoke calmly, as if he didn’t understand Arcel.

“Don’t you like washing in the river? In the past, when I visited you when you were traveling, you often went into the river naked.”

“That’s what I couldn’t do because there wasn’t a good place to wash… More than that, did you sneak peek at my washing?!”

Of course, Arcel was the exact opposite of Alfred’s reaction.

“Is that sneak peeking…? Certainly, I was afraid the demon king would run errands, so I secretly escaped and was playing in the sky.”

“Wait, when the hell…! Does that mean I didn’t notice you even though you were looking at me…?!”

“Of course, if you can notice it, the Demon King will surely notice my location. Of course, shouldn’t you be careful and hold your breath?”

“Kuh…!”

Besides, when I heard it, it didn’t seem like it was once, so Arcel bit his lip and was angry at the fact that he was openly observed by the Demon King’s army officer from above.

Moreover, it was all the more so because he himself, who was being observed, did not notice such a sign at all.

“There is no need to feel resentful. Whenever that happens, I lie down on the clouds and observe the ground. Besides, sometimes arrows flew into the sky.”

“Arrows? If it’s an arrow, I’m sure-“

“You’re one of your teammates, that guy with big ears who only shoots arrows from behind.”

“Stella…”

Arsel was silent for a moment as he recalled old memories.

She said that she was an elf who came out of the elves’ territory and went on a journey for amusement.

Of course, there were conflicts of opinion at first due to the difference in values between elves and humans, but after understanding and respecting each other, they became reliable colleagues who could be entrusted with the rear.

“…Yes, she has the best eyesight among us, including me.”

“If you say it that way, anyone who hears it will think you are dead. Isn’t that dwarf alive, unlike the other kids?”

And she was the only surviving colleague of Arcel.

The reason he survived is not special.

“But I haven’t heard from her. Because I was in a hurry to run away alone. I don’t even know if she’s alive.”

It was just that at the banquet where the terrible tragedy occurred, the elf hurried back to her hometown because of something urgent.

So, fortunately or unfortunately, she was not at the scene of the disaster, and she is now the only surviving comrade.

Of course, this was the story when she considered the hero who had killed everyone and escaped as her ally, and it was also the assumption when she did not suffer any other misfortune.

“Maybe… I hope it never happens…”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

But oddly enough, Alfred spoke as if the elf was alive unconditionally.

“Well, how can you be sure of that?”

I wonder if he would have figured out the news about the warrior’s colleagues before he came.

That’s not true.

If that was the case, there was no way he wouldn’t have known the news that Arcel’s comrades had died.

Alfred didn’t know why, so he asked Arcel himself, so maybe there’s another reason why he’s saying that.

“That’s right, they’ve been staring at us from afar since just now, as if they’re going to shoot us to death at any moment.”

“…?!”

“Unexpectedly, you are insensitive to things like this. Then, if you do something wrong, you can easily be assassinated. For example, the head is bread! And disappear.”

As soon as the words are finished, arrows fly towards Arcel and Alfred.

The number of arrows was not one.

A rain of arrows began pouring down from the sky.

Kooung!

As one arrow lands on the ground, it pierces trees and shatters rocks, causing an explosion.

“…Are you really allies? Isn’t this too rough for a greeting to a colleague you haven’t seen in a while?”

“Not what I want to hear from you! Where else?! Right now, I can’t possibly locate it!”

“It doesn’t matter, you don’t have to step out.”

Flame!

In the rain of arrows, Alfred burns them all so that he and Arcel don’t get hit.

A curtain of blue flame appeared and reversed the arrows that covered the sky.

“I’m such a shrewd goblin, I’m in one fist- Huh?”

Alfred looks back and tries to reassure Arcel.

“…Ah, why is it the head again?”

f*ck-!

But soon Alfred’s head disappeared from the arrow that broke through the sound.

It didn’t just fly away, it exploded and disappeared.

It was because he was leisurely looking back and laughing, but accidentally didn’t see the arrow flying from behind.

With his head gone, Alfred’s body collapsed.

At first, as if looking for a missing head, his hand went to her head, but the movement soon stopped.

“Al, Alfred!”

“…You must have been quite friendly with that evil monster, Arsel.”

After that, an elf finally appeared leisurely in the forest.

Arsel carefully looked around with trembling eyes.

“…Stella.”

“Looks like it was true, that you killed those kids and headed for the demons. I- I hope you didn’t.”

There, unlike before, an emaciated elf was aiming a bow at him.

I know what’s in those eyes even if I don’t say it.

Betrayal, revenge, collapse.

That was the look many people looked at Arcel until now.