It Seems That the Demon King Is Among the Members of the Hero’s Party

15. Suspect No.5 Priest Noel

“By the way, Master, what’s your plan for today?”

“Well, I haven’t seen Noel’s face in a while, so I was thinking of visiting the Church to see them.”

Noel is not currently at the inn.

They didn’t leave early in the morning or anything; they simply aren’t at the inn. Although Noel has rented a room here, they won’t return unless they have business with us.

Noel’s location is at the Church in this town.

Since they dislike humans, Noel prefers not to stay at the inn, which is crowded with people.

As a result, when resting in a town, Noel often stays at the local Church.

Among the gods, there is no god who dislikes Noel’s stay, unless they have committed a grave sin.

“As the church has many elves, please be careful in your interactions.”

“I understand. I’ve done this many times before, and I think I know their personalities.”

A well-bred god is fine, but if it’s an elf who has just entered the faith or has a strong sense of superiority, they will openly look down on me.

The fact that I, a ‘Holy’ attribute user, can’t use sacred magic is a significant issue. The brave warrior who wields the holy sword and can use holy magic receives a completely different treatment.

Ekurea was looking at me with an extremely disgusted gaze.

“When was the last time you met Noel?”

“It was about seven days ago when I came to this town and immediately parted ways.”

“This town has a lot of human traffic, with merchants and travelers coming and going, so Noel-san was reluctant.”

“I think she’s still holed up in the church. She didn’t need to take a room at the inn…”

“I think that’s true.

That type of elf who holes up in the church won’t come out unless forced to, and even then, they won’t go outside.

The previous master was also the same, never leaving their room.”

───Takeshi!

I have many things to say, but I’ve lost my chance to say them, Takeshi!

“It’s still better than before, though.

In the past, just passing by a human would make her click her tongue.”

“She would say ‘disappear’ just by getting close.”

“There are too many things to think about, and it’s making my stomach hurt.”

“Remember when our master hit the Earl of Elde with a staff and sent him flying? His face was pale.”

“That was impressive. I thought we wouldn’t be able to buy him off, and Noel would end up in prison.”

“The Earl of Elde was a good person, thankfully.”

Thinking about that incident still makes me want to vomit. It was about three months after we started traveling.

At that time, Noel was like a cat on high alert, wary of her surroundings. She seemed to have had trouble with humans in the past, but she wouldn’t talk about it, so I don’t know the details.

Our brave party consists of six members, with three humans.

There’s Toru the beastman, Noel the elf, and Sasha the dwarf.

Toru and Noel are easily recognizable by their appearance, but Sasha lacks the typical dwarf characteristics.

Dwarves are a race known for their advanced smithing and craftsmanship skills. They are generally short in stature, but strong and robust, with healthy, sun-kissed skin.

Men typically have impressive beards, making them easily identifiable. They’re also famous for loving alcohol.

Sasha, being a dwarf and a mage, has white skin and minimal muscle mass. Her petite physique is similar to a dwarf’s, but at first glance, she looks like a short human rather than a dwarf.

It’s no wonder she chose to use alcohol as a means of recovering her magical energy, given her dwarven heritage. As a race, they’re resistant to alcohol, so while they may get drunk, they don’t get hangovers.

Let’s get back to the story. Since half of our party was human, Noel was initially in a bad mood.

She would click her tongue just from talking to me, and would curse at me if we got too close.

Especially towards me, a human man, she was even more hostile.

Looking back, I think I did well to endure it.

It was when I told her about my mercenary days that her demeanor towards me softened.

Maybe she had met someone like me in the past.

I was surprised to see Noel’s shocked expression for the first time.

However, that story is irrelevant now, so let’s put it aside.

There is a person known as the Earl of Elde, who holds territory along the border of the Kingdom of Arcadia and the Principality of Krematoras.

As one of the nobles tasked with protecting the borders of the Kingdom of Arcadia, he was an extremely talented individual.

When we visited his territory, he was struggling with the damage caused by a certain monster.

Apparently, a dragon had claimed the nearby forest as its territory and was searching for food, often appearing in the territory.

Many livestock were attacked, and the villagers were also victims, so they tried to defeat the dragon, but it was stronger than they had anticipated and they were defeated instead.

As this would lead to further harm to the villagers, we arrived just in time.

After hearing the situation from Earl Eld, we decided that we couldn’t ignore the monster’s damage and took on the task of defeating the dragon.

The one waiting for us in the forest was a Green Dragon, a type of fire dragon.

Although it was also called the Green Dragon, it referred to a young individual among fire dragons, which was considered weak among dragons.

I was relieved to hear that Earl Eld and his men had been defeated by it.

The battle against the Green Dragon was not particularly difficult, so I’ll omit the details.

All we did was have Sasha use her magic to bind the dragon, and then I and Eclair beheaded it.

However, the problem arose afterwards.

When we reported the defeat of the dragon to Earl Eld’s mansion and were immediately led to the lord’s room, he was overjoyed that the villagers would no longer be harmed.

You could see why the villagers adored him.

He even shook hands with each of us, expressing his deep gratitude.

If I could go back in time, I would tell Earl Eld beforehand. Noel is a human-hater, so a simple thank you would be enough.

After Earl Eld shook hands with Noel, expressing his gratitude, something suddenly snapped, and Earl Eld was sent flying into the air.

Although I had refrained from bringing weapons, thinking that we were meeting with the lord, it was a mistake on his part to say, “We have no need to doubt our brave heroes. Please, come in as you are.”

The moment Earl Eld shook Noel’s hand, it was slapped away, and Noel’s surprised expression turned into a full swing of her staff, striking Earl Eld’s face.

It was like a home run! He didn’t even flinch.

For an instant, neither the guards nor we could understand what had happened.

As Noel let out a feline-like hiss, I and the others were left stunned, wondering what had just occurred.

The guards, who were also male humans, tried to restrain Noel, but she put up a fierce struggle, only to be overpowered and taken away to the dungeon.

I thought we would also be sent to the dungeon, but instead, we were led to a guest room.

Although we should have been thrown into the dungeon without question, we were told to wait in this room under surveillance until the lord regained consciousness.

It seemed that we would have to leave everything to the lord’s judgment.

The lord regained consciousness the next day. When Earl Eld appeared before us, he seemed energetic, but his swollen cheek, which Noel had struck, was painful to look at.

I wondered what kind of punishment would befall us, but it was unnecessary. Earl Eld was a kind person, excessively so.

“Thanks to our brave heroes, my beloved villagers will no longer suffer harm! This injury is nothing!”

He was a kind person who could laugh off Noel’s offense.

Moreover, he even wanted to reward us for defeating the dragon. I felt apologetic and tried to decline, but Earl Eld refused to listen.

A back-and-forth argument ensued between Earl Eld, who insisted on giving us a reward, and us, who tried to decline. Eventually, Earl Eld relented, and we managed to avoid receiving the reward. If we had accepted it, I would have felt like we had reached the end of our journey as humans.

At that time, I could only feel gratitude towards Earl Eld’s kindness.

───The time was past noon. Since we had stayed up late the previous night, we took our time and arrived at the church in the afternoon to visit Noel.

When I asked the elf priest at the church entrance about Noel’s whereabouts, I was told that she was in the backyard.

The elf priest had a gentle, priest-like gaze. He seemed like a good person.

As the elf priest had instructed, I headed to the backyard and found Noel doing something near a tree.

I wondered what she was doing and called out to her.

“Noel!”

As she responded to my voice, she looked my way, her blue eyes wide open in surprise. After that, she approached me with a quick trot.

The golden hair that reflected the sunlight was dazzling.

“What’s the sudden fuss about? Do you need something from me?”

When she tilted her head with a “koten” sound, her characteristic elf ears, hidden by her hair, came into view.

The hair ornament on her ear seemed familiar, but maybe that was just my imagination.

At least Noel seemed energetic and lively, which was a relief.

Let’s just pretend I didn’t see the straw doll with a five-inch nail stuck in it, or the small wooden mallet in her hand.

───What is she doing?