chapter 24
24 – The Hero and the Saint
One day, I was enjoying the daily life of a bronze adventurer like any other day.
I heard that Gold-level adventurer Mileia was looking for me at the guild.
After sharing her sharp story in Dinah Village, I have never had a chance to talk to her.
Now a lot of time has passed, so why are you looking for me?
Since she had memories of being interrogated with her sword pointed at her, she was not very pleased with Milleia’s call.
I’m sure they won’t be accusing people of strange things this time either.
It would not be good for this industry to spread a rumor that they had ignored her celebrity.
She had no choice but to coordinate a time through the guild and make an appointment to meet.
Milleia called me to her own home in her kubel.
I am an adventurer who travels often, but do I have a home in a place like this? She said and felt a little puzzled.
But when she becomes a gold adventurer, it seems like it is her routine to rent an entire house and use it as a base every time she stops by the city.
“I was waiting.”
Mileia was waiting in a room that was clearly meant for sleeping, with almost no furniture except for a weapon stand and a bed.
The room was quite spacious, but it didn’t even have the usual table or chair, so I had no choice but to stand blankly looking at Millia sitting on the bed.
“Do you have any business for me? “The story would have been over by then.”
As Millia looked at me expressionlessly, I spoke sharply without realizing it.
I still vividly remembered the time she held the knife to my throat.
“I’m sorry.”
“Yes?”
“I am apologizing.”
No, I understand that.
More than a week has already passed since that day.
It seemed a bit strange that he even bothered to call me out and apologize now.
Furthermore, her expression as she apologized to me matched the expression she had when she pointed the knife at me.
I originally knew it was a poker face, but that icy expression kept making me feel like I was hiding other intentions.
“Yes, I received the apology well. “You don’t have any other business, right?”
I wanted to get out of this place quickly.
At this very moment, there were a lot of sweet requests worth 5 gold waiting for me.
It is better to do one more request than to get involved with such a dangerous and unknown woman.
But it seemed like Mileia had no intention of letting me go like this.
“Yunoa, do you know the quickest way to succeed as an adventurer?”
This is a sudden question.
Success…… To be honest, I am currently satisfied with my life as a bronze adventurer.
Compared to the days when I wore rags with a hole in my left nipple on the street, cleaned the church while being abused by an apprentice priest who was much younger than me, and worried about room and board every day like a mayfly, now it was truly a bourgeois life.
“Well, I don’t know. Raising your adventurer level?”
Milleia shook her head in response to my answer.
“It’s power. Overwhelming personal power. “The strength that no one dares to think of against is what determines the adventurer’s success.”
“I see.”
In my mind, I thought I was saying something obvious, but I thought it would be tiring to argue and listen to it, so I agreed.
“Once upon a time, the fate of a village that was attacked by demons came to an end.”
“… ….”
“This is an incident called the tragedy of Shinshi. “Do you know anything?”
“No, this is my first time hearing it.”
Do you want to complain about something?
I am just a beginner adventurer who has just reached bronze level.
What does she want to say to me?
All I could do now was stand quietly and listen to her.
“This is an incident in which a blood lord called Bloodstein, a subordinate of the Demon King, attacked a village called Shinshi, killing over hundreds of people and causing the village to disappear without a trace.”
Mileia said with a grave expression.
“I am the only survivor of that Shinsi tragedy.”
I looked at Mileia with slightly surprised eyes.
It felt strange that she kept an expressionless expression throughout, without moving a single word, even as she put such a huge tragedy into her mouth.
Milleia continued her speech.
“I had to become strong. More than anyone else. Becoming stronger than anyone else in this world, subduing the demons, killing Bloodstein who destroyed his hometown, and in the end…… He said he would kill even the Demon King with these hands. “I have lived my life thinking that way.”
Suddenly, the air in the room felt a little cooler.
I felt like I could sense a maniacal obsession with ‘strength’ in Milleia’s eyes.
“But as I lived my life looking only forward, I soon forgot how to look back.”
“… ….”
“This is my first time. “I never heard such harsh advice from a novice adventurer.”
“It’s bronze now.”
Being serious is being serious, and being wrong has to be corrected.
Anyway, I fully understand that she has a miserable past.
But I still didn’t know why he was telling me that now.
“Right now, I need someone to correct my path. Yunoa, like you.”
Somehow the atmosphere is moving strangely.
I only defended myself to ease her suspicions.
For some reason, the narration at that time leaves behind a meaningful comment from her.
It seems that Millia took my defense for survival at that time as something like ‘advice from a courageous person.’
A novice level adventurer speaks directly to a gold level adventurer with a sword held to her throat.
What kind of spirit did I have when I said those words? ….
“I’m just an ordinary bronze adventurer.”
“Yunoa, won’t you come with me?”
“No, that…” ….”
I was taken aback by Milleia’s straightforward suggestion.
『She was a lonely woman who reached the peak as an adventurer, and her strength and her reputation spread throughout the continent.
And her excessive strength intimidated the people around her. To adventurers, her word was law.
No matter how reckless Milleia made her decisions, her adventurers did not dare to contradict her.』
At that time, a narration came from her head.
『For Mileyia, who lived her life believing only in her own strength, Yunoa’s words were more shocking than she could have imagined.
Her hometown disappeared due to an attack by demons, and she was horrified that something similar could have happened due to her own poor judgment.
Milleia needed her advisor who could clear her own clouded vision.』
Could it be that this was the reason why the punitive force led by Milleia used the ignorant strategy of attacking head-on to eliminate monsters?
According to the stories heard among adventurers coming and going from the guild, Mileia was an untouchable being.
Among adventurers, he is almost considered a living legend.
Among gold grade adventurers, if there was a higher grade, Millia would have been the first to rise.
But since it had nothing to do with me, I thought about it even though I gradually heard such rumors from people around me.
But no one even dared to give her advice.
Once again, I couldn’t believe that such a being existed in front of me.
He is an advisor who can speak directly without hesitation…….
I understand why she wants to take me.
But just because she knew why, doesn’t mean she understands.
I only defended myself in order to survive.
She didn’t give her advice to help her in any meaningful way.
Of course, if I follow her, something might happen to me too.
But for that to happen, the burden I felt was too great as I had just started to become a bronze adventurer.
Humans in particular are creatures of envy and jealousy.
If I, who had just become a novice, suddenly caught the eye of Milleia and started hanging out with her, what kind of attention would I receive?
In many ways, there were many problems with accepting her proposal.
Besides, I was still living well.
I want to gain fame and raise my status as an adventurer using my own skills.
Not as her supporting character.
And above all… ….
I’m still scared of Mileia.
“I’m sorry, but I refuse.”
I stated my refusal briefly and firmly.
There is still no change in Milleia’s cold expression.
“Why?”
She asks.
I answered immediately.
“I’m not interested in supporting roles.”
“… ….”
“Okay then.”
Just like that, I turned down Mileia’s strange offer and turned around.
When refusing, it would be better to refuse clearly and not be vague.
Because you don’t want to give yourself some leeway and cause trouble.
But a few minutes after leaving her house, a narration started speaking in my head.
『Yunoa flatly rejected Mileia’s offer to accompany her.
Mileia was confused. Since she reigned at the pinnacle of adventurerdom, no one has shaken her like this.』
Well, what is it?
『The more Milleia continued to think over what Yunoa had said, the more she couldn’t stop thinking about having him by her side.
If it were any other adventurer, she would never have been able to refuse her offer.
But now that she had been refused her companionship by him, Mileia’s dry emotions were shaken.
Maybe I was in too much of a hurry. She silently blamed herself for her clumsiness…….』
Now, wait a minute.
『She promised once again that she would definitely keep Yunoa by her side.』
Ah.
* * *