I Picked Up the Hero Who Banished Me - Chapter 69



68 – [A Short Break – 08]

“Aah…”

Sitting in the lodging, Lilis was blank.

Since then, she had heard a lot of stories, but the most shocking thing was the words she heard in the middle.

A man?

He’s a man?

With that face?

No, no, I can believe the face.

But even the frame and build looked like a woman’s?

How can that be a man?

I’d seen women who looked like men and men who looked like women occasionally, but even then, there was always a certain awkwardness.

Lilis had never once misgendered those people.

But for the first time, she got someone’s gender wrong.

‘A half-elf…and even Titania’s granddaughter…no, grandson.’

Lilis placed a hand over her chest.

She took a deep breath, calming her confused mind.

‘Calm down, calm down.’

“Um, Lilis-nim.”

“Ah, yes! No, wait, what? Why?”

It was Sylphi.

They’d talked briefly yesterday, and while they were supposed to go see Titania, it seemed she could only be awake for a limited time due to her injuries.

She had already been awake yesterday before falling asleep, so they planned to visit Titania again today.

Even though she was a princess, Lilis understood that showing up without saying a word to the queen of a nation was beyond rude.

Actually, just coming without saying anything in the first place was already quite rude.

“You said you were going to see Titania, right? Let’s go together.”

“Oh, what about Olivia?”

“Elvenheim is under reconstruction right now. Olivia-nim went out this morning to help with that…she forcefully dragged Royce-nim along.”

“They, they really seem close.”

“I don’t know exactly either. I only met them after they’d become like that, so I just heard stories about how their relationship became like this.”

Lilis had heard the stories too.

Olivia, after defeating the Demon Lord, was betrayed, cursed by the Grim Reaper, and almost died.

But Royce saved her, and since then they’ve been traveling together, facing numerous events, re-contracting with the Holy Sword, and somehow lifting the Reaper’s curse.

Through all of that, she received so much help from Royce, and realizing that it came from genuine kindness rather than ulterior motives, Olivia seemed to have fallen completely for him.

The sight of Olivia confidently saying, “After he did all that, wouldn’t it be weirder *not* to fall for him?” was unforgettable.

“Ah, thanks for letting me use the lodging.”

“It’s fine. We’re renting it too. More importantly, where’s Sebass?”

“Sebass is fine. I pushed him too hard getting here. He needs to rest today. He’s getting on in years now…”

He was once a remarkably skilled knight.

But due to his age, he eventually retired and chose to become Lillis’s butler.

It was true that Lillis stopped Sebass from retiring, but back then she’d just done it on a whim; she didn’t realize he’d actually take her hand and become her butler.

Anyway, unlike before, he was older and not as skilled as he used to be, but he still had a decent level of ability.

At least he was skilled enough to defeat monsters and protect Lillis while escorting her here.

“Uh… Sorry about yesterday.”

“Huh?”

“About mistaking your gender and saying weird things.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. It’s so commonplace now that it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s funny for me to say, but I can even understand the feelings of people who mistake my gender now.”

“I see, you’ve been through a lot.”

“Getting my gender mistaken isn’t really a hardship or anything.”

A misunderstanding that can be corrected with just a word isn’t that big of a deal. Misunderstandings that can’t be reasoned with are much more frightening.

“I think I’m quite similar to the current Titania in many ways. Is this what they call atavism? Anyway, even my looks resemble the current Titania, my grandmother.”

“I see.”

Come to think of it, they really do look alike.

Titania doesn’t come out of Elvenheim often, but she does show her face at important events, so Lilis has seen her a few times.

They definitely look alike.

Especially the lower face, it’s practically copy-paste level.

“Ahem.”

Feeling a little awkward, Lilis cleared her throat and said,

“You must have a lot of hardships too.”

“Hardships?”

“Well, with looks like that, you might attract weirdos, right? Such a pretty half-elf, I hope you haven’t gone through anything bad?”

“Uh…”

Silphy looked at Lilis, a little surprised.

“That’s an awfully big thing to ask upon first meeting…”

“Ah, ugh. Now that I think about it, you’re right… Sorry, I was a little flustered and wasn’t very delicate.”

“It’s okay. I’m from a half-village, so I haven’t been persecuted to that extent. Well, I do get some hurtful words and actions from people when I go to other villages or when they visit, but it can’t be helped.”

“…”

She was incredibly positive.

It’s amazing that she can live so positively, being hated and mocked for something she was born with and can’t change, being a half-elf, or even being treated poorly.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Silphy turned and smiled at Lilis.

“Sylphy.”

“Yes?”

“It’s a good thing you’re a man…”

“Yes?”

“If you were a woman, I might have discovered a liking for your type.”

“I don’t understand what you mean?”

*

“It’s gruel again today…!”

“The curse is gone, but your body still isn’t in good shape, so there’s nothing else we can do.”

“I know…”

I ate the gruel with a disgruntled face.

It was practically at the drinking level, though.

“More importantly, Royce’s power seems really convenient.”

“A spirit’s power can be used in many ways.”

It was amazing to see him moving materials and cleaning up collapsed buildings without even moving a finger. Plus, he could handle several places at once, making him incredibly efficient.

If all my abilities are focused on combat, Royce’s aren’t entirely concentrated in one area, and even though he might lose in a specialty to a specialist, he seems capable of handling almost any field in general.

Honestly, for people like adventurers who are constantly in dangerous situations, someone who’s well-rounded is much safer than someone who excels in only one area.

Being able to adapt to any situation means you can immediately eliminate a potential crisis.

Especially for adventurers who frequently explore dungeons.

“What should we do once we get to Erkia, our next destination?”

“We should figure that out on the way… At the very least, I think it would be good to arrive before the Human Federation people do, and gather information on various things.”

“What the hell is Alex even up to…”

“Well, he’s always been like that. To achieve his goal, he mostly didn’t care about what happened along the way.”

“……”

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you and Alex… acquaintances?”

“……Why do you think that?”

“I don’t think, it’s just a feeling. I got the feeling that you know him well, even before. “

“We are acquaintances, we were in the Hero Party, after all.”

“Lois, you know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Well, yeah, that’s true.

Like a baby bird, I spoke while eating the porridge Lois was feeding me.

“It’s okay, if you don’t want to talk.”

“……No, it’s not really a secret or anything.”

“Oh really?”

“Alex and I are both from the same slum.”

“That’s a super-secret that shouldn’t be revealed…!”

Huh? He’s from a slum?

*That* Alex?

Didn’t you know?

“Truth is, I don’t know the details myself. They just said that Alex had Reynolds family blood, so they took him.”

“…So the reason you went to the capital back then was, could it be…”

“Yes, it was Alex.”

“….”

“I went to save him if he was miserable, but he seemed to be doing well, so I just came back. And then he was kidnapped. I was just a kid back then, a kid could never have kidnapped someone in the capital, could they?”

That’s not the point, I think.

It felt like I’d heard something huge.

“Were you close?”

“Yeah, well… the slums are lawless, you know. It was pretty common for young boys to gather together. Alex treated the other kids like idiots, but he said I was useful and we worked together. When I say work, it was more like stealing for real food, though.”

“Are the slums all like that? Good thing they’re gone, then.”

“They were like that when I was there.”

How does Royce maintain such a normal moral compass?

After living like that, after suffering like that?

Is Madam Florence amazing, is Royce amazing, or is it both?

I couldn’t decide.

“Then one day, he was taken. Right in front of me.”

“So you went to rescue him.”

“Yeah, but he looked happier than when he was in the slums, so I just left him. That’s all there is to it.”

“…Was Alex a good guy back then?”

“No.”

“Huh? Really? I thought you’d hesitate a little.”

Royce laughed at my words.

“There was a ruthlessness, and I admired that tenacity, but I couldn’t possibly call them a good person. Most people in the slums weren’t good, but there was still *some* good in them.”

“I see.”

“They wouldn’t care about the process to get the results they wanted, nor the methods used in that process. I think…they’re probably the same now.”

“……When we were in the hero party, I never got that impression.”

“We agreed to ignore each other. Our statuses changed too much. I guess it would have been different if Alex had acknowledged me, but they ignored me, and it felt like they wanted me to play along.”

“……”

“What’s wrong?”

“I was wondering if you weren’t a little…disappointed. …You were kind of childhood friends, right?”

“Well… yes, but… I’m fine. It’s too late for me to forgive Alex now, and I’m far from pitying them.”

“It’s not that… I’m just worried about you.”

“……”

Royce looked blank for a moment, then gave a gentle smile.

“Don’t worry. I’m really okay. Right now, I just… I just want you to be happy. You’ve done so many good things, you deserve it.”

“Then stay by my side, Royce.”

“I knew you’d say that.”

“It’s okay.”

“What is?”

“Just like Lois needs me by her side, I’ll be by Lois’s side.”

“……”

Lois just stared blankly again, then gave a small laugh.

“You’re still too honest.”

“I mean it.”

“Um…..”

“Yeah?”

“What?”

It was only then that I noticed the elves around us were watching.

Less, whose injuries hadn’t fully healed, spoke with a slightly flushed face.

“Well… I know you two are close, but maybe you should be mindful of other people’s eyes…?”

“Ah, um… I’m sorry.”

“I’m not embarrassed.”

“I am, so stop it.”

“I even like Lois’s embarrassed face.”

“I’ll get mad.”

“I’ll stop.”

I don’t like an angry face.

And Lois is scary when she’s mad.