Chapter 19

Fragment 1 After the battle at the Great Forest of Lozorof, I formed a party with Leon, Maria, and Solon and was formally recognized as the Hero. The first time I came to the palace, it had this weird, strained atmosphere. Everyone was wondering why the Hero had to be this dope instead of Leon or somebody else. I didn’t really mind, though, since I basically agreed with them. The king didn’t look like he expected much of me specifically, but he did have high hopes for our party overall since it was made up of other talented people. Meanwhile, the battle against the Demon Lord’s army had taken a turn for the worse, so I guess he had no choice but to pin his hopes on us. That was the context in which he introduced me to Princess Alexia. “This is my daughter, Alexia. When you defeat the Demon Lord, she will take you as her husband, and you will become this nation’s next king.” The first time I laid eyes on her, I thought, She’s pretty. She had long, flowing, gold hair and beautiful blue eyes. They were like gems, brimming with wisdom. Although she was still just a young girl of twelve, there was a dignified air around her that made her pretty in a different way from Maria. “O Hero, please defeat the Demon Lord and save this world. I will be awaiting your return,” she said to me, summoning a smile. She’s really straining herself. She was just twelve years old. No matter what tradition said, there was no way she wanted to marry a random guy who was six years older than her. She was suppressing her true feelings to play the part of the “princess.” “Your Highness, I make this promise to you: I swear that I will defeat the Demon Lord,” I said quietly enough so that only she could hear. “But I will not return. So please marry someone you love.” I wasn’t the real Hero anyway, so I couldn’t possibly marry a princess, let alone become king. Talk about going beyond your means. Besides, I wanted this cute girl to decide her future with her own two hands. I wanted to give her that choice. Upon hearing my words, Princess Alexia blinked her wide blue eyes at me in evident surprise. It seemed genuine—I was glad for the opportunity to witness it. If I told myself I was fighting so that girls like her could have a future, then even a fake Hero like me could press forward. For the next few days, we received a lot of warm hospitality. They held a welcoming party for us at the palace and drew portraits of everyone in the party, to name a few things. They even provided us with some good and practical equipment to use instead of what we brought, but the sword was the one thing I didn’t switch over. I just had it cleaned and oiled instead. My plan was to fight with this sword until the very end. While I was staying at the palace, I spent a lot of time in particular honing my swordfighting with Leon. Although I’d gotten a lot better over time, my skills still couldn’t put a dent in his. Only by using attack and healing magic could I scrape by and level the playing field. “You fight as sloppily as ever,” Leon commented. There was no ill will in his appraisal. Even he was aware that you didn’t need scruples in a fight against monsters. The problem was that consuming both my physical stamina and my magical energy at the same time put a huge strain on my body. When we finished our sparring, I practically collapsed right there in the training hall. “I’ll go on ahead,” Leon told me. He, meanwhile, still had plenty of energy to spare. Although we were evenly matched in a fight, he always used the minimal amount of movement, preserving his stamina. Leon left, and while I was resting and waiting for my energy to come back, somebody approached me. It was Princess Alexia. “I was watching you.” Unlike our first meeting, she spoke bluntly. Rudely, even. “You’re not as good with the sword as Leon. I’ve been studying swordplay, so I can tell. Your fighting style is so unrefined… How do I put it? It’s awful to watch.” The princess was a candid one. I couldn’t help but smile sheepishly. “Hmm… What a pickle. I don’t know the right way to speak to royalty,” I said. Etiquette wasn’t my forte. When it came to interacting with important people like the nobility, I let Leon and Maria do all the talking, so I didn’t know a thing. “You can speak normally. I’m not expecting much from the Hero anyway.” She didn’t seem to place a lot of stock in formalities. That was a relief for me. I liked her already. “I’m not that strong,” I told her. “So I just swing my sword sloppily to win, even if it’s not nice to watch.” “You’re not strong even though you’re the Hero? How are you going to beat the Demon Lord?” she asked, not out of condescension but simple, plain curiosity. “How? Well, uh, I guess I’ll use a bunch of tricks?” “Like what?” “Let’s see… For example, if the Demon Lord’s castle looks flammable, I’d set it on fire.” “You’d set a castle on fire?!” Princess Alexia pressed a hand to her mouth, disbelief written across her face. “I’d use oil and take the strength and direction of the wind into consideration. That would make it easy.” “That’s not very heroic. It sounds unfair. I always thought the Hero sounded kind of like an assassin, but I didn’t think you actually did that kind of thing…” Alexia seemed a little perturbed. “It’s because I’m weak even though they call me the Hero. I have to do whatever it takes to defeat the Demon Lord. I mean, we’re all in trouble if we can’t beat him. So I’d use poison if it works or even negotiate with monsters if that would help. I’d do whatever I have to, and it doesn’t matter to me what people say.” I wasn’t very heroic, which made sense because I wasn’t actually the Hero. It was why I felt no qualms about playing dirty. “You’re not very Hero-like on the outside or inside. So why do you bother? I mean, when you said you won’t return, that means you don’t want to be king, right? What exactly do you want, then?” She looked at me as if I were some kind of weird creature. “What I want is to defeat the Demon Lord. I’m not thinking of anything beyond that. I don’t mind giving up my life for that goal… Actually, that might be for the best.” If I defeated the Demon Lord and then made out that it cost me my life, then no one would doubt that Ares was the Hero. Maybe that was the future I wanted. “No, it’s not.” Alexia brandished a finger at me, her face flushed in anger. “What are you thinking, Ares Schmidt? I’ve never heard of the Hero and the Demon Lord taking each other out. Who wants an adventure story with a gloomy Hero like that?! Listen, okay? Your job is to defeat the Demon Lord and come back to the palace.” I couldn’t help but smile at how very much like a twelve-year-old she sounded. “But if I come back, I’d have to marry you, right? Wouldn’t that be a problem for you?” Even as I said that, it occurred to me that it would be nice to see her all grown-up if I did return. “Oh yeah… That would be a problem… But don’t worry! I’ll work something out! So let’s make a promise! Make sure you defeat the Demon Lord and come back alive! You mustn’t refuse an order from a princess!” She gave me a very regal-sounding command even with her face slightly scrunched up in worry. It was really adorable. “Fine, you win. I promise I’ll defeat the Demon Lord and survive.” I deliberately said “survive” instead of “come back alive.” “So make sure you marry someone you love, okay, Princess Alexia? I’m going off to fight so that everybody can be happy. I wouldn’t want you to end up in a marriage you didn’t want even after the Demon Lord goes away.” She hesitated for a moment, and then she said, “Okay. You hold up your end of the promise, and I’ll hold up mine.” She turned her face away from me, obscuring her expression, as she made her promise.