RELIEF washed over Leo as he watched Elias laughing on the quay under the bright blue sky. Good, he’s back to himself. I planned on telling him to break up with Aki for good if he didn’t stop moping soon but hearing him say she’s his woman let me know there’s no room for me between them. At least now he’s finally aware of his true feelings.
Aki’s really something.
Her cheerful perseverance brought down the stubborn steal walls Elias erected around his heart. If not for her, he’d still be trapped following his scripted role in life without ever facing himself and laughing from the bottom of his heart like he was now.
Aki is Elias’s hero.
Leo sincerely believed the Lunar Goddess chose Aki as the Hero’s Right-hand to support their party on the emotional battlefield more than the physical one. He was ashamed he shallowly assumed he summoned the wrong person at first. After all, it was her straightforward determination and willingness to listen that had attracted him to her. He should’ve never judged her for her lack of physical strength.
I must’ve been born under some unlucky star getting stuck encouraging my love rival to get back with the woman I like. But it could be worse. Elias is my best friend, and I’ve always hoped he would meet a good woman and settle down. His life has been nothing but misery from day one.
Obviously, Leo hadn’t expected that good woman to be the same woman he wanted to settle down with, but Elias needed Aki and Aki needed Elias. He got the picture that they made up for what the other lacked.
I want them to be happy together. I’ll do anything it takes to make that happen.
“…Thanks, Leo,” Elias said with a genuine smile, taking Leo off guard. He feared Elias had read his mind.
“I h-haven’t done anythin’ worth being thanked for.”
“You have. I was able to accept myself because you laid into me… I was being such a stubborn brat,” Elias muttered.
Leo flicked him in the forehead with his knuckle. “You’ve always sulked like a little kid. Nothin’ new to me. You’d better apologize to Aki sooner rather than later though. Next time you make her cry, I’ll be there to pick up the pieces,” he teased.
“I’ll make a note of it,” Elias responded rather seriously. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep her loving me for the rest of our lives.”
Leo couldn’t help laughing at how intense that sounded. “Aki’s quite the woman to make the highly wanted Hero say that about her! C’mon, let’s head back. Everybody’s waitin’ for you.”
Elias’s green eyes wavered. “Okay,” he said, not hiding his smile.
Leo loved how much Elias cared about his friends. It was because of who Elias was as a person that Leo was willing to put his life on the line for the Hero’s quest.
If Elias wasn’t the current Hero, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to join the Hero Party. I bet I would’ve just remained on at the Academy as a professor and devoted the rest of my life to magic research after graduation.
Thanks to how hard he worked, Leo had graduated at the top of his class and received a direct summons from Kingdom’s king. The king wanted to know if he was interested in joining the Hero’s Party as a Mage.
Of course, it was up to Leo if he wanted to join, and he had every right to decline. With that in mind, he headed to the castle just to satisfy his curiosity about what kind of person was going to save the world from the Dark Lord.
Leo was kneeling in the royal audience chamber anxiously awaiting his arrival when the doors opened and the Hero stepped in. Excited, Leo looked up to find Elias casually strolling over to him without an ounce of nervousness. Elias immediately struck up a conversation as if they had been old friends all along.
Leo’s first impression of Elias was that he was a genuinely nice guy and seemed like the type to easily get tricked out of the shirt on his back if someone pleaded their case to him. He had come there expecting to be overwhelmed by how inhuman the Hero was, but had the rug pulled out from under him with how ordinary Elias came across, for better or worse.
Elias had freakishly perfect looks, but aside from that, he was a normal young man. And so, as they casually chatted, Leo became skeptical that such a good guy would be capable of saving the world without him. Sure, maybe Leo was just being full of himself, but that didn’t stop him from thinking the Hero needed him.
When the king pressured him with making a decision about joining the Hero Party, Leo promptly replied, “Please let me serve as the Hero Party’s Mage.” He instantly regretted making a split-second decision without thinking it through, but when he thought back on it now, he realized he had answered from the heart.
To this day, he clearly remembered the delighted smile Elias gave him when he said, “Thanks, Leo.” Elias was probably secretly worried he’d never find party members to join him on the dangerous Hero’s journey.
From the moment he first met Elias, Leo had been moved to join his party because of his personality. Now as his friend, he was willing to go the extra mile for him.
That’s why I’ve gotta be the one to help him when he’s down on himself. I’ll support him when Aki can’t. After all, I agreed to be here for him the day I joined the Hero Party.
Leo stood and dusted off his clothes when he suddenly felt as if glass had shattered around them. Nervous tension instantly coursed through his body as his skin crawled.
He looked at Elias with a start. Elias seemed to have also noticed the change in the air, because he was staring up at the sky, his face hard.
I’ve felt this several times before. It’s the sensation I get when the Goddess Barrier breaks.
The all-powerful Goddess Barrier wasn’t flawless and often sustained damage. For that reason, every village and city had guards stationed at all times. However, it wasn’t every day that the barrier went down completely, and chaos inevitably ensued when it did.
If the barrier wasn’t repaired fast enough, monsters would pour into the city and devour people left and right.
Crap! This is bad.
Nervous sweat trickling down his cheek, Leo turned toward Elias just as a panicked city guard stumbled into the harbor.
“We’ve got trouble, people!” The guard cupped his hands around his mouth to project his voice. The fishermen, travelers, and shoppers around the wharf looked in his direction to see what was wrong. Once he saw he caught their attention, he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs. “RUN! Get as far away from the main city gate as possible!”
He repeated that message as he ran through the harbor, earning confused looks.
Leo and Elias looked at each other, nodded, and ran over to the guard together.
The moment the shouting guard took in Elias’s attire his eyes widened and he gasped. His guess turned to conviction when Leo stood beside Elias.
“Are you possibly the Hero and his Mage…?” the guard asked, hopeful.
Elias gave a reassuring nod. “Yes, I am. My journey brought me to this city right now. I take it the Goddess Barrier broke?”
Relieved Elias accurately assessed the situation, the guard pressed his hands together in front of his face as if praying to the heavens. “Ooh, praise the Goddess. Thank you for sending us the Hero during our time of need! As you guessed, the Goddess Barrier collapsed just around the main gate and an unbelievable number of monsters are trying to barge in! The city guard, Adventurers, and your Right-hand are currently holding them off, but the horde is too big…!”
The Hero’s Right-hand? Leo locked onto that one off-handed comment. That’s…Aki, right?
The barrier’s failure already had Leo’s heart racing out of control, but the thought of Aki fighting alone made it careen.
Does that mean Aki was out searching for us and happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when the barrier went down?
Leo imagined Aki struggling to fight off a horde of monsters charging into the city. Possessing the Goddess’s bow didn’t mean she was used to fighting yet. It was too dangerous for her to take on a lot of monsters without backup!
“Let’s hurry, Elias!” Leo grabbed Elias by the shoulders when he looked too dumbfounded to move.
Leo never wanted Aki to be in danger again. He didn’t want to suffer the same regrets and frustration he had over not being there for her in the Ancient Ruins. Elias seemed to agree as he got a hold of himself and calmly placed his hands on the guard’s shoulders.
“I understand the situation. I will head straight to the monsters, so please tell as many people as you can and lead them to a safe place!”
The pale and shaking guard nodded. He seemed rattled by the whole situation.
Elias gave him a second to absorb what he said before squeezing his shoulders. “It will be all right. You have the Hero on your side,” he encouraged with a magnetic smile. “Please don’t panic. I will protect your city.”
The guard fought back his tears and nodded.
Elias is capable of rousing courage in people with a single word, Leo thought as he watched them. That was a sign of the trust and hope the people placed in him.
It was also just one of the many reasons why Leo was proud to be the Hero Party’s Mage. He was currently the only person in the world who could call himself the Hero’s Mage.
Choosing to join the Hero Party in the heat of the moment wasn’t a mistake.
“Leo!” Elias turned toward Leo after the guard ran off to continue informing people of the danger. “Send a magic message to Johann! He’s the only one capable of restoring the Goddess Barrier.”
“You’ve got it! Though I bet he’s already sensed the anomaly and is on his way to do somethin’ about it.”
It wasn’t hard to imagine Johann dashing out of the inn with his staff while complaining “I never have a minute to relax.” Louis, Mina, and maybe even Sutcliff, wouldn’t be far behind him.
We can leave the inner city to them.
The rest of the Hero Party would eradicate any monsters that snuck inside the city before they could do damage. In which case, Leo and Elias needed to head for the gate fast.
Leo swiped his index finger through the air, quickly drawing up the magic circle. He wiped it away with one hand and a ball of light shot off like a comet in Johann’s direction.
“We’re good!”
Spell finished, Leo chased after Elias who was already on the run.
Stay safe till we can get to you, Aki…!