THE party continued in high spirits until most of the food was gone, and that’s when Elias looked at each person seated at the table and formally spoke over the din.
“Sorry to interrupt the fun, but I have something I must apologize to you all for…” he started, nervously lowering his gaze.
Everyone put down their forks, halted their respective conversations, and turned their attention on him. They knew what he wanted to say. After all, they had all been patiently waiting for him to sort out his feelings.
No one held anything against him, and Elias likely knew that, but being the way he was, he probably needed to officially apologize to put the past behind him.
Elias sucked in a small breath and bowed. “I’m really sorry for acting out…!” He raised his head, encouraged by the table’s silence. “…I failed to suppress my feelings during the Ancient Ruin Quest and lost control of my powers as a result… I ended up hurting you all when you tried to help me, too. As someone who has held to being the ideal Hero all his life, I felt having people I cared about this close to me had become my greatest weakness…and I arbitrarily decided I shouldn’t stay with you any longer.”
With each quiet word that slowly left his lips, Aki’s heart throbbed. Elias’s tone conveyed just how much he battled with himself to come to that painful decision. Everyone else had embittered and hurt expressions as they listened.
After a brief pause, Elias continued, sorting his thoughts and feelings as he went, “The closer a person is to me, the more I’ll hurt them. Those I want to care for and protect are in the greatest danger. If that is the curse placed on the Hero, then I…thought it best to remain alone from now on, no matter what obstacles lay ahead. I believed that was the best option to keep people—and myself—from getting hurt.”
Aki squeezed her hands on her lap until they turned white. Elias had tried to protect everyone from the dangers he and his journey possessed by pushing them away. But that only put him back into the isolation he feared most.
It was my responsibility as his girlfriend and secretary to protect him from loneliness. Aki chewed her lip, frustrated for failing him.
“…So I got it in my head to go to the Dark Lord’s Castle without you,” Elias confessed, closing his eyes against the heartache of that decision. “I thought if the Dark Lord really wants a truce, then everything would work out if I went alone. I didn’t have any sound proof. I was just letting my arrogance guide me. I figured even if I ended up fighting him and dying in the process, that would still save the world, so it’d all work out, in the end, either way…”
He said each word haltingly as if they were lodged in his throat.
Elias was raised to believe the only way for him to save the world was to fight the Dark Lord. However, dying in the process could save the world just as much as killing the Dark Lord would. How painful it must have been to be touted as a hero by the people of this world, while they secretly desired his death just as much.
But no one could change places with him. The moment he was born as the Hero, Elias’s destiny was set in stone. Thus, he clenched his teeth and strove to be the best hero possible, all the while his mental state decayed. Being the Hero was his meaning for living. Put another way, he had no other way to live, for the Goddess created him solely for that purpose.
What a miserable task the Hero was charged with!
As everyone remained silent, it was Johann who slammed his hand on the table. He had listened to Elias with the calmest expression of the lot.
“…Good grief, what am I to do with you? I believe the real problem here is this world’s messed up system that forces either the Hero or the Dark Lord into defeating the other. The Goddess is quite sick in the head, using the two of you, who she birthed like her own children, as tools,” Johann hissed, barely stifling his simmering anger.
Elias blinked as if to make sure he was really looking at Johann, and everyone else stared on slack-jawed.
No one expected they would see the day when Johann would speak emotionally. Normally, he approached everything with detached calm and an even voice.
Ignoring their rude stares, Johann continued his tirade. “I care about you a lot as a friend, Elias…and it is my hope that you live for a long time. I want to protect you. Therefore, I will not allow you to hasten your death. To stop you from doing anything stupid, I am going to watch you like a hawk from now on,” he rattled off, sheepishly clearing his throat along the way.
In other words, he was declaring his intention to stick with Elias through thick and thin. Framing his concern in a cross manner was so like Johann, Aki giggled behind her hand.
Everyone else seemed to feel the same, as the tension melted away and peals of laughter filled the room. Johann blushed, not expecting to be laughed at, and shrugged when he realized they weren’t going to stop anytime soon.
Surrounded by an all-around brighter mood, Aki reflected on what Johann said. He was right. Rather than become depressed by the fate Elias shouldered and fall into the same pitfalls with him, it was their job as his friends to redirect him when he started down the wrong path.
Elias had a bad habit of immediately choosing to sacrifice himself, so he needed them to protect him from becoming a lone, injured wolf.
After enjoying a roaring laugh until his eyes teared up, Leo threw in his two cents. “Man, oh, man is Johann on the mark this time! Face it, buddy. You couldn’t have done anything about the Ancient Ruin Quest rampage incident or the failed Goddess Barrier with your strength alone. Your power might be beyond comprehension, but you’re being conceited if you think you can solve every problem in the world.”
Leo punctuated his harsh words with an amused smile and leaned across the table to flick Elias in the forehead.
Louis nodded beside Leo as he tilted back his wine-filled goblet. “In the end, it’s just too dangerous to leave the Hero alone. We have to stick to Elias like flies in honey until the end of our days, or else he might do something reckless again. I hope you don’t mind being stuck with us, Elias!”
“I’m prepared to follow you to the ends of the world,” Mina chimed in, leaning her elbows on the table. “Even if you want to get rid of me, I’ll be hot on your tail!”
“Lucky Heroboy, so loved by your friends,” Sutcliff said with a wide grin. “It’s thanks to that big heart of yours that I’m able to enjoy this feast with good company. I’ll be sure to return the favor.” He reverently bowed his head.
Aki sucked in as much air as her lungs allowed and raised her voice. “M-Me too! Even if you dump me and tell me not to follow you, I’ll still do it! I’ll always be by your side, never letting go of your hand!”
Rushing out that confession, she grabbed Elias’s free hand with both of hers and held it to her chest. She wanted to make sure his hand never slipped free of hers again. Even if he tried to shake her off again, she planned to stand her ground and latch back on without giving up.
It took only a second after she spoke in the heat of the moment for Aki to realize how bold she had been, and embarrassment sent butterflies aflutter in her stomach.
Oops, I did it again!
Red splotched Elias’s cheeks as well, and he tried to hide it by covering his face with the opposite hand. That gesture only further revealed just how bashful he was.
Becoming more embarrassed by the second, Aki quickly let go of him and tried to pull away, but his big hand caught hers before they could escape. Surprised, she looked up at him, but his gaze was directed to the rest of the table.
“Thank you all for fighting alongside someone like me. I always thought being stronger and better than everyone meant I could protect everything all by myself. But I finally learned how wrong my thinking was after I lost control and had to be stopped by you.”
He paused to take a breath.
“There is so much I want to protect and must protect. But I can’t protect everything with my measly power alone. For me to do it all, I would like to request your assistance. And in the process, I hope you will protect me as well.”
Joy washed over Aki as she witnessed Elias openly asking for help.
This was the first time he acknowledged his weakness and chose to rely on his friends to fill in what he lacked. Aki saw this as the moment where the man who spent every second of every day trying to be the strongest, finally coming to accept his humanity.
Everyone answered with warm smiles and nods.
Elias took another breath, stood, and bowed to the table. “Please continue to be a part of my party and my life.”