That trick of using Scarlet Brave to drain mana was something I’d only figured out recently. It was a secret move that I’d never shown anyone, not even Master. It had worked as a surprise attack on Alicia, but I didn’t think it’d be much help in actual combat. That guy with the burned face had been able to do the same sort of thing just by getting close enough, but I couldn’t suck out people’s mana without touching them—not just them, but their blood specifically. I’d only managed to take out Alicia with it because her guard had been down.
“Alicia?”
I was confused why she wasn’t answering. I asked again, and she finally spoke up reluctantly.
“A wolf... There was a wolf passing by, so I bit him.”
I stared back at her. “Ah...”
I could picture it now, more or less. I didn’t ask for details.
“Uh— No, I mean, I’m only saying that in a metaphorical sense,” she quickly added. “He just shared some of his blood with me. Veiss saved me.”
Master must’ve been worried about us all this time. If he found a girl all on her own in the middle of nowhere, too weak to move, there was no way he’d just walk on by. He wouldn’t need to know what was going on—he’d do what he could to help.
“I keep trying not to be a burden, but it’s harder than it sounds,” I said with an awkward smile.
Master was long gone, but I thanked him for the umpteenth time this morning. I took Alicia’s hand, and the two of us stood up. The morning sun was climbing higher overhead. We couldn’t just hang around here forever—we needed to go let people know the job was done. Besides, I was still worried about the burned guy, and I didn’t know where Master had gone either...
“Oh, right—why did Master look like a wolfman?”
I’d had too much on my mind to even wonder about it, but the question floated back up through my head and out of my mouth. I hadn’t expected Alicia to actually know the answer, but for some reason, she stared at me with a weird look on her face, like she was swallowing down some words she’d been about to say.
“He... He said he’d eaten something that disagreed with him. Some sort of strange mushroom.”
“Huh.”
Yeah, Master does get sloppy and careless about that sort of stuff.
Besides, Alicia grew dog ears and a tail sometimes too. Maybe things like that weren’t even all that rare, and I’d just never heard about it before.
“Cion...?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing. Just thinking.”
Should I ask her?
Was she actually here to keep tabs on me and then kill me? Was being a nun just a cover story? Was she part of something bigger, something scarier that she’d been hiding from me all along?
If I asked and she told me, what would I even do about it?
Even if she was here as an assassin, she’d still shown up to save me last night, and she’d protected me from that white wolf too. And at the end of the day, even if Alicia did try to kill me, I had a feeling I’d still trust her anyway. After all, I’d seen how kind and caring she was—that was the Alicia I knew.
“Hey, Alicia? Why do you always do so much for me?”
I knew it wasn’t a fair question. She was a bride of the Church, and she had to do whatever the Gods told her. I’d just seen how little control she had over any of it.
“I mean, I know you’ve got your orders, but you don’t need to go this far, do you?”
Even I had to admit I was a pretty selfish, stubborn, unruly Hero. I wasn’t fighting for the sake of the world—not really. I just wanted money to help everyone back at the orphanage, and I’d only let the Church give me the title because it was useful to throw around.
“So, why?”
What did I even want her to say?
The Church was bigger and more complicated than I could imagine, and there had to be all sorts of stuff going on behind the scenes. So there’d be plenty of things she just couldn’t tell me about, but I—
“Why are you so nice to me, Alicia?”
—I couldn’t stand not asking. I felt like a kid desperately chasing after a mom about to abandon them. I was scared of losing Alicia, but I was just as scared of her leaving me.
“Cion, I— I’m, uh...” Alicia stumbled over her words. She was trying as hard as she could to keep her feelings off her face. “There...hasn’t been much logic behind anything I’ve been doing lately.”
Yeah, you can say that again.
I burst out laughing. I just couldn’t keep it in.
“Wha—? Huh?” Alicia looked so adorable as her eyes went wide.
She was so beat-up and so beautiful. So slender and so strong.
I could never take my eyes off her.
“Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking how cute you are, Alicia.”
“Wh-What?!”
She stared back at me in confusion, and I grabbed her hand and tugged her along as we left that hellscape behind us.
Even if this world was filthy beyond saving, I never wanted to let go of that hand. Even if these feelings had been planted in me, I wanted to trust the heart that felt them was real. Even if I was just playing my part in someone else’s schemes...
These feelings were the one thing I never wanted to regret.