I Got Reincarnated as the Villain and Saved the World, but After the Ending I Was Betrayed and Exiled. I Just Wanted a Peaceful Life in the Frontier, but for Some Reason My Former Companions Started Chasing Me with Yandere Eyes… - 9

Chapter 9: Elena’s Request

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I was caught by Aisha-chan before I could escape and was now sitting nervously across from Elena. Of course, the one who had “formed a party”(?) with me—Tia—was there too.

“My name is Elena Yggdrasil. I’m looking for someone, but I lack knowledge of the area, so I’d like to hire someone familiar with the land to help me.”

From Elena’s self-introduction, there was no sign that she recognized who I was. The mask’s effect seemed to be working, and I felt relieved inside. I had considered slipping away quickly, but thinking about the possibility of arousing suspicion and being chased down with tracking magic, I decided it was better to just ride this storm out.

“I’m Gustav, a C-rank adventurer. Please forgive the rudeness of not removing my mask. My injuries are severe, and my face isn’t fit to be shown to others.”

“I’m Tia, a D-rank cute-type adventurer. I’m in a party with my master while learning all sorts of things from him.”

“A masked man and a cute-type adventurer… It seems adventurers have changed quite a bit in the past year.”

Unlike me, who was tense behind the mask, Tia smiled brightly. In fact, it seemed she had put extra emphasis on the word “party.” Apparently, we were already in a party together…

“But still… Master, huh…”

When she heard the word “master,” Elena seemed to glance at me with something like envy… Or maybe that was just my imagination?

“Um… Elena-san, you’re the hero who slew the Demon Lord, right? The ‘Great Sage’ Elena? Aren’t you serving as a court magician in the royal capital? What are you doing in a place like this…?”

“Ah, I’ve heard of you too. The four who defeated the Demon Lord each took up important positions in their countries… Not to be rude, but if you’re looking for someone, wouldn’t it be better to use the kingdom’s soldiers? I’ve heard rumors that there are even specialists for that sort of thing.”

I chose my words carefully while watching Elena’s expression. Normally, she acted all cool, but I knew she was actually quite easy to read. If she truly wanted to find someone, using spies would be far more effective. For her to come here personally meant there had to be some reason.

For example… Maybe she wanted to kill me directly to silence me about the existence of the fifth hero… As I tried to read her thoughts, tense and focused—

“Huh? What are you talking about? I refused the position of court magician, and after defeating the Demon Lord, I’ve been holed up doing research on a certain type of magic.”

Elena let out a puzzled sound at our words. There was no trace of a lie on her face, if anything, she seemed genuinely confused. I almost believed her… But no. The four of them, including her, had conspired to exile me behind my back. I couldn’t trust her.

“I see… Then could you tell us more about the person you’re looking for? What kind of person are they?”

“Mm… He was the fifth member of the Demon Lord subjugation party, a man by the name of Phantom.”

“Phantom the Fifth Member!! That sounds so cool, Master!”

“Uh… yeah, I guess.”

Hearing my old name spoken so casually made a cold sweat trickle down my back. Still, I was completely different now from when I was Phantom. Back then, I acted like a cool, arrogant villainous noble. I even changed my speech style, so they wouldn’t recognize me now.

“Cool, huh… I’d say he was more like a theatrically evil sort of person. Like he was playing the villain in a story, but couldn’t quite hide his good nature. Well, that made him kind of cute in a way.”

“I get it! Like a twelve-year-old boy pretending to be a bad guy because he thinks it’s cool!!”

Wait a second. Did she just call me a chuunibyou in a roundabout way? I was supposed to be a cool, arrogant character…

“And then there was… Well, I guess you could call him a closet pervert… When a comrade got injured and her chest armor broke, he kept sneaking glances at the exposed cleavage part. Honestly, he was kind of creepy.”

“Oh, I know what you mean. You can totally tell when a man’s looking at you, and when you call them out, they’re like, ‘I wasn’t looking!,’ like eughh! It’s so annoying.”

She was talking about that time with Henrietta, when we fought a slime that dissolved only clothing and armor! I couldn’t help it! Anyone would look! And with those boobs? Not even a Saintess could ignore the exposed boobs of a holy knight!. It felt like my embarrassing history was being dragged out into the open…

“But to me, he was an important comrade and a trustworthy disciple. Thanks to him, I didn’t feel out of place in that party, and I enjoyed our travels. Most of all, he had a strong will, enough to make me believe that with him by my side, we could defeat the Demon Lord.”

“I see… So you two had a strong bond of trust, just like Master and me!!”

“Aye… That’s what I thought, back then…”

Elena’s face turned toward the direction where the Demon Lord’s castle once stood. Her expression was shadowed and unreadable. Still… If that was true, then why did you exile me? The voices of her and the others, as Josef had told me, still echoed in my dreams from time to time.

“So, you see… For certain reasons, I’ve learned that Phantom is here. Our parting was sudden, and I came because I just had to speak with him. Will you take the job?”

For some reason, my former master smiled weakly, looking like she was about to cry. Seeing that, my chest ached. Could I really trust her? Or was this all an act? Maybe her true mission was to kill me under the king’s orders?

But… Her expression looked so genuinely lonely…

“…I understand. I know the feeling of wanting to see someone important again… There’s someone I’ve been searching for too. Master, let’s accept her request.”

Unaware of the circumstances, Tia shook me lightly as Elena stared intently at me.

What should I do…?

 After thinking for a while, I nodded.

“All right. We should help each other in times of need. We’ll take it.”

“Ohh! I won’t forget this kindness!! If you ever have trouble with magic, just say the word.”

Elena’s expression lit up instantly. I hated to dampen her joy, but I had no intention of revealing my true identity. She’d never find her missing person that way. I decided it was better than letting her do something troublesome to me. And no… I wasn’t swayed by the look on her face. Definitely not.

And so, just as I was about to accompany Elena in her search for me…

“Hold it right there!! Let us handle the Great Sage Elena-sama’s escort! This is too much for Gustav, who can’t even form a proper party, and especially for a rookie adventurer who got exiled recently!”

The voice came from a young man, around twenty, clad in fine armor. He was the leader of this town’s strongest B-rank party, the Yggdrasil’s Branch. 

Ah, maybe I could just dump this on them… I would be very happy if they could take over Elena’s escort quest for me…

Or so I thought…

“What are you talking about! Master is far more skilled than you, and I’m way cuter!!”

Tia fired back immediately, as if accepting a challenge. Her little gesture left me perplexed with my head in my hands.

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