Chapter 57: Demonic Archer, Alicia la Aeras 2

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“Will herbal tea be alright?”

“Yes, thank you.”

After the meeting ended and she was about to prepare for the next day, Alicia somehow found herself invited by Marianne and had come to Dawn’s home base. She had not been told the reason for the invitation. However, the fact that Marianne had invited Alicia alone rather than Vasily or Aria gave her a vague sense of foreboding.

(…Nine times out of ten, this is about Finn-kun.)

Since Marianne had been repeatedly consulting with Vasily about important matters, yet suddenly called out to Alicia, it was easy to guess the reason. She hadn’t even used Astrea to call her over. She had simply invited her directly without explanation. Alicia guessed that there was something she wanted to discuss in private.

“Sorry for making you come all this way.”

“It’s fine. It’s something troublesome you can’t tell Vasily… no, something troublesome you especially can’t tell Vasily, right?”

“…Indeed. I must apologize that our own lack of strength has led to this situation. But this is the reality.”

Carla spoke while grinding her teeth.

“We’ve tried many times to see if there was anything we could do… but that forest is not normal. Nothing works well, and in the end we’re completely relying on Finn-san.”

“That much? Honestly, with Astrea there, I can’t imagine a place where things wouldn’t work out.”

Although Alicia had grown stronger through her journey, she still believed she couldn’t beat Astrea. To begin with, Astrea was loved by the wind. Quite literally, it would not be an exaggeration to say the very air drifting across the land fought on her side. Even Vasily had said that confronting her in that field should be avoided. In both name and reality, the strongest elf in the world was likely Astrea.

That said, in an actual fight to the death, it was impossible to say who would win. Vasily possessed every kind of technique she had accumulated over three thousand years. It would not be surprising if she even had methods to nullify the wind itself.

Even so… Why had things become so difficult when Astrea was right there? Alicia couldn’t help but find it strange.

“That place is… how should I say it… it’s like that thing. It has the same kind of unfairness.”

“That thing…?”

“The vanguard of the Demon Lord’s army that attacked us three years ago. That creature was the very embodiment of unfairness.”

Hearing that, Alicia immediately understood.

Three years ago. The day she returned from Abyss and was chilled to the bone when she realized the Knowledge was correct. The day she felt the weight of the fate awaiting them. The day her little sister overturned the Prophecy. No. More accurately, the day Finn Debyura twisted everything.

“The Demon Lord Army executive… Number III, was it?”

“Yes. That was the name it used.”

“It was a nightmare of a monster. Arrows, swords, even wind did nothing. Avoiding instant death was pure luck, and the only reason we survived afterward was because Finn risked his life fighting while Marianne awakened her power. If either of them had been missing, we would have died.”

“Me too. In the end, the best I could do was move it slightly with a fully charged strike. I couldn’t inflict even the slightest damage. Just like that time, that place doesn’t operate on a logic we can measure.”

For Dawn, it was both the first step of their great leap forward and a trauma. They never wanted to see humans toyed with before their eyes again. For a while afterward, they couldn’t even eat meat. Yet Finn, who had been the one scattering his own organs around, casually ate livestock organs and meat without the slightest concern. Carla still clearly remembered being impressed by just how thick-skinned he was.

“That’s why conquering that place will likely be difficult. We’ve already discussed that direction with Vasily-san, so that part isn’t a problem…”

“…The problem lies in the information we’ve accumulated.”

For Alicia, it was impossible to imagine a forest with the same kind of unfairness as those malicious monsters that left you with no options. But if the people who experienced it firsthand said so, then it must be true, and she swallowed nervously.

A place where death was always close at hand. Even her younger sister, who she acknowledged as the strongest elf, agreed with that judgement. Only now did she shiver as she realized just how harsh the forest they were about to enter truly was. And at the same time, she felt admiration for Dawn, who kept moving forward in such a terrifying place without any certain knowledge or prophecy to guide them.

“The information you’ve accumulated… that’s worth more than gold, isn’t it? What exactly is the problem?”

“…It’s somewhat subjective…”

“But it’s quantified and easy to understand. It’s just that… we can’t really present it publicly.”

“What kind of scale is it…?”

After hearing that much, Alicia couldn’t help but brace herself. All three members of Dawn wore troubled expressions and this had something to do with Finn.

(Hmm… what could it be? I kind of understand that Finn-kun is… well, pretty unique. Is it something related to that?)

Since Alicia could vaguely read emotions, she knew that Finn was actually quite an amusing man beneath the surface. However, that amusing side wasn’t necessarily normal. Even for Alicia, who was beginning to understand Finn just a little, it wasn’t something she could easily predict.

(If it’s something like weird made-up terminology, that would at least be funny. Please let it be something like that. Finn-kun… this Onee-san is getting tired. I’m already exhausted. Please have mercy.)

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I had trouble figuring out where I put it…?”

At that moment, Finn returned holding the documents in question. Noticing the strangely heavy atmosphere, he looked puzzled. To an outside observer, he simply seemed confused about what had happened, but Alicia sensed an entirely different emotion from him.

(Why are you happy right now? Why? Why did you show such strong disgust a second ago and then suddenly become happy? I’ve never seen someone whose emotions are as messed up as Finn-kun’s.)

And what was more, no one else could sympathize with that turbulent emotional state. The only person who knew about Alicia’s ability to vaguely sense emotions was Finn. Even Vasily and Aria only thought of her as someone who was “perceptive.” Why had she told Finn?

Of course, it was because she thought he seemed trustworthy but more than that, the gap between his inner self and outer self had been so extreme she couldn’t help but mention it. She had considered the possibility that he might spread the information, but even if he did she could simply deny it.

Besides, personally, she believed he wouldn’t do something like that. For better or worse, Alicia had grown up as a High Elf princess since childhood, and she unconsciously held a positive image of what a Hero was. The Hero who saved her sister and even changed Vasily’s fate would never do something like that.

In a sense, she trusted Finn as much as the others did.

“Welcome back, Finn-san.”

“Sorry it took so long. I should probably help out more often. This is my own home, yet I struggled just to find a document.”

“It’s fine. I’m happy to be relied upon here.”

(Oh, wow, that’s a lot of disgust. And now happ—wait, excitement!? Why!?)

“…? Nee-san, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

(Finn-kun’s disgust usually points toward himself. But I still don’t understand why he’d feel happy or excited afterward…)

She could somewhat understand the former emotion, at least. It was probably a form of self-loathing. That was Alicia’s guess.

His self-evaluation was low. He had a great master and a childhood friend. All the women around him held higher status and strength than he did. People working in the same field as him spoke badly about him and disliked him, while the gap between his own self-image and others’ evaluations kept widening. In that situation, it was hard to imagine someone remaining perfectly sane.

(…Alisha also stayed in the same environment and became twisted. It never shows on the surface, but the burden Finn is carrying is by no means light.)

Many people viewed him as a good-natured young man. But unless such thoughts were spoken aloud, they wouldn’t reach him. How many people had actually told Finn those kinds of words? The three members of Dawn, Vasily, and Aria… who else? Who else had praised Finn as someone amazing? Public opinion about him was slowly improving, but would that really lessen his burden?

(…Wait. Could it be that Finn-kun is actually pretty close to his limit…?)

Cold sweat ran down her back. He said he felt fulfilled. He wasn’t lying. But burdens on the heart often weighed heaviest when the person themselves didn’t realize it. Even Vasily often said that someone else had to watch for signs of mental or physical strain.

(…V-Vasily has noticed, right…?)

“…Alicia-san? What’s wrong?”

“I was just thinking about something. Sorry.”

“No, we’re the ones who suddenly brought you here. If you’re not feeling well, we can continue tomorrow.”

“No, I’m fine. Let me take a look.”

After taking a sip of herbal tea to calm herself, she picked up the documents on the table.

【Abyssal Forest Investigation Report】

That simply named document contained maps of surveyed areas and notes about the monsters and vegetation that appeared there.

The report that even trees and plants seemed to be different species from anything known was interesting, but when she read the information about the presumably dangerous monsters, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“…Wait. This…”

“I’m not bragging, but I believe I’ve perfectly mastered the physical control Master taught me. Whether I’m in perfect condition or not, I can always bring out one hundred percent of my ability. I consider myself top class in that regard. That’s why I thought it could serve as a relatively fair standard. The result is this.”

Finn spoke confidently. Alicia was left speechless.

『Using Finn Debyura’s body as the baseline, a monster’s strength is measured by the amount of damage inflicted. In the case of the Abyssal Forest, even with my best effort I could not react in time, so I received the attacks with my torso and calculated the damage rate to the torso, as well as the pain and impact, converting them into numerical values. Additionally, the durability of Finn Debyura’s body has been measured using other people’s bodies as well to ensure accurate numerical representation.』

“The enemies in the Abyssal Forest are powerful, and any attack could become fatal. I also conducted experiments in other Tainted Zones, quantifying the attacks of various monsters to some extent, and the results seemed mostly accurate. I’m pretty proud of it.”

“…So what does that mean? If I’m reading this right… your body is routinely experiencing things like abdominal penetration and missing arms…?”

“That’s correct…”

“…So you’re almost dying all the time?”

“Yeah. But I’m not dead.”

Without thinking, Alicia looked toward Marianne. Marianne returned her gaze with dark eyes and silently nodded.

“…Is there any way to prevent it?”

“There isn’t. If there were, we would have already…”

“…Personally, I feel pretty good about it. It makes me feel like I’m actually useful.”

(W-wait… A-Aria!! You’re the only one I can rely on!! Do something!!)

There was no way Alicia could solve something that even Astrea and Marianne couldn’t.

Arianrod, the Hero chosen by the world.

(Perhaps… If it’s her….)

Alicia quietly pressed a hand against her stomach.

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