S-Rank Adventurer Betrayed by His Fiancée in the Hero’s Party Sets Off on a Journey to Heal His Broken Heart ~The Strongest Betrayed Adventurer Ends Up Forming a Harem Party~ - Chapter 38: Seaside Resort — Estena

Chapter 38: Seaside Resort — Estena

The resort city of Estena.

A tropical paradise with beaches of pure white sand tucked into countless coves.

It was a permanent-summer kind of place—warm, breezy, and bright.

Fishing ports built into those same coves made it a major hub for trade, both by land and sea.

It was a city of ocean and fine dining, known for its fresh seafood caught the same day, and all kinds of rare ingredients.

“—And that’s the general overview of Estena.”

After entering the city, we found ourselves walking along a lively main street.

Both sides were lined with street vendors and souvenir shops aimed at tourists.

“You really know a lot. Have you stayed at the resort before?”

“Nah, I’ve just passed through a few times. I usually dropped by whenever I was nearby… but as for which place is best to eat at, or which hotel is worth it… I’ve got no clue.”

Being a resort town, Estena was full of fancy, high-end hotels.

But whenever I had money, I sent it to support the Hero’s Party—

So I never had the chance to stay in any of them.

Which meant… this was kind of exciting for me.

There were all kinds of things I wanted to try.

Especially now that I was no longer living off rations and could finally enjoy proper meals again—

Just thinking about the food here had me pumped.

I hadn’t realized it before, but food wasn’t just about nutrition…

Eating can actually be fun.

“Huh? Where’s Frey? Where’d she go?”

“There were so many tasty food stalls~! This grilled skewer is amazing! Try it!”

Before I realized it…

Frey was standing behind us, both hands full of seafood skewers.

Butter-grilled clams, teriyaki-style fish—the delicious smell of roasted seafood drifted from her hands.

She must really like seafood…

I guess she couldn’t resist.

“That smells really good…”

“It is good! Here, have one. There are lots of fun stalls too—like that one over there!”

As she handed out skewers to each of us, Frey pointed toward a nearby stand.

At that stall, the owner was shouting loud enough to shake the street.

“Hard as a rock! That’s right, it’s Estena’s famous ‘Dragon Ice’! Made into frozen sweets by mages, now presenting the legendary ‘Beans Bar’!”

“What kind of sales pitch is that…? Wait, drifting ice?”

“Floating ice in a sea this hot?”

“No, not drifting ice—Dragon Ice. Farther south from Estena, there’s a sea where dragons—real ones—have a nesting ground. Specifically, Blue Dragons, the kind that control water. The ice that flows into this area comes from there, riding the ocean currents.”

So it wasn’t ice that drifted—it was ice made by dragons.

Not wyverns or drakes, but real dragons. The genuine kind.

Beasts straight out of a fantasy tale—massive, powerful, capable of flight, and known for their devastating breath attacks.

But in this world, they weren’t just stories.

They were real. And dangerous.

“Wait—aren’t those S-Rank-class monsters!? Is that safe!? I heard a single breath from one of them could wipe out an entire city!”

Elmie raised her voice in surprise.

Dragons were ranked even above A-Class—legendary S-Class monsters that only S-Rank adventurers could handle.

If you didn’t know much about dragons, her reaction was perfectly normal.

“It’s fine. Dragons are highly intelligent—smart enough to hold conversations. I’m not even sure calling them ‘monsters’ is the right word. As long as we don’t harm them, they pretty much never attack first.”

In general, animals with large amounts of mana were called magical beasts.

These creatures originally evolved from normal animals, slowly adapting and gaining magic over generations.

They’d become far less common now, but that’s how most monsters came to be.

No one knew if dragons had the same origin, but technically speaking, they still fit under the category of “magical beasts.”

Still, calling something that intelligent a “beast” felt… off.

“This thing’s got legendary toughness! They say it’s as hard as a dragon’s tooth! You won’t find ice like this anywhere else!”

“Okay, no—that’s terrifying! Why would anyone want to eat something that hard!?”

“Can’t we just… not bite into it? I kind of want to try it later.”

“Oh, you’re going for it, Frey? I’ve been curious too.”

Even though they were satisfied with the explanation about dragons, the shopkeeper’s pitch still left them baffled.

“Still… even for Estena, this seems a bit too lively.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, there are a lot of stalls. Even for a tourist hotspot, I doubt they always have this many set up.”

“Maybe there’s something special going on~?”

While Frey happily munched on the extra skewers she hadn’t handed out earlier, I focused my hearing amid the noise around us…

“The Demon King’s been defeated! There’s no better reason to celebrate! The Estena Hero Festival is still going strong—!!”

“Ah… right.”

I had almost forgotten. The Demon King had only been defeated about two months ago.

Of course they’d throw a festival in the Hero’s name to commemorate the victory.

“…Hey, Abel, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I mean, sure, it feels a bit weird… but it’s nothing.”

Regular people didn’t know anything about what really happened between me and them.

No one had ever made my actions over the past three years public.

To the world, all they knew from the Guild News was that some S-Rank adventurer had a messy falling out with the Hero’s Party—

Along with the insane strength of the so-called Four Swords.

No one knew about my soul-binding oath with Millia…

Or the punishment handed down by the Souther Sky Faith.

“I’ve already decided to let go of the past. No point getting worked up every time something reminds me of it.”

“Abel… yeah! It’s a festival—so let’s enjoy it, and don’t worry about the name!”

“Forget all that, okay? You’ve got us with you.”

“Let’s use this as an excuse to have some fun!”

“…Yeah. Thanks.”

I felt genuinely happy hearing Elmie, Frey, and Maria say that.

Yeah… they were right.

Since we were here to return the magic swords anyway, we might as well enjoy Estena while it was livelier than usual.

“Alright then. So, what should we do first? Should we stop by the guild? Or find a place to stay?”

“Oh! Then I want to check out the beach first! Just for a quick look~!”

“The beach? Well, it is the main attraction around here, but can’t that wait until later? We should probably find an inn first.”

“I can ask about that when we visit the church later. And worst case, if there’s no vacancy, maybe they’ll let us stay at the church!”

“Exactly! It’ll work out somehow. But we have to visit the beach at least once!”

“Why are you two so eager to go to the beach? I mean, I’d like to see it too, but right now—”

“Because we need to check it out before we go shopping for swimsuits~”

“Wha—! S-S-Swimsuits!?”

Elmie’s face turned bright red in an instant, her voice rising in an awkward, panicked pitch.

“S-S-Swimsuits…!?”

“Well, come on—it’s Estena! They’ve got beaches here! Even Sildiel had swimsuits, so the home of Shunarte’s gotta have some really good ones!”

“And if we’re getting some anyway, we might as well pick ones Abel would like… right?”

“Uuu… A-Abel’s… favorites…!”

Elmie gave me a quick glance—

And all I could do was look away.

Three beautiful girls.

Great figures.

And now, imagining them in swimsuits…?

Yeah. That was going to be way too much.

I swallowed hard without even thinking.

“Abel~ what kind of swimsuits do you like? Sexy ones? Cute ones?”

“Maybe you should just pick them out yourself?”

“…No comment.”

No matter what they wore, it’d be beyond sexy anyway…!

And so—

Unable to resist the pressure from the sisters, we ended up going to check out the beach while looking for a place to stay.

・　・　・　・　・

After taking in the sights of Estena and wandering around for a bit, we eventually reached one of the beaches.

“Wow… it’s beautiful.”

“White sand and clear blue sea! I’ve always wanted to visit a place like this~!”

“Hey, Abel, we’re staying in Estena for a while, right? That means we’ll be playing in the ocean too, yeah?”

“Yeah. Once I return the magic sword, I think it’d be nice to take it easy. Might as well enjoy everything while we’re here.”

I completely agreed with Elmie’s quiet awe.

The place really was stunning.

We had put away our gear and were only in light travel clothes, but even then, we stood out.

Probably because almost everyone else was dressed in swimsuits or light, colorful outfits.

The beachgoers were wearing all sorts of swimwear—

Naturally, the three girls were watching with curiosity in their eyes.

And honestly…

Swimsuits weren’t the only thing grabbing our attention.

“What a weird tree… Whoa, it’s super hard…!”

“That’s a Shuna tree. It’s tall and sturdy—a specialty of Shunarte. I think they even use it as building material.”

Maria was touching one of the trees growing near the beach.

It had bark like scales, no branches at all, and stood over ten meters tall.

At the very top, large leaves spread out like a fan.

“A specialty, huh… Now that you mention it, I think I saw one from a distance the last time I came to Shunarte for a request.”

Maria tapped the tree lightly with her knuckles, curious about its texture.

But the other two didn’t seem interested—Elmie and Frey were staring out at the ocean.

“Seeing it up close just makes me want to go swimming even more~ Let’s hit the beach right after we finish our errands, okay? —Oh, and the person who gave you the magic sword… wasn’t it an old lady or something?”

“Now that you mention it, I never heard anything about them. Is that person in this city?”

“Huh? I didn’t tell you? They don’t live in the city, they live nearby—”

“Whoa!? Hey!! That voice! That face!!”

Just as I started to explain to Elmie, a loud shout suddenly rang out from the beach.

“The Four Swords! Aren’t you Abel Sixam!?”

“…Me?”

When I turned around after hearing my name, I saw a man standing there.

He had just leapt up from a beach chair and was now rushing toward me.

Tall, pale-skinned, and lean but muscular.

He wore a local Shunarte outfit—an open aloha shirt that exposed his chest.

His long crimson hair was tied into a loose ponytail at the back, and his face was covered by pitch-black sunglasses.

He looked like the textbook definition of a tourist.

With arms wide open, he quickly closed the distance between us.

“Finally, we meet again! Ahhh, how I’ve waited for this moment! I’ve been searching for you, Abel Sixam! Hahaha!”

“Abel… do you know him?”

“Nope. Pretty sure I don’t have any friends this flashy and loud…”

“What? You don’t recognize me? That’s… tragic, Abel.”

The red-haired man, who had been grinning with joy just a moment ago, now furrowed his brow—

But despite his words, he still looked thrilled, shaking his head playfully.

He acted like we were close, but I had no memory of getting friendly with someone like this…

“I was hoping you’d recognize me right away… But fine. Maybe this will jog your memory.”

With a dramatic sigh, he slowly removed his sunglasses with his right hand and looked straight at me.

Revealed beneath them were crimson red eyes.

And the moment I felt something off—

Blood suddenly burst from inside the skin of his hand.

“…!”

“What the—!?”

The thing flew right past me—

Pierced straight through the Shuna tree behind us—

Then slammed into a distant boulder, sending cracks spiderwebbing across its entire surface.

Its true form… was a spear of blood.

A weapon made entirely of blood, unleashed in an instant with terrifying destructive power.

That strike—

And the overwhelming pressure that came with it—

It brought back a memory burned deep into my mind—

A night that felt like hell itself.

“…It’s you!?”

“Ha ha ha! It’s been a while, Abel! It’s already been a year since our fated death match! I’ve missed you!”

“The Progenitor—Raidlake!?”

About a year ago—

He was the vampire who stood in the Hero’s path…

And the one I fought to push back.

And now, he stood right in front of me.

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

That wraps up the third chapter of Volume 2!

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