Vol 3 Chapter 65 – Heh, A Nickname to Be Proud Of

“I’m Alvarado.”

“And I am Antares!”

“And I’m the poor, beautiful girl being dragged around by these two.”

The sister… Lusaria, introduced herself, so we responded in kind.

I’m totally a kidnapping victim here. Feel free to rescue me.

“You two are the ones…”

“You’ve heard of us?”

Lusaria’s eyes widened slightly, revealing her surprise.

I wonder if our reputation is so bad that people just refer to us as “the ones”…?

“Antares-san is famous. ‘The Bloodstained Hero.’ The hero who kills countless villains on her own authority.”

“Hee hee, it’s a nickname I’m proud of!”

“That’s… something to be proud of…?”

What part of that was there to be proud of?

Besides, to think that this is what passes for a hero…

Just because someone can use a holy sword, maybe people should think twice before calling them a hero?

Then again, you can’t wield a holy sword without a virtuous heart, so it’s not entirely wrong, but…

Still, with outliers like Al and Antares starting to show up, maybe a reevaluation is in order.

“And then there’s Alvarado-san. ‘The Blood-Soaked Berserker,’ ‘The Guy Who Should’ve Been Born in a Different World,’ and ‘The Crazy Guy You Can’t Reason With.'”

“Heh, a nickname to be proud of.”

“That’s way too harsh for a joke.”

What part of any of that was there to be proud of?

Those are all nicknames for a heinous criminal.

In fact, they’re less like nicknames and more like straight-up insults.

“What you two have in common is your merciless treatment of villains, isn’t it?”

“Putting that aside, what do you think? About these two?”

I couldn’t help but ask Lusaria.

Their reputations were atrocious, but she showed no sign of disgust.

That said, she seems to be the deadpan type, so I couldn’t be sure without checking.

“I…”

In response to my question, Lusaria began to speak.

“I view you favorably.”

“Wh-What…?”

I was dumbfounded.

There’s actually someone who agrees with the way these two idiots think…?

What part of them was there to view favorably?

“I do admit their methods are merciless. Ideally, they wouldn’t have to do such things. However…”

The sister, a symbol of mercy and universal love, declared coldly.

“In this world, there are those who must die, and there are those who must be killed. I believe you two are the ones putting that into practice.”

“Eeeek…”

She was a Violence Sister…!

I guess it’s my fault for building up my own fantasy, but I never imagined a sister would hold such extreme views…

“Hmph, those who understand, understand.”

“Indeed!”

“I’m pretty sure you’re in the vast minority, though.”

The two of them were smugly satisfied to have found a kindred spirit.

There’s no way people like that are common, and I hope they never are.

“Uh… by the way, what’s the situation that requires a soup kitchen? Was this town always this poor?”

I didn’t want the idiot duo to get any more pleased with themselves, so I decided to change the subject.

It was something I’d been wondering about.

The town’s atmosphere, the attitude of the guild receptionist, and now Lusaria running a soup kitchen.

I really didn’t want to ask because I was sure it’d be a pain, but it had to be better than the current topic.

And so, I asked.

“No, not at all. It wasn’t particularly wealthy, but it was an ordinary town. However, it’s sometimes affected by external factors. That’s what happened here.”

“External factors?”

Lusaria looked away, as if finding it difficult to say.

“War.”

“Ah… war. Humanity’s favorite pastime. I get it, I get it. In any era, in any place, you people never seem to tire of it.”

As a holy sword, it was something I couldn’t quite comprehend.

The instinct of all living things is to fear death to an extreme, and humans are no exception.

And yet, humans actively kill one another.

On a massive scale, no less.

Actively doing something you hate… I just don’t get it.

“A war between nations?”

“No, a religious one.”

“…Religion?”

My shoulders twitched.

…No, it’s not particularly strange.

Nations, ethnicities, races. Concepts that make it easy to form large groups and create opponents are the ones that spark major wars.

Religion is the same. Conflict arises precisely because so many people are involved.

However, because I’d just recently learned that Al was mixed up in some kind of shady religion, I overreacted.

Even though this has nothing to do with that.

“I said ‘war’ earlier, but perhaps that was an exaggeration. A certain religion is launching attacks against another. Naturally, the side being attacked is fighting back, so conflict has broken out. That’s what’s affecting this town.”

“And which religion is causing all this trouble for everyone?”

When I asked, Lusaria awkwardly averted her gaze.

“…The Church of Arias.”

“Ah…”

I just totally dissed it right in front of her!

This is bad. I don’t know how devout she is, but it’s generally a terrible idea to mock someone’s religion to their face!

This is definitely going to end badly!

“Hmmm…”

“Ngh…”

“Huh? What is it?”

The idiot duo looked troubled.

I’d been too caught up in my own panic to notice, but what were these two idiots worrying about?

Then, Al looked over at me and spoke, sounding troubled.

“Well, causing trouble for others is evil. So I was just debating whether we should slaughter all these followers of Arias, but…”

“Then shouldn’t you die too, since you cause me a ton of trouble?”

If causing trouble for people is evil, then Al is a villain of the highest order.

Because he’s constantly causing trouble for me.

“But it’s rare to see you two actually debating something. You usually just kill people on the spot based on some nonsensical logic.”

I’d pretty much never seen them hesitate before.

They’re the type to kill first and ask questions later.

But now they were furrowing their brows, looking troubled. Not a cute look on them.

“However, they are performing charity work… If these people were the ones attacking, it would be a different story, but we haven’t seen any evidence of that…”

“Hmph, you’re right. In that case, we’ll just kill any other Arias followers we see. We’ll let you all off the hook for now.”

It seemed they’d reached a conclusion.

…What kind of conclusion was that? That was basically a declaration that if they’d made one slightly different judgment call, they would have killed her on the spot.

There’s no way anyone would feel good hearing that.

One wrong move and she could have been killed.

A sister would have no way to fight back, obviously.

And yet, she only seemed a little troubled.

“If possible, please spare the followers who aren’t involved in such things.”

“We’ll take it under consideration.”

“Huh…? Someone just declared they’re going to murder members of your organization, and you’re not going to stop them?”

Normally, wouldn’t you try to talk them out of it?

In response to my question, Lusaria answered, her face devoid of expression.

“When an organization grows large, things get complicated. We’re not all bosom buddies, you know.”

“Eep…”

Something tells me there’s more to this sister than meets the eye…