Vol 2 Chapter 45 – The Roy Transportation Suspicion【Exile to the Empire Arc】

Roy sat on the bed while Sophia settled into a chair right beside him.

“Hey, where was that switch in the end?”

Roy asked about what had happened at the hot spring.

“Well, it seems both you and we all thought it was at the top of the boulder, but it turned out to be inside a wooden bucket floating in the bath.”

“You found it well.”

“Sarina saw it from above when she climbed to the top.”

“…I see.”

Then Roy felt a question nagging at him. Namely, who had carried him? Everyone present at that scene had been female. (Which means—!)

Roy’s face reddened slightly from the sheer humiliation.

“H-Hey… so, um, who carried me?”

“U-Um, well… Sarina did. Manabu changed your clothes, and then Palco carried you here.”

“…Hah, I see. Sorry for causing trouble… Hmm? Wait, how did you see the bucket from that position when it was pitch black?”

“Yukino thought it was an emergency and pulled a lantern out of her Item Box. Oh, there’s something I want to say too, um… I’m sorry for hitting you.”

Sophia bowed in apology while wearing a yukata. At that moment, Roy caught a glimpse of her cleavage and gulped, turning his face away.

“—! I-It’s fine. I was mostly in the wrong anyway.”

“No, that’s not all. I saw yours—”

“—Forget about it.”

Roy’s vision went dark, and that was all he could tell Sophia. Sophia responded with “Okay” while remembering something and blushing.

As the mutual silence continued, it was broken by the sound of knocking at the door.

Knock, knock!

When Sophia said “Come in” to welcome the visitor, the inn’s master entered.

“Sophia-san, you have a visitor. They’re waiting outside—what would you like to do?”

“For me? Understood, I’ll be right there.”

“Sophia, a visitor—is that okay?”

“It’s fine. I’ll position myself so they can’t get behind me, and there aren’t many opponents who can defeat a Holy Weapon wielder from the front.”

Sophia picked up Longinus, which had been leaning against the wall, and left the room.

☆☆☆

Since Sophia had left, Sarina entered Roy’s room.

“Sarina, what’s up?”

“I just came to check how you’re feeling.”

In this world, there are close-combat jobs and ranged-combat jobs, with stat bonuses corresponding to each job type.

Roy, lying on the bed, had taken a body blow directly from Sophia, who was a Holy Knight (spear-type).

Even though he used to be an enemy, Sarina was a bit worried.

That Roy has an Extra Job inherited from his clan called Shadow Mage. Since it’s both ranged and close-combat, the bonuses are mediocre, but depending on how you use it, it’s a job with various applications.

Most notably, he basically prefers close combat, so he fills the role of the party’s commander and tank.

“How’s Yukino doing?”

“Yukino’s downstairs playing card games with Manabu. Everyone already ate, so I brought this… want some?”

Sarina handed Roy a basket. Inside were bread rolls and butter—simple fare, but unavoidable since dinner service hours had already passed.

“You bought this for me? Thanks.”

“—! I-It’s not like that! I just happened to have it!”

“I see, just happened to.”

He smiled slightly as if seeing right through her and began munching on the bread.

Sarina watched him while reflecting on the past.

She’d befriended Yukino to get close to Haruto, caused various problems when contaminated by corruption, and now she’s in this party.

She only recently realized he’d been looking out for her in various ways—cracking jokes so she could fit into the party, being strict so she wouldn’t make mistakes again.

Her first impression of Roy was the worst. After all, he’d groped her chest. She later heard from Yukino that it was for purification, but for her, who wanted to stay faithful to Haruto, she felt nothing but disgust.

On parade day, when she’d become desperate, Roy chased after her. When he carried her princess-style, she was so embarrassed that she gave up on her reckless charge.

Then she encountered Haruto again. She fell for his sweet words. Partly because she was feeling reckless, but she thinks the her back then just wanted a place where she knew someone, even a little.

As they traveled together, she grew attached to this party. Proportionally, her worst impression of Roy gradually changed into a better one.

In combat, Roy is usually cautious, but with food he’s picky, and she found that gap a little cute. Haruto eats everything deliciously and has no dislikes. When she occasionally tried to cook, he’d say “anything’s fine,” but that’s actually the most troublesome.

Roy, who works hard managing funds while thinking about the party, is a hard worker. Watching Roy like that, she thought about what she could do and started making preserved foods. As for Haruto, he basically squandered the money he received from the kingdom. (Looking back now, he really had no sense of planning.)

When she failed in combat, Roy got seriously angry with convincing reasons. Then afterward, he’d casually talk to her with jokes mixed in. If it had been Haruto, he probably would’ve just forgiven her normally.

When she occasionally goes to wake Roy up, he’s always sleeping peacefully with Yukino. There’s no suspicious smell, so he’s probably never laid a hand on her. If Haruto were in Roy’s position, he definitely would have.

Unlike Haruto with his constant manufactured smile, Roy sometimes shows an innocent, boyish expression that makes her heart skip a beat.

In her second year of high school, Haruto helped her when she was in trouble… and she experienced her first love. She’d liked him ever since, and when they got together in this world, she was so happy. Honestly, she thought even those photos couldn’t make him fall for her in their original world. Actually, without corruption contamination, she doesn’t think Haruto would’ve fallen.

(Ah, no, that’s wrong. Haruto has some mental weakness, so it was probably just a matter of time.)

The happiness she finally obtained like that—so why? She keeps comparing Roy and Haruto. Or rather, now only Haruto’s bad points come to mind, and she keeps finding only the good points of Roy, whom she hated so much.

She still likes Haruto, but she feels like it’s gotten a bit weaker than before. And then she realizes—her feelings are changing.

“Haha, I see… I think Roy is a little nice.”

“Huh? What about me?”

“Nothing.”

“I see. By the way—how did you carry me?”

When asked that, Sarina was at a loss for an answer. Back then, Sophia and Roy became a black mass that bounced and went splash! into the water. Of course, she couldn’t see it, and she only knows what happened in that moment because Sophia told her, but she can talk about everything from when Yukino turned on the lantern.

“You fell, and you know Yukino turned on the lantern, right?”

“Yeah… they saw it, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, I saw. I’m used to it from Haruto, but Sophia and Yukino are pure maidens, so they made a fuss, covered their faces, and couldn’t move. So I piggybacked you and got you out. Manabu and the others had already left, so I left the clothes changing to those two.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

Roy hangs his head, sinking into despair. By the way, Yukino’s fingers were slightly open through the hands covering her face. (Yeah, somehow that girl wasn’t as shaken up as all that.)

“By the way, you didn’t have a big towel or anything, right? Which means—”

“I couldn’t help it! That’s right, skin to skin!”

“Ahhhhh! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s already done, so we should just forget about it.”

Carrying him skin to skin was actually fine—the problem was that Roy reacted even though he was unconscious. Thanks to that, she had to walk while that rubbed against her waist. Even with a man she doesn’t completely like, being treated like that made her a little bit— (Wait! No, no! Forget it, me!)

“Yukino and the others might have trouble in the future. It’s way bigger than Haruto’s.”

“Why Yukino and the others!? And you’re not planning to forget, are you?”

“Huh!? I-I will forget!”

Slam!

While Sarina was arguing with Roy, someone threw the door open forcefully. It was Sophia who appeared.

“Roy! We’re leaving here tomorrow!”

“What happened?”

“The kingdom’s army is heading toward the town near the border where the Shadow Clan Ombra is!”

Roy and the others, who had planned to stay longer as a rest day, ended up leaving Shimute Village immediately due to the information Sophia brought.

Vol 2 Chapter 46 – Conspiracy Swirling in Grentze【Exile to the Empire Arc】

The person who summoned Sophia at the inn was a member of Stark from the anti-nobility faction. Before joining up with Roy, Sophia had stopped by the Ombra village and instructed the escort who accompanied her to escort the villagers to the empire.

However, because the release of the Tower of Agni heightened tensions between nations, the fake pass they’d been using became unusable. Therefore, Stark members were hiding in a town called Grentze, the closest to the border.

And recently, the kingdom’s army had begun marching toward Grentze by the shortest route.

If they departed at the same time, Roy’s group traveling from village to village wouldn’t make it in time. But from their current position, distance-wise, if they ran the carriage at full speed, Roy’s group would arrive slightly earlier.

Roy’s party left Shimute Village that day and headed for Grentze.

On the way, Sophia clung to Roy’s chest with tears in her eyes inside the carriage. Roy put his arm around Sophia’s shoulder and gently stroked her head.

“Roy, I’m sorry! If I had… maneuvered better—”

“It’s not your fault, Sophia. At that time, you didn’t even know we were heading to Agni, right? More importantly, let’s think positively that we’ll arrive earlier.”

“I’m sorry…”

According to Palco, they’d arrive in about thirty minutes. Sophia has been looking down ever since. (This is a bad sign.) Perhaps dragged down by the mood, the other members were also giving off a gloomy atmosphere.

“Sarina, sorry. This will probably be a fierce battle. Even if we escape to the empire side, it’ll be harder to meet Haruto than now… if anything, when we get to Grentze—”

“Don’t insult me. This is a crisis for your clan—Roy’s clan, right? I want to apologize. So I’ll cooperate.”

Roy had been blaming Sarina for her sins to anger her, threatening that she might kill Haruto to invoke her feelings of protecting Haruto, giving her a reason to live.

But since the haircut incident, Sarina’s guilt has increased more than he expected.

“…Hah, it’s my fault. I’m sorry for blaming you for that until now. I actually think the dark weapon was the cause—you’re a victim too. So it’s okay now.”

“…I just want to come along anyway. After all—Artifacts, was it? You have to recover them since Haruto has one, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Then, thanks, Roy.”

This was the second time Sarina called him by name—Roy felt a ticklish sensation as they shook hands. Seeing the two of them, the other members seemed to shift to an appropriate level of tension.

☆☆☆

—Grentze, the Town Leading to the Border—

The main force of the kingdom’s army hadn’t arrived yet, and Roy’s group successfully infiltrated. Following a Stark member’s guidance to a cargo warehouse where relatives were supposedly hiding, they found the Grentze garrison already surrounding it.

Roy’s group peeked at the cargo warehouse from the shadow of a nearby building.

“Shit! They’re completely onto us.”

Yukino lined up next to the cursing Roy.

“Could it be that they deliberately didn’t press us too hard because they were aiming for this?”

“That’s highly likely. The Black Knight Kairo is famous for using strategies involving lovers and families in the past. The thing he probably put the most effort into this time was changing the pass.”

“Ugh, his personality is the worst…”

“But calculations are prone to errors. That we arrived early is probably unexpected, and we’ll turn things around from here!”

“Right!”

Leaping out from their hiding spot, they cut down the kingdom garrison from behind. Even though they were called an army, there were only about fifteen of them, and their training was lower than the capital’s army—suppression was easy.

Sophia used Longinus’s spear characteristic Magical Amplification: Overload to fire a shockwave from the spearhead, wiping out the archers and mages. Sarina was a Lancer, Sophia a Holy Knight—both jobs using spears, but unlike Sarina who charges to attack, Sophia’s style accurately breaks defenses with sweeps and thrusts to finish enemies.

And enemy soldiers who mistakenly thought they could win in close combat were thoroughly defeated before Sophia’s spear.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

A soldier who seemed to be the commander ordered a retreat, but it was too late—Purple Lightning Sarina stood blocking their path.

“What you’re choosing isn’t retreat, it’s surrender.”

When he attacked Sarina several times, electric current flowed from their clashing swords and the commander fell to his knees.

“Tch!… Those still alive, surrender!”

Thus they somehow suppressed them, tying up the five survivors with rope and escorting them to the cargo warehouse. Since Roy had attached explosion scrolls bought at Shimute Village to prevent escape, there was no worry about them fleeing.

Entering the cargo warehouse, several Stark members who looked like merchants with swords and the Shadow Clan were watching them warily.

“Village Chief! It’s me, Roy!”

“Could it be, Roy!? Oh, in the short time I haven’t seen you, your atmosphere has changed!”

At the reunion after so long, Roy briefly embraced the Shadow Clan members.

“Sophia-chan too, you’re alive!”

“I’m sorry about this time.”

Then the village chief noticed something and asked Sophia.

“Speaking of which, about the marriage—mmph!“

Sophia, who noticed early, moved behind the village chief, covered his mouth, and whispered in his ear. “I’d be happy if you didn’t continue that?” The village chief nodded his head up and down and was finally released.

Roy was surprised by the scene but convinced himself the chief must have been about to make a sexual harassment comment.

Then the village chief and Stark members told Roy’s party about the escape plan.