Chapter 91: Him…or ‘her’
On the other side of the room, Yorfang was still unconscious so I snatched the subspace pouch from her arms.
[It’s a subspace pouch, I can’t believe she’s carrying something so precious. Is it stolen?]
From what Sierra had said, it was most likely stolen because it belonged to a thief, which meant it had an owner.
“I don’t think so, because if she stole something as rare as a subspace pouch, she’d be recognized.”
If I grabbed Yorfang in the game and tried to take her subspace pouch or magic thread…
‘That’s not stolen! It’s mine!…I swear!’
…so I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that.
At that point, the player could say something like this to Yorfang.
‘I guess you have bad luck, huh?’
Unfortunately, Yorfang is now unconscious, so I can’t say that line.
The subspace pouch and magic thread were the rewards for capturing Yorfang.
I slipped my arm into Yorfang’s subspace pouch. It was a curiously small pouch, but it was spacious enough to fit my entire arm.
I found the painting in there and took it out, then approached the wall where the painting was and groped for a nail.
I found the nails and hung the painting in place.
Both Sierra and I knew there was a painting here. I had walked down this hallway before and Sierra had said something to me.
She stays by my side and asks me a question.
[Did you know that Yorfang would come here?]
“Well, I knew she was collecting art… but I didn’t think she’d actually come here.”
[Is this painting really that great…?]
Sierra cupped her chin and studied the painting.
It depicted the hero and members of his party. They were huddled together as if they were taking a group photo.
The world was currently balanced without both the Demon King and the Hero, but as soon as either of them showed up, the scales would tip right back over.
The Hero is the only one who can stand against the Demon King.
Throughout the game, there are frequent allusions to the fact that this being, who has fallen into the clutches of demons, will one day reappear in the world.
Heroes are “reincarnated.”
In reality, he has already been reincarnated but he’s still too young to defend himself.
How do you protect a young hero who can’t handle the holy sword?
Protecting the reincarnated hero from the demons was a big part of the main story and an important key to reaching a happy ending.
The face of the hero in the center of the painting, a blond man, grinning so wide you can see his teeth, stands out.
I must protect him…or ‘her’…I must protect.
I stare at the painting for a long moment, then turn and walk back to where Yorfang was.
Now it was time to ‘clean up’.
‘First, I have to use the subspace pouch…’
I pulled the large sack I had prepared from my arms. The sack contained all of the items she had stolen from the Academy this time.
Trinkets, jewelry, and anything else that could be considered valuable spilled out of the tiny pocket.
The items Yorfang has stolen so far are probably stored away in her secret stash. Even subspace pockets can only hold so much.
I sling the now-heavy sack over one of Yorfang’s collapsed arms.
It didn’t matter if it was a sack or a subspace pouch, since I didn’t know who Yorfang was anyway.
However, Yorfang’s poor condition did make me worry about her ability to locate the warehouse.
“Um…”
I pulled the thread from Yorfang’s cuff and examined it.
Sierra recognized the thread as soon as it touched the Spectral Sword and alerted me but I decided to leave it there, and this is what happened.
‘Was it Arachne’s thread?’
I decided to keep it for now, as it might come in handy.
…I’ll leave the explanation of how it was stolen to Yorfang.
[Hmph, thieves get away with it…]
Sierra merely smiled in satisfaction at the irony of the situation.
And with that, I gobbled her up, grabbed her arm, and dragged her down the hall.
It wasn’t long before I ran into Kaliman, who was fumbling around with a torch.
“Cadet Zetto, what’s that behind you…?”
Kaliman asked as he approached me.
“There was a thief wandering around.”
I replied, flashing him a sunny smile.
***
-Knock.
“Come in.”
A man’s stern voice comes from inside the room as a woman opens the door and walks in.
The room, which looks like an office, is quite dark, lit only by a hastily placed candle.
As she approaches the man sitting at the desk, scribbling away, she speaks.
“My lord, Gödö Yorfang has been captured.”
“Who captured him?”
“Cadet Zetto.”
“Hehe, that name again. Seems like he’s the one who solves all of the Academy’s problems.”
The Sage, in the guise of Hubert Graham, the Academy’s president, smiles broadly.
The Sage was currently in the director’s office, not in the depths of the Labyrinth as he normally would have been, since it was an open class period.
They had already been made aware of the presence of Gödö Yorfang.
The Sage tried to stay out of the Academy’s internal affairs as much as possible, so he was willing to let it go, but touching the Dew of the World Tree had crossed a line he had drawn.
Therefore, he had sent Itea to handle the matter quietly.
Itea may have looked like a mere maid or secretary, but she was a golem that contained the essence of the Sage’s magical engineering. Not to mention her combat capabilities but apparently, it wasn’t necessary.
“I returned immediately after I saw Yorfang faint after touching Cadet Zetto’s Spectral Sword, but this time it may not be a coincidence.”
Itea reported, tilting her head slightly.
“She must have been eroded by the spirit. Coincidence or not, he has a lot of connections. The Sword Saint, the Saint…How did he run into Gödö this time?”
Putting his fountain pen down on the desk, the Sage turned to Itea.
“He was touching a painting of you and your companions in the main building when Yorfang appeared.”
“A painting…?”
The Sage’s brow furrowed at the mention of tampering with a painting with the hero party.
The painting was precious to him. It was a painting that he had framed when he founded the Innocence Academy and hung in their honor.
Of course, the people at the academy didn’t know that the painting depicted the Hero Party.
This was because, despite the presence of statues of the members of the Hero Party in the Labyrinth, the Sage’s aesthetic sense was quite eccentric, and they bore no resemblance to the painting.
“Luckily, they were caught right away.”
Itea said, trying to calm the Sage’s anger.
“Huh… Well, since it happened inside the Academy, I suppose it falls under our jurisdiction.”
The Sage sighed, and Itea nodded in agreement.
Since the Innocence Academy was not affiliated with any country, it had the power to handle such matters independently.
“Then…I’ll send her to ‘Gehenna’.”
“I see, I’ll make sure to tell Principal Julius Klaus that.”
As Itea bowed her head in response, the magic lamp on the ceiling lit up, brightening the room.
The Sage looks up and stares into the lamp, then speaks.
“You must have gotten back on track quickly.”
“Master, since it will officially be Cadet Zetto’s capture, how do you plan to reward him?”
Itea asked as she looked at the Sage.
Despite their intentions to keep things quiet, Zetto, the academy cadet, had intervened and made it official.
The Sage cleared his throat at her question.
“Hmm… A reward…”
***
The carriage, with no windows to look out, was chilly.
The carriage was traveling toward Gehenna, the largest prison on the continent, where only the most heinous criminals are held.
It was so notorious that no one had ever managed to escape from Gehenna, and it was commonly said that death was the only way out.
In the carriage, a woman sat shaking her legs in annoyance, and across from her was Yorfang, whose arms and legs were bound.
Even the uniform she was wearing when she was captured had been removed, and she was wrapped in rags.
The brown-haired woman in front of her, Reina, muttered.
“Why can’t I win…?”
Yorfang was accompanied by someone from the Academy as she was transported to Gehenna.
There was no way she could escape or be attacked by bandits during the transportation, so they needed someone who would make her feel as safe as possible.
Naturally, the Three Black bloods were mentioned, and the job fell to them.
They were instructors, but since it was open class time, they weren’t required to teach.
Even for them, traveling to Gehenna was a hassle.
Eventually, at Reina’s suggestion, they played a childhood game of rock, paper, scissors.
‘Edward is one thing, but why is Kaliman so lucky to get away with this kind of bet…’
Once again, it was Reina who lost.
She’s never had much luck with bets like this.
She leaned her head back and looked at Yorfang, who was trembling in front of her.
The realization that she was a younger woman than she had expected was a shock of its own.
From the tone of the notice, she’d expected him to be a man with a mustache.
‘More than that…’
At that moment, Reina and Yorfang’s eyes met.
“…”
Then Yorfang bowed her head deeply, avoiding Reina’s gaze. Her body was still trembling.
‘They said Zetto was the one who caught her.’
It was one thing for a blind man to capture a thief who wasn’t even a common thief, but what had happened during the capture?
Yorfang looked like she had been tortured, but there was no sign of it, not even a scratch.
She couldn’t imagine Zetto torturing anyone in the first place. There didn’t seem to be any reason for him to torture her.
When she came to her senses, she quickly admitted that she was Yorfang and gave the location of the warehouse.
She didn’t deny anything.
The warehouse was brought to the attention of the local guards, who immediately began to investigate, and the secret warehouse of Yorfang, one of the continent’s most famous marauders, was revealed to the world.
However, when she was asked to explain her capture, Yorfang suddenly became violent.
When she asked Zetto about it, he said that he only lightly knocked her out.
Priscilla then checked on Yorfang and assured her that there was nothing wrong with her health.
At this point, Priscilla realized that the spirit energy was still in Yorfang’s body, but she didn’t reveal it.
Eventually, Edward dismissed the others’ questions by saying, “The criminal has been caught, and that’s the end of it.”
Reina was still privately curious, so she turned to Yorfang in front of her.
“Did you have anything to do with Zetto…?”
At the mention of Zetto’s name, Yorfang’s eyes widened and she quickly covered her ears and muttered.
“Purple… Purple… Purple… Purple…”
Her body was shaking violently and Yorfang could only repeat the unintelligible words.
“…”
Watching her, Reina clicks her tongue once, and then closes her eyes.
***
In a small town on a continent, in a small orphanage, there was a girl.
The other children in the orphanage were running wildly through the fields, shouting “Hey!” and “Stop!” but the little girl didn’t seem to care.
The orphanage’s director, a woman, sneaks up on her.
“Rei, aren’t you interested in playing with your other friends?”
The director was worried that the girl wasn’t getting along with her friends.
“…Not Rei.”
The girl with her arms crossed replied briefly, looking at the director with a pouty face.
“Oh, I see. You asked me to call you Leon. Rei, no… Leon seems to suit you a lot…?”
Rei looked up at the sky, ignoring the Director’s affectionate voice.
‘…I can still feel the Holy Sword’s reaction.’
The girl felt the aura of the Holy Sword in the sky, solidifying her presence once again.
She remembered that in her previous life, she had been Leon the Hero.
He had been reincarnated as a girl named Rei, with Leon’s blonde hair and red eyes.
However, the change from a healthy adult male to a newborn baby was extremely painful for him.
Now, years later, as a young girl, he was better off. Though the ‘girl’ part was still a problem.
Rei was contemplating on what to do when the headmaster approached, a serious look on his face.
For some reason, she hadn’t been able to control the holy sword properly yet. She couldn’t even summon it.
Had the Holy Sword decided that this body was still too weak to handle it?
Rei had been secretly practicing outside the orphanage every night, but maybe it was just a matter of time.
“Rei… Why don’t you play with me?”
A boy her own age approached Rei, scratched his head, and cautiously asked in a shy voice.
It was a boy who had recently shown an interest in Rei, a ‘reasonable’ interest.
“Don’t… look at me like that!”
Rei threw her arms out in front of her, drawing a firm line in the sand.
The director covered his mouth with his hand in shock at her behavior.
Rei’s personality had become much more eccentric than the ever-smiling hero Leon had been.
It was unavoidable, even for him, for her.
It was a matter of keeping up appearances, of not losing something important to him as a man.