“Why on earth is he here…?”
He definitely seemed busy studying magic in the hospital when I first saw him, so how did he follow me here?
I hadn’t noticed at all.
“There’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed…”
It feels weird to say it, but since I have the ability to sense the surroundings widely, it should be impossible for him to sneakily follow me without my notice…
If that’s the case, there were only two possibilities.
Either he had already sensed my movements beforehand and cast a spell to locate me before I entered the dungeon, or there was some kind of magic that allowed quick movement.
It had to be one of those two.
It’s impossible that he followed me out when I exited.
“I don’t know which it is, but…”
If I revealed that I was awake, it seemed like a hassle would ensue.
Above all, I felt sorry for Evan and Dannes, as it would be really tiring to walk all the way to the Academy from here.
As a saint, I can only recover my body through divine power, but I can’t prevent myself from getting out of breath.
“Were the saints of old able to travel such long distances…?”
Thinking about how tough this little walk was for me makes the idea of them travelling that far to defeat the Demon King seem incredible.
“I guess I should consider it a blessing to be staying at the Academy.”
There seems to be a lot happening lately, making my time spent attending classes at the Academy quite limited.
Since there’s likely to be no work for a while starting today, it might be better to rest properly and think about what kind of incident might happen next.
Before that, I need to use this necklace to help Evan grow as much as possible, and I should try to increase the divine power I currently have and improve my skills in handling it.
The next incident would occur during the end-of-semester exams, after all.
I leaned a bit more onto Evan’s back.
“Feels nice…”
At first, I thought about getting up out of embarrassment, but since I continued to stay up, I began to feel a surprising amount of comfort.
More than anything, I wondered if his back had always been this broad.
It hasn’t been that long since I met Evan, but because I’ve seen him a lot in games, sometimes I feel a sibling-like urge to take care of him.
Then again, seeing him reliably capture that enormous golem and get the necklace safely while being strong without me makes me proud.
Isn’t it uncomfortable to be carried like this?
Not really.
“He’s not touching me in a lewd way or anything…”
Fortunately, Evan isn’t the type to have those sorts of preferences, and he makes sure to adjust his arms around my legs to keep his hands from reaching my bottom.
In the first place, there’s nothing to touch.
What redeeming quality could this pitiful body possibly have?
Still, I do feel a bit sorry.
With such a meager body, there’s nothing to hold onto.
Well, as a hero, I might end up having such affairs with various girls, so just bear it a little longer.
…
More than that, I’m starting to get sleepy.
Should I just sleep like this?
Initially, I was just going to pretend to be asleep due to embarrassment and then act like I woke up, but somehow, I ended up comfortably getting carried back to the Academy.
While I did want to return comfortably, I definitely didn’t intend to be carried like this.
Even though it wasn’t intentional, I don’t want to give up this comfort.
Still, I’ve worked hard to bring him this far, haven’t I?
Originally, I did take him to the back mountain to help him grow, and I even assisted him in the trial for the necklace, so isn’t it reasonable to hope for this much?
If I woke up, he would surely ask various questions, and there was no reason to get up.
Above all, I wasn’t planning on waking up anyway, but since Stella arrived, I decided to put those thoughts aside.
From Stella’s perspective, having a stranger like Dannes present would create an awkward atmosphere, but she only seemed a bit awkward when talking to Dannes. Other than that, they were walking and chatting quite well.
They were discussing how the necklace works, wondering what abilities it has, and so on.
In the meantime, isn’t it a bit too much to ask to let me study that necklace…?
If that necklace gets passed to anyone other than the hero, it will simply become an ordinary necklace without any abilities until it returns to the hero’s hand.
It’s only natural if you think about what’s inside it.
As a scholar, one might not recognize it, but there’s no way to figure it out in such a short time. No matter how magical it is, discerning an ancient extraordinary technology isn’t easy.
So I should refuse.
Just having it will automatically speed up growth and make awakening as a hero easier; it would be best not to pass it on.
“I’m sorry, but for some reason, I feel like I can’t hand it over.”
Well done.
“What a pity.”
Stella pouted her lips as she said that.
Evan responded with an awkward smile, apologizing.
Huh?
Something feels strange.
I didn’t notice it before, but were they always this close?
They had shown signs of getting closer before, but now they seem like completely good friends.
No, even beyond that…
“Hmm…”
Could it be that I have no choice but to bring out the evil matchmaking tendencies in my heart?
Having wanted to see other story characters in games connect with each other, seeing Evan and Stella getting along feels pleasantly surprising.
If they go on like this, one day, either of them will eventually propose dating, and as a couple or two would gradually form, Evan’s harem might eventually be completed.
From there, I can maintain my identity as a saint and return to the original world after defeating the Demon King.
Evan will become a hero who saves the world and has multiple wives, and I can go back to my original world after defeating the Demon King…
Yes, that works.
“But Stella.”
“Yes?”
“How did you get all the way here?”
“… Ah.”
Right.
I’m curious about that too.
When I first scanned to see if anyone was following, there was clearly no one, so how did she find me while I was in the dungeon?
How did she come here?
“Um… well, Aria is sleeping, right?”
“Huh? She wouldn’t lie about something like this. Did you do something to Aria?”
“Ah, ahaha…”
No way.
Did she cast a spell that tracks my location in real-time?
“I was planning to show you when it was completed… I’m developing a new spell.”
“A new spell?”
Already?
A high-ranking magician myself is barely able to cast spells, and she’s already developing a new one?
Honestly, it’s impressive.
While it’s true she has the talent to reach archmage status if she works hard, it’s remarkable given that she’s only a high-ranking magician right now.
It’s something that’s impossible for an ordinary magician.
Evan’s eyes widened too.
Even Evan, who doesn’t know much about magic, understands that developing a spell isn’t easy.
Dannes looked at Stella with an expression of sheer astonishment.
Especially in Dannes’s case, having worked with adventurers of similar high-ranking magic, he should know how hard it is to create magic.
Feeling such gazes, Stella scratched her head with an awkward smile.
“Since I was worried about Aria… I made a spell so I could help as soon as something happens.”
“What kind of spell is it?”
“Um… you could call it a teleportation spell, I guess?”
I involuntarily flinched.
A teleportation spell…?
That’s the kind of magic even high-ranking magicians find difficult to cast, and she’s researching it newly?
‘How does she do it?’
Will she share?
I wanted to hear if it existed in the game, so I silently waited in anticipation for what Stella would say, even forgetting that I wanted to sleep.
After a while, with Stella deep in thought about whether to share or not, she finally gave an awkward smile.
“Um… I think I’ll keep it a secret.”
No.
Making me curious and then not sharing it is a bit much.
“What?”
Evan had a serious look on his face, questioning her sudden mention of a secret.
“But I haven’t completed the spell yet, so it feels odd to brag about it… I can tell you once I finish it.”
“That’s…”
Evan seemed to have much he wanted to say, but since discussing magic is entirely about the heart of the researcher, he couldn’t really say anything.
In the end, both Dannes and Evan couldn’t voice their frustration and just let it go.
But I’m different.
Who am I?
I’ll go back and read the thoughts left in the research books to find out what kind of magic it is.
I’ll be staying in the hospital a bit longer, so it’s not impossible to decipher it.
I will find out.
Absolutely!
