Heroine Survival Vol 6 Chapter 9

The Struggling People

Royal Sorcery Academy that should be a safe place got attacked by  evil race and became closed temporarily. The eyes of the adult were  moved away from the academy in order to search the whereabouts of the  princess. There the crown prince Ervan, the first queen candidate Clara,  the second queen candidate Carla……and a viscount daughter who wasn’t  even a high ranked noble were causing a chaotic conflict to happen  behind the scene.

It resulted in something that surpassed even the purpose of the evil  race that risked their life in their plan to kidnap the princess to  decrease the national strength of the kingdom in the next generation. A  thin dark cloud was starting to spread over the kingdom.

There were two boys walking inside the academy during that situation.

Boys──it was a bit misleading to call them like that. Fifteen years  old was considered as adult in this country. These two who turned  fifteen years old this year were legally adult, but student typically  was still treated as boy.

But too much mana caused them to physically grow quickly and now they  had the appearance of 17 years old youth. This was the reason why in  the tale that was called [otome game], the “heroine” was the only one  who had [conspicuously childish appearance] that caught the crown  prince’s attention.

Even inside that otome game, these two would give admonition to Ervan and the heroine(main character) about their relationship, but at the end they would stand back and  overlook it. However that was simply because they had seen the growth  and the disposition of the heroine, Alicia and recognized her.

But that wasn’t the case at present.

That girl──Alicia Mercis who called herself “Licia” was an  incomprehensible girl who always tried to casually step into other  person’s heart. The two boys harbored strong wariness toward her.

The two had tried to admonish Ervan in this real world just like in  the game’s tale. However, Licia had already cajoled the deep part of  Ervan’s heart──by wholly accepting his feeling of inferiority as a  “woman”. He rejected the good advice of his two friends who were also  the candidates to be his aides in the future. It ended with the two boys  becoming distant from Ervan who became even more dependent to Licia.

Originally the two wouldn’t abandon Ervan even then. Through that it  would also be possible that they too would end up getting corrupted by  Licia who acted and spoke like she knew everything.

But, at the same time due to their encounter with a girl called  “Aria”, the two became able to have more realistic thinking than their  story self.

For good and bad, the girl called Aria was a fierce person. Her  existence could either become medicine or poison. If the boys hadn’t  encountered her before enrolling into the academy……if the crown prince  didn’t draw a line with them as a friend, they might end up like the  royal brother Amor and Nathanital, unable to bear with Aria and reject  her as a poison.

But, the two who were able to accept the girl’s way of living weren’t  [dreaming boy] who could be swept away by temporary emotion. They were  able to have a wide field of vision so they could make a decision based  on the situation of the whole kingdom and international state of  affairs.

That was exactly why, in order to wipe out the current chaos, even if  they had different personal preference, the boys──Mihail Melrose and  Rockwell Dandall concluded that Princess Elena and Aria were needed.

.

「……Do you think she’ll honestly tell us?」

「I heard that Miss Carla takes a liking to Miss Aria. Perhaps she  might let out something slip if it’s us, her fellow students in the  academy who talk to her instead of the palace’s noble.」

Mihail replied to the words of Rockwell who was walking at his side with those words while frowning.

The noble house that drew in evil race into this country was still not found.

To be more accurate, the low ranked noble house and underworld  organization that acted directly had been found and dealt with, but the  one who gave order to those people was still not found.

They were able to form a list of suspects that consisted of dozens of  nobles. Rockwell’s heart became gloomy when he found that the name of  his one year younger little sister, Clara was also in that list.

Since enrolling into the academy, Clara had been preaching the danger of the viscount daughter Alicia Mercis.

Her doing something like drawing in evil race in order to eliminate  Licia who was constantly near royalty sounded like a gamble with bad  odd, but such thing was possible for Clara who had obtained the Gift of  “Future Prediction”. Rockwell wanted to believe in his little sister,  but at the same time he also understood that it would be pointless to  investigate Clara because of that Gift.

In addition Carla Lester’s name was also among the list of suspects.

She was tentatively arranged to be a crown prince’s wife just like  Clara. It seemed unlikely for both of them to be suspect seeing their  young age, but Carla had been known among the nobles as a dangerous  individual in her young age of thirteen. Currently she was sentenced  into a house arrest inside the academy after destroying the holy  church’s chapel in the capital.

Originally she should be given a more severe punishment, but the holy  church that was the damaged party in this case decided to overlook  Carla, and trying to capture Carla that once burned a rank 6 monster to  ash would require a company of 1000 knight and a lot of damage in the  process, so the king made such decision.

And even before that, the internal situation of the country would  become even more chaotic if she got removed from being a queen  candidate. The current king who caused this current state was unable to  cut off the faction of Count Lester. As the result the kingdom could  only pass down a light punishment like house arrest.

Behind the scene, there was the secret agreement between the king and  Carla that he would close his eyes to her doing to some degree, but the  number of people who knew about that was limited.

Currently Carla was obediently accepting the house arrest, but  someone dangerous like Carla might still cause something whimsically.  Because of that there was no noble who wanted to get involved with her  by choice.

But Mihail and Rockwell thought that it was exactly because Carla was  such a dangerous individual that she might be able to obtain the clue  for Aria’s whereabouts as a fellow dweller of the same world.

In fact Carla really had such information, but the noble who got  dispatched from the palace couldn’t possibly pull out that information  from her, but it might be possible for them who were genuinely thinking  of the two girls who went missing.

「Mihail, can you lower your head toward Miss Carla?」

「……Yeah. Even if that’s impossible for my grandfather the prime  minister and your father the supreme knight commander, as a single man  kneeling for Miss Aria’s sake won’t be an expensive price to pay.」

The figure of the pink haired girl flashed at the back of Mihail’s mind.

Mihail knew that Aria’s impression toward him wasn’t the best because  of their bad encounter and how he didn’t even hold a candle against  her, even so his feeling as a man who wanted to support her who  continued to fight solitarily had become stronger compared to before.

「Oi, Mihail. I myself want to save Miss Aria but, do you understand that rescuing her highness Elena is our highest priority?」

「I know that. But you know──」

「No, you don’t understand. She is worthy of respect as a warrior, but  it’s Elena-sama’s existence that is a necessity for returning this  country back to normal. That person’s wide outlook and nobility, they  are worthy for me to offer my sword to……」

「”Elena-sama” you say, Rockwell, you……」

Mihail’s eyes widened when he heard the words that Rockwell interrupted him with.

Rockwell was a knight who was too upright. He would only use the name  of the person who he had entrusted his heart to. Mihail unconsciously  let out his mutter after realizing the feeling that Rockwell was hiding.  Rockwell who realized the meaning of Mihail’s gaze to him gasped in  surprise and covered his mouth with his hand. It hid his blushing face  just for a bit.

「……You got a complain?」

「Nope.」

Mihail grinned at Rockwell’s question.

There was no logic to people’s feeling for others. Rockwell in the  story hid his true strength and only thought of Elena who was serving as  the crown prince’s assistant as a cousin, but now that he was putting a  distance from Ervan, the figure of the princess who was doing her duty  as a royalty looked like the figure of a king who he should serve to  him. It made him wished to support her as a knight.

Both boys didn’t think that their feeling toward their respective  target would be rewarded, but the two wordlessly bumped their fist with  each other while continuing to walk side by side.

「Let’s go.」

「Yeah.」

They left behind their personal feeling for the time being and put on the face of a noble who was concerned for their country.

In the story the two were friends who opened up with each other, but  they drew a line somewhere between them as noble. But the two right now  had grown mature from meeting with girl who attracted their heart. From  learning each other’s feeling, they became close friend that surpassed  the connection of their houses and they walked together for the sake of  their objective.

***

More than a month after leaving Claydale Kingdom, there was a beast  and a silhouette that seemed to be a woman on its back, running along  the border of Selrayce Kingdom that was uninhabited by human. They had  just passed through a dangerous forest where rank 5 monsters were  prevalent.

「Nero. Let’s stop here for today.」

A woman with skin that was like glamorous obsidian who seemed to be  in the prime of her youth in a glance──Serjura spoke up those words.  Then the jet black mythical beast called Nero stopped running even  though it looked dissatisfied.

<──move──>

「You still want to continue moving? This animal is really not gentle at all with the elderly.」

Her way of speaking sounded like a grandma, but Serjura was a dark  elf and her mental age was around 30 years old just like her appearance  suggested. She wouldn’t be like this if she was living among dark elves  or having connections with a lot of humans, but until now Serjura only  got involved with very few humans and she had watched them getting old,  so even her way of speaking and mentality were also changing along with  their growing old.

But change came even in her life. Decades ago, a human woman barged  into Serjura’s home and became her disciple. Her many remarks that could  even be called as odd delusion were a source of headache for Serjura,  even so she didn’t hate that badly behaving disciple’s presence.

That disciple said that she would become adventurer after learning  some sorceries for several years and ran away. After that she also  returned back several times, but six years ago she stole Serjura’s book  and medicine before vanishing. She never saw her again since then.

But, two years after that idiot disciple was gone, a girl called Aria who was clad in abnormal atmosphere appeared.

According to her, her life was targeted by that idiot disciple however she turned the table on her.

Serjura was exasperated by the last moment of that idiot disciple  which was just like her. At the same time she also felt sad for her  passing. But it wasn’t Aria’s fault by all means. If Aria would inherit  her teaching, she would accept her as a new disciple and trained her so  that she at least wouldn’t die. That was what she felt.

While leaving with Aria who was like that, a new feeling started to bloom inside Serjura.

Aria had strength that was unthinkable for a child. She also had  courage. But she was just a kid whose purity inside got twisted to  another direction because of that idiot disciple’s fault.

The gap between what she knew and what she didn’t know was too wide.  Aria knew the meaning of killing another person when she was just barely  seven years old, and yet she didn’t even know the meaning of a kid  acting spoiled toward adult.

That was why even though Serjura was giving her harsh training, she  also treated Aria like a child as an adult. Even Aria who was like a  beaten up stray cat gradually opened up her heart, and Serjura felt like  she was having a daughter, something that she had given up before  somewhere in her heart.

None of them expressed it into words. But a bond as “family” was forming between them.

Then, what could a “parent” do for the sake of the “daughter”?

<──march──>

「You’re saying that you can still continue? I’m amazed you can say  that in such state. Stop arguing. We’re stopping here for the night.」

In order to pass through the dangerous monster habitat, Serjura and  Nero kept moving until this area practically without any rest.  Especially Nero who had continued to run without stopping and also had  to fight against rank 5 gryphon, goblin lord, and the like. It wasn’t  unharmed from that.

Nero called Aria [moon]. For Nero who had lived in solitude until now, Aria’s existence was something close to the moonlight.

But, was it possible for mythical beast and human who were different  even in their way of living to be able to establish an emotional bond  with each other? Currently the two were in a cooperation with each other  but, Serjura was wary toward Nero as a woman who was worried for her  daughter, while Nero had never opened its heart toward any other being  than Aria.

Even so it seemed that it had no intention to ignore the opinion of  Serjura who was Aria’s family. Nero agreed with her calm judgment about  its state of health and took a rest.

.

Both sides took care of their own meal. Serjura caught a wild bird  and grilled it on fire. Nero too hunted a young doe and devoured it.  Their relationship was one where they didn’t even talk with each other  unless it was necessary, but although they were inside a forest, the  decent meal and rest after so long caused the two to loosen their  vigilance with each other just for a bit.

「……You, why are you going this far for Aria?」

Serjura asked the question casually. Nero whose eyes were closed after finishing dinner slightly cracked open its eyes.

<──no──>

<──moon──>

「Ha? You don’t know why? You’re saying that you yourself don’t know what you’re doing?」

<──mean──>

<──wrong──>

「It’s not that you don’t understand, but you don’t understand the meaning of my question?」

<──yes──>

<──moon──>

<──just──>

「You’re saying that it’s only natural it’s for Aria? That right there. That’s what I’m asking about what you mean.」

<──thou──>

<──fool──>

「Wait a second」

<──moon──>

<──I──>

<──same──>

「Aria is the same like you? I never raised that girl as animal!」

<──son──>

<──no──>

「Someone like you isn’t even the same race with her. Just what do you know about Aria?」

<──all──>

<──know──>

「Haa!? You know everything!? Don’t jest-」

<──fool──>

One woman and one beast stood up slowly. They glared at each other inside the forest at night with the fire illuminating them.

「Looks like we need to settle this between us huh……」

<──right──>

And then Serjura and Nero had a heated debate about how much they  knew about Aria. The two who had accumulated exhaustion through their  journey until now fell asleep on top of each other when dawn arrived.  Their departure ended up getting delayed for one whole day.

.

(What a mystery……)

She left the evil race army, then she secluded herself in the country  of human that she was enemy with, then she took disciple……one of them  died because of a stupid reason, but the other surly disciple looked up  to a dark elf like her as though she was a parent, so now she was  travelling with a mythical beast toward the evil race territory that she  had been avoiding, in order to save her “daughter”.

The figure of that surly disciple that she had been watching ever since she was little overlapped with a certain “girl”.

(……Aishe)

Her only blood related family. A little sister who was far younger than her…….

After losing her parents, Serjura became a warrior of the evil race  army in order to provide for her little sister. After that she rushed  through numerous battlefields, sometimes she even got acquaintanced with  her enemy. Serjura who was losing sight of the meaning of the fight  entrusted her little sister to a married couple who she was friendly  with. She then faked her death in the battlefield and left the army.

If Serjura stayed with Aishe, her little sister might copy her and  joined the evil race army as warrior. In fact, Aishe who was starting to  grow up from infant into girl was looking at her big sister who got  called as “War Demon” of the evil race army with strong admiration.

She must have grown into adult around this time……. Serjura earnestly  prayed that her little sister at least spent a life that was  disconnected with fighting.

***

「New information and formal request came from Margrave Melrose. From  now on we “Rainbow Sword” will head out of the country on ship in order  to search for her highness the princess.」

Inside Dalton’s mansion in the capital, Miranda, Feld, and Viro, the  members of rank 5 adventurer party “Rainbow Sword” were gathering.

But, the youngest member Aria went missing together with Princess  Elena who she was guarding. They were planning to search for them even  if there was no request from the kingdom, but the leader Dalton chose to  accept the request in order to obtain accurate information and concrete  support rather than going off on their own, which would limit their  action.

「We’ll depart from the capital tomorrow. A ship that belonged to  Margrave Melrose should arrive for us in the harbor city east from here.  We’ll get on it and head to Carlfan Empire.」

The location of Elena and Aria who vanished due to teleportation  still hadn’t been found even now. But, Margrave Melrose’s relative, the  prime minister brought them that information as the information with  relatively high chance of correctness.

The source of the information was kept secret but, that information was something like this.

.

『Doesn’t matter if it’s from sorcery or dungeon’s secret treasure, if  it’s space teleportation and the caster die in the middle of  activation, the possibility is high that the teleported target fell  midway. If that girl is along for the ride, I think they’ll be able to  go home no matter where they end up but, if there’s still no contact  from the until now, then perhaps they fell at the desert on the way to  the evil race country? Anyway I recommend searching from Carlfan Empire  that is close to the evil race country toward the direction of the evil  race country.』

.

The girl who gave that information didn’t consider the possibility of  “death” which was the likeliest possibility. She talked as though to  declare that they were alive.

In actuality the girl who was giving that information had full grasp  about the secret treasure and even the destination of the teleport. She  didn’t have even a shred of doubt that Aria would definitely return if  that was all she was facing.

That girl whose mental state was far removed from ordinary person  gave the information she had because of a personal reason. She simply  wanted to hasten the time of her reunion with Aria.

It was an uncertain information but, in regard to the dungeon’s  secret treasure “Gem”, the analysis of the sorcerer guild and the royal  sorcerers were in accord. The royal family couldn’t send a search party  to foreign country solely based on that information, but an adventurer  party that was outsider but also a related party to this case could be  used. In the end the king used his personal fund to make this request to  them.

Each member started moving along with Dalton’s order. Among them Feld  went to the room that was assigned to him in this mansion to take a  great sword made of magic steel. He tightened his grasp on it.

「Aria……」

For Feld, Aria was a reliable comrade, a cute junior, and also a  charming member of opposite gender until he noticed her actual age, but  right now she was someone who was like a little sister to him.

Viro had told Feld about a certain matter.

It seemed he was staying quiet until the dense Feld noticed it  himself, but apparently Aria was using a steel knife that belonged to  Feld.

It triggered his memory. Some years ago, while Feld was on his way to  take the great sword of magic steel that he ordered from Galbas, he  encountered a homeless orphan in a forest alongside the highway.

He mistook the child as a monster, then he taught the child the way  to survive though it was only for a short time. After that Feld gave the  knife that he used to dismantle monster to the child in exchange of the  knife he broke.

That knife was also Galbas’s creation. Galbas who realized that  thought that this too was fate at work and it became the impetus of him  giving the knife of magic steel that he created to the child.

For Feld it was a memory that he had almost forgotten, but apparently Aria was still using that knife even now.

Thinking back now, perhaps Aria’s relaxed casualness with him until  now was because she thought of him as someone who could be  trusted──someone like a family from the start.

That small homeless orphan who he thought as a boy had grown into an  eye-popping beautiful girl, so Viro told him that it couldn’t be helped  that he didn’t notice, but Feld felt pathetic that he couldn’t do  anything for that girl who was like family to him when she was in  danger.

「I’ll find you for sure……Aria.」

.

While Feld was renewing his spirit, Aria’s other master who was also his acquaintance was──.

「……what to do」

Viro was at a loss. Of course he had no objection to go to save his  beloved disciple Aria as her respected master. Not only that, he was the  one who knew her the longest in the party. It was him who took the  initiative to run around everywhere gathering information.

Viro was walking with heavy footsteps toward the new house he bought in the capital.

It was a small place compared to Dalton’s mansion, even so it was the  type of building that was generally called as [manor]. It had the size  that was sufficient for a low ranked noble to live there with his family  and several hired servants.

「I’m homee……」

Viro had been living with a woman since several months ago. She was a  receptionist of the adventurer guild who he had been acquainted with  since some time ago. She suspected him as a kidnapper when he brought  the still small Aria to the guild. Viro fell in love with her from that  cold gaze and spent several years to win her heart.

Viro was still young in adventurer standard, and yet he chose to  accept the black ops’ invitation and retired because she demanded him to  have stable job and salary.

Viro was weak against woman and he had financially supported lady of  the night (prostitute) several times until now. He was unthinkably tight  with money for a first class adventurer. Even this residence was bought  by borrowing money from Dalton. Right now he was completely whipped by  the woman he was living together with.

「My, you’re home early today.」

「Yeah, I’m home, Mary.」

A pretty woman with long hair wearing a white apron appeared from the back.

The woman was still working as receptionist. She was home because she  used her piled up paid leaves to exercise her cooking ability for the  sake of Viro who was recently busy with his work.

How would she react if he told her that from tomorrow he would be  gone for several months going to foreign country? Obviously she would be  in a bad mood and sent a cold glare to him.

Viro didn’t hate getting looked with scorn by a charming beauty, but  he didn’t like making them seriously angry. His heart wasn’t so vast  that he could also accept getting his life targeted seriously even if it  was by a beautiful girl like Aria.

But, there were times where a man had to firmly make a decision for the sake of his beloved disciple.

That time is now, Viro told himself to fire up himself.

「Mary, listen to me.」

Viro was sweating while telling Mary about everything that he had  kept quiet until now and what he would do from now. Mary’s cheerful gaze  instantly turned freezing until below the freezing point.

「What’s the meaning of this?」

「No wait Mary, as her master I──」

「That’s obvious!」

She got angry just like he imagined. Viro thought that Mary was angry  because she couldn’t spend her holiday with him, but he was wrong with  the direction of her anger.

「Eh?」

「Why did you keep quiet about Aria-san to me!? That girl is still 13 years old!」

「No, I also think the same but……」

「Geez, you’re really an awkward person. I’ll cool for you right away,  so wait there. Eat a lot then go and bring back that girl safely.」

「Mary……」

The end result was that he got forgiven, he got fed with delicious  food, which made him happy. But he felt that somewhere inside Mary, Aria  got higher priority than him. He was shoveling food into his mouth  while feeling like he couldn’t accept it.

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