Chapter 90 : Calm Before Storm

Morning came, and the Kingdom's Authorities arrived right on time after everything had been sorted out.

In front of the Loren Village, Iris greeted them while bringing the Cultist by her hand.

[Authorities] is a group of people in uniform that upholds the law of the Kingdom. They are the one who kept the Kingdom safe and their job is to imprison criminals who were a threat to the Kingdom.

Whether they are a Commoner or even a Noble.

"Thank you for reporting him to us Iris-sama." the representative of the authorities thanked her with a bow.

"You did a great job for coming this far~" Iris smiled.

"Of course, it's a honor to be tasked with the arrest of such an evil doer, Iris-sama."

"I simply doing this for the glory and peace of our Kingdom." Iris replied.

"That's a very honorable word." The Authorities spoke to her with a smile.

"Now then, grab him away and interrogate him about the other Cultist." Iris spoke, pushing Dudley closer to him, "Don't worry, we already cut both of his hands, he shouldn't be able to use mind control magic anymore."

"Don't worry Iris-sama, we already prepared special shackles for him."

"Ara~ really?" Iris raised her eyebrows as she looked at the shackles with interest.

"Yes, it is created by none other than Matilda-sama."

"As expected of my Master." Iris praised her with joyful smile.

The Authorities nodded his head, "men, take this man away!" he ordered and they began to grab Dudley who's out of his mind and pulled him to their carriage.

"I shall take my leave now." The Authorities bid farewell to her before they returned to their carriage and began to move away from the village.

Iris still stayed on her spot in front of the village's gate. After a while, she sighed and turned around to see the Villagers who had been waiting for her along with Rei and the Adventurers teams.

They were thanked by the Villagers, but that only made them uncomfortable because they were not used to being showered with heartfelt praises. In the end, they couldn't help but accept it because they did save them from the Cultist.

Iris giggled when she saw her brother and the rest of the adventurer teams like that. She shifted her eyes slightly to the side and she saw Rei standing on the side, talking to a little boy–Edric along with his mother who's standing beside him.

"Crimson-san! Thank you for helping my mom!" Edric thanked him with a bow towards him.

"You don't have to thank me, it's just normal to help someone in need." Rei spoke while smiling underneath his helmet.

"But we can't thank you enough for what you did to save us and my dear boy…I beg you to please accept our gratitude in full." His mother did the same while bowing her head.

He panicked for a bit when Edric's mother bowed to him, "N-no, I said it's fine okay?"

Iris smiled, relieved that Rei came back to his normal self.

Iris then approached them, "Are you done saying goodbye to them?"

Rei turned to see her approaching the three of them, "Iris...no, we were about to."

"Ara~ it seems like our honorable Crimson-sama is very weak against people's gratitude~" Iris teased.

Rei became flustered when he heard that, "I-I told you! It's simply a normal thing to do, it's not that big of a deal."

"and I suppose it's normal for a person to defeat 20 people all by himself just to save a mother and her son right~?"

"You–! Don't say something you shouldn't–"

"Woah! Really?! Crimson-san is amazing!!" Edric cut off his words as his eyes sparkled, amazed of what he did for them.

'Aaand this happens.' Rei sighed as he gets roped into the little kid's excitement.

Iris giggled seeing this scenery, the man who slaughtered his enemies like a cold-blooded beast crumbled before a child's innocence.

Of course Rei played along with Edric up until their time in the village was over.

Iris, Rei and their teams are gathered at the front gate of the village. The villagers, Edric and his mother are now going to see them off.

"Thank you so much Crimson-san! Iris Onee-chan!~" Edric shouted while waving his hands.

"Bye bye!~"

Rei and Iris looked back to wave their hands towards him before going into the carriage and left the village.

"HYAAAP!"

Rei sat in the carriage and sighed in relief, followed by the rest of his teams.

After that, he looked at the window besides him, thinking, 'That was a long night.'

It was indeed a long night, so many things were happening. From the Demon Cult, Sacrifice, Bandits and Brainwashed people, it was hellish.

It was also his first time experiencing this, but of course it was not a great fight because it's very one sided.

He wondered if he didn't tell Andrew to cut off the cultist's hands before, would things go much differently? They would probably have a hard time fighting the enemy.

Maybe there would be monsters or much more injuries on his team, so he decided to brush that thought away.

'Houston.' Rei called him through his mind.

'Yes?'

'I wonder if my plan was cowardly.' Rei mumbled.

'Hmmm...I don't think so.' Ray spoke, 'It was a great plan, you destroyed their most valuable strength down to half and defeated them all in one fell swoop.'

'Hmmm...yeah.' Rei replied.

'Don't forget that cultist still have the villagers under his control, if we didn't evacuate them and didn't cut his hands before he could use it, there will be more danger. And perhaps more casualties.' Ray explained.

'Right now, your mind is in disarray because of what happened last night...now it's time to rest like the others.' Ray spoke as he pointed at the people in his teams.

Rei looked to his other side and he could see Fang, Kagura and Wise were sleeping while sitting on their seat.

They looked exhausted, rightfully so, and it seems they didn't get any rest from it.

Rei chuckled softly, smiling at them as he closed his eyes.

'I will be on guard, so go to sleep.' Ray spoke.

Rei suddenly felt sleepy, he relaxed his body as his eyes slowly flutter closed.

'Sure...'

'Goodnight Kiritsuka.' Ray spoke with a hint of a smile and Rei finally drifted to sleep.

******

*CRACK* *CRACK*

The crackle of a camp fire woke Rei up from his slumber. After sleeping for what felt like a long time, Rei was awake and found out the space he used to sleep in the carriage was dark.

In that space, he found his comrade asleep. While looking around, he saw a small glimpse of light.

"Mmmm..." Rei straightened up on his seat and decided to go check what's outside of the carriage. He found himself standing in the woods and a campfire in front of him.

'I was sleeping too well.' Rei thought while looking around to see others have also set a camp here, 'It seems they're still sleeping.'

His eyes landed on a small figure sitting in front of the campfire and he decided to walk towards them and found out it was someone who he familiar with.

"Iris." Rei called before he could catch himself but Iris just looked at him with a smile.

"Hmm~? Oh, if it isn't Crimson-san~ did you sleep well? I heard that you were sleeping soundly in the carriage so it was hard for us to move you out from there~"

"Yeah, I did sleep too well today, sorry for that." Rei apologized.

"Come on, you all did your best today so at least this is what we can do for you all." Iris replied.

"Mhm."

"Why are you just standing there? Just sit here with me~" Iris patted the spot next to her, offering it for him.

"Ummm.." Rei looked around to see if someone is looking before he accepted the offer and sat down beside her. "Thank you."

"Hehehe~" Iris giggled seeing him up close while hugging her knees.

*CRACK* *SWOOSH* *CRACK*

The two of them simply stared at the campfire for quite some time. Silence fell upon them as they couldn't came up with anything to talk about to begin with. The only noise that filled the silence is the crackling of the campfire before them.

Iris looked at him and slightly frowned, "Say...."

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you some questions?"

"Sure."

"Do you have some sort of hate towards a Hero?" Iris asked him.

Rei stared at the campfire, "Hmmm, what made you say that?"

"Ummm...because last time I asked whether you want to be hero on that time...you changed." Iris guessed.

"...." Rei was silent when she asked that. "My apologies."

"N-no! It's okay! Sorry for asking that...and of course you don't have to tell me about it! I was just curious~" Iris spoke while brushing her hair to the back of her ear, looking away.

"I see." Rei only replied with like that.

Then silence hit them like a wave again, Rei didn't answer her for a while after that until...

"Long..." he started, finally breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"Long ago...I once admired the Hero."

"You...admired them?"

Rei nodded, "Yes...I admired the Hero, long ago I dreamed to be one."

"Really?"

"Yeah, well I didn't really think much about it cause I was still young and naive, so...I thought the Hero is a cool person, because they are someone that would save other people in trouble and not only that...they're loved by everyone."

'This is...' Ray mumbled when hearing this, this might be the first time he heard it from Rei.

"But one day I stumbled upon a story of a Hero. As I read it...the story was focused on the side character because the Hero is strong."

"And I thought this might be boring...but I continue to read it, and began to like this side character...a knight who swore to protect his people and his beloved just like any other hero."

"You can say he's like a secondary hero."

"This knight. He fought bravely with his best ability to defeat his enemy and continue to strive to be strong and never back down."

"But eventually....he's still the side character."

"No matter what he do...no matter what he had done, he's still unable to protect their loved ones from the hands of evil."

"And that time I keep wishing for the Hero to come in. Desperately reading it again and again until....well, the hero arrived."

"I was glad to see him, and even told him to beat that enemy to save the day like always, but after that? what happen? want to know?" Rei spoke while looking at Iris.

Iris can already guess what he's going to say but she waited for him to answer her.

"Yes, you already know...the knight's loved one...died."

"They died and the hero who saved the day arrived too late." Rei explained, "If the hero came much faster, the knight wouldn't suffer from such a loss."

"This continues on every story that I read, I continue to check them one by one...but it's still the same."

"There will be victims, there will be a tragedy before the Hero arrived and that's when I started to hate the existence of the Hero."

"They always came much later after disaster occured, after the victims are in desperate need for the hero's help." Rei explained.

"Then it makes me think..." Rei looked at her, "If in this life I choose to become those kind of side characters, there would be a hero who saves the day."

"But...if they came only after my precious one already died...who should I blame?"

Iris felt something from his question, something that struck her heart, she began to tremble at that thought.

"Should I blame the Hero?"

"Should I blame the Villain for killing them?"

"Should I blame the world for letting such a thing to happen?"

"Or..."

*SWOOSH* *CRACK*

The fire began move due the cold wind around them...

"Should I blame myself for being weak?" Rei turned his eyes at the campfire.

Iris gripped on her own fist, feeling the weight of his words as if this man had experienced such things himself despite he was not.

"And that was the point...where I made up my mind." He spoke while standing up from his seat.

"I need to become stronger...stronger than anyone...becoming a Knight like those side characters that could protect someone I loves, without relying on the Hero's help or even before the Villain could touch them." Rei turned to look at her once more.

"This is my conviction, it doesn't matter if I use something so despicable that goes against my cavalry knighthood, because if I hesitated even for a moment...then I would regret it."

Iris couldn't help but listen to it earnestly, along with Ray who stayed inside him. Both of them could tell what he meant by that. They don't need to wait for the Hero to come to save the day, they need to become stronger to protect what they have.

In that moment, they realized from where this person's strength came from.

"That's my reason why...Crimson(Kiritsuka Rei) doesn't like the Hero." Rei spoke while looking at her.

Iris flinched a bit when Rei returned the question to her.

She bit her lips, "I guess I understand what you mean...no, I really understand what you mean."

She turned to the campfire again, "Same as me, even though I am the daughter of the Duke, I don't have the power like my father had...from both financially and strength."

"If I laze around and let things happen to my family, I would probably regret it in my whole life."

"That's why I gathered as many knowledge as I could, strengthening the strength that was bestowed upon me and protect my people just like my father." Iris smiled at him.

'And just like him..' While thinking about the one person who came into her mind.

Rei looked at her and nodded, "I guess we are the same huh." Rei mumbled.

Iris rose up from her seat, standing next to him, "I think so, and this is very strange."

"Why is that?"

"Somehow I felt comfortable opening up to you. For a while now, I felt something very familiar on you which reminded me a lot of someone I know."

"With whom?"

"I can't tell you, of course~" Iris smiled brightly.

Rei who saw that began to feel his cheeks started to heat up as he smiled back at her.

"I see, now I am curious who that person is."

However, their moment was interrupted with a noise which came from the two of them.

*GROWL*

Their stomach rumbled, and they froze for a moment before they began to laugh.

"I think we need to hunt for our food tonight, to save up some of our rations." Rei suggested after his laugh quieted down.

"That's a good idea, but...how are we going to hunt them? We can't just hunt them with a sword or else it would be hard to cook." Iris asked as she tried to come up with something.

"Should we wake Ruru? She's the only archer in our group." Iris suggested.

"No need." Rei shook his head while opening his [Inventory].

*SHUUSTH*

Iris blinked when she saw him pulling out something.

A bow and a bag filled with arrows.

"I will do the hunting." Rei spoke.

"Eh??" Iris blinked her eyes in confusion, and then widened her eyes in surprise, "Crimson-san...you know Archery?! Wait–aren't you a Swordsman?"

"I never said I was a Swordsman." Rei spoke proudly with a smile behind that helmet.

"T-that is true, but that means you are able to use two kinds of weapon! Isn't that impossible!" She looked at him in disbelief.

'And I never seen or heard about someone who can use two different weapons in the game before!'

That is correct, because this world only allowed one person to hold one weapon for their designated job. For someone who's capable to use multiple kinds of weapon...could be considered as weird or unique.

"Actually....it's four." Rei claimed.

"Huh??" Iris' eyes grew even bigger when she heard it.

"Sword, Spear, Bow and Shield." Rei mentioned all of them.

"F-four?! W-wait, isn't Shield something like a sub-weapon?"

"Oh, right shield is also considered as main weapon here since I also learn some of Shieldmanship skill."

Iris couldn't comprehend what she just heard, "Isn't that [Guardian]'s skill?!"

"N-no wonder you were be able to defeat Hughes-sama." Iris spoke.

"Hmmmm, it's actually a tie--no, more like I lost to him." Rei spoke as he started to walk further into the forest.

"How come?" Iris asked while following him by his side.

"Well I couldn't break all his shield skill and he wasn't even serious in the fight."

"Hmm...that's true." Iris nodded.

"Though I managed to win the bet."

"What kind of bet?"

"I ask him to teach me about his [Shieldmanship]."

"And he agreed just like that!?"

The two of them talked to each other as if they were lost in their own world. The tense atmosphere between them disappeared after they talked to each other.

Unaware of their intertwined fate.

******

After walking for a while, Rei and Iris found a wild boar eating grass inhistance. They both hid themselves behind the bushes around them, it was dark but their eyes managed to adapt with it.

"A wild boar, not only that..." Rei mumbled.

"It's big." Iris mumbled as well.

"I think this is enough to feed all of us." (Rei)

"Yeah, I think so too." (Iris)

"But first...what is the best way to eat it." (Rei)

"Hmmm...something warm for this cold night." (Iris)

"Indeed." (Rei)

"You know what I am thinking." (Iris)

"Yeah, I do." Rei agreed.

"Yepp!" Iris smiled as she agreed as well.

"It's definitely–

.

.

.

Stew(Iris)/Roasted(Rei) Pork!" The two of them spoke at the same time.

That made them look at each other.

"Iris...I think you are mistaken, Roasted pork is good for this cold night, the burnt and strong flavor for it is good to strengthen your awareness." Rei argued.

"Maybe so, but I think Pork Stew is better because it can warm your empty stomach in this particularly cold night." Iris argued back, folding her hands to her chest.

"But Roasted Pork is enough to satisfy your tongue and stomach at once!"

"But Pork Stew can warm your heart and mind! And it's delicious!"

The argument became louder without no one noticing it, and the wild boar that heard it noticed the two of them who are still busy arguing with themselves.

*SNORT*

The wild boar snorted through its nose when it saw them, not only that...

*SNORT*

Another wild boar appeared from behind them.

"Oh! Come on! Roasted Pork is better!!"

"No! Pork Stew is better!!"

Rei and Iris were still shouting and it was a sign for the wild boars

*DREP* *DREP* *DREP*

To charge on them.

*HUFF* *HUFF*!!

As two wild boars did that, Iris took her rapier out from her [Inventory], while Rei taking a stance of his bow and arrow unconsciously react to the danger.

Ray who were watching inside his mind, noticed the boars are charging at him. 'O-oi, Kiritsuka...they are coming!!' Ray warned him through his mind but Rei ignored him.

"You–!!" (Rei/Iris)

*HUFFF*

'Guys!!!!'

When the wild boars nearly coming close to them...Rei and Iris took a stance.

"Seriously..."

*TRUTTT*

Rei pulled his string from his bow.

"...Don't..." (Iris)

*CLINK*

Iris gripped her rapier tighter on her hand...

Then...

"INTERRUPT US!!" (Rei/Iris)

*SWOOSH*

*STAB*

Rei shot his arrow at the perfect time and hit the wild boar eight on its forehead, while Iris thrusted her rapier and strike on the other one right on its forehead as well.

*DROP*

The two boars dropped down lifelessly after being struck by both of them right on their forehead. After that, Rei and Iris put their weapon down and...

"....?"

Just now noticing that they killed two boars when they only need one.

".....?!!!!!"

Realizing how foolish it was, they scream internally.

*GRUMBLE*

******

*SWOOSH* *BLUP* *BLUP*

The sound of a raging fire was heard though their camp site, there's a whole body of the wild boar roasted above the fire, and besides it, there was a big pot filled with creamy stew inside and some pieces of meat on it.

"Uhhhhh..." Albert and the rest of the Adventurers that were present were baffled because they saw these two were cooking two different kind of food at once.

"Isn't this too much..." Fang mumbled while looking at Rei cooking a whole wild boar.

"Ojou-sama..." Silvia mumbled while looking at Iris stirring on the soup pot with innocent smile.

"What are you saying! You need energy to eat before a big fight!" Rei spoke.

"Yeah yeah!" Iris agreed.

"No no no, I mean isn't this too much for all of us?" Fang said while waving his hands and shook his head.

"So you are not going to eat something from your leader?" Rei spoke with his sharp glare.

"Ugh..." The whole team groaned.

"I see, despite I made it with so much care, and many precious spice which was necessary to bring out it's rich and strong flavor that's enough to energize your body! Enough to make you all drool just by smelling its scent!" Rei explained passionately, and they could smell the seasoned roasted wild boar from where they were standing.

*GULP*

Indeed, it made them feel hungry. Meanwhile on Iris sides.

"So you don't want to eat my food~? Despite me pouring all my love and care into it? Here I am hoping that it'll be enough to warm your stomach and make you feel relaxed in this cold night..." Iris sighed, feigning disappointment.

Albert and the rest of them instantly felt bad. Even how sincere these two to cook for them, it was too much for them to be able to finish it.

In the end, they were served a full bowl of creamy pork stew along with roasted pork on top.

They all looked at Rei and Iris who were smiling at them, waiting for them to dig in to those overwhelming and big portion of food.

'W-what happened when we were sleeping.'

They thought while savoring the food until they were full on that night...

And...

It was delicious.

To be continue...