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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The train station was quiet and peaceful.
Although there were concerns about them causing trouble, the three children were sitting quietly on a wooden bench.
Hare must have already been looking in my direction.
She was the first to notice my arrival.
“Ah, Mi-Mister is here…! Gu-Guys…! Mi-Mister is back…!!”
“…Say it once. We heard you.”
“Did my holy water arrive?! Wh-Where?! Where is it?”
“St-Stay still…! Estia…!”
Hare looked like she was training a fierce dog.
Instead of a leash, she was restraining Estia by linking their arms together.
It seemed she had been preventing Estia from causing trouble as I had asked.
“You’ve been watching Estia well, Hare.”
“Ye-Yes…! I-I worked hard…! I-I did well, right…? Pra-Praise me…!”
Swish-
Hare stuck out her head as if asking to be patted.
It would probably be good to praise her at times like this.
I patted Hare’s head.
“Hehe…”
This should be enough.
I kept it as short as possible, since praise would become expected if it was too long.
Hare showed a look of disappointment, but I removed my hand from her head.
This wasn’t the time for this.
Time was tight.
“I had planned to rest for a day in Arden Village… but that won’t be possible. We’re moving to Henesys immediately.”
“Why? Why has the plan changed?”
Saten asked in an uncomfortable tone.
She really disliked when plans changed.
However, we couldn’t follow the original plan just because Saten disliked it.
“I’ll explain later, just follow me for now.”
I led the children straight to the train platform.
“Everyone follow me, it’s not evening yet, so there should still be trains going to Henesys.”
“Ye-Yes…!”
“Alright, Mister.”
Tap- Tap-
I led the children towards the ticket seller, he was a slow-looking man wearing glasses.
I clearly stated our purpose.
“5 tickets to Henesys leaving today. Are there any seats available?”
“Ye-Yes… There are seats but…”
Fortunately, there were seats left.
However, seeing the seller trailing off, I sensed something wasn’t right.
The seller scratched his head and said,
“One seat will have to be separate…”
“What? No seats together? Not even one?”
“No… All the 5-person and 6-person rooms are taken… There are seats in 4-person rooms… but one person will have to sit separately…”
“…Sigh.”
One person would have to sit separately.
“I’ll take those then.”
“Yes, understood…”
We might end up completely separated if we were not careful.
It was best to buy these for now.
I received the tickets from the seller and checked the seat names.
‘A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4’
And then.
‘C-8’
This was really frustrating.
There was a B car between the A cars, and you couldn’t move between cars while the train was moving.
Basically, the closer to A, the higher the quality and price of the seats, as there could be conflicts or terrorism between nobles and commoners.
I wanted to tear up whatever law created this situation.
“What a terrible law. Making us sit separately in this situation.”
“Mi-Mister… What should we do…? One person has to sit separately…? Who will it be…? Ca-Can’t you stay by my side, Mister…?”
Hare’s gaze was blatantly directed at Saten as she said this.
I hadn’t asked for a vote.
It seemed I had no choice but to be the one sitting alone.
I handed out the A car tickets to the children.
“I’ll sit separately. You all sit together as quietly as possible.”
“Mi-Mister will?! What about me?! I told you I hear strange voices! What about Estia?”
“…If you say that after seeing her condition, I must have misjudged you.”
Estia was staring at the floor with blank golden eyes.
She looked like she was staring at ants on the ground, but there were no living creatures on the floor.
She just seemed to have stopped thinking.
“I’m sorry, I was being thoughtless, haha…”
Seeing Estia’s state, Luna immediately realized her mistake.
At that moment, Saten raised her hand and confidently exclaimed.
“I’ll sit alone. It would be noisy if we’re together anyway. I prefer it this way.”
“…Are you sure you’ll be alright, Saten?”
“Yes, being together would be more of a hardship for me.”
Luna and Hare shouted something at those words about being noisy, but it wasn’t particularly important.
More importantly, I had to worry about whether Saten would be okay alone…
“Hmm…”
Could I trust and leave it to Saten…?
‘…No.’
To be honest, I couldn’t trust her.
My seat was C-8.
The person with the C-7 ticket would sit next to me.
What would happen if that ordinary citizen offended Saten?
The answer sheet didn’t appear, but a future naturally formed in my head.
An image of Saten slapping an ordinary person’s cheek.
Perhaps due to the strange education she received in her family, Saten tended to dislike commoners.
It would be better if I sat alone after all.
I put my hand on Luna’s shoulder, who I was most worried about.
“Luna, it takes an hour to get to Henesys.”
“Yes?”
“Can you endure until then?”
“I don’t know since I’ve never tried…”
“Then, this is your chance to try. You can do it.”
“Eh…”
Leaving Luna who was making a dumbfounded sound behind, the magic train heading to Henesys stopped to take on passengers.
The children went to car A, and I went to car C.
We had no choice but to sit separately.
Luna with an anxious expression, Hare with a regretful look, Saten expressionless, Estia with a crazed face.
The Hero’s party members had quite diverse expressions.
‘Come to think of it.’
Wasn’t this the first time the four of them were gathered in one place without me?
This made me a bit curious.
‘What will the children talk about when I’m not there?’
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With Jun-woo gone, the four members of the Hero’s party gathered in one place.
Luna and Hare sat on the same side, with Estia and Saten opposite them.
An awkward atmosphere flowed through the Hero’s party.
Four girls who would have to defeat the Demon Lords later.
Among them, Luna, the leader of the party and the Hero, spoke first.
“Gu-Guys. It’s the first time we’re together without Mister! Right?!”
“…”
“…”
Silence-
Why, why weren’t they answering?
Did she say something strange…?
They were not responding to the Hero’s words.
As Luna was expressing her confusion, the holy sword kept speaking to her ears.
-Not bad, Hero. your party members have talent. Maybe less of them will die than with the previous Hero.
‘Wh-What are you saying?! Die less?!’
-You’ll understand later.
Luna had gotten used to the holy sword’s basic creepy voice… but the screams in the background whenever the holy sword spoke were hard to bear.
Luna clenched her fists tightly, enduring the voice.
Then, his face automatically appeared in her mind.
‘Wa-Wait… Why is Mister appearing in my mind…?! Go away, Mister!’
I don’t want to see you! I absolutely don’t like Mister!
Although she always disliked seeing Mister, Luna now wanted to see him more than anyone else.
She desperately denied this fact.
“No way, am I missing Mister? That can’t be…! This must be hypnosis!”
“Luna…? Wait, I have a question…”
At that moment, Hare timidly asked Luna.
What on earth was Hare trying to ask?
Luna nodded and answered.
“A question? What kind of question?”
“Where did you go with Mister…?”
“Ah, we just went to my house for a bit. Something big almost happened…”
“…What kind of big thing?”
“Huh? That’s a bit difficult to explain…”
Should she specifically explain to them that she saw a cruel future where her family died, and then came back?
‘No matter how I think about it! There’s no need for that!’
Luna decided to be vague with Hare, not realizing that this choice wouldn’t be a good one.
“Just, he helped my family! They were almost in danger!”
“I see, danger… Ah, Mi-Mister helped Luna…?”
“Yeah, he helped me. But, Hare, why do you look like that?”
‘Why, why are you looking at me so scarily?’
Was it such a problem that Mister helped her family?
Hare looked shocked, as if feeling a great sense of betrayal, like a trusted dog had bitten her hand hard.
‘Helping other kids… I-I don’t like that… I wish Mister would only help me…’
‘I wonder how Luna feels?’
Hare bit her lip tightly, and to know Luna’s true feelings, she asked,
“How do you feel about Mister…?”
“Mi-Mister? Mister is just a kidnapper.”
“That’s not what I mean… I’ll change the question, then do you like Mister…?”
“Eh…?”
Gulp-
‘I wish Mister would only like me.’
‘I don’t like it when other people like Mister.’
‘I don’t want to lose Mister to someone else.’
Hare waited nervously for Luna’s answer.
So she could decide whether to consider Luna an enemy or an ally when Mister wasn’t around.
After pondering for a moment, Luna shouted as if it was absurd.
“Wh-What! Hare! I-I really! A kidnapper, a personality wreck, and a completely cold Mister! There’s no way I could like Mister!”
“Are you serious…?”
“O-Of course! He has some good points usually… Bu-But anyway, I don’t like him! Absolutely not! I definitely don’t like him! As if I would like Mister?!”
Luna’s face turned as red as a tomato.
From Saten’s perspective, it was hard to understand why Luna was so vehemently denying liking Mister.
‘…In books, this kind of child is secretly in love or doesn’t realize their own feelings. That’s how it usually is.’
Well, even if she liked Mister, it didn’t particularly concern her.
‘I don’t even properly understand what emotions are.’
Saten watched them for a moment before turning her attention back to her book.
Saten was the same in not understanding her own feelings, so to her, Mister was just Mister.
“Luna, is that true? Th-That you said you dislike Mister…”
“Of course! I dislike Mister! I completely dislike him! He-He seems kind but I-I dislike him!”
“I see… Luna dislikes Mister…”
‘I’m happy-’
Hare smiled brightly.
Before, she used to get angry when someone said they disliked Mister, but now, when someone said they disliked Mister, it made her feel at ease.
“Luna, you’re not my enemy…”
“Eh? What do you mean…”
“Shall we get along well…?”
Squeeze-
Hare linked arms with Luna as if saying they were friends.
‘Fi-Finally. Hare has opened her heart to me!’
Luna smiled back and reciprocated the arm linking, it felt like her hallucinations were disappearing.
Though it was a groundless misunderstanding.
‘Luna, let’s get along well. As long as you continue to dislike Mister…’
They could get along well.
They might even be able to get along with Estia who loved holy water more than anything else.
Unlike that Saten girl.
Because Saten was an ‘enemy’.
Hare had a feeling that the expressionless Saten would someday cling to Mister.
And then.
-This train will stop at the dungeon city ‘Henesys’. Please exit through the right door if you are getting off.
While they were hiding their true feelings from each other, the moving train finally reached its destination.
A very important city that would mark the beginning of the Hero’s party.
They arrived in Henesys.
And…
‘Pl-Please holy water… Give me holy water…’
Estia had reached her limit.
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[Something def gonna go wrong lmao like foh sure, hare getting crazier every chapter on god]
