Vol.9 Epilogue — Hero Aya’s Job

Epilogue — Hero Aya's Job

𝘘 Aya Sasaki's Perspective 𝘘

"A request for the Hero of Great Keith?" I asked, taking the document from the messenger in the lobby. Currently, we were staying in a hotel in Horn, the capital of Roses.

It'd been around two months since Takatsuki had traveled to the past.

Lu and I had been really down at first, but we couldn't just mope until he got back. That's why we'd tried our hand at a bunch of dungeons and had worked on our skills. More than any of that, we couldn't just stay sad when Princess Sophia—who should be just as upset as us—was working her socks off.

She was the Priestess of Water and was dealing with setting up statues and such for the Goddess Noah at each of the churches—now that Noah had been recognized as the new eighth goddess, she needed idols for her followers to pray to.

Eir had personally told Princess Sophia that since she and Noah got along so well, she didn't mind statues depicting both of them in Roses.

"Hero Makoto...would want that," Princess Sophia had said sadly. She was also currently dealing with casualties caused by monsters, and the revitalization of Laphroaig, so she was doing more than I could manage.

My memories of the past made me look to the future—the next problem we had to tackle was a request from Great Keith. Since I'd won their tournament, I'd become their State-Authorized Hero for a year. As such, I'd expected to get these kinds of requests sometimes.

"You going to take it?" Lu asked. She sounded kind of against the idea. The messenger cringed at her words. "Y-You might not accept?!"

Lucy shrugged, her hands busy polishing her staff. "Well, you've got Olga."

"Indeed, however... The target this time is a calamity-class monster. It's exceptionally clever, with over a thousand years of experience and

intelligence. Every time it feels Hero Olga's aura, it runs before she arrives. It is also an ancient dragon, so it's too powerful for any other fighter.

Adventurers would not be able to stand against it, so..."

The messenger was speaking quickly while wiping away beading sweat.

Part of that explanation caught my attention. "It's an ancient dragon, Lu."

"An ancient dragon..."

We'd gone into Labyrinthos recently and had taken out several land and water dragons. But, we'd never faced an ancient dragon together. It was honestly kind of a scary prospect.

"I understand your concerns," said the messenger. "This ancient dragon is a named monster called the Hell Drake. It is among the most dangerous monsters in the country! However, this request is not to eliminate it, but to repel it—just wounding it somewhat will be enough! Now that Iblis has returned, our army cannot divert its strength from the Northern Front Plan to fight this monster. So...so... Would you deign to take this request...?"

I didn't feel like we could turn it down. Maybe I shouldn't have become a hero. My thoughts suddenly jettisoned back to the person who'd become a State-Authorized Hero before me...

What would Takatsuki do? I thought. Immediately, I knew just what he'd probably say.

"Sounds interesting. Let's go, Sasa."

He would definitely say that. There's no way he'd turn down something like this.

"We'll take it," I said. "Th-Thank you!"

The messenger's crying face was pretty memorable.

"So, we're going off to Great Keith for a bit!" Lu said. "We'll bring souvenirs, Sophie."

"Lucy, Aya... Fulfill your duties as a hero, but..." She shook her head. "Take things a bit more seriously, please."

We'd come to tell her that we were going to take on the dragon. She was Takatsuki's superior, but that had nothing to do with us. Ultimately, she was our friend, so we thought she should know.

"Are you sleeping okay?" Lu asked her. "Don't follow Makoto's lead and

stay up all night training—he's just a weirdo."

"I'm taking the breaks that I need to," Princess Sophia replied.

"Well, you've got some pretty big bags under your eyes," Lu pointed out. "Your hair doesn't look as good as it usually does either."

"Sophie, lack of sleep is the enemy of beauty. What'll you do if you disappoint Takatsuki when he gets back?"

"I-I know, Aya! That wasn't fair." This was Princess Sophia's private room, so only the three of us were present—that's why I could be so casual. The princess sighed, then said, "Take care, you two. The Hell Drake is bad enough that we've even heard of it in Roses. You might only need to drive it off, but it is a dangerous opponent."

I cocked my head. "It runs away from Olga, though. It can't be that impressive, can it?"

At that, Lu and Princess Sophia sighed heavily.

"Well, she did take Olga down in a single hit," Lucy muttered. "But Hero Olga is the second strongest hero on the continent," said

Princess Sophia. "It makes more sense for monsters to run from her than not."

I paused to consider this. "Well, I guess so." Apparently, my common sense wasn't exactly great when it came to this kind of thing.

"Lady Furiae!" "Saint!"

"Long live the queen!"

Throngs of people were gathered in front of the (currently under construction) Moon Palace. All of them wanted to catch a glimpse of the newly crowned queen of Laphroaig.

"Fuuri's really popular," said Lu.

"Yeah..." I murmured. "Looks like we won't get to see her for a while.

Let's come back when she's done."

Lu and I had teleported to Laphroaig. Our former party member was a real big shot now, so we couldn't just turn up and see her out of nowhere.

Since we didn't have anything else to do in the area, Lu and I spent time taking down some of the nearby monsters. This place used to be nothing but wilderness, so way more monsters roamed here than in most countries, and they caused significant problems. We killed a few dozen and then reported our success to their adventurer's guild.

"Good work, Fuuri."

"You were super popular today, Fuu."

It was nighttime now, and we were in a reception room with the queen. I'd expected her guards to make us wait, but they'd shown us right through.

"Indeed... I'm exhausted. Smiling in front of people is the thing I'm worst at..."

The queen—Fuu—slumped over, wearing a grumpy expression. "Want something to drink? We brought souvenirs."

"Thanks. I will pass on the alcohol, though. I need to be up early tomorrow... Incidentally, are the two of you facing an ancient dragon alone? Isn't that dangerous?"

"Hmm, well they haven't told us exactly what kind of dragon it is yet," I replied. "We'll get the details in Great Keith."

All I knew was that it was really strong.

"My knight isn't with you...and I'm worried. Perhaps you could take some veteran mages from Laphroaig?" Fuu offered, her tone concerned.

"Nah, we're good. If it looks dicey, we'll just get away with my

Teleport," Lu said.

"Yup," I chirped. "We don't actually have to kill it." Besides, I'd feel bad taking people away from Laphroaig during its reconstruction period.

"Lady Furiae, I do not think Laphroaig has anyone strong enough to support them," Havel—Furiae's aide—said as he entered with a knock. He must have overheard the conversation.

"What do you mean, Havel?"

"Lady Lucy and Lady Aya gave reports at the adventurer's guild today.

The number of monsters they defeated... Well, all the adventurers in our capital put together have not achieved that same number."

"Hm?" Lu and I chimed in unison.

"That can't be right, Havel," Lu replied. "Aya and I only took down fifty or sixty of them. That can't be more than the guild as a whole has killed, can it?"

"Of course not, if you were to include weak monsters. However, the monsters you hunted were all calamity designations or nearly that dangerous. The guild workers were shocked when they heard you took down twenty griffins and twenty wyverns in a single day."

"Well, we just happened to run into a swarm," I replied. "Usually, we wouldn't get that many."

Havel was normally pretty reserved, but his eyes went wide at that. "No adventurer would attack a swarm of griffins or wyverns without a

plan! They would usually spend days planning! They'd set traps! You two are the only people who could just leap in and defeat them!"

Lu and I exchanged silent glances. Was that praise? It didn't feel like it... "Therefore, Lady Furiae, they need no support. If anything, our mages

would only drag them down."

"I see. A shame. Take care, you two. I'd love to come along with—" Fuu glanced at the blanching Havel. "Don't worry. It's just a joke."

She sure looks like she meant it...

And so, we finished saying goodbye and set off for Great Keith.

"Welcome, Hero Aya! Daughter of Rosalie!"

We'd been planning to book an inn or something, but when we introduced ourselves at the gate, some escorts took us all the way to the castle in a carriage.

"Please, sit."

"Sure."

"Got it."

Once at the castle, we were guided to a fancy-looking reception room.

We'd been sitting on the stuffed sofas for about ten seconds when a well-built dude and a guy with an unfriendly face walked in. The latter...was someone we knew.

General Talisker. He was second only to the king, apparently. The other person introduced himself as the leader of the adventurer's guild.

"I am glad to see you both, Lady Aya Sasaki, Lady Lucy J. Walker," said General Talisker. "I apologize for the rush, but allow us to inform you of the situation with the Hell Drake. You—explain." The general gestured to the man beside him.

"Sir! Hero Aya! Lady Lucy! Please, take a look at these documents."

His subordinate handed over the paperwork and began to explain. A bunch of papers were already stuck to the walls, all of them outlining details about the Hell Drake.

"We have gathered all of this information into a separate booklet!"

The booklet was really well organized and easy to understand. Lu and I nodded along as we listened and read.

Being an ancient dragon, the Hell Drake was obviously strong. We also found out that it had caused a great deal of damage to the country over the years. Apparently, it could manipulate volcanoes and cause them to erupt at will. Because of that, settlements near its zone of activity couldn't really farm, and many villages had been destroyed.

We'll do our best... This was a lot of heavy information, but it also felt motivating.

After leaving the meeting, we spent the night at an inn. The next morning, Lu teleported us out to where the Hell Drake roamed.

𝘘 Lucy's Perspective 𝘘

"Urgh, this is Hell Valley? It's way too hot!" I couldn't help but yell. "Yeah, you don't handle the heat well. You good?" Aya asked, looking at

me worriedly.

We were near the crater of the biggest volcano in the country. The Hell Drake lived in volcanoes... So, yeah, there wasn't much we could do about the temperature.

"I would've gone home if the locals hadn't already given us stuff to deal with the volcano," I answered, wiping the sweat out of my face. Because of them, Aya and I were fully equipped for the environment—we were prepared for the heat and fire that would come at us during the battle against this dragon. Still, it was hot.

"Is that a landmark, Lu?" Aya was pointing at a little hut made out of rock.

It was practically falling apart.

"That's what we're looking for. We can't use it though, can we?"

"If we do, the dragon'll find us right away," she replied. "We need to build a base."

With that, Aya quickly started setting up the heat-resistant tent. I lent her a hand, and very quickly, we had a big tent to sleep in.

"Lu, mana please."

"Sure!" I placed my hand on the tent and flooded the fabric with mana. It instantly vanished into thin air.

"Wow! Camouflage Magic!" Aya exclaimed.

"It really does look like there's nothing there."

I could see the faintest outline of the tent, but it was nothing but a wavering impression—from a distance, it would be invisible. The tent was also equipped with cooling magic, so the air inside was nice and pleasant.

We took a quick break to eat a simple meal and then just waited for our quarry to show up. Dragon or not, we didn't see any monsters at all.

This area was called Hell Valley because it was a lot lower in elevation than its surroundings. It had one other distinct feature—a lake. Water seemed to well up from the mountain tops and flow down, gathering in the lake, which was near our base. Of course, since the climate here was so hot, the water was also much warmer than was typical.

"Whoa! This lake is like a hot spring!" Aya exclaimed.

"A really big one too. It'd be a shame if no one enjoyed it." "Let's take a dip!" Aya suggested, eyes sparkling. She did like hot

springs, didn't she? She'd gone to one with Makoto before...

However, there was one thing I was worried about. "Are there any monsters swimming in it?" I asked. "Urk... That'd be bad."

We thought it over, and eventually, we decided to take some water from the lake and make a smaller pool.

"About this big?" I asked. I'd used my Ground Magic to hollow out a hole for the pool and make a little stream connected to the bigger lake.

"Yup, and we can put these rocks here," Aya said, moving some nearby stones both into the pool and around the edges.

I felt kind of weird doing this in an ancient dragon's territory...but we'd just get stressed waiting in the tent. That's why the two of us had made the hot spring—it was a good distraction.

"Done!"

"Yay!"

We high-fived.

"Let's get in ♪" Aya trilled in a singsong voice. She started stripping down to her skin, and I began taking off my shirt, which had been soaked through with sweat during the hot spring's construction.

"Hm?" I'd half removed my clothes when I sensed something odd. Aya and I should be the only ones here. And yet, I could hear a third set of breaths.

"Say, Aya... Can you hear anything?" "Huh? Not really."

Aya had sharp senses. Being a lamia queen meant that they were way more acute than most races. If she hadn't noticed anything, then it was probably fine...

Listen.

We elves also had great hearing, and using that skill made it even better. Makoto had always said that it was best to be completely and utterly aware of your surroundings. I used to leave all of that up to him...but he wasn't here now. So, that responsibility fell on me.

I Listened carefully for the source of my unease.

"There!" I shouted, pointing at a bit of shimmering air. I summoned my mana and launched a boulder at the spot with ground magic. The boulder collided with something in the air, and I sensed something skittering off.

"Ha ha ha... Not bad for a foolish human."

Suddenly, a massive dragon appeared out of the mirage. The beast's body was half transparent, and it blended in with its surroundings.

It... It's using magic!

"Aya, watch out! That thing can cast spells!"

"Got it, Lu! It was peeking at us! I won't let it get away!"

Aya and I didn't seem to be entirely on the same page... "Uh, Aya... Surely dragons don't do that—"

As I spoke, I realized something. Why had it been watching and not attacking? Was Aya right?

"Foolish human... I was simply going to attack when you were defenseless, but it seems you have greater instincts than I thought. Still, it will end the same way..."

Ah, all right. It'd been waiting for us to let our guards down. "You cowardly dragon..." I muttered.

"Wh-What?!" it demanded. Whoops, it must have heard me.

"No, Lu. He's just making excuses since we caught him spying! Pervy lizard!"

"How dare you!"

Aya's comments must have really made it angry.

Still...I'd originally suspected that this might be the Hell Drake, but that couldn't be right. It didn't have the dignity that something so long-lived

should have. However, the information we'd been given said that there were a dozen or so younger dragons that accompanied the Hell Drake, so this must've been one of them.

"Aya, don't provoke it." I turned to the monster. "So, Mister Peeping Dragon, you can't ambush us now—are you still planning on attacking? If you want to turn tail and run, we'll let you."

"I think you're provoking it more," Aya said with an exasperated look.

Was I?

"You pitiful mortals will let me?! Fools! I will burn you to cinders!"

Below us, the earth began to shake, and the volcano started to belch smoke as if responding to it. The dragon's massive gaping maw started to glow.

Dragon Breath!

It was a special move that strong dragons possessed. If we took a blast from it straight on, it'd ruin our new hot spring...

"You're acting awful high and mighty for a peeping dragon!" Aya yelled angrily. Suddenly, she started shining in a radiant rainbow of colors.

This was Superstar, one of Aya's special skills. Guess she's planning to take it down in a single shot.

"Die!"

"Hyah!"

Aya rushed forward, her body flying through the air quicker than the dragon could let loose its breath.

Slam! Before I knew what was happening, Aya's punch had blasted a hole right through the dragon's skull. It thudded to the ground without even a final roar.

"I beat the nasty perv!" Aya was smiling and cheering, but...she was completely covered in dragon blood.

That's terrifying...

"Aya, wash yourself up," I said, pulling her along and stripping off the rest of her clothes. Once at the hot spring, I threw her into the water.

"Whoa, it's all red." She began to scrub the rest of the blood from her skin.

As she got cleaned up, I approached the corpse. "Hmm, it's bigger than I thought."

Even if it wasn't an ancient dragon, it'd probably been around for a few

centuries—long enough to make a name for itself. Aya had just taken it out like it was nothing, so we hadn't really gotten to see how strong it was.

"Well, we can't leave any evidence... Store." Among the supplies given to us by Great Keith was a magic box—at my command, the dragon's body vanished inside.

Great! We're done!

"You come in here too!" Aya exclaimed. She reached out and yanked the rest of my clothes off, then pulled me into the water.

"Come on, Aya, you don't need to be so pushy..." I protested. "It is nice, though." We'd spent half a day building the hot spring, and it was the perfect temperature. I sat alongside Aya in the water. "Good work with the dragon."

"You were the one who spotted it," she said.

"But you were the one to kill it. We'll need to report its death later." "We're here for the ancient dragon though, not that guy."

"Right. We'll be in trouble if we get attacked now."

"Yeah. After all, I can only use Superstar once a day." Her skill was really strong, but she had a limit on the number of times she could activate it.

Even while soaking in the hot spring, I made sure my staff was nearby, and I kept paying attention to our surroundings. If the ancient dragon showed up, I was going to Teleport us out.

In the end though, no other monsters showed up.

Three peaceful days had passed since we'd slain the first dragon. We hadn't seen any monsters, let alone any dragons. The smoke from the volcano was peaceful too. Essentially, we were bored.

"I peeled some fruit, Lu. Want some?" "Thanks, Aya."

We were currently relaxing in the cooled tent. As for how we spent the rest of our time...

"Hey, Lu, let's take a dip."

"Again? You sure love hot springs, don't you?" I was kinda exasperated, but we didn't have anything else to do, so I followed her.

She sank into the pool, letting out a sigh, then started splashing around. "This is the best. Just the best."

I'd already warned her to keep it down in case we attracted monsters, but this time, I didn't bother. I just soaked in the water, humming. Though I was

still using Listen, not a single monster had wandered by. Things really were peaceful. Great Keith had instructed us to retreat immediately if things seemed dicey...but I saw no signs of danger.

Hmm, how long are we going to stay here?

Makoto wasn't here, so I was the party leader for now. We still had plenty of supplies, but I was considering a quick visit to Great Keith's capital, Gamelan, to report in.

"You're frowning, Lu, how come?"

I yelped as she tackled me with a hug. She'd been doing this a lot lately. "I was trying to decide when we should head back. If nothing shows up, it

probably means our plan failed."

"Well, we can stay until we run out of food. Actually, I'd happily just stay here forever," she answered, still hugging me. Aya hated the cold and loved hot springs, so this place was pretty much perfect for her...even if it was a bit too warm for me.

"Won't we get bored of just rations?" "I'll cook—it'll be fine." "Well...okay."

Aya was great at cooking. She even managed to use spices from the Fujiwara Trading Company to turn adventurer rations into something delicious. Because of that, we didn't have any issues with our food.

She giggled. "Your skin's so smooth because of all the time in the springs," Aya murmured, starting to tickle me. She'd been doing this sort of stuff a lot now that Makoto wasn't here.

Was I just taking his place? Letting her get away with it just didn't sit right with me.

"Your skin's all glossy now too," I teased. "Also, has your chest grown?

How leeeewd."

She yelped. Guess she didn't expect a counterattack!

"See, you just don't know what to do with yourself without Makoto here."

I grabbed her, paying her back in full for all the groping she'd been doing to me.

"Hey—Lu, wait. Stop, not th— Hyah!"

"Heh heh heh... I know all your weak spots... Eep!"

I'd gotten a bit carried away—she made me jump by poking me under my arm.

"I know you inside out too," she insisted, flexing her fingers weirdly. "What, you wanna go?" I asked.

"I'll finish things this time," she insisted. "I'll show you who's on top!"

The two of us moved as one, grappling in the water, touching each other, just goofing around.

Honestly...this is a dragon's territory! What are we playing at? By the time we tapped out, we were both breathing heavily. "Let's head back to the tent," I suggested.

"Sure."

When we got inside, we rehydrated with some water and cooled down. "Are you tired, Lu? Why not get some rest?"

"I'm fine. But why don't you rest?"

"I guess so. I'll just have a nap." Aya flopped down, and eventually, she started to breathe slowly in sleep.

Quietly, so she wouldn't wake up, I began performing maintenance on my staff. Listen was active the whole time, so I was sure not to miss anything.

Time passed quietly in the tent, and soon enough, it was evening.

"Say, Lu..." Aya mumbled absently. Oh, so she's awake again.

I turned to face her. "What is it?" For a while, there was no answer. "Aya?"

"When... When do you think Takatsuki will be back?" "I dunno..."

This was the same topic as always. Every time we played around and tired ourselves out, the conversation would turn to this.

"I miss him..."

"Me too," I said, collapsing by her side. Her face was right next to mine, and I saw faint tear tracks running down her cheeks. I said nothing and wrapped her in my arms.

"Lu, I can't breathe."

"Just bear with it," I answered.

I heard her giggle quietly. Still, it wasn't long before she spoke up seriously.

"Lately, I've been having nightmares about everyone dying in Labyrinthos again. It happened again when I was sleeping just now... I've been dreaming about being alone."

"Don't worry. You're like family to me. I'm with you." "You won't go away somewhere?"

"I won't. I'll be with you my whole life."

She giggled. "That sounds kinda like a proposal."

Well, now that she mentioned it, it kinda did. Oh well. Since I'd already said it, I wasn't going to take it back.

"I'm not going anywhere, so you don't need to feel lonely!" I said, trying to play it cool.

"Thanks, Lu," she replied after a pause, smiling and hugging me back. "But also... You need to let me know if you want to cry too."

"I won't cry—I'm fine."

"And yet you were crying out for Takatsuki while you were training last night."

"Wha?!" How did she know?

"I was awake. You're not allowed to force yourself to be strong."

She started stroking my head, and our normal comfort positions were suddenly reversed.

"I know." I nodded quietly. When she and I got too lonely, we'd cheer each other up. Neither of us would manage alone.

"I'll take the next watch," Aya said. "You get some rest." "Thanks, Aya. G'night."

And that was how our day ended.

Several days had passed since then.

"In the end, the Hell Drake never showed up," I lamented. "Yeah. The hot springs were fun, though."

"We weren't supposed to be there to play."

The two of us had returned to the capital. We'd been gone for seven days in total, but we'd only seen that one dragon on the first day.

"Hero Aya! Lady Lucy! You're safe!"

At the castle, the messenger from the other day was there to greet us. "Unfortunately, we didn't see the Hell Drake," Aya said.

"Sorry," I added.

"Not at all! We were worried when you didn't return. We are just glad you're both safe."

It sounded like the messenger really had been worried about us. Soon, we were shown to General Talisker and the guild leader. We told them that a dragon had shown up on the first day but that the rest of our time had been peaceful.

"Hm... So the Hell Drake didn't appear?" Talisker asked.

The guild leader sighed. "A shame. We will need to think of another method." No one looked happy with the outcome. "Incidentally, what did the defeated dragon look like?" Apparently, the guild leader was interested in the materials the dragon could provide—scales, teeth, and so forth.

"We used the magic box to store it. I'll get it out for you."

I pushed some mana into the box. The huge corpse suddenly appeared in the area behind the guild that was designed for assessing monsters. A fair number of guild workers had crowded around to watch.

"Here it is."

"It's pretty big," Aya said casually, even though she was the one that'd taken it down.

The general and the guild leader stared at the dragon carcass, acting somewhat dumbstruck. Then, everyone around us began to yell. Aya and I just looked on, puzzled by their reactions.

What's wrong?

"Why are you all surprised?" I asked. "It's just a peeping dragon."

"I guess dragons that can use magic are rare." "L-Lady Aya... Lady Lucy..."

"What?" we asked in unison.

"This is the Hell Drake! The dragon you defeated on your first day was the ancient dragon that had been terrorizing the whole country!"

"Huh?"

It was our turn to look shocked.

Well, the Hell Drake was defeated.

Though that statement sounded like it had nothing to do with us, we had been the party to kill it. For the next three days and three nights, the capital was awash with festivities.

Aya and I were at the center of it all. We got a commendation from the king—the Hero of Incandescence didn't look happy at all. Still, when we were deep into the celebration, she threw her arm around Aya and said, "That's why we're rivals!" She even mentioned partying up with us at some point, so it looked like she wanted to make friends with Aya.

We kept on adventuring after that. Though we struggled a lot, the two of us overcame it all. Working together, we gradually gained more and more

notoriety, and eventually, we even earned a weird nickname: "the Crimson Fangs."