Chapter 21 - Volume 1 (2/2)

Yulifalet Lila Schtorenvihein. There was probably no one left in this country that didn’t know his name already. Yulifalet, the hero that had killed the revived demon king of old with the holy sword. One of the great heroes that saved the kingdom – no, the world.

Yulifalet, who was once nothing more than a mere heir of a countryside aristocrat family. That Yulifalet had been chosen by the holy sword, and by defeating the demon king, had become a real hero.

「It’s been so many months, and yet……」

He muttered that without thinking. What replayed in his mind was the sight of the royal capital, so prosperous and flourishing it couldn’t be compared to this field.

After the triumphant return to the capital, he stayed for a short while in a certain mansion there. But in the end, Yulifalet returned to the remote countryside he was used to – namely, the Schtorenvihein family’s grounds. There were many of those that were reluctant to let Yulifalet return home, but he shook them all off and went back. What he really wanted was to escape from those people afterall.

When he returned to his beloved hometown, overflowing with greenery and so completely different from the city, he couldn’t help being moved to tears.

Several months had passed since then, but there were still various news or presents sent from the capital to him. If those gifts were just letters or items of genuine gratitude towards him, it wouldn’t be so bad. But what bothered him was that there would also be pictures of people for marriage proposals, or money that he could clearly tell was bribery.

The only value he had as a marriage partner was, to put it clearly, him being a 『hero』 and nothing more. That was what Yulifalet thought. If not for that, there couldn’t possibly be anyone that wanted to marry the son of a feudal lord from a small plot in the remote countryside, who willingly ploughed the fields with his hoe.

The same went for the money and goods that were sent to him. He could plainly see their intentions were for him, a 『hero』, to build connections with the higher-ups.

And so, the portraits for marriage proposals and the money that couldn’t be anything but bribery, were all humbly sent back. But it seemed there were still some people bad at giving up out there.

「They should just give up…」

「That’s the price of fame! Can’t help just this, right?」

「Don’t say that…….」

Along with his tired voice, he dropped his shoulders and lowered his head. He felt a light tapping on his back so he looked up, only to see Marie pointing repeatedly to the shade of the tree he’d just been sitting under.

「For now, wanna have lunch? I get a share of those presents too, you know.」

「Oh, yeah, sure. That’s right.」

He pulled himself together at Marie’s words. This time, the two of them sat down side by side in the shade of the tree. The chirping birds and the rustling grass were pleasant to the ear, raising his down spirits. With a sandwich in one hand, he looked through the letters one by one. The senders ranged from names he was seeing for the first time to names he’d seen countless times.

Biting into the sandwich and swallowing, he let out a deep sigh. He couldn’t help but just feeling depressed at these letters. The ones that looked like young children had sent them did heal his heart, but he wanted to just frown at the ones clearly full of bad intentions from aristocrats or wealthy merchants.

The mail was full of letters like that today too, and in the end, even the taste of his sandwich was ruined.

「……Huh?」

Yulifalet brought out a letter from the basket of mail. Amidst the letters so decorated as if asserting themselves, ‘read me!’ and small parcels, a very simple, pure white letter stood out. As he picked it up and looked at it, he realized that although it looked simple, it was actually written on high quality paper.

Written on the front was Yulifalet’s name and address in a flowing script. When he turned it around, on the other side was a red wax seal. The names of the two senders written there were.

「Yuli? What are you smiling out of nowhere for?」

「Nothing, it’s just this letter…」

「……What’s with that letter? Who is it from?」

Marie sulked just slightly, making a slightly worried face when Yulifalet didn’t say everything. But Yulifalet didn’t notice, gently caressing the senders’ names with his finger.

Agedilus Von Lancent. Filmina Von Lancent. That was what was written there. Those were the names of one of his companions who saved the world with him, and his wife.

「——I wonder if they’re doing alright?」

That moody, beautiful wizard, and her beside him, smiling gently. As he wondered what they might be doing right now, he cut the seal of the letter without a moment’s hesitation.