I Played the Role of a Hated Hero, but for Some Reason, I’m Loved by the Last Boss and Living With Her! - Chapter 23

“To be honest, I didn’t trust the contents of the letter at first… After all the trouble Ares had caused the world, I thought it was too late… but…”

“Yes, but I couldn’t ignore it either. He has become a vicious hero… No, not if the reason he played the vicious one was to keep us from the final battle.”

The letter that I received after I left Ares at that time contained an apology for what he had done.

And also the reason why he acted the way he did.

“If that’s true, I didn’t trust him at all… Still, that letter reminded me of the time when I first met him, when I liked him.”

“Yes, well… It’s funny how a letter like that can upset me when I’ve been so angry… I guess I’m pretty simple…”

We were supposed to be so angry at Ares that we really couldn’t help it.

When it was revealed to us that it was all an act, the truth was that they cared for us more than anyone else.

I foolishly trusted the words of that man.

…Maybe, somewhere in our hearts, the three of us didn’t want to accept the fact that he had changed for the worse.

Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been so upset by the contents of that letter, much less be strangled by his death.

If I think about it that way, maybe I’ve been thinking about him…

“But he’s a meticulous man, too. Don’t you think so, Martina?”

Suddenly, Touka smiled at me with a hint of dismay.

I replied with a wry smile.

“…You mean that he’s been mostly『 cleaning up his own messes 』?”

“That’s right.”

The『 cleaning up 』that Touka and I are referring to is the fact that the mysterious adventurer has mostly solved or made up for the damage caused by the outrageous behavior of the hero Ares.

“It was the adventurer【 Alexei 】, right?”

“Yes, yes. The name always came up at the inn or guild that we went to with Ares.”

Also, I heard the name Alexei quite often in the armor shop.

Alexei the Adventurer.

He is an excellent adventurer who always appears after a brave man has done all he can to commit treason.

At the inn, he donated money to repair the broken walls and furniture, and took care of everything that could be fixed by himself.

At the adventurer’s guild, he took the place of an adventurer who had been injured in a brawl with Ares and completed the quest they were about to take on.

Furthermore, the guild received only about 10% of the total reward, and gave almost all of it to the injured adventurers.

The guild would have lost the trust of the client if the quest was not completed on time, and at worst, the guild’s bad reputation could have been spread throughout the world.

The guild was deeply grateful to the wandering adventurer who had prevented this from happening in the first place.

The difficulty of the quest seemed to range from F to A, and the adventurer named Alexei had a good reputation.

And it seems that the stores where Ares robbed weapons and armor brought in rare weapons and armor that could only be found in the depths of the dungeon.

And he sold them for almost nothing.

As expected, they felt distrustful, but if the store was willing to sell them, he bought them.

After all, the psychological damage of having the most expensive item in the store taken away from him was great, and if it was a weapon found deep in the dungeon, it could be sold for a very high price.

Moreover, in most cases, if such a rare weapon is found, a well-known adventurer will come to buy it.

As long as they are well advertised, they will never become unsaleable ornaments, and the stores will make a lot of money.

In addition, weapon and armor shops usually have people who can use【 Appraisal 】, so it’s unlikely that you’ll get a fake.

In fact, the weapons and armor brought in by a man named Alexei were genuine rarities, just like the ones found in dungeons.

He told us that he was angry at the hero man’s inhumanity and that he was chasing him.

Eventually, he said that he was going to defeat the hero.

Of course, those who had received support from him all supported Alexei’s actions.

I wondered what such a person looked like.

When I talked to people who had met Alexei, they said,

“He’s hiding his face with a mask, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, he never took it off because he was wounded in a battle with a demon and it was not something he could show to anyone.”

“Yes, yes. But you know, when I hear about his features other than his face, I can’t help but think it’s him.”

“Mm-hmm. He changed his clothes, but his tone of voice, body language, gestures… and strange habits.”

“Yes, the way he pulls his sword out of the scabbard and stabs it in, while keeping a rhythm with his feet when he’s thinking… That’s something Ares used to do and we used to warn him about.”

We had warned him many times to stop because it would hurt the sword and the scabbard, but he never got over this habit.

It’s a little bit nostalgic to remember.

“But before I knew it… if I could think of it…”

“When Ares went out gambling and drinking and didn’t come back for a while, I guess. He left the party quite often, and I’m pretty sure now that I think about it… He didn’t smell like alcohol at all, even though he’d been drinking, and most of the time he came back with a pretty solid gait.”

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s pathetic of me that I didn’t even notice that.”

“Don’t say that. I’m quite concerned about it myself.”

Ares was taking responsibility for what he had done in the shadows.

He was sneaking around, hiding from us, trying to make himself look like the bad guy.

I really don’t know why I didn’t keep a closer eye on Ares’ actions back then.

If I had, maybe he would still be with us now…

No, no. Don’t think about the past.

There are no ifs and buts in the past.

“Also, do you remember the village Ares ignored?”

“Yes, of course, I remember it.”

It was a village that was attacked by demons during our journey.

We can see from a distance that the village was on fire, and we can even hear the screams.

What we couldn’t forgive most of all was Ares’ action of ignoring the village under attack and rushing ahead.

We had no choice but to follow Ares, threatened by the king’s document.

“We visited the village again after you confirmed Ares’ death. At that time, I was prepared for a terrible situation…”

“When we went there, we found that the village was still intact and normal… I heard that there was some damage to livestock and crops from the demon attack, and some injuries were sustained…”

“Immediately after the attack, a coalition of adventurers and knights rushed to the village, and the demons were quickly destroyed… with minimal damage… Hey, Martina.”

“Yeah. I think that’s him, too.”

I got up from the sofa and took out a book.

“Look. It’s a record of the expeditions of the Knights of that time.”

I opened up a document that listed when, where, and for what purpose the knights went on their expedition and showed it to Touka.

People other than knights are not allowed to view them, but.

This time, it looks like I have to have to show some of this material to get the story going, so, well, I don’t have a choice.

I’ll abuse the authority of the Knight Commander. Just this once.

“…Martina, after all.”

“Yes. This is the reason why the knights went on an expedition to a certain village two years ago…”

“『 A report has come in from a Class A adventurer that there is a danger of a stampede to the Royal Capital 』, that means.”

“It seems that a report has been sent to the Order suggesting that the demon attack on the village may next extend to the Royal Capital. And the name of the reporter is…”

“Again, Alexei…”

Here, Alexei’s name came up again.