I Played the Role of a Hated Hero, but for Some Reason, I’m Loved by the Last Boss and Living With Her! - Chapter 57

Night.

Martina, who had put an end to her paperwork in the office of the Knight Commander of the Royal Capital, crossed her hands and raised them above her head, stretching them wide.

“Hmmm～～～～～～……, I guess that’s all the work for today.”

She checked the documents that summarized the activities of the knights and prepared orders for each department.

Following the movements of the demons, the knights are dispatched to the necessary areas.

Basically, the mission of the Knights of the Royal Capital, organized by Martina, is to defend the royal capital.

However, before Martina became the leader of the knights, they had been concentrating their forces excessively in the royal capital, and she thought it would not be a problem if she dispersed her forces more outside.

In the beginning, the concentration of forces was the result of the upper echelons of the royal capital, such as the nobility, who feared the invasion of the demon god Demiurge, and did not want to take the knights out of the city.

In the past, Martina had been so focused on protecting herself that she neglected to provide support to the outside world, a situation that almost put her in a difficult position.

This is only because she is treated as a hero for her feat of defeating the demon gods.

However, Martina herself did not seem to be too happy about the fact that she was being praised for her success in defeating a demon that she had not defeated.

“It’s already this time of day… Lately, we’ve been having a lot of meetings to build cooperative relationships with Touka’s country, and we haven’t been able to get much work done here, so we’ve been falling behind overall… haahhh~……”

Martina lowered her shapely eyebrows and a sigh escaped her lips. Inwardly, she was fed up with the paperwork she had just finished and the amount of paperwork I had to do later.

She didn’t realize being a Knight Commander was such a behind-the-scenes job… not long ago.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the position of the knights who protect the royal capital is a prestigious one. In fact, there is no end to the number of people who come to this city every year with a yearning to become a knight.

In the past, only the noble class could become knights, but nowadays, if you graduate from an academy that trains knights, you can become a knight and work.

However, to enter the academy, one must be highly educated and skilled in martial arts.

Even so, the doors are open to everyone, so as long as you have the ability, you can enter.

Martina, too, had become a knight in this way in the past.

A hero who saves the weak people, is the image of a knight that Martina envisions.

And if she becomes the leader of the knights that unite them, she will be able to protect more people, she believes, and that’s why she got her current position.

But now that she’s actually in the position, it’s like,

“Day after day, staring at piles of paperwork, clinking settlement seals… I wonder when the last time I was on the battlefield was…”

For the past few months, Martina has only been working at her desk or in the conference room at the royal palace.

She’s been holding pen far more often than she’s been holding my sword.

“Well, it certainly still protects a lot of people, though…”

The knights are moved by Martina’s leadership.

To eliminate the threats that come to the neighboring villages, she assigns her men to deal with them.

This is also a noble duty as a knight, but,

“But if I do this all the time, my arms are going to get dull at an alarming rate…”

However, she still finds time to practice.

Sometimes, she would leave the Order and try to defeat a troublesome demon that appeared in a remote area, or go toe-to-toe with a skilled warrior…

She was greedy to leave behind her past weaknesses and aim for greater heights.

It was all because of the events of two years ago…

“I think I’d rather hold a martial arts tournament sponsored by the Knights and participate in that… Ah, I wonder if it would be a problem if the organizer participated…”

While thinking of something outlandish, Martina moved to the room next to the office.

This is a room prepared for the knight captain to sleep in, but for Martina, who is stuck in the knight headquarters, this room has become her home away from home.

Of course, if she wanted to go home, she could go back to her parent’s house in the noble district, but that would delay the response to emergencies, so Martina was mostly staying in this room.

“Well, then, as a reward for my hard work today…”

Martina took a book from the bookcase she had brought into the room, prepared a cup of tea, and sat down on a chair by the window.

She opened the window, placed a cup of tea on a small table, opened the book, and began to read.

Immediately, Martina’s expression relaxed and a slight smile appeared on her face.

She is reading a romance novel that has become famous around town. Apart from her sword studies, Martina’s only hobby is reading.

Moreover, she was an avid reader of all kinds of romance-related books.

Pure love, tragic love, homosexuality, sensuality, etc.

It is one of the few entertainments for her, as she has a heavy responsibility as a Knight Commander.

Today, as a reward for her hard work, she slowly flipped through the pages of her book and looked at the contents.

However, unlike most nights, today she had a small visitor.

“Hmm?”

She looked out the window and saw a small bird flying towards her.

“What the hell…”

Martina muttered in annoyance at the interruption to one of her few blissful hours of the day.

Then a little bird dexterously threw something white in its mouth inside the window and disappeared as if it were disappearing into the air.

“A letter? Who the hell sent a letter at this hour… oh, it’s from Sofia.”

When Martina caught the letter in midair, she noticed the sender’s name on the back of the letter and narrowed her eyes curiously when she realized it was from Sofia.

“Perhaps there’s been some movement in the beast?”

Sofia is a sensible person.

She may lose sight of her surroundings when confronted with magic, unusual phenomena, or rare items, but she would never use a messenger to deliver a letter in the middle of the night like this.

If so, this letter must be of such urgency.

“Um…………… huh?”

Martina’s expression immediately stiffened, and she followed the letter as if she were devouring it.

She read the letter over and over again, checking to make sure she hadn’t misread the content. However, no matter how much she read, the content remained the same and brought the same information to Martina.

『 ―――Ares-san might still be alive. 』

Ignoring the formality of the letter, the content suddenly started with the main topic.

But that one sentence alone was a tremendous shock to Martina.

Her heart began to beat wildly as if it had exploded, and she forgot to blink as she stared at the words of the letter.

The contents were almost the same as the one sent to Touka.

It said that the『Zero Field』, installation-type grand magic, had been activated in Leengard, and that she had sensed Ares’ mana when she tried to destroy the magic circle that was the key to its activation.

The letter stated that she was currently having Martina’s subordinate, Leia, follow the trail of Ares with her.

However, the letter also stated that not much information had been obtained since the current priority was to investigate the phantom beast.

Of course, it was Sofia’s own opinion that Ares might be alive, and the only evidence that he was really alive was the presence of mana that she sensed.

Maybe she’s just mistaking someone else’s mana for Ares’s… Still, the letter conveys a passionate desire to pursue the possibility of survival, if there is one.

“He’s alive… No, he’s not. It’s still a possibility… but…”

If, indeed, Ares is alive…

Just by thinking about it, tears were rolling down her cheeks from Martina’s eyes without her even realizing it.

“I don’t think Sofia’s going to get his mana wrong… Then, it’s…!”

He is alive.

Ares Brave was not yet dead!

Martina was filled with an unprecedented sense of joy.

Not wanting to stay, she hurried back to her office and picked up her pen again.

“We need to find… that guy… Must find him and beat him up and scold him for doing something without telling us… And then… then………”

Martina wrote down the order adding a supplemental factor for the small unit that was ahead of us to investigate the phantoms.

Tears blurred her vision as she struggled to complete the paperwork, but Martina finished the document, remembering Ares’ face.