Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Friend?

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Living in this world, one is bound to face all sorts of hardships. Being accustomed to going through difficult times is normal.

However, it’s not just any ordinary matter to be annoyed when such hardships are handled with low difficulty.

“I can’t think of a method.”

[⋯⋯.]

“No, just putting the Hero in the same space as other people is already a challenge. What exactly should I do? How is this any different from dropping a wolf among sheep?”

[You.]

“What.”

[No. Never mind.]

The Holy Sword’s voice became dejected.

It seemed like there was something it wanted to say, but it appeared difficult to bring the words out of its mouth. I was curious about what it might be, but now wasn’t the time to pay attention to that.

‘⋯⋯I should at least try.’

The reward at stake was too attractive. Just looking at it, it seemed like it would be incredibly helpful for the road ahead.

If that was the case, then there was no choice. I had no option but to seek out someone who seemed like they could help with this kind of matter.

The next day.

“I don’t want tooooooo!”

“⋯⋯”

Carlisle completely lost his words at the sight of Elena practically screaming in despair.

“⋯⋯I haven’t even mentioned what I need yet.”

“I don’t care about anything else, but I don’t want to get involved with that monster! Absolutely not!”

“⋯⋯”

Looking at her condition, it seemed impossible to ask Elena herself to become friends with her.

Just mentioning Gray’s name had this effect.

Her eyes were brimming with tears, her whole body was trembling, and she was shaking as if having a seizure.

Well, having this kind of reaction when hearing the name of someone who had nearly killed you once would be the normal response.

Then let’s steer the conversation in a different direction.

“Then since you don’t have to deal with her directly, could you at least help me think about methods for making friends with Miss?”

“Friends⋯⋯ Hmm⋯⋯ Isn’t that something that just happens naturally?”

“⋯⋯”

“I just somehow ended up that way at some point, so I’m not really sure⋯⋯”

Damn it.

She’s a social butterfly.

The type of person who overflows with empathy but has difficulty empathizing with people who are strangely lacking in social skills.

‘No, definitely.’

When I first saw her, she was keeping her neck very stiff, so I thought she might be similar to Gray, but that seemed more like a defense mechanism to avoid being looked down upon by others.

Even if she gets pushed around a bit, she fundamentally has good social skills. She’s also quick at handling tasks.

It would be strange if she had few friends.

“⋯⋯.”

Hmm.

In that case, there really was no one else I could ask for help except this person.

“Then, shall we try giving her an opportunity?”

Elena tilted her head in confusion.

“An opportunity?”

“Well, we need to at least try something for an incident to occur.”

Whether it’s killing or eating, something has to be attempted for change to happen.

“Could you somehow arrange just one occasion? Somewhere with elements that could attract Miss.”

A few days later.

“⋯⋯Will this be alright?”

“How should I know when you ask me? You’re the one who requested this, aren’t you?”

“No, I did say let’s do it since there were no other options anyway.”

Elena, standing beside me, silently put on a smile.

Well, it was called a smile, but her eyes were dead.

Looking at Gray sitting quietly among the students, most people who knew her personality would show a similar reaction.

With the intention of encouraging new students to build strong bonds of friendship among themselves, there were quite a few exchange events held within the Cradle.

The picnic happening right here was one of those events. It was just a place where food was prepared and everyone ate, chatted, and had fun together.

‘⋯⋯Actually, I lured her here using that.’

The Cradle’s picnics were famous for having delicious sweets.

A little-known fact. Gray Chasefield was a dessert addict who went crazy for sweets.

Even after the world became desolate following the Demon Invasion, whenever she found sweets, she would first stuff them into her mouth before doing anything else.

[How can one resist delicious things?]

‘ ⋯⋯ ‘

[Honestly, I don’t even think that the ‘me’ over there is being immature. If I were lured with sweets, I would have come to a place like this too.]

‘ ⋯⋯ ‘

Ah, is that so?

Anyway.

While there would normally be no better place for making friends, the problem was that Gray was sitting right in the center of it all.

“I, I don’t know, okay? Even if something happens, I don’t know, okay? I clearly said I’m not taking responsibility, right?”

“You’re treating Miss like a walking bomb.”

“Well, isn’t she?”

“⋯⋯That’s true.”

Carlisle couldn’t deny it and answered with a bitter expression.

But it was also true that there were no other options.

No, regardless of everything else, shouldn’t she mingle with people to make friends or do whatever?

I didn’t know what the Quest’s standard for ‘friend’ was, but anyway, for a relationship that could at least be called friendship to be established, there needed to be some kind of interaction.

Even Carlisle couldn’t create such emotions out of nothing. Gray herself had to make up her mind.

‘Hmm.’

That was true, but still,

“⋯⋯I’ll step away for a moment.”

“Huh? Why, why are you leaving?”

Elena’s eyes were desperately saying, ‘Don’t leave me alone’.

She seemed to think Gray causing trouble was almost a certainty.

“Yes, so I’m going to bring someone who can stop her.”

“⋯⋯”

“If things get really serious, call me first.”

The matter with Vespa and all, anyway, her personality was definitely improving compared to before.

Surely she wouldn’t cause any major incidents in that short time.

“⋯⋯.”

Probably.

◆

This is annoying.

Gray was sitting there listlessly, having such thoughts.

The place was noisy, filled with meaningless conversations—yet everyone wore bright smiles, as if there were something wonderful about it all. 

There weren’t even many who were genuinely smiling. They were all just social masks masquerading as smiles.

“⋯⋯.”

Without giving that direction even a single glance, Gray picked up various sweets from the table and popped them into her mouth one by one.

‘These are delicious.’

Her face relaxed slightly.

Since she had entered the Cradle, doing whatever she wanted was impossible.

This was a rare opportunity to enjoy delicious desserts.

As she was stuffing sweets into her mouth and chewing away, the gazes of people passing by were constantly directed at her.

This was a rare occasion where the famous Hero had made a direct appearance. Of course she would attract countless gazes, and among them, there were some who mustered the courage to approach her.

“H-Hero, by any chance-“

When Gray silently made eye contact with them, their faces immediately turned pale and they hurriedly ran away.

“S-sorry-!”

No matter how prestigious the continent’s top academy was, there probably weren’t many among the new students who wouldn’t be overwhelmed by Gray’s presence.

Of course, Gray only snorted quietly while watching this scene.

Those gutless bastards weren’t even worth her attention.

More than that,

‘I should try some other things too⋯⋯‘

Things other than sweets might be delicious too.

With that thought, Gray tasted the various foods on the table bit by bit, and her expression immediately soured greatly.

‘That guy’s cooking tastes better.’

Too sweet or too salty.

The food Carlisle made was at least palatable.

‘Come to think of it, that’s strange.’

That guy could do things that even the first-class chefs of the Grand Duke’s household couldn’t do.

As if he had been doing such things for her for a long time, he would precisely match her very narrow range of taste preferences.

So, Carlisle was the strange one. There weren’t many people in the world who didn’t provoke her ‘irritation’ like that.

“Hero? So you were here?”

⋯⋯Right, so.

Just because someone made her annoyed didn’t mean it was right to crush them from the start.

“⋯⋯”

As soon as she heard the unfamiliar voice with a friendly tone, her fist twitched, but Gray drove away such sensations with a deep sigh.

From Carlisle’s perspective, he would probably be admiring himself for seeing the effects of having educated her all this time.

My goodness, Hero actually held back once.

In the past, just talking to her while she was eating would have earned someone a beating and more⋯⋯

“Is this the second time I’m seeing you directly?”

“⋯⋯”

However, the following actions would probably test Gray’s patience even further.

Gray looked at the man who naturally sat down across the table without even asking her permission with a cold gaze.

“You, who were you again?”

“Leon Grimbalt.”

“Who is that supposed to be?”

“⋯⋯”

The man stared at Gray in bewilderment for a moment.

“Previously, I’m the person the Hero directly kicked.”

“Do you know how unhelpful that is for remembering?”

There weren’t just one or two of those.

“⋯⋯”

The man seemed to newly realize what kind of human he was facing and was bewildered again.

However, the man who soon regained his composure cleared his throat and spoke.

“⋯⋯Well, I had some unpleasant business with that Carlisle fellow.”

Ah.

Now I remember after he said that.

This was the guy who had beaten up Carlisle before. The one who got hit by her afterwards.

“⋯⋯”

‘I don’t even want to exchange words with him, so what is this guy doing here acting friendly?’

Gray stared at him blankly with such thoughts.

Interpreting that gaze somehow, Leon continued speaking while forcing a good-natured smile onto his face.

“At that time, there seemed to be some misunderstanding between us.”

“Misunderstanding?”

“Yes. I spoke rudely to you.”

Leon continued with a caring voice.

Smooth sentences poured out like flowing water, as if he had quite some experience in high society. It seemed his confidence in approaching the Hero wasn’t unfounded, given his eloquence.

Gray’s expression didn’t budge while listening to this.

‘⋯⋯He’s barking up the wrong tree.’

He seemed to be mistaken about something.

Listening to the content, he was talking as if getting beaten by Gray at that time was because he had presumptuously shown that he wanted to win Gray’s heart beyond his station.

He had been rude to Carlisle and got beaten to a pulp, but from what he was saying, it seemed his opinion that such a guy was sticking beside Gray without knowing his place hadn’t changed at all.

“⋯⋯”

This felt unpleasant. It was unpleasant that Carlisle was being badmouthed by other people in this way.

“I’m confident I can do much better than such an unqualified, unproven, insignificant man.”

Hearing such words made it even more so.

Her eyebrows curved sharply.

If Carlisle had seen this, he would have immediately raised a first-level alarm.

“So, what’s your conclusion?”

When she spoke in a subdued voice, Leon cleared his throat and continued.

“If it’s alright, I would like to serve you, as an apology to the Hero. In that sense, I would like to personally volunteer as the Hero’s attendant.”

The corners of her mouth also curved slightly.

It was a smile of absurdity.

⋯⋯If Carlisle had seen this, his knees would have gone weak as a second-level warning.

“If you have qualifications, in what way are you more qualified?”

“I’m confident I can do anything better. I, Leon Grimbalt, as a member of the Count Grimbalt family, am confident I will never disappoint the Hero.”

“You can do better than that guy?”

“Honestly, I’m much better than such a man.”

Leon spoke with confidence.

“That guy, isn’t he just a commoner with no known background. I don’t know why the Hero keeps such a person around, but I will definitely make you forget about such a guy.”

Gray smiled coldly.

If Carlisle had been there, chills would have definitely slid down his spine at that expression.

Because he would have intuitively known what was about to happen at this point.

“Ah, really?”

The next moment.

“Then shall we test it?”

Leon’s arm, struck by Gray’s fist, was severed completely.

THUD.

The sound of the arm separated from his body falling onto the table echoed unrealistically.

“⋯⋯.”

“⋯⋯.”

While everyone was silent.

Blood gushed up like a fountain from the severed arm.

“AHHH, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!”

Along with a bone-chilling scream, the blood that shot up dyed the surroundings bright red.

The people around just stared blankly at the suddenly unfolding situation.

“AH, AHH, AHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!”

Blood dripped steadily among the surrounding people who stepped back hesitantly in silence.

Meanwhile, Gray, who had created such a scene, was looking at it with an indifferent gaze.

Thanks to the Magic barrier she had deployed around herself, despite blood spattering in all directions, not a single drop splashed on her.

“That guy endured this several times and kept going. You can’t even endure this and you’re saying you’ll be by my side?”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!”

“Know your place and stay quiet. I’ll keep whoever I want with me, so why are you interfering?”

“UH, AH, AHHHHHHH, AHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!”

“Ah, so noisy.”

She spoke irritably and drew the Holy Sword, placing it on the table.

The Holy Sword made of star iron responded particularly well to the divine power used by the Orthodox Church.

Befitting a Hero with omnipotent abilities, Gray also knew how to use miracles.

The divine power emanating from her body soon extended through the Holy Sword to Leon’s arm.

The wound healed, and the blood gushing up like a fountain stopped.

The pain seemed to disappear as well, as Leon’s screaming ceased.

Then.

She picked up the fallen arm and placed it on Leon’s shoulder as he lay prostrate.

“Go to the infirmary and ask them to reattach it. If you don’t get treatment quickly, you’ll become disabled.”

“⋯⋯.”

He breathed heavily, looking at Gray with a face pale as a sheet.

The shock and fear filling that gaze, Gray also met directly with both eyes.

Unlike him, her eyes contained nothing.

Only boredom and annoyance.

Her eyes were as if she had just swatted a flying insect.

Even with such violence, she seemed to feel absolutely nothing.

“Missss….!”

Carlisle’s panicked voice could be heard from far away.

“What, what on earth are you doing-!”

“He’s not dead.”

“⋯⋯.”

“You told me not to do such things. So I didn’t.”

Gray said that and calmly sipped her drink.

A gleam appeared in her eyes.

She seemed more interested in this than in having just torn off Leon’s arm.

“This is delicious. Bring more.”

“⋯⋯.”

Confirming that everyone around was looking at Gray with eyes completely filled with terror, Carlisle squeezed his eyes shut.

Ah, right.

He had forgotten because she had been becoming so smoothly well-behaved.

⋯⋯This person.

Was originally this kind of monster?

Like oil and water, absolutely unable to mix with those around her.

A sigh could be heard coming from the Holy Sword.

[⋯⋯This looks like it’s going to be a long road.]

Making friends.

It seemed like it would be harder than expected.

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