Spring Bath – Harunon’s Crime Report

Athenapolis—the nation of the wise. The nation was currently struck by a presence that had gained notoriety all the way from the intellectuals of the ecclesia to the ravers in the streets. That was the Hero of the Temple of the Goddess of Light, or Hero of the Goddess for short—Haruno Shinonome.

She was still periodically going out with the Goddess of Light pilgrims to subjugate monsters, showing everyone that “hero” wasn’t just a word tacked onto her name. On top of that, she was so beautiful that it was rumored she might have been an incarnation of the Goddess herself. She was both gorgeous and lived up to her name, so it was no wonder that she had become the talk of the town.

“Sigh...” The famed Haruno was currently standing by a window in a mansion located in the outskirts of Athenapolis, wrought with ennui. She was happy to hear about her reputation in the city, but that alone wasn’t enough to keep her spirits up all the time. She was a bit embarrassed about being treated like a goddess, but that wasn’t it either.

It all started with the recent message Touya had sent her. Touya, her loved one, had defeated a demon general. That was a huge achievement for a hero. Sera and the three pilgrim knights—Lumis, Rin, and Sandra—were all as happy to hear the news as if the accomplishment was their own, to say nothing of Haruno. However, the other news that came with it had delivered a huge shock to the girls. Information on Hadesopolis, the fact that there was a sixth goddess called the Goddess of Darkness, the truth behind the battle between the first sacred king and the demon lord, the fact that the first sacred king had sealed the Goddess of Darkness on accident, which created the void... All of this information had been covered up. It was all too much for followers of the Goddess of Light.

The demon lord was a human who had also been summoned from Haruno’s world, and his name was Oda Nobunaga. The Goddess of Darkness was the goddess of all demi-humans, and demons were only a subcategory of demi-humans. After the Goddess of Darkness was sealed, the sacred family and the temple of light took over the nations of demi-humans.

All that information was so far from what they thought they knew about the battle between the first sacred king and the demon lord. Every last bit of information blew away what common sense they had. You could even say that these followers of the Goddess of Light were having an identity crisis.

It had been so much of a shock that Sera and the others no longer had a trace of the vigor they normally had. Rin, who was usually full of energy, was now moping. For Haruno, who wasn’t a follower, seeing her friends like that gave her just as much of a shock.

They ended up following Sera’s suggestion to only report that Touya had defeated a demon general and hide the findings on Hadesopolis for the time being. They felt wrong about keeping it a secret, but every one of the pilgrims agreed that giving the temple all that information might put Touya at risk. After all, he was the one who revealed the secrets that the sacred family and the temple of light had covered up, and was also taking the Goddess of Darkness along with him. Fortunately, news had recently spread that a hero of the sacred family, Natsu Kannami, had defeated a demon general. It wouldn’t seem odd for them to report the news without all the extra information.

“It just isn’t working...”

“What’s the matter?”

“N-no, it’s nothing.”

They were currently riding horseback on the road home from battling monsters in the neighboring village. Haruno let her thoughts slip, but quickly diverted the topic after a party member noticed.

Haruno had many worries, but her activities as a hero of the goddess wasn’t one of them. She had already reached level 19. She was only one level away from become a first-class party member at level 20. Haruno wondered if she was gaining levels too quickly, but that was just the effect of the blessing from the Goddess of Light.

She had also discovered that her gift, the Unlimited Reflection, proved extremely strong in battle. The power blocked any and all magic from affecting her unless she consciously willed it. The fire that monsters breathed was included in that, and it didn’t affect Haruno one bit. On the other hand, she’d have to concentrate to have healing spells work on her, but she’d also be shielded from any surprise attacks without even thinking about it.

She was also worried, as a girl of her age would be, about how physical stats such as STR and VIT were the only ones increasing on her status card. Her sword had been feeling lighter in her hands lately, but she concluded that it was just her imagination after pinching her arm to check.

In any case, Haruno had gotten used to fighting monsters after all the time she’d spent subjugating them. When they had first started traveling, Haruno had been so afraid of taking lives that she cried to Sera a few times, but she had gotten past that now. She wanted to return the favor to Sera by saying something to her now, but she couldn’t think of anything worthwhile. In the end, she had murmured that things weren’t working, vexed that she could do nothing but listen.

After they finished cleaning up and returned to the mansion, Sera welcomed them back wearing a robe. It wasn’t a cleric robe, but a loose and thin one that looked like pajamas. She almost looked like a sheltered princess wearing it.

“Lady Haruno, a message has arrived from Sir Touya.”

“Really?!”

Haruno hurriedly stepped down from her horse and rushed over to Sera after hearing the news. She realized what she was doing a moment later and turned around, but it went without saying that the pilgrims were all giggling at her. Haruno tried to cover her blushing face.

The pilgrims went their separate ways after that, and Haruno, Sera, and Lumis were left to go to Sera’s room. Sera’s room was stylish and had a bed, table, and dresser. The holy tool used to transmit messages was sitting on the table.

Haruno was the only one who could read the message, so she did so by herself first. Even though they were just regularly scheduled letters, she was a little embarrassed since it was mainly Touya reporting his life to her.

This message explained that they had reached Hephaestusopolis, where Touya had received a goddess’ blessing. He wrote that they’d be staying in the city for a while to repair their damaged armor after their battle against the demon general, get new armor, practice magic, and study documents they had collected. Though the thing that caught Haruno’s eye the most was the cat-shaped ketolts.

“There seems to be no problem... Oh, that may be a problem depending on the person.”

“What is?”

“The fact that he is collecting blessings from other goddesses. Is that alright?”

“The arch-cleric in the first sacred king’s party had been blessed by five goddesses, but that was not a common case...”

Sera averted her eyes and hesitated from completing her answer to Haruno’s question. The pilgrims eyed each other, looking a little dubious.

“Um... what do you mean by depending on the person?”

“I think he’s doing amazing, he reminds me of San Pilaca.”

“Though those were arguments on both sides of San Pilaca’s case at the time, too...”

Rin, Lumis, and Sandra spoke in turn. All three of them didn’t mind, but apparently some people might. Touya had already been blessed by the Goddess of Earth, but no one had paid that any mind before. That was because the ceremony hadn’t been conducted at the head temple.

“According to how he described the new Unlimited Bath in his message, he hasn’t lost the Goddess of Light’s blessing...” Sera said, but it still seemed like she was being evasive.

“So some people might assume he threw away his blessing from the Goddess of Light if they didn’t know that,” Haruno added, and Sera nodded awkwardly in response.

“Actually, I did some research while all of you were out.”

“On what?”

“On the human conquest of the demi-human nations over the past 500 years.”

“...Did it really happen?”

Sera lowered her head sorrowfully at Haruno’s question. Everyone could guess what that expression meant. The takeover really did happen—which provided evidence that the story about the Goddess of Darkness was true, as well.

“Which nation could it possibly have been...?”

“That was actually... this nation, Athenapolis.”

“...Huh?”

“Yes, Athenapolis used to be a nation of demi-humans.”

Everyone looked bewildered at the statement. The current Athenapolis was governed by the senate, but according to Sera’s research, it was a nation of demi-humans until about 300 years ago. Demons were a subcategory of demi-humans, but people back then might have thought of demi-humans as a subcategory of demons.

“I’ll ask just in case, but what kind of demi-humans lived there?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t find out that much...”

Sera’s answer was completely expected, in a way. The fact that demi-human nations had been taken over was concealed information, so it was no surprise that information on its past residents was nowhere to be found.

“Looks like I’ll have to do some research on this myself,” Haruno said, which made Sandra look up.

“Sera, have you already informed the temple leader about this?”

“...No, I have not.”

Sandra was the diligent type, so her mood was best cleared up by taking some sort of action. She deliberately joined the conversation. Rin and Lumis leaned forward, all ears.

“Would it be bad if we told them?” Lumis inquired.

“We don’t know what sort of situation Lady Haruno would be put in if we did, not to mention we might cause trouble for Sir Touya as well.”

“Oh, so that’s why we shouldn’t yet.” Rin came to an understanding after hearing Sera’s reply.

“Yes. So I thought it would be best to hear what Lady Haruno wanted to do herself first, as well as discuss the matter with Sir Touya,” Sera continued, and Haruno nodded in agreement. She was curious about where the demi-humans who had once lived in Athenapolis had gone, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything until they found that out. Even if they were to tell the pilgrims about it, that would have to be after finding out such information.

And thus Haruno’s party decided to start by investigating the demi-humans who had once lived in Athenapolis. Of course, she couldn’t forget to send Touya a reply. She had a mountain of things she wanted to tell him.

A message from Touya came the next day. He could send replies more often now that he was staying in a city. Haruno had mentioned her group’s plans in her message, to which Touya offered a few suggestions.

He had asked the Goddess of Darkness about it, and she said the demi-humans who lived in Athenapolis at the time had wings. The nation once housed the head temple of the Goddess of Wind.

“Oh yeah, Athenapolis does have a wind temple somewhere.”

“Yes, though it’s a small one. We might gain something by investigating their library.”

That day, Haruno, Sera, Lumis, Rin, and Sandra paid a visit to the temple of the Goddess of Wind, but their investigation ended in failure. Athenapolis’ temple for the Goddess of Wind was honestly tiny, so its library was tiny in turn. The Goddess of Wind sect was currently a very minor one with hardly any followers. The quality and amount of documents were easy to guess.

“Maybe...” However, Haruno had come to a conclusion after the failed research attempt... This temple was a “fake” one.

Haruno thought as such: The winged demi-humans who once lived here were followers of the Goddess of Wind. After they were driven away from Athenapolis and the temple of light gained authority, the Goddess of Wind grew outdated as a religion, resulting in what they saw of the temple today.

The others no objections to her theory. Though that brought them no closer to the original goal, finding where the winged demi-humans had gone.

“So the light temple really...” Sera murmured on their way back from the investigation, her eyes downcast. She wasn’t looking blue, but downright pale. The shock must have been too big for her, as a cleric who served under the Goddess of Light.

“Sera...”

“I’m sorry, Lady Haruno. We were the ones who summoned you all, and yet...” Sera put her hand over her mouth as tears streamed down her face, unable to continue the rest of her words.

Haruno could guess what she wanted to say next, though. Originally, the sacred family and the temple of the Goddess of Light had summoned the heroes to prevent the demon lord from reviving, or perhaps to battle the revived demon lord. She hadn’t agreed to it, but she knew that the world was in danger. But then Touya uncovered some hidden truths, and now the situation had completely changed.

The demon lord and demon race weren’t just monsters that they needed to fight instead having a proper conversation with. They were just demi-humans like Rulitora.

They didn’t know what in particular was different about the species. However, now that Haruno knew what was going on, she realized that the battle between the first sacred king and the demon lord was just a power struggle. Hadesopolis, the kingdom of demons, attacked Jupiter, and Jupiter fought back. The Goddess of Darkness got sealed on accident along the way, and Hadesopolis and the area surrounding it fell to ruin.

Jupiter hid the cause behind everything and took over one of the nations of demi-humans, Athena. The wind temple still existed but was small. This was either because the temple still had few followers, or because it was just a front to keep up an image.

“Sigh...” Haruno paused her train of thought at that point and sighed. Lumis started getting flustered after noticing her.

“L-Lady Haruno, what’s wrong?!”

“No, it’s just... I’m kind of disgusted with myself for thinking that far...” Haruno was concerned with whether or not Touya would dislike her for thinking the way she just did.

“U-um, Lady Haruno?”

“Y-yes, what is it?” Haruno was wallowing in anxiety, but quickly brought her head back up. Sera leaned her face close to Haruno’s, looking at her with a serious expression.

“Please believe just this one thing. The Goddess of Light rules over justice and morality. She would never teach us to attack demi-humans!”

“Uh, um...” Haruno didn’t know how to respond for a moment, but she soon understood what Sera was trying to say. Driving the winged demi-humans out of Athenapolis and taking over the country would never be among the teachings of the Goddess of Light.

“...Will you believe me?”

“Of course I will, Sera.” Haruno clasped Sera’s trembling hands inside her own.

“Lady Haruno...” And then large teardrops started streaming down Sera’s cheeks. She was wailing.

Haruno looked around in a fluster, only to see that Lumis and the rest had started crying, too.

“Wait, please don’t cry, Sera! You too, Lumis!”

“But... I thought you’d hate me... after everything we learned...”

“I thought we wouldn’t be able to travel with you anymore...!”

“I was thinking about switching over to the Goddess of Darkness.”

“Hey, Rin!”

“No no no, I meant that given the choice between the light temple and Lady Haruno, I’d choose Lady Haruno. What about you, Sandra?”

“W-well, I’d...” Sandra was at a loss for words.

Haruno could think of nothing to say, either. She had thought this incident was nothing to worry over, but she hadn’t imagined that the other girls had given it that much thought. She was especially surprised at Rin, who never seemed like a devout follower, suddenly exclaiming that she’d abandon the Goddess of Light for her. This must have been a gap between Haruno, who was born in modern Japan, and the other girls, who were born in this world. The difference in how severely they thought of the situation was apparent.

“Of course I’ll keep traveling with you all! I can tell from a glance that none of you are the type of people that would discriminate against demi-humans!” Haruno raised her voice and countered everything the others had suggested. Those were her true thoughts. It was easy to tell how they would treat demi-humans just by looking at them. She did have some issues with being summoned to this world, but the responsibility was on the sacred family and the light temple, not at all on any of the girls individually.

In any case, Athenapolis had been taken over long ago. Even if they were still planning something in the shadows to this day, hardly anyone was aware of it.

Sera and Sandra looked like they had no reservations against demi-humans. Rin was the type who might think some of them looked scary, but wouldn’t form any opinions just on the basis of them being demi-human. Lumis looked like she wanted to make friends with them. Those were the impressions Haruno had gathered.

However, they had all been deeply anxious ever since being informed on the matter. Sera had especially been hurting inside. Haruno wrapped her arms around Sera’s shoulders and hugged her tight, placating her. She looked like a young child crying into Haruno’s chest, not at all like an older woman.

Haruno reported to Touya about their recent attempt at investigating the wind temple, and the next morning, he sent a reply back. Besides some more personal content, he suggested that they get information from demi-humans currently in the city.

To find out about demi-humans, you had to ask them. His suggestion was entirely correct, but unfortunately, Athena had no demi-human communities like Hephaestus did.

There were few demi-humans in this country, since the influence of the Goddess of Light was so strong. You would spot a demi-human raver once in a while at most. The best place to search would be the raver market.

“...Let’s go there and see. They would be much more knowledgeable about demi-humans than we are.”

There was little chance they’d come across a winged demi-human there, but there would be plenty of others. They also had a higher chance of knowing about other demi-humans than normal humans did.

And so Haruno’s party went to Athenapolis’ raver market to investigate, entirely unaware that this would be the start of an event that shook Athena to the core.

The group of five girls crossed the city gates of Athenapolis. Before them lay a sprawling, western-style cityscape similar to the scenery of Jupiteropolis. Now that Haruno knew that the city had been taken over by humans, she wondered if the only reason the landscape looked similar was because the people of Jupiteropolis had taken it over.

Athenapolis was once inhabited by winged demi-humans. How had the city looked back then? Haruno had no way of finding that out.

Residents of the city amicably greeted the group of girls as they walked by. Just another side effect of fighting off monsters as a “hero of the goddess.”

They asked an elderly woman the way to the raver market, and she gave them directions with no questions asked. Haruno had been worried that people might give her looks of disapproval if they thought she was going to buy a raver, but reality let her down in a sense. She once again realized that employing ravers was a privilege for the middle class and up. The party waved goodbye to the elderly woman, then headed to the raver market.

Haruno thought to herself as she looked at the people in the streets. Almost everyone in this city was a follower of the Goddess of Light. Perhaps the temple of light had taken over this nation, but that happened hundreds of years ago. It had nothing to do with the people living here now. Haruno had plenty of thoughts on the situation, but she didn’t want to look at the residents from a biased point of view. She was becoming self-conscious of the smiles she returned to the townspeople, wondering if she looked too awkward. Her feet began taking brisk and nervous steps toward the raver market.

No good, I’ve got to think of something more positive. And so she tried to think of Touya, but couldn’t for long since a silly grin broke out on her face.

Next, she tried thinking of Sera and the others. They seemed a little more cheerful this morning. They had been in shock since learning about what the temple of light had done, but they appeared to have broken out of their gloominess since.

The Goddess of Light ruled over justice and morality, and would never seek to attack demi-humans. It was one thing to question past acts committed by the temple, but another to keep believing in the Goddess of Light. Maybe the girls had realized that in the meantime. Haruno thought that was a fine way to look at it. She would never have been able to meet Sera and the pilgrims in the first place had it not been for the Goddess of Light’s blessing. She never thought to doubt the Goddess of Light herself. In that case, it made more sense in Haruno’s mind for the battle to be called a “battle between nations” rather than a “battle between the hero and demon lord.”

“I guess things don’t change no matter where you go,” she muttered to herself with a self-deprecating smile.

They finally arrived at the raver market, which was located in a fancy, concert hall-like building, quite different from the dome-shaped building in Jupiteropolis. They went inside to find a large stage. The auctions were most likely held there.

As soon as Haruno proclaimed herself as a hero of the goddess, the elderly gentleman who managed the market personally showed the party around. That was just how much her reputation had grown.

The gentleman was tall, slender, and wore expensive-looking clothing. Haruno handled the talking, since the other girls weren’t accustomed to being in a place like this. The smile on the manager’s face looked fake as they conversed, but Haruno didn’t let it get to her and returned his smile.

They were first led to a door past the stage in the entrance hall. There were large rooms to the right and left.

“Ahem, the right side houses the battle ravers, while the left side houses the labor ravers.”

“We’ve only heard about the raver market in Jupiteropolis, but is this one any different?”

“No, not particularly so. Hmm, if there was one thing—the demand for battle ravers may be higher here, since many people want bodyguards.”

“What kind of people want bodyguards?”

“Mainly members of the senate. This raver market itself is managed by the senate, after all.”

“I see...”

The senate was the equivalent of the royal family in Jupiter. They were governing this country without a king. Since there was no king with absolute authority here, the party members might have needed stronger self-defense. If any of them were competing for influence amongst one another, then the need grew all the more.

“Do you have any demi-human ravers?”

“Demi-human?”

The moment Haruno asked the question she had been meaning to ask, the smile disappeared from the manager’s face. If you looked closely, his eyes were twitching. It seemed like he had a few things to say about demi-humans.

“I apologize, but the demi-human ravers are...”

“Will you let us meet them?”

“...I cannot allow a regular customer to meet with them, even if you are a hero.” His attitude did a sudden one-eighty. The type of ravers he might not have wanted the party to meet would be criminal ravers. Common citizens normally did not have the qualifications to hire them.

However, not all demi-human ravers were criminals. Rulitora had remained unsold since he was a demi-human, but were they that disliked? The other girls bunched up behind Haruno, looking like they had something to say.

“...Well, we have no choice. Is there an auction right now?”

“Auctions are usually held in the evening. We will be conducting one this evening, as well.”

“I don’t think we can wait until then...”

“That’s too bad, I conduct those auctions myself!” The manager looked obviously relieved as soon as Haruno changed the topic, his smile returning to his face. He kept rambling on as if he wanted to forget the previous topic or pretend it was never brought up in the first place.

He’d let the cat out of the bag. This manager most likely viewed demi-human ravers and criminal ravers as one and the same. The fact that he wouldn’t let ordinary customers meet demi-humans was proof of that.

Perhaps there was a larger ratio of criminal ravers in Athena, but Haruno knew not to lump all demi-humans in the same category. Especially after having met Rulitora, who had chosen to sell himself to save his homeland. Of course, she wasn’t planning on fighting another person on their principles. But she wouldn’t simply go along with them, either. Rulitora was Touya’s precious party member and Haruno’s precious friend.

“I understand. We’ll get the rest of our information from the reception desk, then.”

“Oh, let me guide you...”

“Oh no, you don’t have to go through the trouble. It’s right there.” Haruno declined the invitation with a grin, then speed-walked to the reception desk in front of the battle raver room. The manager stood agape, unable to do anything but see them off. He reached his arm out as if he wanted to say something.

If Touya was here, he would have expressed his thoughts loud and clear, for better or worse, Haruno thought.

When they entered the reception area for battle ravers, they were greeted with a long counter. Several workers sat at tables behind it, fighting off stacks of paperwork. Haruno was reminded of the time she went to a police station along with her older sister, who’d almost been victim to a molester. Her sister had gone a little too far in personally taking care of that molester.

Memories aside, a lady behind the counter noticed Haruno’s group and called out to them with a smile. “Welcome. What kind of raver are you looking for today?”

“A demi-human raver,” Haruno replied with a smile, but then the receptionist froze up. The workers inside also started stealing glances at Haruno’s party and whispering among themselves. Apparently the manager wasn’t the only one who treated demi-human ravers like criminals. That, or they were simply following the manager’s policies.

“U-um, Lady Haruno...” Sera timidly tugged at Haruno’s sleeve.

“It’s alright,” Haruno returned a smile.

“I’m afraid regular customers are not allowed to meet demi-human ravers...”

“My... I mean, another hero I am acquainted with employed a sand lizardman battle raver in Jupiter. He did not have a criminal background, of course.” She had wanted to use another word, but had to settle with “acquainted” since the alternative wouldn’t have been appropriate there. She apologized to Touya with all her heart.

“Um, well...”

“It’s only the criminal ravers that regular customers can’t employ, right? I’m just asking to see the normal demi-human ravers.”

“...Understood.”

She had wanted to confirm something with her request. She wanted to know if demi-humans were treated as criminals across the whole market, or if it was only the manager deeming it so. Not to mention how much of his bias against demi-humans had influenced other people. Judging by the conversation just now, it looked like it was only the manager. The market staff tried to follow his policies, but they weren’t terribly strict or stubborn about it.

“It will take some time, however...”

“Oh, are they not available right now? Since they’re battle ravers, after all.”

“Huh? Oh, yes, that’s right!”

Haruno raised an eyebrow at the receptionist’s reaction. She was flustered and had used Haruno’s words as a cover-up.

“...Don’t tell me you’re treating innocent demi-humans the same way you do criminals?”

“O-of course not, we would never!”

“I see. In that case, we’ll visit again tomorrow.”

Sandra leaned forward as if she was about to say something, but Haruno held her back. She was suspicious too, of course. But they were still unprepared, so she decided to hold off for now.

The receptionist saw Haruno’s party off, looking relieved. That was a naive reaction, though. Haruno’s party quickly made their way back to Nartha’s mansion. They planned to take a group of pilgrims and return to the market within the day instead of waiting until tomorrow. Their strategy was a little brute, but the staff might try to hide evidence if they had more time, so they decided to use the authority of the pilgrims of the Goddess of Light.

“U-um, Lady Haruno. Will this be alright?”

“Don’t worry. We have reason to believe they’re doing something unethical in the raver market.” Haruno gave a firm reply to the doubt in the pilgrims’ eyes.

They arrived at the raver market again after sundown. Many carriages were parked outside for the auction, which had seemingly started already, and they heard voices and saw light spilling from the windows.

Any destruction of evidence would take place after the market closed. If the auction was still going on, then they should still have time.

After hearing about the auction that night, Haruno purposely said that they’d come back tomorrow, making the staff believe that any evidence-concealing could be done overnight.

“Okay, let’s start investigating.” The manager would be notified of their presence, so it was now a battle against time.

The pilgrims used their authority to ask a guide where the criminal ravers were kept, and he answered honestly. They were shut inside a building in the back. Haruno’s party quickly made their way there. The pilgrims were still hesitating, but Sandra and Lumis were the first to make their way inside, and the others soon followed.

Once they entered, they were met with five people who looked like staff members. They must have been startled and confused by the sudden intrusion. All of them stood still, looking agape. Haruno asked where the battle ravers were, and the man closest to them pointed a trembling hand at a staircase farther inside. So they were kept underground.

“There are jail cells underground, right? Where are the keys? Also, please give us the documents on the ravers being kept here.”

“Th-that...” The man stammered, averting his eyes. Haruno concluded something from that.

“Rin.”

“Got it. I’ll need a few extra hands for this~”

Rin had been biding her time from the sidelines, but as soon as Haruno said her name, she called for a few other pilgrims and started the investigation. She wasn’t very self-motivated, but could use her head when the need arose. She would get the job done fast.

They found the documents, which Haruno and Sera checked. There was one file for each raver, making for a total of five. A surprisingly low number. They were probably in high demand since people could push all the rigorous, tiring work on them. The five here had just been captured recently.

“...Siiigh,” Haruno breathed a deep sigh after she confirmed something.

What kind of information was vital in a criminal raver’s records? Several fit the bill, but the most important by far was their crime. If you had to choose between a robber and a murderer, for example, the former would pose much less of a risk.

The documents indeed mentioned each raver’s crime. However, every single one had “bandit” written on them.

“All five of these criminal ravers have ‘bandit’ recorded for their crime—does that mean they were all captured as part of one gang?”

“Huh? No idea. The garrison brought them here, so I don’t know the details...”

“How long ago was that?”

“Uhhh, I believe four... no, five days ago!” The man wore a confused expression, responding with his head tilted.

The pilgrims looked at each other and whispered among themselves. The workers became uneasy again, glancing at one another in response.

“We’ve found evidence... Sera, please explain.”

“Y-yes... We are currently cooperating with the garrison to subjugate the monsters around Athenapolis. Thus, we have access to information on any incidents like that... but we have never seen reports on demi-human bandits appearing near the city. Of course, we have not heard of any being captured either.”

Crimes and incidents were under the pilgrims’ jurisdiction as well, so they immediately knew that something was wrong. Most of the travelers in this world armed themselves. There were barely any demi-humans in this city, so if someone saw a demi-human, they would automatically assume they were a traveler.

“So they were carrying weapons and got charged with banditry just because of that?”

“That would work as an excuse for the false accusation...”

Lumis and Sandra conversed. That was most likely the trick used to label the innocent demi-humans as criminal ravers.

“Rin, how many people do you need to gather the documents and get the innocent ravers to safety?”

“Ten... no, just five if we can tie these guys up.”

“Oh, let me stay behind. I’m used to talking to demi-humans.”

“Then five of you stay here, including Rin and Lumis. Everyone else, come with me!” Haruno exclaimed, then turned around and ran out not a moment later. Sera and Sandra followed behind in a fluster, bringing the rest of the pilgrims along with them.

Haruno laid out the situation in her mind as she ran. They probably had enough evidence to release the five innocent ravers already. But that didn’t mean they could save all the demi-humans who had been falsely convicted up until now, nor the ones who might be wrongly labeled as criminal ravers in the future.

She had delved into this demi-human raver situation as Haruno the Hero. They had already lit the fuse. They would have to find the perpetrator that same night.

Haruno ran past the raver market and stopped before the door to the manager’s room. He was the prime suspect, considering his contempt for demi-humans.

“M-Miss Hero!”

She was about to break in the door after finding that it was locked, but the manager showed up right then. He had likely rushed over as soon as he could step away from the auction. He was gasping for air.

Haruno smiled at his demeanor. Looks like we were right in time, she thought.

“Good timing. We found that innocents had been falsely convicted as criminal ravers and came to speak to you about that.”

“I-is that so! I would expect no less, Miss Hero! I’m impressed!” The manager sang his praises, but he sounded deliberate and disconcerted.

“Let us talk inside for now.”

“N-no need, we can do that right here!”

“That won’t do. This isn’t something we can talk about in the open.”

“...I understand.” Having grasped the situation, the manager unlocked his door. But Haruno suspected that he hadn’t given in quite yet. There was probably some more evidence hidden in his room. The manager had rushed here to conceal or dispose of it. He should have gone to the scene of the disturbance, the building out back, as soon as he’d been informed. But he came here instead, which meant some vital evidence must have been left in this room. And the fact that he stopped resisting and unlocked his door likely meant that he was hoping they wouldn’t be able to find that evidence.

Sera, Sandra, and several other pilgrims entered the manager’s room. It was extravagantly furnished. There was a bookshelf and a large painting along the farthest wall, and dark-colored desk in front of it. A table stood in the center of the room, with two long sofas on either side. The sofas seemed to be made of an expensive leather. There was a chalk-colored pedestal on the right wall, with flowers in a vase set on top of it. Three small paintings were lined up along the left wall.

“What a nice room.”

“Thank you.”

Haruno examined each of the three paintings on the left wall, then stood before the large painting on the farthest wall.

“Do you enjoy art?”

“Y-yes...” The manager replied as he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his sweat, fidgeting all the while. He didn’t want to be asked anything right now.

Then Haruno moved over to one item, turned around, and spoke to him nonchalantly, “It’s hidden here, isn’t it?”

“What?! How did you know?!” The manager put his hands over his mouth, realizing what he just blurted out, but it was too late. Haruno was standing before one of the paintings on the left wall, the one deepest into the room. She had guessed that this was where he was hiding something.

“Will you give me the key without trying to resist?”

“......” The manager bit his lip in frustration, but didn’t move or say a word.

Haruno responded by placing her hand on the hilt of her sword, which prompted the manager to fumble a key out of his pocket and then drop it on the ground. Sandra picked the key up from off the ground, keeping an eye on the manager. She inspected the frame Haruno had picked out and realized that it was formed like a cover with a keyhole underneath. She unlocked the frame and it opened up like a door. There was a safe hidden inside the wall. The frame had acted as a hidden door that concealed the safe.

“What’s all this...?”

Inside was a bundle of documents along with several letters. They couldn’t tell what was inside without reading them all, but it was mostly likely concealed evidence and information regarding the manager’s self-protection.

Sandra opened her eyes wide at the discovery, and Sera tried to stay calm as she asked Haruno, “U-um, Lady Haruno?”

“What is it?”

“How did you know that the evidence was hidden here?”

“Good question... this is the only painting that looked cheap,” Haruno pointed at the still-life painting inside the frame-door, “You’d need to touch and move this every time you opened the safe, so it’d be easy to ruin the painting. I don’t think he wanted to place an expensive piece here.”

The manager dropped to the ground like a marionette whose string had snapped. Haruno had hit the bull’s-eye.

“...Honestly, it’s the same no matter where I go.” She stared at the manager, now tied up, and softly sighed. You even used the same hiding spot, she thought, and her father’s face that she wanted to forget came to mind. She had been able to risk the guess thanks to her ability to analyze works of art.

Haruno, Sera, and Sandra watched as the manager was dragged away, then sat themselves down on the sofa and started looking over the documents. They noticed that the letters had mostly been sent by the same person. They didn’t recognize the name, but the letters spelled out plans to protect the manager’s well-being and schemes against anyone who tried to pry into their illegal activities. The sender was likely someone with a lot of political power—a member of the senate, for example.

This was most definitely proof of illegal activity, as well as a form of blackmail on the senator. As long as he had these letters, the manager would have been protected even if he got arrested. In fact, he might have been keeping the letters for exactly that purpose.

“......” As they studied the rest of the letters, Sera started focusing immensely on a particular one, and her hands began shaking.

“Sera, did you find something?”

“R-read this...” Haruno scanned the letter she was handed, then let out a deep sigh. This letter was proof that the pastor in this city was involved in illegal dealings as well. Not just any cleric, but the pastor. One of the leaders of the temple.

The criminal ravers had a clerical spell called Oath Seal placed on them so that they wouldn’t disobey their owners. It was one thing for the spell to be cast on the innocent ravers who had been wrongly labeled as criminals, but the pastor who cast the spells not only knew the truth, but had also accepted bribes. A comrade of the temple of light had committed fraud. Of course Sera was angry.

“...Sandra, contact the temple. Have them seize this pastor and bring someone here to release the five victims from the Oath Seal.”

“U-understood.” Her voice was calm, but it had a tint of anger in it. This case wasn’t something she could just overlook like Athena’s takeover hundreds of years ago. Haruno was also silently seething in anger.

“Also, as a Hero of the Goddess, I demand the release of all victims of this case up until now.”

“Up until now...?”

“Everyone who has been falsely convicted as a criminal raver. Find every last one of them, release them of the Oath Seal, and free them. We can’t just leave them be, you realize?”

“...Yes, of course.”

“Bring them over here. There might have been more than one pastor involved.”

“Understood! I’ll take care of it!” Detecting Haruno’s anger and realizing that this was something that had to be done, Sandra stood up, took the matter into her own hands, and headed to the temple with several pilgrims in tow.

Haruno gave orders to Sera next.

“Sera, get in contact with the rest of the pilgrims. Make sure to secure the area where the ravers are staying, the documents, and the safe. Even if the capitol guards come, don’t hand anything over.”

The capitol guards were soldiers who maintained public order, investigated crimes, and arrested criminals. They were essentially the same as the police of modern Japan.

“Not even the capitol guards?”

“A member of the senate is involved in this. If you can confirm that none of the capitol guards are under their support, then I don’t mind. But the members of the senate are their superiors, aren’t they?”

“Yes, the capitol guards are under the command of the senate...” Sera looked troubled. She was bewildered that even the guards might be involved in this.

She was a little off, though. Haruno decided to give her a brief explanation.

“I don’t believe there are that many people under the senate member’s direct support. But once they find out that there’s been trouble at the raver marketplace, all of them will come rushing over here. We have to be on guard so that they don’t try to destroy any evidence.”

“I-I see...”

Not all of the capitol guards were involved, but the few who were would come running over. Sera understood the explanation.

Now that Sandra’s group had left, they placed two pilgrims outside the manager’s room to keep guard, and the rest in front of the building entrances until the capitol guards arrived.

Haruno and Sera continued looking over the documents inside the manager’s room. They would give the information they gathered and all the evidence of illegal activity to the pilgrims, the senate, and the temple of light all at once. After that, they would leave rescuing all of the victims to the senate and the temple. The pilgrims had to be careful to not tread too deeply into a country’s problems. They were right on the borderline right now.

Athenapolis had been taken over several hundred years ago. It was no longer a relevant story. In that case, Haruno wondered, how will the current citizens of Athena react? How will they treat the demi-humans who had fallen victim?

The capitol guards arrived less than an hour later. They were angry that the pilgrims had secured all the entrances to the building. However, the tables turned less than another hour later when a pilgrim seized one of the guards and found a fire-lighting device in his pocket. After that, the guards followed all of the pilgrims’ orders with embarrassed expressions on their faces.

Later, Sandra returned to the marketplace after successfully tracking down the guilty pastor. The temple told her they would look into the incident themselves, but she asked them to send a cleric who could release the Oath Seal just as Haruno instructed.

However, that cleric did not arrive until the next morning. One unmotivated-looking cleric arrived in front of them, dragging his feet.

“Please leave,” Haruno told him with a smile as soon as he arrived.

“Huh?” The cleric looked bewildered.

“I said, please leave.”

“Wha... that’s no attitude to throw at a follower of the Goddess of Light! I’m not ignoring what you just said, even if you’re a hero!”

“I called for a follower of the Goddess of Light to rescue victims from harm’s way! And what are you doing, showing up now?! If you don’t care, then please leave! I’ll be raising an objection with the temple about this!!” Haruno raised her voice back at the cleric. He realized he was in an inferior position, hung his head dejectedly, and hurried away.

The pilgrims who had been watching from behind started seeing Haruno in a slightly frightened light. Haruno felt the fear from behind her and sighed softly.

Her party had invaded the raver market and captured the manager before the end of the day last night. Since the pastor had been involved in the crime, Haruno had given the temple an opportunity to redeem themselves by requesting that they send out a cleric. But this was the result. They had given such low priority to helping victims of injustice, which went completely against the teachings of the Goddess of Light. She at least wanted them to come running over like the capitol guards had.

The cleric was so late that Sera had actually managed to undo the Oath Seal herself long ago. They had no need for a cleric anymore. The spell was undone in the middle of the night, so they let the victims sleep after that.

In addition, the capitol guards were now completely under the control of the pilgrims. They had no means to oppose, now that everyone knew about the lackey’s attempt to destroy evidence. They had taken the opportunity to redeem themselves by capturing another staff member who had likely been involved in the crime as well.

Soon after Haruno drove the cleric away, word came in that the demi-humans had woken up. Haruno, Sera, Lumis, and Rin decided to meet them together in the manager’s room, which had the nicest sofa. They wanted the ever-reliable Sandra to be there as well, but she was busy giving orders outside.

Sera had released the victims from the Oath Seal by herself, so Haruno had yet to actually meet the demi-humans. She hadn’t asked what kind they were either, so she was looking forward to meeting them now.

“Oh, Lady Haruno. We need to prepare a seat for the one with a tail.”

“Hmm, I believe there were some in the reception room. Let’s bring one over.”

They brought over a backless chair according to Lumis’ suggestion. She really was the type to look out for others, demi-human or not.

They also prepared tea and tea cakes, then a pilgrim guided four of the demi-humans to the manager’s room.

“Oh? What about the fifth one?”

“The last one is still sleeping... Also, these four had been traveling together and said they wouldn’t talk unless all of them were together.”

So the demi-humans didn’t trust them yet. It was understandable, considering how they had been captured before. However, there were four of Haruno’s group inside the room and another three right outside. Even if the demi-humans were planning something, there was no need to be too wary of them.

“I understand. Please come inside,” Haruno said with a smile and invited the four of them inside the room.

The first one to come in was a large man about two stutos tall and plenty wide as well. The door was too small for him to pass through normally, so he had to duck to get inside.

“So you’re the Hero of the Goddess, huh... I’m this party’s leader, Dylan,” said the man with the face of a bear. He essentially looked like a bear wearing human clothing. He had a shirt and pants on, but they looked too tight on him. Maybe they had taken away his old clothes and forced him to wear those. He tried to give Haruno a sharp and intimidating stare, but she brushed it off without flinching.

According to him, he was a callisto, a type of bear demi-human. An average adult male of his species was about the same size as him.

The lycaon in Touya’s party looked human besides her ears and tail, but ketolts had the face and body of a cat. Callistos were closer to ketolts, in that sense.

“My name is Haruno. Please have a seat.”

“...Well, I’m grateful you saved me.” Dylan gave a short nod and sat himself on the sofa. He looked fierce, but not like he was angry at all. That being said, he wasn’t creating a friendly atmosphere either.

“Oh, let me take this backless chair.” The next man to come in moved quickly and helped himself to the seat next to Dylan. He was wagging his long, thin tail back and forth.

This man had the face of a lizard. He was a lizardman like Rulitora and was wearing nothing but a waist apron. His body was covered in small green scales, and he was very slender compared to Rulitora. He looked shorter than Haruno, partially because he kept his body bent forward. Rulitora had an astonishingly muscular physique, so it felt fitting to say that this man was more “lizard-like.”

“What, something on my face? Oh, the name’s Spar.” Spar cocked his head as Haruno’s party kept staring at him.

“Oh no, I was just thinking that I have a friend who is also a lizardman. But you look quite, um, different from him.”

“That’s normal enough... Oh, is your friend from the desert? I’m from the marsh.”

“Yes, he’s a sand lizardman with yellow scales.”

“No wonder. Those guys are huge!” Spar said, then opened his mouth wide and laughed. He seemed like a cheery guy.

On that note, his species was commonly referred to as marsh lizardmen.

And then the next guest... couldn’t enter the room. The third in line was actually a giant coming from a race called “cyclops.” She was taller than Dylan was and couldn’t get through the door with her huge body even when crawling on all fours.

“Can’t get iiiin!” she lamented, still on her hands and knees, with an unexpectedly cute voice.

Haruno exited the room to take a look and found a large crouching body colored blue. The staff had probably not been able to find any suitable clothes for her and instead made her a makeshift outfit using fur pelts. She may have been large, but didn’t seem to have a particularly muscular build. She looked about three stutos tall. According to the guide, she couldn’t stand up straight inside the building and had crawled all the way here.

The giant slowly raised her head until Haruno was met with the face of a young girl. Size aside, she didn’t look much different from a normal human. She carried out each and every action slowly, and Haruno felt an almost leisurely aura about her. She had ruffled hair a shade of blue darker than her skin down to her shoulders, and a single short horn growing from her forehead.

“Hmmm?” The giant’s large red eye peered at Haruno. The eye was round and cute, almost like a cat’s. Only her left eye was visible at the moment, as her possibly injured right eye was covered by an eyepatch.

“How did she get inside the jailhouse, anyway?”

“Well, there’s a cage for big monsters behind the building for criminal ravers...”

So she wasn’t able to enter the jailhouse, but could they not have found another way to keep her? Haruno knitted her eyebrows at the sloppy way the market staff had treated her.

“Um, so what’s your name?” Haruno asked gently, tilting her head and forming a smile as best she could. She had unintentionally started treating the giant like a young child. Something about the giant girl’s cozy aura was tempting her to act that way.

“Ummm... my name’s Prae.”

“Prae, is it? My name is Haruno. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Harunooo~”

She couldn’t tell how old the giant was, but she guessed she was around the same age as Sera. There was a large gap between her appearance and tone of voice, not to mention the aura that made others want to take care of her. Such was this girl called Prae.

“You’re not scared of Prae?” Haruno turned around at the voice behind her to find the fourth guest, a woman.

“I don’t think she’s scary or anything.”

“You’re a strange one, for a hero,” the woman laughed. She had long silver hair and white skin, and though she wasn’t as tall as Prae, she was still impressively tall relative to human women. She was quite the beauty, with ashen eyes that felt like they’d suck you in if you stared long enough. Haruno couldn’t tell how old she was, but she looked like the personification of the word “bewitching.” She was wearing a cloak, but it looked like all she had on underneath was underwear. She had probably also gotten her clothes taken away like the others. No reports had come in of the pilgrims finding any clothing, so they must have already been sold or thrown away.

“My comrade is also a Hero of the Goddess and has a sand lizardman and a lycaon in his party.” She wasn’t going to mention the Goddess of Darkness, Rakti, of course.

“What about you?”

“It doesn’t bother me at all. As long as we can speak the same language.”

“I see... Okay, let’s chat then. Prae, make sure to listen from outside the room.”

“Okaaay~” After she gave the order to Prae, she reached a hand out to Haruno.

“I’m Maha Melis. Just call me Melis.”

“My name is Haruno.” Haruno grasped her hand and shook it. It was awfully cold. “Um, then getting right to it, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Oh my, for me? Don’t tell me it’s my bra size... Oh, yours look a little bigger. But if you want my age, little miss, I’m afraid you won’t be getting that information right now~”

Melis’ expression had gone dark for a moment after looking at Haruno’s chest, but she was nothing to be scoffed at herself. In contrast to Melis’ joking attitude, Haruno asked her question with a serious tone of voice.

“Please tell me how old Prae is. We started talking to her as if she was a child, but I’m not aware of how giants age.”

“...She’s probably older than you are. Even if we converted that into human years,” Melis answered dejectedly, still holding on to Haruno’s hand.

Sera and the others were shocked at the answer. Prae had been replying to them almost like an infant, but her body was that of an adult woman’s. It was understandable that she was older than Haruno, in one sense.

“But as you can see, this is what she’s like on the inside. We’d be happy if you kept treating her the same way you just did.”

“Oh, yes, of course we can.” Prae didn’t seem like a bad girl, and Haruno was more than willing to accept that request. Melis smiled amicably in response, and Prae started grinning as well.

“Alright, let’s continue this inside the room. You didn’t call us all over just to ask how old Prae is, I assume?”

“Of course. Please come inside then.”

Haruno escorted Melis inside the manager’s room. There was something she absolutely had to ask them—whether or not they knew anything about the winged demi-humans.

“Oh...” Haruno realized something as soon as Melis stepped inside the room in front of her. Melis had told her her name, but nothing about what race she was.

“What’s wrong?”

“...N-no, it’s nothing.”

The woman in front of her had no features that would identify her as demi-human at all. Maybe she had a demi-human party, but was human herself. Or even if she was a demi-human, maybe there were personal reasons why she couldn’t reveal that information. Haruno ran through her thoughts and decided to hold off on asking for now.

On one side of the room was Dylan the callisto, Spar the marsh lizardman, and the silver-haired woman of unknown race, Melis. On the other side was Haruno, Sera, Lumis, and Rin. Prae the cyclops was peering into the room from the hallway.

The seven of them sat around the table and talked, but unfortunately it was not a topic they could chitchat lightheartedly about over tea. Haruno could tell that even the cheerful Spar was keeping a close eye on them.

They had been falsely convicted and denounced as criminal ravers, so it’d be difficult for them to trust Haruno’s party all of a sudden. Though they were answering all of Haruno’s questions such as detailing how they’d gotten caught, so that was a positive sign.

On that note, Dylan, Spar, and Melis had been captured after they had gotten drunk and passed out. Prae didn’t resist at the time since the other three had already been seized. The Oath Seal had already been cast on them before they regained consciousness, so they couldn’t escape. They had let their guard down.

The Oath Seal was a spell that could only be used once you cleared several requirements, but the fact that the caster had been cleared implied just how far up the chain of command this case had gone.

“Do you know anything about winged demi-humans?” Haruno wanted to become friends with the group first, but this wasn’t a situation where they could take time getting to know each other before asking questions, so she cut right to the chase.

“Winged? I can name a few off the top of my head.” Dylan crossed his furry arms and answered with his eyes shut.

“I heard that they lived here long ago.”

“In Athena? I’ve never heard about that...” Spar had a confused expression on his face as he looked between Haruno and Dylan.

Not many people would know of anything that occurred 300 years ago. The temples and old families with record books were the only groups keeping track of historical events, but Athena’s past had been covered up by both the temple of light and the sacred family.

“...When did they last live here?” Melis inquired. She stared at Haruno with her ashen eyes, as if she was testing her.

From the outside she looks elegant and friendly, but she must be the toughest to handle, Haruno thought. Though she was only wearing underwear under that cloak and Haruno had a clear view from how she was sitting.

“I heard it was about 300 years ago.”

“...I see.” Haruno answered with an unflinching expression, but Melis’ smile now seemed like it had a hint of another emotion mixed in. Only for a moment though, and she went back to looking serious after that.

Dylan read the change in atmosphere, opened one eye, and asked Melis, “Melis, do you know something?”

“...I’d heard that those demi-humans had lived here a long time ago, but I hadn’t heard where they might be living now.”

“I see...” Dylan was satisfied with that answer, but Haruno couldn’t let this lead go. She couldn’t just stop now.

“Um, do you know the name of that race?”

“...What do you plan on doing once you find out?”

“I would like to go and meet them.”

“And why do you want to meet them? Would you mind telling me the reason?”

“I could, but you might regret hearing it afterwards.”

“I won’t answer your question if you won’t answer mine.”

“......”

“......”

The two of them stared at each other silently. Spar started looking a little scared, while Rin pursed her lips.

Melis’ response was weighing on Haruno’s mind. She was deliberating how much she should tell Melis about what they knew.

“Looks like there’s no other choice... please lend me your ear.” Haruno said with a small sigh. Melis propped her right hand on the table, leaned forward, and brushed her hair aside with her left hand to reveal her ear. Haruno whispered to her the details of how Athenapolis’ temple of wind might be a fake one, and the real one might be among the winged demi-humans. She didn’t mention anything about Hadesopolis for the time being.

The effect was immediate. Melis opened her eyes wide, sat herself back down on the sofa, and looked dumbfounded.

It was the expected reaction. Even if the Goddess of Wind was a minor sect, Haruno had claimed that the head temple in Athenapolis might have been a fake one all this time. Thoughts must have been spiraling in her head right then.

Haruno didn’t apologize, though. She couldn’t relate to some of the more emotional aspects, but this paled in comparison to how Sera and the others had reacted when they first found out.

“...Where did you find this information?” “It’s researchable up to a point. After that, just reasoning.” Following the trail of information would eventually lead you to the Goddess of Darkness, but she couldn’t say that right now.

Melis wore an expression of shock and some other emotion as she stared silently at Haruno, while the others all looked on nervously at the two of them. The other emotion was most likely fear. When Haruno realized that, she sighed, thinking, Am I really that scary? She wasn’t like this because she wanted to be. It was the result of her grandfather’s and father’s training.

Prae was the only one who couldn’t tell what was going on and looked at Haruno with her head titled. Haruno’s heart was warmed a little by that and she returned Prae a smile.

“...Glaupis.” After another bout of silence, Melis finally wrung that word out of her mouth.

“Glaupis, you said?”

“Yes, they were the winged demi-humans who lived in Athena about 300 years ago. I said this before, but I don’t know what became of them after they fled from this land.”

Haruno felt like Melis was still hiding something with her reply. Glaupis didn’t seem like a fake name, though.

“I’ll give you one more piece of information about the glaupis.”

“What’s that?”

“The fifth one who’s still sleeping has wings, but she is not a glaupis.”

“...I’ll keep that in mind.” Haruno had been thinking of a way to get Melis to reveal more information, but Melis gave her a piece of mostly useless information herself as a defensive measure. Haruno’s group might have tried to investigate the last demi-human too much just for having wings. She might have been protecting the demi-human from that as well by giving them a warning.

Melis finished talking and gave a calm smile, returning to her casual attitude from before. Haruno honestly preferred that to being glared at and feared.

It didn’t seem like they could get any more information about the winged demi-humans now, so they started talking about the four’s plans from here on instead. The three of them originally had their own goals and started traveling. At first, it was just Dylan and Spar. Along the way they invited Melis, since larger groups were safer when traveling through human cities, and the three of them traveled together from that point on.

“What about Prae?”

“She just popped up one day.”

“Eheheh~” Prae gave a silly laugh from the opposite side of the door.

The three of them had been camping in the forest one night when Prae sluggishly appeared before them. They thought she was an enemy at first, but soon realized she wouldn’t harm a fly. It didn’t seem like she had any comrades around at the time, so they decided to take her along with them.

After listening to the story, Sera asked Melis, “Um, so when you said the four of you had to be together, did that mean...?”

“...You understand now?”

Sera, Lumis, and Rin all nodded. Haruno figured it out as well. The three of them were all worried about Prae and didn’t want to leave her alone.

“Yes, I get it now. Next, please tell us what was stolen from you. We most likely won’t be able to get them back, but we’ll have the senate and the temple of light return the value of everything to you twofold.”

“...Should we really be accepting that much?” Dylan asked, keeping only one eye open still. His tone of voice was dubious. He was probably wondering if they would really compensate demi-humans that generously.

“Honestly, I think it barely makes up for what you’ve been through. For the people who had already been made to work as criminal ravers, we’re also planning to remunerate them for all their work done as innocent ravers.”

“Wow, pretty extreme!”

“What part of that is extreme? If we don’t do at least this much, then I don’t think those people have a right to call themselves followers of the Goddess of Light or talk about righteousness.”

Spar shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, and then Haruno objected to his frivolous attitude.

“The same goes for the senate, too. Since the raver market is under the jurisdiction of the senate, we’ll have them all take responsibility and compensate everyone. Even if it was just one person who carried out the crime, I bet many of them took bribes to overlook what was happening.”

Haruno thought that even that wasn’t enough to make up for this incident. This was probably a difference in philosophy between them and Haruno, who had grown up in different worlds.

“...Yeah, this girl is pretty extreme.” Spar said in exasperation, but for Haruno that was a very unwanted judgment on her character.

After that, they looked into the prices for all the items stolen from them and returned double the amount in coin. One silver lining they discovered after all this was how all of the goods they carried happened to be common market items.

They had a destination to reach, so they wanted to be released quickly. Haruno’s party also wanted the record of negotiating successfully with them, so their wishes were right in line. The senate and temple of light would have a harder time now if they ever wanted to complain.

Word came in that the fifth victim had woken up, which marked the end of the conversation with the group of four. They let pilgrims handle the rest and went to see the fifth victim.

When Dylan’s group left the room, Haruno heard a voice asking, “Hey hey, what were you guys talking about?” It sounded like Prae hadn’t understood their conversation with Haruno.

When they left the room, they were greeted by a waving Prae, who was listening to an explanation, still on all fours. Haruno felt warmer looking at her and returned the wave. She felt better now thanks to Prae.

The group of five walked over to the room the last demi-human had been resting in, but they couldn’t find any sign of her.

“Huh? She responded when we knocked just now, right?”

“She did... I wonder where she went?”

They had knocked and heard a faint, though audible reply, and entered the room after that. Rin cocked her head, since she had definitely heard the reply as well.

The room was plainly furnished, with two sets of bunk beds. There was a table with something covered in cloth on it and four chairs. Four drawers lined the inner wall.

They had heard the demi-human’s voice just now, so she should have been in the room, but they saw no one. All of the beds were made, so she wouldn’t have been hiding under the sheets. Haruno looked around the room, thinking that she would check under the beds and inside the drawers first.

“Um, Lady Haruno...”

“Did you find her, Lumis?”

“Not exactly. Or rather, I put her there in the first place. Look, she’s right here.”

“Huh?”

Lumis was pointing at the object covered in cloth on the table. Haruno put her ear close to it and could hear a faint voice. She nervously lifted the cloth up to reveal a birdcage underneath, then met eyes with the person inside.

“Huuh?!” She jumped back in surprise and took the rest of the cloth with her to reveal the entirety of the birdcage. It was large and made of brass.

“So you’re the fifth...?”

A young girl not even half a stuto tall was sitting inside. She had ruffled black hair, sharp-looking eyes, and two opal horns growing from her forehead. Looking closely, you could also see that the ears peeking out from behind her hair were slightly tapered. The black tail growing from her behind was hairless and a little wider at the tip. She had a pair of wings on her back, but they weren’t the wings of a bird—rather, the black wings of a bat. Like Melis and Prae, she was only wearing a piece of cloth draped over her body.

So being a winged demi-human doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bird demi-human, Haruno realized. And of course, if Melis was to be trusted, she wasn’t of the glaupis race either.

The birdcage had been covered because the curtains in this room were thin and kept the room bright even when they were closed, so Lumis had used the cloth to let her rest well.

“Ummm... what’s your name? And your race too, if you don’t mind.”

“...Daisy, I’m an imp,” she replied, but looked sullen and kept her head turned away from them. She was physically small, but seemed more mature than Prae.

Though they might not have looked too threatening, imps were a fully-fledged race of demons. They could use magic to some extent, but nothing especially powerful. They were barely seen in human territory, and the seldom times they did show up, they’d be up to no good. The worst they could do was play some childish prank though, so people never went after them. Since Haruno had learned that demons were just demi-humans, she wanted to get to know this girl without any prejudice.

“Are you feeling alright? You should already have been released from the Oath Seal,” Sera brought her face closer and asked. Daisy started moving her limbs and checking her body here and there.

“It’s true!” Realizing that her body was free, Daisy started hopping up and down inside the birdcage in joy. She had been falsely convicted too, so of course she was happy.

“That fuckin’ geezer! I hadn’t even done anything yet, all I did was sneak in and he locked me in here for no reason! Idiot! Jackass!!”

...Presumed falsely convicted, at least.

When they asked Daisy for more details, they learned a few strange things. She had snuck inside a mansion in Athenapolis out of curiosity, but she’d found a group of men talking in private inside. The only reason she’d snuck inside was because she wanted to make some mischief.

“So this would be a case of... trespassing?”

“Tres...? No, I was thinking she’d be charged with burglary.”

Though she was innocent because she hadn’t done anything yet, Sera noted.

“Hmm? This is weird.” Rin cocked her head as she looked over Daisy’s documents.

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, just that it says she was charged with banditry here. Wouldn’t saying she was a burglar have worked here?”

“...Maybe they didn’t want people to know?”

“Know what?”

“That she had been captured within the city.”

“...Oh, I get it.”

They didn’t want to make public the fact she snuck into this mansion. Almost all criminal ravers were forced to do incredibly taxing manual labor. The girl wouldn’t have been too useful in that regard, since she just barely reached half a stuto tall with her tail included. The main goal here had been to keep her mouth shut. They learned where the mansion was from Daisy, and Haruno gathered the information to report to the capitol guards.

“Daisy, did they take anything from you when you were caught?”

“Hm? Not really. Just my clothes.”

“Did you have anywhere you needed to go, then? Were you traveling with a destination in mind?”

“Not reallyyy.” Daisy sat cross-legged inside the birdcage and answered Sera’s questions. She had apparently never had a destination and would travel wherever her whims took her.

Haruno’s party was a little troubled by this. It’d be easy enough to release her here, but Athenapolis would be especially on guard for a while until this fiasco was taken care of. If she were to go somewhere and cause trouble again, she might get arrested and legitimately become a criminal raver this time. The best decision would be to keep her under Haruno’s care for the time being. Until they left the city, at the very least.

“Daisy, we’d like to speak with you a bit more. Would you mind coming to the house we’re staying at?”

“...Is there tasty food involved?”

“We can buy something on our way back. Would you like some fruit?”

“Okay! I’m all up for that!” Daisy readily agreed to tag along. They opened the door to the birdcage, and then she floated out and perched herself on Haruno’s shoulder. After being with a giant almost twice as tall as her just earlier, she was almost overwhelmed by the sight of a little, doll-like girl sitting on her shoulder.

“...Oh,” Haruno remembered something while she marveled at Daisy, “...um, Sera? I want to check just in case, but would it be bad for a Hero of the Goddess to be seen with an imp...?”

“Well, when it comes to outward appearances...” Sera started getting evasive with her answer. There was nothing they could do in this situation, since she was a demon.

“Daisy, would you mind staying in the birdcage until we leave Athenapolis?”

“I’m fine with it as long as you carry me, but don’t sway me around, ’kay?”

“I’ll be careful.” Haruno picked the birdcage up with both hands, being careful to keep it from swaying. She would let Daisy pick out what she wanted to eat when they bought fruit on the way home.

A team of inspectors arrived soon after that, and the pilgrims handed the investigation over to them and pulled themselves out. The inspectors were a group that monitored senators and capitol guards to make sure they were doing their job correctly, then conducted investigations whenever something went wrong.

Haruno’s group pulled themselves out of the investigation like they were supposed to, but not before making copies of all of the documents to bring home. They made sure the copies contained no errors, with Sera the light cleric and an inspector serving as witnesses. Now they were assured that the inspectors wouldn’t try to cover anything up, either.

Next, they calculated the losses for Daisy and paid her back double. Haruno used her title as a Hero of the Goddess to request proper remuneration for all the people already working on the case. The inspector she spoke to pursed his lips, but he didn’t want the investigation to stay in Haruno’s hands, either.

“What’s that birdcage for?”

“This is the imp who was falsely convicted of banditry. We’re making sure she doesn’t cause any more trouble, so we’re keeping her for now until we leave the city.”

“Uh-huh...” The inspector seemed like he wanted to say something more, but kept his mouth shut.

They didn’t want to be subject to more questions, so Haruno’s party quickly departed from the raver market.

“Oh, Harunooo~”

“Prae?!”

For some reason, Prae greeted them as soon as they stepped outside. She slowly waved at them as she sat, hugging her knees, surrounded by the pilgrims who had left just earlier.

“Did something happen, Prae?” Haruno ran over to her and asked in as gentle of a voice as she could muster. She couldn’t help but talk in that tone of voice around her.

The three others in her party were nowhere to be seen. Where had they gone off to?

“Ummm, y’know, I’m gonna be going with you, Haruno~”

“...What?” Haruno was taken aback. Prae noticed Daisy in the birdcage in the meantime, then drew her face close.

“What’s thiiis? So cuuute~♪”

“Whoa, you’re huge! Hold on, don’t come any closer!”

Daisy was startled by the giant face. The size difference between them couldn’t just be described as adult versus child.

Haruno, still stunned, looked over at Sera, who had been waiting with Prae outside. She reluctantly handed a letter to Haruno. It was from Melis. She dubiously opened the letter. The letter said, “Prae said she’s going to stay with you, so we’ll be leaving her here. Please get along,” in neat handwriting.

“...What?” The letter didn’t help Haruno understand the situation one bit. They’d said she popped up out of nowhere one day and they took her along because she had no companions, but that didn’t mean they would also leave her at the drop of a hat. Especially since they all seemed to adore her. But in reality, all three of them were already gone.

“So um, why did you want to stay with me?”

“Because I want tooo~”

“Uh, I see...”

She was happy that Prae had gotten so attached to her, but that response didn’t make for a good reason. But since the rest of her party had left, and they couldn’t just leave her be, they had no choice but to take her in just as they had with Daisy.

“U-ummm, let’s be friends.”

“Friieennds... Sera, was it?”

“Yes, that’s me. It’s nice to see you again, Prae.” Sera greeted her with a smile. She had been caught off guard, but didn’t seem to object to letting Prae stay. She also couldn’t abandon someone who acted like such a young child.

In Haruno’s case, she didn’t mind demi-humans and had no objections to bringing such a nice girl into her party. In fact, she was overjoyed about it. She still didn’t know why Prae wanted to come along with them, but they’d all be heading back to Nartha’s residence for now.

“Hey hey, Harunooo~”

“What is it, Prae?”

“Um, ummm, I wanna go somewhere with you~”

“With me? Where would you like to go?”

Somewhere Prae wanted to go, huh? The first possibility Haruno thought of was the fruit shop they were taking Daisy to. Next was a pretty place like a flower garden. However, her answer came completely out of left field.

“She’s calling for you, Haruno.”

“Calling for me...? Who is?”

“The Goddess of Wind~”

“......What?” Haruno said softly, blinking her eyes several times.

Haruno’s party bought their fruit and returned to Nartha’s mansion soon after that. Daisy was let out of the birdcage as soon as they stepped outside Athenapolis, but either because she was scared of Prae or because she was wary of any followers of the Goddess of Light, she stayed perched on Haruno’s shoulder the entire way. Since they had captured her to keep her mouth shut, there was a chance people were still targeting her. Haruno felt that they’d be safest by keeping Daisy under their care for now.

Prae couldn’t enter the house, so they went to the garden to hear her out. Sera went inside the house by herself to fill Nartha in on everything, as well as get in touch with Touya.

Almost everyone kept their distance from Prae, who was larger than the ordinary monsters in the area. None of them knew how to interact with her. Lumis was the only one who would act naturally around her. Apparently her hometown was one where humans and demi-humans lived in harmony, and many of her friends were demi-humans. She had volunteered to look after the captured demi-humans back in the raver market because she personally couldn’t leave the victims be.

Lumis gallantly proclaimed that she would go hunt for Prae’s dinner and took Sandra and Rin along. Haruno was the only one left now. She first decided to ask what Prae had meant by the Goddess of Wind calling for her.

“Ummm... I dunnooo~”

Her goal was to bring Haruno to the Goddess of Wind. Prae had been instructed to follow along with a party of three camping in the forest, but knew nothing about why the Goddess would be calling for her. It all sounded rather frivolous, but she had actually managed to meet Haruno that way.

“S-so where should I go to meet the Goddess of Wind?”

“Ummm, Thebai!”

“Thebai?”

“Isn’t that the name of a forest? I don’t remember where it is, though.”

Haruno had never heard the name before, but Daisy supplied her with the information while perched over Haruno’s shoulder.

“So the Goddess of Wind is in this forest called Thebai?”

“That’s right~”

“Which means... the glaupis are there, too?”

“They are~”

So it seemed like the winged demi-humans, glaupis, fled to the forest called Thebai after they left Athenapolis, and were now living with the cyclops. They asked Nartha for the exact location of the forest later.

The current map of the continent was laid out as such:

In the middle of the continent was Jupiteropolis, where Haruno was first summoned. A straight road leading west took you to Athenapolis. South of Jupiteropolis was the void region, which Hadesopolis lay in the center of. Going west from Hadesopolis would take you to the country of agriculture, Ceresopolis. The four city-states formed a slightly jagged quadrilateral between them. Hephaestusopolis, where Touya was currently located, was on the eastern side of the void.

Thebai forest was located right in between Athena and Ceres. The forest sprawled westward off the road connecting the two cities.

“Are you going?” Daisy peered at Haruno from her shoulder and asked. Haruno responded with a warm smile and a nod. That was the original plan, after all. Now that she knew where the glaupis were, she had to go.

“Will you come with me, Daisy?”

“I wonder...” She sat cross-legged hovering in the air, but didn’t seem too keen on the idea.

“We’re going to gather everyone together and talk about it tonight, so you can think about it after that. We’ll need time to prepare, too.”

“Prepare?”

“You can’t go traveling in that outfit, right?”

“Ah...”

Daisy was still wearing her single piece of cloth, looking as if she had just stepped out of the bath.

“Please use my handkerchiefs for the time being. The cloth you’re wearing is dirty now.”

“Thanks, I’ll take you up on that.” Daisy picked out a big handkerchief to wrap around her body, then hopped around in joy. She had folded the handkerchief in half so that one edge lined up right over the other to create two rows of lace. Imps typically paid no mind to fashion, so this was the first time she had worn something so stylish. As Haruno watched Daisy dance around in the air, her wings flapping, Sera returned, having finished her duties. They decided to talk about what to do from here on.

“I exchanged messages with Sir Touya, and he said he didn’t mind if we revealed everything besides the fact that she’s staying with them right now.”

“...Wouldn’t that cause a lot of trouble for Touya?”

“He said that it’d be worse to keep everyone we’re staying with in the dark...”

In other words, it was safest to reveal all the information now, rather than wait until a troublesome situation popped up or having the information be leaked before having a chance to talk about it. It might worsen the relationship between the pilgrims and her, but nothing terrible would happen as a result of that. Haruno thought about it and decided that Touya was making the right suggestion. Her face grew red after thinking about how Touya kept looking out for her all this time, which Daisy keenly noticed and started poking her cheek about.

“Haruno, you’re red~ Hey, Sera. Who’s this Touya guy?”

“He’s another Hero of the Goddess, and also Haruno’s lover!”

“Uh-huuuh... and here I thought you were just boring and stiff. Not bad...”

“Don’t say that with that grin on your face, Sera! Didn’t you end up promising him to bathe together, too?!”

“Th-that’s...!”

“Oh, now Sera’s red too.”

Daisy flew from Haruno’s shoulder to Sera’s head, lightly tapping her atop her soft hair. The two of them were just teasing fodder for Daisy right now.

“L-let’s stop talking about that. We need to discuss what to do tonight!”

“You’re right...”

“Pft, you guys are no fun.”

“This is important!” Haruno said, then took Daisy from Sera’s head and squeezed her tightly into her chest. Daisy looked a little uncomfortable, but her wings were trapped right now and she couldn’t escape.

“Loosen up a little. Can’t breathe.”

“Oh, sorry...” Haruno loosened her grip and Daisy dug her face out of her chest, gasping for air. She had been more than a little uncomfortable.

That aside, if Haruno wanted to start traveling to the temple of the Goddess of Wind, they had to figure out what to do with the group of pilgrims. Just as Touya said, she would have to explain what they knew to everyone. The truth behind the battle between the first sacred king and the demon lord.

“In my case... I believe going along with you, Lady Haruno, falls in line with the wishes of the Goddess of Light. But I also think it might go against the will of the temple.” Sera spoke in a serious tone, but her expression started to look a little solemn.

“To be honest, I think the chances of the pilgrims coming along with us is low...”

“I thought those girls all chose to follow the Goddess of Light rather than living a secure life in the temple, am I wrong?”

“No, you’re right. But that’s where the problem lies.”

“What do you mean?”

Haruno and Daisy both cocked their heads, and Sera started speaking meekly. “It’d been a slight issue for Sir Touya to start collecting blessings from other goddesses, but in this case, you’re trying to meet directly with the Goddess of Wind...”

“...I understand now.”

They were acting under the official title of Heroes of the Temple of the Goddess of Light, and it might cause a problem if they were to proactively act for the sake of other goddesses.

“So in that case, wouldn’t it be a problem to have Sera come along?” Daisy asked with furrowed brows.

“I’m not a pilgrim, so I can act on my own accord. There’s nothing wrong with me cooperating with someone who’s not a follower of the Goddess of Light.”

“Mhmm...” Daisy leaned back on Haruno’s chest after hearing the answer, looking disinterested. Imps were a race of demons, so they probably weren’t very interested in the no-nonsense clerics of light.

In any case, traveling wouldn’t be an issue for Sera. Haruno believed in her. The problem lay with the group of pilgrims. If traveling to meet the Goddess of Wind would be a problem, then how would the girls react? Haruno and Sera discussed all the possible reactions they could think of and how they would deal with them. Daisy took a jab at them once in a while, too.

They lit a bonfire that night and gathered all the pilgrims into the garden. There, Haruno explained everything Touya had discovered in Hadesopolis and everything she had discovered in Athenapolis.

The existence of the city of Hadesopolis in the void, as well as the sixth goddess, the Goddess of Darkness.

How the first sacred king sealed the Goddess of Darkness on accident, which created the void, and then how all of those events had been concealed.

How the demon lord was actually summoned from their world at the time.

How the Goddess of Darkness ruled over demi-humans, and that demons were just a type of demi-human.

How during the 500 years the Goddess of Darkness had been sealed, all the demi-human nations had been taken over.

How Athenapolis was one of them, and how the temple of light had a hand in it.

How the temple of wind in Athenapolis was a dummy.

How much of this information had been divulged by the Goddess of Darkness after her seal had been lifted.

How they had retrieved a grave marker, the ace up the first sacred king’s sleeve to defeat the demon lord—and how they had gotten a ketolt craftsman to confirm it was the real deal.

She explained everything besides the fact that the Goddess of Darkness was with Touya right now, and the demon lord’s true identity. She made the explanation more convincing by revealing that Touya had heard the voices of the goddesses, and that the Goddess of Darkness was being kept safe at the moment.

It was a difficult story to believe right off the bat, but the grave marker served as proof. It was the final weapon used in the battle between the first sacred king and the demon lord, left embedded in the ground. It wouldn’t be hard to believe that once you factored a hero summoned by the Goddess of Light into that equation, some crazy miracle might have occurred. There were some tough points to get through, but she emphasized that it was the temple of the past who had made those mistakes, and she wasn’t accusing anyone of the current temple. She hoped that that would help open some of their minds.

Everyone was dumbfounded and speechless. Even Daisy’s eyes were wide open. The only one smiling was Prae, but that was likely just because the speech had been too difficult for her to understand.

Sera was next to speak. She said that shunning demi-humans was not part of the Goddess of Light’s teachings and that the temple’s past actions went against the Goddess’ ideas of justice and morality. Hearing a cleric condemning the temple was the final straw that got everyone in an uproar, and the commotion reached its peak.

It was now Haruno’s turn.

“I intend to take up the Goddess of Wind’s invitation and set out to travel soon. I won’t ask any of you to come along with me. Please, every one of you should think about where to go from here.”

She couldn’t order them under the authority of a hero. Nor could she plead them. Considering her status as a hero, it wouldn’t have been treated as an ordinary “please.”

Thus, Haruno simply asked everyone to think about it. All that was left to do was wait and see. She let everyone return to their rooms for the night.

Haruno remained in the garden to talk with Prae a little longer. She looked somewhat dejected from behind.

She could tell that she’d have to say goodbye to the pilgrims she made friends with. She was trying to play tough, but probably had a lot on her mind as well.

The first who decided she would come along was Daisy. Imps typically didn’t believe in the existence of any gods, so she had gotten curious about the Goddess of Darkness. They planned to hold off on telling people about Rakti until after everyone decided whether they would come along or not, then secretly tell those who would come along.

After a while, Lumis, Sandra, and Rin showed up with their luggage in tow, saying they would come.

“I want to become better friends with Prae and Daisy.”

“I’m worried about leaving Sera alone to protect Lady Haruno.”

“If we’re not together, then I won’t be able to swing that sacred sword around anymore!” Rin yelled the last line with a clenched fist.

The reason they were later than Daisy was because they wanted to speak with the pilgrim leader first. They had gone in fully prepared to give up their ranks as temple knights, but the leader told them with a wry smile to go ahead and act as independent temple knights, not as part of the pilgrims. The leader was similar to Sera in the sense that she believed more in the Goddess than in the temple itself. If she hadn’t been the leader, she probably would have agreed to join Haruno. She may have been jealous of those three for being able to be so reckless as to say they’d give up their ranks. Haruno detected a hint of those feelings in her wry smile.

That leader visited Haruno first thing the next morning.

“I’m sorry, but...”

“I see... that’s unfortunate.”

The leader indeed couldn’t come along. She didn’t think Haruno was wrong, but she had to stay behind to fulfill her responsibilities as the leader. Haruno had expected as much, so she was able to hear her out calmly.

Next came the practical matters. They agreed to split the funds between them and the pilgrims fifty-fifty. They would also take along enough horses to travel with. The pilgrims would continue to act as Haruno’s guards until she set off.

“We’re just as angry about this situation are you are,” the pilgrim leader laughed.

Not everyone thought the same, however. That same day, a group of over ten pilgrims said they would be leaving the mansion.

“We were fooled by you.”

“We were fooled by the sacred family and the temple of light.” Haruno gave a firm reply to the snide remark and stares. She had spoken about Hadesopolis knowing that some people might react like that. She wasn’t going to falter, though. If the pilgrims thought she wasn’t emotionally prepared, then they underestimated her.

The pilgrim couldn’t find anything to say in return, gathered her luggage with a vexed expression, and hurried out the door like she was running away. She must have realized, too. The fault was in the sacred family’s and temple’s hands no matter how you spun it.

Those girls wouldn’t stop being pilgrims, however. They were simply moving to another lodging in the city.

Haruno had plenty of things on her mind but chose not to voice them, focusing on packing her things instead.

First was preparing for Prae and Daisy. They would have to get new clothes.

Haruno was worried at first since they were both far from human size, but the craftsmen in Ficus Brand assured them they could get the job done within a week.

“Will it be alright? I know we’re asking a lot from you...”

“Don’t worry! If the Goddess of Light preaches about justice and morality, then we will preach that underwear is justice! We will most certainly prepare underwear that will satisfy our customers’ needs.”

“I-I see... I’ll leave it to you, then.”

“I can’t tell if these guys are amazing or amazingly stupid...” Daisy said exasperatedly as the lady shop attendant measured her three sizes, looking overly zealous for some reason.

They ordered a rucksack for Prae as well. She would need a place to store her belongings as a new party member.

They didn’t have many choices as far as armor went. Daisy’s clothes just needed to be as sturdy as possible. Prae would receive a breastplate made from lesser boar fur as well as a pair of gauntlets. She didn’t want any boots and chose to wear sandals instead. Apparently she didn’t like anything that made her feel constricted. Her clothes were overall fairly revealing, with her stomach showing at the moment.

They also purchased a giant tower shield, the biggest in the shop. It was surprisingly inexpensive. These items usually increased in price relative to the size, but once they got so big that no one could use them anymore, their price points would plummet.

As for weapons, Daisy had no choice but to use a needle in place of a sword. They retrieved a sturdy sewing needle used to make stuffed animals and shaped it like an estoc sword. Daisy wobbled a bit with the sword on her back, but she seemed pleased with it.

As for Prae, she had only a few weapon choices, just like with her armor. The most she could do was swing a weapon around mindlessly, so they recommended she use a blunt weapon called a mace.

They also requested that a thick tree branch be shaped to have an easy to hold handle, then wrapped thin iron plates around the tip to create a bludgeon. It was a mostly smooth, simple design. Haruno and the others could barely pick it up, but Prae grabbed it and started swinging it around like a feather. The weight of it alone was enough to carry some heavy destructive power. The party got a glimpse at how frightening a cyclops could actually be.

They had run into plenty of problems until now, but the biggest was getting a blanket. Bedding was one of the most important items for travelers. However, a normal blanket would be far too small for Prae. She said she didn’t need one and had been sleeping without one up until now, but that was no reason to call it quits.

Ficus Brand was able to take care of this issue as well. Blankets were always a burden for travelers since they were so bulky. Haruno couldn’t exactly relate since she had traveled with the pilgrims and several cargo wagons, but it was an unavoidable issue for those who traveled on foot.

The Ficus Brand’s solution to that was a multi-purpose cloak that could also be used as a blanket. Also designed to be cold resistant, it was one of their most popular products. Haruno’s party bought five of those multi-purpose cloaks for themselves since they were ready-made. Prae’s would need to be specially made, but the shopkeepers were more than happy to help. It would be an easy order for them. On the other hand, Daisy’s order would be more expensive since it required detailed craftsmanship. They decided to buy a blanket made using a hand towel instead. It was a cute size and also had an embroidered pattern on it, so she seemed to like it.

They went on to order their food, and their preparations took almost a week in total. In the meantime, the senators, temple of light, and inspectors were all keeping busy trying to resolve the demi-human scandal. The city was filled with rumors related to that incident, the battle between the first sacred king and the demon lord, Hadesopolis, and the Goddess of Darkness. The pilgrims who had left the mansion had most likely spread them around.

Also, the temple of light visited Haruno to offer an apology. They had considered the relationship between Haruno and Touya and decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to leave Haruno angry. She took the opportunity to request that they make rescuing past victims the highest priority. The temple had no means to reject, seeing as how they’d had no hand in resolving the incident. But to maintain their authority, they used all of their influence to start seeking out those past victims and freeing them.

Haruno had actually predicted this course of events. She had requested that the inspectors and temple free the past victims as a way to redeem their reputation. This way, the inspectors could show that they didn’t condone unethical activities within the senate, and the temple could announce that the actions conducted by the temple in the past did not represent them now.

She didn’t take any particular action toward the senate. They wouldn’t be able to conceal evidence or cover up their actions anymore, and Haruno felt that that was enough for now. Since they had been exposed, their only option was to give appropriate punishment to whoever had been involved in the incident.

“The inspectors do honest work.”

“The temple of light won’t forgive any injustice. We are different from the temple that once took over other nations.”

“The majority of the members of the senate had nothing to do with the illegal activities.”

Each party advocated for themselves. It was all for the purpose of self-protection, and Haruno had predicted exactly that. They had their own well-being in mind. If that was the case, then Haruno made them rescue the past victims as a way to push each group toward their goal. That was Haruno’s way of thinking.

The senator that the inspectors arrested on the fifth day was indeed the owner of the mansion that Daisy had interrupted a discussion in. This was an entirely expected outcome as well. Without that connection, Daisy wouldn’t have been falsely charged and become a criminal raver.

The other participants of that secret discussion were the pastor and another high-ranking senator who had accepted bribes to accommodate their plans. They were both arrested as well, of course.

Ironically enough, they had the Oath Seal placed on them and were forced to confess each and every last one of their deeds. A clearer picture of the case was painted thanks to that, and they were able to make further progress on rescuing victims as well. It would take much more time to resolve everything, but Haruno believed they would finish the job they started.

She figured she should disassociate herself from the incident before departing on her journey, so she handed all her copies of the documents to the senate. Perhaps as a result of that, the day before Haruno’s departure, she was awarded with a medal and monetary compensation. She had achieved high merits from this case.

She split the reward money fifty-fifty with the pilgrims just like they had with their funds for the journey. The medal was called the Olive Moon Medal. It depicted three olive branches underneath a small crescent moon. It was a particularly honorable medal awarded to someone who helped protect the peace in Athena.

Her party members were also allowed to participate in the ceremony, so Sera, Lumis, Sandra, Rin, Daisy, and Prae were all invited to join. It also served as a way to represent her acceptance of demi-humans.

The ceremony would be held in a large hall with an equally large set of doors. Prae would be able to enter the building just by ducking down a little. Prae’s ceremonial dress was a simple mantle with an elegant embroidered pattern on it. An elf had once worn a mantle in the audience of the sacred family, and it had been recognized as formal ceremony attire since. Yes, just like the time the legendary pervert Ficus appeared in front of the king wearing nothing but a leaf over his nethers.

On that note, Daisy was wearing a dress from an antique doll. The ceremony progressed without issue. When Haruno came forward, a senator started reading aloud a letter of commendation. After that, a court lady who had been waiting behind the senator stepped forward reverently and attached the medal to Haruno’s chest. At nearly the same time, loud cheers and thunderous clapping resounded from the crowd. The leader of the pilgrims was among the audience, clapping as loudly as she could with a beaming smile on her face. When Haruno escaped from the main hall, she gave a little wave toward the leader. The leader noticed that, took a few glances around her, then shyly waved back.

A few days later, Haruno’s party armed themselves and set out on their journey on horseback. Right as they crossed the gate to Athenapolis, Haruno turned back to Sera and the rest.

“Alright then, let’s be off.”

Everyone gave her a firm nod in response. They were now a party of seven, including Haruno. Their numbers had dwindled quite a bit since she left Jupiteropolis with over 30 pilgrims in tow.

But the Haruno back then had been saved by Touya acting as her decoy and was under the constant protection of the pilgrims. She had essentially taken her guardians along with her on her journey. When they had been fighting off monsters outside the city, the pilgrims had taken the lead, and Haruno had constantly been safeguarded as she tried to contribute to the battles.

Perhaps this incident that shook Athena was the first battle that Haruno had managed to lead on her own. In that case, she felt even more proud to have been awarded the Olive Moon Medal.

This is the start of my journey, she thought as she gripped the reins and set off.

Words of the Great Ficus

All beings are equal

Whether human or demi-human,

Rich or poor,

Large or small,

Whether wings grow from thy back or a tail sprouts from thy rear,

Whether thou follow one goddess or another or none at all,

There is no such trite nor sad reason

For one to not find underwear most befitting thyself.

Ficus