Chapter 125: Her Her & Her (1)

It was the dead of night, yet a party was exiting Lihazeta. They made sure no one knew they were leaving. This group included Artpe, Maetel, Vadinet, Silpennon, Aria, Leseti and Deyus.

Artpe thought about watching the new pope being elected, but it would take too long. He had went through the trouble of declaring a war against the Demon realm, so he couldn't laze around in one place.

"Hoo-ooh. I want to sleep."

"Do you want to sleep while I carry you, Artpe?"

"No. Please restrain yourself."

As always, Silpennon was jealous and envious when he heard the conversation between Artpe and Maetel. His body shook. Suddenly, he had a thought.

"Now that I think about it, didn't you plan on adding us to your party? You said you'll consider it after we settle matters here."

"I did, and I decided. We'll walk parallel paths to each other, so we'll never cross paths again....."

"You bastard!?"

At Artpe's words, Silpennon approached him. He tried to grab Artpe's neck, but Maetel sent him a sharp gaze. Her gaze was as sharp as a knife. He slowly put down his hands. Artpe gave him an explanation.

"If Aria hadn't shown up, I probably would have merged the two parties. However, that is no longer the case."

"The addition of one more holy priestess is a good thing! She was able to sufficiently weaken the Four Heavenly King we faced!"

"Two parties will each possess a holy priestess, and we will cause confusion to our enemies. Moreover....."

It was expected that there were two Demon Kings in the Demon realm. If they moved in a group of eight, they would just become an easier target. The hero's party was effective against the Demon King's army, because they were a light and sharp spear. There was nothing to gained by bulking up the party.

"I want us to operate as two parties. Your party is pretty balanced now."

"Still, we are weak compared to you guys."

"That is why you should get stronger. We'll draw the aggro of our enemies.. You guys can remain on the down low, while growing in power. We'll face the Demon King's army with two hero's party."

"You......"

Silpennon finally realized the meaning behind the words spoken to him by Artpe not too long ago. He realized why Artpe had insisted Silpennon accompany Aria, and he realized why her identity was kept a secret.

He also now knew why he was so bold in appearing in public with Maetel and Vadinet.

"Still, this sounds like nonsense! The real hero's party will act as a shield for fake hero's party? There should be a limit as to how many idiotic words can come out of your mouth!?"

This was why he was taken aback by it!

"The other option is we can attack the Demon King's castle, while you guys act as a shield. However, you guys are too weak, so we have no choice. We have to do it the opposite way."

"We are strong. It'll be alright."

Silpennon was at a loss for words when he heard Artpe's words and Maetel's calm words. Of course, he knew that the power of Artpe and Maetel was unfathomable. They probably became much stronger after defeating one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Despite this fact, Silpennon thought they were being reckless.

"I want you all to work hard. Leseti. Deyus. Can you do this?"

"Hero's party.... I never expected a day to come where I would have to shoulder such a title......."

"······I'll do as you ask. It can't be helped."

Leseti and Deyus didn't sound too satisfied with the current situation, but they didn't try to turn down the responsibility. Artpe was satisfied with that.

It was a chaotic era, and there weren't that many people in this world that were capable of doing what they wanted. At the very least, the two of them would have a hand in determining the course of this era. Their lives were better than most in this world.

"Are you willing to put your life on the line?"

"If the Demon King's army wins, it either means the death of all humans or the humanity will become a plaything for the Demon King."

Artpe calmly spoke those words. Lastly, he looked at Aria, who was holding onto Silpennon's sleeve.

It had been merely 10 days, yet everything around her had changed. Everything was unfamiliar and difficult. Despite all of this, she had accepted her role as the holy priestess, and she was trying to forge ahead. He put her next to Silpennon to provide encouragement.....

"Be strong, Aria."

"Yes, Artpe-nim. I'm sorry for being unable to support you by your side as a holy priestess..... However, I believe that your instructions will lead to the defeat of the Demon King. I will do my best next to Mr Silpennon."

"Yes, that is enough."

When Silpennon heard her words, he thought Aria was lamenting over the fact that she wasn't able to join Artpe. His thoughts became gruff and surly. Everyone else was able to glean from her roundabout explanation that she was very satisfied with the current arrangement. Leseti turned pale when she observed Silpennon's reaction. However, she didn't go out of her way to spell out Aria's thoughts to Silpennon.

"We'll be going now. I want you to focus on raising the level of Leseti and Deyus."

"I'm very familiar with Dungeons now. We've done this for the past 2 years. Just leave it to me."

Artpe and Silpennon lightly dapped their fists as a goodbye. The two party started to move in different directions.

Silpennon's party would move as planned. They were going to clear the nearby Dungeons as they grew their abilities.

"She didn't even look back once. .....should I give up on Maetel?"

"You should. I think Maetel-nim would rather die than be with someone other than Artpe-nim."

At holy priestess Aria's forthright statement, Silpennon groaned as he lowered his head.

Leseti, who was supposed to be his guardian knight, didn't console her master. She just looked at Artpe's backside as she licked her lips.

"Artpe is more handsome now.... He looks like an adult. Each of his words and gestures is oozing with sex. Hoo-ooh...... Ssssp."

"Your voice is dripping with desire and lingering attachment, Leseti. Why don't you just transfer into their party?"

When Silpennon gave a prickly reply, Leseti smirked as she shrugged her shoulders.

"If not for me, who is going to serve you? Even if I have to give up my youth, I'll make you succeed in your role as the fake hero."

"Koo koo. Ms Leseti is a pretty good person."

"Oh my. You are able to see that? You are better than expected. Let's be on friendly terms from now on."

They had met not too long ago, yet Leseti and Aria was getting chummy. When Silpennon saw this, he pouted. Deyus roughly had an idea as to the feelings of the two women, so Deyus thought Silpennon was a bit of a git.

"Let's hurry up and go, Silpennon-nim."

"I'm miserable right now, so why are being testy, Deyus?"

"Ah. Let's hurry up and go! Let's go catch some monsters!"

"You bastard!?"

They had gained a new party member. She was a level 231 holy priestess with an Innate ability. If he wanted to, Silpennon could claim their party to be the hero's party. That was how strong they were. Silpennon's party once again moved to explore more Dungeons.

No one in this world knew about their existence. When their power was revealed, it would truly fuck over the Demon King's army.

On the other hand, Artpe's party was moving down their path at a much faster rate than Silpennon's party. It wasn't comparable. While they were traveling from Aedia to Paladia, the distance between the two parties had widened. Silpennon's party had to catch up with them.

"In this venture, we were able to locate all the Warp Gates that were placed around the continent. Moreover, we obtained the right to use it. Hue hue. It is as if the hero's party got a system upgrade."

"System······?"

"Hoo. Listen to me."

Artpe kindly gave an explanation.

"In a normal hero's tale, the early stage is focused on the hero. The details of the towns and Dungeons visited by the hero is focused around the hero."

"I guess so?"

"It doesn't matter which novel you look at. Once one goes past the halfway point of the story, a powerful foe that opposes the hero is introduced. It could be a country, continent, Dragon or the Demon King's army. No one wants to hear about what the hero ate at which town. No one wants to read about a depiction of which woman was pretty in which town."

"The audience wants to listen to the hero's exploits instead of such minute details."

"That's right."

This was why the heroes in the stories gained abilities like Warp, long distance teleportation spell or a pet that could fly very quickly through the air. They gained something that would increase their mobility. It wasn't as if their abilities had risen. These elements were introduced, because it made it more convenient for the plot to progress!

"It's been a while, but you are saying that we are once again walking on the path of the hero's story."

"Amazing! I never knew it could be interpreted that way!"

"·····it feels as if Artpe is acting arrogant when talking about unnecessary topics."

Vadinet's goal was to flatter Artpe. It didn't matter what he said. It hadn't taken long, but Maetel had become pretty good at undercutting Vadinet's words. He thought it might be fun to travel with this two....

"We'll gather our party members. I have a lot of presents I want to give to Sienna."

As he spoke those words, he showed them spell books that dealt with holy magic and holy battle magic. Maetel wanted to ask him when he had the time to take such items. However, when she saw Roa poked her head out from Artpe's arms, Maetel decided to give up on questioning him.

"Everything within the temple exists for the hero. Is Sienna perhaps....?"

"She's female. Regina is with her, and she is also female."

"······."

Female wasn't quite right when describing Regina. It was a bit tricky to describe her, but on the surface, it sounded as if Regina was a normal woman. When Vadinet heard Maetel's words, her face stiffened. However, Vadinet tried very hard to regain her composure.

"I...I see. It is understandable. Of course, others would recognize Artpe-nim's appeal....."

"Let's move."

He had done his best put Vadinet's dark side to sleep. He didn't want to disturb it, so he quickly used Blink. He moved his party a distance of several hundred meters.

Vadinet and Maetel meekly clung to Artpe. In the next moment, they glared at each other then they snorted. It was as if they had promised to act this way. He couldn't believe how synchronized their actions were in dissing each other.

"If the second holy priestess hadn't shown up, I would have been able to slander you without much worry."

"Shall I bring down the number of holy priestess to one? It is still possible. I can do it right now."

"Hoo hoo. That is quite the joke. Now that I think about it, can a hero be called a hero if one attacks a holy priestess? What do you think, Artpe-nim?"

"······are we really the hero's party?"

At that moment, it had been 20 days since Sienna had been separated from Artpe. She was showing deficiency syndrome in regards to Artpe. Regina had on an expression that made her thoughts unknowable. Both of them were following the orders of Artpe, and they were moving north of Daitan. They arrived at the Ice Continent of Glacia.

"Heeng. I want to see oppa. I'm cold. I want to see oppa."

"Sienna, your level is high enough that you shouldn't be affected by the cold temperature."

"No, my heart is cold. Oppa isn't here, so my heart has frozen solid."

"As expected of you, that is a funny joke."

"······Rei, why do you hate me?"

The two of them were over level 270, so they didn't feel cold standing in the middle of the Ice continent. This was why Artpe hadn't worried too much when he sent them to this location.

"If we stay here, we won't know when spring comes. No, what is spring in the first place? If it is a spring without oppa, can I really call it spring?"

"Sienna has abundance of feeling. Envious."

However, Artpe hadn't joked about his order. They had to find the Ice Continent of Glacia before spring comes. It was a must!

"If you look at the map, it has the locations of the Dungeons. Let's stick to this place for now. We'll hunt and grow from here."

"Yes. Let's quickly level up, so we can leap over Maetel unni."

"Agreed. ······what is that?"

They didn't know that Artpe and Maetel was at the cusp of reaching level 300 after defeating one of the Four Heavenly King. The two of them had a mutual understanding as their desire burned. However, at that moment, Regina's eyes saw something weird.

"Huh?"

They saw an abundance of steam rise in the middle of the continent of Glacia, which was covered with ice.

Sienna also saw this. She tilted her head in confusion..

"What is that? Ah. I think I can see a person in the distance."

"······I detect a powerful Mana. It is a ridiculously strong Mana."

"Uh······ I think I recognize that Mana......."

It was an oppressive amount of heat. It turned the cold air washing over their skin into hot air. It seemed this being wasn't consciously using her Mana, yet all the nearby Mana had contracted into her. Even if the being took a step backwards, she would be able to secure her own domain.

Yes, this was true even if she was in the Ice continent, which was filled with frozen and cold Mana.

"Rei, let's run away."

"Agreed."

Sienna and Regina decided to run away before this other person noticed them. Regina tried to use the teleportation Artifact, which had been provided by Artpe for emergency situations. She planned on getting them out there as soon as possible, but they were unlucky. Their enemy sensed them!

"Ah. Girls! Help meeeeeeee!"

"Koohk!?"

Unlike the power she possessed, the woman sounded as if she had a bit of a screw loose. Her voice made Sienna take a misstep, and she sprained her ankle. Regina desperately tried to support her, but their enemy had already noticed them. It won't be easy to run away!

"Everything keeps melting here! My legs keeps getting stuckkkkkkk!"

"······change our plan, Sienna?"

"Yes, it is impossible to run away now... Eh-whew. Let's go towards that woman."

"Agreed."

They couldn't run away or fight their enemy.

What were they supposed to do?

Regina gave up on the plan to run away. She decided to make contact with their enemy.

When they got closer, the other side recognized Sienna first. The woman acted as if they were an acquaintance. The woman's body was already half-submerged in water. The ice around her was melting, and the water was boiling. It was a scary sight.

"Ah. I was right! You are the kid I met before! Huhk! You became really strong!?"

"You are still the same.... You are hot!"

Her name was Etna Carlyfate Mirecard. She was the woman occupying the role of a Four Heavenly King.