Chapter 86

「My family was once considered nobility several generations ago, but now in my father’s generation, we are just a slightly affluent family . 」

We began to shake a little bit as Yoru picked up speed while turning the curve on the path .

Ria, who seemed like she was going to fall, panicked and tightly held onto Yoru .

「I, I became part of the royal family fifty years ago, and I have been living like that since then . However, one day, the village that my family lived in was attacked by a monster . Everyone, including my mother, father and all the villagers died…I thought that they had died . 」

Saying up to here, Ria bit down hard on her lips .

Seeing that the atmosphere around Ria had changed, I tilted my head in confusion .

「What, what was the monster that attacked the village?」

For some reason, I had a bad feeling .

There was hatred in those eyes of Ria’s .

「It was a slime . Though If that were true, then all the villagers who’d been swallowed up by a monster that could’ve easily been rescued . Unfortunately, that was not a normal slime, but a black slime . Certainly, there are various types of slimes, but I have never seen a black slime before until that day . 」

I let out a low gasp .

My premonition had come true .

Speaking of black slimes, that was the slime that had captured Amelia when I first met her .

I had thought that if that slime only captured elves, those who targeted elves for their beauty had sent the slime so that they could enslave the elves .

However, if they even went as far as to injure beastmen, then that’s a different story .

Then there was the encounter I had with the kidnapper from the elven territory . He was armed with a sword of Uruk and seemed to be a knight as well, which bothered me . Just what was going on with the beastmen .

「…that slime is definitely something that was artificially created and dispatched by someone . 」

「What did you mean just now, when you said that you thought that they had died?」

I asked Ria who had her head down and was muttering something .

The look on Ria’s face darkened even more .

「I said it when I first met you, didn’t I? I asked you『do you know, just how much was sacrificed to summon them』 . 」

「…oi, oi, you couldn’t possibly be trying to say that the kidnapped beastmen were sacrificed for the summoning, right . 」

I thought back to what Ria had said before we entered the dungeon .

However, I had already thrown those thoughts from that time out of my head .

I didn’t know that what the reason for going so far as to sacrifice people just to summon heroes was, and at that time, I had thought there was a proper reason for summoning .

However, my hopes were overturned and Ria nodded .

「That was exactly what happened . I knew that I was the Hand of Protection, so I had affixed a barrier on my family and the villagers just to be on the safe side . The barriers of the Hand of Protection were different from those of normal barrier masters . It wasn’t just stationary objects, I could affix barriers on mobile objects as well . 」

I see, if that’s the case, she could affix a barrier onto people themselves .

Her attack power was low, but in regards to her defense, it had a similar effect as the barriers .

「Just as the name Hand of Protection suggests, if the target of the barrier died with the barrier intact, the barrier will naturally disappear, such as when they were poisoned while the barrier defended against physical attacks . And when that happens, I would be able to sense it . …when they were being swallowed up by the slime, my barrier had yet to disappear completely . And yet, one day, all my barriers suddenly disappeared . At that time, I had already been adopted into the royal family, so I made full use of my authority as a princess and inquired about what happened at that time . 」

I looked down .

From this, even if I didn’t hear the rest, I understood .

「There was nothing within the beastmen territory, but that had occured within the human territory . The accursed hero summoning . After ascertaining that the timing of my barriers disappearing had aligned with the time when a vast amount of magic power had been poured into the magic circle used for the hero summoning, I headed towards the human territory to take a look at the heroes, even if it were just a glimpse of them . 」

There, she met me .

I suddenly thought of it .

Did Ria not know that I had come to this world via the hero summoning .

When I first met Ria, I had called out to her, but I had left the ranks of the heroes .

And, even if she she investigated me prior to meeting Amelia, she would only know about the names “One Accompanied by Monsters” and the one that I had unwillingly accepted, “Assassin of Darkness” . There was a high possibility that she did not know about my summoning .

To begin with, the only one among the beastmen who noticed that I had been one of the ones who were summoned as a hero was Linga .

Though I was an acquaintance of the elven king, it would be hard to imagine that Ria who had just become part of the royal family and Linga who was a mere guildmaster had some kind of connection .

Moreover, every time someone said the word ‘hero’, Ria emitted a small amount of bloodlust .

However, it was not directed towards me .

…should I tell her?

Since we didn’t know just how powerful the demon was, I had prepared for the worst and permitted Ria to accompany us, but truthfully, I planned on fighting the demon by myself .

Even if I told her now that I was one of the people who was summoned, it wouldn’t be a big deal even if I left Ria behind now .

Ria was not in a position where she could travel together with me .

However, let’s tell her soon .

「With my father being an accessory maker for the royal family, coupled with the fact that I had the Hand of Protection, I was adopted into the royal family . 」

Ria ended the conversation with that .

She looked at me who was frowning with confusion and said this .

「I had gotten excited as I was talking and everything was chronologically disordered, but the stories from my past aren’t very important, so it would be fine if you forgot about it . 」

It is important!, I endured and did my best to restrain myself from yelling that out loud, and I asked her about what had bothered me the most .

I would tell her about me coming here through the summoning after asking that .

「Then, what is the thing that you have to tell Amelia no matter what? I’ve only heard about it a little, but you have not met Amelia before . 」

The probability of Ria, who had no rights to the throne and was adopted, and Amelia being acquaintances was an absolute zero .

Moreover, elves and beastmen were on bad terms with each other .

That made it even more impossible .

Slightly hesitating, Ria started speaking .