“Shiro, where have you been?! I was worried for you!”

The moment Shiro came back to the camp, Ryouta enveloped her into a hug while scolding her.

“I thought you…” Ryouta tightened his hug, whispering, “I’m glad…”

“Ryouta?” Shiro pouted, teary-faced, as if she understood that she did something bad.

After lecturing the white-haired girl for half a day, he finally felt all his anger and worry dissipate. Shiro had been by his side for so long, and he had begun to see the girl as a treasured family member. When she suddenly disappeared from the camp, he almost went crazy searching for her.

“Shiro, where did you go? You were gone for quite some time.”

“Bath!” Shiro tilted her head, as if thinking, “then, nap~”

“…You fell asleep while taking a bath?”

“Un~”

“You defenceless girl!” Ryouta hit her head, reprising his lecture to the girl. It was lucky that she didn’t encounter any danger, he thought.

Ryouta seemed to forget that Shiro was, in actual fact, stronger than she looked. If anything happened, her [Barrier] was enough to protect her from the demons. Since he was too worried, the thought completely slipped his mind.

“Shiro, listen.” Ryouta placed his hands on her shoulders, his countenance changing into seriousness.

“Tomorrow, we’ll be entering the castle,” he paused, mulling over the words he was about to say. “We… I, might not come back, so you have to be prepared. Shiro, remember, if you can’t win, then run! As long as you’re still alive, then it’s fine.”

“Ryouta…”

“Okay? Shiro?”

“Mn…”

“Yo, what’s with the solemn atmosphere?” Hal said lightly, coming from behind them. His severed arm was already bandaged and he looked better than before.

“Hal, you should be resting right now.”

“Don’t mind it, don’t mind it~”

“Hal…” Ryouta’s tone turned into reproach.

“Anyways, the guild master is having a meeting with the Heroes and the rest. We should go join them,” Hal said, pointing at the direction of a tent with his head. “After all, we’re S-ranks. Our input is valuable, too.” He smiled lopsidedly.

“—the war is tilting in our favour. Most of the demon lord army’s strong fighters have already been defeated. We should take this chance to defeat him once and for all. I suggest that we charge the castle as soon as possible.”

Another voice refuted, “No. While we are indeed winning, it is only by a slight margin. The casualties we’ve suffered is too much, and everybody is too injured and too exhausted to continue fighting.”

“But we are so close!” The earlier voice argued. “If we’re talking about casualties, then we should go to the castle and find Kyoko—the [Priestess], first! She can use [Mega Heal], which will be very beneficial to us!”

“No, that’s simply a reckless plan! In the first place, we don’t even know if the Priestess is still alive or not. Sending men to the demon’s lair without proper thoughts is simply ridiculous! Are you trying to create more casualties than we already have?!”

The two voices continued to argue back and forth. Their voices were so loud that even the people in the vicinity of the tent could hear them.

When Hal, Ryouta and Shiro entered the tent, they were met with the scene of their guild master butting heads with a man dressed in gold and white armour.

Hal whistled. “How rare~ I’ve never met anyone who could make the guild master this angry before.”

“Who are you?! What are you doing here?!” The armour-wearing young man sharply questioned.

“Hal, an S-rank adventurer. You must be the [Hero], huh, Mr. Flashy Armour?”

“S-rank? You don’t look like it. And don’t call me Flashy Armour.” The [Hero]. Saotome Ryuuji, frowned at the man’s frivolous tone.

The guild master harrumphed. “Hal, show some respect to our great Hero over here,” he said, his tone sarcastic. “Come join us, Hal, Ryouta.”

“Ryouta…?” Saotome Ryuuji furrowed his eyebrows. The name sounded awfully familiar. Perhaps because it was a Japanese name, so he immediately recognised the name.

Ryuuji’s gaze fell towards the unsmiling Ryouta. In his mind, Ryouta’s face fuzzily overlapped with the weak and coward classmate of his from two years ago.

“Oh, you’re that guy. What are you doing here? This isn’t a place that just anyone could waltz in.” He sent a pointed look at Ryouta.

Ryouta ignored the other man, simply turning to face the other men in the room, “Captain and the rest, it’s been a while.”

“…! Ryouta?!” The captain of the royal guard was stunned. He did not expect to meet the boy here. Although he had many questions that he wanted to ask, he knew now was not the correct time and place for it.

“Shiro, come sit down here.” The guild master, noticing the white-haired young girl trailing behind the two men, ushered her to sit down on the chair that he had picked up from the ground. Previously, he had been sitting on it normally, but due to being angered by the young Hero Ryuuji, he had recklessly sent in flying. Thankfully, the chair was sturdy so it did not suffer much harm.

“Okay~”

When the girl came out from behind Ryouta, Ryuuji was stunned silly. The little girl had white hair that extended down her back, and her big, blue eyes contained a feeling of naivety and pureness that was rarely seen. Her pink lips curved into a light smile, making others mesmerised.

He had never seen such a beautiful girl. Even the princess of Valdavia, renowned as the number one beauty in the kingdom, could not match the little girl in terms of looks.

A spark of interest bloomed in his heart, and a look of desire passed through his eyes. He felt the urgent need to possess the girl. If he could make the girl fall for him… Ryuuji smiled, thinking that the little girl would probably not refuse him who was the person with the highest status in the place. He was convinced that she would easily fall for him, too, just like all the other girls around him.

Although the other men were also entranced by her, none was as obsessed as Ryuuji.