Side: Pricia

Hero-sama… Kakeru really was acting a little strange.

The first to notice something might be wrong was the Demon Lord. She'd pointed out that I should keep an eye on Kakeru's condition.

It galled me to admit it, but she was right.

While Kakeru was in the bath, I needed to talk with Sanctina—who had just examined him—about what we'd do going forward.

"Sanctina, how is Kakeru?"

"For now it isn't serious. He still seems to be tense. But… what he went through over there has had no small effect on Kakeru-san. There's a chance it could get worse from here. We won't know until we've watched him for a while…"

Now that I thought about it, I had never once considered what became of a Hero after he returned to his own world. I regretted that.

"Filia, Noctia. Do either of you know anything about what happens to a Hero afterward? Unfortunately, none of the books I saw in the castle made any mention of it. I will not speak of it to anyone, even once we are back over there. Please, tell me."

What is a Hero, really? An arbiter dispatched by the gods, a protector of the human race—there are all sorts of legends handed down, but…

"Most Heroes return to their homeland. That said, there are a fair number of records of Heroes who stayed. Most of those who remained lived quiet lives. Your own royal family should carry Hero blood, too. And there have been Heroes who lived out their days among the demon race and the elves as well."

Filia's expression flickered with hesitation, but the one who answered at once was the Demon Lord, Noctia.

"Among the demon race… which means things were never settled with the Demon Lord of that time? No—I suppose I should say they chose not to settle it?"

"Yes, both of those happened. There have been Heroes who reconciled with a Demon Lord."

So that was it, after all. Judging by Filia's face, she must have known. Elves are long-lived, after all.

"And the Heroes who returned to their homeland—what became of them?"

"I'm afraid I don't know that either. Throughout history there have been those, of every race, who tried to make the crossing into a Hero's world. And there must have been Heroes who stayed who, in their later years, wished to go home. But the demon race has no record of anyone succeeding at the crossing into another world except right after a Demon Lord's defeat."

What did Kakeru gain, as a Hero? He came away with magic, Skills, and physical ability—but in this peaceful country, would a Hero's power, which makes him an outsider here, be of any use at all? If anything…

"Either way, for the time being we have no choice but to live here. Let us all watch over Kakeru together. Noctia, I'm sorry, but I'll ask for your cooperation as well."

"Of course, I don't mind. The Hero and the Demon Lord are two sides of the same coin. I've had no small interest in how a Hero's road ends."

I don't understand it. I don't, but—maybe I've caught a small glimpse of what we ought to do here.

Because I'd come to know that no matter how he might be praised in another world he can never set foot in again, a Hero who returns home gains nothing at all.

Side: Amahashi Kakeru

When it came to the bath, I always took the last turn. I mean, it felt wrong to go ahead of the women, and going somewhere in the middle never let me settle either.

If I thought of it as a share house, I supposed it wasn't so unthinkable.

Since I was last anyway, I sank slowly into the now slightly-cooled, lukewarm water.

The magic items were finished, too, so for now the danger of us causing a stir as people from another world had probably dropped. Still, as long as we were going outside, they ought to choose and buy proper clothes for themselves.

Also, I should get phone contracts sorted out soon and teach them how to use them. There was no way a young woman these days couldn't even work a smartphone. The accounts would have to be under my name, I supposed.

Which meant the next problem was funds. Ten thousand a month per person wasn't going to cut it. Not for grown women. We'd need twenty, maybe thirty thousand.

Grandpa and Grandma's inheritance had, by their will, passed to me rather than to my parents. Drawing from that wasn't entirely off the table. I'd talked it over with my parents and managed the money myself.

There was also the option of selling the jewels and such that Noctia had, but that one I'd better leave alone. A high schooler holding gems of unknown origin would be way too suspicious.

Get a part-time job, then? No—it wasn't the kind of money a high schooler could earn in the gaps between schoolwork.

I'd just pull from the inheritance for now. It wasn't frivolous spending, and Grandpa and Grandma would understand.

Yeah—tomorrow I'd withdraw some money and go take a look at phones.

Once I'd decided what to do, I got out of the bath. Though before getting out, I drained the tub and cleaned it. Washing it every single time I finished bathing kept it from being much of a chore.

"Kakeru, do you have a moment?"

I'd gotten out of the bath and was in the kitchen thinking about tomorrow's meals when Filia called out to me, but…

It was just that I might have gotten a little flustered. Come to think of it—Filia. She didn't wear a bra or panties, did she. Her large chest was faintly showing through her shirt.

Meeting up after dinner in relaxed clothes like this was something that never once happened over there. And on my end, I'd been off training alone at night, too.

Even after getting back here, things had been hectic—all the talking and the rest of it.

Then again, she was an elf, so her sense of things like that was just different. Her, I mean. Well, I'd just keep my eyes off it.

"What's up?"

"The cooking, the cleaning—we were thinking we'd like to do some of it too…"

"You don't have to push yourselves. Until you're used to life here, I'll handle it. Ah—maybe you could each take care of your own rooms. That's where we'll start."

With their attendants truly gone, we all had to move and talk on our own now. Filia aside, for Pricia and Sanctina even an environment like this had to be unusual.

How to be considerate, how to adjust to each other—that was something they themselves seemed to be struggling with.

As for the room assignments, there were three empty rooms. One of them was being used for making magic items, so Noctia would just keep that one. Then Pricia would take a room of her own, and Filia and Sanctina would share one.

I'd left this part to the women. I'd offered to clear out my own room too, but they'd declined. The truth was, if a guy was sleeping out in the living room or thereabouts, that would bother them in its own way, so it made sense.

"You're not overdoing it?"

"There's a lot to think about, but no, I'm not overdoing it. Actually, even before I went over there things were already in upheaval. It was right around when I thought I'd finally settled down after Grandma passed away. I hadn't gotten used to life here yet either."

So she was worried about me. Well, that was only natural. In a world where they didn't know up from down, they had to be anxious. And the only one they could lean on was me, of all people.

"Once you get used to it, I think life over here isn't so bad. I'd like you to think of it as a different life from who you were over there, and enjoy it a little. I'm thinking we'll head out somewhere on the next day off, too. We need to do some shopping, and there are all sorts of places women can go and have fun."

In Japan, a woman could drink alone or even travel on her own. As much as it pained me to say it, in that other world that would be hard.

The grueling battles they'd kept fighting—everyone had been through the same. I wanted life here to be, for them, a moment's rest.

Over these past few days, that much, at least, was something I'd come to feel.