Chapter 13: If that was a lie….

If that was a lie…..

“Hey Nest, wake up.”
“I-I’m tired today so I’m sleeping….”

I’m sorry for Aura who came to wake me, but I’m tired from yesterday’s matter so I want to sleep more.

“You can’t. We have work today, everyone in the subjugation party is waiting for you.”
“I’ll take a day off work.”
“I already said you can’t. Look, stop being so irresponsible and get up!!”

Aura takes away my blanket. With no other choice, I go to work today as well.

 

Yesterday I fought an army of goblins. I thought that detaining them was the best action I could take but in the end, the goblins were so weak that I annihilated (?) them all.
I had my face covered by the hood so I don’t think I’ve been exposed though.
However, there is something bothering me about what I’ve been hearing from the voices in the vicinity.

“Hey, did you hear!? The story about the one who annihilated the monster army single-handedly!”
“I know! The [Jet-black Saviour]-sama, right!”

Who’s that!? No, the [Jet-black Saviour]-sama is obviously me but….. even so, it’s so uncool!! What’s with that [Jet-black Saviour] title !!
Whild groaning, I hear of someone’s suspicions.

“Um.. That [Jet-black Saviour]-sama wouldn’t happen to be Nest, would it?”
“Uuh….”

Come to think of it, I never told Aura and the others. I wanted to keep it a secret if possible….

“Eh, it might be Nest, really?”
“Hmm, I wonder. He did leave the town for a bit though.”
“Sigh.. You don’t have to hide it. It’s not like anyone is criticising you….”

I decided that it wasn’t good to continue hiding it from Aura and the others so I told them the story while removing some of the facts.
By ‘some of the facts’, I mean the part where I’ve been constantly cutting off my arms or legs. After coming to this town, I learnt that that was abnormal so I stopped doing it recently but I can still do it whenever I want.
But I can’t let Aura and the others worry so I stayed silent about it.
Everyone promised to keep my secret, so it shouldn’t be discovered.

There is one person I underestimated though. Who? Asha-san, of course.
Awaiting us at the guild wasn’t the injured subjugation members, nor was it the housewives. It was a smiling Asha-san.

“Arnest-san, can I have a moment?”

Ah, she’s totally angry. She’s being all formal and calling me Arnest.

“Arnest-san, do you know why I called you?”

The reason Asha-san is calling me over should be because I went home without doing anything yesterday, huh.

“Err.. because I didn’t help the subjugation yesterday?”
“No? It has nothing to do with that.”

Asha-san refutes my words with a smile still on her face.

“Um.. then….”

What else did I do to be called out like this? It shouldn’t be that I went to assault the goblins alone yesterday….. eh, it shouldn’t be, right…?

“You don’t know? Then shall I tell you?”

This Asha-san has a smile fixed on her face. It’s seriously scary.

“Then I’ll get to the point, that [Jet-black Saviour]-sama is you, right?”

I-I was exposed!! H-how come!?

“N-no? I-Ith’s no’ me!?”

Ah, I bit my tongue again. This feels like déjà vu.

“Really, is that so? I’ll believe you then but if that was a lie….. You understand the consequences, right? (smile)”
“I-I’m sorry!! It was a lie! It was me!!”
“Good. Ah, I just wanted to make sure. You don’t have to worry about it, okay?”

A-Asha-san is too scary….
Let’s not make her angry….. I’ll take this to heart.

“B-but how did you know it was me?”
“I know that much. Because in this town, the only one at that level is Nest.”
“Eh, but I’ve never fought monsters before though?”
“When I watched you cut off your hand last time, I had thought you were very good with a knife.”

S-so she thought such a thing. That’s incredible, Asha-san…. Even though I didn’t notice it at all…

“I know that Nest-san is strong but don’t be too reckless! Because even I will get worried….”
“Ah, yes. I’m sorry.”
“Jeez. Do you really understand??”

She glares at me with upturned eyes. I was surprised by Asha-san’s unusual actions.

“S-so even Asha makes that kind of face. Honestly, it’s unexpected but it’s c-cute, you know?”

I only realised that I was saying something embarrassing halfway through but I couldn’t leave my sentence unfinished! Or so I had thought, but I was so overcome by embarrassment that I ended up turning the last part into a question.

“W-what are you saying!? Please don’t say such strange things!!”

Leaving behind those words, Asha-san ran away. I really can’t match up to her, huh…..

 

I forgot to mention but the medical treatment for the subjugation party kept me so busy that I thought I’d die.