Chapter 36: Finally, it was Ren and His Team's Turn

The next morning.

Several adventurers who had been in need of rescue and some of the examinees who were not in good physical condition and were deemed to be in need of early dismounting left the fort.

The fallen adventurers in particular weren’t able to move without assistance, so they were slowly being moved.

As a result, every single adventurer who came to the rescue with Ren left the fort.

“Hero-dono! Thanks to you, we're saved! 』

These were the words of Maidas as he left.

“Excuse me. My name and the way you called me hero-dono is…』

“I'm sorry. I don't know why hero-dono requested it----. I'm sorry I forgot.”

He carried his partner Kai on his back and descended the mountain with a smile on his face that made Ren really happy.

In addition, the female adventurers also left, which made him somewhat pleased.

The inside of the fort was suddenly deserted due to these effects.

Only a few students and those who had fallen ill, Ren who stayed behind just in case and the adventurers who stayed behind for Ren and Fiona were in the fort.

Then, in the early afternoon of the day.

“I hope I haven't hunted too much.”

“No, it won't be in vain.”

Ren, who had been hunting since early in the morning, said at the entrance to the fort.

When Ren returned to the fort, the two knights who had remained at the fort showed up.

They had been reluctant to leave the hunting to Ren, but in light of what had happened between Ren and Fiona, they had listened to His wishes and stayed behind themselves.

“Oh! This is brilliant!”

“That should be enough for a month!"

After being welcomed by them, Ren unloaded the monsters he’d been carrying outside the entrance to the fort.

“I'm back. How's the treatment of that merchant?”

Ren asked as though he just remembered.

There was talk of Fiona's skill in treating those who had fallen ill. The one who needed to be treated was the merchant in question.

Because of this, it wasn’t unreasonable to say that Fiona shouldn’t be evacuated in the first group.

On the other hand, it was also questionable to let only Fiona and the imperial merchant go down the mountain with priority given to them due to their tight protection. The other boys and girls are also associated with the nobility, and there’s no room for error.

"Fiona-sama says everything is going well.”

“We were relieved. If the merchant had died, it was certain to be troublesome.”

Hearing the knights' reply, Ren nodded his head and said, "Thank goodness”.

If that’s the case, it seems to be quite possible.

(The first group has a forerunner, and it seems to be settling down reasonably quickly.)

The presence of the boys and girls made it necessary to allocate personnel to their escort as well.

Furthermore, they couldn’t ignore the swarm of monsters that attacked Fiona and the others as soon as Ren and the others arrived at the fort.

At one time, there was a plan to send only the forerunners down the mountain to get further reinforcements.

However, due to these circumstances, as well as the fact that the boys and girls were exhausted, it wasn’t a good idea to stay at the fort for too long.

The forerunner descended to call for reinforcements in the village and in Clausel. ......

It’s difficult to wait ten days, or nearly two weeks. Even the beacon wouldn’t be visible from the foothills because of the bad weather over the next few days.

Therefore, as Ren thinks, the first group is also accompanied by a forerunner.

After a certain point, the two knights would leave the group and dismount ahead of the others to call for further assistance.

Naturally, the arrangements were made so that there’d be no hindrance to the boys and girls' escort.

“Leave the processing to us.”

The knight's voice reached Ren's ears as he was thinking.

The knight had taken it upon himself to prepare the monsters Ren and the others had hunted.

“Ren-dono, please go and wash away your sweat.”

“I’ll leave it to you then.”

Ren took advantage of the knights' kindness and entered the fortress alone.

Surprisingly, there’s a place where you can take a hot bath in this fort.

It was the same stone and rugged space as the inside of the fort, but it was a nice place to take a hot bath.

Ren headed straight for the bathroom at the back of the fort.

The hot water had been prepared in advance, so Ren was able to take a quick soak in the warm water.

The bathroom was nothing new, so it didn't leave much of an impression on me. I just wanted to wash up the sweat and warm my body.

(Refreshing).

Slightly wet hair stuck to his neck and forehead.

With no magic tools, I had to rely on towels and natural drying to dry my hair.

While walking with the towel draped around my neck, I passed by the hall where the adventurers were sleeping.

Then, by chance, the door opened.

“----?!"

What emerged was Fiona, looking exhausted.

Fiona was surprised to see Ren appear so close by, and she closed the door with great force, bowing her head and saying, "Oh, I'm sorry!”.

“No, it's my fault for coming so suddenly to your side," 

He apologized out of concern for Fiona, even though it wasn’t his place to apologize.

"......"

“......"

They both fell silent and looked in the direction of the day after tomorrow at the same time.

Ren, who had been overwhelmed by this rigidity, opened his mouth to explain the other day's incident, even though it was sudden.

“Uh ----!”

“That ----!”

Their voices coincidentally overlapped.

The two of them were looking at each other at the same time, so their eyes were crossed as if they were staring at each other.

“W-What do you want to say, please go on......?"

Ren's voice was squeezed out, unable to endure the silence.

Fiona thinks for a moment, then takes a fearful half step back before speaking.

What she said was something that made Ren stunned.

“I heard that you all came from Clausel. ----“

Fiona almost changed the subject.

But she quickly rushed to clarify,

“I'm s- sorry! I know we had an agreement of non-interference....”

“Nevermind. But how did you know where I live?”

Fiona hesitated to answer when I asked her back.

But her curiosity got the better of her and she opened her mouth.

“Actually, I have a benefactor in Clausel. I heard that you are from Clausel, so I wanted to ask you if you have met him. I had a feeling that ...... you were close in age to him."

Fiona didn’t mention the words "saved my life.

The reason has to do with the fact that her father, Ulyses, hid Fiona's condition, and in order not to exaggerate the situation in light of her own position.

So, she didn’t say anything more.

“As expected. Please forget I said that.”

Fiona bowed her head deeply and felt regret at this exchange.

She had broken the promise of noninterference she had made to the adventurer, and she had backed down in case it had affected the other student’s disembarkation.

"I’m sorry. This is as good as breaking our promise of non-interference.”

“No! I'm the one who asked back, so don't worry!”

Fiona bowed her head many times before leaving the scene.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

After a few days, the students seemed to have gotten used to the adventurers.

But there was no relationship of any kind between the students and the adventurers, and the promise of noninterference made on the first day was kept.

The inside of the fortress, armed and cold, didn’t change its impression even though a large group of people remained.

...... that, too, would finally come to an end.

One evening, the knights and adventurers returned to the fort.

They were all tired, but they still pushed on along the snow-covered road to evacuate those who were still left in the fort. The knights who had been waiting at the foot of the mountain were here as reinforcements, carrying more equipment and magical tools for the descent.

They had the maximum number of people to march through the snow.

“Huh?”

Maidas, who was leading the adventurers, was nowhere to be seen.

Ren wondered why he couldn’t see Maidas in the group.

He had to ask why.

“I'm sorry. Where's Maidas-san?"

He asked a knight who had just arrived.

The knight told him that Maidas had left a message on a piece of parchment and gone off at the foot of the mountain.

The reason, he said, was "from the fact that Kai is still not in good health”.

It seems that this happened while the knights were taking care of the students, and they couldn’t stop him even if they wanted to.

The adventurers, too, were frustrated that he was gone when they came to find him.

“He has no sense of duty. He can't just turn his back on hero-dono just because he’s desperate.” 

“That's right. He owes him a favor, but he’s pathetic.”

The adventurers who were listening to the conversation made fun of Maidas.

The knights, perhaps tormented by their own mixed emotions, didn’t object to these words, but kept their mouths shut.

“You think so too, don’t you, knights? We were in a situation and you carried us adventurers on your backs. But he's ungrateful, isn't he?"

“I can't say from our point of view. On the contrary, we helped the students to evacuate.”

“So we're going in circles.”

“That's right. We've been working side by side with you, so you can't say that here.”

“If we adventurers don't return the favor, we will eventually be abandoned. I understand how Maidas and the others feel, but his partner isn’t going to die, so he should have helped us out here.”

Fortunately, there seems to be no rift between the knights and adventurers.

The adventurers here in particular have taken the knight's side and voiced their opinions, and many of them have been taken aback by Maidas.

"Anyway, Hero-dono," 

One of the adventurers put his hand on Ren's shoulder.

He called him "Hero-dono" without hesitation, as there were no students around, including Fiona, taking the exam.

“We'll stick with you to the end. We owe you a debt of gratitude for saving our young men in the case of the steel-eating gargoyle."

Ren felt reassured by his words.

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