CH 77

Chapter 77: The Two Heroes of Legend and One Heroic Warrior

Yuu: “Here, just wait there while I put the laundry away.” With that, Yuu led us to the Orphanage [The Apple Tree House].

Inside, we were welcomed, by a peaceful-looking grandmother, Sister Fi-Ne. She is the head of this orphanage.

She carries a kind smile all the time, and the atmosphere around her is very calm and relaxing. I can see why she was appointed to run this orphanage.

We were led to the guest meeting room, and we sat at a table as Ms. Fi-Ne greeted us with a very low, bowed head.

Fi-Ne: “Thank you so much for coming all this way to come see Yuu.”

Ageha: “Wellー she is my friend, and Yuu has fixed me up so many times, so I owe her a lot.”

Ageha laughs with a <Ha ha ha!>

……….and it’s true. Without Yuu, Ageha and I both would have died multiple times on the frontlines.

On that note, we have nothing but gratitude towards her.

Jend: “Oh～ um, we’re…...so, Henry’s friends with Miss Eustacia, so when he decided to come, we tagged along with him….”

Fi-Ne: “Oh, I see. This is a wonderful town, so I hope you enjoy your stay.” Jend felt guilty for coming with us, but Ms. Fi-Ne laughed merrily as she replied.

Jend: “Yes, thank you so much. This is, um, for Ms. Eustacia, and a gift for everyone here. I hope you enjoy it.”

And Jend passes to her the box of snacks we brought. Inside are the famous Flowtier cookies.

Fi-Ne: “Well, well. Thank you so much.” Ms. Fi-Ne receives and sets the package aside.

Fi-Ne: “By the way, Miss Ageha, Mr. Henry. How was Yuu when she was at Ligaleo? I see in the Adventurer’s News articles about her occasionally, but I would love to hear thoughts from her friends directly if possible.”

Henry: “Ohー, yes...well, I recently relocated away from Ligaleo a half-year ago, so I don’t know about any of the recent developments but….”

I take a moment to filter through my memories...

...about Yuu in Ligaleo...

…….yeah...

If I tell her straight up, she might have a heart attack so let’s not.

Henry: “Well...umm….Yuu definitely lives up to her title of Hero of Legend and her Healing Magecraft is amazing. Every Adventurer at Ligaleo is thankful for her presence and efforts.”

Ageha: “And if any idiot keeps getting hurt over and over, she would sock them in the face after healing them too!”

Ageha! Stop! You’re ruining all my careful efforts!

Fi-Ne: “Well, well. That sounds more like her. That girl, she was such an energetic tomboy growing up. She was acting like a Saint straight out of one of those children’s storybooks, so I wasn’t sure if that was even her or not.” AーAnd of course, since Ms. Fi-Ne raised her from a baby, she knew Yuu really well.

Then I guess it’s okay to just be frank with her.

Henry: “And what elseー She loves to fight close-range with that Morning Star of hers, and I keep telling her to stop, but when she gets pissed off, she has this awful habit of charging in head first.”

Ageha: “Yeah, yeah. When Demonic Creatures attacked at night, her sleep was interrupted, and she totally snapped and charged straight into the group. Henry and I woke up because of that andー”

Henry: “You’re going to ruin my beautiful skinー! Like that, right? That was hilarious. …..except she tried to fight them in her pajamas, and that wasn’t a laughing matter at all.”

I remember having to go and hold her back while trying to calm her down.

Ageha: “I remember how desperate you were at the time, Henry.”

Henry: “She was going straight into a pack of Demonic Creatures with zero armor on. Of course I’ll panic.”

And both Ageha and I look at the entrance to the room at the same time.

Henry: “I don’t remember getting thanked for all my troubles thenー”

Ageha: “I even pitched in and took out those noisy Demonic Creatures tooー”

The door opened, and with a rock hard fist gripped and shaking, Yuu appeared.

Yuu: “.......Henry, Ageha. Did you guys come to see how I was doing? Or you just wanted to come make fun of me?” Her smile was strained hard, and Yuu glares at Ageha and myself.

From this distance, even if she tried to punch us, we can easily dodge and take cover.

I was chuckling to myself, when Yuu releases her fist.

……….hm? It’s odd that she instantly calmed down like that.

As my suspicion grew, Yuu smiled kindly and…

Yuu: “Oh, that’s right. Everyone in Henry’s party, did you know? Henry’s biggest attack is throwing his Godly Equipment Spear, but that move is called, [The Great Heavenly Destruction Spear・One Throw Thousand Deaths]! Did you know it was called that?!”

AAAAAAAAGYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHーーーーー?!?!?

Henry: “Stop! Stop digging up my embarrassing past!”

Ageha: “It wasn’t that long ago to call it the past, right Henry? That was...let’s see, about 2 months after you defeated Gilverte I think.” You don’t have to determine the exact time! I was still in revenge mode then, and I wasn’t thinking straight!

I didn’t want to just call it a Spear throw, because it felt lacking, so I spent some time thinking of a name for the move and revealed it to them…………….and now that I think about it, both of them were laughing their heads off then!

Yuu: “Ageha, you also use a weird move named Ageha・Neck Slash.”

Ageha: “? What do you mean weird? Isn’t that a cool name? Ageha・Neck Slash.” ………….hmph, Yuu, you still have a long way to go. Ageha’s sense of style is completely below the worst, imaginable line. If you want to get at her then…..

Henry: “Oh yeah, Ageha. You’re all about beheading your enemies, but a while back, when you fought a Cerberus, you didn’t even go for the neck and just smashed its head in. Do you remember that?”

Ageha: “WHAー?! Henry, why are you bringing that up!?”

Well, I did say it to embarrass her, but…..why would she be embarrassed of this in the first place?

Ageha: “Tsch! If you want to play dirty, I’ll reveal the biggest, most embarrassing secret I got out of the Old Man Ezeal. HeyーHeyー Teo, did you know? These two, when they were going out, they fed each other cake!”

That was something I begrudgingly did because Yuu wanted to do it!!

…………..OH NO?!

Yuu: “Ageha, if that’s how low you want to go, I have some material as well…..”

Ageha: “Hm?” Yuu: “Did you know? Ageha has a perfect line of 3 moles on her buttー! Oh my gosh! That’s so embarrassingー!” Wait, really?

Ageha: “Henry! Stop imagining it!”

Henry: “I’m not!”

I spat out my retort.

Cyril: “.........why are they endlessly bringing each other down without any regard for preserving their own dignities?”

Jend: “I dunno.”

Cyril and Jend’s voice didn’t reach us three in a frenzied skirmish.

We endlessly screamed and argued at one another…

……...even though we are the leaders of the newest Adventurers who reach Ligaleo, Sister Fi-Ne finally had to cut in with “Enough of this” before we finally quit.

<<<<>>>>

After that...

We were invited to eat dinner at the Orphanage, and because it might be difficult finding an inn after dark, they asked if we could spend the night there instead.

Henry: “Um, is this really okay, Ms. Fi-Ne?”

Fi-Ne: “Yes, of course. We don’t mind at all. We have a lot of children who grew up and left, so presently, we only have 3 here. We have plenty of rooms to spare.”

Those were the 3 kids Yuu was looking after.

There are two boys and one girl. I think their names were…….ummm…….Kay, Red, and Gile I think. She just told me a second ago, so I’m not sure if I got it all right.

Henry: “Well, if that’s the case, then we’ll gratefully accept your offer.”

Fi-Ne: “Yes, then Yuu, can you help with the dinner arrangements?”

Yuu: “Yes ma’am. Everyone, it’s time to eat so go wash your hands.”

With a cheerful “Yeーs”, the kids ran off in the direction of the washing basins.

Yuu: “Hey! No running inside the house!”

Yuu scolded them, and the noisy <thud thud thud> turned to a quieter <thump thump thump>.

Yuu: “C’mon, Henry. You all too. You need to be good examples for the kids to follow.” Henry: “.....yeah, yeah.” With Yuu’s suggestion, we all head to the wash basins too.

Teo: “Sister Ageha. I heard she collapsed, but Miss Eustacia seems to be doing well.”

Ageha: “She’s a tough one so yeahー I wasn’t that worried.”

While they were heading to where we would wash our hands, Teo called to Ageha, and Ageha laughed and answered her right back.

…….well, what Ageha is saying is true. It’s true but….

Cyril: “? Is something the matter, Henry?”

Henry: “No, it’s nothing.” Cyril asked, but I wave my hand to dismiss her question. It’s not anything I need to mention.

As we return from washing our hands, at the large dining room table, the dinner dishes and plates were set, and a delicious aroma filled the air.

………..we’ll be staying here for the night, and we made them feed 6 people. I’ll hand Ms. Fi-Ne some money later. I think she’ll refuse if I say it’s payment for the stay and food, so I’ll just say it’s a donation to the Orphanage.

Fi-Ne: “Okay, then everyone. Let’s say a prayer of thanksgiving before receiving the meal.”

Ms. Fi-Ne prays a simple prayer before the meal. Typically, I neglect these before my meals, but this is an Orphanage sponsored by the Church. They say their prayer before every meal.

We learn the prayer from the way Ms. Fi-Ne does it, and the kids must be used it. They perform the prayer without any hesitation.

Henry: “Thank you for the meal.”

I take a spoonful of stew to my mouth.

It’s a slightly different way of seasoning, but it’s good. It’s a little bland compared to what I’m used to, but there is also strong herbs being used, and it didn’t feel lacking.

The bread…...oh, had walnuts mixed into the dough. I actually like any kind of nuts in general.

Because we all ran from Flowtier to here and used up a lot of energy, we are all pretty hungry as we dig into the food.

Yuu: “Henry, do you want seconds.” Henry: “Yes please.” Yuu takes a look at my plate and asks if I want refills, and I hand her my plate obligingly.

She puts an extra helping of stew in my bowl, and I mimic the kids and lightly use some of the seasoning on the table.

……….hm, the seasoning itself is a certain kind of herb. It changes the stew’s taste slightly and is fun to try.

Yuu: “I know Adventurers in general eat a lot, so we have plenty of stew. Please feel free to request refills. Oh, ummm…….Miss Ferris, was it? Your plate is empty. Would you like some more?”

Ferris: “Thank you very much, Miss Saint of Salvation. I will gladly have some more.” Ferris obediently hands over her plate, and Yuu looks at her with a strained smile.

Yuu: “Umー you don’t have to address me by my title. You can just call me by my name.”

Ferris: “IーIs that okay? Then could I address you as Lady Eustacia?”

Yuu: “You can drop the ‘Lady’......I’m just a Ningel follower who’s just slightly good with Magecraft.”

If you have the Hero of Legend status in the Grandes Church, you’ll be at least a Priest status. And Yuu did receive offers of promotion in the Ningel Church, but she refused it because it was too much trouble.”

Ferris: “Miss Eustacia, then.”

Yuu: “Yes, that’s much better. Here is your refill. There is plenty of bread too, so help yourself.”

The way Yuu is taking care of everyone is still just the same as I remember her. She hasn’t changed at all.

Henry: “......Ms. Fi-Ne, I heard that Yuu collapsed in the news but…” Fi-Ne: “Yes, she was unwell for a few days when she first arrived here, but she got better in about a week.”

I don’t think Ms. Fi-Ne would lie to me about this judging from the smile on her face.

Well, okay.

……..I guess we’ll talk later then.