“That’s…!”

With a shout, I jump out from hiding behind the rock .

I can’t believe this . I get dizzy trying to comprehend the sight before me .

Although the bandits said they were threatened by the her, I absolutely thought that was a lie . Ristia would never do anything like that . As the hero, Ristia’s figure is famous nationwide . As such, there will be people with similar faces trying to impersonate him in order to cause trouble here and there .

I am someone very familiar with Risita . I thought I’d be able to identify the person as an imposter upon reaching their base . Yet, the one who appeared from the headquarters is undoubtedly the hero, Ristia .

I jump out and Ruiseine follows behind me . Mistral and the others remain hidden behind the rock .

Even though our appearance is abrupt, Ristia looked at us without being disturbed .

“My, my, I sensed presence of others out here, so came to see who’d pop out . ”

Ristia lets out a sigh .

“Ristia, why are you in a place like this?”

Ristia raises an eyebrow at my question .

“What are you doing in a place like this?”

He returns my question .

Ristia would never do something bad . There’s definitely something wrong here .

I truly believe that, so I tell Ristia about yesterday’s incident . 　Ruiseine looks at the two of us with an uneasy expression from my side .

Ristia listens to my story in silence before saying, “I see, so those guys got caught that easily . ”

His response is outside my expectations . I thought for sure that he would say, That’s wrong’ .

“Hey, what do you mean by that?”

Ristia smiles . The cruelty filling his face is one I’ve never seen until today . “It’s just like said . Those people were acting under my command . ”

Ruiseine and I swallow . She mutters to herself in a soft voice, “Something like that…”

“My, my, I should’ve had them act a bit more violently . ”

“Wh-why did you make them to do something like that?”

I can’t believe it . I don’t want to believe it . I keep on hoping that there’s been some sort of mistake, but Ristia responds to me with cold words .

“Fuun, for starters, I hated the dragon tribesmen . Not only do they live at Dragon’s Peak, their existence is a hindrance to a hero like me . The only strong being in this world should be me . Should these events strain the relation between the dragon tribesmen and humans, I’ll rejoice if the king deploys his forces on Dragon’s Peak . ”

The malicious intentions lacing Ristia’s words jam my voice .   “That is…”

Ruiseine’s lips quiver from surprise . “W-would Serisu-sama even approve such actions? Furthermore, I do not believe shrine maidens Kiri and Inea would support such an evil conspiracy . Where are they now?”

“Ah? They naturally comply with my sentiments . They’re inside the cave . ”

A never before seen vulgar smirk floats across Ristia’s face as he points at the cave .

I stop Ruiseine who starts to head towards the cave . “Don’t go, Ruiseine . If Ristia is saying the truth……”

The hero’s party has dyed its hands with evil . Not just that, but Slatton and the others might be waiting inside the cave .

I don’t want to believe this . Even until now, my heart is still holding on to the feeling that something is definitely wrong here . But what if it’s true? I might need to confront Ristia .

Ristia is my best friend . At school, we’ve talked a lot of stuff and done many stupid things . Even though Slatton often teased me, we were on good terms . His brides were also very nice to me .

Still, I won’t forgive anyone who harms the dragon tribesmen .

My bride candidate is Mistral . She’s a dragon tribesmen . If this worsens the relations.h.i.+p between dragon tribesmen and humans, our engagement might be canceled . Some could say I am choosing a woman over my best friend, but that depends on the time and circ.u.mstances . I will choose a loveable woman over my conniving best friend .

“What’s wrong? If you want to confirm it, then just go inside the cave . ”

“Absolutely don’t go, Ruiseine!”

“Why can’t I go? If I don’t, then what should I do?”

As I grab the cuffs of Ruiseine’s clothes, Ristia watches with a hint of great interest in his eyes .

“How about this? If you keep silent about what happened here, then I’ll overlook everything and you can leave immediately . But if you say anything…” With those words, Ristia draws the holy sword from his waist . Ruiseine and I falter over the scarlet flame it emits . “Well, it’ll be best if you decide now . ”

Ruiseine and I exchange glances at Ristia’s words . A serious expression fills her face .

“Ruiseine, I…”

Ruiseine interrupts me with powerful conviction . “Ernekun, as a shrine maiden, there’s no way I can just let this pa.s.s . ”

I see, Ruiseine also came to the same decided . If Ristia is really committing evil deeds, then they need to be righted and oppose . More than as Ristia’s close friend or childhood friend, she resolves herself to preform her duties as a shrine maiden .

“Un, I cannot just overlook this either . ”

I nod and draw my spirit tree based wooden sword with my left hand from my right waist .

Ristia has enough composure that he can just watch us without doing anything . “What’s this? Are you planning to fight a hero? You have quite the guts . ”

Ruiseine grips her naginata . “Whatever the reason might be, I will not ignore people who are committing crimes . ”

I wonder if we have no choice but to fight, if we really can’t settle this through discussion . While I continue to have such thoughts, Ristia flashes a cruel smile .

“Fine, then let’s just do this . Both of you seem to think I’ve lagged behind you . ” With those words, Ristia releases a fire attack without hesitation .

Ruiseine and I avoid it in a fl.u.s.ter .

This is no good . Ristia doesn’t want to discuss this . Thinking back about it, he didn’t even once try to have a proper conversation with us . Did he never intend to discuss anything with us since the beginning?

If Ristia wants to fight, then I have no choice but to fight . Ruiseine is a lot more determined than before, too .

I’ve come a decision . “Ristia, if that’s how you feel, I’ll comply . ” With those words, I concentrate dragon spirit into my right hand and mold it into the shape of a spear .

Ristia immediately put himself on guard .

I raise my arm and throw my dragon spirit spear into the cave .

If we’re going to fight Ristia, then we need to be mindful of his comrades inside the cave . Therefore, I preemptively remove them first .

That ma.s.s of dragon spirit I threw is exactly like last night’s, except this time it’s in the shape of a spear . If this weakens them and makes them unable to move, it’ll help us out here in our battle against Ristia .

Mistral and the others still haven’t come out from behind the rock . While I’m positive they’ll save us if things become dangerous, right now, I want to do this with just Ruiseine . We’ll deal with our misbehaving friend ourselves .

Contrary to my expectations, Ristia stops mid-step in response to my attack .

A shadow is spreading underneath his feet . It takes the form of a circle . Only its edges s.h.i.+ne with a light reminiscent of a crescent moon . A portion of that shadow is trapping Ristia .

Shadow of the crescent moon, a shrine maiden’s spell . Those caught by even a portion of the shadow loose their ability to move around . I’ve seen the shrine maidens use it several times on monsters whenever they appeared in the royal capital . Since I’ll also be caught by the spell if I enter the shadow, I’ll refine my dragon spirit without getting close to it .

Ristia, who has his ability to move about sealed, is rained down upon by arrows of light . This time, Ruiseine attacks with moonlight arrow . This is a strategy commonly used by shrine maidens .

Ruiseine continues her a.s.sault . As expected of a battle shrine maiden . When it comes into battle, their movements are fast .

Regardless, Ristia, with a daring smile on his face, crushes shadow of the crescent moon . With a sound similar to that of porciline cracking, the shadow underneath his feet shatters and vanishes . Afterwards, he cuts apart all of the moonlight arrows with his holy sword .

“How can that…!”

As Ruiseine falls into shock, Ristia appears before her and thrusts his holy sword into her chest .