The day the hero’s party was leaving the great city of Alphares, a huge crowd gathered to see us off.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t provide more hospitality,” Count Alphares said.

“No, it was more than enough, truly,” the hero responded.

As the count conversed with the hero, I felt someone’s gaze intensely focused on him.

‘...Ah, it’s her.’

It was none other than the young lady of the Alphares household, hiding behind the countess and gazing at the hero with adoration.

Had she been successful in becoming a heroine in the original story, I might have tried to help them along. But unfortunately, she was only 14 years old.

It was a precarious situation in many ways, and the hero was careful to avoid being alone with her whenever possible.

While the hero listened to the count and countess, the other three heroines were each chatting with the people they had grown close to.

“Louie.”

“Ah.”

I had been quietly observing the four of them when someone suddenly spoke to me—it was the maid who had taken care of me.

“Maid.”

“Please don’t use honorifics. So, you’re leaving today, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Thank you for taking care of me all this time.”

I truly didn’t know how much easier she had made my recovery. Bowing my head sincerely, the maid smiled warmly.

“No need to thank me. I gained something in return, too.”

“...??”

With a cryptic comment, she slowly stepped back. A few of the other maids, seemingly envious, were pointing fingers at her.

But my maid didn’t let it bother her, smiling as if it was nothing.

‘Well, I suppose it’s fine.’

“Shall we get going?” the hero said, signaling it was time to leave. Everyone mounted their horses.

“Lux, it’s been a while.”

Snort

“Ah, I’m sorry! Stop licking me!”

It seemed Lux, my night steed, was a little irritated that I hadn’t visited him much since the fortress incident. He licked my face aggressively, and I hurriedly climbed onto his back.

“The citizens are going to see you off on the way to the northern gate,” Count Alphares announced.

“Oh...”

As the mansion gates opened, we were greeted with an astonishing sight.

“Heroooo!!”

“Thank you for protecting our city!!”

“Hooray for the hero’s party!!”

Lining both sides of the long road leading to the northern gate were countless citizens cheering for us.

‘...This is overwhelming.’

It was my first time seeing such a scene, but the others had experienced something similar in the capital and other cities. Judging by the emotional expressions on their faces, they were deeply moved despite being used to it.

The hero, riding Tempest, led the way, greeting the crowd, and the rest of the party followed suit. I quietly followed behind them.

But then...

“Louie! Look this way!”

“The savior of our city! Our shining light!”

“Huh?”

Something was off.

They weren’t just cheering for the hero’s party—they were calling my name, with a clear sense of admiration.

‘Why?’

Officially, my contributions at the Twilight Fortress were limited to reinforcing the city’s walls and enchanting the equipment of the soldiers. Compared to the hero’s feat of destroying the fortress, what I did was minor...

“Aaah! Louie looked at me! I must study magic now...!”

“Worship! Just worship in silence!”

“The citizens of Alphares officially support Louie! From now on, any insult to Louie is an insult to all of Alphares!”

“...??”

This was getting bizarre.

“Pffft... Hahaha...”

“Hehehe...”

“Huh?”

Even the three heroines were trying to stifle their laughter.

‘What’s going on?’

As I stood there, bewildered, I caught the hero’s eye.

“Uh, Louie.”

“Yes?”

“Do you remember what you asked me to do before you passed out?”

“Yes?”

“I, uh... I kind of failed.”

“What?”

I had asked the hero to take credit for everything that happened at the fortress. But now, avoiding my gaze, he admitted that he had failed to keep that promise.

“I wanted to keep it a secret, like you asked, but... there were just too many witnesses. At least the rumors say that we worked together and that it was a special move we did together...”

“Pfft... Haha! Look at Louie’s shocked face! Hahaha!”

“L-Lapiere... Y-you shouldn’t laugh... Hehe...”

“With the goddess of bombardment, Louie, in our party, we’re invincible!”

“Hahaha!!!”

“Goddess of bombardment...?”

I quickly turned to face the crowd, and sure enough, some people were waving small banners with writing on them.

[The Goddess of Bombardment, Louie of the Hero’s Party! The citizens of Alphares support you!]

[Louie, show us that bombardment again!]

[The hero’s rightful partner is Lou...]

“...”

In the end, I mentally checked out.

While it was heartening to have people who supported and believed in me, there was no way I could deal with this in my current state of mind.

I mechanically waved to the crowd until we reached the northern gate.

Just before we exited the gate, I noticed someone, and I quickly dismounted from Lux.

“Louie?”

“Just a moment, I’m going to say goodbye to someone.”

The other person seemed to notice me as well, smiling faintly as they headed into a nearby alley.

“Diayursil.”

“Oh, I was just going to watch you leave.”

The person was Diayursil, the one who had taught me the art of gemstone crafting. She smiled enchantingly, as always.

“I wanted to stop by the mansion to see you off properly, but it didn’t seem like the right time.”

“I understand.”

“So, did the techniques I taught you help?”

“They were incredibly helpful, actually.”

If it weren’t for the skills I learned from her, I wouldn’t have been able to create the tracking bracelets we used inside the fortress. Though I hadn’t fully mastered the technique yet, and the bracelets had reached their limit, the potential of the craft was immense.

“Thanks to you, we were able to gain an advantage in the battle.”

“Really? Then I suppose I’ve helped the ‘Goddess of Bombardment’ quite a bit, haven’t I?”

“Ah.”

“Haha. I figured you’d dislike that nickname. It was given by that humorless captain of the Western Gate Guard.”

So it was him.

I had helped reinforce the western wall for him, and this was how he repaid me?

“Anyway, where are you headed now?”

“Hmm, we’ll be heading north.”

And likely meeting the witch you helped out.

Hearing that, Diayursil waved lightly.

“Well, take care. I’ll be rooting for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, by the way, do you remember the opal you gave the hero?”

“The opal? Yes, he wears it every day.”

“Hmm, do you know the meaning behind the Water Opal?”

Water Opal? I hadn’t realized it was a specific type of gemstone.

“I don’t know much about gems. Is there a special meaning?”

“Never mind. If you don’t know, it’s fine. Now go on, they’re waiting for you.”

“Goodbye, and take care.”

After exchanging brief but meaningful farewells with Diayursil, we passed through the northern gate.

We greeted the guards at the gate before finally reaching a quiet, empty stretch of road where we could relax a little.

“Whew...”

“Good job, everyone.”

“These send-offs are nice, but they can be exhausting.”

“Still, it’s wonderful to see everyone so happy. I don’t mind the effort,” Lapiere and Aria chatted, while Serlin discussed the next destination with the hero.

“So, where to next?”

“We’re heading toward a city near the northwestern mountains. That’s the first target.”

“So it’ll start getting chilly soon.”

While they discussed the plans, I quietly sorted through my own thoughts.

The hero’s party had now completed a major event with the destruction of the Twilight Fortress and would gradually head north, following a clockwise route to reach the northern region.

‘We’re about halfway through the journey.’

I had joined the hero’s party in the southern part of the empire, so this meant we were now traveling the upper half of the empire.

What was most important in this part of the journey?

‘Soon, we’ll finally meet the witch heroine.’

There was an episode involving the witch heroine coming up.

In the original story, they encountered her after passing through two more villages, so the event should happen within the next month.

That was what happened in the original story. However, I had one more thing to take care of.

‘When is Aria’s affection event?’

I had saved Aria’s event for last because of her significant role as the primary heroine in the original.

‘She was practically considered the main love interest.’

So I had delayed her event for as long as possible. But now the time had come to address it, and I needed to start planning.

‘The question is when to do it.’

Should it be before we meet the witch heroine or after?

There were clear pros and cons to each choice, making it difficult to decide.

“Hmm...”

In the end, I decided to approach Aria, who had just finished her conversation with Lapiere and was drinking water.

“Aria.”

“Hm?”

She looked at me curiously, still holding her water.

As I often found, it was usually best to discuss these things directly with the person involved.

“You like the hero, don’t you?”

“Pffft!! Ah, I’m sorry!!”

Clearly, I had picked the wrong moment to bring it up. Still, since I had already said it, I needed to choose my next words carefully as she hastily wiped the water off my face.