## Chapter 1359 – Friends

Anyway, Elise had so much to say. She had a whole treasure trove of stories she wanted to tell me.

We chatted non-stop as we walked.

“At that moment, I, who had been hiding, immediately kicked off the ground and rushed out, slamming my warhammer into the head of that demon. The guy who was being focused on couldn’t react to my attack. My warhammer crushed his brain!”
“That’s amazing! Crushing his brain in one hit!”
“Yes! Ah! Of course, that’s not all! I was then ambushed…!”

Elise was enthusiastically telling her story like a student trying to get praise from their teacher. It was truly an epic tale of heroism.

Elise seemed genuinely happy.

“So, I collected the jawbones of those demons and decorated my private room with them! I really wanted to show them to you, Saint! I’m so thrilled to finally be able to show you! My heart is overflowing!”
“Wait, Elise. You want to show me your room?”
“Yes! Not only the jawbones of the demons, but also the heretical artifacts I’ve collected…”

It was like she was asking me to come over to see her cute cat at her house.

“Hehe, Elise, you’ve grown up so much. Asking me.”
“Yes?”
“To show me a girl’s room, I mean.”
“Yes?”

Elise, who seemed to have answered reflexively,

“H, hah!”

Soon blushed and stood on tiptoe, not knowing what to do.

“I don’t know if I should go see a grown woman’s room!!! Elise’s room!!!”
“N, no! It’s not like that! I, I just wanted to show you my, my spoils of war…!”

Then she was completely flustered and stammering.

“Okay, okay, Elise. I’m just kidding.”

I felt amused watching her and apologized. Elise, who didn’t know what to do, soon yelled at me.

“That’s a mean joke! Saint!”

It was an unbearable prank.

“Anyway, Elise, you have your own room now?”
“Yes. I got promoted a bit. I’m now Senior Sister Elise!”
“Oh! You’ve already reached that rank!”

That’s a fast promotion! Come to think of it, Elise’s energy did seem a bit stronger. It meant her divine power had increased.

“Good job, Elise! You’ve worked really hard!”
“It’s all the result of my efforts!”
“So, you’ve gotten stronger now?”
“Of course!”

Elise shouted as if she had been waiting for those words.

“Look! My divine power!”

When Elise raised her fist, a brilliant light settled on it. You could really feel the strong energy.

“Wow. The light has become more intense?”
“Yes! It’s the power of miracles that can easily melt even demons!”

She really had an attitude full of pride.

“…”

I couldn’t help but sink into thought as I watched it. If I were to drive out those fragmented Outer Gods, what would happen to the clergy of this land? They would naturally lose their divine power.

I have no choice but to seriously consider and act on this issue.

“Long live Izermart!”
“…”

Elise was really full of pride and shouted cheers. Somehow, it reminded me of when I first met Elise and caught those kobolds. Yeah. I can join in on the cheers.

“Yeah. Long live Izermart!”

After that, Elise showed off her strengthened power.

“How is it! My more powerful divine power!”
“It’s a beautiful radiance.”
“Yes. It is very beautiful.”
“It’s exactly like Elise, who has become an inhuman beauty?”

When I said that, intending to tease her, Elise froze again.

“Ah, th-that… Saint… Please don’t tease me like that.”
“Okay, okay.”

As we walked, we completely left the forest. Krassheim began to appear in the distance.

* * *

Surprisingly, the city was in the middle of festival preparations. Only a few hours had passed since I appeared, and the streets were already decorated with various ornaments and banners.

“The angel has returned!!!”
“Tell everyone!!! Right now!!!”
“Aaaah!! Aaaah!!! Aaaah! Annggeelll!!!”

I’ve been spotted.

The people who found us all screamed and made a fuss.

“Saint…! What should we do with them! We can’t stop them! The positive crowd psychology!”

Elise was just terrified.

“What to do. Seeing it again, it’s really serious.”
“Are you just realizing that now!”

Actually, I don’t even feel like it’s that serious.

“I can’t do this. Elise. Go and try to persuade them.”
“Me?!”
“You have to try. They might listen if you, the person involved, say something. Everyone here knows the Radiant Holy Cross, right? Let’s calm them down first. We need to make them quiet.”

Elise made a strange expression for a moment at my plausible words, then nodded. Of course, I didn’t have the slightest intention of calming them down. Would they even listen to Elise in this state?

“Thinking about it, that’s true. Then I’ll go and try to persuade them. I’ll ask them to be a little quieter because it’s a nuisance…”

With that, Elise walked towards the screaming crowd in front of her, and

“Sister Elise!!!”
“Lise! Lise! Elise!”
“E! Li! Se!”

She was immediately kidnapped and tossed into the air by the frenzied residents.

—Sniffle!

The thrown Elise returned to her spot after flying through the air…!

“Waaaaaaaah!”
“Oooooooooh!”
“Lise! Lise! Elise!”

The people cheered!

“Stop! Stop it! You have to come to your senses!!”

Elise was afraid of hurting people even while being tossed in the air, so she couldn’t properly resist. She was just being tossed around!

“Hehehe, no way. She’s getting kidnapped right away.”
“Saint!! Don’t just watch and help me!!!”

Elise, floating in the air, reached out to me with an urgent expression, requesting rescue. I stared at it blankly and replied.

“Lise! Lise! Elise!”
“S, Saint?!”

I joined the tossing procession as well!!!

“The angel has come!!!”
“I, the Saint, will join in too, soldiers!!!”
“Hoorayyyyy!!!”
“Saaaiiinnttt!!!”

Thus, I advanced through the streets with the residents, tossing the inhuman Elise into the air.

“Waaaaaaaah!!”

The streets were full of energy. People were rarely all smiling, and stalls were set up in various places in the square. People enjoyed drinking, singing, and dancing.

“Ooh! Elise! Beautiful sister!”
“Ooh! How beautiful can she be!”

A group of bards were performing.

—Whistle!

I continued to advance with the people, endlessly tossing Elise into the air. Elise was biting her lip from the middle.

Then, at some point.

—Flash.

The procession stopped.

“The lord is coming!!!”

The lord?

At those words, all the tossing stopped. The people who had stopped bowed their heads in respect… Come to think of it. Who was the lord of Krassheim? I didn’t know at all because I hadn’t been interested in it.

Anyway, I saw a noble man with guards walking from over there. Next to him was… Lady Isvant, with her impressive roll-bun hairstyle.

Since she had taken refuge here, she must have been staying as a guest of the lord. She probably heard my rumors and came out with him. I was about to go and greet them.

—Flash!

Lady Isvant, who was walking next to the uncle who seemed to be the lord of Krassheim,

—Thud!

Ran over, kicking up dust!

“Oh, oh, oh!!! Finally!!! We meet again!!!!”

But the dust and the thud! sound were definitely not caused by her running! The voice! That huge volume! That thunderous voice caused dust and a loud noise…!

“Paladin!!!!”
“Is, is that!!! Lady Isvant!!!”
“That’s right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I couldn’t even count how many exclamation marks there were. The lady who stopped in front of me shouted again with a very happy face.

“It’s been a while, Paladin!!!! Of course, I’ve been constantly hearing rumors about you even in this distant land!!! Seeing the Paladin as a hero again like this is nothing but surprise and joy!!!!!!!”
“Ugh…!”

My ears are going to break, damn it.

Even I, who had become a god, had a hard time enduring the lady’s shout. And her voice was already stronger. As evidence, groans were heard from around.

“Ugh…”
“Ugh…”
“Aaaah…!”

Several people were groaning on the ground! The people around had become unconscious after hearing the lady’s loud greeting!!!

“No!!!! But what are those poor people!!!”

But the lady couldn’t associate them with her voice even after seeing them up close…

“It’s about to be the start of the festival, but they’re injured!!!! Quickly!!! Rescue them!!!!”

—Rumble!!

“Ugh…!”
“Aaaah!!”

Blood began to flow from the ears of the people at the thunderous rescue instructions right in front of them. Even the soldiers who received the instructions were collapsing, but the lady patted my shoulder as if she didn’t even notice that kind of thing!!!!

“Anyway!!!! It’s really nice to see you again!!! Hero of humanity!!!”
“Lady…! Just call me a barbarian warrior!!!!”
“How could I!!!!!!! Do that!!!!!! Barbarian warrior!!!”
“Hahahaha!!!!”

I burst out laughing at her glib attitude! I immediately shook hands with her. I’m happy that she welcomed me like this. It’s been a long time.

“It’s been a very long time, but what brings you here this time!!!! Ah!!! And Isvant, which the barbarian warrior said was his spiritual home…!”
“It’s been completely destroyed!!!”
“Damn it!!! It’s not a lie, it’s really been completely destroyed!!!!!”

—Rumble!!!

“Kuaaaah…!”
“Save me…”
“Someone stop the lady…!”

People are dying!

“This lady was consumed with despair and anger and swallowed her hatred!!!!”

The lady’s anger is bursting out!

“According to rumors!!! The one who avenged that!!!”
“Is this barbarian warrior!!!”
“I don’t know how to thank you!!!”

—Flash!

I grabbed the lady’s hand and spun around!

“Oh!!! Hohohohohohohohohot!!! Great!!!!!! Gratitude!!!!!!”

The lady seemed to be very happy, spinning around and laughing as usual. But she seemed very strong. If she were a normal noble, she would have cried like a child as soon as her territory was destroyed.

So, I greeted the lady while spinning around.

“But what brings you here?”
“Ah. I came to see a friend named Sister Elise.”
“Friend!!!!! The lord of Krassheim wanted to invite you!!!”
“I’ll have to accept it next time.”
“That’s a pity!!!”

—Flash.

So, I stopped spinning.

“Ah…! This dizziness! But I’m very happy!!! Anyway, barbarian warrior!!! Let’s celebrate our reunion next time! Go!! Go play with your friend!!!”
“Yes!!! See you next time!!!!!”

—Thud!

Immediately, I grabbed Elise’s wrist, who was waiting for me in the crowd, and ran. It’s a waste of time to get caught by anyone here.

“Saint…! I thought thunder was striking from the ground, not the sky.”
“That’s just how the lady is.”
“No! But more than that! I didn’t expect you to join in there! That kind of tossing…! I shouldn’t have let my guard down!”
“What happens if you let your guard down on the battlefield?”
“This isn’t a battlefield!”

That’s true!

“But Saint. Is it okay not to greet the lady more?”
“I said I’d see her next time. I came to see you, Elise.”
“Ah…”
“Anyway, let’s go somewhere quiet.”

* * *

In the midst of the crazy festival, there wasn’t really a quiet place. We went into a tea shop with relatively few people and drank tea. Of course, it wasn’t a place where we could have a quiet conversation. The few people there had multiplied like snow.

“Aaaah! Angel!!”
“Uwaaaah! Angel! Uwaaaah!”

They were all people who came to praise us.

“…”

Elise, who was drinking tea, didn’t seem to like it very much.

“Haa… It’s impossible to stay quiet.”
“It seems like there’s no quiet place in the city.”
“Then…”

Elise got up from her seat.

“Alright.”
“Hmm?”
“If it’s a quiet place, there’s one place. I’ll show you my spoils of war!”

Ah, she’s saying we should go to her room.

“Okay. Sounds good. Shall we go see Elise’s room?”
“O, only… I’m just showing you my spoils of war!”
“Yeah, yeah.”

She’s embarrassed to show me her room.

I immediately paid and went outside. This time, we advanced while fighting off the zombie-like people who were swarming us.

“U, um… Still. It’s definitely embarrassing to show you my room. If I had known this would happen, I would have cleaned it up a bit more…”

Elise kept muttering to erase her embarrassment.

At that moment.

“Oh! Oh! Ooh! I knew it! I knew it was you!!!!”

A distinctive voice burst out from over there.

“Barbarian bastard!!!”