Chapter 37 – Trouble

The town was in a festive mood.

It was only natural that they liked it since the existence that threatened the village was caught and safe.

No matter where we look around, we see nothing but villagers praising us.

Unlike before, I was also satisfied because I was able to save Rumia on time.

But why?

I still haven’t forgotten the look on Rumia’s face when she received the load from Cecilia after things went well. How could I ever forget that sad expression he had on even though things had been resolved in a good way?

It was as if he didn’t want things to go this way.

Or maybe it was the expression that he didn’t know things would turn out like this.

This is my expectation after seeing Rumia’s expression, but it’s not certain, so it might just be the expression she made when she saw someone die. If it’s the latter, it’s not a big problem, so you can appease Rumia, but if it’s the former, the problem gets a little bigger.

Right before being attacked by the tentacle monster, when I jumped in and saved Rumia, the look on my face meant something like why are you here?

I thought everything went well, but why did Rumia have that expression?

“Is a festival supposed to be opened so suddenly?”

To Cecilia’s question, her grandfather smiled broadly and replied that it was actually the right time to open it now as he had prepared it after hearing the news that the hero had arrived in the capital. The capital must be confused because the saintess and hero who were supposed to be there have disappeared.

Cecilia and I averted our gaze.

She looked back at Rumia, thinking that it was fortunate that the village was saved from the necromancer before and the festival was held in this way. What was more important than anything else was what Rumia was thinking.

Are you okay?

Just like before…

‘No, it can’t be.’

Definitely back to the past.

Haven’t you ever thought that way?

I approached Rumia and tried to talk to her about something, but before that I couldn’t get close to Rumia because I was caught by her grandfather, the chief of her village, who approached me first.

In my heart, I wanted to shake off and approach Rumia, but I worried that if I couldn’t share her story with Ruril after shaking off and approaching Rumia, that would prevent us from going on a trip together.

That couldn’t be the case, so I pretended to be indifferent and listened to her grandfather.

But even as she listened to her grandfather’s words, she couldn’t stop looking at Rumia.

She didn’t really want to enjoy the festival, but Rumia was walking past the people towards the inn her grandfather had designated earlier.

Every time she sees her staggering as she bumps into someone, her heart is like a chimney, wanting to go to her bar…

No, no.

Isn’t it possible to talk about it later?

Even if I couldn’t travel with Ruril, I thought I had to catch Rumia now.

I turned to my grandfather.

At some point, her grandfather was smiling happily as he lavished compliments on Ruril.

Originally, she would have listened to the story clearly and answered that she wanted to be with Ruril, but now Rumia was more important than that.

“I’m really sorry, but can we talk to you later?”

“Hmm? It’s okay… But is there something wrong…”

“I’m worried because my party member doesn’t look good.”

“Oh, you’ve been holding on to it for nothing.. Go ahead.”

His grandfather said so and moved away from him.

He passed right past her grandfather and moved toward the inn he had held earlier.

I don’t know how far Rumia has gone, but how hard it must be for her if she can’t speak or hear, and she tries to walk alone. The feeling of walking alone in a world where she can’t hear anything is hard for me to relate to, but I can understand how hard it can be.

Fortunately, the inn itself was not far away, so it seemed that she had arrived after a short talk with her grandfather. After entering the inn, I might not have gone up yet, so I looked around the inside of the inn.

However, seeing that it was nowhere to be seen, it seemed that it had already gone up.

I immediately approached the counter clerk.

“Huh? What brings you here..”

“Have you seen the blue-haired girl with mauve bridges?”

“Ah! That woman, no, if you are the hero who saved the village, she just went up the stairs..”

“She is that fellow, but can you tell me which room she went into?”

As I said that, I took out the paper the village chief had handed over to me and showed it to me.

I showed this to the inn and said that they would understand right away. As soon as they saw that I had taken it out, they immediately replied that they were in room 207.

“Thank you.”

After answering that, I immediately went up the stairs.

Arriving at the room, I spoke cautiously to Rumia, who was standing on the other side of the firmly closed door.

“…Are you okay, Lumia?”

“…”

No answer is heard

It was natural.

Because Rumia can’t speak.

In fact, if it weren’t for my words, she wouldn’t even know that someone was talking to her. Even until she met the necromancer, Rumia was no different than usual. It was after I defeated the necromancer by unlocking my power that Lumia suddenly changed.

It was a completely different future.

It’s a minor twist compared to what’s to come in the future, but I knew very well how greatly that minor twist would change the future.

I sat down in front of the door and leaned back.

“Door… Can you open it?”

Still no answer came back.

Even though I hope it isn’t, I feel anxious about it.

Maybe Rumia too… I wonder if she remembers it. She is Rumia, too, because she returned to the past, she wondered if she had that kind of expression at that time.

I wanted to ask that.

If Rumia remembers what she will do in the future and what should have happened today, then there is no point in me coming back here.

Just for that, I came back to the past to save Rumia.

“Actually, I’m hiding something from you.”

So I decided to show my trust first.

It was a truth that had to be revealed anyway.

The reason he only told Cecilia was for Rumia’s sake on the surface, but in reality, he was afraid of revealing her truth, so he ran away and wrapped it up as Rumia’s sake.

If she said it, it would be enough if she just told me that she had returned to the past, and that she had returned to the past, and not told me what was needed to subdue the demon lord.

The reason I couldn’t say it was because I was scared myself.

“I want to reveal that story to you now.”

And I wanted to hear it.

Rumia’s answer.

Please, answer that you don’t know.

I don’t know anything.. I wanted you to answer what that means.

Then I could be relieved.

“I’ll be waiting… Until you open it.”

I said that and bowed my head.

…

…

…

How long has it been

It feels like an hour or so has passed.

I felt sluggish because I had been leaning on my back in the same position for an hour. The door was still firmly closed.

I thought I would stay here until it opened anyway. I lifted my leaning body and leaned against the door.

No, I was trying to lean on it.

If only the door hadn’t been opened.

“Ugh..!”

As soon as I was about to lean back, the door opened and Rumia walked out from inside. When she changed, she was still in her nightgown and she was looking down at me with a surprised expression on her face.

I didn’t think I would ever be here.

“Oh, hi..”

“…”

She looked down at me with a bewildered expression, then sighed deeply and held out her hand to me. I looked down at her outstretched hand for a moment, then raised her hand.

Something.. It was like seeing her when I first met her after returning.

The way she raised her hand on my outstretched hand and expressed her doubts was really cute.

Recalling that time, I was making a vague expression, so Rumia pulled me up and walked back into the room.

It seemed to follow me.

“..?”

Rumia, who went inside, picked up the paper she had received from Cecilia earlier, wrote something on her, and handed it to me.

– Wasn’t there something you wanted to say?

“Ah… Are you listening?”

Rumia nodded her head.

“Huh..”

I gulped.

Except for the fact that I couldn’t tell the truth to subdue the Demon Lord, I only intended to reveal my true identity.

“Don’t be surprised and listen.”

Whoa..

Ha..

After taking a few deep breaths, I opened my mouth with a determined expression.

…

…

“I came back from the future. I didn’t ruin it… To the complete past.”

Like that,

I started to explain.