Chapter 38 – Trouble

Uh… That… No, I knew that from the start.

The hero said it with a serious expression, as if revealing a great truth, but I was not very impressed because I knew it from the beginning.

Speaking of secrets, what I’m hiding is a huge secret.

I want to reveal it because I feel like it, but I don’t know what will happen if I reveal it, so I’m afraid to say it properly. Perhaps, if he found out about this, even the good warrior would feel betrayed.

Even though it is a truth that needs to be revealed, I have not been able to reveal it. The hero is saying with such a guilty expression that it is his fault, but it was me, not the hero, who should be most guilty.

Still, I shouldn’t act like I knew it from the beginning, so I put on a look of surprise. I was worried that he might have acted awkwardly, but fortunately, looking at the warrior’s expression, it doesn’t seem like that.

“I’m sorry for hiding it until now.”

I shook my head.

Right now, I’m doing this because I can’t tell my secret, but there’s no way I can say it easily just because I’m a warrior. How would the original Lumia react if she heard that?

The hero confronts me by revealing the truth, but I am still thinking how to act.

Feeling disgusted with myself once more, I bowed my head. Shouldn’t I be telling the truth even if I borrowed the current situation? I keep thinking that maybe a hero would forgive me.

But,

Couldn’t it be possible?

I came to the past to save Rumia, but the Rumia the hero knows does not exist in the world. Sometimes, seeing myself thinking like Rumia, I wondered if Rumia might exist in my heart, but I wondered if it would have come out earlier.

And if that’s the case, I don’t have the courage to face it because it’s no different from stealing Rumia’s body, who is living a fine life. I just lived a normal life and came into this body, so if you ask me why I took my body…

Ah..

I’m deep in thought again.

I shook my head.

Now was the time to talk to the hero.

“Rumia…?”

“…”

What should I answer?

At first, I was trying to play with the heart of a hero, thinking that only I had to survive.

Other people can’t do it, but I can’t either, I only look at myself, but I won’t accept you.

However, after realizing that he was saved by the hero this time, that his concern for me was sincere, and that his feelings were too heavy, I was very confused.

Is it really right to live like this?

Would it be right to live thinking only of myself while continuing to deceive the hearts of the warriors? The hero thinks of me as Rumia and is devoted to me, but I push him away just because I don’t want to be hugged by him, but I don’t completely push him away with the excuse of being for the world.

Since he has already revealed that he is a regressor, he will know what it takes to defeat the demon lord, so even if I push him away, he won’t be pushed back…

Didn’t I rather try to use it?

I looked up at the warrior.

There is a very convenient way.

If you entrust yourself to the hero, no one will die and you can bring about a peaceful world. As long as I forsake myself and love the hero.

But that’s not true love… You probably won’t be recognized.

I am..

What am I supposed to do

“…”

Yeah, first of all… I’ll have to answer.

– It was strange. It’s because I solved things that couldn’t be dealt with without knowing the future.

“As expected.. You were noticing it to some extent.”

‘..?’

What?

Were you noticing?

Had I exposed it?

At least, I only thought in my heart that the hero would be a regressor, but I didn’t reveal it. But how do you know you were noticing?

“You may be wondering why I am revealing this.”

I nodded.

“No other reason. It’s just… Rumia, you don’t seem to trust me… So I thought I had to do this to gain your trust.”

Was it like that

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in the hero.

No, considering my position, I had no choice but to believe it.

If you look at the things I’ve been doing up until now, I’m going to take care of and protect me to the extent of being suspicious.

As I said before, I have no choice but to speculate that he returned to the past to save Rumia because he perfectly responds to everything that cannot be dealt with without knowing the future.

It’s ridiculous.

That he returned to the past to save the same party member.

Does that make sense

“And there was something I wanted to hear from you. When I saved you earlier, you made an expression as if asking why I was here.”

Ah..

It seems that I tried to hide my expression as much as possible, but it seems that the warrior was thinking about it alone after seeing the expression I made in the meantime.

As the hero said, he made an expression asking why he was here, but that didn’t make him distrustful. The distrust I had was not distrust in the hero, but in myself, so the hero had nothing to worry about.

I couldn’t tell you what caused my disbelief, so I stayed silent.

But that silence didn’t last long.

“So… I thought maybe you came back to the past like me…”

The reason the warrior revealed was shocking.

It was strange that the hero suspected me of being a regressor.

It’s like.. Isn’t that what the warrior remembers before returning resembled my current self? It might just be that the hero was tricked because of my good acting skills, but to say that, there weren’t too many details among the settings for Rumia that I remember.

Even though the time spent was short, this amount of time was enough to be discovered. Even so, it was strange to think about it now that the hero thought of me as Rumia.

I don’t know what happened, but there was one answer I had to answer here and now.

“…”

I shook my head.

For a moment, I wondered what it would be like if I revealed that I was a regressor, but even now, there are more than one thing I’m deceiving, so I couldn’t add more lies here. And if you answer that you are a regressor and then ask about what happened in the past, you will be more suspicious because you will not be able to answer.

More than anything… I didn’t want to fool the warrior anymore.

As he shook his head as if he had not returned, the hero let out a sigh of relief.

“It can’t be… It can’t be. Yes, I’m glad.”

I don’t know what he’s relieved of, but seeing the hero with a very happy expression, it seemed to him that whether or not I, or Rumia, had returned, was very important to him.

What the hell is the hero reacting to like this?

I tried to recall as many settings as I knew, but I couldn’t find a reason to be relieved that Lumia didn’t return.

– Why did you come back to the past?

“I couldn’t subdue the demon lord… So I came back to subdue the demon lord.”

It’s the same as the settings in the game.

The reason the hero returned was to defeat the demon lord.

“This time… I’m going to subdue the demon lord.”

The warrior who said that looked back at me and made a vague expression.

He’s really…

“And… I will definitely save it. I came back for that.”

You’re crazy..

It’s probably an ambiguous expression to save me.

Saving the world is also saving, but what the hero wants to save must be Rumia.

If I were truly a warrior, would I be able to go on a journey to subdue a great evil in order to save someone? It’s hard to think that he went through that trip without returning, so even though he must have watched the party members and Rumia die or be humiliated during that long period of time, he didn’t break at all.

Even so, it was moving to save it.

If it is the regression I know, he would not have regressed once or twice.

How many times have you been repeating the past?

It wouldn’t be strange even if it was bent, how could it still be intelligent and straight-eyed?

I feel respected.

‘It’s cool..’

Seriously, I thought so.

Suddenly, such a thought came to my mind.

When the demon lord was sealed or subjugated, the holy sword granted one wish.

What kind of wish did the hero make after seeing Rumia sacrifice himself?

Should I ask, I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head.

It seemed that even if I asked, he wouldn’t answer.

One thing is for sure… At least that’s not a material wish.