The Great Sword is not the Main Body!

"Okay. But promise me one thing."

Rubia tightly gripped my hand.

"It’s a promise you must keep, Noah."

I quietly nodded.

"If something happens... like last time in Roholan, and I get badly hurt. Noah, you must do what you need to do. Understood?"

Rubia's warm expression... it scratched at me.

"You saw it last time. I’m really fine... just finish the important task first."

"And if you die?"

"I won’t die. I swear."

Her warm expression soon turned into a hot smile.

It melted my emotions just a little.

"Noah, you’ll definitely come to save me, right? If I wait and endure, you’ll surely save me. I won’t die."

While she was being serious...

When she said such ticklish things like this...

It made me feel like the weird one.

"... Do whatever you want."

I turned my head and released her hand.

The sweat on my body from the rising heat...

And the stickiness from the jelly I had eaten...

Things that hadn't bothered me until now started to bother me.

Her trust in me...

It felt so heavy, but so willingly given...

I couldn’t hold it.

I didn’t want to hold it...

"Why did you let go of my hand? You don’t want to hold it?"

"It’s not that... I... ugh... never mind."

As Hephaestus seemed to be ready, I ended the conversation.

Embarrassing.

Weird.

"Everyone! Let’s eat!"

Right on cue, Hephaestus came out holding milk and coffee... along with some bread.

Rubia returned to her usual stiff expression.

"Is this bread?"

She had made me feel so strange, but now she was fine, just like that.

So annoying...

"Yes! I baked it myself! Try it!"

Rubia’s face wrinkled a bit.

"Did you really bake it yourself? Here?"

"Yes!"

Hephaestus replied cheerfully.

"Did you bake it over the furnace...?"

"Yes! The heat is strong, so it tastes great!"

"And the hygiene..."

Rubia’s wrinkled expression trembled a little.

"If it’s hot, doesn’t that sterilize it? I eat it all the time and never had any issues!"

Hephaestus seemed to believe that wholeheartedly.

Uh... Is that so?

Now that I think about it... that might actually be true...?

In movies, they even use hot needles to stitch things together, right?

The bread looks fine...

And there’s no metal smell...

Should I try it...?

I quietly reached for a long piece of bread.

"Noah...!"

Then, after a brief moment of resolve...

Munch—

I put the bread into my mouth.

"Mm? It’s good."

It’s surprisingly tasty?

It’s chewy!

"Right? This bread turned out especially well, so I really wanted to share it!"

Hephaestus laughed heartily and handed some bread to Rubia.

"Ah, um... yes. Thank you. I’ll... eat it."

Rubia, who had been forced to accept the bread, bit into it reluctantly.

"Huh...? It’s good. Better than I expected."

And with a surprised expression, she swallowed the bread.

See? I told you!

Maybe Hephaestus actually has a knack for cooking.

He can bake bread in a blacksmith’s shop...

If only he had a proper kitchen, it’d be incredible.

"Right! From now on, I’ll be responsible for the cooking! I really like cooking! Hehehe..."

"Mm... okay. I’ll leave it to you then. Now... shall we start getting ready?"

"Ah, right. I’ve already packed, so I’m ready whenever!"

Hephaestus said, tapping his bag with a thud.

I quietly nodded while still chewing the bread.

After that, Hephaestus and Rubia started tweaking the plan a bit.

There probably won’t be any beasts left in Halbion, so we’ll need to get a carriage. Since we’re getting a carriage, we might as well bring more supplies.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

They continued talking back and forth.

But... can we really take the carriage?

We’re going to pass through there... Hmm...

Does it matter where we drop it off...?

And Rubia... she said she didn’t want to attract attention, right?

She mentioned that time was tight too.

Now that I think about it, her personality has changed a bit. She used to be really prickly and rude...

Has something changed?

Or maybe, has she made up her mind?

I don’t really care which, but...

"So what do you think, Noah?"

"Ah, um... I... agree..."

"What about?"

"Uh... the... carriage?"

"You agree with everything else too?"

The rest...?

What did they talk about...?

I was distracted, so I didn’t catch it...!

"Of course."

"Hmm... Is that so?"

Rubia gave a subtle smile and snorted.

Why... what’s going on...?

"Yes..."

"Alright. Then, let’s not eat any more jelly for a while."

Huh?

What?!

Why?!

"Why... why not?!"

"You see, you weren’t listening again..."

Rubia’s hand pressed down on my nose.

"Ugh..."

"We decided to save money and give Hephaestus the smelting fee. You got the greatsword from fighting Carpen. Plus... when the villagers turned their backs on us, Hephaestus was the only one who cared about us."

I gripped the hilt of the greatsword hanging at my waist.

Without this, things would have been worse.

And it was made almost exactly like the one I used before.

The quality... was definitely much better than the previous one.

You could tell it was carefully made.

Rubia was definitely right.

"Alright, if it’s for that... I understand."

"Of course, I was a little playful with it. You can still eat some jelly. We’re not that broke. We have the bounty money, after all."

Ah, right.

The bounty.

After slaying Carpen and killing at least thousands of beasts, we received an enormous reward.

But, as Rubia said, there’s no adventurer guild in Roholan, so we went to Urspierre to collect it.

Although we fled, some of the reward went to the adventurers who killed the beasts, and the bounty for Lucci... and Heinzel was used for the reconstruction of Roholan.

As for Lucci... the bounty for him went to us.

They gave it to us... but what are we supposed to do with it?

"Ugh... so you can eat jelly. As much as you want."

The finger that had been pressing my nose was pulled away, and Rubia smiled faintly.

I couldn’t help but think of that expression from earlier... so I lowered my head and nodded slightly.

"Yes, Noah agreed, so Hephaestus will accept it quietly. Understood?"

"Ugh... understood."

"But... the payment will probably be given at Urspierre. There’s no adventurer guild in Roholan, so we won’t be able to collect the bounty here."

"That’s fine! I wasn’t planning on collecting it anyway! You can split it however you want!"

Hephaestus awkwardly scratched his head and smiled shyly.

"Well... now that everything is settled, shall we actually leave? At this rate, we’ll end up leaving tomorrow."

"Ah, yes! Let’s go!"

"Yes..."

Rubia and Hephaestus stood up together, dragging their chairs.

And I... hopped down from my chair.

Everyone’s so tall...

Hephaestus started gathering his bag.

Rubia... for some reason, tried to take care of me like I was a bag.

"Come on, give me your hand."

"Y-yeah... uh... um..."

My hand, reaching for Rubia’s, froze in the air.

Then, I returned it to my seat and nervously fiddled with the sword hilt.

Normally, I would have stretched my arm out and taken Rubia’s hand right away.

But something...

Right now... I couldn’t do that.

I just couldn’t.

"Noah?"

Rubia’s hand swayed in front of me.

"Umm..."

I rubbed my clothes with my hands.

Carefully, I took Rubia’s hand.

"Are you worried about the stickiness from the jelly?"

It wasn’t that, but...

"... Yes."

"Hehe... You’re sweet, thinking of that."

"I... I always do that..."

"Hm... Is that so?"

I nodded—

Rubia’s expression was a little annoying.

It’s good that I can see her face now.

But at times like this... it bothers me a little.

I walked ahead of Rubia and opened the door to the blacksmith’s shop.

"Let’s... go."

I had to hide my flushed face.@@novelbin@@

"Then I’ll go get the carriage!"

Hephaestus followed us out, raising one hand and shouting.

"Yes. Then, we’ll go buy the additional supplies we need. Shall we meet at the west gate entrance when we’re done?"

"Sounds good! See you soon, ladies!"

Hephaestus ran to the stable, where the carriages were, with a bright smile.

Even with that big bag on his back, he moves around so well.

"Shall we go too?"

"Yes..."

Rubia, looking strangely happy, started walking south, waving her hand gently.

Then, near the ruined southern gate, I started to see familiar faces along with several adventurers.

"Huh...? That person..."

It was the woman who had come to find me from the Central Guild... what was her name again?

Oh right, the woman who handed me the Fragment of the End.

"Ah, it’s Jur, isn’t it?"

Ah, right! Jur!

But why is she here?

She said she’d go back last time...

Has she not left yet?

"Noah, are you curious?"

"A little...?"

"Then shall we go see?"

A subtle smile appeared on Rubia’s face.

"Aren’t we short on time...?"

"We can just take a quick look and then leave."

Saying that, Rubia tightly held my hand and walked toward them.

As we got closer to the group, I started to hear bits of their conversation.

It sounded like they were discussing where to get some necessary materials from another place.

"Mm? Ah, Noah, is something wrong?"

The high-ranking lady from earlier, who had handed me the magic stone, approached with a friendly business smile.

I felt strangely uncomfortable, just like last time...

I carefully hid behind Rubia.

"The priestess is here too. Hello."

"Hello, Jur. I saw you while passing by, so I thought I’d say hi. But... things are going pretty quickly, huh?"

Rubia also gave her a very friendly business smile.

But... what’s going quickly?

"Ah, yes. Somehow, things are going smoothly... well... you’ll see, and I’ll explain the results."

"Alright. I’ll look forward to it."

Jur’s smile... changed from a business smile to a natural, sincere one.

"The reconstruction of Havlon, which you requested, should proceed without problems. However, it will be difficult to recreate the exact same materials as before."

"... What reconstruction...?"

I looked up at Rubia.

Rubia, who had been quietly looking down at me, once again gave me a smile that made me let go of her hand.

She whispered softly as she looked at me, her smile burning my body.

"It’s a gift. A small gift for Lucci, who protected this world."