The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

TLN: Apologies for being late! Real life got me!

—–

“Uhn… Where’s this place…?” (Hikaru)

When I woke up, I was in an unknown room.

If I remember correctly, we somehow defeated the Demon Lord…and I have no memories of what happened after that.

I may be calling it an unknown room, but it is of course not the white room where there’s only a PC, but a room of some inn.

Someone must have brought me here when I was unconscious.

“Suuh…suuh…”

“Hm…?” (Hikaru)

I heard someone breathing by my side, and when I looked there, the platinum blonde color entered my vision.

Maybe she was looking after me who was unconscious, she had her head on the bed and was sleeping. Now that I think about it, this is the room that Rifreya is staying in.

Her equipment is laying against the wall.

“Rifreya. Rifreya.” (Hikaru)

I tried calling her, and after grooming herself a bit, she woke up.

“…Hnn…” (Rifreya)

“Good morning. If you sleep in a place like that, you are going to catch a cold, you know?” (Hikaru)

“A-Aah! Hikaru! What a relief!” (Rifreya)

Rifreya stood up and hugged me, and a sweet scent melted my nostrils.

Her long platinum blonde hair brushed my neck and it was ticklish.

I was surprised by the sudden development.

“Uuuh~, what a relief. Such a relief~. I thought you wouldn’t wake up anymore.” (Rifreya)

“You are overblowing it here. I just lost consciousness for a bit.” (Hikaru)

“It wasn’t just for a bit! Hikaru, you have been sleeping for 2 days, you know?” (Rifreya)

“For 2 days…?” (Hikaru)

Maybe I had received more damage than expected. That’s sleeping way too much no matter how you slice it.

Or more like, that’s close to being in a coma, right…?

“Can you get up…?” (Rifreya)

“Y-Yeah.” (Hikaru)

I have no experience of having slept for 2 whole days in my life.

Even when I ran out of Spirit Energy inside the forest, I woke up a few minutes later -even if it was from being attacked by a monster.

It wouldn’t be strange for my body to show any negative effects.

“There’s not really anywhere that feels off…” (Hikaru)

I felt a bit dizzy when I stood up from the bed, but there wasn’t anywhere that hurt enough to be worth noting.

“That’s great… Hikaru, you pushed yourself at the end there… I was really worried, you know…?” (Rifreya)

“No, at the time, everyone was pushing themselves quite a lot there. Thinking about it calmly, it might have been better to run away with everyone without overexerting ourselves.” (Hikaru)

I don’t know if it was because of the adrenaline or because of some sense of duty to not let the Demon Lord escape, but the choice of running away had disappeared from my mind.

I had already been deemed as having forfeited in the Viewer Count Race, so there was probably no need for me to push myself there.

…Well, there’s no point worrying about that now though.

“Anyways, it is great that we managed to win. Rifreya, you saved me there. I was sure I would be killed there.” (Hikaru)

“I was ready, so that I could spring to action at any moment. Thanks to the Spirits lending me their strength, a bit of my Spirit Energy had come back after all.” (Rifreya)

“Now that you have subjugated a Demon Lord, there’s no doubt you will be blowing through that templar exam.” (Hikaru)

“Ah…” (Rifreya)

The moment I said that, Rifreya let out a short sigh and her expression darkened.

She has succeeded in learning the Photon Ray that was her obstacle to becoming a templar.

That meant that she had finally lost the reason to continue being an adventurer in this city.

In other words, there’s no reason for us to be together.

My whole life is being broadcasted, so I can’t be with Rifreya.

Rifreya can become a templar now, so she will return to her homeland.

“Now that I think about it, I remember having quite a lot of scrapes, but they are already gone.” (Hikaru)

I lifted up my clothes and blatantly changed the topic.

When the topic is about templars, it always falls into a talk about us separating no matter what.

It doesn’t seem like Rifreya wants to touch that topic right now.

“After that battle, the people of the Crimson Vials arrived, and they healed you with Spirit Abilities. You were terribly injured too, you know, Hikaru?” (Rifreya)

“I see. I wasn’t really aware… I have to thank them. I just hope I get the chance to meet them though.” (Hikaru)

“In that case…there’s a party today, so I think you can meet them there. That’s only if there’s no issues with your condition though.” (Rifreya)

“Party?” (Hikaru)

“It is a party prepared by the feudal lord-sama to celebrate the achievement of defeating the Demon Lord. There will be an award ceremony there too, so if you don’t participate, you will end up missing your reward, you know?” (Rifreya)

I see, it seems like defeating a Demon Lord is quite the special occasion.

However, a party, huh. I don’t want to stand out, so I don’t really want to participate though…

“I don’t really feel like going, but how much are we getting?” (Hikaru)

“You will definitely be the highest contributor in the Demon Lord subjugation, so you should be able to get quite a lot.” (Rifreya)

“Money, huh. I don’t think I will get the highest contribution though. But if I am going to get something, I should go, I guess.” (Hikaru)

If I could get the Chaotic Spirit Stone of the Demon Lord, I definitely would go, but that’s probably impossible.

However, if I have money, I can get Chaotic Spirit Stones of other monsters or Dark Spirit Stones.

For someone like me who will be diving alone from now on, Create Undead will be practically my lifeline. In that case, it would be better to participate in the party at least.

Also…there’s not too much when it comes to money.

◇◆◆◆◇

It ended up with me participating in the party, but I don’t have any decent clothes.

However, this is a party where adventurers participate, so there’s apparently no problems with regular clothes.

Rifreya said she is going to be properly readying herself, so in the time I was waiting, I entered a clothes store close by, and bought a second-hand shirt and pants.

The party venue will be the residence of the lord. Even if normal clothing is okay, I can’t bring myself to participate with dirty clothes.

Well, it is just a shirt that’s a bit better than my normal clothes, and black pants, but the other participants are probably going with something similar.

I don’t think a rowdy bunch like explorers will have clean formal clothes.

“…Even so, to think that it would change this much.” (Hikaru)

While I was waiting outside the inn for Rifreya, I was surprised by the change in the quality of the Spirit Energy drifting about in the city.

There’s no change in the fact that there’s a lot of Spirit Energy because of the influence of the Great Spirits, but what’s coming out from the dungeon has decreased to the point that it changed the color of the air.

I can see the entrance of the dungeon faraway from the inn of Rifreya, and the color of the dungeon’s crystal is almost transparent now. It is most likely the effects of the Demon Lord subjugation.

I should try asking the details from Rifreya later.

“Sorry for the wait!”

I heard a voice, and when I turned around, there was a snow white Goddess there.

A pure white long dress.

Beautifully combed long platinum blonde hair that has a part of it braided.

There’s a faint deep red on her lips, and she was looking at me with a slightly flushed face.

“Rifreya…?” (Hikaru)

“E-Eh? What’s the matter? Making a face as if you had been befuddled by Spirits.” (Rifreya)

“…Yeah, you were just too beautiful.” (Hikaru)

I honestly said that.

She was a shining beauty to begin with, but a dressed Rifreya ready for a party was so perfect that it wouldn’t be strange to get praised endlessly.

“…You are also cool, Hikaru.” (Rifreya)

She must have gotten embarrassed from my words, she hid her face with her hair and said that.

For Rifreya, my case would be ‘the clothes make the person’. No, those clothes are pretty iffy too, to the point that I feel embarrassed from it.

“My clothes…are they not weird?” (Rifreya)

“They suit you incredibly well. You had a dress like that?” (Hikaru)

“This…is the uniform of a Light Church priestess. I brought them with me because it can also be worn for occasions like parties.” (Rifreya)

Now that she mentions it, at the time when the Great Fire Spirit had come out from the church in order to eat me, I saw a number of priestesses or priests, and I think they were all wearing what looked like dresses.

“T-Then, let’s go!” (Rifreya)

“Y-Yeah.” (Hikaru)

Rifreya linked her right arm with my left arm.

Looks like the princess wants me to escort her.