Interlude – The Hero of the Storm

I had finally found her.

A decade of sleep, five years of wandering, and a little more than two seasons of searching had finally led me to this. At first glance, I thought I was wrong. After all, who would’ve thought a god would be working as a bartender in an Adventurer's Guild. It was pure insanity. Still, I was part of the ‘act first, ask questions later’ club. As the Adventurer God, killing one person wouldn’t be that much of a problem.

And then I saw it.

That mixer acted like an anchor to the cord tied around my waist, keeping me chained in agony. It was as beautiful as it was infuriating. How ironic that those same chains had become my strength.

“So why did you drag me out of there, huh?!?” I yelled at the other three members of my party. “We’re supposed to be a team, right? You should’ve backed me up!”

None of them could meet my malice filled gaze. I had almost fulfilled the promise I made with myself, only to have those closest betray me. They didn’t go along with my plan all the time, but they always had my back. So why? I couldn’t understand.

“U-um…” Jane started to say, or was it Mary? I rarely called them by their names, so I didn’t remember. “Listen, Selene. You’ve been a bit… umm… a bit weir–”

“No need to sugarcoat it Emma. Selene, you’re acting like a crazy person. I don’t know what happened while you were sleeping, but it’s been getting worse.”

“Yeah! Like Jane said. We all noticed it a long time ago, but something’s been off. We looked the other way at first because you’re our friend and we trust you. Even after you threatened the Queen of Mutan, we still wanted to believe what you were doing was right. But with you almost killing a person…” The girl… Jane? Mary? started to break down crying. The others rubbed her back, as if trying to comfort her. But that couldn’t be the case, right? After all, what she was saying was downright illogical!

“But you saw her deflect my sword with that mixer right? She has to be much stronger than she lets on. She’s the one who put me to sleep!”

“And what about your proof, huh!?”

“What do you mean? I can feel–”

“But… um… the rest of us… can’t… She just seemed like an ordinary girl to me.”

“Yeah…” the crying girl hiccupped through her tears. “Honestly, I thought you were holding back. That was the only reason we were able to stop you.”

“But that’s not–” I tried to say.

“I’m sorry. But we can’t let you kill anyone. We’re your friends, and just as much as we want to help you, we won’t let you do something you’ll regret.”

Ah… I finally understood what they were saying.

“...you’re right. I probably got all worked up in the heat of the moment. Maybe a bit of rest will do me some good,” I feigned with a light smile. “We can talk about it some more tomorrow, okay?”

“...that’s fine…” The other seemed skeptical, but they agreed nonetheless. They all filed out of the room with awkward goodbyes before closing the door behind them. They probably would check on me later, but it didn’t matter. ‘Stopping me before I regret it’? Hah. They never went through a decade of sleep and agony. None of them understood. It wouldn’t end until that girl was dead.

The rest of my party was dead weight.

As soon as I heard their footsteps retreat down the stairway, I jumped out the window of the house we were renting. Then, with a bit of mana, I sped my way through the streets and over the wall. It only took a few hours to reach my destination.

Standing there just on the border of the beast country was one hundred beastmen arming themselves for battle. All of them looked wary, but they each had a trepidatious resolve. I saw the Beast Queen standing at the helm wearing the exact same expression.

“Glad to see you’re all ready to go,” I said with a bit of excitement.

“I wouldn’t dare disappoint someone so willing to threaten my citizens,” the Beast Queen quipped back sardonically. I, of course, being gracious, let it roll off me,

“Well, I found him, so all you have to do is follow me–”

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Oh? Are you trying to back out now?”

“No… I’m just asking if you won’t regret your–”

BOOOOMMM! I punched a tree, sending it flying through the forest.

“I’ve had enough people asking that today. It seems you don’t understand either, but I don’t care. I’ve been waiting for this moment for ss long, and nothing, nothing, will stop me from fulfilling my goal, got it?”

The Beast Queen didn’t respond, but I knew she got my message.

“Now, let’s go,” I said, speeding my way back towards the town with my army in tow.

You better say your prayers barten– no, Melora.

You die as soon as the sun rises.