The shadow sliced through the water dragon in a single strike. The creature’s severed head crumbled away, vanishing.
“Are you alright, Lady Elsez?”
Astaire hurriedly approached her.
“Are either of you hurt?”
Before them, a man with dark brown hair stepped forward—the very one who had just slain the water dragon.
As he approached, Reti hid inside Elsez’s inner pocket.
“Thanks to you. I appreciate the help.”
The man stared intently at Elsez as she expressed her gratitude.
“I’ve never seen you around before. You must be from elsewhere.”
“Well… yeah. We weren’t exactly trying to come here, though.”
“I figured. I warned the villagers not to come near this place for a while, saying it’d be dangerous. I was wondering who would be reckless enough to ignore that.”
His gaze, fixed on Elsez, slowly swept her from head to toe.
“At least I wasn’t too late.”
‘What’s with this guy? Why does he feel so off?’
Just as Elsez was getting a strange feeling from his stare, Astaire subtly stepped between them.
“Thanks to you, we avoided danger. But, if I may ask, where exactly are we?”
The man, now partially blocked by Astaire, frowned slightly before responding curtly.
“You mean you used a portal without even knowing where you’d end up?”
Then, after making eye contact with Elsez, he cleared his throat and added,
“This is Lucen Village, in the Elbrin Territory.”
Hearing the name, Elsez and Astaire furrowed their brows.
Elbrin Territory was located within a duchy bordering the Holy Kingdom. Clearly, the portal had malfunctioned somehow.
At that moment, the man’s gaze fell on Astaire’s robes, and he hesitated.
“Wait… that outfit… Are you a priest?”
After a brief pause, Astaire gave a small nod.
He couldn’t exactly hide the fact that he was a priest, but he saw no need to mention that he was a cardinal.
“Yes. We were on our way to the Holy Kingdom, but the portal must have malfunctioned and brought us here.”
“Ah… I see. Though, if I remember correctly, that portal hasn’t been used for decades. I’m surprised it still works.”
Just as he said, the broken portal was covered in moss and vines, clearly long abandoned.
Hoping for a miracle, Elsez reached out to touch it—but it remained inactive.
“This area is dangerous. Let’s head down to the village. You’re not planning to sleep out here, are you?”
At his suggestion, Elsez and Astaire exchanged glances before following him.
The man matched his pace with Elsez as they walked.
Sensing his subtle glances, Elsez tilted her head up slightly and asked,
“By the way, I never got the name of my savior.”
“Henry. Henry Rivette.”
“…The hero, Henry Rivette?”
Henry Rivette was one of the many heroes in Last Heroes, the game Elsez knew well.
Like most hero characters, he had been powerful at first but was eventually overshadowed as newer characters were introduced.
“Oh? How do you know my name?”
Realizing she had spoken without thinking, Elsez flinched and quickly covered for herself.
“Well, you’re clearly a skilled fighter, so I figured you must be a hero. Looks like I was right.”
“Hah, I like that. Feels good to be recognized.”
Fortunately, Henry seemed pleased rather than suspicious.
“You know, we seem to be around the same age. How about we drop the formalities? Ah, but I should probably still speak politely to the priest.”
“Sure, why not.”
Without hesitation, Elsez immediately switched to informal speech.
Seeing how quickly her attitude changed, Henry burst into laughter.
“You’re an interesting one, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
Elsez responded casually before steering the conversation toward gathering intel.
“By the way, that monster… Did it come from a dimensional rift? Those only started appearing recently, right?”
At her sharp question, Henry visibly flinched.
“…How do you know that?”
“Monsters like that usually only show up near rift zones, and people don’t build villages in places like that. That means the rift must have only appeared recently.”
If it had been around for a long time, the villagers would have already relocated.
Henry was secretly impressed by how accurately Elsez had assessed the situation with just a few clues.
“That’s right. Until recently, this village was peaceful. Everything changed when the dimensional rift started appearing.”
At the mention of the dimensional rift, Elsez and Astaire’s gazes sharpened.
“Well, don’t get too scared now. As long as you’re in this village, nothing will happen to you. I’m keeping an eye on things and closing the rift whenever it opens.”
Thinking Elsez might be frightened, Henry patted her shoulder reassuringly.
“Haven’t you reported this to the Central Temple?”
At Astaire’s skeptical question, the confidence on Henry’s face faltered for a brief moment before he quickly regained his composure.
“I sent several official letters, but I never got a response.”
Each nation’s capital had a Central Temple, an institution responsible for handling demon-related incidents and assisting the country’s heroes.
And within those temples were cardinals, the direct representatives of Saintess Dike—just like how Astaire served in the Arthes Empire.
For a cardinal to be unaware of this incident seemed highly unusual.
Before Astaire could question him further, Henry turned to Elsez, smoothly changing the subject.
“So, what’s the relationship between you two?”
“Us? We’re comrades.”
Elsez answered without hesitation, as if it were obvious.
For a fleeting second, disappointment flickered across Astaire’s face—but Elsez didn’t notice.
As they walked through the forest, chatting about trivial matters, the village gradually came into view.
It was a typical mountain settlement, no different from any other rural village.
Elsez turned to Henry.
“Can you tell me where the inn is? Looks like we’ll be staying here for a while.”
“Well… Since this is a small mountain village, the inn isn’t very big… How about staying at my place instead? I have a spare room.”
Henry’s gaze carried a subtle undercurrent as he looked at her.
“No, thank you. I appreciate the offer, but I can’t impose on a stranger.”
Before Elsez could respond, Astaire firmly yet politely declined.
Henry shot Astaire a cold look but didn’t press further.
“Alright… If you ever need anything, come find me.”
He flashed a friendly smile—directed only at Elsez—before walking away.
‘Astaire’s voice sounded lower than usual… Is he in a bad mood?’
Unaware of the subtle tension between the two men, Elsez assumed Astaire was simply frustrated that their journey had gone off course.
Determined to lift the mood, she looked up at him with a deliberately cheerful voice.
“Your Grace, would you like to hear my plan from now on?”
Astaire’s expression softened, as if his earlier irritation had never existed.
“For now, we should stay in this village. The portal in the forest isn’t working, and we can’t just take a carriage to the Holy Kingdom while we still have unanswered questions.”
Astaire immediately understood what she meant by unanswered questions and let out a small chuckle.
Elsez was clearly fixated on the dimensional rift incident.
And so was he.
“We’re thinking the same thing.”
“Knew it! We’re totally in sync.”
Elsez grinned and lifted her small fist, bumping it against Astaire’s larger, graceful hand.
“There’s definitely something fishy going on here. Don’t you think?”
This incident bore a striking resemblance to the Demon Resurrection Cult case that had shaken the empire not long ago.
“The cult’s leader—the so-called ‘Prophetess’—still hasn’t been caught.”
Astaire nodded at Elsez’s hypothesis. Given the circumstances, it was a reasonable suspicion.
And considering where they had ended up…
“That must be why the Saintess sent us here.”
Elsez had already begun piecing together the bigger picture.
In Last Heroes, each hero character had a rank.
To promote a character or advance their rank, players had to complete character-specific quests.
Tasks ranged from defeating a set number of monsters to following a sub-scenario that involved slaying specific creatures.
These were called “Hero Trials”, designed to test whether a character was worthy of their next promotion.
Unlike the main scenario, which required a five-member party, these trials were completed with just one character and a healer.
When Elsez first found herself in this world as Luelle, she had completed such a trial.
‘This situation feels exactly like that.’
Elsez and Astaire, thrown into a crisis area together.
A Saintess who had taken note of Elsez’s abilities after she defeated Cedric, the demon who had nearly destroyed the world.
And now, a mission unfolding in a format eerily similar to a hero trial.
‘…Though I didn’t expect to be dumped into an unknown land without any warning.’
Despite her lingering confusion, Elsez decided to focus on the problem in front of her first.
“For now, why don’t we get a room at the inn and take a look around the village?”
With that, Elsez and Astaire headed for the village’s only inn.
However, what they heard upon arrival was completely unexpected.
“We’re fully booked today. There’s only one room left.”
Silence fell between Elsez and Astaire as they stared at the innkeeper.
This was the only inn in the entire village.
“…Ughh!”
Breaking the silence, Reti let out a horrified squeak, glancing up at Astaire with clear distress.
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