Night, slowly descended.
At the foot of the Mangir mountain range, the members of Vivian's party had finished setting up the tent and made the camp fire, lighting up the surroundings.
At this time, with Vivian at the lead, while the girls of the party all gathered at the campfire, their gaze were pointed towards the side.
At that place, Shien had his back to them and was walking away into the distance.
Seeing Shien like that, Vivian had a somewhat worried expression.
As for Diere, Lumia, and Melika, the three of them were looking at one another.
"Um, big sis Vivian." Lumia asked hesitantly, "What happened to him?"
Lumia asked what everyone else was thinking.
Obviously, everyone had noticed the abnormalities in Shien and Vivian's behaviors.
"Weren't you two chatting quite happily just now? So why it it suddenly…"
Melika also spoke up, but she didn't know just how to describe it.
In such circumstances, even Diere gave Vivian a questioning look.
To that, Vivian just let out a sigh.
"I don't know just what happened either." Vivian spoke in a resigned tone, "I don't know why, but Shien suddenly became that way."
Thinking back on the previous conversation, Vivian discovered that it was when she said something like "the hero mustn't appear" that Shien went completely silent and ceased to speak a single word.
No, afterwards, Shien did say something else to Vivian.
"I'm going to take a small walk nearby."
With those words, Shien left just like that.
"Was it something wrong that I said?"
Vivian begun reflecting.
"I don't think this is an issue with you." Diere spoke up calmly, "It should be that person's own issue, right?"
Diere's words hit very accurately.
However, that was Diere. Much like how Shien had thought, she has a calm and decisive personality. Add to the fact that she's the silent type, even within Lamdrion, a lot of male adventurers hold her in caution.
Rather, it was Lumia and Melika who, now that Shien wasn't around anymore, became much more open and outgoing.
Lumia stayed her timid self, but at the very least she stopped stuttering when she talked and could hold a conversation much more smoothly.
There's no need to even mention Melika, who seemed to have thrown off the chains. Even her expressions have turned much lighter.
That was what the members of the Vivian party were really like.
Vivian was gentle and nurturing.
Diere was cool and silent.
Lumia was timid and afraid of strangers.
And Melika was the complete opposite of her previous tense self. She was actually quite energetic. It was only because of Shien's arrival that she held that part of herself back.
Now, with Shien not around, Melika had changed to no longer hold herself back so much.
"Is big sis Vivian worried about that man?" Melika asked Vivian energetically, "Although big sis Vivian has always been gentle, this time seems a bit different though?"
"Is that so?" Vivian seems to not expect that, so she pausing a bit at that.
"I think so too." Lumia sneaked a peek at Vivian and spoke hesitantly, "I keep feeling like big sis Vivian attention, towards that Mr. Shien, seems to be greater than it was for those previous newbies."
Having been told so by Lumia, Vivian became aware of it herself.
Although, no matter who she was facing, Vivian was generally quite gentle and nurturing, and she tended to be quite attentive towards newbies. However, this time, her attentiveness towards Shien really did seemed to be quite a bit more so than it had been towards previous newbies.
It couldn't be helped.
"Ever since Shien defeated the golem, I felt like there should be some kind of secret we don't know about him." Vivian had no intention of hiding it, so she went ahead and revealed it, "Although I don't know what kind of secret it is, but it must be said, he truly did end up attracting my attention."
If not for that, Vivian would not have gone as far as confessing the internal party situation to Shien that quickly, nor would she have defended Shien that blatantly in front of her teammates.
Although, even if he was someone else, Vivian would still have done the same, but she would definitely have chosen a more appropriate time to confess to Shien about the situation with the members of the party. Her defense would also not been quite so strong as it was for Shien either.
No matter how one puts it, they've only know each other for a day. No matter how gentle and nurturing Vivian was, she wouldn't have gone so far for a person of the other gender who had not yet earned her trust.
The result though was that for Shien, Vivian did do so. That's exactly because she detected a slight hint of what's different about Shien.
Plus…
"You guys know as well, I'm a bit different from normal humans, or rather, normal mortals, right?"
Those words from Vivian made the other girls quiet down.
Vivian gave a small smile, "Due to my own abnormalities, I would generally end up feeling certain special sensations when it comes to certain unusual beings."
Diere and the others understood what Vivian meant with those words.
"That is to say, that person gave you that kind of special sensations huh?"
Diere looked towards Vivian.
"Indeed." Vivian nodded before continuing, "Therefore, I ended up not being able to hold back from being a bit more attentive to him. It's because he not only carries with him a secret, that secret is definitely not something little too."
Vivian had certain guesses.
"Perhaps, Shien was blessed by a very high ranked god." Vivian spoke with confidence, "The feeling that blessing gives me might be even higher than that of that princess, so I couldn't help but pay more attention."
Those word shocked the rest of the group.
"A blessing of an even higher level than the blessing of that princess?" Lumia gasped out with extreme surprise, "How could that be?"
"… It's indeed not possible." Diere was silent for a moment before quietly speaking out, "That princess gained the blessing of one of the three great goddesses. For a higher blessing than that, there's only one possibility among the gods."
"Indeed, there's only one." Vivian couldn't help but whisper out, "But, if it's that one, she had been staying in the holy land deep within the very ends of the divine realm ever since the end of the war a thousand years ago, and she had never appeared since. So how could there be someone with that one's blessing?"
Or rather, even in the distant past, there had never been someone who held that one's blessing.
At the very least, Vivian had never heard of that peerless existence having ever given someone her blessing.
"But, if that's not it, then just what's going on?"
It's indeed due to that question that Vivian couldn't help but pay more attention to Shien.
Diere and the rest had finally understood what was going on.
"That is to say, Mr. Shien isn't a normal person?" Lumia asked as if puzzled, "But, isn't he someone who hasn't learned a single skill, and is a newbie adventurer without too much potential that only reached level 10 at 20 years old?"
It's exactly because of that, that he was more likely to have some secret hidden on him.
At that moment…
"I can basically understand what big sis Vivian is feeling." Melika suddenly spoke up, and after a hesitant moment, she continued, "Actually, I could also feel something strange from that person."
"You?' Vivian, Diere, and Lumia suddenly looked at Melika in surprise.
"Hn." Melika spoke evasively as if she was embarrassed, "I don't know why, but ever since we first met, I could feel from that person a sort of… How do I put it, an abnormal closeness?"
That's something extraordinarily surprising.
That's because, elves are a race famed for their purity and chasteness. Normally speaking, there's no possible way that they could feel any sort of closeness to an unfamiliar male.
Add to the fact that she was almost sullied by a male adventurer in the past, how could Melika possibly have and sort of close feeling towards an unfamiliar male adventurer?
However, Shien did end up creating that kind of feeling in Melika.
That kind of feeling, if it was put into one of the novel's from Shien's previous life, it would be something like a signal of conquered (given away), right?
But in reality, rather than feeling happy at that kind of mysterious feeling in her, Melika was not only not happy, but rather a bit scared.
It's because of that, that Melika was acting so tense in front of Shien.
Perhaps, that's what a reaction from a truly pure and chase girl is really supposed to be like.
Vivian and the others did find it quite unexpected.
"So even Vivian had that kind of feeling huh?"
Lumia was surprised.
"…"
Diere seemed to have wrinkled up her brow.
"Elves are existences born from nature. They are the race closest to nature and the world itself, and are even called the race closest to the gods." Vivian muttered in surprise, "To have an elf feel a sense of closeness from the start, logically speaking, that's something for the gods alone."
Could Shien be a god?
Impossible.
"There are only females within the gods, right?"
Diere clearly spoke out.
"Indeed." Vivian confidently confirmed, "Due to the first god, that is, highest god Omnis, being a goddess, all other gods are but existences that were born from power split off from her and granted equivalent ranks and authorities. It could be said that since highest god Omnis was the original life form, all gods are goddesses, and they could only be goddesses."
In that case, naturally Shien couldn't be a god.
Then, just what is Shien?
As she connected Shien's behavior just now, and his extreme reaction towards "Demon King" and "Hero", Vivian's eyes flashed.
(It couldn't be…)
Before Vivian had finished that train of thought, Diere raised her head.
"Since that man is so special, what do you plan on doing?"
Diere so tentatively asked.
"What to do huh?" Vivian came back to herself and, after a brief silence, replied, "There's no need for us to do anything special. Let's just raise him like a normal newbie."
No matter what kind of secret the other person holds, so long as they could not determine that it was something bad, Vivian did not plan on investigating too deeply.
After all, who doesn't have some secrets?
Never mind everyone else, Vivian herself holds a secret that is absolutely unknown to others.
It wasn't just Vivian either. Even Diere…
Vivian thus looked toward Diere and, after some thought, spoke, "Right now, Shien doesn't seem quite right, so letting him move about on his own might be a bit too dangerous. Can I trouble you to follow him in secrete and protect him for a while?"
Hearing that, Diere didn't reply back, but she did get up after a bit and headed towards the direction that Shien had left in.
Lumia and Melika just looked at Diere from the side while continuing to chat.
As for Vivian, she couldn't help but think to herself.
(I hope it's not what I'm thinking.)
Otherwise, this world would no longer be so peaceful.
