“…Yeah, well. It wouldn’t hurt to check, right?”
After contemplating excuses to convince myself, I finally made up my mind with determination.
If the conditions are less than ideal, then never mind, but if not, I might as well get some good sleep.
Clack.
Swallowing dry saliva, I loosened the lock on my helmet and lifted it off my head, letting my sweat-soaked lemon-colored hair cascade down like a curtain onto my shoulders.
“Haah…”
With a sigh of relief that cleared my mind, I keenly observed the movements around me.
Inside the tent, there was no light at all, so it was unlikely anyone would see my face if I took off my helmet, but still, who knows?
If any party members were shocked and held their breath or flinched, I could consider myself discovered.
In that case, I would have to “react.” To ensure that the party members who recognized me would keep quiet.
“…”
Hmm. Looks like there’s no suspicious reaction at all.
Everyone seems just as they were before I took off my helmet, so it’s clear they couldn’t recognize my face.
“Uh, did you take it off? Are you okay…?”
Instead of being surprised by my face, Amy asked worriedly if I was feeling unwell, while Friede simply lay still.
“…Umm….”
Gerda seemed to have already drifted off to dreamland.
“…Yeah, I think I’m fine. I can sleep like this.”
I replied, casually covering my mouth with the edge of my cloak.
“That’s good to hear. Well then, good night.”
“You too, Amy.”
“Ah, goodnight—no, um, sleep well, Ms. Hilde.”
“Yeah, sleep well, Friede.”
After exchanging goodnight wishes with my party members, I closed my eyes.
I kept reminding myself that I had to wake up before sunrise the next morning.
Sleep came swiftly.
======[ Friede ]======
In the early dawn, when everyone was deep in sleep except for the sentry patrolling outside the tent, Friede quietly sat up like a ghost and turned her head to glance at the person next to her.
“…”
The lemon-haired swordswoman had fallen into a deep slumber less than a moment after closing her eyes, seemingly exhausted.
‘…Brunhilde.’
The woman who was her mentor and ally.
‘Finally, we meet again.’
Her cheeks flushed with joy; the corners of her mouth curled into a small smirk. A youthful face that looked five years younger than her actual age wore a look of sinister delight.
‘My wish has been granted. This time, for real.’
Friede gazed down at the soundly sleeping Brunhilde, as if enchanted, recalling their journey over the past few months.
After returning to her original body, she had left the Kingdom of Rhine and was now about to reunite with Brunhilde.
◆◆
Immediately after regaining her original body with the power of the Holy Sword, Friede shut herself up in an inn room, pondering for three days straight.
Where on earth could Brunhilde, who had disappeared after leaving Gunther’s party, possibly be?
Had she returned to the Kingdom of Rhine? The chances were slim.
The upper echelons of the kingdom were currently furious about the heroic party’s escape and disappearance, which had received overwhelming support from the throne.
They had issued a ban on Imelia and Irina, who had defected to Burgundy, and proclaimed that if they were found within the kingdom, they could be killed on the spot.
It was a perfectly reasonable death warrant.
A heroic party were beings expected to grow using the kingdom’s asymmetric power.
Thus, the treasury had been emptied to provide them with lavish activity funds and equip them with every tool they requested, even going so far as to provide dungeons to assist their rapid growth.
Yet those members had fled to another country and were now leeching off that nation’s heroes, how could the upper echelon of the kingdom not be outraged?
They had essentially used a massive amount of money to bolster the foreign enemy.
For the Kingdom of Rhine, it was practically a miracle that they had not sent a horde of assassins to chop their heads off.
‘So, she wouldn’t have returned to this country. If Gunther has left the party… she wouldn’t have stayed in Burgundy either.’
Friede was convinced.
Brunhilde had likely fled to an entirely different country, one that was neither the Kingdom of Rhine nor the Kingdom of Burgundy.
The Kingdom of Rhine had declared they would kill her on sight, and if she remained in Burgundy, there was a high risk of being discovered by Gunther.
The only way she could have safely disappeared would be to run to a third country.
So where could she have gone?
She wouldn’t have headed to the fairy lands or the lands of the Beastfolk, nor would she go to a swamp filled with lizardmen.
That left only two choices.
The Kingdom of Hervor in the northern continent and… the barbarian kingdom located in the far east, claimed by the black-haired easterners who called themselves Huns.
‘It can’t be the east. Brunhilde’s hair and eyes would stand out too much there.’
The conclusion by elimination was clear.
It had to be the Kingdom of Hervor in the northern continent.
‘Could Brunhilde be there…?’
Even with her reasoning, Friede couldn’t be entirely sure.
Perhaps all this reasoning was merely her wishful thinking, and Brunhilde was just quietly resting by Gunther’s side.
Even if that weren’t the case, she might have gone to the fairy country Elfenland or the Beastfolk’s Valtergard for reasons unknown to Friede.
If that were true, then searching the Kingdom of Hervor would amount to nothing more than a pointless journey.
“….”
However, despite all that, Friede made up her mind.
‘…She must be there.’
She would go find Brunhilde, searching every inch of the Kingdom of Hervor.
‘Yeah. She’s definitely there. I know it. Right, Brunhilde? You’re there, aren’t you?’
Friede felt it in her gut. Brunhilde would be in Hervor.
That feeling was like a fire lodged firmly in her mind, convincing her with such certainty.
Even without any evidence, why did she feel such strong conviction?
Friede had no idea, so she fabricated a reason to convince herself.
‘It’s because I wished to see her again. Yes. Nibelung taught me where Brunhilde was. To fulfill my wish.’
Whether that reason was truly valid or just Friede’s grand misunderstanding would be proven by the outcome.
‘So… let’s go. To the north.’
Rising from the worn-out, dark inn bed, Friede finally stood up.
‘I want to see her.’
With a resolve mixed with obsession shining in her golden eyes.
◆◆
Thus began a journey fraught with peril.
A journey that was far more treacherous than anything she had experienced during her time as a member of the heroic party, when she was still in a man’s body.
Friede realized.
The villagers who had seemed so innocent and kind back when she was part of the heroic party were actually ready to turn into bandits the moment they came across a girl walking alone without any escort.
It was a daily occurrence for food she was offered to be laced with poison.
The farmer who offered to let her stay in his daughter’s room for the night had come that night with a rope to sneak into his daughter’s room.
Such incidents happened not just once or twice, but nearly ten times, and she faced countless pickpockets, bandits, and openly attacking thieves.
In the more established cities, security was better, but it was far more prudent to just bypass small villages and find somewhere to sleep outside.
Amidst all these hardships, the golden greatsword she had pledged to use to protect the people became drenched in their blood.
At first, Friede merely chased the villagers away with her greatsword, but…
– This little girl. What? You want to show mercy this time? Go on, say it again!
When she let one or two go, it often led to them summoning others, coming back with numbers much greater than before.
Thus, Friede had no choice. The moment they threatened her, she would have to swing her greatsword and chop them in half.
In her previous life—when she was still Friet—dozens of armed villagers would have been a formidable challenge to face without armor.
However, for Friede now, butchering them all was incredibly easy.
‘My body feels light. As if I could fly.’
She had merely returned to her original body, but her skills had drastically improved compared to when she couldn’t even deal with an orc warrior.
Perhaps it was due to her height increasing by more than 20 cm; her sense of balance and distance that had always been somewhat skewed had returned to normal, and her weight felt astonishingly light.
The trajectory and weaknesses of the weapons her opponents swung were painfully clear, and her body, which had previously refused to listen, now moved perfectly as she intended.
‘…It was this simple.’
With this alone, Friede had become distinctly stronger than during her days as a man.
‘If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have wished for such nonsense…’
Had she been able to fight like this from the start, maybe the other party members wouldn’t have left.
In any case, with power greater than ever before, Friede slaughtered her assailants like frozen meat cuts and trekked northward.
Until she crossed the border of the Kingdom of Rhine and reached Hervor.
◆◆
Upon arriving in Hervor, however, she still faced mountains of challenges ahead to find Brunhilde.
She had to locate the city within this vast kingdom where Brunhilde was hiding, and also resolve her own nationality issues as she had become a stateless being.
‘For my identity problem… I could at least become an Adventurer. But, Brunhilde comes first.’
Where could Brunhilde be hiding?
Surely she wasn’t quietly living in some flower shop.
Having only the talent of swinging a sword, she would likely choose a life that could make use of that power. Friede assumed.
‘If that’s the case…’
The options that came to her mind were three.
She could be part of a heroic party in Hervor, become someone’s knight, or engage in activities as an adventurer just like Friede.
‘The heroic party in Hervor… it can’t be Heid. If she intended to join a heroic party, she wouldn’t have left Gunther’s party.’
The chances of her getting employed as a knight were slim.
Though she was a former member of a heroic party, the reputation of that party had plummeted because of Friede’s actions…
‘…No employer would be willing to take her.’
Who would be willing to hire a defector knight who had run away twice?
Certainly not the kingdom’s knights, and the nobles would shake their heads at a knight specialized in inversions.
So, that left only one option.
‘Adventurer… Yeah, that’s all that’s left.’
The last place for those who couldn’t make it as knights—the Guild of Adventurers.
◆◆
Brunhilde must have become an adventurer in Hervor.
Convinced of that, Friede chose a suitable city, settled down, and began accumulating every rumor she could find regarding Brunhilde while actively working as an adventurer.
It was a hectic routine.
To establish herself firmly as an adventurer, she needed to reach at least the junior rank, so she had to take on various requests tirelessly, building her reputation.
In the process, she also needed to gather rumors from other cities and completely overhaul her swordsmanship.
Should Brunhilde happen to witness her skills, she might recognize her identity.
Even if she didn’t figure out that Friede had been Friet in the past, she would still realize Friede was related to him.
And Friede didn’t want that.
Someday she might reveal the truth herself, but for now, she hoped that Brunhilde would remain unaware.
The moment she found out, she might want to leave again.
Months later.
The junior-ranked adventurer ‘Crow’ Friede received an intriguing rumor in her ear.
It was news about a certain adventurer in the great city of Vespians, known as ‘Iron Mask’ Hilde.
‘Finally…!’
Friede sensed it. With excitement swelling in her chest, she was convinced. She trembled with joy inside.
That she had finally discovered the whereabouts of Brunhilde.
◆◆
And now.
“….”
The girl with golden eyes finally reunited with her companion, gazed down at the sleeping woman silently.
‘…She’s changed a lot. Really, a lot.’
The Brunhilde she knew had changed so much that everything was utterly different.
Her manner of speaking, her actions, even her personality seemed to have drastically shifted, leaving Friede utterly flabbergasted.
‘But, rather… now she looks much more lively and even more attractive.’
Licking her lips lightly, Friede sat there quietly for dozens of minutes.
With a grin that reached from ear to ear.
