Leave a comment

I woke up to the sound of servants hectically moving around in the castle.

While Karua was still asleep, Mika was already awake, had changed out of her pajamas, and was sitting motionlessly on a chair with her legs crossed similar to Zen-meditation and her eyes closed.

I could see magic power swirling around her. It looked like she had successfully started her meditation.

I thought about kissing her now in return for what she did yesterday, but, naturally, I stopped myself.
It’d probably distract her.

I changed into the clothes we chose yesterday and exited Karua’s room.

Then, for the time being, I sent the minister a message, notifying him that I was awake. I was told to come to the throne room after having breakfast in the dining hall.

According to the sign, the menu was bread and soup. Since Karua arrived the same moment, I was about to start eating, we had breakfast together and then went to the throne room afterwards.

The king, minister, knight commander, and archbishop were already there. Additionally, Tuhl, Ruin, Orgo, Lilo and Myuri were also present. Furthermore, I saw Uruto (as Lastman), Parasuna and Gilmars. On top of that, even Manet from the Medial merchant association was present.

And Bacchus, too. Still, since he was the only SS-Rank adventurer to be found, he was probably here as the owner of his distillery.

The others, who seemed to be distinguished guests were unknown to me…
Wait, they’re probably people with political or martial power and their guards.

“Huh?! Are you Alim?”

An old man with dog-ears¹ who was walking with a cane noticed me and raised his voice. He was unbelievably loud; enough apparently to reach the ears of everyone present, so they suddenly all turned to look at me.

Karua, who was about 2 steps behind me, took some distance.
Doesn’t she like to stand out…?

No, she probably read the atmosphere and moved back so I would be easier to see.

Consequently, I was the one to suffer all these gazes.
That’s kinda embarrassing and makes me nervous.

For now, I gave an answer to the dog-grandpa.

“Yes, Sir, that’s right.”

When the onlookers heard that, a crowd of people gathered in front of me. Among them were some who wanted to shake my hand, who I handled one by one.

I didn’t notice before, but there were a lot more faces I recognized than I originally thought.

“Yes~! The competitor Alim Nariwei… or rather, Little Alim²! Do you remember me?” exclaimed a man who voiced his admiration in quite an exited tone.

Who is this man? I’ve seen him before… Let me think, was it at the battle tournament…?
Oh, right, he was the commentator. He’s the one who named me [Heavenly Sword Girl].

Besides, looking closely at him, isn’t he wearing accessories with a print (reproduction) of my face on them? I heard rumors that someone made them, without ever asking me.
And that’s quite a few of them.

No matter how much I want to try to please everyone around me, that’s naturally embarrassing.

This man. If we were on earth, he’d be the type to paint pictures of idols all over his car.³

“Erm, you were the commentator at the battle tournament…?”
“That’s right~! I’m Kyme Speech~!”

I see, Mr. Kyme, wasn’t it?
For now, I’ll try to get him to take off this Alim-merchandize.

“Say, Mr. Kyme…”
“Whoa~! I was addressed by Little Alim with my first name~! I can boast about this to all the other members! …So?”
“Those things… Could you maybe remove that handkerchief and the sunglasses with my face painted on them? It’s super embarrassing…”

For a moment, Kyme’s face showed what appeared to be displeasure, sadness, and surprise.

“Embarrassing?! To think that I’d cause Little Alim embarrassment? What a disgrace, I’m unfit to be the president of the ‘Association of Alim Adorers⁴‘…”

D-did he say… president of the “Association of Alim Adorers”…?
This man is the president?

“Wait… there were some rumors lately about a club of people who admire me…”
“That’s right, you see! I founded it; it’s an association made by Little Alim fans and admirers for you and your fans!⁵ By the way, we already have 7000 members! Combined with members from other countries.”
“Wha… 7000 people?!”

That’s seriously shocking.
Something like 7000 people, you know. I’ve only had fans for around 1-2 months…

Moreover, he said “other countries”… Did my fame spread outside of the Mephilad kingdom without me ever noticing?

Even so, them creating merchandize of me unchecked probably isn’t a good thing.

“Well, yes~… About that… Erm, thank you very much for rooting for me… I guess? But I’d prefer for you to stop wearing that merchandize with my face printed on it. Not just you, Mr. Kyme… all members.”
“Crap~… Understood! If you don’t like it, it can’t be changed. I’ll tell them in the next gathering! Ah, I’ve already taken too much of your time, Little Alim! See you!” he said, while he waved at me and trudged back into the crown of people.

Do they want to wear Alim-merchandize this badly?
But I won’t allow it. With this, the number of people wearing those embarrassing things should go down.

Immediately after Kyme, my crazy fan, left, I felt the tap of a cane on my shoulder. When I turned in that direction, the mayor of Pipi-Village, Jisef, stood in front of me.

“Ho-ho-ho… Association of Alim Adorers? …That’s some misfortune, Alim.”
“Mr. Jisef!”

He looks like he’s in good health.

“Ho-ho-ho! I heard about your exploits.”
“Thank you very much. How is everyone in the village?”
“They’re all lively. Everyone in the village is always looking forward to read about you in the newspaper. Oh, right… you’re going to become the hero, after all, aren’t you? Who could have imagined that little girl from back then would come so far in such a short time?”

Great, everyone in the village is fine. Jisef seemed quite pleased, as he said that.

By the way, how did he know about me becoming the hero? It shouldn’t have been made public yet, but…
No, it can’t be.

“Incidentally, Mr. Jisef, I don’t think there was any public announcement so far, so how did you learn I was to become the hero?”
“What? Don’t you know? Yesterday in the early evening, there was a newspaper extra. They distributed it in the village and apparently in this city, too.”

Of course.
I always thought so, but the newspaper gets its information way too quickly. Almost like news on the internet.

Or rather, someone leaked the information, you know. Do they lurk somewhere in this castle?
Some incredible journalist, right?⁶

“The newspaper… They get their information quite fast, don’t they…?”
“Well, that’s just how the newspaper is, you know. Ho-ho-ho… by the way, Alim.”
“Yes?”

Jisef stopped smiling and his expression turned serious.
Back then, he made exactly the same face when he told me to enjoy my life.⁷ A somewhat serious face, but full of kindness.

“Honestly, when I heard you’d become the hero, I doubted my ears. Since you’re still very young… I was worried. However, now these concerns are gone. My intuition of many years tells me, ‘Don’t worry about Alim’.”
“Of… Of course!” I agreed strongly.
“Well, I relayed to you what I wanted to relay. See you later, Alim.”

Jisef left with a look of satisfaction.

While I watched him leave, there was a tap on the back of my shoulder.
I turned to look there.

That moment, a finger lodged itself into my cheek.

“According to some rumors, it feels great to touch your cheeks, Alim.”

There, a well-proportioned face with pointy ears, poking my cheeks with her hands as if she was appraising them, stood Manet.

TL notes:
Some familiar faces (or in Kyme’s case, a familiar voice). Speaking of him, I’d probably freak out if I ran into someone wearing things with my face printed on them. A perfect case of slowly and carefully backing away…

Also, The chapter’s original title is 当日 (“day in question” or “appointed day”) but since this is also used for the day the demons plan to attack, I changed it slightly.

1. So, there are demi humans (apart from Elves) in Anazumu? Not sure if any were mentioned before.
2. My decision how to localize names with the -chan suffix is really biting me in the a̲ss here.
3. The expression used here is 痛車 (lit. “pain car”). It describes cars that are decorated with images of characters from anime, manga, or video games. When I read this word the first time, it made me laugh way too much…
4. The abomination from chapter 124 rears its ugly head again.
5. This sentence is such a mess in the original, I’m not sure I translated it correctly. Maybe it’s intended to show how far Kyme’s sanity is gone at this point?
6. My money is on the king himself. This is way too deliberate.
7. Back in chapter 40.