Chapter 20: The Hero’s Defeat, and Tears of Resolve

That rainbow-glowing mage was, without a doubt, something inhuman.

There was never a chance of winning. She wasn’t someone they could compete with on equal footing.

And Sakura, being a mage herself, understood that even more clearly than anyone.

“O-Oi, Sakura. This one’s seriously bad news.”

“…Hmph. I can tell just by looking.”

Similarly, Karl—also an outlier—seemed to grasp the extent of Aldebaran’s power.

It was only fitting for someone claiming the title of Hero. From that red-haired mage, an overwhelming surge of magical energy swirled like a storm.

“Noticing the gap in power? If you grovel and beg right here and now, maybe I’ll let you off.”

“Yeah. I mean, sure—your magic’s impressive.”

When the redhead flared her magic, even Sakura lost some color in her face. Aldebaran grinned smugly at that.

She must have thought Sakura would beg for mercy any second now.

“And? What exactly do you expect me to do about that?”

But Sakura’s response wasn’t at all what the red Hero had anticipated.

“Hm?”

“My name is Sakura von Tendou.”

Her face may have paled, but there wasn’t the slightest trace of fear in her eyes.

She stared straight ahead, eyes locked on Aldebaran, then walked directly up to her.

“I’ve never backed down in my entire life, and that’s the one thing I take pride in!!”

“Wha—!?”

And with that, she grabbed the Hero by the collar and slammed a headbutt into her.

---

“…Huh?”

“That’s enough, Al.”

Sakura’s defiant headbutt never landed.

Looking up, she saw a blond, blue-eyed handsome swordsman holding her back by the head, shielding Aldebaran.

“…Who are you? Interrupting a one-on-one fight—how utterly uncouth.”

“My apologies, miss. But you see, Al is someone very important to me.”

“Hmph. So you're with the redhead, then.”

With her interest dulled, Sakura let go of Aldebaran’s collar.

And just when she’d steeled herself and made the first move, too. Nothing more disappointing than a ruined moment.

“Besides, when Al decides to go all out, she really doesn’t hold back. If that had continued, you would’ve been in danger.”

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to earn brownie points with me by saving me. That’s disgusting.”

“Well, I mean… fair enough.”

With the blond intruder cooling things down a bit, Sakura took a step back and glanced around.

It occurred to her that more interruptions might be lurking nearby.

“…I’ll protect Al.”

“Jeez, our boss sure doesn’t know when to back down.”

Her instincts were right.

A burly, muscular middle-aged man with a beard and a pale-skinned, doll-like boy had appeared behind Aldebaran, both glaring at Sakura.

“Three more just showed up. Hey, Sakura, with this many, you don’t mind if I join in, right?”

“…Yeah. I’d appreciate it, Karl.”

“Guess there’s no turning back now. I’m in, too, missy.”

“I’ll assist as well… For a noble, that was a fine declaration.”

As Aldebaran’s allies stepped in, Karl and the others tensed.

And Sakura had already thrown the first headbutt.

There was no turning back. Even the calm Master clenched his fists, ready to fight.

──But surprisingly, the blond man gently covered Aldebaran’s mouth and bowed deeply.

“…No, we’ll back off. Al was the one who started this, after all.”

“What!? Inon, you—!”

“Al, what did I tell you? No fighting in this city.”

Sakura blinked in surprise at the sudden turn.

Aldebaran looked like she was about to argue, but the blond man’s glittering smile turned stern as he gently scolded her.

“So what if he called himself a Hero? That doesn’t give you reason to start a fight.”

“But still, I’m the Hero—!”

“We agreed you wouldn’t go announcing that, didn’t we? It’s better if your status stays under wraps. If someone else wants to claim the title, it actually helps us.”

“But… I mean… I am the Hero… I want people to know… I…”

“Al?”

“…Ugh.”

Apparently, Aldebaran didn’t have much ground when it came to arguing with this comrade.

Frustrated and pouty, she went quiet.

“Anyway, we apologize for all the trouble. I’ll offer a formal apology on behalf of our leader for everything she said.”

“…Hmph. As long as you take back the insults toward Sakura, I’ve got nothing more to say.”

“Of course. We sincerely apologize for all the rude remarks. Truly, we’re sorry.”

“Mmm…”

It was unsatisfying—that was the honest truth of how Sakura felt.

But it was also true that some conflicts are better avoided.

“…Fine. I’ll accept your apology.”

“If Sakura’s fine with it, I’ll stand down too.”

Sakura accepted the apology from Aldebaran’s comrade.

With that, the incident was peacefully resolved.

“Just so you know, I don’t plan on dealing with any of you ever again.”

“I figured. Let’s do our best not to cross paths.”

The brown-haired gang heiress turned on her heel.

“We have two more members as well, but I’ll be sure to speak with them.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

What had looked like it would turn into an all-out brawl ended quietly and without bloodshed──

---

“UWYAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

“USSAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!”

The bizarre screeches of unknown beasts swallowed everything.

“Uh, what was that?”

“Wh-What in the world!?”

Once again, chaos descended upon the area.

And no wonder—along with those indescribable howls came three highly suspicious masked figures tumbling onto the scene.

“You think I’d forget how you reported me last time, you damn rabbit freak?! Wearing some dumb carrot amulet now? You look even sketchier than before!”

“That’s my line, suspicious monkey mask! Why don’t you run home and go dote on your little sister like the creep you are!”

“Yes! Return my peaceful and cultured maid life to me!”

“What nonsense are you even saying!?”

The trio of suspicious characters standing in the street consisted of one battered monkey-masked figure and two creepy rabbit-masked ones.

The strange bunch ignored their surroundings completely and began shouting insults at each other.

“…What are they?”

“Lev, don’t look—it’s bad for your upbringing! Look this way, c’mon, just look at me—yeah?”

“…But they look so cool, I wanna keep watching.”

“No! Big brother will not allow Lev to grow up into that kind of pervert!”

While Karl and Sakura averted their eyes immediately, the still-young Lev stared at the masked figures, fascinated.

Surprisingly, the animal-mask weirdos seemed to be popular with kids.

“…I don’t know them, I don’t know them. I am the brave warrior Aldebaran. I’ve got nothing to do with those creeps—”

“Oh! Leader! There’s our leader Aldebaran! Hey, come over here for a sec!”

“I’ve been dragged into this!”

Just like Karl and the others, Aldebaran had tried to avert her gaze and pretend she didn’t know them.

But now one of the rabbit perverts had called out to her.

Apparently, Aldebaran did know the weirdos.

“…What are you doing, uh, Il—”

“My name is Rabbit Warrior No. 1!!”

“…What are you doing, Rabbit Warrior No. 1?”

As Aldebaran got dragged into the madness, Karl exchanged glances with Sakura and they slipped into the crowd.

When it comes to people wearing monkey masks, the standard protocol is the same as encountering someone walking naked in public: do not make eye contact and pretend you’re not involved.

“Please listen, Leader! That stupid ugly mask over there said something unforgivable!”

“Like hell! You’re the one who pissed me off first!!”

“W-Wait, come on, let’s just all calm down, yeah…?”

But Aldebaran had already been caught in the crossfire—there was no way out now.

It couldn’t be helped. The same Aldebaran who’d been bickering just moments ago now found herself reluctantly in the role of peacemaker.

“Okay, seriously. What the hell are you two even fighting about?”

“He/She insulted my mask and said it looked lame!!” they shouted in unison.

“…Ah.”

Even Aldebaran was rendered speechless.

“I can’t believe this. As Rabbit Warrior No. 1, I’ve never been so humiliated! To have the fashion sense of my mask mocked by that shady weirdo!”

“Who the hell are you calling a shady weirdo?! What part of me looks suspicious, huh?! Try saying that while looking at your own face in a mirror!!”

“Grrr!! You still wanna go, you moron!!”

Honestly? Both of them were in the wrong. Aldebaran really wanted to just say that and be done with it.

Both masks were painfully uncool, and the people wearing them were unquestionably shady.

“You get it, don’t you, Leader!? The cuteness and coolness of this rabbit mask!!”

“…Eh.”

But the newly-joined, pure-hearted earth mage firmly believed their mask was both cute and stylish.

Rabbit Warrior No. 1 bounced up and down with twitching rabbit ears, utterly convinced and trusting Aldebaran to validate them.

For Aldebaran, it was probably a torturous decision—but she said,

“Y-Yeah. I mean, I think it’s… cool. The mask, I mean…”

“Right!? I knew you’d understand!!”

In the end, she chose to go along with her innocent teammate.

“I always knew you’d get it, Leader!”

“…Ugh.”

By praising the rabbit-masked weirdo in front of everyone, Aldebaran had left the crowd speechless.

Even the other rabbit-masked maid looked disturbed.

“…You serious? I figured you weren’t normal if you were their leader, but damn.”

“A-Al… You didn’t actually mean that, right?”

“Come back to your senses, Al…”

Thanks to that careless comment, the red-haired hero now had to endure disgusted looks from her own party members.

“Wait, no, that was just…”

“Seriously, how do you even team up with someone wearing a freaky mask like that? You’ve got some really messed-up taste, you know that?”

"Ah—..."

And then, of all people, it was the masked weirdo in the monkey disguise who said the one thing Aldebaran absolutely never wanted to hear.

Something precious inside her heart made a distinct shattering sound.

"Now that I look closely, your outfit’s pretty lame too. Just because you’ve got red hair doesn’t mean you have to dress head-to-toe in red. That’s just bad taste."

"...Huh? But, I mean—red is my personal color..."

"Okay, then picture this: what if a monkey wore a shirt that said, 'I’m a monkey'? Pretty lame, right? Same idea."

Before she could even recover from the shock of being insulted, Aldebaran found herself getting critiqued for her sense of style by a masked monkey.

"Ah, well, I kind of thought the same thing, honestly. If you added a highlight color like white or gray to contrast with all the red, it’d pop more."

"Well, you’ve probably lived your whole life doing nothing but magic. No wonder you’re a total amateur when it comes to fashion."

"Don’t worry, Leader. Next time, I’ll help you pick out something more stylish."

"..."

Aldebaran chewed on those words, her eyes on the verge of death.

Why was she, a proper adventurer, getting lectured on fashion by a bunch of weirdos proudly wearing rabbit and monkey masks?

As that unbearable question echoed deep in her mind, tormenting her—

"Man, this whole scene killed the mood. Hey, rabbit-mask freak, I’ll let you off the hook for today."

"That’s my line. Honestly, I’d love nothing more than to rip that stupid monkey mask off your face right now, but I’ll put your fashion crisis first."

"If you tell me the materials and design, I’d be happy to make your outfit for you."

"Thank you, Rabbit Warrior No. 2. But please don’t come any closer, alright?"

"Huh?"

Aldebaran tried to respond, but couldn’t even figure out where to begin.

The monkey-mask stood in front of her, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world, gently patted the shorter girl magician on the head.

"Well then, keep working on yourself."

"Uwaaaaaaah!!"

And with that, it seemed something inside her finally snapped.

The red-haired hero Aldebaran burst into tears, fat drops welling in both eyes, and ran off somewhere in the distance.

"Eh? Wait—what?"

"L-Leader!? What happened!?"

"Shut up! Don’t come near me! Leave me alone!!"

Rabbit Ilia called after her in concern, but Aldebaran only ran faster, disappearing into the crowd.

"I’m not crying because of you or anything!! You idiot!!"

She shouted back, leaving behind that bitter parting shot.

"Eh, uh... what just happened?"

"Could she be emotionally unstable? Even though she’s the leader..."

The suspicious crew watched in stunned silence as the crying girl disappeared.

"Aaaahhh! Not again—Aldebaran’s crying again! Hey you, monkey guy, that was too much! Al may have a sharp tongue, but she’s really sensitive!"

"Eh? Seriously? Sorry, I guess..."

"Al! Al, where are you going?!"

"Ugh, great. Now we’ve gotta go smooth things over again..."

And so, the party scrambled to chase after the tearful Aldebaran.

Thus, the victor of this little clash was finally decided.

In what would later be remembered as the first skirmish between the Aldebaran Party and their destined rivals, the Karl Party—

The winner was...

"...Did I do something bad?"

It was the monkey-mask.