I Became a Burden to the Conscienceless Party

After being discharged from the hospital, having enhanced her physical abilities with the elixirs Irina provided as a sign of apology, Esmeralda requested a private meeting with Irina.

“Shall we have an honest talk now? Jim, whom you like so much, isn’t here.”
“Hero. Are you not hiding your true nature anymore?”
“You already know, don’t you?”
“Fufu.”
“…Why don’t you stop acting innocent too?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, is that so?”

Does this woman have no conscience?
Esmeralda clicked her tongue at Irina’s utterly shameless attitude.

“Fine, keep pretending to be a good person. I’m curious how long you’ll keep it up.”
“Hero, such bad words are not good for your emotional well-being.”
“…”

Esmeralda barely stopped herself from spewing out curses.
Well, as they’ve opened up to each other, their relationship has become closer than before.
At least, Irina won’t backstab her trying to turn her into a holy relic from now on.

‘Probably.’

Of course, if she dies, Irina might make something like a pseudo-holy relic with her corpse.
Still, how fortunate that the intention to kill her has disappeared.
She’s still an unpredictable time bomb, though.

“Are we friends now, you and I?”
“Of course.”
“…No, let’s just pretend I didn’t ask that question.”

Esmeralda became serious as she watched Irina affirm without any change in expression.
This is a lie.
Although Irina’s surface thoughts visible to her eyes showed affirmation, she had already seen Irina manipulating her own surface thoughts through brainwashing.
The only thing to trust is her intuition. And Irina’s usual behavior.
Considering all of that, the conclusion was that Irina was still a bitch who lied as easily as breathing.

“Well then… What kind of change of heart did you have?”

Esmeralda had clearly been defeated.
Yet she survived. What’s the reason? If there was something she thought about, it was that Irina had been hesitating from the beginning.
She looked as if she was cornered against a cliff. That’s why Esmeralda thought to knock some sense into her, even if it meant hitting her.
In reality, she was the one who got beaten up like a dog… But there was a sufficient possibility that Irina had given up voluntarily.
She wanted someone to stop her, and she set up several conditions for her own defeat, such as insisting on a 1:1 fight with Esmeralda, who could easily be subdued by the Celestial Order’s forces.

‘Even though I lost, I have nothing to say… If I had received such generous support from the beginning, I would have won. Yes, this is a difference in support.’

She thought after eating the elixirs Irina had given her as a sign of apology.
Irina ate them as if it was a regular meal, but Esmeralda was trying them for the first time.
Thinking that she had been eating such good things alone all this time, Esmeralda couldn’t help but feel incredibly unfair.

“Why did you let me live?”
“Because it didn’t seem like you were lying, Hero. If a holy relic can’t be made even from you, what’s the point? It would be meaningless.”
“Is that so?”

It’s roughly what she expected.
A girl who was pushed to the point of denying herself.
Esmeralda had seen many such people. During her journey, many people in such miserable situations had turned against her as enemies.
Most of them, even knowing they were wrong, couldn’t stop and didn’t stop until the end, but Irina was different.
It’s not incomprehensible.
There’s no one who can match her when it comes to mental strength.
But even so, there were parts that couldn’t be understood.

“But you look quite alright?”

After being pushed to the limit and giving up everything, Irina now looks too normal.

“Is that so? Maybe it’s because I’ve found the answer to a long-standing concern.”

Irina looked relieved.
And somehow, the innocent expression that would have been considered acting normally felt genuine. Yes, like a girl in love.
Then who could the other party be?
There’s no need to ask.

‘Oh?’

It’s Jim, the demon spy.
Esmeralda had thought that she showed affection towards Jim until now, but this time it was different.
This is ‘real’.
Something that can’t even be excused.
The appearance of a girl truly in love.

‘No, no, wait a minute. …Huh?’

Irina’s attitude towards Jim was only affection at most.
But now it’s love.
Irina’s innocent act has become real.

‘But this woman, she does know that Jim is a demon, right?’

Esmeralda pondered.
Honestly, seeing how she threatened to examine him with holy power in the hospital room, she clearly knew.
Moreover, considering that she saw through Esmeralda’s act, she could easily have seen through Jim’s acting.
Yes, she knows Jim is a demon. However, there was one contradiction in this assumption.

‘A person who calls demons vermin likes such a demon?’

If she knows Jim’s true identity, it doesn’t make sense.
Of course, the reason why she showed affection towards Jim could be explained.
It was essentially bullying.
If she really knew Jim’s identity early on, she would have known that her actions were pushing Jim to the brink of death.
How severely she tortured Jim with holy power.
Yes, it was only affection at the level of looking at a pet, discovering a rare animal.

‘But love? Loooove?’

That’s a strange fetish.
It might be understandable for someone else, but from Irina’s standpoint, it can’t be.

“Hey, Irina?”
“Yes!”
“Uh… I’m asking just in case, but you do know what Jim’s true identity is, right?”
“Fufu, of course. Do you think I wouldn’t know the identity of the person I love?”
“I… see? Um, there might be a difference in our perception, so let me ask. What is Jim’s true identity?”

Irina declared with a broad smile, as if it was the most obvious thing:

“Mr. Jim is the Celestial God. Yes. Right now, his memories are confused because of the dirty demon blood…”
“…”

Esmeralda couldn’t hide her dismayed feelings as she saw Irina answering with somewhat empty eyes.
She knew Irina was pushed in many ways, but to think she was this broken…
Although she has no conscience, is black-hearted, and is a bitch!

“I see…”

Esmeralda sympathized with her.
She couldn’t have imagined that she was such a broken person.

“If that’s what you think, then… It can’t be helped.”

It’s too much right now.
Esmeralda can’t cure Irina’s madness yet.
Her pain and wounds must be deeper than an abyss, it’s not enough to just open up about their true feelings.
Yes, this is her second goal.
A journey that might be as difficult as defeating the Demon King.

“Irina.”
“Yes.”
“I promise I’ll save you.”
“Huh?”
“Just know that.”
“Oh, um… Alright.”

Esmeralda made her resolve.
Irina is a friend for now.
And now, not just a friend, but a friend she can open up to.
It was a new feeling for Esmeralda, who only had someone like Tina to call a friend.
Of course, it was still true that Irina was no different from a time bomb.

“Then can I ask one thing too? You intend to defeat the Demon King, right? And until then, you see Mr. Jim as a means to coordinate us.”
“Well… that’s right.”

She wasn’t particularly surprised that Irina knew Esmeralda’s intentions. Since she expected that Esmeralda could read surface thoughts, there’s no way she wouldn’t know the reason why she kept Jim around.

“Then after everything is over, could you give Mr. Jim to me?”
“…Jim?”
“Yes, after defeating the Demon King, the hero party will disband anyway. If you’re keeping him to control Milia, there won’t be a need for that anymore, right?”

Irina whispered as she walked lightly around Esmeralda.
Her appearance looked like a cat eyeing a mouse, making Esmeralda feel uncomfortable.

[Note: She’s thinking that the Hero is a voyeur for arbitrarily peeking into people’s thoughts.]

‘Now she’s manipulating it openly.’

She believes it’s not her true thoughts.
Even before, there were parts that couldn’t be interpreted by surface thoughts alone, but now even that is impossible.
She’s doing as she pleases, having revealed that the brainwashing effect applies to herself as well.

“Hero, let’s be honest, shall we? You were planning to dispose of Mr. Jim after defeating the Demon King, weren’t you?”
“What do you take me for. I was thinking of leaving him alone out of consideration for our time together if he doesn’t resist.”
“And if he resists?”
“Then there’s no reason to keep alive a spy bastard who even resists, is there?”

The reason Esmeralda kept Jim alive was only because he hadn’t crossed the line.
It’s vexing that he extracted information from each group by sweet-talking Irina and Milia, but she was the one who allowed it.
Looking at Irina’s current state, there’s a high probability that most of that information was manipulated anyway.
Things related to the Celestial Order seemed to go unusually well.

“So. If that’s the case, just give him to me instead.”
“If I give him to you? What will you do?”
“Why are you interested in what’s mine?”
“No, this crazy woman, really…”

Irina speaks as if she has already obtained Jim in her heart.
Watching her, Esmeralda couldn’t hide her shock.
When a smart woman goes crazy, she’s really scary to an unmanageable degree.
If she hands Jim over to Irina, wouldn’t it be too cruel to him?
Still, they have shared feelings over time…
But Esmeralda trusts Irina.
Of course, thoughts of opening his head,
Or extracting all his blood to separate only the demon blood,
Or brainwashing him to become more of a ‘Celestial God’ than Irina imagines,
Such thoughts flashed through Esmeralda’s mind for a moment.
But in any case, Jim will end up happy.
He might be different from the Jim she knows, but if he can be happy, isn’t that okay?

“…I’ll think about it.”

Therefore, Esmeralda chose an ambiguous deferment instead of a clear rejection.