"Number eight, Silk Lowens. Come forward."
"Yes sir!"
—Making a brief reply to the officiating priest, a girl of about my own age came up onto the platform where I was.
Today was the Order of Holy Knights' initiation ceremony.
The ceremony in which the children who had overcome the harsh training and been permitted to enlist to officially become members of the Order.
I had been given the prestigious role of conferring the Badge of the Order on them.
I think Lady Sasha would have been much more pleased with the task than I was, but I had continued to be chosen for important roles like this over the past several years.
—But... if I could see such happy faces, then... I supposed it wasn't so bad.
Stiff with nervous tension or not, joy showed clearly on those faces.
It was only natural; the grueling training they had endured had all been for today.
The faces of all the children I'd seen these past few years had worn the same expression.
—Well... there would probably be some with different expressions among who mounted the platform from now on, but...
That worried me a little, but right now I had o give precedence to the girl in front of me.
I would feel too sorry for her if the hero granted the task of conferring the badge on her on this day, which ought to be commemorated, were to look away.
Surely I should face them steadily, one by one, and confer the Badge of the Order.
—Silently whispering that to myself, I presented the badge to her.
She accepted the badge, which bore a sword and shield over the flag of this country, in both hands, as if it were precious.
Some of her awkwardness remained, even as she made me a flowing bow.
She was to be assigned to my unit, so I had been given her data in advance.
She was quite a fine girl, as far as I could see, but she was probably a little too worked up in the big moment.
It was embarrassing, but... I'd had a similar feeling my first time, so I felt a slight affinity for her.
—Well... if it's just a little, I suppose it's fine...
"Do your best."
"I, it's an honor!"
I whispered to her in the moment she passed by me.
I response, she saluted me in a voice that echoed throughout the meeting hall.
...
The adjutant at my side gave me a look as if he wanted to say something about that...
But he wouldn't do anything to disrupt the important ceremony.
I'd probably be cautioned against giving special treatment later, but, after all, encouraging people was also part of a hero's job.
—Well... I did understand why I had to treat everyone equally, but...
Being a symbol of the country was part of a hero's job.
That was why a Hero, not her highness the princess or his majesty the king, was appointed to confer the Badge of the Order at the Order of Holy Knights' initiation ceremony.
If I, a Hero, were to show anyone favoritism, it would end up leading to discontent.
It wasn't as if I didn't understand the reason.
—But... I...
At just the thought of that, I felt a sharp pain pierce my breasts, but I didn't understand why that should be.
In the first place, I wasn't even sure what it was I was questioning.
I feel certain that the important role of "hero" is too much for me, but I also feel honored by it.
So why was there a part of me crying out in protest?
Surely there was nothing strange in thinking that mysterious.
—Perhaps I'm a little tired...
I spent every day and every night fighting and putting in appearances in all sorts of places as a "Hero."
And lately the duty of memorizing the data of fresh initiates and considering how to assign them had been added on top of that.
Now that my time to sleep had been considerably reduced, my mind was probably getting somewhat tired.
Even so... a "hero" couldn't simply take leave, and even if it were granted to me it would mean more difficult jobs for everyone else.
I had to stand firm.
—While I tried to motivate myself like that, I could see the officiating priest's lips open...
"...Number nine, Elt..."
"...What?"
—...El... t...?
A voice I recognized drew my gaze to the stairs.
And then I stood in blank amazement as a head of flaming red hair slowly entered my field of view.
From beneath that characteristic hair appeared the frank face of a youth possessing both kindness and a strong determination.
It certainly wasn't strikingly beautiful, but there was a strength of will in it that stuck in one's memory, and stirred something in mine.
It worried me a little that, perhaps because we had met in a place like this, there was a somehow complicated tinge to his expression, but... he seemed to be in good health.
—Aah... Aaahh...!
I hadn't misheard.
I couldn't have mistaken his face, either.
The man in front of me was unmistakably my childhood friend... El.
The moment I realized that, my tear glands slackened, and my tears seemed about to overflow.
It seemed as if the disposition that had gotten me called a weakling in my childhood was somehow still not cured, even after I had become a "Hero."
While I smiled bitterly at my own nature, my legs seemed about to leap to him.
—Hu... h...?
And yet, my feet refused to move, as if they had been sewn to the spot.
The childhood friend I had dreamt of so often had kept his promise and was standing before me, but I couldn't muster a single word of joy.
My body refused to do what I told it to, just as if I had been bound hand and foot.
—Why...? Why...!?
Our reunion after so long should have been incomparably joyful.