Chapter 3 : The Hero Party Is Getting Married! Except Me (3)

As soon as I saw Alec’s letter, I frowned. A wedding invitation? I told him in a letter not to contact me!

“What’s wrong, ma’am?”

“Alec’s getting married.”

“The Hero is—wha?!”

The gold priest dodged the mace I swung. The invitation had arrived. Should I go or not? I was seriously conflicted.

If I didn’t go, I’d be trash as a former teammate. But if I did go, my heart would be ripped apart watching the wedding.

“Should I… go?”

“We fought together for three years. Of course, you should.”

“Shut it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Now that I thought about it, this probably wouldn’t be the end. The four of them must’ve coordinated this.

First Alec and Eris’s wedding, then Karl and Sierra’s invitation will come in time. Couple hell. Solo heaven…

“By the way, the Pope is on a rampage lately, trying to find the guy who made you swear and threaten him.”

“Tell that bastard Hero I said hi.”

The invitation even had a photo of Alec and Eris.

When I saw Eris in her wedding dress, my eyes filled with tears. Should I at least try to catch the bouquet?

I thought about it while massaging my shoulder with my mace, but I couldn’t find an answer.

I didn’t want to become a petty saint who curses her teammates’ marriages. Fine, I’ll go… to get my heart torn apart…

Meanwhile…

“Think she got the invitation?”

“Why’re you so nervous, Alec?”

“I just… feel a little guilty toward Charlotte.”

Eris hugged me from behind as I was lost in thought. It still didn’t feel real that such a lovely woman would soon be my wife.

“It’s okay. Charlotte might have a sharp tongue, but she’s a good person. She’ll come.”

“Yeah… that’s what she was like.”

I looked up at the sky, holding Eris’s hand, and remembered the past three years.

‘You’re seriously dead this time! I told you not to let the demon go!!!’

‘It’s the violent saint!’

‘Who the hell are you calling violent, you bastard?! Come here right now!’

They weren’t really good memories.

“Well… I guess time makes them feel better.”

“Really?”

“No.”

I hugged the giggling Eris and patted her head. I hoped Charlotte could come to understand this kind of happiness. Maybe then, her temper

would calm down too.

“Are you really going to tell Charlotte about the academy?”

“ If it’s the general department, maybe it’s worth checking out? It’s not the knight course I took, and lots of my friends met their

spouses there.”

I stroked Eris’s blue hair with one hand and wrapped my other around her waist.

“But Charlotte is 24…”

“It’s fine. I didn’t ask for her to enroll. I asked the academy to invite her as a guest.”

“A guest?”

“Yeah, she’s the saint from the Hero’s party that defeated the Demon King. It’d be weird to make her a student.”

I gently pushed Eris to the wall and looked into her eyes.

“Wouldn’t that make it worse?”

“She’ll still meet lots of people.”

“You think so…?”

“As a guest, she can even be a visiting lecturer or do various things.”

I kissed Eris softly and headed into the room.

“You think Charlotte will accept?”

“She… probably will?”

Then I laid Eris on the bed and we spent our time together.

“Saint, a letter came from the Academy.”

“Why would the Academy send me a letter?”

“Not sure.”

The silver priest handed me the letter and sat down. Why does this feel so ominous?

I opened it, and it was an invitation to attend the Academy for six months—as a guest.

The Hero’s party succeeded in defeating the Demon King. Having the saint as a guest would be great for the Academy. They’d attract new

students and receive more funding from the Empire.

“Why should I go?”

“Exactly. Isn’t this underestimating the holy nation’s saint?”

“Yeah… Wait—what the hell?!”

As I read further, I almost fainted when I saw the seal at the bottom. The seal of Emperor Regulus. Why was that there?!

“Wait, can they just use the emperor’s seal like this?!”

“We should report this to the Pope.”

The Aria religion is the continent’s only church. The country is also named Aria, and so is the Grand Cathedral. It’s all crazy.

Even though we only own a city-sized territory, our influence is enormous. Except for the Regulus Empire…

The Empire of Regulus was the first empire on the continent. It borders the Demon Realm, so as long as it stands, the human world is safe.

The Empire gives the title of “Hero” to the top student in the knight academy every year and sends them to the frontlines.

A Hero is like humanity’s strongest weapon. They get lots of benefits but must fight the Demon King’s army.

Every year, a Hero is chosen, and they fight as frontline mercenaries.

Because the Empire defends us from demon invasions, we can’t really argue when they ask for something.

“Whoa… this is actually the Emperor’s seal.”

I poured holy power into the letter, and the seal glowed. That’s how you confirm if it’s real—magic or holy power makes it light up.

Unfortunately, it was real. Damn it.

“No way, right?”

“…It’s real.”

There’s a saying: five stages of grief.

First is denial.

Go to the Academy just because the neighboring emperor asked? Why me?! I just wanted to find a nice guy and live a sweet life…

“Why me?! Just send Alec! He’s the actual Hero!”

Second is anger.

I’ll ask Alec about it at his wedding. Or maybe ask Karl or Sierra since they’re not married yet.

Third is bargaining.

“Why are they doing this to me~ I didn’t do anything wrong~ All I did was smash the Demon King’s head~”

“Saint…”

“Don’t you think this is too much? Seriously, why me?!”

Fourth is depression.

“Fine… I’ll go and eat as much free stuff as I can. It’s only half a year…”

“While I’m there, I’ll tell the students all the embarrassing things Alec did, hehehe.”

And finally, acceptance.

Time passed, and Alec’s wedding day came. Of course, the weather was annoyingly perfect. It was bound to be an amazing wedding.

I changed into my saint robes and walked toward the teleportation circle that would take me to Regulus.

I’d mentally checked out at this point. While they were checking the circle, I showed the priests my gold and silver ones and joked around like

I was playing the gold axe–silver axe game.

“Did you drop this gold priest?”

“Pardon?”

“Or this silver priest?”

“Saint?”

“Oh, you answered honestly, so I’ll give you both.”

I wanted to hand over the bald bronze priest too, but he wasn’t here. The gold priest was trying not to laugh, and the silver one looked like his

head hurt.

I’m struggling too… If I don’t act silly, I might die…

“Let’s go… To curse—I mean, bless Alec’s wedding…”

As soon as I stood in the teleport circle and closed my eyes, I arrived in the capital of Regulus.

“From here, you’ll take a carriage.”

“Saint, please act normal… This isn’t the Grand Cathedral.”

“I know, you brat.”

I kicked the gold priest in the shin with my high heel. He started healing himself with holy power from the pain. I walked down the stairs

toward the carriage.

The carriage ride was mind-numbingly boring.

We played cards together, but the silver priest treated it like an office meeting, and the gold priest was too dumb to make it fun.

“Sigh… This sucks.”

“Saint, I’ll have to pick up the cards if you drop them on the floor…”

“Then pick them up.”

He sighed as he picked up the cards. If you’re that annoyed, why don’t you be the saint?

Knock knock

Who knocks on a moving carriage?! I opened the window and saw Karl riding a horse at our pace.

“Karl?!”

“You came, Charlotte.”

“Of course. It’s your wedding. I even brought my mace.”

I showed him the mace I had under my seat. He flinched—this guy’s been hit with it before, so he reflexively freezes at the sight of it.

“Charlotte!”

“Sierra!”

Sierra, riding behind, smiled brightly when she saw me. I was happy to see her too—she still had some conscience left.

“If you came to Alec’s wedding, we don’t need to worry about ours!”

“So you are doing weddings back-to-back.”

“We didn’t want a joint ceremony~”

I knew it. These jerks had coordinated their schedules. Meanwhile, I still haven’t even found one guy. Bitterness rose in my chest.

While riding together, Sierra told me what happened in the last month.

Alec met the Emperor after the Demon King fight, got the title of Duke, and was now called Claudian Alec.

Karl and Sierra had already been given a house outside the capital for their newlywed life. I was so jealous my teeth clenched.

“Good for all of you…”

“Don’t worry, I bet the Emperor will call you soon too.”

“Me?”

“Sure~ You beat the Demon King! We were shocked you didn’t get called first!”

“Ha. Ha.”

Yeah, you guys should’ve waited or kept it in your pants until I was gone, you horny monkeys.

While I was sitting next to the Demon King’s corpse, reminiscing about the past… you guys were…

Anyway, we chatted the whole way, and eventually, we arrived at the capital cathedral where Alec’s wedding would be held.

We built it, but it was still beautiful. To get married in a place like this… Eris is lucky. I want to meet a good guy and get married here too.

While I was admiring the place, a priest from the cathedral ran up to greet me.

“We welcome Saint Charlotte…!”

“Stand up.”

I helped the kneeling priest up and asked for directions. But the priest’s eyes darted around nervously. What was this creepy feeling?

“Th-the officiating priest will be here…”

Officiant? Why am I officiating? I glared at the priest, and sweat poured off him like a waterfall.

“Sir Alec said you’d do the honors…”

“Gold priest, bring me my mace.”

Aria, please take this Hero with your warm embrace…