Chapter 18

"There's something I need to discuss."

One day, Elius, who rarely ever sought advice, approached her with a matter to discuss.

Elius usually made decisions as if he had no doubts at all.

Even in a dungeon he had never visited before, he would proceed without hesitation as if he knew everything.

That was why he had sought her advice only a few times, and the content was mostly the same.

Elaine, sensing the nature of the consultation, answered without hesitation.

"What do you want to buy?"

"Your quick response is a great help. It's a bottle. More precisely, it's an investment in a magic device craftsman who is currently conceptualizing this bottle."

"A bottle?"

"Yes. An 'Automatic Medication Bottle.'"

"I've never heard of it..."

"It's still in the prototype stage. The development funds are not in place, so the project is at a standstill. If this continues, not only will the product not be commercialized, but the prototype won't even be completed."

"Not completed?"

"Well, that's our problem. Anyway, we need to speed up the completion, at least... within a year. For that, we need funds."

For adventurers, gathering information is crucial.

Elius was top-notch in this regard as well.

He always gathered new information faster than anyone else, no matter where he got it from.

"What effect does it have?"

"It's a magic device that automatically administers the contents of the bottle to its owner when they receive a fatal blow. Of course, it hasn't been tested yet. It's not perfect, but it has the potential to save a life in a situation where one would normally die."

"Wow, that's convenient... By the way, how much do you need?"

"An estimate, but... I think two thousand should be enough."

"Two... thousand!? That's more than our party's entire budget! We'll have to borrow in advance, using a few quests as collateral..."

"Considering the value of a life, it's a bargain."

"Hmm... Well, you're going to say it's impossible anyway, right?"

"Your quick response is a great help. Also, try to secure the funds without affecting the other members' shares, especially Rena and Faran's, and the church's donations."

"Ugh! You always make such unreasonable requests! In return, show me the bottle when it's completed, okay?"

"...Sure. I promise, I'll definitely show it to you."

After that, Elaine learned that the bottle was not only expensive but also disposable, shattering after a single use, which only added to her headache.

---

Pain.

"Ow, what... What am I..."

Feeling a sharp pain in her fingertips, Elaine woke up.

She tried to clear her muddled mind and recall the situation.

"Oh, right, I... was fighting the Demon King."

She remembered that much.

And then, bit by bit, she recalled the fragmented memories.

After a fierce battle, the moment Elaine delivered the final blow to the Demon King, he took an astonishing action.

As if abandoning his defense, he clasped his hands in front of him.

Where did he get the strength? The Demon King unleashed a magic far more powerful than anything he had used before.

A self-destruct spell.

He converted his life into magical power, aiming to take Elaine down with him.

In that instant, Elaine used "The Master of Numbers" to calculate her chances of survival.

She extracted and quantified all the elements she could see—her health, the power of the magic, and everything else—and calculated the result—

"0%"

—Survival was impossible unless there was an element beyond her understanding.

Her memory ended there.

She twisted her neck.

"Did I see it wrong...?"

Maybe, in the heat of the moment, she mistook 10% for 0%.

"Or maybe I'm a hero destined to avert death...?"

She tried to joke to herself, but her consciousness was fading again.

Though she had survived, she was severely injured.

It was a close call.

She decided to hurry back.

---

"Strange... It's not here, not here, why, why!"

After being expelled from the party, Elaine had something that supported her emotionally.

The mementos from her time with Elius in the "Dragon Fangs."

When she felt like giving up, she would look at the ring he gave her and the other mementos to calm herself down.

After learning of Elius's death, she tried to look at them again, but one item was missing.

She had no intention of using it, and it shouldn't have disappeared.

Was it stolen? Such a cheap item?

To her, it was invaluable, something that couldn't be quantified.

But to others, it was worth only a few pennies.

No matter how much she searched, she couldn't find it.

—The only thing she couldn't find was the healing potion given to her as a farewell gift on the day she was expelled from the party.

---

She had planned to visit the next day.

But after reading the letter, she couldn't stay still and impulsively ran to Elius's grave.

She thought she was alone.

At least, she thought she had been fighting alone since her expulsion.

But that wasn't true, it wasn't true at all.

"You've always... been fighting with me!"

She ran out of the house, muttering to herself.

No, it was more than that.

Her current strength.

The honor and status she now enjoyed.

All of it was given to her by Elius.

She had been walking on the path he had laid out, without even knowing it.

Elius must have known.

That defeating the Demon King meant his own tragic death.

Yet, he sacrificed himself to defeat the Demon King and dispel the dark clouds.

For Elaine and the people of this country.

And that wasn't all.

Did Elius struggle with this decision?

Or did he not even hesitate?

The Automatic Medication Bottle.

Recently, it was finally commercialized by an unknown craftsman.

It was a technology that, under normal circumstances, shouldn't have existed as a product, let alone a prototype, at the time of the battle with the Demon King.

Elius must have heard about the development and invested money to bring the future closer.

Then, did he not consider this?

"Maybe I could survive with this."

Did he not think of using it to survive his powerful fate of death?

He probably changed the contents to a low-level healing potion, considering Rena's personality, before giving it to Elaine.

If he had used it himself, he could have used a more expensive healing potion.

He might have considered it.

Or he might not have considered it at all.

It was impossible to know.

What was clear was that he entrusted everything he had to Elaine.

The words she heard at the Sword Saint's funeral echoed in her mind.

"Doing one's best for someone else."

Elius had truly inherited this from his father.

Even knowing this, she couldn't help but feel a little resentful.

"What do you mean, 'definitely take it'! You never intended to!"

Her anger at her own inadequacy, always receiving and never giving, mixed with these thoughts.

"When I defeated the Demon King, I thought I could finally start to repay you, little by little!"

She wanted to say a few words to him directly.

This desire drove her to run to Elius's grave.

When she finally reached the cemetery, guided by Elius's mother, she found someone already there.