[BL]The Hero and his Party Won't Let Me Go-Chapter 47: Ch : Attacked village

The carriage was big enough to accommodate five people, but Nero had still preferred to turn himself into a cat and now rested on Shuu’s lap. That caused Prince Kaiden to give a passive-aggressive glare at the pair but not say anything else.

So Shuu did the only thing that made sense to him-he pretended to be asleep to escape the awkward silence.

His eyes were closed and his breath was even. Anyone who observed him would never know he was not asleep, and thus he was not disturbed.

But he was very much aware of Prince Kaiden and the looks of interest he was getting.

After about ten minutes of that silence, Shuu heard someone open a window before letting out a gasp of surprise.

"Prince Kaiden, we just got a message from the sanctuary. The saintess came to visit... but she was not the only one. Lady Sera also paid the sanctuary a visit. Should we... turn back...?"

Shuu felt his heart skip a beat as soon as he heard those words. His breath felt heavy as he tried to regulate it.

He knew that he had no right to feel like this. After all, Prince Kaiden had already made it clear that Lady Sera was special to him. So Shuu expected him to turn around and head back to the sanctuary right away.

But Prince Kaiden surprised him.

Shuu felt a hand resting on his head and patting him before his head was pulled toward Prince Kaiden’s shoulder.

"We are not going to head back. We have already traveled too far. And frankly, I don’t think Shuu’s body would be able to take a trip back."

Shuu’s feelings felt complicated.

On one hand, he was happy that Prince Kaiden was thinking of him when he said those words. But this excuse also made him exhausted as another ray of hope lighted his heart... only to be snuffed out by the crown prince.

"Besides, the sooner we finish here, the sooner I can return to Sera’s side, right?"

There was an awkward silence that followed that declaration. Shuu felt the arms around him tighten even more, and it was starting to feel suffocating to him.

"I see... that does make sense..."

Liam did not sound as sure as he should, but Prince Kaiden did not seem to care.

Shuu tried his best not to feel disappointed at the expected response, but a part of him still felt hurt.

’I wonder what would happen if I just jumped out of the window of this carriage... will I finally be able to escape it all...?’

He did not even know what he wanted to run away from. He just knew that if he stayed like this, then things would never get better for him.

...

But in the end, Shuu was a coward, and he remained where he was throughout the journey until they stopped near a town. People were running away from the carriage, causing Reina to stick her head out and talk to them.

When she came back, she had a grim expression on her face.

"It seems that the village in front of us was attacked by the demon king’s forces. There are still people trapped in the village. What should we do?"

Prince Kaiden’s expression was hard.

"We will go and help these people. Nero, you stay with Shuu and guard him. Everyone else, get ready to head out."

Both Reina and Liam nodded and followed Prince Kaiden out of the carriage, and Shuu instantly felt like a burden.

"Don’t think of yourself as a burden. Everyone on this expedition has a role. Yours is to stay here and wait."

Nero turned back into a kid and sat in front of Shuu. He looked unbothered by all the death and destruction taking place around him.

"Are you... not going to help these people?"

Shuu asked in a monotonous voice. His feelings were all over the place, and he did not know what to focus on. But Nero just smiled back at him in a patient manner.

"Help these people...? Ah, I suppose I can do that. But only if you want me to."

Shuu felt unsettled by Nero’s lack of interest in helping other people out, but he still decided to press his luck.

"T-Then, can you-!"

"Look out."

Shuu’s body moved sideways and out of the carriage, but he never touched the ground. Nero grabbed him, and within seconds, the kid holding Shuu had changed into an adult.

He felt a spark of curiosity to see the face of the person holding him, but shadows around him made it difficult.

"Hold on to me tightly. We will need to shake off these creatures."

Nero snapped his fingers, and balls of fire immediately formed above his head before he threw them back.

The fire collided with the trees, but they did not light on fire. However, the monsters hit by the fireballs began to burn.

Even that was not enough to hold them back.

"Tsk, so persistent."

Nero complained, and Shuu finally gathered enough courage to look back at the creatures rushing after him.

At first, all he saw was a flash of black as the monsters hurried after him. But as they picked up the pace and collided with the fireballs, Shuu gradually began to see more. The burned forms had something resembling a face, and they were trying to speak.

They even made noises that he could not understand. But for some reason, he felt... like he knew what they wanted to say.

Their hands were reaching out toward him, and he almost reached back before Nero took a sharp turn.

"Ugh, looks like these things refuse to leave me alone. It seems like I have no choice but to fight seriously. Shuu, don’t get out of here, alright? Stay here."

Shuu was placed in the hollow of a tree, and Nero straightened his back.

"W-Will you be alright?"

Shuu asked, and Nero just laughed at him.

"Of course I will be alright. I am a familiar of the hero, so I share his power to fight against these creatures as well. Besides, I am much more familiar with these things than you think. Just make sure to keep yourself hidden, and everything will be fine."

Nero placed a spell to hide Shuu in the bark of the tree before he headed out to fight.

Shuu did not hear much after that, and he wrapped his arms around his legs to pull them close. He wanted to fight and help as well, but he was not sure how he could do that.