Thanks to my friends’ help, the story progressed quite smoothly. With Krok joining the Empire’s army, not only did his mercenary band follow him, but other mercenaries from different affiliations also began to consider joining. Mila recognized the status of these mercenaries by entrusting all command to Krok.

Thus, the Empire’s army gained a powerful asset, but that wasn’t the end of it. It was difficult to compare forces from different regions, but perhaps even more formidable than the mercenaries were the mages who agreed to join. Additionally, they received support in the form of highly useful magic scrolls.

However, all of this military force inevitably required money to operate. The larger the force, the more astronomical the amounts spent to feed the soldiers. No matter how much of an absolute powerhouse the Empire was on the continent, there were limits. That’s where Dillon comes in. The Golden King’s funds would never run dry, allowing the army to focus on the basics of supply without worry.

Well, the Church’s support had been cooperative from the beginning, so there was no need to mention that.

“Well… I didn’t expect it to turn out this way, but I’m glad things were resolved,” I remarked.

As we all made concessions to each other, the meeting wrapped up quickly. The remaining task was merely to coordinate when, how much, and how to cooperate moving forward.

Anne was off discussing matters with Krok, Yuli with Mila, and Mariel had stepped away to talk with the Pope and Dillon. Frecia was caught up answering questions from the Mage Tower Master about the theory of autonomous magic.

Eventually, it ended up just Celian and I walking back through the castle corridors, having been of no help whatsoever.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t be of any help…”

“No, if we go by that, I was even less useful. There’s no need to beat yourself up over it.”

“But…”

Noticing her silence since we left the conference room, I wondered if she had been thinking like this. As we continued down the corridor, I reached out gently to encourage the downcast Selian. My fingertips brushed against her hand, and I quickly grasped her hand, not wanting to let go.

When I suddenly held her hand, Selian was startled but then smiled and intertwined her fingers with mine.

If it were a guy, I’d just pat him on the back to cheer him up, but since Selian was a girl, I needed to approach delicately. Now that I’m accustomed to girls, I know to handle it like this.

“Selian said she couldn’t help, but I absolutely don’t think so. If you hadn’t stuck by me, I wouldn’t have made it this far.”

If it weren’t for her, I might be dead like in my first life or a trash assassin with no chance of revival like in my later life. I wouldn’t have been able to have so many comrades now.

“So please, don’t say you were no help. Just being by my side is a huge support. I hope you’ll always be next to me.”

Sure, there was that time I accidentally lost her, but let’s not bring that up. It’s one of the most embarrassing and unbearable moments of my past.

“El…”

Whether my words had comforted her or not, she looked at me with an expression so touched it was as if hearts were popping up around her.

As I was soothing the gloomy Selian and creating a warm atmosphere, footsteps echoed from the opposite end of the corridor.

Distinct sounds of two people walking.

“Huh? Erin! Stella!”

The people approaching were Erin and Stella, who had been dispatched to investigate the past incident with the saint during our academy days. They later transferred to the Emperor’s direct support team for heroes, so we would occasionally run into each other and build rapport. However, due to various busy matters recently, it had been quite a while since I had seen them; I thought it had to be at least two or three months.

“Ah, Hero! Hello! And you must be… Selian. My apologies for the past.”

Erin immediately recognized me and greeted me. Then she bowed her head upon seeing Selian next to me. The “past” she referred to must be when they investigated Selian back during our academy days. It was a long time ago, and she was just doing her job, so there was no need to mention it, but, perhaps due to her meticulous nature, she decided to bring it up.

“…Oh! That time… I didn’t think about it at all, so don’t worry.”

As expected, Selian was completely unaffected. In fact, she seemed to have forgotten it completely until Erin stared at her for a second to realize who she was.

“It’s been a long time since we last saw each other. How have you been?”

“Um, yeah… We’ve been doing well, haha…”

However, even though Erin said she was well, she looked somewhat awkward. Despite trying her best to act nonchalant, she couldn’t hide her discomfort from a former assassin’s keen eye. After observing for a while, I eventually pinpointed the cause of the awkwardness.

“Did you two… have a fight?”

Normally, Stella would have playfully teased Erin after that, and Erin would have fired back, but today, I could see none of that. They were not only quiet but seemed to be keeping their distance, standing a bit further apart than usual while conversing with me.

“No, no… we didn’t fight…”

“That’s not it at all!”

The two jumped in surprise at my question, vehemently denying it, which only solidified my suspicions. You should be better at lying if you’re gonna try.

“By the way, you two seem… really close.”

Erin even attempted to change the subject, looking pretty desperate about it.

“That’s because we’re best friends!”

I raised the hand where Selian and I were still intertwined, responding to her.

“Best friends, is it?”

So this friendship we have, so close, isn’t a friendship? Erin really didn’t have the sharpest eyes.

That said, I wasn’t about to let things slide in the current situation. I didn’t know why they had fought, but prolonging this awkward situation would only do us harm.

Drawing from my experience of pushing friends away due to my mistakes, I knew I had to act.

“By the way, do you two have any plans or promises lined up?”

“No, nothing like that…”

“Neither do I.”

I tentatively probed to see if they had any commitments. Fortunately, they both had some time to spare.

“Then, since we haven’t met in a while, how about we have tea together? With all that’s coming up, who knows when we’ll get another chance to relax like this?”

With me saying that, there was no way they’d turn me down. Of course, if they did, I’d just come up with another plan instead.

“Given all that, refusing would be quite rude.”

“Then, can we have tea in Erin’s room? Our room is a bit messy right now…”

Of course, saying it was messy was a lie. By now, it would only be Luna and Lilith in our room. But since this was a plan to get the two of them to reconcile, I needed to avoid disruptions from other friends showing up.

“Alright. I actually just got some limited edition tea leaves a few days ago. I should bring them out.”

Meanwhile, this person still hasn’t gotten rid of their weird hobby of spending money in strange ways.

*

“So, this is the room Erin uses while staying in the castle?”

“Yes. Since it’s directly under the royal family, they provide a room like this for me. But since I’m usually out working, I hardly use it.”

The room was quite spacious and had a very antique feel, fitting Erin’s vibe. Although it was spacious, it couldn’t compare to the room I shared with my friends. Our room was big enough to accommodate nine people comfortably.

“But… did you decorate the room all by yourself, Erin?”

“Huh? Of course, it’s my room.”

The room’s ambiance was flawless. However, what I found problematic was that every decoration in the room felt exclusively like Erin’s handiwork.

“Then where does Stella sleep?”

“I’m in the adjacent room.”

“The adjacent room?”

Stella shrugged as if to say there was nothing wrong with that. Erin tilted her head, mirroring her confusion.

But there was a serious issue here. One that I couldn’t just let slide.

“That’s not acceptable!”

“Huh? What do you mean by that…?”

“Why on earth are you two using separate rooms? Aren’t you on the same team?”

“Of course we are, but there’s really no need to share a room….”

“There absolutely is! If you’re a team, you should work together and get close by living in the same room! Stella, go back to your room and grab your stuff right now!”

Getting them to stay in the same room was step one. The operation to reconcile these two was now underway.