The hero is female but only a very select few know because of a gag order. This is because all the previous heroes have been male and thus they feel having a female hero will make things difficult/not go as smoothly for the kingdom. (I'm pretty sure the kingdom is the one requesting the gag order)
This isn't explicitly stated in the manga (and probably won't be unless we get an internal monologue from Amelia's perspective, but she asked to be sent to be with the MC.
@Js1a231
change in viewpoint.
when in Ares' and his crew's view we get Todou as He/Him.
when seen as Todou's hero party member, she is called as She/Her.
she is mostly called in feminine term when she's having thoughts about how weak she is compared to the people/demons/monsters she meet and doing reflections.
The story has an interesting reality to it.
To why she refused...
Apparently most women won't be able to join the hero party out of fear of losing their chastity.
Technically holy power which they use for their magic to utilize buffing spells are connected to chastity.
To obtain more power from it one must remain chaste or the power weakens as you will be betraying the god which you made vows to...
To make it short: if you fucked the hero while your a priest.
Your screwed to lose that power you had as a priest albeit weakened than it originally was...
Which explains why she didn't accept despite having the chance to be a part of the hero party.
There is also a reason why the girls sent to the hero party are made up of weak young girls who can barely fend for themselves.
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Mod Note: Please use spoiler tags when talking about chapter-specific or future events.
@Milanin
From the past two chapters it seems like Ares saved Amelia's life along the way or something like that and she likes him, that's why she made a test to see if he can remember her. It seems even more plausible considering YueEr spoiler.
@taesijr123 - The way you phrased that, it seems more like a spoiler than a guess. Would you please add spoiler tags? Spoiler tags even for novel stuff please! Click on the above little eye with a line through it to get the spoiler tags, and then put your text in the middle of them, or just type: