Chapter 18

〈 Chapter 18 〉 Meanwhile, at that moment, the Hero Party (3）

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”I refuse!”

Apis furrowed her brow, deeply feeling why humans use the expression “refusal in one stroke” when presenting a steadfast refusal.

”I don’t understand why Apis would make such a foolish offer to me! Did you hit your head or something!”

”I wouldn’t say this to anyone else, but I really don’t want to hear it from you…”

Although the Hero responded with a cheerful smile to Apis’s rather unexpected and potentially offensive resignation suggestion, it was clear that the feelings bubbling beneath that innocent façade were agitated.

The Hero was most acutely aware that their position in the party was as the centerpiece, the pillar, and the focal point, and no one understood that better than the Hero themselves.

For such a Hero, the suggestion from Apis to leave the party was no different than demanding that they shatter a perfectly good sword!

”I’m not saying you should completely leave; I’m just asking you to take a month to calm down. Thanks to someone charging headfirst into a horde of monsters, we have more than enough time to eat well for now.”

”Oh! I see! In short, you’re telling me to take a break!”

”Well, that’s part of it, but the main point is…”

”If that’s the case, then I refuse even more! Nobody knows where the monsters will rampage when I put down my sword! I don’t need a break! I’m a Hero!”

”Haa… What I mean is not that…”

A Hero.

Ever since that man disappeared, the Hero had always been like this.

The absence of that man had undeniably affected the tactical side of the party, even if it was said in jest.

His abilities as a Priest, limited to using the ‘Miracle of Healing’ just once a day, were practically all that he brought to the party.

If it were the early days of party formation, when they struggled with just one sword and one piece of armor, it might have been different. Now that they had plenty of financial stability, even the best Holy Water and Potions could easily make up for his absence.

In fact, the risks they could take and the strategies they could utilize had greatly increased with that bothersome presence gone.

There was no point in protecting the Potions, and they wouldn’t faint in battle either.

It was a realization that the ramblings of the man, which had seemed like mere nonsense at the time—about how ‘removing himself from the party would yield tremendous benefits’—were not as empty as they had first appeared.

Every time the man passionately spoke about his worthlessness, the Hero would insist with, ”A true hero would never abandon their comrades for any reason” and reject his resignation, making that series of trivial exchanges practically an annual event for the party.

If he had family, would that be how they felt?

Even Apis, who had a surprisingly realistic outlook for an elf living in the woods, often found herself wondering such things when caught up in those trivial conversations.

In the midst of a storm of blood and flesh, in a Dungeon where death lurked in forms unknown, ready to strike from all sides.

It was somewhat frustrating that the tension they had fortuitously tied up had unraveled due to that third-rate daily soap opera revolving around that man.

Yet, the adjustment between their occasional struggles and the everyday life was brought back into balance thanks to the unnamed comfort provided by such trivialities, a fact that none of the party members could deny or even wanted to deny.

Perhaps it was due to the unique nature of the Dungeon.

Dungeon. A distorted space where the lifelines of the world had conglomerated for reasons unknown to us.

The sticky, suffocating air clinging to the inside of the walls. An oppressive weight that seemed to press down from above. From the ominous atmosphere cloaking their bodies, to the hideous monsters lurking, waiting for foolish prey to show any weakness.

The very root cause of why a few youths who boldly declared they would explore unregistered dungeons were treated as the greatest pariahs in the system was in fact because of these things.

The chances of an adventurer coming back alive from an unregistered dungeon was at best 10%.

Even that 10% would likely walk out mentally scarred, so saying they returned in one piece was a bit of a stretch.

Thus, it was entirely reasonable that a party, which had cleared 15 registered dungeons and a staggering 32 unregistered ones without any physical or mental mishaps, would be granted the honorable title of ‘Hero Party.’

”Everyone! From today onwards, please call me a Hero!”

With his sword raised high, the Hero’s bright smile was as innocent as someone who just received a coveted toy, a face Apis knew she would remember vividly even hundreds of years later.

Apis was fully aware of the human habit where an adult human takes care of their elderly parents with great reverence.

She had no doubt that the Hero was excited at the thought of treating his comrades, who had been with him through thick and thin.

But. On the day the girl became the Hero.

On that joyful day when all the party members were smiling and chatting.

Apis, who was somewhat familiar with human emotions, couldn’t pick up on the feelings hidden beneath the man’s bashful smile, and she didn’t know much about that man personally.

Weeks later, when that man suddenly vanished, the party’s dynamics noticeably soured.

The normally taciturn Bigtim, already lacking in the ability to converse with women unless it was to his sister the Hero, had started to spend all his time outside the Dungeon sleeping, having lost his only male comrade.

The rival relationship between Apis and Dawna, who were like a pictorial depiction of foes, had been marked by such a lack of compatibility in character and birth that, with no mediator present, even simple communication often erupted into fierce arguments.

The obsession of the Hero with their title began around that time.

Like being on a slightly off-kilter boat, that unsettling feeling.

Though all the party members had a vague sense of it, they withheld their poor premonitions, fearing it would become a reality, but that sense of dread steadily grew day by day.

And thus.

”From now on, we’ll take care of the Dungeon raids ourselves. As for the Hero, you need to find that bastard and bring him back as soon as possible.”

Apis, who had the most decisive personality among the party, made the quickest resolution.

This was mainly due to the significant difference in perception of time resulting from the considerable lifespan gap between humans and elves.

For the elf Apis, a mere six months of absence was no different from a half-day absence.

”Huh…?”

Frozen in place, with a bright smile still plastered on her face as if she had just been hit in the head with a hammer, the Hero was stuck.

It was as if they were realizing for the first time that there was such a method as this, struggling to organize the thoughts swirling in their head with a dazed expression, a sheer picture of bewilderment.

”Bring him back. We can’t keep going without him. I’m getting tired of your sister sleeping all day and arguing with Dawna every time we have to talk. So bring him back as soon as possible.”

”B-but!”

”What.”

”But! That’s!”

”So what.”

Bring him back? There was such a method, huh? But, was that really okay?

As the Hero felt lost in the overwhelmingly reasonable doubt, they took quite a while—literally a long while—pondering their next words, when Apis interrupted their hesitation, clearly annoyed.

”You don’t want to find him? You think we don’t need that guy?”

”N-no! No way!”

”You want to find him, right?”

”O-of course!”

”You want to go find him. Then go find him.”

”B-but the Priest might have his own reasons for leaving… Besides, forcibly chasing someone who clear indicated to never look for him again via letter is somewhat inconsiderate…”

”Inconsiderate? That’s a word that bastard should hear after vanishing with just a little note! He deserves to be hunted down a bit.”

···Is that so?

While the Hero had quick wits on the battlefield, in other areas, they were clearly a bit slow on the uptake and was gradually being swayed by Apis’s sweet words.

”C-Crisis! We have a crisis! Everyone!”

Dawna burst through the door, clearly flustered.

”Dawna? What’s happening?”

”A-Are you seriously not seeing that I’m in the middle of an important discussion with the Hero!?”

”W-Well, that isn’t the point right now!”

What Dawna held up before them was a Crystal-type Magic Tool inscribed with the detection magic formula she devised on her own.

It was a high-level tool that visualized the desired target through an elemental spirit, but for some reason, it had always malfunctioned whenever they tried to search for that man.

Everyone except Dawna had simply ignored the defective object.

”I-It’s finally functioning after having been a useless piece of junk! Something mysterious and white had been blocking the magic’s activation, but for some reason, it’s working now!”

With stronger magic infused, Dawna elevated the quality of the vision.

”Look at this─!”

Right then, the expressions of Apis and the Hero suddenly twisted in shock.

And it was quite understandable. Inside the crystal.

A very familiar man was being dragged somewhere, with a leash around his neck.

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