Healing Life After Deserting the Hero Party: Episode 3
Class Selection
Early morning.
Chirp, chirp, chirp.
“Mmm.”
Even though it was just an ordinary sparrow’s chirping.
For some reason.
To my ears, it sounded like a sweet classical melody.
“Huuuup.”
I took a deep breath.
“So sweet……!”
It was no exaggeration.
Even the air entering my nose felt sweet.
“Ah!”
I looked up at the sunlight pouring down from the sky.
Normally, I would have cursed up a storm, comparing my gloomy self to the clear weather.
But now, it felt as though every ray of sunlight shining down from the sky was meant solely for me.
Swoosh.
I fixed my eyes forward.
And brought up the status window in my mind.
It was one’s personal information that only those who became heroes could see.
*
[Apprentice Priest]
[Box of Transcendence]
[Recovery]
[Healing]
[Strength]
[Strength: D]
[Agility: D]
[Intelligence: D]
[Holy Power: C]
[Elemental Affinity: F]
[Spirit Affinity: F]
[Mana Sensitivity: F]
My current class was Apprentice Priest.
It was the step before the official class change, which once decided, could not be undone.
It was still a point where the class could be reverted.
Recovery and Healing everywhere.
Looking at the skills I had learned, I shook my head back and forth.
Even among priests, there was no one who learned only such selfless skills to this degree.
What a total sucker.
Even after being railroaded into choosing the priest class.
My eyes always reached the combat priest-type skills first.
Because though I had given up in my head, my heart had yet to let go of the yearning for battle and adventure.
“Don’t we need Recovery?”
“Healing is basic, right?”
Of course, my eyes only grazed over them; I never actually learned any combat skills.
I was a pushover, easily swayed, and suffered from an unnecessarily weak heart, so whenever I had a skill acquisition opportunity, I tailored them all to the party.
Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t tell whether that had been a natural choice of my own will or something created by external pressure.
On top of that, in the past, I had tried to choose the Magic Swordsman class.
A class so cool it swept away demonic beasts using magic and sword simultaneously.
It could be called a dream come true for me.
But.
“What!? You’re going to be a Magic Swordsman……? That avoided class everyone shuns because of its mediocre stats?”
“What did you just say?”
The two people’s reactions were different.
When I said I wanted to be a Magic Swordsman, the two of them looked at me with eyes as if looking at a bug.
“Rian, get a hold of yourself. That’s your selfish desire.”
“Right, right! There must be dozens of people around me who chose an avoided class and still regret it!”
“And Rian, if you don’t become a priest, how is our party supposed to hunt without a healer……? I don’t want to do it.”
“I’m not suited to be a priest either. If Rian doesn’t become a priest, we’ll all die, I guess.”
Due to Seria and Mint’s whining that continued day and night for several days.
In a half-spaced-out state, as if possessed by something, I ended up changing to the priest class.
Clench.
Recalling that insane decision, my eyes shut tight.
Back then, how should I put it, it felt like I had to do it that way.
It felt like only then would the party, which had even made a solemn vow, run properly.
The thought that if I sacrificed myself, the party would be happy, so doing so was right, was an added bonus.
What a total sucker!!
Now that I thought about it.
I hadn’t wanted to be a priest, nor had I wanted to follow others around giving buffs and healing.
I had wanted to stand at the very front, move my body busily, and sweep away demonic beasts.
And yet I had made that kind of choice.
I deserved nothing less than being called a pushover.
Smack!
Meaning to come to my senses, I slapped myself once across the cheek.
Not anymore!
Vowing to never become a pushover again, I finished my self-reflection.
And looked in the direction of the registry.
They probably hadn’t opened yet.
I had originally planned to come out when the registry opened its doors.
But with my heart pounding, I had opened my eyes wide from the crack of dawn.
Growl.
I looked down at my stomach, roaring mightily.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday.
I guess you could say I felt full even without eating.
My heart still felt that way, however.
But there was nothing I could do about the physical hunger, so.
Step.
I moved my steps and walked toward the only restaurant with its door open.
# Dancing with the Black Whale.
It was a name so familiar it was intimate.
A restaurant that served as a bar at night and an eatery during the day.
It was the place I came every night, leading a hopeless and gloomy heart, to drink cricket wine.
Jingle!
When I reached out and opened the door energetically.
A cheerful bell sound rang out.
Had the sound always been this cheerful!
*Draaag…… raaang.*
I suppose it was because I had pushed it so listlessly before.
Before, it had made the same sound as my limp, drooping body.
It was simply amazing.
“Welcome!”
A cheerful voice matching the bell sound rang out.
Meri, the bar’s waitress.
I don’t know how long it had been since I saw her greet so brightly.
I should reflect.
Of course, it was me, not Meri, who needed to reflect.
Even setting aside that I drank only the cheapest liquor every day without a single side dish.
I had overturned tables and shouted due to anger that surged up incessantly.
I should have been grateful she only shot me cold glares instead of throwing dishcloths.
“Hello!”
I greeted just as brightly and sat down.
“Here’s the menu!”
I leisurely received the menu and placed it directly on the table.
“……?”
Meri looked at me curiously as I put it down without even opening it.
I began to recite the menu I had always wanted to order but never could.
“Grilled wild boar hind leg, steamed giant lobster, and seasoned giant octopus, please!”
* * *
A space in the universe embroidered with twinkling stars: Olympus.
Several Constellations sat around a large circular table.
Though they weren’t necessarily slacking off.
A heavy silence and boredom hung over Olympus.
“Yawn.”
Quite a few Constellations were yawning on one side.
Then.
“Iliya, why do you keep watching that white-haired guy?”
Saturn, a Constellation with red pupils, spiky hair, and sharp features, asked.
Usually, one would only watch when people’s attention gathered, or when a major event or something interesting occurred.
Iliya had been continuously watching a man who was nothing special since yesterday.
Perk.
At Saturn’s question, the Constellation called Iliya perked up her ears.
Iliya was looking at a large mirror placed on the round table.
Inside it, Rian was tearing into a delicious-looking roasted hind leg and steamed lobster.
‘……?’
Iliya’s face as she watched Rian was full of confusion.
She was relieved that Rian, whom she had chosen, looked happy, but.
The shock of Rian’s sudden actions at the vow ceremony had still not faded.
‘Why did he overturn the vow……?’
She couldn’t understand it.
‘Is there something I don’t know?’
Though she had proudly introduced herself to Rian as the supreme god.
In truth, Iliya was a newbie Constellation who had never sponsored anyone except Rian.
Though a newbie, she had received plenty of love and care from Zeus, the former supreme god.
Thanks to that, she had inherited the Box of Transcendence and a one-time-use Time Rewind from Zeus.
“When you find the most trustworthy hero, sponsor them with these!”
To Iliya, the most trustworthy hero she had watched for a long time was Rian.
So she had given him everything she received from Zeus in one go.
Gulp.
Iliya gulped dryly and gauged the eyes of the other Constellations who were looking at her strangely.
Because time had been turned back, the other Constellations’ memories had disappeared as well, except for Iliya’s.
No one knew that Iliya had sponsored him.
Stare!
Pretending to be calm with effort, Iliya focused both eyes on the mirror.
‘There must definitely be a reason!’
While Iliya was concentrating to find the reason somehow.
# “Meri! This is a tip!”
Rian handed a coin he had to Meri.
# “Thank you!”
Meri received the coin and smiled brightly.
At that moment.
Perk!!
Watching Meri’s smile, Iliya covered her mouth.
‘I think I know!’
It felt as if her confused head was clearing up cleanly.
She felt she knew the reason Rian had overturned the vow ceremony and left.
‘It was to help more people!’
Iliya’s eyes sparkled.
‘Rian said he regretted it. The fact that he couldn’t help even more people!’
A smile spread across Iliya’s previously confused face.
Rian had a deep meaning behind it.
If until now most of his devotion and sacrifice had been for his party members.
This time, he was trying to help more people and make them happy by breaking away from the party.
“Iliya, do we have to keep watching this? He’s the bad guy who overturned the vow ceremony at the end.”
“Bad guy……?”
Iliya shook her head back and forth and looked at Saturn.
It was an expression that said, ‘Do you still not get it? How pitiful.’
“Saturn really doesn’t know anything! Can’t you see that was precisely for the sake of the party members!?”
“What are you talking about, the party members looked furious and disgusted.”
“Huu! If he had simply said he would quit the vow, what do you think would have happened!?”
Saturn now wore a face that said Iliya’s reaction was beyond incomprehensible and even scary.
“Rian took on the role of the villain. For a greater, larger cause! So that Seria and Mint would lose their affection for him!”
*Sniff!*
Iliya’s eyes welled up with tears.
She felt she now knew the reason Rian had sat down in the rain yesterday, raising his arms.
“Didn’t you see him laughing like crazy while getting rained on? How is that……”
When Saturn spat out another word.
Shake, shake.
Iliya shook her head with a face that truly said, ‘How pitiful.’
“Saturn, you didn’t feel it. The deep sorrow hidden within that laughter.”
“…….”
Saturn gave up on retorting and closed his mouth.
“It must be a sorrow that even I, a Constellation, can hardly imagine. Because he had to cut away with his own hands the people he had been with for so long……!”
# *Chomp chomp!*
Iliya watched Rian, who was binge-eating, with sad eyes.
“To think he’s trying to overcome that great sorrow through food……. And yet he even takes care of Meri in the midst of it all.”
Iliya, the fresh-newbie Constellation who clasped her two hands together.
*Clasp.*
‘Rian……. Fighting!’
She prayed for Rian’s happy days.
* * *
“Burp!”
I let out a refreshing burp and patted my stomach.
To think I couldn’t eat something this delicious until now.
My pockets had grown lighter, but I was leaving having gained happiness beyond that.
How much must they be cursing me?
- [The Constellations of Olympus are watching you.]
It was the first time I saw it directly yesterday, but.
I had heard from heroes who had been chosen by Constellations.
They said that when a Constellation began watching, a message appeared, and when the watching ended, the message disappeared.
They’d been watching since the vow ceremony.
I already knew, but.
My actions didn’t change because of it.
It was freedom I had somehow regained.
I had no intention of hesitating in my actions while watching the Constellations’ moods.
What are they gonna do about it.
I had already received everything I was going to receive.
Even at the vow ceremony, despite seeing the message that they were watching, I had overturned the tables with a “so what” attitude.
Step.
Looking up at the sign of the huge building I had arrived at before I knew it.
[Class Registry]
I opened the door.
“The party’s reliable role! Change your class to Guardian Knight! Beginner equipment support available!”
“You can sweep away enemies in a single blow! It’s the Mage class! We support you generously with grimoires!”
Noisy voices could be heard.
The more members a class had, the greater its standing.
So each class branch was shouting passionately to recruit new members.
Step.
Pretending not to see the hands reaching out from all directions.
I walked toward the corner of the registry.
Oh.
What came into view was a branch so abandoned that flies were buzzing in front of it and it looked ready to collapse.
There was a class that was completely left out in the cold even among countless branches.
[Magic Swordsman Class]
Magic Swordsman.
Just hearing the name, it was a class overflowing with so much style it could explode.
The reason it was shunned by people was simple.
It was mediocre.
In a positive light, it was a versatile class that used both swordsmanship and magic.
In another light, it was a class that couldn’t even do one of the two properly.
The stats were ambiguous too.
The stats given differed depending on the class.
Warriors received high Strength, rogues high Agility, and mages high Intelligence.
And though it could vary depending on innate talent.
Usually, growth speed differed according to the order of stats that had been highly set.
Magic Swordsmen received balanced stats, but their growth speed was slower as a result.
Even if they grew at the same rate, they couldn’t help but be weaker in magic than mages and less skilled with the sword than swordsmen.
“I’d like to abandon my current class and change to Magic Swordsman.”
But I didn’t care.
[Box of Transcendence]
Leaving aside the growth of the stats themselves, I could fill the Magic Swordsman’s mediocre and ambiguous aspects to overflowing with powerful magic, items, or traits.
[Box of Transcendence]
# Points: 100 / 100.
Luckily the gauge was also full.
I would be able to obtain what I needed for early growth.
I’m looking forward to it.
“…….”
Having spoken, I watched quietly.
“What……?”
The employee who had been dozing asked back with startled eyes.
His eyes seemed to ask, ‘Is there still an idiot who becomes a Magic Swordsman these days……?’
“I want to change my class.”
Quickly!!
I extended my hand to the officer.
I was in a hurry.
The worst choice I had made.
This was the moment to destroy that choice and undo it.
Bring that class change stone quickly!!
Perhaps my urgent heart was conveyed.
“H-here it is.”
With a face that asked what was going on, the officer handed over the stone.
Ding.
[Would you like to change your class to Magic Swordsman? After the official class change, it cannot be reversed.]
Without hesitation, I nodded.
Saaaa……!
The nature of the power dwelling in my body began to change.
The holy power I could feel even while staying still disappeared, and mana took its place.
Perhaps because Strength had been added, vitality began to circulate through my listless body.
And a moment later.
Ding.
The message I had been waiting and waiting for appeared before my eyes.
[Class change to Magic Swordsman is complete!]