Yoris added a word as well.
“Lord Maru. Everyone must face partings in life. At the very end, you must never show an ugly side of yourself. Accept it calmly, as I do. I, too, am inwardly saddened, but what can be done? If this is the will of the Hero and Lady Natalie, we must accept it.”
“This is out of nowhere, damn it! Why are you deciding this among yourselves? Without saying a single word to me!”
“And who are you?”
Natalie looked at him with a sneer.
Lucy also wore a mocking smile.
“Stray dog, are you the Hero or something?”
Yoris was the same.
“We all gathered because of the Hero.”
“No, what I mean is…!”
Maru’s head dropped.
“Forget it. No, it’s nothing.”
He did not open his mouth again.
He remained sullen like that for a long time before falling asleep around dawn.
And when he opened his eyes the next day, none of his companions remained.
“Disloyal bastards.”
Maru grumbled as he began cleaning up the surroundings.
Even after packing all his belongings, he did not leave the campsite for a long time.
‘Kiera might come back. We’re lovers. There’s no way she’d leave without a word…’
He waited anxiously all day, but it was in vain.
His girlfriend did not return until the sunset.
When it was about to grow dark, he quickly made his way out of the forest.
He intended to visit the lord’s city that Kiera had gone to the day before.
Since his companions—no, his former companions—had taken their own luggage, his steps were lighter than usual.
He had always been the porter, so he had carried a mountain of baggage on his back.
Thanks to that, he had even developed a slight disability that left his neck and waist somewhat bent.
“What if Kiera and I miss each other on the road…?”
That night.
Maru arrived in Midos, the city ruled by Duke Toledo.
He headed first to the ducal residence, and from the guard at the main gate, he was able to hear news of Kiera.
“If you mean the Hero’s party, they all left this morning.”
“This morning…? Th-then did you hear Lady Kiera say where she was going?”
“How would I know that? You stink, so get lost! Ugh, the smell. How many days has it been since you washed?”
After that, Maru wandered the city until deep into the night before finding the cheapest-looking inn.
Inside the cramped room.
Around ten men were sleeping, snoring loudly.
He squeezed in among them and lay curled on his side like a shrimp, hugging his pack.
It was hard because of the lack of space, but he spent the night clinging to a single thread of hope.
“The people at the city gate said they didn’t see Kiera leave either, so she must still be in the city. Let’s keep trying and find her.”
The next morning.
Hungry, Maru wandered here and there in search of a cheap eatery.
Most of the money he had earned had gone toward buying Kiera’s equipment, so he had little left.
“Prices in a big city are no joke. But I haven’t eaten a single meal since yesterday. Even if I can’t eat lunch or dinner today, I absolutely have to get breakfast…”
Then, in front of a high-class restaurant he happened to pass by, he coincidentally ran into his former companions, who had just finished eating and were coming out.
“Natalie? Lucy? Mr. Yoris? Why are the three of you together? And…”
Maru looked behind his former companions, whose faces were clearly flustered.
Standing behind them, hiding with her face lowered, was a woman with short silver hair.
Maru’s face brightened.
“Kiera! I missed you! You were looking all over for me too, weren’t you!”
While Maru ran over happily with a large backpack on his back, Kiera quickly whispered reproachfully to the companions in front of her.
“What happened? Why is that man here? Is this how you handle things?”
Natalie clicked her tongue.
“He’s smarter than me, so I thought he’d get the hint if I said it vaguely, but he’s a tiresome bastard.”
Yoris smiled.
“To be fair, the other day did lack context. We should have said Lady Kiera had left for another city so that our paths would cross.”
Lucy yawned.
“Kiera, since it’s come to this, just tell him honestly and send him away.”
“I don’t even want to talk to him anymore.”
“Kiera!”
As Maru came closer, Kiera quickly raised her hand.
“S-stop!”
“Kiera…?”
“Don’t come any closer.”
“Don’t come closer? Why?”
Kiera briefly placed a hand over her chest, then, as if steeling herself, lifted her head and stepped forward.
“Go back to your hometown.”
“What? My hometown?”
“If you wait in your hometown, I’ll go back after everything is over.”
“What are you talking about out of nowhere? We agreed to defeat the Demon King together, didn’t we? And now you’re saying you’ll travel on your own?”
Lucy cut in.
“You’re always acting so smart, so why are you so dense? You’re not one of us anymore. You’ve been kicked out.”
“Don’t make me laugh!”
Confused, Maru quietly looked back on the past.
The party’s cold atmosphere, directed only at him.
Even Kiera, whom he had trusted, giving him icy looks.
He had already known.
That someday, a day like this would come.
Now that it had actually arrived, he only felt dizzy.
Even without lengthy explanations, he could more or less understand why they were trying to drive him out.
They wanted to kick out the useless porter bastard and earn even a coin more.
Ah.
Kiera’s voice, trembling slightly, reached him.
“We’re going to join Duke Toledo’s army as an elite unit and head to the Basilite Kingdom. There’s no place for Maru there. There are only places for people with abilities. So…”
“Shut up!”
When Maru glared at her, Kiera flinched and avoided his gaze.
“You lied and said the party was disbanding because you all planned to ostracize me? All of you?”
Maru let out a hollow laugh.
“You’re supposed to be a warrior, but all you learned was cowardice, Natalie. Don’t go around calling yourself a warrior. It’s embarrassing. You’re a lying bitch with no loyalty, no honor, not a damn thing!”
“You fat bastard…!”
“Let him vent.”
Kiera stopped Natalie as she tried to draw her sword.
Maru continued raising his voice at his companions.
“Yoris! You don’t even deserve to serve a god! You’re a despicable priest!”
“O heavens… Grant me the patience to endure today’s insult.”
“Lucy! You were always this kind of bitch anyway, so, fuck. You did what you always do. I’ve got nothing to say, damn it. You must be so happy, screwing someone over.”
“I’ll let you off just this once. If you insult me again after this, I’ll kill you, stray dog.”
“It was hard for me to travel with you lot too. I’ll leave quietly, so since I’m leaving, shut your damn mouths!”
Maru whipped his head around.
“Kiera! How could you do this? We’ve been together since our teens! I staked everything on you, so how could you do this!”
“……”
Kiera simply listened with her eyes closed.
As if telling him to say everything bottled up inside him if he wanted.
As if telling him to shake it all off and leave quickly.
That attitude only made Maru even angrier.
“I knew it from a year ago, when you stopped turning down men who asked you to dance! I was always pushed aside while you hung around with princes, sons of nobles, sons of wealthy merchants—only those kinds of guys. You were too loose! You must have wanted to break up with me and hook some other bastard!”
It seemed to have provoked Kiera.
Her eyes flew open, and she slapped Maru across the cheek.
Slap!
“Watch your mouth!”
Maru rubbed his stinging cheek and giggled.
“Did I hit a nerve? Huh?”
Kiera immediately used one of the Hero’s abilities, Heart Speech, which allowed her to speak through the mind.
Her voice, venting her pent-up anger, was heard only by Maru.
—You had nothing compared to them! And you’re too weak! You can’t make me shine as I am now! I want to aim higher than the other Heroes! I want full material support from nobles too! Whenever I said I had a lover, it felt like they all stepped back, as if they’d agreed on it! That doesn’t mean I planned to give myself to them. I wanted to use them more easily!
So that was it in the end.
Was this her true heart?
It was bitter.
“I never knew you were that ambitious a woman.”
—If you’re a Hero, it’s only natural to crave greater power. Even if only to avoid being killed by the Demon King.
“……”
Now that she had declared with her own mouth that it was over, it was actually easier to give up.
Considering everything he had suffered within the party until now, he did not feel like clinging to her like an idiot.
Because of love, and out of loyalty, he had simply never said it aloud, but in the current situation, perhaps the person who had most wanted to escape first was Maru himself.
“I already knew a few weeks ago. That we were broken. I tried to wear a mask and protect our love, but you don’t even seem willing to try. Fine, the baggage will disappear now.”
Maru slung his pack over one shoulder and backed away, waving to everyone.
“Let’s never see each other again. Even if we do happen to meet, I’ll pretend I don’t know you.”
Natalie sneered.
“That’s my line. If you so much as act like you know me, I’ll smash your skull on the spot.”
Lucy laughed as well.
“I bet he’ll get caught by bandits and die on the way to his hometown.”
Yoris also waved brightly at Maru.
“I will not see you off far.”
Kiera said nothing.
For some reason, her expression looked relieved, as if a burden had been lifted.
***
“This amount is not enough. That dish is extremely expensive. Even nobles cannot order it casually.”
“Was it that expensive? Then please bring me any venison dish. A cheap one. I really want to eat it today.”
“Hmm. Since you say you have no money, I was thinking of making a stew with offal we were going to throw away. Would that be all right?”
“Yes, please give me that, at least.”
“Ugh, you have a strong stomach.”
A certain high-class restaurant in the city.
Sitting in a corner, Maru quietly ate the stew the waiter brought him after a short while.
Throughout the meal, he said nothing and thought nothing.
Nor did he look anywhere else.
He simply stared at his plate and silently spooned up the stew made from deer offal.
‘The things that once made me happy are hell now. I’ll never take a lover or make companions again. I won’t trust people from now on.’
After the meal, he left the restaurant and walked wherever his feet led him.
While walking aimlessly, he happened to notice a crowd gathered in one part of the square.
A female bard was singing, surrounded by people.
As he drew closer without thinking, her beautiful voice pierced clearly into his ears.
In a certain kingdom lived a valiant queen
In her youth, the queen was immensely powerful, and her army was so fearsome it shook the world
One day, she lost her husband to an assassin’s attack
The queen lost the will to live and, in the end, cut herself off from the world
The cheerful, lively queen became another person
For years, she did not leave the castle
She imprisoned herself in sorrow and loneliness
The queen would clutch her chest and often mutter to herself
If only I had at least had a child with him, it would have been a little less painful
Her sigh rode the wind and reached the heavens
On a night when the night wind howled like blades, a boy with hair as dark as pitch stood atop the castle wall
The queen approached the unfamiliar boy and spoke to him
The more she talked with the boy, the more she felt a mother’s love
Would you like to live in my castle? I am the queen of this country, and I can give you anything you desire
I will become a good mother to you
Maru quickly covered his ears.
“Whew.”
He hurriedly moved his feet.
Pushing his way through the people, he moved quickly farther away, and farther still.
The bard’s gaze remained fixed on his back as he grew more and more distant.