Episode 014
“Wh-what… what are you saying right now?”
She—Seria—asked again, as if she couldn’t believe what she had heard.
“……”
“Didn’t you hear me? It’s exactly as I said.”
“…Huh?”
Lurein, who had simply been standing there with her mouth hanging open and shock written across her face, finally managed to speak.
“S-so, I… I still don’t understand…? Are you saying Tanas abandoned us?”
She said nothing.
Only her eyes calmly conveyed the truth.
“……”
“Is it true? Arshe! Answer me!”
But perhaps Lurein still couldn’t let go of her lingering hope, because she grabbed Arshe by her broken arm and stubbornly demanded an answer.
Well, from Lurein’s perspective, being tormented by Hero Dario, this must have been like a bolt from the blue.
She had probably been waiting desperately for him to return.
No, not just Lurein. All the girls gathered here must have been thinking the same thing deep down.
“Let go! I told you, didn’t I? It seems Tanas disbanded the party itself!”
Arshe, her expression as cold as her blue hair, shoved Lurein away.
But how, in the first place?
A hero’s companions weren’t something that could be dissolved as easily as an adventurer or mercenary party. It was practically a kind of contract.
Without even coming to the royal capital, without receiving the help of the Pontiff or the Saintess, how could he possibly…?
Could Arshe be playing some nasty joke right now?
“Y-you’re joking, right?… You’re kidding right now!”
“……”
Having thought that far, Lurein flared up and shouted, but nothing changed.
Of course, because it had already happened.
“Arshe, I’m sorry to doubt you, but is that information certain?”
Had she suffered while they hadn’t seen her?
Seria, dark circles beneath her eyes, backed Lurein up as she looked at Arshe.
As if hoping it wasn’t true.
“I can guarantee it. As an agent of the Tyr Order, I confirmed it directly with His Holiness the Pontiff.”
“……No.”
“……”
Arshe glanced briefly at Seria and Lurein, the two girls,
“The twelve blessings that had been bestowed upon us have all vanished as well.”
“Ah…”
and continued bitterly.
“You’ve probably already guessed this… but the hero’s abilities must have been returned too.”
“So that’s why the Magic Cube suddenly wouldn’t open…”
“……”
By this point, Seria also realized the gravity of the situation, and her expression hardened.
The return of the abilities.
Those words meant the party had truly disappeared.
“The Flow Control we took from Tanas must have gone back to its rightful owner.”
“T-took?! I only borrowed it because I wanted to be of help to Tanas… What about you?! You’re the same!”
“Lurein, sorry, but I’d rather you not lump me together with you.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Are you picking a fight?”
Lurein unfolded her crossed arms and gripped the staff strapped to her back.
“Look at that. Resorting to violence again. Of course, I admit I said some rather harsh things to Tanas and borrowed his ability, but I didn’t beat it out of him wildly with a staff like you did.”
“Wh-what?! Are you done talking?”
“If you had hit him even a little less, something like this wouldn’t have happened today!”
Just as the two of them glared at each other, their emotions laid bare,
Reine, who had been staring blankly up at the ceiling in the corner, slowly opened her mouth.
“……Then what do we do now?”
“……”
A hero’s party without a hero.
By definition, such a thing could not exist.
If this fact became known, it was over.
After all, the reason they had been able to live in luxury, spend subsidies like water, and wear expensive equipment until now was because of the privilege of being the Hero’s Party.
“We don’t have much time either. Now that the party has been disbanded… the time we have left is one month. We have to meet Tanas and persuade him before then.”
“Does that mean if we fail to persuade Tanas within the next month… we’ll be branded as traitors?”
As expected of an agent of the Tyr Order.
Arshe was the first to understand Seria’s words and let out a worried sigh.
[The Brand of a Traitor]
It was the most dishonorable mark bestowed upon deserters who abandoned the sacred duty granted by God and fled, classifying them as heretics.
Moreover, because it was given directly by God, there was no way to avoid it.
In the Kingdom of Ersha, being a heretic was…
the same as a death sentence.
“…That’s right. We’ll have to hurry as much as possible.”
“L-lies, it’s a lie! There’s no way Tanas would… I treated him as well as I could… Why would he cast us aside? …His false charge will be cleared too, so why?”
She—
Lurein—still unable to grasp the situation, tore at her hair and screamed.
“…He was probably disappointed in us…?”
“Ah…”
At Reine’s murmur, no one readily answered.
Naturally, because they were all recalling what they had done to Tanas until now.
Then,
Lurein lifted her head and spoke firmly.
“No… Tanas will have no choice but to come back.”
“On what grounds?”
“Seria, you still have Tanas’s divine artifact, don’t you?”
“It’s being kept at the Order’s headquarters.”
“Reine has Tanas’s money, and Arshe has his armor.”
At her question, they slowly nodded.
“And I have all the magic items.”
“Ah…!”
“See? I don’t know how he managed to break up the party… but in any case, once he comes to the royal capital, he’ll come looking for us first.”
“Mm… That does sound possible.”
“We just have to persuade him again.”
“But… will it go well?”
Reine muttered worriedly and hugged her knees.
“We’ll… we’ll have to make it go well, right…?”
“Don’t worry. There’s the matter with the Sword Master too, so he’ll return to the royal capital soon. So…”
Just as they were about to start running that happy little fantasy through their heads again,
knock, knock—someone rapped on the door.
“What is it?”
“Lady Seria. A messenger has arrived.”
A messenger?
At a time like this?
She should have told them not to let anyone in unless it was important.
Unable to hide the ominous feeling within her, she hesitated for a long while before slowly opening the door.
“What is it?”
“Lady Seria, I apologize for interrupting your rest, but… well…”
The messenger could not finish speaking and strangely averted his gaze.
‘I definitely requested information regarding Hero Tanas, didn’t I…?’
“Well…”
“Don’t drag it out. Speak.”
Before she knew it, the other three girls had walked up behind Seria, their faces filled with tension.
“…He has gone missing.”
“……Pardon?”
Missing?
Who?
A foolish sound struck her ears,
and it did not take long for her to realize that the sound had come from her own mouth.
“The Hero has gone missing.”
*****
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, I continued attempting energy circulation and breath regulation (運氣調息).
Starting with a light Small Heavenly Circuit, then on to the Great Heavenly Circuit.
Woooong—
“……”
Had there been results?
It had only been a single day, but a blue energy flickered around my body several times before vanishing.
“Phew.”
Originally, I had intended to start by learning the powerful martial art known as the Heaven-Shattering Flowing Divine Art (破天流神功), but there was no helping it.
‘Because those bitches sent the porters after me…’
In order to survive, I had hurriedly learned the Reverse Blood Demonic Art (逆血魔功), which drew upon my lifespan, and as a result, everything from my dantian to the acupoints throughout my body was screaming like a critical patient.
Those bitches were useless to the end, doing nothing but causing trouble.
Therefore,
the second martial art I learned was the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Divine Art (日月陰陽神功).
It was a martial art suited to restoring my current physical condition.
With the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Divine Art, which harmonized and balanced the body, I should be able to convert the turbid energy seeped into my acupoints into internal energy with the special property known as sun-moon qi.
‘So it ends up like this after all.’
The Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Divine Art.
It had side effects, so I wasn’t very keen on it, but there was no other way.
If I recklessly practiced the Heaven-Shattering Flowing Divine Art and ended up suffering qi deviation (走火入魔), it wouldn’t end with just laughing it off.
‘I’d rather party with those crazy bitches again than suffer qi deviation.’
The one fortunate thing amid all this misfortune was that thanks to the hero’s authority, my natural recovery speed was fast.
“I’ll stop here for now.”
I got up from the bed, moved my arms and legs around, and took a stance.
It had only been one day, but thanks to killing my emotions and focusing on training, a speck of sun-moon qi had poked its head up in my dantian like a fresh green sprout.
“Guest, your breakfast is ready. Shall I bring it up to you?”
The innkeeper’s voice came from outside the door.
Was it about time?
Time to check the bait I had scattered yesterday.
“No, there’s no need.”
I descended the stairs to the central hall and looked around.
‘Seven, huh…’
Men and women staring at me with greedy eyes from various places.
This is a crime, you know.
Ignoring them, I naturally sat down in the center of the hall.
“Guest, your food is here.”
“Thank you. This is a tip.”
When I casually placed a gold coin in the server’s hand, I felt the gazes around me grow a little stronger.
“Th-thank you very much, Sir Swordsman!”
As soon as the server disappeared,
‘Here she comes.’
A young woman wearing a black hood on her head walked over with light, graceful steps and spoke.
“…Might you spare me a little time?”
“Miss, what is the matter?”
“Hehe… It’s nothing much. Would you like to go somewhere nice with me and have a drink?”
At that moment,
“Kikik… Some noble family’s young master, is he?”
Three men who had been waiting nearby walked over as if to surround me.
They looked like they knew how to use their strength.
“Well, well… Looks like you’re having a good time. Sorry to interrupt.”
“Brother, now that I look at you, you’re a face I’ve never seen around here…”
“……”
I had taken a high-class inn precisely so bastards like these wouldn’t be drawn in.
When I glanced around, the guard fearfully avoided my gaze.
“We’re people who do good work, and you look like you’ve got quite a bit of money, brother. While we’re asking nicely…”
The large man who seemed to be their leader thrust his boar-like face toward me.
“Get lost. I won’t say it twice.”
There was no need to use polite speech with bastards like these.
They would only look down on me.
At my attitude, the complete opposite of how I had treated the server, the big man flinched and stepped back.
“You bastard, I was going to talk nice, but I guess that won’t work!”
A moment later, as if he realized he had retreated without meaning to, his face quickly flushed red.
“Kekeke… You’re dead now. Do you know who our boss is?”
“……”
A sigh escaped me on its own.
##