Is This Really an A-Rank Party? (2)

It didn’t look like they were trying to connect the dots themselves. They were probably just blurting things out on pure instinct. If we didn’t part ways soon, this guy might actually figure it out. Still, there were other things I needed to say.

“It’s not like I’m blaming you. You simply didn’t have the chance to guard me.”

You people don’t have the right to hold your heads high in front of me. Yeah. That’s right. The power dynamic might have flipped, but it still sucked that my first adventure was getting stained with blood like this. They couldn’t even take down the High Orc. For an A-rank party, they’d only proven how lacking their skills really were.

Looking closer, though, that Rota guy didn’t seem to be in good shape. His face was completely out of it. It made me wonder if I’d caused Red Claw’s suffering by staying quiet. Maybe I hadn’t healed him properly. I should try using it one more time.

Whether it was because I’d failed to treat that Rota guy properly in the heat of the moment, or because he’d rushed ahead and taken the worst of the hits, granting him a favor seemed like a good approach. More precisely, it was an experiment. I would follow this instinct and use the healing that came naturally to me on Rota. I’d used it by accident before; I needed to get the hang of it.

“W-what are you trying to do?”

Adel looked wary. After receiving that strange healing earlier, his caution was understandable. Still, leaving the kid like this felt too pitiful. If I said I’d learned healing by watching over someone’s shoulder, the story would hold together. In short, I planned to treat Rota right now. Having healer experience would let me write from more perspectives anyway. At this point, a healing of this level was nothing since I’d already fixed them all.

I gave the wary Adel a small smirk.

“That Rota person looks strange, doesn’t he? His condition seems worse than everyone else’s.”

“Oh. Is that so? But what exactly are you…”

“If you step aside first, you’ll understand. Just wait a moment.”

“Eh.”

The eyes of that beaten-up kid Rota narrowed slightly. But what could he possibly do on his own? I sat down in front of him. Up close, his condition was no joke. Bruises covered him in places, and one leg was clearly broken. Seeing how fine the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠others were, it seemed I still couldn’t control the saint’s power properly. I didn’t even know how to use it in the first place. I was running on pure feeling.

“Weird woman. What do you think you can do?”

To the arrogant brat, I would grant a favor.

This should be enough. The injuries covering Rota’s body were completely healed.

But… Rota’s eyes looked strange. The moment our gazes met, he began to tremble. Ah, this bastard had made eye contact with me earlier. Had he noticed? No, that couldn’t be it. If it really was…

I smiled, drawing a gentle curve with my eyes, then raised a single finger to my lips where no one else could see.

Keep your mouth shut.

A silent threat. From his earlier reaction, this Rota kid was terrified of my hooded appearance. If he didn’t stay quiet, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he would regret it. He should understand this much. It was pure bluff, of course. Killing orcs relied entirely on the saint’s power; my body was still that of a frail woman. So I could only hope Rota would scare himself into silence.

At my expression, Rota nodded.

“Oh. Miss K, you can use healing too?”

“I just learned it a little.”

“But that’s amazing. And you did it so quickly.”

“I only healed a few scratches. Isn’t that right, Mr. Rota?”

Rota swallowed hard, then nodded rapidly.

Wow. It was actually possible to see afterimages in real life. The adventurers of this world really were something else.

Well, there was no reason to linger any longer. It was better to head back. Staying here any longer might make Adel or someone suspicious.

“Then let’s all head back.”

“Head back?”

“We need to report to the guild right away, don’t we? This feels like a dangerous matter. Though whatever it was has disappeared somewhere now.”

I pretended not to know anything about the hooded woman. Only Rota’s expression twisted, but we weren’t going to see each other again anyway.

“Then let’s go.”

Together with the belatedly recovered Red Claw, I returned to the adventurers’ guild. This incident couldn’t simply be overlooked before the original request.

After all, not only had we properly completed the orc village subjugation, we’d also obtained information about the High Orc. From the guild’s perspective, it was good news.

“Such a thing happened? This isn’t just a guild matter. We’ll need to inform the palace as well. Since a High Orc was involved, we’ll provide a separate reward.”

“Thank you.”

The adventurers’ guild took the matter quite seriously. It seemed they had already received reports from multiple sources besides Red Claw. And because I was essentially the victim in this incident, the guild took extra care of me. It might have been due to my connection with Fortmus, but regardless.

Even in this twisted version of the original world, the episodes were still progressing. Original work or not, when you thought about it, it was all just a parody novel.

That night, Red Claw was drinking at the adventurers’ guild. Having barely survived death, they wanted to unwind somehow.

“It would’ve been nice if Miss K had joined us.”

“Don’t you think something’s off?”

When K’s name came up, Rota spat out the food he’d been eating. He had already realized that woman’s identity was connected to the hooded figure, but something still felt strange. Even if that woman had threatened him, wasn’t this much okay to say? No—Rota was a prideful adolescent boy. For that reason alone, he wanted to tell the party. That much was necessary to preserve his pride.

“What’s strange?”

“No matter how you look at it, the direction that woman came from was exactly where the monsters were, right?”

“So what?”

Rella narrowed her eyes and glared at Rota. What was with this kid who couldn’t appreciate the benefactor who had saved him?

“So how did she break through there? Plus, after that woman returned, all the monsters disappeared.”

At Rota’s words, the Red Claw members wore slightly puzzled expressions. They hadn’t noticed at the time because everything had been chaotic, but now that they thought about it, there were some odd parts.

“That was because the hooded woman—”

“Ah, that was a memory I wanted to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠forget.”

“Well, it’s true that Author K suddenly disappeared and then suddenly appeared.”

“So what? Is Miss K a monster?”

“No, not necessarily.”

Rota pouted. Honestly, it wasn’t that he disliked her. But he couldn’t understand why she had followed them, and that bothered him. Just what was that terrifying woman thinking? If his guess was correct, she was someone who could send monsters flying in one go. So why had she tagged along?

The world’s opinion of adventurers varied. Some looked down on them for fighting monsters, while others belittled them and watched for entertainment. But that woman was different. She completely overshadowed all of that. She was dangerous enough to make High Orcs tremble in fear.

He’s still young.

Adel, who had been listening quietly, shook his head. Rota’s opinion had merit, but K wasn’t that kind of person. Of course, unlike Rota, Adel hadn’t realized K was the hooded woman. He had already heard the story from the adventurers’ guild. So he placed a hand on Rota’s shoulder and shook his head.

“Stop it. That woman called K isn’t like that.”

“How does the leader know?”

“You know that sample novel the master showed us before?”

Ah, he knew what that was. Not long ago, a book had arrived at the adventurers’ guild as a sample. Books for adventurers came in occasionally, and the novels usually featured heroes or successful adventurers. The idea was that if you became an adventurer, you too could rise like the protagonist in the story. This particular sample was a genuine hero tale that made adventurers’ blood boil.

“Ah, those adventurer-related books that get released to the guild. I read that one and enjoyed it too.”

Rella clapped her hands, recalling what the guild receptionist had given her recently. It had been a hero story worth reading even from a girl’s perspective.

“That’s the author. From what I heard, the details aren’t clear, but she lived quite a difficult life and only recently started making a name for herself as a novelist.”

A novelist? She did sometimes pick up a pen and jot notes in a notebook. Rota had found it suspicious, but it turned out there was a reason.

“Ah, so that’s why.”

“They say she followed an adventurer party to gather more accurate material for her writing.”

Such deep circumstances! Rella and Yuri’s eyes sparkled. Adventurers usually fought in battles and aimed for high ranks, so they naturally loved that kind of story. But here was someone who didn’t just write them—she experienced them firsthand. She really was an incredible author.

“Oh, Rota, didn’t you like that story? And here you were suspecting the author of everything.”

“How was I supposed to know? No, honestly, isn’t it strange for a woman to write that kind of novel? Don’t they usually write love stories and stuff?”

The prideful Rota clicked his tongue. It seemed pointless to say anything more to the party members. Since it was a one-time connection anyway, there was no point in obsessing over that woman’s story. Honestly, who could have predicted it? If he had known from the start, he might have at least shown off his heroic side.

Rella, clearly annoyed by Rota’s attitude, gave him a firm noogie.

“Hmph. You think love is a joke? You’ll live your whole life without ever knowing it, you nasty little brat.”

“Actually, I wanted to show a cool side too.”

“No matter how much we show off, the protagonist is the hero named Ras. It has nothing to do with us.”

“Isn’t the fact that we helped what matters?”

“It would’ve been better if even one High Orc had remained. If just one really weak one had been left, it might have been okay?”

“Yeah, that would’ve made things easy.”

Without exception, every member of Red Claw regretted that they hadn’t been able to show Author K a better side of themselves.