The Heroes' Mixed Welcome
"Ohhh! It's the Hero and her companions!"
"You're incredible!"
The moment we returned to the village at the foot of the dungeon, cheers from the villagers washed over us. I'd heard that the lizardmen from the dungeon would occasionally come down and plunder goods and food.
Some people even came forward to offer their thanks for putting an end to it.
"Thanks to you, my sister's grudge has finally been settled. Thank you so much."
"Thank you… thank you…."
It was a village that had sprung up naturally around the adventurers who gathered here, so the place was packed with them—yet even so, this kind of damage still happened. In theory they could simply live farther from the dungeon, but that wasn't an option for most of them. A great many made their living by doing business with adventurers.
Of course, not everyone welcomed our clear of the place. The adventurers who earned their bread inside that dungeon, and the manpower offices that arranged their commissions—the places other games and media usually call "guilds"—were a different story.
Merchants could simply shift their trade to the greenhorn adventurers who came to clear the smaller dungeons nearby. A conquered mega-dungeon eventually became a tourist attraction or a training ground, which brought in a whole new set of customers.
But for the adventurers and the manpower offices, it was as if their home and workplace had vanished overnight.
"No way—they really wiped the whole place clean?"
"Didn't look like they got anything special out of it either…."
"Tsk."
Not every reaction we heard was friendly. Of course, no one was stupid enough to say it to our faces. Everyone knew perfectly well that a hero party's combat power was beyond imagination.
It wasn't that Erinn and the others were especially famous; there were several other hero parties roaming the world, and that fact was common knowledge. The setting even showed up in Dungeon in Evil—there was an event where you fought a hero party that had defected to the Demon King's army.
Huh? So that means the same kind of event could happen here. Could these guys be that party?
…I was getting way ahead of myself.
I cut off the ridiculous speculation and focused on reality again. The adventurers clustered in little groups, pretending to chat while they vented their complaints about what we'd done.
"Fuck, where the hell are we supposed to make a living now?"
"If they came looking for the Demon King's army, they should've just dealt with the Demon King's army. Why the hell did they have to go and kill the Lizard Lord for no reason…."
"The lizardmen have all scattered, so we can't even get hides anymore. Tsk. Completely useless."
The rough, sarcastic tone unique to hardened adventurers drifted over from every direction. At this distance their voices shouldn't have carried so clearly—they were deliberately raising them.
It wasn't just one or two people. The constant muttering from all sides made it impossible for me not to notice.
Yet the rest of the party didn't seem bothered in the slightest. I was the only one paying any attention.
Watching their calm expressions, as if they'd long since grown used to this sort of talk, left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Setting aside whatever sense of duty they carried, they too had been chosen as heroes and drafted into a hero party against their will.
They ran themselves ragged fighting the Demon King's army, only to hear this kind of garbage from their fellow humans… Without thinking, I glared at an adventurer who was knocking back drinks a little too close and bad-mouthing us.
He had the sharp senses of a proper adventurer; he immediately caught my stare and glared right back.
Ugh.
Still, I didn't want to make a scene. Getting into a fight with people would only tarnish the hero party's reputation—there was nothing to gain. Even if the other side started it.
I looked away. Taking that as a victory in the staring contest, the man slammed his bottle down and shouted.
"Hey, you freeloading bastard! If you've got something to say, come say it! Don't just trail after those girls like a pathetic little dog!"
"Looks like that guy's scared shitless."
Maybe a mere porter picking a staring contest was too much for them, or maybe they knew we wouldn't react and were just running their mouths. Either way, their sudden aggression made me regret drawing attention. All I'd gotten for my trouble was a bunch of ugly noise. Better to ignore them and stick with the others.
"What did you just say?"
But the one who answered the low-class adventurers' provocation wasn't me.
Thwack!!
An arrow whistled past the adventurer's ear and buried itself dead-center in the table where his drink and snacks sat. The old wood cracked; the bottle toppled and shattered on the floor.
Blood beaded along the man's ear. He stared in shock at the arrow's owner—Ser-Aria.
"Y-you just shot at me…."
"Nope. I shot the table behind you."
Ser-Aria smiled sweetly.
"If I'd aimed at you, do you really think I would've missed?"
"……."
The adventurer went speechless. Even drunk, she hadn't missed a single shot against the boss monster, the Lizard Lord. If she'd meant to hit them, their heads would have been as ruined as that table.
"Aria, that's enough~ No time to waste on scrubs who can't even talk straight to our faces♡"
At Erinn's restraint, Ser-Aria slung her bow back over her shoulder. I was glad she'd stepped in… but Erinn's words somehow felt like they'd stabbed me too.
I gave her a complicated look. She smirked arrogantly.
"Oh? Did that hit a nerve for you too~?"
"…No."
"Pfft♡"
We left the brief commotion behind and headed for the village hall. We needed to send a report on the incident to the imperial palace, which meant meeting the official dispatched to the hall.
A carriage decked out in lavish ornaments stood in front of the village hall. The crest of the Dern Empire—the nation to which Hero Erinn and the others belonged—was emblazoned on it.
Someone fairly high-ranking had clearly come. Once we arrived, Freya turned to me with a suggestion.
"Allen, stay around here and keep the Thief company. You can go ahead and stock up on supplies if you like."
"…Huh?"
I was a useless porter, so that made sense—but why the Thief?
The question lasted only a second. One thought about her personality and the answer was obvious. Her already fragile self-esteem would only plummet further in front of some important person….
"…Yeah, I get it."
"Then Thief, Allen—see you a little later."
"Don't go picking fights and getting yourselves killed with those scrub skills, okay~?♡"
…With the Thief right here, how am I supposed to die?
The four of them disappeared into the village hall, leaving me alone with the Thief. She lifted her gaze slightly and looked at me.
"……Allen."
"Y…yeah?"
"…What are we going to do?"
I considered her question. We'd probably eat once the others came out, so maybe I should just stock supplies in the meantime. While I was thinking, the Thief offered a quiet suggestion.
"…It'd be better to eat first."
"Huh? We can eat when they come out…."
"……The others will eat inside."
"Ah. Right."
A meeting with someone important would never skip a meal.
It was a good idea. I was getting hungry myself, and the Thief had just finished a fight, so she had to be starving too.
"Shall we go grab some food, then?"
"……Yeah."
The instant we stepped into a restaurant with the Thief, I realized we'd made a mistake. The place was packed with adventurer customers, and the moment we entered, countless stares locked onto us.
…We should've gone somewhere else.
Especially since the Thief tended to find people's gazes burdensome—all the more reason to leave.
But contrary to my expectations, she seemed surprisingly unfazed. She found an empty seat, sat down, and tilted her head at me with a look that asked why I wasn't sitting.
…Didn't she used to apologize for existing whenever I looked at her, or say she ought to die? Why is she fine now?
I sat down and thought it over for a moment; the answer came easily. She must have long since grown used to stares like these from adventurers. She simply ignored them completely.
…Couldn't she just ignore my stares the same way?
It felt a little unfair.
"……Allen."
"…Yeah?"
"…What are you going to eat?"
Right—time to pick from the menu.
"I'll just have the beef stew."
"……Then I'll have the same."
So that's your style, huh. If someone says jjajangmyeon, you get jjajangmyeon; if someone says gukbap, you get gukbap….
I raised a hand lightly. A server came over. Unlike the adventurers' stares, the staff who simply ran the restaurant looked at us with genuine goodwill.
The server asked me warmly,
"What can I get for you?"
"Two beef stews. And one baguette, please."
"Coming right up~!"
Stew always tasted better with a simple, mild bread on the side. While we waited for the food, I snuck a glance at the Thief.
Hm?
She was staring blankly at nothing, lost in thought. Even with me looking right at her, she didn't react. Normally she would have started apologizing for making me uncomfortable by now.
"Thief?"
"……Yeah?"
Only after I called her did those golden eyes turn toward me.
"What are you thinking about so hard?"
"……Name."
Name… ah, right.
Last night, while we were on watch, I'd promised to give her a name. But it wasn't as if a brilliant name had just popped into my head.
Marie, Isabella, Emma… I couldn't just throw out ordinary names like those. I'd said it had to be something special enough for me to remember—not just anyone.
"…Do you have anything in mind?"
I asked casually. The Thief shook her head. She didn't know either; she simply looked at me with quiet expectation.
I tried to soften it so she wouldn't be too disappointed.
"…I've thought of a few, but they're all pretty common, so I'm not sure. I'll keep thinking."
"……Okay."
How did people usually choose names, anyway? In Korea some went to naming shops or temples, but most picked something pretty or a name that carried a wish for the child's future.
Like taking a name from a flower, hoping the child would live a life as lovely as the flower's meaning.
So I looked at the Thief. The first thing that caught the eye was her silver hair, cut to a neat medium length. Even after possessing this game world, I still hadn't seen silver hair as pure and vivid as hers. Pale gray or dark gray were fairly common, but not this.
Next, of course, were those golden eyes. Silver hair at least had gray relatives; golden eyes I'd never seen on anyone but her.
Yellow eyes themselves barely existed here.
"Gold…."
"……Hm?"
"Ah, nothing. Just talking to myself."
"……Okay."
Gold. Thinking of the metal gold itself, the first image that came was glittering golden light.
Glittering light… Light… that didn't really work as a name. There was Lux, which meant light, but it reminded me of a certain game and felt off.
I still had no idea. While I was turning it over, the food arrived. I could see the server carrying it from across the room. The smell alone was enough to guess the beef stew would be excellent.
Just as I was looking forward to it—
Crash!!
"…Huh."
"Ow ow ow… ah! I-I'm so sorry!"
The server who had been bringing our food had fallen. She scrambled up, apologized to the people around her, then hurried over to us as well.
"I'm so sorry! I'll bring new ones right away!"
"Ah, sure."
It was fine. She hadn't dumped the hot food on anyone—just the floor. The only extra work was for her to clean it up.
She roughly cleaned the spill and went back to the kitchen for fresh dishes….
Clatter-crash!
She fell in almost the exact same spot. The server rose looking bewildered, but the fact that she'd spilled the food again seemed to hit her harder.
"I-I'm so sorry! I'll bring them again right away…!"
"……Sure."
Something was off. Maybe the old wooden floorboards had warped and stuck up. But the floor was perfectly flat. Just then the Thief's brow furrowed slightly.
"……They're doing it on purpose."
"Huh?"
"……The men next to her are secretly tripping her."
"What?"
Now that she said it, I saw it. The man closest to the path kept glancing over, watching whether the server was coming. Every man sitting around the spot where she'd fallen was an adventurer.
"For crying out loud…."
Clearing a dungeon as a hero party was basically official business. Was it really worth this much resentment? And even if they were resentful, why take it out on a completely unrelated person….
"Excuse me."
In the end I stood up. The Thief looked at me with faintly startled eyes, the kind that said starting something right now was a bad idea.
She seemed to have the wrong idea. I reassured her.
"I'm not looking for a fight."
I hadn't called those sweaty guys in the first place.
"Yes?"
I'd called the server who was about to fetch the beef stew again.
"I'll just take it myself."
"Ah, but…."
I smoothly took the tray from her hands.
"Looks like the floorboards over there have a bit of a gap. You keep tripping."
"Th… I'm really sorry, sir."
"It's fine."
I carried the tray back along the exact path the server had walked. She was a slender ordinary woman, easy to trip—but I wasn't.
No matter how pathetic my stats were, that was only compared to the rest of the hero party. The body I'd possessed had been toughened by farm work; it had more muscle and bulk than the average adult man. I was on the tall side too, so I had some presence.
On top of that, I hauled all that luggage after the party every day—my legs weren't weak. I'd complained that my strength stat was only seventy, but by ordinary standards it was actually pretty high. My points of comparison just weren't ordinary people.
So I wasn't the kind of body that would fall just because some adventurers tried to trip me discreetly. Only if they shoved me outright.
"……."
Sure enough, the same guys who had kept sticking out their feet when the server came stayed quiet this time. Tripping me without being obvious was impossible, and shoving me openly would be outright provocation….
Thanks to that, I safely delivered the food all the way to the Thief. When I smiled and handed her the stew, she said,
"……Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Feels like you're getting treated like this because of me."
"……Hm?"
"If you'd been with the other party members, no one would dare treat you like this. Who'd have the guts to trip someone bringing food to them?"
Ser-Aria probably would have smashed a bottle over the guy's head. But because it was just the two of us, those rough, mean-spirited adventurers felt free to act this way.
I said it because I felt a little guilty about that. The Thief looked at me and answered,
"…The people who look down on Allen are the bad ones."
"…That so?"
"……Yeah."
Hearing her say that was genuinely nice. A small laugh slipped out of me without permission. Moments like this made me realize she really did treat me like a valued party member in her own way.
But then….
"……Ugh, I'm sorry… Who am I to go around deciding who's good or bad… Of course it's funny…."
"…Huh? No, I'm fine… Laugh? I wasn't laughing at you…!!"
"……A worthless nobody like me acting all high and mighty must have made you feel awful… Hic, I'm really sorry…."
"N-no, that's not it at all."
The Thief started sniffling, and I spent so long trying to calm her down that the stew went cold before I could even pick up my spoon.
Not long after we left the restaurant, the four who had gone into the village hall came back out.
"All done?"
"Yes."
"Mm, it went well!"
They looked to be in decent spirits, so the news probably hadn't been too bad. I gave a light nod. Erinn eyed my empty hands and said,
"Wow, you really just played around the whole time~♡ You didn't buy a single thing~?"
I spent the whole time calming the Thief down and wolfing food so we could leave—there was no time for supplies. I shot her a sulky look. Erinn continued,
"I only said the truth and now you're sulking~? Pfft, Allen's a scrub with a tiny little heart too~♡"
"…Ugh, fine. I'll go buy them now."
Actually, that worked out perfectly. Going alone to buy supplies would give me a little free time—time I could use to train the magic power I'd recently acquired.
"You're going right now~?"
"Yeah."
"Then…."
Erinn smiled mischievously and turned to the others.
"Everyone head to the inn first."
"Hm?"
"You're not coming, Erinn?"
"I'm going to have a little chat with this scrub~♡"
What?
"No, you don't have to come. I can carry the stuff myself, and it's not like you've ever followed me before…."
"As party leader I have something to say, so a mere party member like you has no right to refuse~♡"
"……."
Something to say as party leader?
"Then head back to the inn first. We're leaving early tomorrow, so you can all go to sleep ahead of us~."
"Yes, then."
"Mm, understood!"
"……Okay."
The Thief switched places with Erinn, and the rest of the party returned to the inn first. I looked at the mesugaki hero left beside me with a distinctly uneasy expression.
"Pfft♡"
What the hell are you laughing at, you little brat.
"Scrub, you~♡"
"…What?"
"Where did you get that magic power~?"
"……?"
…What!?
"You'd better answer properly~♡"