Forced Retirement at the End of Betrayal

"Why don't you just leave?"

At those sudden words, my thoughts ground to a halt.

"What... are you talking about, Stella?"

I couldn't make sense of what she was saying. One of her usual mean-spirited jokes? That had to be it. Stella was always pulling pranks, so there was no way she meant this for real.

I forced an awkward smile.

"Stella, cut it out with jokes like that. Seriously... my heart just dropped."

She stared at me like I was pathetic. A thin sigh slipped from her lips, twisted into a sneer.

"No, I'm being honest. You're not really needed in the party anymore."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

There was no way Stella thought of me like that. That cold tone was something I almost never heard from the playful girl I knew. This wasn't a joke.

While I stood frozen in a situation I had never seen coming, Lisa spoke up.

"You. Assessment: no adverse effect on combat strength if removed. Beneficial decision for the party as a whole. And..."

Even Lisa, who had always followed me so closely, was spouting this nonsense. What kind of situation was this?

Stella let out another sigh, looking thoroughly fed up.

"Why can't you understand something so simple?"

Rip— rip—

She tore my contract to pieces as she spoke.

"Does this make it clear?"

Tearing up a contract couldn't possibly be a joke. But it had to be a joke... right? If it wasn't, why were they suddenly doing this without a single word of explanation?

"What are you all even saying... kicking me out of the party out of nowhere..."

Stella drawled on, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm saying we don't need you anymore."

"Please don't worry even if you leave the party. The Goddess will surely remember all your hard work."

The Saintess smiled sweetly.

The same Saintess who had always supported me with warm words whenever I was exhausted and worn down. These were the comrades I thought I had shared my heart with. Why were they condemning me like this? If I had done something wrong, they could have just told me.

I had believed they were the people who taught me what happiness was. Brave, bold, careful when they needed to be—people far closer to being real heroes than a nobody like me ever deserved. I had taken pride in that, and so I had worked even harder.

Why...?

I had believed that if someone like me just tried a little harder, I could become someone worthy of standing beside them. A happy dream. The kind of dream that felt like it would never end. That was what they had meant to me.

It couldn't end like this. I wouldn't let it.

Something was wrong. Something had to be wrong.

My trembling hand reached for Stella. I took hold of hers—or rather, I begged.

"Something's wrong, right? You're all just messing with me, aren't you...? We're comrades... Stella, everything we've been through together—"

"Ugh...!"

A dull impact thudded through my gut, and pain twisted my insides until I thought I would be sick. Stella's iron-plated knee had driven straight into my unprotected stomach.

"Don't touch me. It seriously creeps me out. Who said you could grab my hand?"

She muttered it like I was filth.

"Stella..."

I didn't care what they said. They had to be mistaken somehow. It would be fine. Later I would scold them properly, then laugh and make them buy me a meal, and that would be the end of it.

I clung to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that stupid fantasy, to that meaningless scrap of hope. Even through the pain, I couldn't bear to let go of this "family," this "happiness."

"Urgh..."

The agony flipping my stomach forced vomit to spill from my lips before I could stop it.

"Ah... A-Aaron... Quietly. Leave this place. That is the recommendation."

Lisa spoke as if flustered.

"Pfft. One little knee from a delicate lady and look at you, Aaron."

"S-Saintess..."

I clung to the hem of her skirt. I must have looked pathetic. Even so, I couldn't let go—not when I was grasping at straws.

Unlike the knight, she neither dodged nor struck me. She simply stood still. For a moment I saw a sliver of hope in that.

"I'm sorry, Aaron. This doesn't seem to be something I can help with."

The eyes looking down at me were empty, stripped of every emotion.

"Haha... Don't be too hard on him, girls. He was still a former comrade. Aaron, if anything comes up, feel free to—"

"You... son of a bitch...!"

Yuki. It was this bastard!

He must have slandered me and steered my comrades into driving me out. The way they had suddenly started keeping their distance, the way my place in the party had steadily vanished—all of it was because of him!

"You shameless piece of shit...!"

Rage drowned out reason. The instant I seized Yuki by the collar, a familiar blade slid in beneath my throat.

This was... Stella's sword...?

"Stella, that—"

Was she really pointing that blade at me... Stella...?

She adjusted her grip and spoke.

"If you're going to lay a hand on Yuki, you'd better be ready for the consequences, Aaron."

"Concurring with the knight's words_ Your conduct is disgraceful, Aaron."

"Aaron... you may have been a fake, but did you not even possess a hero's sense of justice...?"

"Why are all of you talking to me like this...?"

Their cold stares pinned me in place. Their cold words froze my mind solid.

I hadn't wanted to notice. I had deliberately turned my eyes away from the truth. There was no place left for me here. I didn't want to do anything more. I didn't want to know anything more. I just wanted to get out of this place as fast as I could.

Enduring the pain in my gut, I staggered upright and walked slowly toward the door.

Yuki sighed.

"Aaron, I sincerely hope you won't be a burden to your next party."

I spat at his feet.

"Ptui. Fuck you... you tiny-dicked bastard."

"What...?! What the hell did you just—"

"What did you just do to Yuki?!"

"Aaron... rude remarks toward Yuki. Retraction of statement and apology requested..."

"Fake Hero... before the Goddess grows wrathful, you should apologize to Lord Yuki at once..."

Stella, Lisa, and the Saintess all condemned me at once.

Yuki pressed a thumb to his forehead and sighed.

"No, that's enough, everyone. He's already on his way out. He was still a former comrade, so let's send him off on good terms."

Stella cupped her cheeks with both hands.

"Yuki, you're too nice! That's going to get you in serious trouble someday!"

"As expected of the Hero_ chosen by_ the Goddess."

Every last one of them defending Yuki. How had it come to this?

To hell with all of you...

Clutching my stomach, wiping a face ruined with spit and bile, I stumbled out of that place.

Yuki—

I had sensed something off not long after we let him into the party.

Stella had always been sociable, so that was one thing. Given the nature of her calling, the Saintess never treated anyone carelessly either. But Lisa was different. I had spent a full year taking care of her, working to close the distance between us. Even now she was a child who shrank from strangers to an extreme degree.

And yet Yuki had built intimacy with her at an unnatural speed. She startled and marveled at his every word and action with an awkward intensity, looking up to him as if bewitched—as if it were destiny itself.

At first I had even suspected he was hiding some status ailment skill, charm or something like it. That was how abnormal it looked to me. But they all possessed strong resistance to mental skills as a baseline. The Saintess, by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the nature of her class, had mental resistance bordering on absolute. So a mental skill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't make sense.

Then had they simply grown emotionally close to a man named Yuki...? Did that even make sense? That alone was enough to make my comrades abandon me so easily, to change them this much? Impossible.

Or maybe I had only wanted it to be impossible. I had wanted the trust and bonds I built not to be worth so little.

The wretched face reflected in the water shoved the cold reality at me anyway.

"Ha... haha... What the hell am I even..."

Even after I came home, my thoughts circled endlessly around my comrades—knowing full well it was meaningless by now.

It wasn't that I wanted to think about them. I wanted to be allowed to forget. I just couldn't stop myself from remembering, no matter how hard I tried.

"That Stella... pointing that sword at my throat, of all things..."

An unadorned, modest hilt. A blade properly tempered from excellent steel. A simple guard that still asserted itself with a quiet, certain beauty.

The birthday present I had given her.

I had agonized over the choice again and again. The day I handed her that sword was still vivid. How could I ever forget her reaction?

In my hollowness, tears came out like a fool's.

I had never imagined the bonds I trusted, the faith I held, the promises I believed in could crumble and snap this easily—could turn sharp enough to cut me.

Was this just how it was?

If it was this worthless—

If it hurt this much—

Then I would never trust another person again. Never let anyone into my heart again.

I swore it.

The knight came looking for me again a year later, in the spring, when the cherry blossoms were in bloom.