You're Fired
They call it an honor, holding a seat in the Hero's party.
Slay the Demon King and you can spend the rest of your life in leisure. Even if you don't, just having been a member of the party that did it is enough — there will always be somewhere eager to take you in.
I wasn't the type to go chasing after glory, so I hadn't planned on joining at first. Then the prince asked, and I couldn't very well refuse. He'd seen what I could do and believed I would be able to handle whatever disasters came our way. And in truth, I had pulled the Hero's party out of mortal danger more than a few times.
Lately, though, those occasions had all but vanished. The biggest reason was the Hero's meteoric growth. In the beginning, everyone had a role, and it had felt like a proper party. Now it was essentially a one-woman show, the rest of us reduced to supporting an overwhelmingly powerful Hero.
In an ordinary party, that wouldn't have been a healthy dynamic. But this one had a clear purpose: kill the Demon King. No matter how strong she became, there was nothing to lose. Even if every other member turned into a supporter, as long as the Hero grew strong enough to finish the job, that was all that mattered. The shape of the party didn't matter. Just kill the Demon King.
Soon we would leave human territory entirely and enter the Monster Realm. Everything we'd suffered so far would look like nothing compared to what was coming. It was a pain, but I owed the prince a debt. I'd decided to stick it out until the end.
And then.
I said nothing.
She'd asked to meet me alone, so I'd been tense, wondering what this was about. A confession, obviously, had not crossed my mind. Unfortunately, the Hero made no secret of the fact that she didn't like me, and I'd tried to stay out of her way as much as possible. I couldn't even remember the last time we'd spoken privately — if we ever had.
"May I ask why?"
"You're useless. A waste."
I had no answer for that. It was true that, aside from the early days, I hadn't taken part in combat directly. I'd been little more than a pack mule. The way I'd joined this party hadn't been particularly orthodox, so I couldn't blame her for resenting it. I hadn't particularly wanted to be here either.
"Honestly, at this point, everyone besides me is basically just a supporter."
I couldn't deny it. She attacked alone, defended alone, fought alone, killed alone. Lately I'd even started wondering if she could just go kill the Demon King by herself. That was how strong she'd become. She hadn't been weak at the start of the journey, but with all the real combat she'd accumulated, she'd reached a realm that I — that no human — could follow.
"You especially. I put up with you until now because of the prince's request, but from here on out you're even more useless. You'll just end up a corpse and ruin my mood."
"I see. But I came here at the prince's request as well."
"I'll handle that. And if you're a commoner, maybe start thinking about how a commoner can actually be happy? Instead of trying to cash in by riding the Hero's party's coattails."
It wasn't as if I'd never thought about that, so she wasn't entirely wrong.
"If I leave, will you fill the spot with someone new?"
Her resolve looked firm. No matter what I said, she was the leader of this party. Unfortunately, her personality didn't match her face. Depending on her mood, what was allowed today might be forbidden tomorrow. She was far from level-headed — hot-tempered enough to take the bait from low-grade monsters and break formation, and not particularly deep in her thinking. The kind of personality that invited trouble.
"That's none of your business."
She seemed to be in an even worse mood than usual today.
"Unilaterally expelling a party member could affect your reputation. And no matter how remarkable you are, cutting someone who joined at the prince's request could become a serious—"
"I already told you."
The Hero frowned. It was an expression that didn't belong on that beautiful face, and I nearly sighed without meaning to.
"It's none of your business. If I recruit someone new, it'll be a noble. Having a commoner around just lowers the standing of our party. The other members all agreed."
"Hmm."
I see. So that was the real reason? Born a noble, bearing the Hero's Stigma, contracted to the Holy Sword — perhaps sharing space with a commoner like me was itself distasteful to her. And the other party members were all nobles too, so maybe I'd never looked particularly good in their eyes either. Was incompetence the real cause? Or was it because I was a commoner? There was no way for me to know.
The Hero rested her hand, carefully, on the hilt of the Holy Sword at her back.
"Or would you like me to give you a reason you have no choice but to retire right here?"
How had she grown up this arrogant? A high-ranking noble, an only daughter, bearer of the Hero's Stigma — she'd lived a life of nothing but success. Everyone around her, including her parents, had indulged her every whim. No one had ever scolded her. She'd grown into someone who simply discarded or destroyed whatever she didn't like.
Let's think about this coldly. Childish as she was acting right now, the Hero was strong. When I'd thought she might be able to kill the Demon King alone, that hadn't been a lie. I'd meant it. And the Hero's party had to kill the Demon King. If her condition deteriorated because of me — a Hero who might be able to do it by herself...
"Understood."
"Good. Smart choice. ...I'll talk to the prince, so you don't need to report to him. I'll at least give you severance pay."
She tossed a bundle of money onto the ground. Someone might say that picking it up meant I had no pride. Fine. I didn't have pride — I had a brain. I picked it up. It was a lot for an ordinary adventuring party's severance, and a small amount for the Hero's party. Still, something was better than nothing, and it was enough that I wouldn't have to worry about eating for a while.
"May you slay the Demon King and bring peace to the world. I wish you luck."
The Hero walked off down the street without a word.
Hmm.
"Sorry, Your Highness. She was the one who threw me out. I did everything I could. Hah."
I let out a small sigh and started walking in the opposite direction.
"Guess I'll go home."
She'd manage just fine. I'd thought being in the Hero's party and killing the Demon King would mean never having to worry about food or shelter again. Apparently the world wasn't that simple.
I spent about six months in the Hero's party. For those six months I'd watched her fight, sleep, fight, sleep, all day every day, and thought that wasn't something a human being should be doing. Naturally, the companions trailing after her were all dropping from exhaustion — and yet the Hero had gone and beaten a dragon by herself. So honestly, I hadn't been that worried.
That's what I'd thought.
"What? The Demon King has been slain?"
"That's what I said! Young people these days, so slow with the news!"
It had been a year since I'd been expelled from the Hero's party. Even if the Monster Realm was smaller than human territory, the difficulty shouldn't have been comparable. And it had only taken a year. I'd expected it to take longer. She'd finished even faster than I'd thought. Her personality might have been a problem, but her skill was the real deal. Well — I'd believed she could do it, which is why I'd stepped aside without a word. But that fast...
Impressive.
"So we'll finally have peace again."
"Seems so."
"Ah, but there's a strange rumor going around."
"A strange rumor?"
The shopkeeper glanced around, then leaned in close and spoke quietly. Nobody was eavesdropping, so I didn't know why he was bothering, but I didn't call him on it.
"They're saying the Hero is dead."
"What? No, wait — what did you just say?"
"It's just a rumor! Apparently nobody's seen the Hero since the Demon King was slain."
I thought for a moment, then shook my head. No. By the time I'd left the party, the gap between the Hero and the other members had already been enormous. No matter how much the others grew, the Hero grew faster. The gap hadn't closed — it had only widened with time. If a Hero like that had died, it wouldn't make sense for the other party members to still be alive. Unless she'd gone down with the Demon King in mutual destruction? If the Hero really was dead, that would be the most plausible explanation.
Well. Nothing to do with me anymore.
I let out a small sigh.
"Look at the time. I should get going."
"Sure, sure~ Come again~"
He was the type who loved chatting with customers, so he looked a bit disappointed. But the next customer — the next sacrificial lamb — would come along, and he'd forget all about me and start talking again.
I'd been living quietly, gathering herbs in the forest and hunting the occasional monster. Thanks to barely spending any of the money I'd had from my time in the Hero's party, I could live reasonably well as long as I didn't overdo it. Unfortunately, I'd have to give up on fame and fortune, but that wasn't a big problem. Wasn't this, in its own way, a life without worrying about food or shelter?
...Though I did still worry, a little.
"Hm?"
Tap. Tap-tap-tap.
As I entered the forest and started walking, raindrops began to fall, one by one. The weather had been terrible for a while, so I'd expected this. It was the day I'd heard the news of the Demon King's defeat. Would've been nice if it had been sunny.
I moved my hand, and a barrier formed over my head. The raindrops that should have hit me struck the barrier instead. If you asked whether this was what barrier magic was meant for, well — these days I didn't use it for much else. The person who'd taught me barrier arts might get angry if they saw this, but this was what they called practical wisdom.
I walked on without particular destination.
"Hm?"
At first I thought someone had dumped a piece of oversized junk this deep in the woods. Then I realized it wasn't just rain soaking into the dirt. There was blood, too. That wasn't junk. That was a person. I ran.
"Hey! Stay with me! Wait, what in the—"
A chill ran through me. A third of her head was gone. One arm had been severed. There were traces of a downward slash across her shoulder, as if something had carved her from above, and her skin itself had been... altered.
Is she alive?
No — how is she even alive? Not at this level. And whatever had done that to her skin, I knew at a glance it wasn't ordinary poison.
Wait.
In my shock I hadn't recognized her at first, but I knew immediately who she was. Hair like freshly fallen snow — a color you almost never saw in this world. That's how I knew.
And she slowly opened her eyes. Her breathing sounded like it could stop at any moment. Those unfocused red pupils — I couldn't tell where they were looking, and yet somehow I knew they were looking at me.
"Ro...yce..."
"I'm honored you remember my name. ...Though this probably isn't the time for that."
I lifted her up quickly.
The Hero.
Olivia Reinhardt.
The woman who had cast me out.