I Quit (1)
The combat saintess Elaine, dispatched to the hero’s party to defeat the Demon King, was utterly horrified. Their steadfast comrade, the Red Mage Jain, had suddenly flown into a rage and was spewing venomous abuse.
Until now Jain had always silently taken care of every chore and dirty job in the party, so Elaine’s shock ran even deeper. Today was the first time she realized he was capable of expressing emotion so vividly.
Why? Why is he this angry?
Elaine leaned against the hero’s right arm and stole a glance at the mirror mounted on the wall. Reflected there was a saintess with hair as lustrous as melted midnight, incomparably beautiful and pure. Her face was innocent, yet her clothes were seductive. And her breasts were large.
Even I have to admit I look stunning today. Pure femme fatale.
Then Elaine remembered that Jain had exploded the moment he saw her clinging to the hero.
For a man his age, the only thing that could make him lose control like this is… love!
From everything she had observed in the party so far, Jain was genuinely useful. Not on the hero’s level, of course, but still remarkably strong. He seemed worth reeling in by stoking his male competitive instincts.
So Elaine pressed her chest firmly against the hero’s arm, flashed a provocative smile that showed her canines, and cooed.
“Could it be you’ve been secretly in love with me all this time? If you’re rampaging because you’re drunk on passion, I suppose I can forgive you. If you try very hard, I might just give you another chance…”
But Jain only let out a disbelieving snort.
“Bullshit, you fucking cumrag. Shut your whore mouth before the stench of that fish market makes me puke.”
“Wha—”
Elaine’s face, fresh from completing her zeroth confession on the first try, burned scarlet. She jabbed a finger at him and shrieked.
“I warn you! Any further insults will not be tolerated!”
“What are you gonna do if they aren’t?”
“Hero! It is the party leader’s duty to discipline a rampaging member! Hurry up and teach that arrogant Red Mage some manners—don’t kill him, just beat him! Make it hurt!”
Elaine thrust her breasts against the hero’s arm once more as she shouted. She was certain the hero would step forward and correct the insolent mage’s attitude.
Instead the hero’s face simply drained of all color; he remained frozen.
“Hero? You have to scold him!”
“Huh? Oh… right. I should.”
“You’re the hero who defeated even Balaxas the Annihilator—one-on-one he’s supposedly stronger than the Demon King himself! That Red Mage has always been nothing but a weakling to you!”
Even after hearing that, the hero only trembled harder. Watching him, Jain swallowed a hollow laugh.
This was the deepest heart of the Demon Continent—the final chapter of the game. The hero’s party was far too weak to survive these late-game zones. That was why, every time they faced a major or mid-boss, they left all five heroines—including Elaine—waiting outside while the two men entered alone. The area-of-effect patterns and homing projectiles bosses casually threw around would have been fatal to these pathetic women.
Because of that, the girls had never witnessed the actual fights and had completely misunderstood how the party operated. The hero had clearly been outside bragging like an idiot as well.
The class Jain had chosen—Red Mage—only reinforced the misconception. Everyone believed Red Mages were jacks-of-all-trades and masters of none: capable of everything yet good at nothing, therefore useless.
“Hey, you piece of shit. What the fuck exactly have you been telling these bitches?”
Still, Jain had chosen Red Mage for one reason only: it was the sole class capable of unlocking every single achievement. All of that was worthless now, of course.
When Jain’s question flew straight at the hero, the man could no longer pretend ignorance. He took one shaky step forward.
“Red Mage, today’s vulgarity has clearly crossed the line. If you apologize for those insults, then… well, I could forgive you.”
The hero’s legs were quivering like a sapling in a storm. Knowing Jain’s true strength, the reaction was only natural.
“What if I tell you to fuck off?”
“Er… fuck off. A very creative apology. Very well, since you’ve apologized we can let it go.”
“What if I say go fuck your mother?”
“Th-that’s also… ah, quite creative.”
Worry flooded the unnecessarily handsome blond pretty-boy hero’s face. Behind him Elaine’s eyes widened in confusion as she watched the scene unfold.
“Don’t tell me you fed those bitches the story that you’ve been the one killing every executive in the Demon King’s army this whole time?”
“What are you talking about?” another woman asked from behind.
It was Karin, the mage with bright red twin-tails who had graduated top of her class at the Magic Academy. Even she—who was considered one of the smarter members of this idiotic party—looked completely blindsided. The state of the other heroines’ brains was painfully obvious.
Jain let out a long, tired sigh.
“This guy is just a pathetic weakling weaker than all of you. The same bastard who never once swung his sword during the entire training period and only ever hung out with you girls—there’s no way he could suddenly get strong. You think the world works like that?”
“B-but the hero said he recently awakened through the power of the Holy Sword Gramhilt—”
“Awakening my ass. What is this, some cheap mobile gacha game? You think awakening happens that easily?”
Jain glared at the hero with open contempt while using an analogy none of them understood. The hero only averted his eyes like a guilty child.
That was when Elaine realized Jain was telling the truth. She instantly released the hero’s arm, stumbled backward, and retreated to a safe distance.
“B-but… hasn’t the hero always been the one to deliver the final blow to our enemies?”
The female knight Leticia, her beautiful platinum-blonde hair tied in a refreshing ponytail that looked like melted white gold, spoke as if protesting.
Whenever the fight ended and the boss room doors opened for the heroines to enter, it was always the hero they saw stabbing his blade into the monster’s throat.
But Leticia’s objection was shredded in seconds.
“This bastard—no, this guy’s Holy Sword has a unique skill called Immortal Slayer. It puts high-ranking demons that normal blades can’t kill into eternal rest. That’s the only reason I dragged him around.”
“Th-then… you’re saying you killed every single enemy so far, Jain, and the hero was just… stabbing swords into corpses…?”
“Correct.”
“B-but despite that, the hero always came out completely exhausted, drenched in sweat like he’d fought an impossible battle—”
“That’s because he’s such a fucking idiot that even landing the last hit on something I already killed is insanely difficult for him. When I chopped all four limbs off a dragon and all he had to do was stab the heart, it still took him two hours to pierce the hide. Even I nearly lost my mind that time.”
The more detailed the testimony became, the more the heroines’ eyes filled with shock and bewilderment.
Realizing things would get ugly if he stayed silent any longer, the hero yanked off his gauntlet and hurled it at the Red Mage.
“Enough! I can no longer endure these insults! Let us duel!”
Jain caught the gauntlet with casual ease and gave him a look of pure ridicule.
“You serious? You?”
“O-of course, this is an internal party matter… we mustn’t kill or seriously injure each other! So let us settle it with swords!”
“Are you brain-dead? ‘We mustn’t injure each other so let’s use swords’—what kind of dogshit logic is that? Is a sword a toy to you?”
His intentions were transparent. Jain had never once shown the hero how he handled a sword. The idiot probably thought he stood a chance if the duel was limited to blades.
Jain thought to himself, Well, I’ve already maxed every other weapon to the limit anyway. The requirements were so absurd I still haven’t unlocked Sword Saint, but this piece of trash is still going to get absolutely fucked.
That thought showed plainly on his face as a slightly troubled expression.
Taking it as a sign of hope, the hero drew the Holy Sword Gramhilt and shouted.
“A duel with swords! The loser must obey whatever the winner commands!”
“Good grief. Fine. Whatever the winner wants.”
Jain’s heart was boiling with fury. This trash hero had been riding his coattails the entire time, then ruined everything by defiling a virgin. The rage he felt toward the bastard wasn’t going to fade anytime soon.
“B-but… do you even have a sword? If you don’t, we can call the duel a draw…”
“There’s one in my bag. Shut up and wait.”
With those words Jain walked over to the infinite backpack he maintained. The small pack was enchanted with spatial magic and could hold a nearly limitless number of items; he had crafted it himself.
After rummaging for a moment he pulled out a large cake box.
The moment she saw it, Ren—the silver-haired thief wearing a tight tank top that clung to her body and exposed her midriff—went pale. She knew that cake.
She recalled what had happened the day before.
“What are you doing? Wow! It smells amazing!”
“Baking a cake.”
“A cake? Why? Is it someone’s birthday tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow we finally kill the Demon King and clear the game. Well, even though you lot are just parasites who only make me suffer, you’re still party members. So if we succeed I figured I’d throw a simple celebration.”
“You even think about stuff like that? Jain, you talk so harshly but your actions are always so kind and gentle.”
“Bullshit.”
“You’re just embarrassed, aren’t you? So dishonest.”
“Stop talking shit and get lost.”
“It looks delicious—give me a piece!”
“No… I was going to say before you already shoved the whole thing in your mouth. Sigh. Is it good?”
“Yes! It’s super delicious!”
“My little sister always praises me for my baking. Eat it gratefully.”
“An older brother who bakes bread for his sister… If I were your little sister I’d be so happy.”
“Mm. Have another piece.”
“Really? Thank you! Oh, want me to do the decoration?”
“Hey, don’t touch it—ah. You already did. Did you write something with the piping bag?”
“Yep!”
“You write like absolute shit. I can’t read it. What does it say?”
“It’s a secret! I’ll tell you tomorrow!”
Jain opened the cake box and pulled out the knife inside. It was a small wooden cake knife meant for slicing dessert. Then he hurled the carefully baked cake onto the floor.
“Ah.”
The cake landed with a wet splat and was completely ruined. Ren had been looking forward to it so much; she never imagined it would end like this. She let out an involuntary groan. It had said Let’s keep adventuring together forever, yet now it felt like her own heart had been the one shattered, not the cake.
Jain paid Ren no attention whatsoever. He pointed the wooden cake knife at the hero and shouted.
“Come on then, you pathetic loser.”
“…A cake knife? You’re seriously planning to face the Holy Sword Gramhilt with that?”
“Trash like you can be dealt with using a toothpick, never mind a cake knife. So stop yapping and come at me already.”
No matter how much of a scumbag the hero was, he could not endure this level of humiliation. With a furious roar he charged forward, Holy Sword Gramhilt raised high.