Chapter 26: Diane
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 26: Diane
Nearly two weeks had passed since Alto left Lukart.
Naturally, Mirei’s party hadn’t found so much as a trace of him.
“Why won’t you give us any quests?!”
Because they couldn’t bring Alto back, the Lukart Adventurer Guild—acting on the Branch Manager’s orders—only offered them quests suited for Bronze-rank adventurers.
There was no way Mirei would accept low-paying, bottom-tier quests that offered no immediate profit.
To make matters worse, they had run into Claude on the street a few days ago. He had been livid, demanding to know what happened to his Primda wallet.
“What the hell is going on? Word is that bastard Alto vanished. Then what about my money? What about my wallet?”
The sheer absurdity of him treating Alto’s money as his own was staggering, but Mirei and Resin couldn’t say a word in protest.
“Claude! We’re going to coax Alto back soon. Once we do, we’ll settle everything, form a party with you, and give you a glorious future as part of a Hero-rank party!”
“And why should I believe that?”
“Pardon…?”
Resin tried to soothe him with her usual charms, but Claude roughly brushed her hand away and pressed them further.
“You expect me to party with adventurers who treated their own male member so badly that he deserted, even if he was an ugly bastard? If I ever look like an easy target to you, who’s to say you won’t do the same to me? Since you’re all such high-and-mighty Hero-ranks?”
“No, Claude! You know you’re the only one for me. Why would you say that? You’re really hurting my feelings.”
“I’m the one whose feelings are hurt. You got my hopes up about that Primda wallet, and now you’re singing a different tune?”
“That’s… because of Alto!”
“Enough. Even if he was an ugly, sluggish loser, a man is still a man. Everyone is watching this incident because your party caused a scandal by treating a man like trash. Forget the wallet—I need to reconsider if you two actually love me at all.”
“Claude!”
“Sir Claude!”
Despite Mirei’s pleas, Claude walked away without a single backward glance.
Even as the women in his party followed him with mocking smirks, Mirei and Resin couldn’t find the strength to shout back or get angry like they used to.
“Diane! This is all your fault!”
“Mirei, stop. I don’t even have the energy to be angry anymore.”
All that pent-up resentment fell squarely on Diane.
For the crime of letting her mouth slip at the Adventurer Guild, Diane had become the party’s pariah.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
The incident had caused a sudden, sharp rift between Diane and the rest of the party.
Unable to hold her head up anywhere, Diane spent her days scouring Lukart for Alto, surviving on snatches of sleep.
“Alto, I was wrong…! I’ll never hurt you again, so please, come back…!”
When she finally cried out in frustration while searching, even Krima snapped at her.
“Stop calling Alto’s name! You’re just showing the whole neighborhood that we were dumped by our party’s man!”
“Ugh… hic… I-I’m sorry…”
Krima was nursing a massive headache of her own.
She and Diane had also encountered Gerend on the street.
When Diane had tried to run up and hug him, Gerend had pushed her away with a cold expression.
“I heard that Alto guy deserted. Was it because you used the party’s operating funds to buy me that new Archiyo piece?”
“T-That’s…”
“Dammit. Do you have any idea what’ll happen to my reputation if people say I’m one of the reasons a man left a Hero-rank party? Don’t act like you know me for a while. At this rate, there’s no way I’m joining a party with you.”
“Sir Gerend!”
“Hey, Priestess of Mirei’s party! Don’t call my name so casually. I’m a respectable supporter belonging to another party, you know?”
Krima’s outstretched arms trembled as she watched Gerend walk away, fondling the breasts of the women in his party just as Claude had done.
“G-Gerend…”
Standing right there, Diane hung her head low again.
She had been abandoned.
First by Alto, and now by Gerend.
Why?
She hadn’t done anything to harm Gerend.
In fact, she had given him gifts, and he had seemed to like them.
Her ranger’s brain couldn’t make sense of it.
If anyone should have been angry, it was Alto, whom she had neglected.
But instead of getting angry, Alto had quietly left their side.
She and Krima had poured everything into Gerend, only to be met with cold indifference.
More than disappointment, a sense of desolation washed over her—and more than desolation, an unstable anxiety from having nowhere to lean.
“Diane! Did you find any clues about Alto?”
“N-not yet, Mirei.”
“Diane. I’ve told you how many times now? Don’t just look inside Lukart; search outside the city walls too. We have to find him this week, no matter what.”
“I’ll head out first thing tomorrow, Resin.”
“You have more scratches, Diane. I’m sorry, but I can’t spare any divine power to heal you; I have to save it in case we receive a Dungeon Quest.”
“O-oh! Right. I understand. I’ll find Alto quickly so we can all go into a dungeon together.”
“Diane!”
“Diane.”
“Sigh… Diane.”
Worn down by the constant glares and sharp rebukes, Diane grew haggard.
She couldn’t even eat properly, leaving her head in a fog.
Her head and stomach had ached for a while, but now that her hunger had reached its peak, she just felt numb.
Even so, Diane wandered like a madwoman, searching for any trace of Alto.
But the only things she heard were rumors about how Mirei’s party had mistreated their man until he fled.
He was nowhere to be found, yet their sins were whispered everywhere.
And among those whispers, her own faults sounded the sharpest and clearest.
Especially when they came from her own teammates.
* * *
At dawn.
Diane quietly entered the party house and headed toward her room.
Parched lips, hollow eyes, and brittle hair.
She looked like a patient on the brink of collapse.
Walking on tiptoe to avoid irritating her party members, Diane suddenly realized something.
Ah, this is how Alto used to walk in the party house.
At that thought, her feet moved toward Alto’s room of their own accord.
She didn’t know why.
She had already searched his room thoroughly.
However, there was one place.
A hidden space known only to Alto and herself.
Entering Alto’s room, Diane looked up at a small shelf high near the ceiling.
It looked flush against the ceiling, but there was actually a fair amount of empty space behind it.
In that space sat a small ceramic jar.
A jar Alto had prepared just for her.
‘Diane. Can you look up there on the shelf?’
‘What is it?’
Diane had kicked off the wall like a cat, leaping up to snag the jar.
‘It’s cookies!’
‘Happy birthday. They’re high-quality cookies. They said they used plenty of honey and dried fruit.’
‘Thanks, Alto! Why are you giving this to me?’
‘It’s your birthday tomorrow, isn’t it?’
‘Oh, right! My birthday! Gyahahaha!’
‘I’m giving it to you early. I thought you might like them since you have a sweet tooth.’
‘I love them! Gyahahaha!’
‘From now on, I’ll leave your birthday presents here. Come check it at midnight or dawn the day before your birthday.’
It was a method Alto had devised because he was often too busy with administrative work to see Diane on her actual birthday.
It was also his selfish wish to be the first one to give her a gift.
‘Thank you!’
‘I’m glad you like them.’
‘When is your birthday, Alto?’
‘Mine is…’
After a moment’s hesitation, Alto had answered honestly.
‘It was exactly two weeks ago today.’
‘Eh? It already passed? Sorry, I forgot!’
‘…It’s okay. Today is your birthday.’
‘Gyahahaha! It’s my birthday, so it’s fine!’
And now, in the early hours of the morning, Diane held that jar in her hands.
She didn’t know why.
She mindlessly opened the lid.
Inside lay a handmade purple misanga.
“Ah…”
She remembered.
Today was Diane’s birthday.
The diligent Alto had prepared her birthday present in advance.
‘When is your birthday, Alto?’
‘It was exactly two weeks ago today.’
Why was she remembering this now?
Today was Diane’s birthday, and it was also exactly two weeks since Alto had left.
When was the last time she had celebrated Alto’s birthday?
That thought suddenly dominated her mind with overwhelming force.
It wasn’t Gerend, but Alto who began to occupy Diane’s thoughts.
Was it because her recent state and behavior mirrored his, creating a sense of kinship?
Or was it a belated realization?
‘Gyahahaha! Today was so much fun!’
‘Alto! Give me some pocket money. I’m sooooo broke this month!’
On that day, what had she said to Alto?
“Ugh…”
She didn’t know why.
Tears began to pour out.
A crushing sense of guilt flooded her from her chest to her throat.
What had she done wrong?
She had failed to care for Alto on his birthday.
What had she committed?
She had ignored Alto’s birthday and instead made him take out a loan so she could buy a gift for Gerend.
What was irreversible?
The empty space he had left behind.
“Alto…”
Her woman’s intuition, her ranger’s instinct, screamed at her.
He had known everything.
And yet, he had left this here before quietly departing.
Now, let’s go back to the beginning.
What did she do wrong?
“I betrayed Alto…”
Ironically, the first woman to realize her own fault was the ranger who had been mocked as the stupidest member of the party.
The tears wouldn’t stop.
The saltiness of the tears stung her eyes.
“I’m sorry…”
Clutching the purple misanga to her chest through her blurred vision, Diane finally offered her first sincere apology to the person who deserved it.
“I’m sorry…”
Her atonement to the void continued until the sky regained its light.
* * *
The next day, Diane declared to the party that she would take on all the Bronze-rank quests herself.
“You? If you do that, it might tarnish our party’s reputation.”
“W-we need the money. Everyone knows I’m a fool anyway, so no one will say anything if I do Bronze-rank quests.”
“Sigh, that’s not the point…”
“What does it matter, Mirei? It looks like Diane finally used her brain for once. Let’s let her do what she wants.”
“Resin, are you serious? Those quests pay pennies.”
“The money isn’t what’s important. For now, we need to prostrate ourselves before the Adventurer Guild. We show them we’re working hard to earn back those Dungeon Quests.”
“Fine, whatever. Do what you want.”
Having barely secured permission, Diane smiled inwardly.
Where does information come from?
It comes from either the very bottom or the very top.
Meanwhile…
“The orphanage donation records have stopped?! Why? It was small, but it was consistent every month…!”
The female pastor shook her head at the slack-jawed Krima.
“Since Sir Alto has left Lukart, it is only natural that the donations to the Lukart orphanage would cease as well.”
“B-but the orphanage donation contract is separate! It has nothing to do with the donor’s location!”
“Yes, it is separate. Evangelist Krima, the church received a letter directly from Sir Alto stating that he wished to terminate the donation contract for the Lukart orphanage.”
“What?!”
“It even has his handwritten signature right here.”
Krima snatched the letter and scanned the contents repeatedly with bloodshot eyes.
“I-if this happens, my activity funds based on my performance will…”
“Regrettably, as of today, they are zero.”
Krima’s once-pretty features twisted into a hideous grimace.