Chapter 56: The Worst Reunion (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 56: The Worst Reunion (2)
“Move it, move it! Faster!”
“Stop nagging, Mirei!”
Resin snapped at Mirei, who was doing nothing but running around in circles and barking orders.
However, Mirei was far too excited to even notice Resin’s irritation.
“This is our big break, Resin!”
“I know, I know. But we haven’t even left yet.”
“We have to get our gear in order if we want to make a name for ourselves at the border!”
There was a reason Mirei was making such a fuss.
It was the joint quest between the Kingdom and the Duchy—the request to subjugate the war hero, Yobeste.
“The chance has finally come!”
Here was a surprising fact: Mirei was a woman who held immense admiration for war heroes.
The reason she had become an adventurer after the Final War was her desire to become as great as those veterans. Even the reason she had invited Alto to her party was simply because he shared the same name as Alto Bertrand.
If those who knew the truth—especially the people of Hus—had heard this, they would have either burst into fits of laughter or been unable to hide their utter disgust.
“Krima, pack your full gear. If we catch Count Dakuus’s eye this time, this suffocating mountain of debt and everyone’s contempt will finally be over!”
“Yes! Yes! I understand. But I don’t know how to pack the gear properly. Alto used to do all of this!”
“Is Alto really the problem right now?! If this goes well, we might find a way to form a party with Claude. And aren’t you just thinking about hooking up with Gerend anyway?”
“Gerend isn’t the issue for me.”
“Oh, really? That’s unexpected.”
“…Are you mocking me?”
“Who would mock anyone before such an important quest? I’m being serious.”
To Krima, who was burdened with forty million Dalk and massive interest, Gerend was a secondary concern.
She felt a rising resentment toward the man who had accepted a brand-new wallet from her—no, who had taken her virginity—and then tossed her aside without a second thought.
Meanwhile, Mirei’s heart continued to race.
When she first heard the name ‘Yobeste of the Javelins,’ she had felt a flicker of fear. But a day ago, upon hearing that Count Dakuus—a war hero and a member of the central command—had already arrived, she trembled with a competitive spirit.
I’ll do it.
Under the command of the great General Dakuus, she would strike down Yobeste, now a traitor to humanity, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the legends.
Furthermore, there were the words Yarismal had muttered under her breath after hearing the guard’s report.
‘There’s a possibility the Duchy’s war heroes will come as well.’
Who would it be?
Levantello, the God of War on Horseback?
Donovan, another central commander?
It didn’t matter who. As long as she could be with them!
“I’ll do it.”
“Thank you, Diane.”
Unlike Mirei, who couldn’t hide her exhilaration, Diane had grown gloomier by the day.
Sometimes, she would climb to a high place alone and stare at the moonlight, not even bothering to hide her bloodshot eyes. Her childish demeanor had vanished, and she was now reliably doing more than her fair share of the work.
However, she occasionally ruined the mood by asking if they should seek Alto’s forgiveness.
In fact, since she brought it up whenever she opened her mouth, the rest of Mirei’s party had completely forgotten that Diane might actually have a clue about Alto’s whereabouts.
And because of that, they had no idea what kind of resolution Diane was hardening in her heart.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
“Lukart! All Lukart adventurers, assemble in front of the guild! All parties participating in the Kingdom-Duchy joint quest, assemble in front of the guild immediately!”
Hired criers went around banging on scrap metal that sounded like pots, announcing the assembly order.
Despite being given half a day, Mirei’s party hadn’t finished packing their gear. It was a side effect of Alto having handled all the preparations until now.
“Resin, let’s go, let’s go! They’re calling us!”
“Wait, Mirei! Our preparations aren’t—!”
“If we’re late, we’ll be blacklisted! We already have to be extra careful because of that damn inspector!”
Her words sounded reasonable, but to anyone watching, Mirei looked like an excited child.
If Alto had been there, he would have found a way to soothe Mirei’s erratic state.
Resin shook her head as the thought crossed her mind. He was already gone, and he wasn’t worth lingering over.
“As long as I have Sir Claude, that’s enough.”
Mirei’s excitement wasn’t entirely misplaced. They were a Hero-rank adventurer party. Though their recent performance had been lackluster, their future wasn’t entirely without merit.
To achieve great deeds under Dakuus, form a party with Claude, live happily, and raise her reputation… The mere thought was electrifying.
“Mirei Party, moving out!”
“Take your own gear with you!”
* * *
The heat was sweltering.
Nevertheless, the various parties gathered in front of the Lukart Adventurer Guild were too tense to even swallow properly.
“To think a man died… and why do I have to be involved?”
“Don’t worry, Claude. We’ll protect you.”
Among them was Claude, whose primary concern was his own safety.
“Call me after you’ve cut off the culprit’s limbs. I’ll deliver the finishing blow myself.”
“As expected of Sir Gerend! So cool!”
“A man should be handled by another man!”
And there was Gerend, who was even more full of bravado than Fran.
Before them, Yarismal appeared, accompanied by the Branch Manager and the Carriage Station Manager.
“What’s with that beanpole?”
“Is that a woman? Why is she so tall? It’s creepy.”
Endure it, Yarismal.
The first comment had even come from a man’s voice.
She was used to it. She was used to people putting her down, saying she wasn’t feminine because of her height. The only person who had ever looked at her height without care and given her a warm smile was Alto Bertrand.
Everyone else was just a moron struggling to speak human language.
Yarismal, who was also a priestess despite her appearance, took an amplification magic tool from the receptionist, tapped it a few times, and began her speech.
“Hello, everyone! I’m Yarismal from the Adventurer Guild headquarters!”
A strange vibe washed over the crowd—it was unclear whether she was trying to act cute or if that was just her natural feminine way of speaking.
“As you’ve heard, an incident occurred at the northern border where a man killed another man! And the man who died was a member of the Duchy’s diplomatic mission!”
She raised both arms, gesturing as if she were reading a fairy tale.
“But do you know what’s even more surprising? The man who killed him is none other than the war hero, Yobeste of the Javelins!”
“What…? That changes things. All of you, focus on protecting me.”
“Benitz, I don’t care how high the reward is, I can’t do this. What? The penalty for backing out is double? Dammit!”
As the killer’s identity was revealed, the crowd, led by Gerend and Claude, began to buzz.
Yarismal, who had intended to give them a moment to talk, saw that the atmosphere wasn’t settling. She slipped on her ‘Love and Peace’ knuckles on both hands and slammed them together in front of the megaphone.
SCREEEEEEEEEEE—!
“Agh!”
“My ears!”
“I’m speaking, you bastards! Do you all want to be expelled?”
The ear-splitting noise silenced everyone. Yarismal smiled brightly and continued her speech.
“According to information provided by the Duchy, Yobeste turned into a killer because he was treated poorly and suffered terrible things in the Duchy. Oh, isn’t that just so sad? To treat a hero who saved the world like that and cause such a tragedy!”
Her pointed words sent a chill down the spines of the Guild Branch Manager, the Station Manager, and even the receptionist.
“I trust Lukart hasn’t done anything like mistreating a hero, right? If you have, this big sister here—and even the high-ranking officials of the Kingdom—would be very, very angry.”
“Never! We would never do such a thing!”
Surprisingly, the one who stepped forward with confidence was Mirei.
With a face completely devoid of any suspicion regarding her past actions, Mirei shouted enthusiastically.
“There has never even been a war hero in Lukart! If there were such people here, I would have torn them apart with my own hands!”
“Right? Why would a war hero be in Lukart? They’d be living in luxury on their veteran compensation.”
“Exactly.”
Mirei’s shout was followed by murmurs of agreement.
The three people in Lukart who knew the whole truth felt like crying.
The situation was spiraling out of control. No, it had been a massive blunder and a sin from the moment Alto left for Hus.
“If there had been a war hero here, this Gerend would have bought them a drink! For creating such a peaceful world to live in!”
“I, Claude, would have expressed my gratitude as well.”
A vein throbbed prominently on Yarismal’s smiling temple.
What gave them the nerve to shout so confidently? Even if the name Alto was common, they should have at least had a shred of doubt—a ‘what if?’—about the man named Alto whom they had kicked out.
She felt like she was going to explode with rage.
Just as she felt like crushing the magic tool in her hand, Yarismal felt a prickling sensation run down her spine.
“…!”
She instinctively looked in one direction.
There was someone else looking that way besides Yarismal.
Diane, the ranger of Mirei’s party, had caught a faint, nostalgic scent carried on the wind—and a slight metallic tang of blood mixed within it.
The two of them realized at the same time.
That he was at the end of that path.
Thanks to that, Yarismal was able to calm down, and Diane found her own meaning in this quest.
“Right~ Since you all say so, this big sister will believe you.”
Yarismal smiled. She smiled with a chilling joy.
“But if it’s discovered later that there were people here who mistreated a war hero, this big sister will personally tenderize your faces from your foreheads to your chins. You can take my word for it, since I’m from Headquarters!”
Finishing with a terrifying remark, Yarismal wiped the smile from her face as if it had never been there and jerked her chin toward the Carriage Station Manager.
“Get them all on board. I’ll be running there.”
“Lukart! Every party, board the carriages! This is a race against time! Let’s use this opportunity to make our city’s name famous!”
“Wooooooooh!”
Let’s raise Lukart’s reputation.
The Branch Manager and the Station Manager shouted those words even as their insides were rotting away.
Unaware of their inner turmoil, the adventurers responded brightly and boarded the carriages.
The brightest among them was, of course, Mirei.