My Party's Character Is Anything but Ordinary (2)

Time flew, and the day finally came when the Hero's party—already the subject of no small amount of talk and trouble—would set out on its first mission.

Regina summoned me under the pretext of explaining the mission in exact detail.

I couldn't help finding it strange. The contents of the mission had been delivered to me a full week ago, and after that her consideration had even granted me time to rest.

"Haa."

When I went to see her, wondering what on earth this could be about, what greeted me was Regina letting out a deep sigh the moment her eyes found me.

"......"

"Haa..."

"......"

"Haaa..."

It wasn't a single sigh, either. She looked like someone with a great deal to say and every intention of holding it in—and yet, as if she couldn't simply send me away, she kept sighing at me, worry written all over her face.

Unable to bear it any longer, I asked.

"...What is the matter, exactly?"

"Nothing. I'm worried, that's all. Whether you'll truly be able to join forces with the party I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chose for you and see the mission through..."

"You're the one who assigned them."

"Even so."

At the sight of Regina fidgeting with her hands, it was my turn to sigh.

Well. It would be absurd to think Emperor Regina didn't know how things stood between me and the party. The imperial palace has as many ears as it has walls; someone had surely carried word of the discord from our first meeting straight to her.

And yet the Emperor seemed to have heard more than that first clash alone.

"I hear the ones I called your party members turned you away at the door. And that you went to them every single day for a full week."

"Well... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I went because I thought we ought to get along, being in the same party. Seems they weren't interested."

I toyed with the slightly singed ends of my hair.

Over that week of rest I had made my own efforts ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to grow closer to them. One might think, They even refused the affinity quest—doesn't that mean they had no intention of getting close? But it wasn't quite that simple.

Of course, I had no intention of getting close either. There was no one worth growing close to for a man who meant to leave this world the moment the Demon King fell.

Even so, I can't cut off conversation entirely.

It was a kind of professional life. In a business relationship, you don't look at someone through personal like or dislike. No matter how unpleasant a person is, so long as they bring productive gain, you can smile and treat them warmly all the same.

I could see that they disliked me, but we were people gathered for the purpose of subjugating the Demon King—whether the goal was the subjugation itself, or the scraps that would fall from it. The Hero's party existed for no reason other than the Hero. By any common sense, they too would set personal dislike aside and deal with me as a matter of business.

That's what I thought common sense would dictate. Truly.

It didn't quite work out that way.

Freyja, the warrior of the southern tribes, refused to meet me on the grounds that she was conserving her strength—which, in practice, meant sleeping all day. I did manage a few words with Serena, the saint candidate, but after a handful of perfunctory remarks she politely showed me out, saying it was time to offer prayers to her god.

It got dangerous when I went to see Vivian, the mage.

I was lucky to have dodged. When she hurled a fireball at my face without so much as a word, I was genuinely startled. A little slower, and I don't think it would have ended at a bad burn across my face.

"Well... it did sour my mood a little. But I'm fine. It can't be helped."

"Haa... even so. They're reinforcements sent by each of the powers, in name at least... I feel terribly sorry toward you."

Regina studied the area around my hair, swallowed another sigh before it could escape, and swept back her long hair.

"...It seems my eye was wrong after all. Skill aside, their character is rotten from the start. To fail even to separate public duty from private feeling, and slight the one and only Hero in the world..."

"Some people are like that. Still, they sent them because they judged the skill to be sound, didn't they?"

"That much is true."

And it was, in fact. From what I had looked into on my own, Serena, Vivian, and Freyja were exceptional talents even within the factions they belonged to. Their character was a liability, but from the standpoint of the Church, the Magic Tower, and the tribal alliance, they had indeed put forward the best people they could.

"...Haa. Even so, this doesn't seem right. If you wish it, you have only to say the word. I'll use my authority and see what can be changed."

"That won't be necessary. They couldn't be swapped as easily as all that, anyway."

Regina fell silent.

Her expression looked calm, but I knew my words had struck the heart of it.

"A Hero who may well be the only one in the world, and the party meant to follow him—politics was never going to stay out of it."

It was obvious. Whether they sought tremendous honor by slaying the Demon King, or shoved someone they disliked into the Hero's party as if telling them to go and die, the factions within each power hardly mattered, nor did the state of the Demon King's army and the imperial forces. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hero's party was, in itself, an attractive political instrument no matter how one chose to use it.

"Besides, the imperial side has already failed once."

"......"

"Because of that, they must have raised a fuss, saying they were uneasy leaving the matter entirely in the imperial house's hands. They had a pretext, so it landed well."

"You... that is..."

Even at words that could be taken as calling the imperial house incompetent, Regina said nothing to me. Probably because I was tied directly to what had happened then.

For all the fearsome title of Conquering Empress, she has an awful lot of feeling, and an awful lot of worry.

Watching her work her parched lips, I let out a short laugh.

"I'm fine. Even if we go forward with this party exactly as it is."

And cold as it was to say, from the imperial house's position it would actually be better to keep the party as it stood—on the assumption that I held up.

The Hero was the only key that could open the Demon King's castle, where the enemy of humanity resided. The Hero's companions ought to be the very finest, and still fall short of what was needed—and yet the reinforcements sent by each power were, to a one, locked in contests of pride and openly slighting the Hero?

"Isn't it a fine situation for turning the tables? Brand them heretics and take the heads of key figures in each faction, or demand compensation for the harm. Get a proper leash around their necks, and the imperial house stands to gain..."

"You really—!!"

Regina's face crumpled hard, and she glared at me.

I looked back at her, steadied my breath, and spoke in a languid voice.

"If anything, I prefer it this way. It's clean, isn't it."

No pointless chance of growing close, and no sign they meant to try. A dry relationship, if dry was the word—gathered strictly for a purpose. The air of being slighted was uncomfortable, but time would improve it. Even if it never improved, right to the end, it wouldn't matter.

So long as I can go home.

"I can endure it. I'll be all right."

I offered Regina a faint smile.

She looked at me, sighed as if there was no talking me out of it, and leaned back against the chair.

Once my private audience with Emperor Regina was over, I headed for the Central Magic Tower to carry out the mission, as she had commanded.

I heard she ordered the party to the Central Magic Tower as well. I should be fine going straight there.

Thanks to the convenience Regina had arranged, I was riding in comfort in a plush carriage, but the party kept surfacing in my mind, and I was mentally exhausted. Leading people who, for a week, had barely spoken to me, ignored me, and refused to cooperate was harder than I had expected.

Still, they have ability. That's something, at least.

I opened my status window.

Agility had climbed a stage since the last time I checked, and so had Imperial Basic Swordsmanship and Imperial Basic Shield Art. Results earned by training through whatever time remained after my party turned me away at the door.

Not a bad return for training over a span as short as a week.

The higher one's stats and levels, the harder they become to raise. In exchange, the further into high stats and high levels one goes, the more exponentially a difference of one or two transforms. I was still lingering in the early-to-mid game, so raising stats wasn't all that difficult yet—but it was unmistakably growing harder than it had been right after I possessed this body. Skill levels especially.

If a completed stat sits in the low thirties, the ceiling for an ordinary skill is roughly level ten or eleven.

Level 1 was barely having used a skill a few times. Levels 2 through 5 meant having learned it and grown somewhat accustomed to it in the body. Levels 6 through 9 meant having fully embodied it. From level 10 onward, one went past complete mastery and rebuilt the skill to one's own standard.

Life skills were easy enough to level, but what I had raised this time was purely for combat. They demanded a great deal of experience, so they rose slowly by nature. All the more reason a single stage felt satisfying.

Truthfully, for now a rise in skill level is more tangible than a rise in stats.

The agility I'd gained had improved my kinetic vision and my reflexes a little, but it couldn't compare to the skills. The swordsmanship I had favored from the start now traced a cleaner, sharper path—a low whoosh as the blade cut the air—and the shield art I had learned just in case had, with a few testing taps, become sound enough to use in a real fight.

"At this rate, I should be able to pull my own weight on the team."

The growth had come sharply over this one week, timed well with the training I had already been doing, but satisfying was still satisfying. I slid the sword back into the scabbard at my waist, slung the shield across my back, and decided it was about time to get out.

"Sir Hero? We've arrived at the Central Magic Tower."

"Thank you."

I thanked the old steward who had brought me this far and looked ahead.

It's been quite a while since I was here, too.

A tower rose high enough that I wondered whether it might rival a skyscraper belonging to some major corporation. A familiar nostalgia seemed to press down on me. For a moment I doubted how anyone could have built a tower of that size to stand firm against a medieval backdrop; then I shook my head lightly and made for the Central Magic Tower.

The party was already waiting out front.

"You've come, Sir Hero."

"...Hmph."

"Krrrgh— fwoooh..."

The moment they confirmed I had arrived: Serena, the saint candidate, speaking to me; Vivian whipping her head aside; and Freyja, peacefully asleep.

"Sorry. Am I a little late?"

"Not at all. You arrived right on time. And I'm rather used to waiting, so it would have been fine if you'd been later still."

Serena was the only one I could actually talk to.

Of course.

She hated me a great deal, too.

"Anyway, I'll apologize once more for being late."

"Oh, come now. I told you it was fine."

In any case, it was about time to depart. I woke the sleeping Freyja and started walking. Whenever we set out for the front, we had always used the Central Magic Tower's Warp Gate, so there was no need to hesitate. I went straight inside.

"Welcome, Sir Hero. We've already heard from Her Majesty and made ready."

The moment I opened the door, a middle-aged man who looked to be a high-ranking mage of the Tower offered me a greeting.

"Which gate should we use?"

"VIP Gate No. 1 will do. Please follow me."

"You heard him. Let's go."

I nodded at the middle-aged mage and turned my gaze to the party. Serena still wore that meaningless smile. Freyja was staring at me with round eyes, as if surprised.

Vivian's reaction, though, was somehow off. She frowned faintly and pulled her mage's pointed hat down low. Clutching a staff as tall as she was in those small hands, she looked uncomfortable.

"......"

"?! ...Wh-what are you looking at?"

The moment our eyes met, she shrieked. Because of it, every gaze nearby snapped toward us at once.

"Huh? That's..."

And then, as if they had recognized Vivian, the people around us began to murmur.

"S-Sir Hero...!"

I was still trying to work out what was going on when Vivian called out to me out of nowhere. One hand stayed pressed down on her hat.

"Why are you just standing there like a grub?! Hurry up and let's go do the mission or whatever...!"

"What?"

"I said hurry!"

As if my failure to understand frustrated her, Vivian tucked the staff under one arm and grabbed my sleeve with the other, tugging. Vivian had a frail strength on par with Emperor Regina's, so dragging me along was beyond her—but by going along willingly, I could give her what she wanted.

"I'm sorry, but could we pick up the pace a little?"

"Yes? Ah... yes."

The middle-aged mage nodded at my words and broke into a flustered run. Serena and Freyja, wearing expressions that said they had no idea what was happening, started running with us.

"Huff...! Hahh... haaah...!"

"...What in the world is going on?"

"Hahh...! Shut up...!"

"No—if you tell me what's wrong, I can actually help."

"Hahh! I don't know! You're noisy...! Haaah...!"

By her own measure she seemed to be running at full speed, but with the strength of an invalid and agility worse than a patient's, Vivian's run amounted to little more than a slightly brisk walk. And even that had her gasping. Honestly.

"This won't do..."

"Hiek— what did you just sa—kyaa!"

I scooped up Vivian's small frame and broke into a run with her in my arms. Her body was so light I wondered whether she ever ate at all.

"Wh-what is this, Hero?! You— you...! Worthless human...! Put me down this instant!"

"Hold still. You want out of here fast, don't you. At your pace it'd take an age."

"Excuse me?!"

Vivian kept kicking, but her strength was so feeble I could more or less ignore it and keep running. Even then, she was yanking her hat down with one hand.

What on earth was this about? The moment the question rose, a voice brushed past my ear.

Amid the chaos, a voice that slipped through to me alone, thanks to a trained body.

"......"

"Damn it! Hero...! You stupid human! Put me down, I said! I mean it!"

I let Vivian's voice go in one ear and out the other and kept running.

From the very start of the mission, what a mess this was turning out to be.