The Porter's Secret Burden
They had no idea who they owed their strength to. Ever since Werther joined, the hero party had finally started functioning properly. Before that, the hero and Cynthia had simply been wasting their sponsorship funds inefficiently. Cynthia, who had grown up as an imperial princess, knew nothing of the real world—she once paid ten shillings for a single piece of fruit at the market. For reference, ten shillings was an amount an ordinary laborer would need to save half a year’s wages to afford. The hero was just as hopelessly incompetent. Neither Cynthia nor Leonhart had even a shred of practical life skills, and their funds were running dangerously low when Werther appeared.
After recruiting him, the cliché of getting scammed every time they arrived in a new city vanished. So did the pathetic nights spent sleeping in sleeping bags on random patches of grass because they didn’t know how to pitch a tent. Werther handled cooking, dishwashing, gathering information, questioning locals, and setting up tents—all by himself, flawlessly. He did it all with the cryptic confidence of someone who muttered, “This is nothing compared to pulling five all-nighter shifts while sleeping in snatches.”
Even he had one thing he couldn’t endure: Cynthia’s spoiled princess behavior. She was used to having everything done for her, as expected of an imperial princess. Of course, at the time he didn’t know her true identity.
For a moment, an awkward silence wrapped around them. Cynthia’s face flushed bright red. Werther realized he had misspoken and clicked his tongue.
It was probably Werther’s clumsy attempt at an icebreaker joke. Cynthia, stung by his words, decided to strike back using the porter’s weakness. She had realized something while traveling with him: Werther was almost crazed when it came to subjugating the Demon King. Of course, killing the Demon King was the wish of all humanity… but his obsession was on another level. When asked if there was some special reason, he always dodged the question.
It worked spectacularly. From that day on, helping her change while blindfolded became Werther’s official duty. Ah… of course, the Demon King subjugation was canceled due to the hero’s strong opposition.
The imperial princess, who had once been attended by more than thirty maids in the palace, actually had very few things she could do on her own. It was only natural that she received help from servants for everything—from dressing to falling asleep. The work once done by thirty maids now fell entirely on Werther alone.
What surprised Cynthia the most was how unexpectedly skilled he was at styling hair.
When she washed her hair with shampoo and entrusted it to Werther, a humming tune naturally escaped her lips.
Suddenly Werther shot her a look as if he had bitten into a bug. His glare clearly said, Learn to watch your mouth.
…That was a complete landmine.
The hands that had been styling her hair stopped. Even the usually oblivious Cynthia regretted touching a nerve when she saw how heavily Werther’s expression had darkened. But she quickly calmed herself, thinking it was pointless to get angry at him.
………
—However, after the night they were attacked by bandits, Werther roughly learned about Cynthia’s past as well.
After that, they recruited the princess knight Jeanne, the saintess Teresa, and the elf Sharon as new members. The hero party finally took shape as a fairly powerful force. The cowardly hero occasionally fought the Demon King’s army and even achieved some results. But to Werther, their progress was unbearably slow. He gave a sharp warning to his companions who kept circling around the vicinity of Lydorphia instead of heading to the Demon Continent.
Just as the hero said, traveling from Lydorphia to Grimoire meant crossing the Pangaea continent from west to east.
………
Lately, even the cowardly hero had grown smoothly stronger. He could now hunt weak monsters by himself. The other party members had gained power far surpassing that of the empire’s knight order. While they had shown talent from the beginning, their recent growth had been especially dazzling. They had grown somewhat arrogant, intoxicated by the sense that they could grow stronger without any real effort—just by breathing.
—As was always the case with parties Werther belonged to.
They had no idea they had become stronger thanks to his SSS-rank skill There is no free lunch in the world. Without that skill’s buff, they wouldn’t have grown even a tenth as much. The hero in particular would have remained at the level of an ordinary person. From the start, the hero party had simply walked safe paths like they were on a hike, occasionally fighting the Demon King’s forces. They had never undergone any real hardship that could be called training. In other words, they were people who originally had no right to become strong.
However, the moment that truth was revealed, the buff would be canceled. That was the skill’s activation condition. If Werther wanted to use these incompetent bastards as actual fighting power against the Demon King’s army, he had to keep the secret.
………
The atmosphere in the party grew icy after the argument between Werther and the hero. Still, everyone acknowledged that the hero was the center of the party. After all, this was the hero party.
Jeanne, who always wore heavy silver armor even in daily life, spoke with her arms crossed as if she didn’t even need to think about it.
Sharon’s eyes darted nervously back and forth between Werther and Leonhart.
Teresa, her face veiled, offered a prayer as if making sure Werther could hear.
Now everyone’s attention was focused on what Cynthia would say.