The Reason We Walk Together
Having finished his breathless interview with Elena, Director of the Hero Management Bureau, Zick threw open the waiting-room door with a triumphant stride.
The moment the door swung wide, every gaze in the room snapped toward him at once.
Reno was the first to approach.
He pushed his glasses up with a fingertip, gave Zick a thorough once-over from head to toe, and slightly narrowed his brows.
"You've returned, Sir Zick. I trust you didn't tense up in front of the Director and say something unfortunate?"
"What do you take me for?! I handled it perfectly!"
Zick flinched at the sudden interrogation and raised his voice.
Hearing that answer, Noah let out a sigh of relief and stepped closer.
"Hero, I am glad you are unharmed and safe."
Off to one side, Drake sat with his chair tipped back at a careless angle, spinning a dagger between his fingers.
The moment he spotted Zick he let out a short snicker.
"Keh-heh. I figured the hero gentleman might jump out a window. I even had someone waiting underneath ready to catch you and run, just in case."
Gerard, leaning against the wall, tossed out a brief remark of his own.
"No trouble, then."
Only then did Zick realize his companions had been fretting over him. He smirked and planted a hand on his hip.
"Aren't you guys underestimating this Zick a little too much?"
He rolled his shoulders and lifted his chin as if his whole body were bragging about just how successful the meeting in the Director's office had been.
Drake snorted at the sight.
Ainz stroked his white beard and nodded with open satisfaction.
"Well done, young Zick."
Buoyed by his companions' reactions, Zick squared his shoulders even more proudly.
"See? You worried for nothing. The Director was more reasonable than I expected."
"In that case, we can begin calculating the budget now."
Reno drew a leather ledger from his coat, snapped it open, and drove the spike home in a perfectly calm tone.
"What was the scale of the initial support funds the Bureau allocated to our party? I need exact figures if I am to project our future operating expenses."
"Huh? That..."
In an instant Zick's smile froze solid.
The shoulders that had been so magnificently puffed began to tremble, his pupils wandered aimlessly through empty air, and cold sweat trickled down his temples.
Reno's eyes narrowed like a hawk that had scented disaster.
"Sir Zick? Surely not. A man who knows our finances are already at rock bottom would never return empty-handed—"
Unable to withstand Reno's icy glare, Zick finally bowed his head and confessed in a voice that dwindled to a whisper.
"There's no support money."
"Excuse me?"
"I didn't bring up money even once in the Director's office. So... no support funds at all."
The air in the waiting room froze solid.
Gerard uncrossed his arms and stepped toward Zick.
There was nothing superfluous in the knight's measured stride, yet the look he fixed on Zick was far from kind.
"No support funds. The leader of this party failed a single negotiation and came back empty-handed. Then what of equipment—swords, armor?"
"None."
"Loan rights to the artifacts the Bureau owns?"
"None of those either."
"Then at the very least there must be hero-exclusive privileges or tax exemptions that would protect our party."
"Uh... strictly speaking, nothing at all."
In the end Zick crumpled completely and hung his head.
Gerard clicked his tongue, low and cold with disdain.
"A hero is not merely a seat from which one swings a sword. Securing what the party needs is also a hero's duty."
"Sir Zick, with the funds we currently hold we cannot even cover next week's inn fees! Apologies will not solve this!"
Reno flapped the ledger in irritation and delivered a steady stream of quiet venom. Drake scratched his chin and groaned.
"Looks like we'll be living off weeds for a while, hero gentleman."
Under the barrage of icy rebukes from every side, Zick was truly on the verge of tears when Ainz, who had been watching in silence, cleared his throat softly and stepped in as mediator.
"Now, now, do not press the boy so hard. Young Zick—knowing your nature, you would never have returned completely empty-handed without any compensation at all. So what exactly did you request in the Director's office?"
Ainz's sharp observation pulled every gaze back to Zick.
He swallowed hard and honestly laid out everything that had happened in the Director's chamber.
"Actually... the Bureau offered to support our party with a mansion, a living stipend, even a private carriage. But I turned it all down."
"What? You refused all of that? Why on earth?"
Reno pressed him, unable to believe it. Zick scratched his head and continued.
"Instead I asked them to convert the entire support package into relief supplies. I told them to distribute it under our party's name to the refugees and disaster zones created by the Demon King's army."
For a moment the waiting room fell into a silence so complete it was as if water had been dumped over everyone.
This time it was not anger but sheer, colossal shock.
Zick gave an awkward smile and lowered his head.
"Sorry. I decided on my own without consulting any of you. Honestly, part of me just wanted to look cool. But I still believe that if you're a real hero, helping people who lost their homes to the Demon King's army comes before living well yourself. That's the kind of hero I want to be."
A trembling voice broke the quiet.
Noah had already clasped both hands together; tears were welling at the corners of his eyes.
"Hero... to willingly set aside your own share and think first of those in need. That is a choice truly worthy of a hero."
"Keh-heh. A very hero-like answer. Honor isn't something you only earn with glittering gold and jewels, after all."
Drake smirked and sheathed his dagger. Reno, too, let out a deep sigh and snapped the ledger shut, though the look in his eyes had softened considerably.
"You really are a hopelessly troublesome person, Sir Zick. When you put it like that, I can no longer scold you. Money can be earned by working our bodies. It will simply be a little harder."
Still standing ramrod straight with arms folded, Gerard regarded Zick and murmured in a low voice.
"You have no intention of taking that decision back now. Then see it through to the end. That is the way of a knight. We will handle the fallout of what you have done somehow."
"Hoho. Someone's gratitude and trust are more precious than any treasure. You chose well, young Zick."
With Ainz's warm praise added on top, a bright smile once again spread across Zick's face.
Their purses might be completely empty, but he was certain that the hearts of the companions who trusted him enough to walk beside him had only grown stronger.
That evening the party members gathered around a corner table in the shabby inn's dining hall, sharing a simple supper.
The dishes were nothing expensive—warm soup, freshly baked bread, a few potatoes, and smoked meat—yet the atmosphere at the table was cozier than it had ever been.
Drake picked up a boiled potato, took a bite, and snickered.
"Keh-heh. Even a plain potato like this tastes pretty good once you know the reason you're eating it."
"The leader who provided that ridiculous reason is already reflecting, so we shall overlook it just this once, Sir Zick."
"Sorry. But I don't regret it!"
Zick's unhesitating reply drew soft laughter from the others.
He set down his spoon and suddenly looked around the table with a serious expression.
"Come to think of it, we're a real hero party now. Before we start adventuring in earnest, wouldn't it be good if we each knew what dreams or goals the others are aiming for?"
A brief silence settled over the table. Drake was the first to set down his cup and speak in a quiet voice.
"A world where the kids back home no longer have to fear humans. That's my dream. Through this adventure I'll prove that we Green Skins can be trustworthy companions too."
"Great, Drake! We'll make that happen for sure."
Zick clenched a fist in agreement. Beside him, Reno spoke calmly.
"As for me, as I mentioned before, I intend to reclaim something more precious than my own life that I left behind in territory occupied by the Demon King's army. That is my sole purpose and my everything."
How dearly Reno valued that object needed no further questions; his voice alone conveyed it perfectly.
Noah folded his hands and offered a gentle smile.
"Though I am a man on the run, I wish to guide the wounded and lost lambs and continue doing good until the end. With the Hero at my side, I believe I can fulfill that conviction."
"That's just like you, Noah."
Zick smiled and nodded.
But when it was Gerard's turn, the knight completely ignored Zick's gaze and focused solely on his meal.
Only when Zick stared pointedly and pressed for an answer did Gerard finally furrow his brow and set his fork down on the table.
"...I intend to be recognized."
After a short pause he continued in an even tone.
"I will crush the Demon King's army with nothing but my own sword, without relying on my family's name. I will prove to that old bastard that my blade was never wrong. That is my goal."
Having said that much, Gerard clamped his mouth shut and turned his head away as if he had no desire to speak further.
He never revealed who "that old bastard" was, and Zick did not ask.
Everyone has stories that are hard to bring out into the open.
Last of all, Ainz stroked his white beard and spoke with weight.
"This old man's purpose is only one. To find, with my own hands, the whereabouts of my granddaughter who vanished without a trace several years ago."
He set down his cup and gave a bitter smile.
Zick tilted his head and pushed a piece of bread into his mouth.
"If that's the case, wouldn't it be faster to hire the information guild or the Hero Management Bureau? A mage of your caliber shouldn't lack for money or connections."
Ainz fell silent for a moment at Zick's pure question.
The old man gazed quietly at the dark night sky beyond the inn window, then murmured in a low, subdued voice.
"That child is someone I must find with my own hands. There are circumstances that prevent me from entrusting the matter to anyone else."
A subtle tension drifted across the table.
Then Ainz returned to his usual kindly expression, looked at Zick, and chuckled softly.
"Besides, the Bureau's information network is rooted deeply throughout all human territory—even into the shadows—so the chances of a clue turning up are high. More than anything, with that peculiar authority of yours at our side, I became convinced the odds of finding my granddaughter would be highest, young Zick."
As the weight of Ainz's earnest confession settled over the table, Drake grinned and shifted the mood.
"All right, everyone else's cards are on the table. Now it's the leader hero gentleman's turn. Just what enormous dream are you chasing?"
Zick shot to his feet as if he had been waiting for the question and clenched both fists tight.
"My dream is only one! To defeat the Demon King completely—and to become the greatest hero who has ever existed in history. Someday, when people talk about the history of heroes, I want them to remember, 'The greatest hero was, without question, Zick.' Pretty cool, right?"
It was a childish, grandiose declaration, yet this time no one laughed.
"Not a bad goal."
"Keh-heh. A leader needs that much ambition to be worth following."
"The light of heaven shall guide your steps, and the path of the righteous is like the morning light that grows ever brighter until the full day. May the blessing of God always accompany the Hero's noble dream."
"I only hope we don't go bankrupt before that great goal is achieved."
Light jokes passed across the table, and a warm sense of camaraderie spread among them.
Ainz slowly raised his cup and declared the beginning of their great journey.
"Then—to our first great step."
The clear ring of cups meeting filled the night air of the inn.
Their purses might have been poorer and more pitiful than any other hero party's, yet the dreams they carried were greater than those of any heroes on the continent.
As if heralding the prologue of a brilliant legend, their true adventure was finally about to begin.
And exactly three months later.
Despite the lofty ambition of becoming the greatest hero on the continent, Zick's party still hovered at the very bottom of the rankings, having produced no noteworthy results compared to other hero parties.
"This is not the hero adventure I imagined at alllllllll!!!"
In the shabby inn dining hall, Zick slammed his forehead onto a grease-stained table; his desperate wail filled the entire room.