The Party, Finally Complete
His faintly trembling eyelids slowly lifted.
Noah stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment before carefully pushing himself upright.
The ropes that had bound his wrists were already cleanly severed.
When he turned his head, he would have seen Zick leaning against the wall, catching his ragged breath, and Drake meticulously examining the masked man's corpse.
As Noah surveyed the room, his eyes met mine, and only then did he let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm glad."
"About what?"
"If I had gone to meet the god together with you, Hero-nim, it would mean both of us are still safe."
I let out a snort of laughter.
"Barely."
When I answered with a bitter smile, Noah approached me on still-unsteady steps. The anesthesia had not fully worn off yet, leaving him looking precarious, but there was not a hint of hesitation in the hands that reached out to treat my wounds.
Soon a warm light of holy power flowed from his fingertips and enveloped my entire body. The throbbing pain in my ribs, which had felt on the verge of breaking, subsided as if by magic, and my blocked breathing felt much freer.
"Having a priest really does make all the difference for a party."
An earnest admiration slipped out of me unbidden.
Noah merely offered a faint smile.
"With a little more treatment, you'll be able to move."
"Just hearing that makes me feel alive again."
While the holy power mended my wounds, I turned my gaze to the masked man's corpse sprawled on the floor.
"Noah-nim."
"Yes."
"I used my authority on that guy earlier."
"Your authority?"
I nodded lightly.
"My authority shows specific information about the target. This time the name appeared, but it's not always like that. I've seen other information before, so I still don't know what criteria it uses to display things."
Noah listened silently to my story.
After watching for any subtle change in his expression, I quietly spoke the name.
"[■■■■■]."
The moment that name rang through the room, Noah's hands stopped.
There was no need for a long-winded answer. That reaction alone was confirmation enough.
Noah knows.
But he will not say.
Right then, Drake rifled through the masked man's clothes and pulled out a small metal tag. The unique emblem had been mostly destroyed, as if roughly scraped away with a knife; he flicked it this way and that with his fingers before tossing it to me.
"Tsk. Real pro at hiding his identity."
I caught the flying metal tag. Every clue that might have hinted at his identity was thoroughly ruined. In the end, aside from that ominous name captured by my authority, there was nothing worthwhile to harvest.
Familiar footsteps rushed in through the broken door.
"Zick."
Gerard entered first, followed by Ainz.
Gerard scanned the wretched room once, then frowned deeply at the sight of me covered in dust and dirt.
"You're alive, at least."
"Isn't that reaction a bit cold?"
"If you'd died, you couldn't have answered."
Truly, Gerard's dry style of greeting.
Ainz stopped in front of the masked man's corpse and spread a small blue magic circle on his palm. A faint light of mana gently swept over the body once, but before long it dispersed weakly and fruitlessly.
"There's residual mana, but it's too mixed up. Tracking spells will be useless."
Then hurried footsteps of several people approached from the alley outside. Soon Reno appeared in the doorway.
"I've brought support."
Behind him, personnel in armor clearly engraved with the Hero Management Bureau's crest stormed into the building. They swiftly took control of the scene with practiced skill. The unconscious thugs were arrested one by one, and the masked man's corpse was quickly collected by the Bureau's investigation team.
Once safety was somewhat secured, the support personnel entered deeper into the slums and busily began distributing food and daily necessities to the residents. Facing this strange sight for the first time in their lives, the slum residents did not dare approach, merely watching the situation from afar with wary eyes.
I propped my chin and asked.
"Hold on."
"Yes."
"Field processing is one thing, but why is the Bureau helping the refugees now?"
"Originally, the Bureau cannot help the refugees."
I tilted my head.
"Why?"
"Because the slums are imperial territory. The Bureau cannot interfere in the internal affairs of each nation unless it involves heroes or the Demon King's army."
An extremely clear political dynamic. I understood immediately.
It was a supranational organization that commanded hundreds of exceptional heroes. The moment such a monstrous group could freely interfere even in other countries' public security, the Bureau would no longer be a cooperative agency but another massive empire dominating the continent.
"So they restricted the authority."
I looked out the window at the alley again.
"But they moved this time."
"Because a justification arose."
"What justification?"
Reno pushed up his glasses and answered nonchalantly.
"Actually, I officially reported to the Bureau that the priest of a hero party was ambushed while doing volunteer work in the slums."
"Wait. Noah-nim isn't even in our party yet."
"If it was you, Hero-nim, you would definitely have recruited Noah-nim. I just wrote that future fact down a little early on the paperwork."
"Is that okay?"
"On paper, there's no problem."
Drake clutched his belly, chuckling.
"Like I always say, the guys who handle the books are scarier than the ones who swing swords."
"I won't deny it."
Even Gerard added a heavy word.
Reno maintained a poker face throughout their ribbing.
"Thanks to that, this incident was officially registered as a Hero Party Assault Case. The Bureau has gained legitimate authority to forcibly secure security in the slums and support the residents. And this will be recorded as an official achievement for Zick-nim's party."
"So getting beaten up counts as an achievement."
"As long as the results are good, you just write the report to match."
"I never knew administration could be this scary."
I burst out in a hollow laugh.
Noah, who had been silently watching the alley until then, muttered quietly in a very small voice.
"I'm glad."
In that short utterance was a deep sense of relief, as if the weight of life he had borne alone for the past few years had lightened a little.
I did not miss that fleeting expression.
"Noah-nim."
"Yes."
"Will your answer be different now?"
Noah slowly turned to look at me.
"What do you mean?"
"I would like you to join my party."
Noah did not answer immediately. He turned his gaze back to the alley. The peaceful scene of Bureau personnel distributing supplies to the residents came into view, but the relief on his face did not last long.
"I'm sorry. I still cannot go."
As expected, the answer I had anticipated.
"Because of the refugees?"
Noah nodded silently.
"The Bureau is helping now. But it will not last long. Once the Bureau leaves, those people will eventually return to the old gutter. So I must stay by their side."
When those stubborn words of refusal ended, Reno quietly opened his mouth.
"Noah-nim is correct. If this incident had been unrelated to a hero party, that is."
Reno adjusted his glasses and began laying out the facts in a calm tone.
"But this incident is clearly a Hero Party Assault Case. If the same thing were to happen again, the Bureau's supranational authority would be greatly shaken, and the Bureau will not abandon the slums while taking on that risk. At the very least, until the slums are completely normalized, the Bureau plans to take full responsibility and provide all-out support."
Noah wordlessly stared into the alley. Children were running around brightly smiling as they followed the Bureau staff.
"I see."
But the moment I thought that one word was the end, a dark shadow fell over Noah's face again.
"Even so, I cannot go."
"Is there still a reason left?"
Noah could not open his mouth for a while. As if it was a story not easily spoken, he lowered his gaze for a long time before finally, as if resolved, quietly confiding his true feelings.
"Actually, I lied to you, Hero-nim."
I waited silently for his next sentence.
"The reason I could not leave the slums was not only the refugees. I was hiding from someone's eyes."
Noah's gaze turned to the empty air outside the window. Bureau staff were moving busily, but it seemed a completely different landscape was reflected in his eyes—fragments of those desperate past days when he had moved residences as if pursued and lived in hiding to avoid people's gazes.
"I thought that if it was a place like this, where people's attention does not reach, they would not find me for a while. But in the end, I was discovered. Even if they failed this time, they will definitely come again. They always have until now."
He lowered his eyes helplessly.
"If you are with me, you will all get caught up in dangerous affairs as well."
I let out a small breath and stood up.
"Noah-nim."
"Yes."
"We are already involved. This incident will remain as an official record in the Bureau. The fact that a hero party stopped a kidnapping, too. The other side will know we intervened, so would it change anything if Noah-nim alone steps out now?"
Noah bit his lip slightly with his gaze lowered—a face that knew better than anyone that even if he wanted to deny it, that cold logic was not wrong.
"Moreover, the hideout of the slums has already had its cards revealed. This time it was a kidnapping, but next time they might send more assassins. Once they have found a target, they find them twice. Nothing will be resolved by continuing to run and hide."
My ribs still throbbed, but I forced myself to look straight at Noah as if unfazed.
"So now, instead of hiding, we need to grow to a weight class that they will not dare touch carelessly."
Noah's eyes wavered violently.
I turned to Reno.
"Reno, if Noah-nim officially joins our party, how will the Bureau move?"
"An assault on a hero party member is met with full-scale response by the Bureau itself. They can exercise compulsory investigation rights and formally request cooperation from each nation. No matter who the opponent is, it will become physically difficult for them to move quietly in the shadows as before."
I turned my head back to look at Noah.
"You heard that. Now, targeting Noah-nim is not targeting a single priest. It becomes making an enemy of a hero party."
From the side, Drake's snickering laughter flowed out.
"What assassins hate most is noisy business. If the Bureau goes all-out war, it'll be a real headache."
"Even more so for a guy who hides his identity."
"Heh heh. The sturdiest shield is not always the thickest one. Sometimes the center of the battlefield, where everyone's gazes gather, is the safest place."
Noah slowly looked around at us—Gerard's blunt face, Drake's sly smile, Ainz's leisurely eyes, and even Reno, ready to flip the board with a single document at any time.
Finally his gaze rested quietly on me.
A miserable life where it had always been natural to bear everything alone. Because he had been certain that the moment he trusted someone he would drag that person into hell as well, he had never given anyone a place by his side in his life.
But the people standing before him now were different. The people standing before him did not take even a single step back even knowing the danger.
Noah slowly clasped his hands together. As if offering a devout prayer, he closed his eyes, and soon a low voice flowed from his lips.
After reciting the short scripture, Noah slowly opened his eyes.
"...This too must be the will of God."
He bowed deeply at the waist.
"Though I am lacking, I will be in your care in the Hero-nim's party from now on."
When Noah raised his head, instead of the mask full of wariness from when we first met, a completely different smile of trust had risen on his face.
"Your wounds and lives are now my responsibility."
In that moment a strange heat rose in one corner of my chest.
At last, even our party had gained a flawless priest to whom we could entrust our backs with trust.
The completion of a perfect party.
"Great! Ugh!"
In my delight I hastily stood up, but immediately a stabbing agony surged from my side. When I could not help but frown fiercely, Noah hurriedly grabbed my arm to support me.
"The holy power is still mending the wounds. Please rest a little more."
"Priest-nim. Isn't the difficulty of your first patient a bit too high?"
"Hmph. For a hero to become the first patient, what a sorry sight."
"Still, we achieved all of today's goals. Priest recruitment is done, and we solidly added one achievement."
"Heh heh. Today was a day worthy of a hero party."
As I was leaving the slums, I suddenly looked down at the back of my hand.
The faintly engraved mark's pattern was no different from when I first saw it. When I first used this authority, I had thoroughly embarrassed myself in front of the judges. But this time was clearly different. That one name the authority told me had completely shaken the kidnapper's composure and become the decisive opportunity to rescue Noah.
I still do not know what this authority is. By what criteria it shows information. And what that information will mean going forward.
I muttered in a small voice.
"Arselia."
Noah ultimately said nothing. But thanks to that silence, I could be even more certain.
The owner of that name is by no means an ordinary person.
A carrier pigeon smoothly alighted on the narrow windowsill.
A woman, with familiar hands, untied the secret letter firmly bound to the pigeon's leg. As she slowly read down the short sentences, a faint sneer of interest soon spread across her lips.
Operation failed.
Target recovery failed.
Hero intervention.
"Failed, I see."
The woman neatly folded the secret letter once.
"Indeed. Who on earth dared to disrupt my perfect plan so thoroughly?"
She slowly brought the letter over the burning candle flame. The flames instantly swallowed the paper, and the remaining black ashes scattered vainly into the night wind outside the window.
Right then, a cautious knock sounded from outside the door.
The woman perfectly hid the cold expression from just before and smiled with the brightest face in the world.
"Come in."
The door opened, and a young nun bowed politely as she reported.
"Saint Arselia. The Hero of Radiance, Mikhail-nim, has come to visit."
A gentle, compassionate smile spread once more across Arselia's lips.
"Is that so?"
She slowly rose from her chair.
"Then we mustn't keep such a precious guest waiting long."
Wearing the smile of a saint more compassionate than anyone, she walked out the door.