An elderly man with graying hair approached Esda with a slight step and spoke to her.
“Greetings. I am Illya, the village chief. Is it true that you are the Saintess?”
“Yes, yes… I am Esther Nebanor, the Saintess officially chosen by the Holy See to join the Hero Party.”
“If that is so…”
Chief Illya whispered in her ear.
“Could you please urge the hero to depart for his expedition soon? He has been holding banquets for over a month now and refuses to leave the village. Honestly, there’s no way to handle this. The village’s budget is running low, and everyone is exhausted, but if anyone says anything against him, they get labeled with ‘Are you on the Demon King’s side?’ and it’s causing trouble for everyone. Saintess, please, speak to him.”
“Well, that’s… I’m meeting the hero for the first time today…”
“Please, Saintess. You’re the only one we can rely on. If this continues, our village will run out of food. Please, I beg of you.”
The elderly man bowed his head and pleaded again, and Esda’s heart wavered.
“Alright, I understand.”
The Saintess approached the hero, who was enjoying his banquet, and spoke to him.
“Hero, the entire world is waiting for you to defeat the Demon King. Now is not the time for banquets. Let’s set sail for the continent as soon as possible.”
“Damn it!!!”
At that moment, a goblet flew and hit Esda on the temple.
Blood began to flow.
It was an incredibly rude response.
Esda, shocked, sat down.
Hero Raul was glaring at her with a vicious expression, as if he had heard a curse from his parents.
“Damn it!!! I’m the hero!! I’m the hero, and I have to listen to this nonsense!!! I don’t care what you call yourself, but if I decide, someone like you could just leave the party! I don’t even want to hear my mother’s nagging, so why should I listen to yours?! I really didn’t want to say anything, but!!!”
A sigh was heard from around the room.
It seemed that everyone was used to this situation.
More people started to leave the room.
Hero Raul continued to complain.
“Do you know how hard it was when I was bullied by those damn bastards and shut myself up at home? My mom kept nagging me the whole time! I was a shut-in from 17 to 27, and no one knows how hellish that was! No one knows my heart! It was so painful!!! And now, when I finally want to live my new life, you’re all rushing me about the Demon King! Don’t you get it? The more you push me, the less I want to do it!!! I swear, if this keeps up, I’m quitting being a hero!!! Do you know how hard my life was?!”
Hero Raul started to recount his life story, and his complaints went on for over two hours.
“So, I was in class and eraser dust kept flying at me, and there were scribbles on my desk…”
“And my dad kept hitting me at home…”
“The only thing I could enjoy was watching anime…”
“And then when I became an adult, they kept nagging me to get a job, and I hated hearing it so much I just wanted to die…”
On and on it went.
It was a story about how hard his life had been.
Listening to it made Esda feel both pity and frustration.
Most of all, it was so long that it was becoming unbearable.
Even Esda, who was normally very patient, felt dizzy and disoriented, but someone supported her and whispered in her ear.
“Sigh… I told you not to light the fuse.”
It was Cynthia, the mage from the hero’s party.
Even in her dazed state, Esda thought Cynthia was very beautiful.
She had the typical cat-like beauty with slightly slit eyes.
Her twin tails suited her well. Cynthia said,
“Raul can’t stand hearing anything he doesn’t like. Everyone’s given up on him. Just leave him be. There’s nothing you can do.”
“W-What about you?”
“I’m Cynthia, the mage. You must be the new Saintess, right? It’s been so long since we had a Saintess after Teresa. Nice to meet you.”
Unlike Raul, Cynthia seemed like a reasonable person.
Esda was happy to greet her.
“I’m so glad to meet you. I… I’ll definitely be a helpful Saintess for the Hero Party. I’ve learned a lot of blessing magic.”
“Great. I’ll introduce you to the other members too. While Raul is throwing a tantrum, you can talk with the others.”
Cynthia took Esda to another area.
Raul didn’t seem to care that the two had left and continued his long lament about his painful past.
Esda met with the elf Tiffany and the knight Jeanne.
“Tiffany, nice to meet you. You’re the new Saintess, right? Let’s join forces to defeat the Demon King together.”
“I’m Jeanne. I’ve heard you did well at the convent. I trust you won’t repeat the mistakes of Teresa. Let’s work together and make good progress. The public opinion of the Hero Party is already quite bad, so we must show results on this expedition.”
Both of them seemed reasonable and good-hearted. It seemed the only odd one out was Hero Raul.
‘Is this the “secret of the Hero Party” that Teresa warned me about? That Raul is a bit out of his mind…? No, Teresa never met Raul, so her warning wasn’t about him.’
‘What could it be…? This “secret of the Hero Party.” I still have no idea.’
‘But… I’m worried.’
‘Something about that “secret” feels like it will bring a huge tragedy to our party.’
“Though it’s just a hunch for now…”
Overcome by an unknown anxiety, Esda waited for the moment when Hero Raul would finally regain his senses and set out on the expedition.
Until then, she simply conversed with the other members of the party, strengthening her relationships with them.
It wasn’t until two weeks later that the hero finally began to show some effort for the party.
“I’m so tired of drinking now… sigh… Is there anything else to do?”
At this moment, Esda and the other party members seized the opportunity and attempted to persuade him together.
“Hero! If that’s the case, let’s depart for the mainland right now.”
“Yeah, Raul. It’s about time we left. It’s not right to still be hanging around the port city after starting the expedition.”
“Victor never did this.”
“Let’s go, Hero. It’s time.”
Raul acted as if it was too troublesome and that he didn’t want to, but this time, the party didn’t back down.
The party members, unlike Raul, were all reasonable people.
They knew that recently—and for quite some time—the people’s perception of the Hero Party wasn’t very warm.
It had been the same since the time of the previous hero, Victor.
The hero, who only emerged once in a century, placed an enormous burden on the entire world.
Emperor Carlos imposed a massive tax to support the hero, with the justification that it was for his aid.
For the common people, who had to pay enormous taxes to support the hero, it was only natural that they expected results in return for their contributions.
However, Victor would only clash with the forces on the mainland without making any progress and return with no gains, leading to widespread dissatisfaction.
After Victor was dismissed, Raul was chosen, and people began to place their hopes on him again.
However, with Raul’s disappointing behavior, even his reputation began to decline.
If this continued, things could become dangerous.
If they didn’t show results soon, not only would they suffer the same fate as Victor, but their own positions would also be at risk.
Furthermore, no one wanted to walk around the village receiving disdainful glares.
It would almost be more comfortable on the mainland.
At this point, unless they brought back the head of one of the Four Heavenly Kings, it would be difficult to restore their reputation.
The other members of the party, excluding Raul, were fully aware of this.
And so, they didn’t give up and continued to persuade Raul.
“You’ve had your fun! Now, let’s go to the mainland! Let’s defeat the Demon King!”
“Yeah. I’ve drunk enough to the point where I might ruin my liver. Let’s admit it.”
“Let’s go, Hero.”
“The ship has been ready since earlier.”
With the party members persistently urging him, Raul’s resistance finally started to fade.
“Alright, alright… Seriously, why are you all acting like I’ve done something wrong? This is giving me PTSD, thinking back to the past…”
Esda, filled with joy, exclaimed.
“So! We’re going to the mainland?!”
“Alright, alright. We’ll go to the mainland. I’ll kill the Demon King with the holy sword, isn’t that it?”
“Yes! Everyone heard that, right? We’re going to the mainland now!!”
The villagers were even happier than Esda. Some of them even shed tears of joy.
“Hooray!! Hooray!!”
“The hero is leaving!!”
“Finally! Finally! Ah, finally, this hell is over!”
“It’s been long… so long.”
“Hooray!!!”
“Safe travels, Hero and your companions!!”
In some ways, it was the most heartfelt farewell.
At any rate, the Hero Party boarded the ship amid enthusiastic cheers.
Led by Hero Raul, the party members included the mage Cynthia, the elf Tiffany, the knight Jeanne… and of course, the newly joined Saintess Esda.
The full party, now united, exuded great confidence.
As the ship departed, Esda waved her hands excitedly and shouted.
“Everyone!!! We’ll definitely accomplish something and come back! Please wait for us! We’ll do our best! For humanity! For the Goddess!!”
But she didn’t know.
That from this point on, the real downfall of the Hero Party would begin…
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.