How To Leave The Hero Party- Chapter 47

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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As soon as I returned to the royal palace, I went straight to the Queen’s office. It seemed she had been expecting me, as I was granted an audience without any preparation.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Yes.”

I had. Of course, there was still some cleanup to do, but Veronica and Lucille would handle it.

The Queen, who had been reviewing a pile of documents, set them down and said,

“Even though the plague in the Elven Forest has been dealt with, the conflicts between the races will not end.”

“I suppose not.”

With the elves weakened, the other races would rise. There would be problems, but they would have to deal with them on their own.

The Queen was probably bringing this up because she wanted me to mediate, but since it wasn’t related to any achievements, I wasn’t interested.

“…Is that all?”

“What do you want from me?”

“Hmm… There’s been some talk of creating a political coalition to resolve issues that the races can’t solve on their own, using this incident as a starting point.”

“Is that so?”

“And many are suggesting that you, the Sage, be appointed as its chairman.”

I did have the highest affinity with all the races.

As I had resolved various conflicts between the races to complete my achievements as quickly as possible during the main storyline, my affinity had soared.

“If you don’t accept, Sage… the offer will probably be extended to the Hero.”

“Is that so?”

“What do you think?”

“Let Claire do it.”

“You could have considerable power, you know.”

Even if it was just the chairman of a problem-solving coalition, the position would come with a certain amount of power.

And that power could be on par with that of a national leader.

But with that power would come a heavy responsibility. In the worst-case scenario, I could be tied down, unable to move freely, and I might even lose my personal life to the demands of the various races.

So, I declined.

I couldn’t have any restrictions on my actions if I was going to complete all the achievements.

“I still refuse.”

“I didn’t know there were people who disliked power.”

“There are a few of us in the world, aren’t there? I’m just one of them.”

The Queen stared at me intently. The charisma of a monarch seemed to be pressing down on me, but it had no effect.

“…I see.”

“Yes.”

“If you refuse, the Hero will probably refuse as well. And then, the conflict between the races to claim that position might intensify.”

“Really? You’ll have your work cut out for you.”

“It’s not your problem.”

“Because it’s not my problem.”

The Queen fell silent. I smiled. The silence was broken by a voice from outside the door.

“Your Majesty, General Leoden has arrived.”

“Let him in.”

General Leoden entered and looked surprised to see me with the Queen. But only for a moment. He quickly gave a polite bow to the Queen and handed her a report.

It was probably a report on the battlefield. He was probably going to discuss the issue of the power vacuum left by the Hero’s Party.

“Sage, when will the Hero be returning?”

“She’ll be back as soon as the cleanup is done. It’s not easy to just send those people away, is it?”

“Is that so? It will take a few more days, then.”

“Probably. If the Princess does a good job… it might end sooner. And Veronica will be supporting her as my representative, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Cardinal Veronica… I see. Ah, and there’s one more thing I’d like to ask of you.”

“If you’re going to ask me to fill the gap left by the Hero’s Party, I refuse.”

General Leoden fell silent. The Queen chuckled.

The battlefield, when I had quests to complete at the Adventurer’s Guild?

I had no time for such pointless things.

I had nothing more to say, so I looked at the Queen and General Leoden. The Queen waved her hand dismissively and shook her head.

“It seems I can’t hold you here. You’ve worked hard, so you should rest.”

“Yes, then, I’ll leave you to your hard work.”

And they really would be working hard.

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As the Sage left, the Queen looked at the report. The Sage had resolved the problem in the Elven Forest with surprising skill.

Because of this, the elves were now indebted to the other races, especially the humans.

After all, the Sage had acted as a representative of the human race.

“The Sage’s influence is growing.”

“He was always a powerful individual. Ever since the Hero’s Party went to defeat the Demon King.”

“The problem is how to reward him. If he were my subject, I could give him power or a suitable reward, but…”

The Sage was just Lucille’s tutor, by contract. And he only received a reasonable tuition fee as compensation.

That was all he wanted.

He didn’t even use his position as the Princess’s tutor to wield any authority.

He couldn’t be ignorant of the sweetness of power.

Just look at his actions.

Even with the authority of the Princess’s tutor, he still went to the Adventurer’s Guild and did the same things as before.

He took on the tasks others wouldn’t, and he didn’t hesitate to help the weak and the poor.

And he had even defeated the Demon of the Rovento Mountains, a creature that had caused great damage because no one else could touch it.

And that wasn’t all. Even as he was traveling the continent, gathering ingredients for the plague cure, he never stopped hunting bandits and powerful monsters.

As if it were his duty, his responsibility.

“I want to keep him here.”

“Is that possible?”

Leoden was pessimistic. Even he, who had known the Sage for a long time, couldn’t grasp his desires.

Did he like money?

He never took more than he needed.

Then did he like beautiful women?

If that were the case, he wouldn’t have treated the Hero and her party members the way he did.

The Hero and her party members felt an immense debt and guilt towards the Sage.

So, if the Sage wanted to, he could have enslaved those beautiful women to his whims.

But he had kept his distance from them.

And not just them. The Sage had distanced himself from all the beautiful women he had been involved with.

He was friendly with those in power, but he never got too close.

He was only interested in helping and saving people, so it was impossible to figure him out.

Like a saint from a myth.

“Have you ever asked him?”

“Yes. He just said to not get in his way.”

“Get in his way…”

The Queen folded her arms and tried to hide her bitterness.

What did the Sage want?

He, who had appeared so suddenly and had such a great impact.

What was his ultimate goal?

“I’ll have the intelligence department investigate the Sage. It won’t be easy… but it has to be done.”

The Queen’s worries were only growing.

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“Uwaaaaaah!! I’ll kill you! Kill! Kill! Darkness has fallen, uwaaaaaaah!!”

My ears were about to burst.

As I listened to Lark’s screaming performance, I slammed Moonlight into the ground and shouted,

“Hit him with one!”

“By ‘one,’ you mean the Priest’s skill, Light Strike, which can deal heavy damage to enemies of evil alignment, and at the same time…”

Screaming music from the left.

The info-dumping nun’s ear-splitting explanation from the right.

And…

“XX! You motherf-XX!! You f-XXXX!! In your mother’s philtrum…!”

A bald human warrior, using a torrent of a-p-p-a-l-l-i-n-g profanity as a taunt, in front of me.

It was official.

This was the worst party ever.

–Guhhhhh!!

The party of three trolls and one sane person was fighting a giant monster called an ogre.

I had heard rumors that a monster had appeared near a small village and was attacking people.

The reward was low, so no adventurers had taken the quest. So, it had fallen to the idle adventurers.

In other words, the trolls who had trouble forming a party.

I had taken the quest because there was nothing else to do.

“Reverse Gravity!!”

The ogre, enraged by the bald human warrior’s taunts, charged at him.

As the massive ogre and the equally massive and powerful bald warrior exchanged blows, I cast the spell I had prepared.

“Uwaaaaah?! You motherf-?! What the?! What the? Let me go?! Hey, you bastard! Hey! Using magic is f-XXXXX!!”

I was glad I hadn’t brought Lucille. I would have to make sure to never party with this foul-mouthed warrior again.

He was skilled, but his mouth… sigh.

I couldn’t just kill him along with the ogre.

“Grab him!”

I transformed Moonlight into a whip and pulled the warrior away. As he was out of the spell’s range, I stretched out my hand towards the ogre, which was now floating in the air.

The spell dissipated, and the ogre plummeted to the ground.

–CRUNCH!

Whoever said that which falls has no wings was right.

The ogre, which had been flailing in the air, landed headfirst, its body shattering. Even a monster with a strong life force wouldn’t be able to recover from that.

“Ugh…”

The bald human warrior looked at the ogre’s remains and started to gag.

He looked like he could eat the ogre’s flesh, but he was surprisingly delicate.

“Is that the last of them?”

“Yeah, as far as we know. Um… Mr. Warrior.”

“Ugh… hey, Sage, you should refrain from using that kind of magic. I’m a delicate man, you know.”

“Oh, really?”

“And I’m sorry for the swearing. I just can’t help it when I use Taunt…”

It happens. I understand.

Anyway, we were done here, so all that was left was to return.

As Lark cut off the ogre’s half-shattered head and packed it away, I looked at the map.

This was the last of the ogre tracks we had found. So, we could go back.

“Let’s stop by the village on our way back.”

I led the trolls to the village that had issued the quest. It was a small, slash-and-burn village.

The old village chief sighed in relief when he saw us return.

“Oh… adventurers… thank you for your hard work.”

“I need to wash up, so please prepare a bath for me.”

The bald warrior, who was as delicate and clean as he had claimed to be, said. Lark, with his lute, headed towards a small clearing, intending to perform even in a village like this. The nun also went off to proselytize. The village chief broke out in a cold sweat.

“Uh… your companions are quite free-spirited.”

“Hmm, well, I suppose so.”

“The… the promised quest reward… is here. But is this really… enough?”

The village chief looked at me nervously. The pouch he handed me contained only ten copper coins and one silver coin.

It was a ridiculously low reward for defeating a powerful monster like an ogre, but it didn’t matter.

The important thing was that we had completed the quest.

And those guys had just come along for the ride.

“It’s fine. That’s the reward we agreed on.”

“B- But… Ah, we’re planning on holding a festival tonight to welcome our guests… If you’re not busy…”

“Ah, a festival?”

Should I cook? I could probably raise my count quite a bit if I cooked for the whole village.

Just then,

I heard the sound of hooves in the distance. The village chief tensed, thinking they were bandits.

But what kind of bandit would announce their arrival like that? I shook my head and looked at the cloud of dust approaching.

And there,

“Tutor!!”

“Sage!!”

Lucille and Veronica.

Unexpected visitors.

Why were they here?

“Huh? Why are you two…?”

“That’s what I should be asking! What are you doing here?”

“Tutor! I finished my work in the Elven Forest and returned, but you weren’t at the palace…”

Was she finished already? That was faster than I had expected. I looked at Lucille, impressed. She smiled faintly, then snapped her fingers.

“B- By the way, Tutor, you have to keep… your promise, right?”

Ah, right.

As I nodded, Veronica grabbed my arm.

“And what about your promise to me?”

“……”

“……”

The two of them looked at each other, then turned to look at me. And then,

“…I don’t know where you’re going, but I’m coming with you.”

“…That would be for the best.”

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