Chapter 13: Farewell

Quella’s sudden declaration made Fade and the others go speechless. Meiru then added more fuel to the fire.

“Yeah… Roig is pretty useless. Moreover, the guild won’t ignore that statement from a little bit ago.”

“Huh!? What did you just say!?”

Roig raged at Meiru, but she ignored him and continued.

“From the beginning, him becoming an adventurer had created problems with the chivalric order. Unfortunately, the current problem will result in the dissolution of our S-ranked party.”

Meiru indifferently said as much.

“And between Fade and Land, Land is currently looking like the better option.”

“Ugh…” Fade hung his head low without being able to say anything to refute her.

Meiru sat there motionlessly and stared at me as if to show what she was thinking. If I removed what had happened from my mind, I would have admitted that I thought she was cute, just like a cute animal. But now, her appearance seemed only average to me and didn’t leave much of an impression.

I have to say, I was impressed with how both Quella and Meiru had the nerves to say as much they did in this situation. In the first place, it was Meiru who had proposed making a sacrifice. That proposal was clearly intended for me to die in the process. Even though she was a genius praised for her talent, she seemed to have been able to completely overcome the communication troubles that were stereotypical of magicians.

“You only say that for your own convenience. I have no intention of forming a party with either of you.” I told them clearly.

Now that I think about it, the only reason they had all assembled in the first place was due to the huge value placed on Fade holding the title of the next hero. Roig already had accomplishments in his position as the nation’s shield. Meiru was a candidate for being the next sage. And Quella had already been designated as the next saint. It would be impossible for anyone to gather the strongest individuals in the country unless that person was a hero. At first glance, the teamwork appeared to be there, but I understood now that we had only barely made it through each battle thanks to everyone’s high abilities.

If you looked at Nina-san’s reaction, it was clear that Roig would receive some sort of punishment. Responsibility for the party’s actions is placed on the leader and it seems like talks of Fade becoming a hero candidate will be nonexistent for a while.

You could say I had been hasty in my judgment, but I doubt that they would have had the nerve to say as much to me if things had been as they usually were. While I was stuck at my position in the party, those two should have been able to say something to me.

Things like; “We are grateful that you are a part of our party.” Or “It’s nice that you are with us.” But I had never heard them express such a thought.

“Is it no good for me either?”

“Of course.”

I gave Quella an immediate reply. She agreed to leave me for dead at that time as well. Not to mention, I can’t be expected to so readily agree to accept someone who would be so quick to abandon their companion. Nevertheless, I never would have thought the party would collapse before my very eyes.

“Oh… I see”

Despite those two reluctantly giving up, Roig roared out once again.

“Are you kidding me!? Why did you leave us as we were and not do anything sooner!? We only got injured because you were here acting all high and mighty, looking for the rewards!”

As you would expect, those words were not something I could turn a blind eye to.