18 – On the other hand, the time hero party (3)

”I refuse!”

Apis, acutely aware of why the human race used the expression ‘snap refusal’ when expressing strong refusal, frowned.

”I don’t know why Apis is giving me such stupid suggestions! Did you even get a head injury!”

”I don’t know if it’s someone else. It’s something I don’t want to hear from you…”

He was a warrior who responded with a bright smile to Apis’ recommendation to retire, which was quite sudden and could sound unpleasant, but it was clear that he had strong emotions under his innocent skin.

It was the hero himself, not anyone else, who most clearly recognized that the position of the hero in the current party was the main axis, pillar, and focal point of the team.

It was because, to such a hero, Apis’ suggestion to leave the party was no different from the absurd remark of cutting the blade of a perfectly fine sword.

”I’m not saying to turn off at all, but to calmly cool down for a month or so. Thanks to Mr. Who, who didn’t cover his front and back and put his face in the middle of the beasts, we’ve been able to afford enough for the time being.”

”Oh oh! okay! In short, take a break and come!”

”No, I mean that, but that’s not the point…”

”Then I’ll refuse even more! While I put down my sword, no one knows what kind of peaceful village the monsters’ tusks will be heading towards! Rest is unnecessary for me in the first place! I’m a warrior!”

”ha····. So, that’s not what I meant…”

Because you are a warrior.

After the man disappeared, the hero was always like this.

The effect that the man’s absence had on the party’s tactical sector could not be seen as great even with empty words.

His ability as a priest was virtually all of the ‘Miracle of Healing’, which he could only use once a day.

Wouldn’t it be better if it was in the early days of the party’s establishment, when it was difficult even with a single sword or armor.

Now that he had enough financial leeway, the top-notch holy water and potion more than filled his vacancy.

Rather, thanks to the absence of obstacles, the risk that can be taken and the range of tactics that can be used have increased significantly.

There is no need to protect potions, and they do not faint during wartime.

It was the moment when I realized clearly that the man’s eloquent rants about ‘huge profits to be gained by withdrawing himself from the party’, which I didn’t really listen to at the time, weren’t just nonsense.

Every time the man rants about his uselessness, the hero repeatedly rejects his declaration of resignation, saying, ‘A true hero never abandons his comrades, no matter what the reason,’ It was to the extent that it was treated as an annual event of a party.

Wouldn’t it be like this if you had a family?

Even Apis, the owner of a down-to-earth insight uncharacteristic of the elves living in the forest, would inadvertently harbor such thoughts whenever he was caught up in that trivial chatter.

In the waves of war where blood and flesh roar. In the middle of a dungeon where death lurks in all directions, unknown when and in what form.

Although it was a little disappointing that the string of tension that had been tightly bound for a long time was untied due to the third-rate daily drama being demonstrated centering on the man.

None of the party members could deny, nor did they bother to deny, the fact that it was thanks to the unknown comfort brought by such trivial daily life that corrected the coordination between the daily struggle and the daily life, which were sometimes inclined in the wrong direction.

Maybe it was because of the uniqueness of the place called the dungeon.

Dungeon. It is a heterogeneous space where the logic of the world and the leyline that circulates completely are condensed in a specific place for various reasons that we do not know.

The sticky, muggy air that clings to the inner shell of the lungs.

A disgusting sense of intimidation, as if something unknown was pressing down on the body from above.

From that ominous war cloud to a group of hideous beasts hiding their bodies waiting for their foolish prey to reveal an opening.

These were the most fundamental reasons why some young people who boasted that they would become adventurers and explore unregistered dungeons in the future were treated as unfilial children in the system.

The odds of an adventurer who entered an unregistered dungeon returning alive and well were at most 10%, no matter how good it was.

It was obvious that even that 10% would come out suffering from a serious mental illness by the time they got out of the dungeon, so it was somewhat absurd to say that they returned alive and well.

So, 15 pre-registered dungeons. Despite clearing as many as 32 unregistered dungeons.

It was a very natural step for a miraculous party in which no abnormalities were found in the body and mind to be given the honorable title of ‘Hero Party’.

‘Everyone! From today, when you call me by name! Please call me a warrior!’

Apis was confident that even if hundreds of years passed in the future, he would vividly recall the cheerful face of the hero who held his sword high in the sky and smiled innocently as if he had obtained a toy he liked.

It was Apis, who had already heard and knew well that the human race, who had reached adulthood, had a habit of making offerings to their parents in their old age.

There was no way that she didn’t know that the hero, who had been watching the hero from close range, was in a state of excitement at the thought that he could treat his colleagues who believed in him and followed him as generously as he had suffered.

but. The day the girl became a warrior.

It was an auspicious day when all the party members laughed and chatted.

To the extent that it was possible to notice the emotions hidden beneath the man’s shy smile in advance, Apis was not so keen on the emotions of the human race, and he did not know much about the man himself.

A few weeks after that, after the man suddenly disappeared, the brightness of the party became noticeably cloudy.

Victim, who is taciturn and seems to be completely immune to the act of conversing with a woman except for his sister, the hero, starts investing all of his time outside the dungeon in sleep due to the loss of his only male colleague. did

Apis and Dauna, who are in a relationship that seems to have been drawn in a picture, are not compatible in terms of personality and birth.

In the absence of a person to mediate between them, even simple communication often escalated into a fierce fight.

It was around that time that the warrior began to cling to the title of warrior.

Anxiety as if you were on a boat with a slightly misaligned steering wheel.

Even though everyone in the party had an intuition, the bad feeling that had been biting at the tip of the mouth, wondering if it would become a reality, was slowly growing in size as the days passed.

therefore.

”We’ll do the dungeon raid on our own for the time being. Hero, find that bastard as soon as possible and bring him back here.”

Among the party members, Apis, who had a particularly strong personality, made the decision the fastest.

In fact, it was thanks to the high and low difference in the sense of time stemming from the vast difference in lifespan between the Humans and the Elves.

For the elven Apis, an absence of at least six months was equivalent to running away from home for half a day.

”uh····?”

As if he had been hit on the head with a hammer, the warrior whose body and thinking stopped just as he smiled brightly.

It’s like a person who realized that such a method exists for the first time this time.

With a blurry face with unfocused eyes, as if he was busy sorting out the thoughts that came to his head in order, he was a honeyed mute.

”Bring that bastard back. The party won’t go on without him. It’s starting to annoy me that your brother is sleeping all day, and I’m tired of having to argue with Downa every time I have a conversation. Bring it to me as soon as possible.”

”Ha, but!

”What.”

”but! that’s!”

”So what?”

bring it back There was such a means. But, will that really work?

The warrior, who didn’t know what to do with his very legitimate doubts, pondered on what to say for a long time, literally for a long time.

Apis said, disapproving of even that brief hesitation.

”Don’t you want to find it? Do you think you can do without him?”

”Oh no! It can’t be!”

”Do you want to go find it?”

”Mu, of course!”

”I want to go find it. Then go find it.”

”Ha, but I don’t know if the priest had his own circumstances… Above all, it is a somewhat senseless act to pursue a person without permission who made it clear in a letter that he would never seek him again…”

”Ignorance? The word ignorance is such a thing that a bastard who unilaterally writes a letter, grinds it, and then disappears has to eat it. Those guys are cheap even if they get stepped on from behind.”

····is it?

The turn of the head on the battlefield was quite extraordinary, but in other fields, it was around the time that the hero, who was somewhat bewildered, gradually fell for Apis’ flattery.

”Big, big deal! It’s a big deal! Hey guys!”

Downa, with a clear look of bewilderment to anyone’s eyes, kicked in the door.

”Downa? what’s going on?”

”ah! Can’t you see I’m really having an important conversation with the dragon!?’

”Well, that doesn’t matter now!”

What Dauna held up in front of them was a crystal-shaped magic tool engraved with a detection magic technique that Dauna independently devised.

It was a magical tool incorporating advanced technology that visualized the target to be tracked through spirits, but for some reason, it stopped working when trying to find the man.

It was something that everyone except Downa had been clearing out of their heads, saying it must be broken.

”Ji, the magic that had worked so far suddenly started smoothly! A mysterious white aura interfered with the magic’s activation, so it didn’t activate very often, but for some reason, it’s working normally now!”

Dauna blew stronger magic into the crystal ball, raising the quality of the vision.

”Look at this—!”

Immediately after that, the expressions of Apis and the hero instantly distorted into astonishment.

It was worth it. inside the crystal ball.

It was because the figure of a fairly familiar man clearly appeared, being dragged by someone on a leash and being dragged somewhere.