I've Left the Demon Army. Please Let Me in a Hero Party. Chapter 7

After Garlock left, my mind went completely blank.

--I'm screwed.

Actually no, it's fine.

This is totally fine.

He was guilty the moment he tried to lay a finger on my angel Nasha.

I had decided that I'd never go back, but now I can't physically go back at all.

A shock ran through me as I was thinking meaningless things.

"I-incredible! You're incredible Eric! What you did was brilliant!"

Nasha started clinging onto me with teary eyes!

I could see in the deepest parts of her eyes that she was worrying for me from the bottom of her heart.

Suzette, leaning against her silver gun that was larger than she was, had beads of sweat on her forehead.

"He actually went up against an executive class demon and drove him away…and he's alive…Thank you so much Shuva…!"

At the same time, Louise put her fists on her hips.

"I guess the gap was too much, even though I went full power…If it wasn't for Eric, failing the quest might've been the least of our problems."

Her tattered fists and the state of the village showed the intensity of the battle.

"Heroes…"

The ones who came to us members of『Deared』was the villagers of Dorgo with the village head leading them.

All the villagers, who up until a moment ago had looked hurt and afraid, had bright smiles on their faces.

"Thank you so much for coming to this small village…and even driving away a demon. I don't know how to repay you--"

Nasha smiled at the old woman, who had tears running down her cheeks.

"It's okay, we just did the obvious! Seeing everyone happy and smiling is what makes us the happiest! Right, Suzette, Louise!"

"--yep."

"Of course."

At the words of the leader of『Deared』and the smiles of Suzette and Louise, everyone started crying.

"--So, what do you think new guy? This is our party. If you're fine with it, by all means you're welcome to join. Well, now it looks like you're interviewing us though."

"No, Louise. We'd like to ask Eric to join us because he has experience facing them (demons) and dealt with them in the frontlines. But…"

Suzette brushed her silver hair, which reached down to her shoulders, and cocked her head.

"Someone of your caliber would be wanted by any conquest group. Battle-experienced movements and smoothly flowing mana. All of them are top class--"

I interrupted Suzette by saying "It's fine.", and looked at Nasha.

"…There's not much overtime, and you get paid for it too, right?"

"Hahahahahaha! You always go back to that! You must've been in a really bad place! Ahahahahahaha!"

"L-Louise…that's not something to laugh about…but…hahaha. Having a hero like this might be pretty fun."

"Being that strong without fighting the demon army is pretty unusual too, you know?"

Hearing the two of them laugh made me laugh along with them.

This party had almost never fought in the frontlines.

If they had been, they might've found out who I am since I used a lot of mock destruction magic on the battlefield.

In that sense as well, it might be fate that I ended up washing up to this party.

When was the last time I'd laughed this much?

I can feel in my bones that I haven't laughed from the bottom of my belly like this in a very long time.

"The reward for this quest is ten gold coins. If we have this much we can stay at a pretty good inn for ten days. When was the last time we got this much as a reward…!"

"We could probably have a feast, since we haven't eaten that well in a while, right? Since the only thing I've been eating is cheap frog meat!"

"I-I guess it can't be helped. One gold coin as an offering for Shuva. Two gold coins per person, and the two that are left will go to the party savings--"

"Hehehe, two gold coins--I can eat all the good food I want…!"

Suzette, who distributed the reward and was taking notes, and Louise, who received her two gold coins and was drooling over them.

I received my two gold coins as well. It's my first reward. My eyes started tearing up… I don't remember the last time I got decently paid…!

With this, I'll eat a good meal, sleep on a fluffy bed, and wake up with the sunrise!

The days where I would take hard cold bread from the office refrigerator and nibble on it while doing paperwork, lining up three chairs and putting a blanket on it and taking naps on it, waking up and finishing up paperwork as the sun came up…I'm saying goodbye to that way of life!!

While all this emotion caused tears to fall from my eyes, Nasha, who had received her portion of the reward, looked far away.

In front of her eyes was land with lots of holes in it, torn down trees, and fields ruined by the Cerberuses.

The villagers staring dumbfounded at the sight.

Nasha, who had her hands folded in front of her chest, saw that and ran off.

"U-umm, everyone!"

Going up to a villager who was looking dumbfounded at the fields, Nasha smiled without hesitation.

"Please, use this to rebuild the village!"

Nasha held out her portion of the reward.

The villager's eyes became dots.

"No, but…This is hero-sama's reward…"

"Yes! I want to help this village, with my own money! So please accept it!"

"…Is it, really okay?"

"Of course! Please show me a beautiful village the next time I come visit!"

Behind Nasha, who had a carefree smile on her face, Suzette and Louise had bitter smiles on their faces.

"Ah, dammit. Why does she always have to be so soft hearted? I swear she's going to be deceived by some idiot in the future."

"We can't say much about ourselves, either, since we're following her."

Louise handed the villager two gold coins as well, even while complaining.

After a small laugh, Suzette did the same.

"Well, this should be enough to rebuild. Go hire some good people from Odelnights and fix your village. It was us that…did all this after all."

"…I-I missed a few shots as well, so."

Both of them scratched their cheeks, looking embarrassed.

As I watched them, I handed the gold coins that was in my hand to the villager.

W-well, it was all because of someone I know, so…

It's not like the demon army will compensate…how do I put this…if I take this, I wouldn't sleep too well…

"Eric…are you sure?"

Nasha's glistening eyes looked straight at me.

"Yeah. I think having this place rebuilt and visiting again would be better, so."

As I muttered, scratching my cheek, Nasha's eyes teared up, opened up her arms, and hugged me!?

"Thank you so much Eriiiiiiic!"

"N-Nasha!? Um, if you hug me like that, uh--!?"

Right now, I'm content with seeing Nasha's smile.

"--Am I the only one who thinks that, we kind of messed up?"

"Even if you say that now, you took the initiative and gave them your money."

"I'm happy enough that I got so see the villagers' smiles, so…"

"Sorry about that Eric. That your first meal after your first successful quest has to be this…I wanted to have you eat my favorite food…"

"H-hahahaha…Next time is fine. Plus, it's been a while since I've eaten a meal this tasty."

"E-Eric, what kind of meals have you been eating until now…You were a soldier fighting in the frontlines, right…?"

We were back at the guild, surrounding a table.

On top of a single plate was a mountain of bread crusts.

Louise popped them into her mouth, bored, while Suzette quietly took them one by one.

And Nasha, who was still energetic.

While looking at the three of them, each different from the others, I took a bread crust and bit into it.

It was dry and had no flavor, and couldn't call it delicious at all.

But even still, for some reason--

"It's not too bad. It's pretty good, if anything."

The bread crusts that I was eating with everyone, felt more delicious than any meal I had in the demon army--

Hey guys Kaoto here.

This chapter should be the last chapter for the introduction of the series.
Glad you guys like it, and hopefully it continues to be enjoyable 🙂

Still thinking about what to do with Kuitsume Youhei, but there's still quite a few chapters until the end of volume 2, so who knows what I may be thinking by then.

Chapter end