Apparently, I Wasn’t a True Comrade

It had been three years since Taraxon, the Raging Demon Lord—ruler

of the dark continent—began an invasion of the continent of Avalon.

In just three years, four different countries had been destroyed, and

half of Avalon had fallen into the demon lord's hands. But just when

the people began to despair that they could do nothing to stop the

destruction…it turned out that the god of their world had not

abandoned them.

The Hero's birth was prophesied. And then a girl suddenly took

command of forces in the countryside that should have had hardly

any soldiers with combat experience and managed to beat back the

demon lord's army's advance forces. The Hero, Ruti Ragnason,

appeared in the capital bearing proof of the Divine Blessing of the

Hero. Evidence that anyone would recognize and accept. From

arranging a compromise to stopping the fighting with an

underground band of thieves in the capital to recovering the proof of

the Hero that was resting in ruins from the ancient time of the elves

to various feats beyond, the girl's exploits convinced the king that

she was indeed who she claimed to be.

And thus, the Hero set off on a journey to save the world,

accompanied by the cheers and blessings of the people.

Zoltan. The frontier.

Far from the Hero's hometown, Zoltan was on the front lines of the

war with the demon lord's army. Blessed with a wealth of rivers—but

in the path of storms coming out of the southern ocean. Protected to

the north and east by the vast, unexplored mountain range known as

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the Wall at the End of the World. Covered in wetlands, so

transportation and communication were difficult, hardly having

developed at all. It was a land with no strategic value.

With its bounty of rivers and the replenishment of nutrients that

came from storms that caused the rivers to overflow, one could

make a decent living just spreading seeds around farmland with good

drainage. But of those who seriously devoted themselves to

agriculture there, many lost everything to the squalls that blew it all

away. As a result, the people developed a natural laziness and

distaste for hard work.

People working in Central were all scared of the threat of being

demoted and sent to the lazy land of Zoltan. Even criminals who

preyed on various villages left Zoltan alone because they knew they

couldn't make a living here. The only travelers who came to the

frontier were fugitives, hermits, or eccentrics.

But as I was now, this sort of place suits me.

"Three kilos of nightshade, two kilos of koku leaves, one bag of white

berries…"

I placed the medicinal herbs I had gathered on the table at the

Adventurers Guild's collection desk.

"Thanks for all your hard work, Red… Your total comes out to one

hundred and thirty payril."

The girl at the counter promptly breezed through the calculations

and handed over silver payril coins for my payment.

"We look forward to working with you again."

Seeing me leave the counter, the other adventurers all grinned.

"Hey, Red, still gathering medicinal herbs? How 'bout spicing things

up a bit with a goblin extermination for a change?"

"Sorry, this is a bit more my speed."

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"Come on, man—that bronze sword of yours is seriously lame. An

adventurer who doesn't even have at least an iron sword is an

embarrassment to the job."

I just shrugged. It's not as if I particularly liked being made fun of, but

compared to how things used to be, this was nothing.

These guys were just shooting the breeze; they weren't serious. They

had the same lazy Zoltan spirit as everyone else and stuck to taking

easy quests.

As for why I was working as an adventurer in a place like this… That's

a story from before I became a specialist in herb collection.

In the past—though it was less than a year ago—I was a member of

Ruti the Hero's party.

At the time, my name was Gideon Ragnason. To be frank, the Hero—

Ruti Ragnason—is my little sister.

In this world, people receive a Divine Blessing when they are born.

It's considered a gift from God in order to guide people down the

paths they should live. They're granted strengths appropriate to that

path, which is why they are called Divine Blessings. Power could also

be granted in the form of skills based on what kind of blessing you

have. Those with blessings in the Warrior or Mage trees could take

on warrior or mage skills.

My blessing was Guide, one that had never been seen before. The

power it granted was an initial blessing of level +30. I was born at

level 31. I had a level equivalent to a knight in the royal guard. It

caused a pretty big fuss at first. By the time I was six, I was heading

out to exterminate monsters, and by eight, I was recruited into the

knighthood. At seventeen, I had already risen to second-incommand.

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When it came out that my little sister was the Hero, we started

getting praised as the twin hopes of humanity. When Ruti and I

returned from skirmishes in the countryside, Ruti was finally

recognized by the king as the Hero, and when she set out from the

capital to defeat the demon lord, I was obviously added to the party.

At that point, I was stronger than my sister and was one of the top

five knights in the capital. No one opposed me joining the Hero's

party.

No one except the Sage, Ares, another member of our group.

In the end, Ares was right.

My blessing, Guide, was a power meant only to protect the

beginning of the Hero's journey. As everyone else's levels rose, they

learned powerful new skills, and the limitation of the Guide's

blessing became apparent.

With the Hero's blessing, hero skills could be used; with the Sage's

blessing, sage skills could be used; with Warrior-style blessings, all

sorts of warrior skills could be used… But there were no guide skills.

The only ones I could choose were common abilities anyone could

learn. When we set out, I was strong relative to the rest of the group.

Over time, however, they caught up to and eventually surpassed me.

Gradually, I became deadweight. My role was that of the party

member who helped the immature Hero in the early stages only to

drop out midway through the quest.

"You are not a true comrade."

That was what the Sage, Ares, told me when we were headed to the

local lord's mansion to celebrate after the intense battle with

Desmond of the Earth, one of the four heavenly kings of the demon

lord's army.

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"What do you mean?"

"A true comrade is someone who fulfills their role. Someone with

whom you can fight back-to-back."

"And you're saying I'm not that?"

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"Surely you've noticed it by now, right? To be succinct, you're a

liability. During the fight with Desmond of the Earth, what did you

do?"

"…I fought with my sword."

"No, your sword didn't deal any noticeable damage to Desmond. In

fact, Desmond was probably just completely ignoring you. You got

caught up in some of the area of effect attacks, but there wasn't a

single strike actually aimed at you."

That was certainly true. Desmond had definitely been ignoring me.

"You were judged to not be a threat. And yet you still failed to

escape the area of effect attacks where you weren't even the target.

What's worse, if you get hurt, Ruti will make me heal and protect

you. For no reason other than that, I am forced to waste my spells."

"That's…"

"You're not even just a liability. Your very existence is a weight

holding Ruti back."

"It's not like I'm not trying my best to be helpful."

"Trying your best? Are you an idiot?"

"What?!"

"Trying your best is an explanation for success, but it does not excuse

being a liability. You think you can be forgiven for holding us back

just because you're trying your best? How selfish can you be?! You

really aren't a true member of the party!"

I was speechless.

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Now might really be the time, I thought. The thing I had always been

considering… This seemed like the moment for it.

"But I'm the second-in-command of the Bahamut Knights; if I return

to them being labeled a liability, it would be a stain upon their

honor…"

"Faced with a threat to the world, you would worry about the honor

of the knights?"

"Tell the others… Tell them I went on my own to scout the situation

with the demon lord's army…and never came back. Can you tell

them that for me?"

"I see. Very well, then. We can go with that story."

"…Thanks."

My head downward, I started to leave.

"Hey." Ares stopped me. "Leave your equipment. We're the ones

who earned that."

"…"

The treasure sword Thunderwaker, a mental-defense ring, a cloak of

evasion, and more. I removed all my equipment. In exchange, I took

a little bit of money for the road and a cheap bronze sword from

Ares and departed.

Still, I had some lingering attachment. The next day, before leaving, I

wanted to see my little sister's face one last time. She had always

been so fond of me, always calling me Big Brother.

Of course, she was way stronger than me by then, but still, when I

thought of her going off by herself from then on, I got worried.

Also…I kind of hoped she would be a little upset about me leaving.

But…when I peeked stealthily through a window, I was greeted by

the image of Ares with his arm around that same little sister's

shoulder.

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"Oh…so that's how it was…?"

She didn't need me anymore. That was perfectly clear. Just like the

Sage had said, I wasn't a real comrade. Dammit. The thought of it is

still hard to bear. I kept pitifully muttering to myself "I know you

don't need your big brother anymore, but I hope you still remember

me from time to time" as I left town that morning.

From there, I changed my name to Red. I wandered, eventually

settling in this forsaken land. Now I make a living as a boring

adventurer who specializes in herb gathering.

"It was really rough back then."

After ending up all alone like that, I bawled my eyes out for a bit.

Being pushed out of the party left me too dejected to do anything

else for a while. I half-heartedly beat up a group of thieves that was

causing a fuss near the town where I was staying and stole their

money. I spent the lot of it on booze. I'd never really been a drinker

before, but I got blind drunk while trying to forget my problems.

Unfortunately, that started to attract attention.

If anyone figured out my identity, it would surely be a big problem

for the knight captain and the head of the territory who had done so

much to support me. So I pulled myself up and ventured out to the

frontier under the assumed identity of an adventurer named Red.

There, I found a new dream for myself, a new way to live.

"I'm going to open an apothecary here in Zoltan and live a

comfortable, easy, slow life! I don't have any talent for battle, so I'm

going to live peacefully from now on!"

I was still worried about my sister, but as I was far weaker than her,

there wasn't much I could do even if I fretted over her every day. I

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wasn't even a real comrade, so I decided to leave the demon lord to

them and just live for myself!

To that end, I started saving money from medicinal-herb-gathering

jobs while drawing up a map of the distribution of medicinal herbs by

season, in preparation for my future.

You might find yourself wondering if perhaps there's some kind of

hidden super-cheat to the Guide blessing. Nope. There isn't.

Blessings give both an initial skill and innate skills that are unlocked

upon leveling up. There are also common skills that can be taken

anytime.

A guide's initial skill provides a starter blessing of level +30. An

incredibly powerful ability. Blessing level 30 was around where your

average knight might be when retiring from duty. I started at a level

that someone else might spend his or her whole life trying to

achieve. But I had no innate skills to choose. All there is to the ability

is just being reasonably strong at the outset. Even if someone

wanted to take advantage of that initial skill, there was no room for

broad improvement.

A person without skills was significantly weaker than someone at the

same level with skills. If you wanted to fight in order to raise your

blessing level and earn skill points to get stronger, you wouldn't be

able to beat enemies that another person at the same level would be

able to handily dispatch. That meant you'd have to defeat people

with lower blessing levels than you, which was significantly less

efficient.

Thinking about it, it was hardly a blessing at all. Even blessings like

Warrior or Mage—with their abundance of skills—might've been

better, despite being considered lower tier. At least they had room

for growth.

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So with my heart broken, I set my sight on a slow life and gradually

earning money.

I headed into the mountains again to gather some more herbs today.

Since I have a high level but innate skills to acquire, I've assembled a

decent collection of common skills. Thanks to the Survival skill, as

long as I don't go too deep into the woods while hiking, I won't get

lost. Plus, I can recognize the standard medicinal herbs one can

gather. It's just a common skill, though, so it only covers the

spectrum of standard plants.

"Henbane is an antiseptic and hemostatic to stop bleeding, koku

leaves are for antidotes, ryujin mushrooms are immune-systemboosting nutritional supplements, and rare white berries can be

catalysts for magic potions."

I hummed to myself as I diligently scavenged the herbs for the day. In

Zoltan, with its abundance of water and pretty much nothing else,

the mountains could be called a natural storehouse containing a

bounty of medicinal herbs and fruits.

"Oh, green nuts. I can boil those for dinner when I make camp."

Generally, herb gathering was a two-day, one-night trip. Because it

took about half a day's travel, it wasn't very efficient to return the

same day. I was used to camping from all the time I spent traveling

anyway. I would find non-medicinal herbs and wild plants to cook

while I was out.

"But it's definitely a bit tiresome to camp out in the middle of the

mountains."

Monsters weren't scared of fire. I slept with my sword next to me

and a rope attached to a strung-up bell for a little peace of mind.

There weren't any particularly dangerous monsters around here, but

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it was still possible to get attacked in my sleep and suffer an

unexpected injury.

"Ahhh, maybe I should make a little lodge here soon."

The people living in the area hadn't built a mountain cabin because

they figured it would just get destroyed by a storm before long, but

its construction wouldn't have to be that great to withstand the wind

and rain. It only needed to be sturdy enough that monsters would

have to exert a bit of an effort to knock it down.

Lately, I've been coming here twice a week to gather medicinal

herbs, so it would be way easier to just make it a four-day, threenight trip. But in order to stay in the mountains that long, I would

need a place to put my bags and rest, which would mean I'd need a

little hut or something.

"Well, I can deal with that after I've saved up a bit more money."

I drifted off to sleep with thoughts of my future aspirations.

I woke up during the night. There was a gamey scent in the distance

accompanied by the presence of a large animal.

I silently drew my sword close as I studied the interloper. Even

though I didn't have any special skills to enhance my senses like

someone with a Thief or Hunter blessing, my Sense skill's level was

high, since there was nothing else to spend my skill points on.

It wouldn't be enough for something like the demon lord's elite ninja

squad, but it was more than sufficient to perceive a monster dwelling

in these mountains.

There didn't seem to be any sign of it approaching soon, so I got out

of my sleeping bag and silently climbed a tree. A crescent moon like

a tightly drawn bow hung in the starry sky. Its pale light wasn't bright

enough for me to catch sight of the creature, however. After peering

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for a while, I heard a bell ring. A large beast's face emerged from the

darkness.

"Oh, an owlbear?"

As the name implied, an owlbear was a magic beast with an owl's

head and brown bear's body. Generally, owlbears were monsters

around level 15. They were common magic beasts that lived in

forests around the world. Fairly apex predators, they lived as the

free-spirited kings of their forests. How nostalgic. I'd fought one of

these before. That must've been back when I chased after Ruti,

who'd gone charging into the forest looking for some friends of hers

who'd gotten lost.

That was around when I was seven. Nowadays, I could easily handle

one, but…

"Well, it's not like there's a reward for it."

I nimbly hopped down from the tree. Animals and low-intelligence

monsters like magic beasts could instinctually sense when their

opponent was stronger. The owlbear and I exchanged glances before

it slowly moved back, turned around, and ran off into the dark of the

woods. I didn't bother chasing after it and just climbed back into my

sleeping bag and slept until morning.

The next day, after I'd finished gathering what I needed, I returned to

town to find it in an uproar for some reason. I tried asking the guard

at the gate if anything had happened.

"What's up?"

"Oh, Red, you staying safe?"

"Yeah, same as always. Things seem a bit troubled here, though.

Something happen?"

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"There were some adventurers who got attacked by an owlbear.

They're currently trying to put together a group to go take care of it,

so the mountains will probably be off-limits until it's been sorted."

Oops. That owlbear had probably stumbled across me after attacking

some adventurers nearby.

"Really? How long do you think it'll take?"

"Who knows. It's pretty rare to have something as big as an owlbear

show up around here. It'll probably be either our ace B-rank party or

else a big group of thirty some odd people."

Adventurers are categorized into six ranks from S down to E. The

ranks are based on parties rather than individuals, so when the

makeup of the party changes, so, too, does its rank. Generally

speaking:

E: Rookies who just registered

D: A party that can survive in the wild where monsters roam

C: A party that can resolve a crisis that endangers a village

B: A party that can resolve a crisis that endangers a town

A: A country-level party that can resolve a crisis that involves

multiple cities

S: A legendary-class party that is mobilized to deal with crises

threatening a continent or the world

Generally speaking, most towns have around one to three B-rank

parties that form the peak of the local power-dynamic pyramid. Only

really big cities like the kingdom's capital would have an A-rank

party. Right now, all the best adventurers were active on the front

lines fighting the demon lord's army.

Incidentally, I'm D rank. It can't really be helped, since I basically just

collect herbs, and if I ended up rising to B rank here, I'd stand out too

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much and people might figure out who I was. Worst-case scenario, if

that happened, it would cause problems for the head of the knights,

my benefactor. As such, I was content leaving the owlbear to other

adventurers.

"I guess I'll have to sit tight in town for a while."

At least I was able to finish my business in the mountains first. I

headed to the Adventurers Guild to sell my wares.

My earnings this time totaled around ninety payril.

After returning to my room in the town house where I was living, I

did the regular maintenance on my bronze sword, though I had only

been using it to cut plants lately. I also repaired my traveling clothes

that had gotten torn up from hiking.

I had raised my Repair skill a fair amount. Back when we were

fighting on the frontier, before we'd set out for the capital, it had

proved pretty useful. As time went on, though, everything became

reparable via magic, so it had become redundant along the way. But I

didn't have any mage acquaintances now who could use Repair

magic, and armorers cost money. Since I was saving to open my own

apothecary, it was definitely a valuable skill.

Having finished the upkeep of my gear, I used some eggs and

potatoes from my pantry and the green nuts I brought back from the

mountains to make a dinner of salad and mashed potatoes.

When that was done, I used the shared washroom to rinse myself off

and went to bed.

This wasn't some battlefield with monster corpses strewn

everywhere, a dragon's nest with scores of the creatures, or a frozen

snowy mountain. It was just a small room with a roof, so I could close

my eyes in peace.

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Once I saved up enough money, I would build my own house and

operate the apothecary from it. I'd set up a garden in the back to

cultivate some of the more important medicinal herbs, too. It

wouldn't be some huge success, but there wouldn't be any life-ordeath battles or nerve-racking conspiracies to deal with. That was

the sort of life that could be had here in Zoltan.

This was my second chance after getting pushed out of the Hero's

party.

Three days later, a team of twenty-seven adventurers was assembled

to hunt down the owlbear, and they ventured off into the mountains

bolstered by cheers from the townsfolk at their backs. During that

time, I was fishing at a nearby river and selling what I caught.

The work earned me eight payril. It was possible to get a room and

two meals a day for only one, so eight payril for three days' effort

was a decent haul. In order to open my own apothecary, though, I

would need 1,730 in funds.

I was gradually saving up, but between the general cost of living,

buying preserved rations in order to go out to the mountains to

gather herbs, and maintaining my gear, my actual profit for a single

trip was only about thirty payril. At that rate, I was going to have to

keep doing this for another six months.

"Well, not that that's the end of the world."

There was no particular rush. No impending peril loomed, so I could

just take my time.

I was lying on my bed and reading a book I'd borrowed from the

library to kill some time. It was shortly after noon when I heard a

knock on the thin door to my town house.

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"Coming." I tucked a bookmark between the pages and hung my

bronze sword from the belt at my waist as I headed to the entrance.

Readying my sword was a habit I had picked up from my old quests.

There had been several occasions when we'd been attacked in our

sleep back in those days. The experience made it tough to sleep if I

wasn't ready to fight at a moment's notice. Even after I was ousted, I

still wasn't really comfortable turning in without a weapon close at

hand. It felt weird to be unarmed when a gust of wind blew by, too.

Living the slow life meant I would need to do something about those

habits, though…

"Who is it?"

I opened the door to see Megria, one of the employees of the

Adventurers Guild. Behind her stood a man wearing fancy-looking

armor along with what was clearly his party.

"I'm sorry to bother you while you're resting, Red."

"Oh, Megria. What is it? And Albert, too." The armored man, Albert,

twitched at the offhand greeting.

"Show some respect, D rank."

Albert was one of only two B-rank adventurers in town. There were

no higher-ranking adventurers, and the other B rank, Rit, only

worked solo. Thus, Albert's party was considered the ace team of the

Adventurers Guild in these parts.

"…Right, Albert, sir. So what brings you here?"

Albert moved toward me, beaming as he patted me on the shoulder.

"I've heard stories about you. You specialize in gathering medicinal

herbs and know more about the mountains than anyone, yes?"

"I do my best."

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"My party is headed to take out the owlbear. It's not something we

would normally handle, but the first suppression team failed, so

there's no one else who can deal with the beast."

Oh, so they got routed, huh? With that many people, they should

have been able to win, but maybe the group got divided along the

mountain trails. This was the first I'd heard of them losing, and

noticing that, Albert smiled condescendingly.

"Don't tell me you haven't heard? I guess dealing with an owlbear is

something far beyond someone with your skills, but the mountains

are the pillar of your livelihood, right? You should really pay more

attention to stuff like that. If you ask me, that sort of mindset is why

you're an eternal D rank."

What was with him lecturing me out of nowhere? I just nodded

perfunctorily as I glanced at Megria to move things along and get to

the point.

"Sir, the time."

"Ah yes, time is of the essence."

The assembled party members nodded, too. It was really just a oneman crew centered around Albert. He was the only one with a

noticeably high level. The rest didn't even meet B-rank standards.

Other adventurers in the party rarely even spoke unless they had

permission from Albert.

"Like I said before, we're headed out to take care of the owlbear, but

we've hardly done any herb-gathering jobs. We don't really know

much about the mountains."

"I see. So you wanted a guide?"

"Yes. We're more than capable of the actual hunt ourselves, of

course. But I don't want to spend days chasing something like an

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owlbear. If we can get this done faster with you as a guide, then all

the better."

"But I'm just a D rank, right? Wouldn't it be better to ask one of the

adventurers in the first expedition that failed?" A look of contempt

crossed Albert's face at my words.

"Huh? This is your chance, isn't it? All you have to do is guide us, and

you'll get a nice accomplishment you can point to. You might even be

able to get to C rank out of it. What are you so scared of?"

Judging from his annoyance, I could guess he had already been

turned down. Most likely, the members of the previous party

weren't sure Albert's group could actually beat the owlbear, or

perhaps they feared that whoever acted as their guide might get

caught in the crossfire.

It was rare for a B rank to be so distrusted in the face of something

like an owlbear, but Albert was an adventurer who had come to

Zoltan because he couldn't make it in Central. It was an open secret

that the Zoltan Guild bent the rules a bit to recognize him as B rank

because they needed one.

"Sorry, but I refuse, too."

"Why?! If you make it to C rank, you can take more jobs! And

everyone else will respect you at least a little more! Even you don't

enjoy being ridiculed, right?!"

"I've got no interest in being C rank. My dream is to open an

apothecary and have a totally ordinary life."

"Kh, fine, then!" Albert shouted, glaring at me as he left in a huff. The

rest of his party hurried after him. Left behind, Megria hung her

head, embarrassed.

"It would be a relief if you were willing to accept this job. I can even

guarantee the promotion to C rank, if you want."

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"I'm sorry, but I really don't have any interest in that."

"Then there's no helping it, I guess. If you'll excuse me."

"Okay. Good luck." She bowed her head slightly and left to follow

Albert's group. After watching her leave, I headed back into my

house.

There was a thudding knock on the thin door as the sun was starting

to set.

"Red! It's me! Gonz!"

"Oh, Gonz the carpenter? I'll be right out. Don't knock so hard. You'll

break the door."

Judging from the sound of his voice, it was clear the woodworker

was perturbed over something. I took just a second to slip my sword

into my belt before opening the door.

"What is it?"

Standing on the other side was Gonz, the long-eared, half-elf

carpenter. Despite still having the distinct, trademark elven good

looks, he exemplified the hearty spirit and skill of a Zoltan carpenter.

In a way, that unbalanced sort of appearance was fitting for a half-elf

man.

"Sorry to bother you while you're resting, but my little sister's kiddo

caught something. According to the doctor, it's apparently whiteeye."

"Tanta got white-eye?! How far has it progressed?!"

"Ummm, as of now, he's collapsed with fever."

"The second stage of the sickness, then. Okay, I'll be right over!"

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Since I was aiming to open an apothecary someday, I had been

studying injuries, diseases, poisons, and various related topics. It had

afforded me some familiarity with the afflictions. White-eye, as its

name implied, was a disease where the corneas turned a cloudy

white. It was a bird-borne disease. The pathogen attached to the

eggs of birds, and eating an infected egg spread the disease to

people. The disease could be killed off by heating the eggs, but it had

some resistance to heat, so if the eggs weren't cooked enough, it

would still be contagious. The reason the ailment was feared was

because a few days after the initial symptoms emerged, the patient

would go irreversibly blind. The first symptom was a high fever, at

which point treatment had to be rendered within thirty-six hours.

Sight could be restored by Priest or Healer magic available to

someone with a high enough level blessing, but…in Zoltan, on the

frontier, there was only one person who fit that description. The

previous mayor, Master Mistorm. She had retired in her old age,

though, and was currently off somewhere enjoying her remaining

years in peace. No one knew where she was now.

Gonz's little sister and her husband lived next door to the

woodworker. Tanta was their son. The home was not particularly

spacious but had a nice feel. It was furnished with a red roof and a

weathervane on top and a green lawn with a small garden gnome

out front. The whole design gave the building a rather cozy feel. It

was a lovely home, built by Gonz and imbued with the love he held

for his younger sister.

"Nao!"

"Gonz!"

His little sister, Nao, was also a half-elf, with fair white skin and a

beautiful face. However, just like with Gonz, she had another aspect

to her as well, the apron-wearing, child-rearing mother, born and

raised on the blue-collar side of town.

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Her husband, Mido, was human. He was a former adventurer who'd

retired and now worked with his brother-in-law. Apparently, he was

less adept at the work than Gonz, which led to a fair amount of

scolding from the half-elf man, but Mido was quick at calculating and

often covered for the rougher patches of Gonz's personality. When

Mido wasn't around, Gonz would praise him for being a bright guy. If

you asked me, it would probably be good to tell him that to his face

once in a while, but evidently, Gonz couldn't bring himself to do that.

With their son developing white-eye, the couple's usual cheerful

expressions had grown haggard.

"What do we do, Brother? There's no medicine…"

"It will be fine. We can trust Red. He's the adventurer who's

gathered the most herbs in all of Zoltan."

That was where a normal adventurer would probably have lit into

the man for saying such a thing, but to me, it was genuine praise.

However, this was hardly the time to think about things like that.

"What's Tanta's condition?"

"The doctor's taking a look, but he said there wasn't anything else he

could do without the medicine."

"Got it. Could you let me in?"

In the bedroom, there was the boy—Tanta—lying in bed, suffering

from what looked like a particularly bad fever. The doctor, Newman,

was at his side, observing his condition. He wore a serious

expression.

"Doctor."

"Oh, so you're the adventurer Red? Thank you for coming."

"I heard it was white-eye."

"Yes, there's no mistaking it."

Page | 37

After that quick exchange, I examined Tanta's eyes, lymph nodes,

and inside his mouth.

"Yes, his irises are paling, there are ulcers in his mouth, and the

lymph nodes in his neck and underarms are swollen. He's got every

initial symptom of white-eye, all right."

"I wouldn't have expected an adventurer to have such detailed

knowledge," Newman said as he wiped the sweat from his brow and

thinning hair with a towel.

"About how long has it been since he developed a fever?" I asked.

"Seems he was struck by a feeling of fatigue around noon, and he

collapsed around three PM."

"It will be bad if we can't get him some medicine before tomorrow

evening."

"That's the problem. I don't have any."

The medicine to treat white-eye was based on a preparation of koku

leaves and a spiny mushroom called a blood needle. Excepting

winter, koku leaves could be found basically anytime, but blood

needles could only be gathered from spring into the middle of

summer. Thankfully, it was spring, so they were in season.

"Last month, there was an outbreak of goblin fever and white-eye.

None of the three clinics in town have enough medicine."

"I'm sure they have the koku leaves, though the blood needles…

They're probably just starting to sprout, but…"

The Adventurers Guild managed the repository of medicinal herbs.

Normally, they would be putting out job requests with a priority on

gathering blood needles since the stock of those was running low,

but…

"It takes time for that guild to approve anything."

Page | 38

Someone first had to point out that the reserves were low; the

person in charge of those reserves then needed to report to their

boss; the boss then double-checked the reserve; next, the person in

charge had to write a report that their boss took to the higher-ups to

get approval; and once that was all done, the person in charge had to

fill out the forms to send out the job requests, which their boss had

to double-check, and…

"Zoltan's Adventurers Guild is all about the red tape," Newman said

with a grimace.

Anyway, right now, the fact of the matter was that there was no

stock left of one of the fundamental ingredients for the medicine.

Based on Tanta's symptoms, he needed treatment sometime before

nightfall tomorrow. Considering that preparing the medicine from

the ingredients took time, Newman probably needed to get the

blood needles no later than noon tomorrow.

"I'm begging you, Red! I know the mountains are bad right now, but

I've got no one else to turn to! Can you please get the ingredients?

Name your price, and I'll pay! No matter how long it might take, I

swear I'll pay it all back!" Gonz knelt, his head bowed to the floor as

he pleaded.

"I mean it! The boy's a genius when it comes to carpentry! I can't

accept his dream dying here like this!"

Gonz did not have any children. He lost his wife to sickness before I

came to this town and continued to live alone, never showing any

inclination of trying to find another wife. Because of that, he

cherished his sister's son. So much so that he declared that the boy,

who was not even ten yet, would succeed him in everything. Tanta

was quite fond of Gonz, too. The boy was raised playing at Gonz's

shop and was always saying that he wanted to be like his uncle when

he grew up.

Page | 39

But…

"It's true that it's dangerous, but also the mountain is currently

entirely off-limits. I might be an adventurer, but I can't go there until

the owlbear is taken care of. If I ignore that order, I could get kicked

out of the guild."

"Th-that's true, but there's nowhere else to get the medicine."

Nao and Mido both lined up beside Gonz, lowering their foreheads

to the floor as they pressed their request.

…Albert and his party should've been searching the mountains for

the owlbear by now. If they hadn't found it yet, they'd be camping

out. It was also possible the party had found it and was busy tracking

it across the mountain, even through the night. It was a big

mountain, but they were experts when it came to hunting. Even the

smallest trace could have given me away to Albert's group.

Should I negotiate with the guild? No, that'd be hopeless. I haven't

earned that much trust from them.

"Big Bro, is that you?" Tanta's eyes had opened as he called out

weakly.

The pointed ears proving his elven lineage were red to their tips from

his fever. Yet the boy still smiled at me.

"Sorry, I caught a little cold. But once I'm better, let's talk through

the plans some more," Tanta murmured. Gonz and the others

glanced at me.

…It's not like the kid was saying anything of importance, though.

"Oh yeah. That promise to build my apothecary for me. Once you're

better, we can talk about it some more."

It was just silly banter we shared when Tanta spent time with me.

We talked about all sorts of stuff—like how I was going to build an

apothecary, what sort of layout it should have, where it should be

Page | 40

built, that sort of thing. The young half-elf had sworn to build it for

me, saying "When I become a carpenter, I'll build your store for you,

Big Bro Red."

Well, yeah. It was clear what I was going to do from the start. I mean,

that was the promise, so there wasn't really any helping it. My

beautiful, slow life wouldn't be complete without a modest but no

less lovely little shop to go with it, after all.

"Right now, the Adventurers Guild has placed the mountain offlimits…"

"Y-you can't do it?"

"I can't take this job as an adventurer. But I'll do it as a friend.

Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Red!"

"I'll be back soon. I'll leave Tanta to you until then, Doctor."

"I'll do the best I can. But it will take an hour to prepare the

medicine."

"It would take me three, so if you can do it in just an hour, I'd be

grateful."

High-speed preparation was something that could only be done by

people with a blessing in the Medical or Alchemical trees, or else

maybe someone with the Herbalist blessing.

It was beyond my ability.

I had no intention of staying up in the mountains this time. I just

filled a waterskin, secured my bronze sword, and left town. I jogged

along the outskirts of the village a bit and then had a look around.

Page | 41

"All right, no one is watching." How long had it been since I last ran

all out?

"High-Speed Mastery: Lightning Speed. Endurance Mastery:

Immunity to Fatigue."

They might've been common skills, but by raising the skill level to 11,

you gained access to the mastery ability. Quite powerful despite the

skills being so common. Not many people built up common skills that

high, though, so it wasn't a very well-known boon.

Lightning Speed increased movement by a factor of ten. While I was

running, other people would see me as little more than a flitting

shadow. Immunity to Fatigue meant my body wouldn't tire.

Regardless of whether I was working through the night, engaging in

heavy manual labor, or even sprinting all out for an entire day.

Effects other than fatigue still applied; it wasn't as if I could go

without sleep for days on end. Sleep itself was still necessary, but the

skill was undoubtedly useful.

I took one powerful step, then another, and another. I gradually

accelerated, and the scenery transformed into a green blur as I left it

behind. Once I reached my top speed, I was covering one kilometer

every thirty seconds, moving around 120 kilometers per hour. With

magic support, I could run even faster, but this was my personal

limit. That velocity could match the flight speed of an adult dragon

more than one hundred years old.

As the last light of day was swallowed up by night, I sprinted toward

the mountain. It took a while to reach my destination. If there had

been even the barest of roads, I could've maintained my speed, but

the rough forests of the mountain made moving that quickly

unfeasible. I had to go normal speed here.

Taking out my map, I plotted my route.

Page | 42

I didn't want to take any longer than necessary, but I also wanted to

avoid any route Albert's party was likely to take. I looked over the

more common paths. This side got a lot of direct sunlight, and

owlbears tended to dislike strong sun; hopefully, that meant it would

avoid this area unless given a particular reason. Likewise, it would

mean that Albert's party would naturally save this portion of the

mountain for later in their search.

"All right." With a route set, all that was left was to move forward.

When I noticed the smell, I felt impatient for the first time in a long

while and gritted my teeth as I ran.

"Dammit!"

The area where blood needles tended to grow in clusters had been

scorched. My skill-enhanced hearing caught the shouts of Albert's

party fighting in the distance.

"They used fire magic!"

Someone in Albert's party had used a fire magic while they were

fighting the owlbear. Fire magic was powerful and the standard

move when fighting something able to take a lot of damage, like an

owlbear. But the conifer trees that blood needles grew on burned

easily and were the perfect kindling for the hungry tongues of

flames. On top of that, it was spring, when the winds were strong. It

was incredibly dangerous to be summoning fire on the mountain,

given the circumstances.

If it were Ruti or Ares, or anyone else from the party, they could have

used an innate skill or a magic to extinguish the fire and halt the

spread. But I couldn't do anything. I didn't have any means of

extinguishing the growing blaze.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

Page | 43

I used my bronze sword to cut the water bag I had brought with me

and dumped it over my head. The only thing I could do in this

situation was gather as many blood needles as possible. Goblin-fever

season was over, but it was the time of year when white-eye, the

deadly red-tongue disease, and the airborne trembling fever could

break out. Blood needles were a crucial medicinal herb during Zoltan

summers, and they were all being burned to ash.

Despite being so critical, blood needles grew in relatively few places.

This mountain was the only major source in all of Zoltan.

I ran through the flames and smoke, plucking every one of the

mushrooms I could find. The smoke coated my throat and scorched

my lungs. Immunity to Fatigue did not help with smoke and oxygen

deprivation, and the heat stung my flesh. But I could still move. I

possessed no special skills. My blessing was a high level, pure and

simple, and my resilience to physical punishment befit that level. I

could take this much.

But there was a limit. Surrounded by flames, I started having trouble

breathing, and hypoxia began setting in. The oxygen deprivation

made my head heavy and dulled my senses.

A sudden rustling caught my attention. An owlbear covered in

wounds stood before me.

You let it get away, Albert?

The wounded creature was in a frenzy. It raised its claws to attack,

an instinctual drive to protect itself. I took the hilt of my bronze

sword in hand. The wildfire had heated the grip, and there was a

sizzling sound as it burned into my palm. The owlbear roared down

on me, swinging its arms to tear me apart.

I drew my bronze sword, slicing upward across the owlbear's

stomach to its shoulder.

Page | 44

Page | 45

"Over here, sir!"

Relying on the tracking ability of Campbell, a member of the party

with a Thief blessing, Albert's party arrived at the owlbear corpse

collapsed on the ground, its body encircled in flames. They had been

granted Resistance to Heat and Resistance to Environment by a

magic spell, so they were unhurt by the smoke or the heat of the

blaze.

"That's a B rank for you! And I did my part, so I'll be getting my

reward, too," shouted Dir the Fire Mage. He was hunched over, his

cheeks were hollowed out, and his skin looked generally unhealthy.

He was the adventurer who had guided them in Red's stead, who

Albert had only just barely been able to find in time.

According to Megria, he had a history of abandoning his party

members and running away, rendering his reputation abysmal, but

they had gone with him anyway, since no better option had

presented itself. His poor guidance through the woods meant they'd

been walking around the mountain until late into the night.

The owlbear wasn't moving, but Dir didn't dare draw any nearer to

the beast. The creature would tear him apart if it was still alive,

though it was a one-in-a-million chance.

Albert approached the owlbear and severed its foreleg. That would

serve as the proof of having completed the job.

"We did it!"

"…This wound…"

"What is it?"

"No, it's nothing. Let's get out of here before the magic wears off."

Page | 46

Campbell the thief raised both his hands in agreement at that. "Yeah,

even with the resistance magic, it's still hot and hard to breathe," he

complained.

The woman with a Priest blessing furrowed her brow.

"That's just how it works. This isn't the sort of situation people were

meant to survive in the first place. Just be grateful this is all the pain

you have to suffer," she responded.

"I know, I know. Look, it for sure beats dying" came Campbell's

response.

The effects of the magic that granted resistance to the fire lasted ten

minutes. If it ran out while they were in the flames, even a B-rank

party like them would be incapacitated almost immediately. The

group of adventurers ran fast to escape the growing blaze.

"Wh-whoa! Are you okay, Red?!"

It hadn't even been six hours since I left. By now, most folk would

normally have been sleeping, but everyone was still awake and

watching over Tanta. I rushed into the room as if I was about to

collapse, my whole body covered in black soot.

"Dr. Newman, I got the blood needles."

"What?! That fast? How?! Wait…that looks like a really bad burn.

What did you…?"

"This is all of the blood needles we're going to be able to gather in

Zoltan this year… I'll explain later, but right now, preparing the

medicine is more important."

"Okay, I understand. I'll get started at once." Newman took the bag

of blood needles and went back to his clinic to get the medicine

ready.

Page | 47

"Red, are you okay? I'll get something for those burns…"

"What's the point of going out to gather medicinal herbs if I have to

take medicine when I get back? I'll be fine. The burns aren't as bad as

they look. I'm going to go home to wash off. I'll be back soon."

"Wait! Red!"

I wasn't physically tired, but I could definitely feel that I had fully

exerted myself. I poured the water from the well over the top of my

head to cool my burned body. Looking out the window, I could see

the crescent moon hanging in the night sky.

Even though I had gone all out, gathering a single bag of blood

needles was the best I could accomplish. Such was the limit of my

blessing. Even pushing common skills to their limits, there was only

so much I could do without innate skills.

"Guess it was only natural I got kicked out…"

If this was all I could do when I pushed myself to the max, then of

course I wouldn't be any help saving the world.

At home, I gently washed the worst burns with a damp cloth and

wrapped them in bandages before heading back to Nao's house.

"You three must be tired from nursing him the whole time, right? I'll

switch with you and take care of wiping his sweat and getting him to

drink water and all that until the doctor gets back," I said as I entered

the room. But the three of them looked at me as if I were crazy.

"D-don't screw with me! You're the one who needs to rest!" Gonz

shouted as he dragged me into the next room.

Some soup, a sandwich, and a bit of watered-down wine awaited me

there. It had probably all been thrown together while I was washing

off.

Page | 48

"Eat. My sister made it for you."

"Wait, taking care of Tanta's more important right now."

"We'll take care of him, so eat."

"Okay. In that case, I guess I'll accept this. Thank you." Sensing there

wasn't any arguing with him, I sat down and started downing the

food. Gonz was staring at me as I ate.

"What? Quit hovering; go be with your nephew."

"I never thought you'd get so beaten up."

"Albert's fight with the owlbear started a forest fire. I had to rush to

gather as many blood needles as I could. I'm sure there will be more

cases of white-eye, and it's a crucial ingredient for other medicines,

too. It's a bit weird to say, but it was lucky Tanta caught it when he

did. If he'd gotten sick tomorrow, all the blood needles would

probably have been burned up."

"…Sorry. You ended up like that after doing so much to gather the

medicine for us. Meanwhile, I was just sitting here on my ass."

"Don't worry about it. That's part of the job description for an

adventurer. Besides…there's still the matter of my reward. You'd

better steel your nerves."

"Y-yeah! A man always keeps his word! I'll pay up, even if it takes the

rest of my life!" Gonz grinned broadly.

Thanks to the curative the doctor made, the cloudiness in Tanta's

eyes cleared nearly immediately. It would still take a week of bed

rest, and the boy would have to keep taking the medicine Newman

had prescribed in order to completely heal, but there wouldn't be

any lasting damage. With that, Newman declared that Tanta would

Page | 49

be fine now and began packing his instruments back into his bag to

leave.

"Thank you so much, Doctor!"

Gonz, Nao, and Mido lowered their heads, but Newman dismissed

the action with a wave of his hand.

"It was fortunate he could get the medicine so quickly. With that,

there shouldn't be any lasting visual impairment. It's all thanks to

Red. And don't worry about my fee. Just put it toward covering his

reward. These blood needles he provided are invaluable now, so I'll

be discussing how best to use them with the doctors at the other

clinics."

After hearing the news about the fire, Newman had grabbed both

my hands and thanked me for gathering all the blood needles I had.

He'd even offered to pay for the extras I had gathered beyond what

Tanta needed, but I turned him down. Things that an adventurer

gathered could only be sold to the guild. It was against the rules to

sell directly to anyone else. Special permission was required in order

to traffic items yourself. If I had sold Newman the blood needles, it

would have been bootlegging, so it was safest to just give them to

him instead of accepting any money.

"If I achieve my dream, I'm sure I'll be in your debt."

"An apothecary, huh? All the doctors in Zoltan would rejoice to have

a skilled adventurer like you running an apothecary. Whenever you

manage to open your business, please let me know. I'll be sure to

patronize it."

"I'm looking forward to it."

Doctors were regular customers for an apothecary, so earning his

gratitude here and making sure he remembered my name certainly

didn't hurt.

Page | 50

Newman took my hand one more time and shook it firmly before

returning to his own house. And after seeing him out, Gonz and his

family bowed their heads to me.

"You really saved us. I can't thank you enough."

"Then shall we discuss my reward while the topic is still fresh?"

"Y-yeah! Don't hold back!"

"I don't plan to. In fact, I intend to get exactly what I want." The

family looked nervous as I prepared to state my demands. When he

heard it, Gonz was shocked but quickly broke into a full-faced grin.

I was sitting on a bench eating some sweet potato fries I had gotten

from a stall as I watched the ceremony off in the distance. Tornado—

the mayor—with his bushy beard on full display, stood on a stage

and expressed his gratitude to Albert while awarding him the Twin

Swords Medal.

With the battle against the demon lord's army heating up all across

the land, these people were awarding the Twin Swords Medal for

defeating a single owlbear. The medal was supposed to honor great

deeds of combat. Here, it seemed more emblematic of how peaceful

Zoltan was. The sight evoked a bit of a chuckle from me. All those

gathered cheered and rejoiced when the medal was hung around

Albert's neck.

"Tch, what's all the fuss over? He went and started a fire on the

mountain."

"Oh, Gonz? Didn't you say you weren't going to take today off, even

though you're always first in line for festivals? What're you doing

here?"

Page | 51

"Who'd take a day off to celebrate him, knucklehead? I'm just here

to get some lunch." Gonz was holding a basket with a sandwich,

some fried food, and a few other assorted bits. He sat down next to

me and took a fried fish out of the basket and started eating.

"If you ask me, you're way more deserving and amazing than he is."

"Oh? Then let me have that." I grabbed one of the sausages out of

his basket and bit into it. Gonz looked angry for a second before

breaking into a hearty laugh. We sat there for a little bit watching

Albert's ceremony.

"Albert's doing his best for the town in his own way."

"Hmm? He is?"

The B-rank adventurer still had a Central-esque air about him. Often,

it didn't leave a good impression on a lot of people from the bluecollar parts of town. People like Gonz. The stuffy, formal clothes

made of multiple layers that were popular in the capital were

considered too hot and irritating to the people in Zoltan. However,

the mayor and what few well-to-do folk who lived in the town did

cling to an appreciation for a more Central sort of style. So Albert

was well received by them. It was possible the man was even

intentionally maintaining those trappings simply to earn favor with

the wealthier denizens of Zoltan.

"Well, it might also just be that he hasn't gotten used to life on the

frontier."

"What are you talking about?"

"Albert. Don't be too harsh on him. He drifted in from Central and is

doing his part as a B-rank adventurer in a party that struggled to deal

with an owlbear. I'm sure he's got a lot of pressure he's dealing with

every day."

"That so?"

Page | 52

"And even so, he's trying to make it work. It's not like he wanted to

burn the mountain down."

"If you're okay with it, then I guess I'll leave it be," Gonz said,

resigned.

His tone made it clear he still wasn't convinced. He obviously thought

I should've been the one getting the accolades. But I just wanted to

live a modest life; I didn't really need them.

I watched until Albert left the stage, and then I patted Gonz's

shoulder and said good-bye. Starting tomorrow, I was going back to

gathering herbs. Also, I had reported the mountain fire to the guild,

but the extent of the damage still needed to be assessed.

If I was going to run an apothecary, I needed to get a handle on the

best remaining places to gather medicinal herbs before anyone else.

I was serious about trying to make my dream a reality here in Zoltan.

"That wound…"

After the ceremony and the meal with all the influential people in

town, when Albert was finally alone, the B-rank adventurer thought

back to the image of the owlbear collapsed on the ground.

"That wasn't damage I inflicted… My sword wouldn't make that kind

of cut."

It was a slash all the way up the torso to the shoulders. Rough, the

cut looked like it had been made by a dull weapon that had been

forced through with incredible power.

"Like…a bronze sword."

The image of the D ranker who the man had tried to get to guide his

party flashed through Albert's mind. He'd…had a bronze sword on

his waist, hadn't he?

Page | 53

"There's no way."

Albert shook his head. "Besides, there's no way he could have been

there," he muttered to himself.

Four months and two days later. According to the calendar, fall was

right around the corner, but in Zoltan, there was no end in sight to

the heat of summer. The town still displayed vibrant greens, as if it

had no interest at all in the fall styles adorning the mountain and

other regions. The area that had been burned in the fire was already

covered in plants again. The black scar of burnt foliage was no longer

visible.

I made my way to a part of town a bit outside the town center. It was

in the area between a residential neighborhood and a district where

craftsmen plied their crafts. It was a ten-minute walk from the

residential block where my town house was. At a normal person's

walking speed, of course.

"You finally made it, huh?" Gonz said.

"You're so slow, Big Bro Red!" Tanta shouted.

The two of them were wearing neat, formal suits and waving their

hands. I had slipped myself into a rented suit for the first time in a

while, too. In the past, I'd been made to deal with aristocrats and

royalty with my sister fairly often, so it wasn't my first encounter

with a suit. This was the first time since I'd left the party, though.

Behind Gonz and Tanta stood a newly constructed building. It wasn't

that big, but its design spoke of strong, solid construction. Visually, it

had a reassuring sort of feel. There was a sign above the front

entrance that read:

RED'S APOTHECARY.

Page | 54

This was the reward I had asked Gonz for. Money for the materials

came from my own pocket, but the construction was free. The

savings I had built up at that point were enough to cover the

construction thanks to that arrangement. Today was the gathering to

celebrate the successful completion of the build.

I looked up at the sign, overcome with emotion.

"Everyone's waiting to eat, so hurry it up already!" Tanta said,

grabbing my hand and dragging me in.

"All right, all right," I answered as I was led inside.

Around twenty people, ranging from Gonz's coworkers, some

members of the Adventurers Guild, Dr. Newman, and a few others

with whom I got on well in Zoltan, were all gathered in waiting.

"Oh, the man of the hour's finally here."

"You've really gotten used to Zoltan's pace, Red."

I had been busy sorting out various medicines for the store's opening

and had lost track of time. In Central, the star of an event being late

would have caused an uproar, but here, it was forgotten with a

laugh. I scratched my head as I thanked everyone who had

assembled, and then we started the banquet.

"Mom made the food for today!" Tanta announced, oozing with

pride.

He was almost as proud of his mother's food as if he had made it

himself. When I commented that it was delicious, he happily fired

back immediately with "Right?" and a delighted smile.

There had been no further complications to Tanta's white-eye. His

eyes were sparkling like a young boy's should, and he was laughing

just as cheerfully as he did when working with Gonz or his father.

Page | 55

Newman made a point of thanking me again and saying how

fortunate it was that we were able to get Tanta the medicine so early

in the disease's progression.

"I'm pretty sure I already sent you the order. If you've had a chance

to look at it, do you think you'll be able to fill it?"

"Yes, it won't be a problem. I'll put a priority on the delivery and get

it to you tomorrow evening."

Dr. Newman was my first customer and had promised to place

requests for whatever herbs he was running low on periodically.

He'd even given me a recommendation when I was registering my

shop with the Merchants Guild and let me know that if I borrowed

the funds for opening the business from them, they would put the

paid interest owed on the loan toward my first year's guild

membership fee. Despite not having to pay construction costs, I'd

run my savings nearly completely dry just purchasing the materials,

so that sort of recommendation was particularly helpful. Now I

wouldn't have to worry about losing my operating rights for failing to

pay the membership fee.

Not bad for my first step.

"Oy, don't you have any big aspirations or anything?" Gonz asked.

Aspirations, huh…? It was hard to answer such an out-of-the-blue

question… But everyone was watching me; I wasn't in a position just

to say nothing.

"Ahhh, yeah…"

I tried to compose myself and think of a suitable answer but quickly

thought better of it. I wasn't going to try to put on airs like that. I

wasn't a knight or a member of the Hero's party anymore.

"With all your help, I've managed to realize my dream. Thank you.

But now I'm going to try to take it easy while running this apothecary

Page | 56

and not push myself too hard. Particularly on hot days like today, I

just want to sit back, drink some cool tea, and chat with everyone. So

feel free to come by to hang out anytime."

The room erupted in laughter and applause.

And just like that, I started my slow life as an apothecary in Zoltan.