The Porter Is Not Interested in the Hero Party

89 – The day the moonlight whispers (1)

“Sir Stauffen. This world has failed. It is said that Parsus, an assassin of the Dark Society, and Itar, a former Pandemonium swordsmanship instructor, have been murdered.”

“Oh, I heard.”

Stauffen nodded in a calm voice. He was staring blankly at the ceiling with wine in his mouth. He also knew the news that his subordinates hadn’t delivered yet. That the nun ran away with the humans who had converted to demons. That they converted them back and acknowledged the sins of the church.

That’s why the kingdom is in a noisy state, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t take a significant hit.

“And… … .”

“done. I know the rest of the news. Go in.”

At Staufen’s gesture, the soldier disappeared in a huff. When the commander, who always moved slowly, saw the rough movement of his hands, he intuitively avoided his seat. Stauffen looked at the wine still in the glass, lost in thought.

It’s already been a hundred years.

A story about a noble who committed a crime and ran away in fear of his crime, and proved his ability by attaching himself to the demons. Everyone who lived in the country called him a traitor and insulted him, but it wasn’t long before even the voices cursing him were suppressed.

On a sinking ship, non-gong peddling is meaningless. The important thing is who has the boat to escape. Where can I escape to survive?

There were only these two things.

Stauffen could no longer remember even the sins he had committed. The trivial matter buried in the other side of memory was rolling around in the ruins along with the insulting words of the king and crown prince.

I thought it was natural for everyone to make that choice. Because all the people he faced over the past 100 years were like that.

People have always wanted a way out of a difficult situation.

“Why didn’t you betray me?”

Stauffen asked.

But no one was here to answer his questions. The Lena he was asking the question for was far away in the kingdom’s capital. But Stauffen continued to ask questions. As if a warriors party was right in front of you.

shaking a glass

“There must have been plenty of reasons to betray, so why didn’t you betray?”

There were many reasons to give up. People like family were here. A family member died due to the dirty corruption of the royal palace. The members of the same party were also human beings who did the same dirty things.

But Lena went back as if the reason was no big deal.

The nun, who should have denied her sins and slaughtered the converts, admitted her crimes as a matter of course, and was storming the royal palace with humans who had become demons.

Those living far away in the palace couldn’t answer Stauffen’s question. Stauffen repeated the unanswered question again and again, then drank the wine again.

“You are fools.”

The face of the forgotten king was good before his eyes. Memories that sometimes come to mind appeared exceptionally clear today. They were on their knees and howling, covered with tattered cloaks. Stauffen remembered what kind of activity he was doing at this time.

He revealed the secret passage of the castle during the sit-in and became the vanguard and directly entered the audience room. Originally, he was a knight of excellent skill, and no soldier could beat him who was transformed into the body of a demon. He met the king while cutting and killing the royal guards and knight commanders like cutting grass, and the king had to roll on the floor screaming.

With a face full of tears, the King shouted at Stauffen.

[How can you betray your country, traitor!]

[You do this because you are blinded by money and power, do you think you will survive? We will curse you even in death!]

[It’s like a guy who doesn’t even know grace!]

Stauffen shook his head. He was confident that he had never made a wrong choice. But the king’s face and the crown prince’s face remained in my memory even after 100 years. Even the situations in which you betrayed yourself.

“You are wrong.”

Stauffen shook his head and poured the wine again. The war situation was sluggish, but Stauffen was not in the mood for a strategy meeting today. It wasn’t a high-alcohol wine, but drunkenness rose to his face.

The wine glass covered the view like a sunrise, revealing the inside of the tent like an eye patch being removed.

There was a man wearing armor and standing crookedly in an empty tent. The man had silver hair, and his hair was pulled back. He fidgeted with the sword at his waist and called Stauffen’s name.

“Staufen.”

Despite the rude behavior of calling the commander’s name, Stauffen did not change his face and poured the wine again. The man in the armor stared blankly at Stauffen, waiting for him to answer. Stauffen sipped his wine again and asked.

“What is going on?”

“The Demon King is looking forward to your achievements.”

“Tell me it will take a while. Because the operation failed.”

The man snorted at Stauffen’s words. Suddenly, the sword was pulled out of the scabbard. Stauffen blinked, and the wine bottle he was holding in his hand fell in half. Rolling over, the red wine soaked the desk and the floor, and Stauffen licked the wine off his hands.

The man laughed and said.

“It means don’t waste time using your hair. Lead the army and deliver results. If you don’t want to do that, quit and go back to the capital. Stupid nerd asshole. I don’t know why I volunteered to be the commander when I can’t use it even after gaining power.”

Stauffen’s face did not change even when provoked. He asked, wiping the wine from his clothes with a handkerchief.

“If I go back, will you be the next commander?”

The man smiled and nodded.

“yes. ‘We’ take over.”

Hearing the word us, Stauffen turned his head. There was no one at the entrance of the barracks. I heard a man laugh. He smiled broadly, put the sword back in, and turned around to go back. Stauffen murmured as he looked at the wine spilled on the desk.

“A prodigal son of a gun.”

Stauffen shouted outside to call someone to clean the barracks. Hearing the sound, the door inside the break room opened and soldiers came running out.

*******

rattle!

I don’t get used to the sound of the prison door closing. As a warning to both released prisoner and prospective criminals, it was because the metal hinges interlocked and made a grotesquely loud crashing sound. I couldn’t see Ashuria because of the tightly closed iron door, but I knew she would return.

Because we promised to do so.

Thanks to that, I was able to walk a little lighter on my way back. The road from the inn to the prison was long, but the road back from the prison was especially short.

“mister.”

And when I opened the door of the dorm, unlike Lena and Millet, who were still hanging out, the hero who couldn’t hide his nervous light was there. She repeatedly stomped her feet, and as soon as I came, she ran urgently and called me.

Lena asked while lying on the sofa.

“mister. What gift did you decide to buy for the hero? You’ve been whining like a puppy since earlier?”

“yes? Oh, that’s… . Now, I have something to talk about. I’ll tell you later.”

The hero was flustered by Lena’s question, and Lena didn’t show any reaction, only shrugging her shoulders while thinking that the hero’s reaction was strange. She seemed to have lost her motivation after Ashuria ran out, so she was just rolling around on the sofa and browsing the newspaper.

Looking to the side, Miele was in a similar situation. She stacked up several chairs next to the table and lay down on her own bed.

As if she wasn’t asleep yet, when she confirmed that I was there, she waved her hand under the table and said hello.

“The porter is here. hi-.”

The hero quickly took me out of the lethargic and gloomy room. I greeted Millet and pushed out of the room, and the hero looked around and asked me.

“Uh, how was it?”

“The story went well.”

The warrior’s face turned into a bright smile. she said, stamping her feet.

“Uh, what do I do? Shall I go back and tell you now?”

With this news, it was clear that the lethargic members would regain their energy. I was happy because the warrior seemed to want the party members to recover quickly.

“I made a promise, but I don’t know what will happen. I think it’s good to hear and talk about the story coming out through the official route tomorrow.”

He probably wouldn’t have promised Ashuria and me in lies.

However, it is also true that people’s minds change from time to time.

When asked to deal with it carefully, the warrior nodded while making a sad expression.

“…you’re right. Still, you will need time to organize your thoughts and prepare. I’ll just tell the other kids that we’re talking about treatment.”

“Yes. That’s good. It will definitely come out tomorrow.”

The warrior said with twinkling eyes.

“thanks. mister.”

“no. For the party, I have to do anything.”

I nodded my head at the figure of such a warrior and said while holding my chest. The hero laughed at that, and we entered the room in a slightly more friendly atmosphere than before.

Lena saw us laughing and smiled and got up from her seat. She was too quick to notice.

The next day, Ashria returns.

I thought so and went to bed with a comfortable mind for the first time in a long time.

*******

“Yes?”

and the next day.

“Well, Ashuria-sama’s own will, she said that the crime of assaulting the priest would be resolved here. Violating a priest is punishable by 50 lashes.”

A whip was in my hand.

I was looking around in a cold sweat, and Lena and the hero avoided my gaze. Millet’s eyes were twinkling as she looked at the whip. I said to the soldier standing in front of me.

“Yeah, but why am I hitting you?”

“…The punishment executioners refused to hit anyone who was a member of the Hero party or a well-known person, saying it was burdensome… … . Also, it is burdensome for us to be severely punished. So… … . That, let’s leave it to the party members in the way of the hawk of love and move on… … .”

I looked at the whip.

The warrior was smiling with a troubled face. She said while avoiding her gaze.

“That… … . Well, whatever you do… … . Did you?”

I didn’t know that, so that’s what I said.