Tina is too poor to pay for lodging, so I hired her as a maid.
Usually, she just wears normal maid clothes. Sometimes I have her dress as the ‘Dancing Girl’.
“If Dylan-san says so… Even if I’m reluctant… Even if I’m reluctant…!”
“No, this is just another part of your training as a warrior.”
One morning, after sending Tina to clean the outside of the mansion, she had rushed back inside in a panic.
“Dylan-san!”
“Hey, maid. That’s an improper name.”
“Uuuu……!! Ma… Mas… Master!”
Tina finally managed it with an embarrassed yell, good.
“So, what’s wrong? Did one of the towers break off?”
“That kind of thing can happen!?”
“No way.”
“What the, you surprised me!”
“So, what happened?”
“Oh yeah! Someone fell down! He just collapsed in the street!!”
“Fell down?”
This sounds like some sort of trouble…
I took a peek outside the mansion and indeed, a worn out warrior had collapsed right in front of the gate.
He seems familiar…
“Ah!”
“Ahhhh! Jeez, don’t just suddenly shout like that, master!”
“Is that… Laius…?” (TL Note: Rias -> Laius from now on.)
I walked out and squatted by the man’s head.
It’s definitely Laius, the Conquering Sword Hero. No doubt about it.
What the hell is he doing here…? Honestly, I figured he would’ve been caught by the support organization. That night when I did a street performance in the capital, word should definitely have spread around that I was there.
“Before the support organization guys busted down the door, you changed inns or got booted out, then somehow wound up at my door… What the hell kind of luck is this…?”
Tina heard me.
“Is he your friend!?”
“Nope. The opposite, actually. He’s my former bossed who kicked me out of the party.”
“EHHHHHHHH!? Former boss… That means… A legendary heroooooooooooooo!?”
“You don’t need to add the ‘legendary’. This guy’s just a level 35 warrior.”
“That’s surprisingly low!?”
“They picked him because he had a good face… And since he was so confident, the powers that be said ‘there’s something different about this guy’ and misunderstood his real nature badly. Really, he’s just an idiot…”
“Eh? But Dylan-san is much more handsome?”
Don’t say that with such a straight face. You’ll make me blush.
“Well, it was fine at first, but eventually we ran into problems. And everything went downhill from there. Well, it was easy to handle them. Even with such a low level party, we managed to reach one of the generals on the Demon Continent.”
“B-but why did you form such a low-level party of heroes!?”
“It wasn’t me, but the upper echelons of the Alliance that formed it. They’re always trying to plot and scheme against each other and this was just another opportunity. When it comes down to brass tacks, they realized that defeating the Demon King isn’t really in their best interests.”
“Why…?”
“Well, in the first place, the Demon King ain’t a monster.”
“Eh? What do you mean――”
We continue to hold our conversation over the collapsed Laius.
“Ugh…”
Laius moaned. Seems like he’s still alive.
“He doesn’t look like he’s actually injured. Is he just hungry or something?”
“For the time being, let’s take him back to your mansion!”
“Eh…”
“You don’t want to!?”
“No, whatever, it’s fine.”
Tina lifted Laius up over her shoulder. She really is a warrior.
After several hours.
Something awful happened.
“I was wrong! Please come back to the party!!”
In the living room, Laius knelt in front of me.
Laius isn’t hurt at all. He was really just starving. Apparently, he didn’t eat or drink anything for three days as he made his way here.
It seems like his luggage was stolen and he had run out of money to pay for travel.
“…What do you mean?”
We’re no longer in the same party and he’s no longer my boss. I’m not going to use kiddy gloves with him anymore.
Laius spoke.
“After Dylan-san left, I realized just how much we all relied on you… I couldn’t speak with Aiza or Mills at all. They left the party without listening to a word I had to say..”
Ah, now I get it. It’s all coming together.
Laius didn’t ever return to the support organization and seems to have disappeared.
Although he changed his name and tried to work as a mercenary, it never went well because of his stubborn pride and he was constantly getting fired, moving from one company to the next before he found himself back at Babel coincidentally.
“When I was at rock bottom I finally realized… You were only playing the jester for the sake of the party…”
“Well, yeah. I am a jester.”
“Return to the kingdom, contact the support organization, then we can go back to the Demon Continent once again!”
Laius bowed down, begging me.
Then, he began talking about all the conditions he would follow if I returned to the party.
I sat on the sofa, scratching my head as I looked at Laius.
“I see… In other words, I won’t be treated like I was before, I’d become the leader of the party, receive double the normal share of the reward and also obtain the title ‘Hero of Magic Tricks’. It’s not a bad proposal.”
“T-that’s right! So…?”
I continued.
But, I refuse.”
“Eh…?”
“I’m not interested in being in a hero party anymore. Because you can’t pay for your meal, get out of here already.”
“Eh…? Eh…?”
As Laius was still stunned, I began dragging him by the collar.
“Eh!? W-wait a minute! Dylan-san, I…!”
I opened the front door and chucked him out of the mansion.
“If you hang around any longer, I’ll call one of the Babel guards. The support organization will find out about you.”
“No…! Dylan-san, Dylan-san!”
Laius began weeping and clinging to my feet.
“I beg you! Please don’t throw me away! I don’t have anywhere else to go!”
“You can go back to the support organization.”
“I can’t return! They’d strip me of my hero status!”
“You were never really a hero. Just get rid of that title and start over.”
“But, I…!”
“You should try and climb Babel again. Just don’t think of depending on me anymore.”
“No! Dylan-san, I beg you! Please party with me again!”
“I refuse.”
With a sigh, I used a magic trick.
Immediately, the foot that Laius was clinging to so desperately became a playing card.
The real me is about three steps away.
I opened the door to the mansion again.
Then, I looked back.
“Uuu… Uwaaa….”
I saw Laius hunched over on the ground, bawling his eyes out as he grasped at the card on the ground.
I shut the door, locking it behind me.
When I came inside, Tina had a worried look on her face.
“Master, is this okay? He…”
“Ah, I felt a bit of a pang, but it can’t be helped. I just really don’t care about heroes at all right now.”
“I get that… But…”
“It’s good for Laius to taste rock bottom at least once. He can only go up from here.”
“Is that what this is?”
“That’s what it is.”
Watching the front garden from the window of the entrance hall, I saw Laius stand up with hunched over shoulders and slowly leave.
Tina murmured anxiously.
“Laius-san, I hope he won’t fall over again…”
“Ah, well, he should be fine.”
“How do you know?”
“When I used my magic trick, I slipped a few notes into his pocket. He shouldn’t have to worry about eating for a while.”
“Wow, really!?”
“I also tucked in a letter of referral from the guild and a magic transfer passport, so he should be able to move between here and the capital, or he could climb the tower if he wants. What he does is up to Laius himself.”
“Amazing! You thought about all that!”
“Well, we did party together for some time. Even if it was only at the very end, he finally apologized sincerely.”
“Not only did you forgive the boss who fired you, you even gave him a parting gift! Dylan-san really is a good person!”
“Call me master. Or I’ll make you dance around half naked again.”
“You’re not a nice person after all!!”
As I watched Laius leave, I thought to myself.
Later, Conquering Sword Hero.
The three years I spent with you were… Really fucking shitty.
Thanks for 100 followers.