Battle Against The Hero’s Party (1)

The weather was beautiful today.

There wasn’t a single cloud in the blue sky, and visibility across the desert was excellent.

After finishing breakfast, casting Clean Magic, and tidying up the room, we left the castle.

“Phantom Magic (Navyvision).”

The castle that had stood there until moments ago vanished as though it had been nothing more than an illusion.

During the bitterly cold night, Yuri had bundled herself in a fluffy hooded jacket with cat ears, but now, in the extreme daytime heat, she had pulled the hood of a sun-shielding cloak low over her head, covering her entire body.

It hid her cute face, but while we were in the desert, it couldn’t be helped. The ultraviolet rays here were so intense that, depending on the person, they could make the skin feel as though it were being stabbed.

I would have liked to leave the desert region without anything happening, but apparently that wasn’t going to happen.

Four people were charging toward us from the distance at tremendous speed.

The castle was hidden by illusion magic. Even the Hero should have had difficulty seeing through it, so how had they figured out where we were?

Then a sharp, high-pitched bird cry rang out from somewhere.

When I looked up, I saw a hawk… or more precisely, a hawk-shaped monster called an Ogre Hawk.

It was a creature that shouldn’t have existed in Ice Heatland. Could that… perhaps be a trained bird belonging to the Hero’s party?

Come to think of it, the little bird that had warned me about the Hero’s approach had said it had been chased by a large bird.

Maybe the Ogre Hawk had been pursuing the little bird as prey and had happened to follow it all the way to the illusory castle.

Sending that bird out to scout had backfired on me… I’d never imagined the Hero would come all the way out here.

I released Diares from my Storage Ball, took it in hand, and rested the greatsword on my shoulder.

Perhaps because he had sprinted at full speed across the difficult desert terrain, the Hero, Vanrost Rain, approached us with slightly unsteady steps.

“I found you!! Yuri! I’ll allow you to return to us!! So come over here… H-H-H-Hachoo!!”

Before Vanrost could even finish speaking, he stopped and let out a tremendous sneeze.

I grimaced and held out my palm toward him.

“You’ve caught a cold, haven’t you? Don’t come within two meters of me. Social distancing.”

“What the hell are you babbling about!? You’re in no position to talk back to me!”

Apparently, “social distancing” was a phrase that had once become popular in some other world.

It meant people shouldn’t come within two meters of each other so they wouldn’t spread colds or similar illnesses.

I shrugged and spoke to the Hero.

“I was merely teaching the great Hero some basic manners to encourage his emotional growth.”

At my answer, the Hero Vanrost’s eyes bulged.

Most people probably trembled and fell to their knees the moment they heard the title “Hero.” He must never have dreamed that I would actually talk back to him.

Far too many people had spoiled the Hero rotten.

“Hey, Plain Roy. Just hand that kid over quietly. You’re dealing with the Hero, you know? There’s no way some mere B-rank like you can stand against him.”

The one who said that was Rosa the Drifter.

Well, she wasn’t wrong that an ordinary B-rank adventurer wouldn’t stand a chance.

I glared sharply at Rosa.

“You’re the one who told me to look after her in the first place.”

“Things have changed. I’m interested in that kid now too.”

Rosa chuckled meaningfully.

Knowing her, she might have realized that Yuri was the key member holding the Hero’s party together.

Even if Yuri returned to her old party, they would only exploit her however they pleased again.

There was absolutely no way I was handing Yuri over.

Vanrost glared at me and pointed in my direction.

“You B-rank bastard over there, if you quietly give Yuri back, I’ll forgive your earlier attitude.”

“Come on, that doesn’t sound like something a Hero should say. What kind of villain talks like that?”

“Who are you calling a villain!? Just give her back already!”

“You say ‘give her back’ now, but you’re the ones who expelled Yuri.”

“And I’m saying I’ll forgive her expulsion.”

“I don’t need your permission. You’re the one who should quietly go home.”

I made a shooing gesture at the Hero with my hand.

Seeing that I had absolutely no intention of obeying him, Vanrost ground his teeth and looked toward the women in his party.

“Damn it… Irina, Camula, Rosa, take care of this guy.”

“Ehh? Isn’t it kind of cruel to make some B-rank old guy fight S-ranks like us?”

“We are doing this to get Yuri back. There is no need for mercy.”

The young mage looked down on me mockingly, while the female priest answered coldly as she pushed up her glasses.

At that moment, Yuri spread both arms and stepped in front of me.

“Van, stop! This man has nothing to do with this!!”

She probably did it unconsciously, but when speaking to the Hero, Yuri’s voice dropped so low that she sounded almost like a boy.

“Shut up!! Yuri, don’t you dare talk back to me!! Just keep your mouth shut and obey my orders!!”

“If you lay a hand on Roy, I will never forgive you!!”

“What did you say, you bastard!? Wave Shock!”

Vanrost fired Wave Shock at Yuri.

Yuri’s body was blasted several meters away.

“Yuri!!”

I shouted Yuri’s name.

Perhaps unable to get back up from the force of being thrown, she lay face-down on the ground.

Vanrost shouted at her while she was still down.

“I told you not to talk back to me!! You’d be happier staying with me, the Hero, than with some guy like that!!”

Even if he had expelled her, attacking someone who had once been his companion made the Hero an even bigger piece of trash than I had imagined.

I tried to rush over to Yuri, but—

“Binding Magic (Restrin)!”

The female priest cast a binding spell on me.

My body became immobilized as though countless threads had wrapped around me.

Then the young mage eagerly began chanting another spell.

“Burn to a crisp! Fireball!”

She suddenly hurled a massive ball of fire straight at me.

She was an S-rank mage. An ordinary B-rank adventurer certainly wouldn’t have stood a chance against her.

The flaming projectile struck me head-on.

Flames clung to my body. This was the kind of fire that wouldn’t go out until it had burned its target away completely.

But—

“Snow Blossom Magic (Blisage).”

When I chanted the spell, snow blossoms began drifting through Ice Heatland, which had transformed into a desert.

The flames surrounding me vanished effortlessly the instant they touched the snow blossoms.

Magic this pathetic couldn’t hurt me in the slightest.

Well, I suppose I did get slightly burned.

A human body really was inconvenient.

“Magic Nullification (Cancel Set).”

When I chanted the spell, the magical cords binding my body unraveled with a soft slithering motion.

The female priest stared at me in stunned disbelief.

An S-rank adventurer’s magic being casually dispelled by a B-rank adventurer was practically unheard of, so I could understand her expression.

The instant I dispelled the magic, I raised my greatsword.

CLAAAAANG!!

Rosa slashed at me, and I blocked her attack with Diares.

She clicked her tongue lightly before asking me,

“You’re not really B-rank, are you…? Why are you staying at B-rank?”

“Because anything higher is a pain in the ass.”

With a faint smile, I shoved Rosa’s sword away along with her entire body.

She was sent flying several meters and landed on her backside, but immediately got back to her feet and charged at me again.

The Red Scorpion sword she wielded contained poison, so I needed to make sure it didn’t touch me.

It would be a little troublesome if it did.

“Go!! Rosa!”

Vanrost merely cheered Rosa on while she traded blows with me, without offering any support whatsoever.

What a magnificent Hero he was.

The strikes from her sword were heavy.

She was probably among the upper tier even among SS-rank warriors.

However—

“Wave Shock.”

I whispered the spell, and Rosa’s body was launched away as though she had been struck by an explosion.

She landed flat on her back in the sand and showed no sign of getting up for quite some time, perhaps because she had been knocked senseless.

“D-Damn it…!!”

The Hero Vanrost drew his sword and tried to slash at me, but Yuri stepped in front of me and blocked his blade.

Yuri spoke coldly to Vanrost.

“Don’t hurt Roy. If you injure him, I won’t let you get away with it.”

“Y-You… Yuri, how dare you!!”

There was a limit to how long Yuri could block the Hero’s sword with her crystal sword.

Before Yuri’s blade could break, I chanted “Wave Shock.”

Vanrost was blasted backward and landed on his backside, but he immediately got back up. Rosa had been knocked unconscious, yet he hadn’t, which was at least worthy of the great Hero.

“Yuri, why do you care about some plain bastard like him!? You’d have a far more fulfilling life with me, and you’d even get to take part in the great mission of defeating the Demon King!!”

“Van, I… love Roy.”

“What!? What the hell are you talking about!?”

“I want to live my life together with Roy!! I never want to go back to you!!”

After declaring that clearly, Yuri pointed her sword at Vanrost.

At that moment, a gust of wind flipped back Yuri’s hood, exposing her face.

Until then, Vanrost had only been able to see half of her face beneath the hood. Now, seeing Yuri with her hair neatly styled and no longer looking shabby and undernourished, his eyes widened.

“Huh…? Who are you?”