Extra chapter thanks to my Patreons 🙂 My unending gratitude to all your support!
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Chapter 66: Matters to decide on; Matters to worry about
Translator: Tseirp
The storms often affect the harbor district.
Flooded floors due to the rising river level was an annual occurrence and it wasn’t rare for buildings to collapse.
The residents of the harbor district had given up on conquering the storm and their construction technology developed in the direction of easily constructed buildings that do not have to last for very long such that it would be fine even if they were destroyed in the storm.
In a part of the harbor district which saw little pedestrian traffic, there lied a shop which was half destroyed by the storm three years ago. The old walls and new walls were joint together like patchwork and wind whistled through the gaps between the walls.
The shopkeeper was an old lady with a bent back who received her customers with an amicable smile.
“Here you go, white fish soup.”
“Thank you.”
I carried the two platters of soups with floating fish fillet that was served onto the counter to my table.
As it was currently still slightly early for lunch, we were the only customers in the shop.
“Looks delicious!”
Danan said with sparkling eyes.
“You always say that.”
I laughed as I looked at Danan.
That was Danan’s set phrase whenever food was placed in front of him. If the cooking was decent then Danan would say it with sparkling eyes.
I involuntarily felt a sense of nostalgia after watching my companion’s habit after such a long time.
“No way, the chance for me to say ‘looks delicious’ decreased after you left. The meals we had on the road became shitty unpalatable.”
“Don’t say shit at the meal table. Do you guys alternate the cooking duty?”
“Nah, Ares said he’ll do it so we let him do it.”
“Ah~, that would be impossible.”
I don’t believe Ares knew any inkling about cooking. He probably tried to do everything I did to keep up appearances for chasing me out of the party.
That’s called being unreasonable.
“Leaving it up to a person who can’t do it would probably cause dissatisfaction to accumulate. For such instances, the work should be alternated so everyone can share the belief that it is not easy. After doing that, all members can discuss the best course of action and you’ll be able to find the person best fitted for the task too.”
“We’re all battle-orientated experts after all.”
Danan scratched his head.
“In the first place, this is all because you selfishly left.”
Danan’s arm on his head blurred.
And the next instant, Danan’s finger was right next to my forehead.
I twisted my head and avoided Danan’s forehead flick by a hair’s breadth.
“Seems like your skills have not dulled.”
Danan grinned as he retracted his arm.
Give me a break.
The pain from a forehead flick by that thick finger would not subside even after three days.
I avoided it by luck but Danan’s movements were many multitudes sharper in the past. He was only playing around now but it would be terrifying how swift it would have been if he was serious.
“You know, I can count with just two hands the number of people in the world capable of avoiding my forehead flicks.”
“No no, I still feel the difference in strength after all. Danan is strong.”
He overtook me in the past but now, the difference between Danan and my ability was insurmountable.
While I was spending my time leisurely in Zoltan, Danan was placing his life on the line battling against the Demon Lord army on the front lines.
Once he overtook my level which was my only merit, there was no longer any aspect I could triumph over him.
“ … I don’t feel that way though. Gideon, you are a man I can respect.”
Danan said a little desolately after hearing my words.
Danan and I made slurping sounds as we drank the soup.
It was seasoned in a simple manner relying only on the flavor of the fish as well as salt and apart from the fish fillet, large chunks of potatoes and cabbages floated in the soup.
It was not an elaborate dish but it was still delicious. If your cooking skill is low, just utilize the flavors of the ingredients. That was a good dish that followed that principle.
The old lady who managed the shop used to be a singer who sang for sailors. After retiring, she switched to a completely different occupation to become the proprietress of an inn and continued running this shop for many years relying on her ingenuity and characteristic smile despite having no skills that matched her work.
“So why did you leave?”
Danan muttered just a few words.
“ … Didn’t you hear from Ares? I ran away.”
I requested Ares to coordinate an excuse with me so that I would not inconvenience the knight order but from what I heard from Tise, Ares quickly revealed that I ran away after they probed him further.
Danan most likely heard about it too.
“Because Ares said those things to you?”
“There was that too but … more importantly, I recognized it myself. I was made painfully aware of it during the battle with Desmond of the Sand. That I could no longer keep up in battle.”
“You’re wrong!”
Danan slammed the table.
The soups surged upward and spilled onto the table slightly.
“I realized it fully after you were gone. Gideon, you are strong. Not in terms of pure physical strength but your courage to make calm decisions even while fighting against foes stronger than yourself and your knowledge of the most effective actions to take in a battle even without possessing battle techniques and spells; you are a truly strong man. We need you for the journey.”
Danan’s eyes were serious.
However … I had already made my decision and I could not stay there indefinitely for a question and answer session.
“Sorry, but I have already found a place where I belong here. I will no longer journey with you guys.”
“But the Demon Lord must be defeated if you wish to protect this home of yours!”
“That is true.”
Danan dove directly into the issue.
I relived Albert’s words in my head.
『Those with power have the duty to use that power. 』
Is it a sin to not fight? Is it our duty to fight because the Divine Protection we are born with wishes for it?
I have pondered that question all this time as I looked at Ruti.
Young Ruti was mandated to save the world from birth. The people, the world and even the Divine Protection will not allow her to say that she does not want to fight.
We continued to stare at each other but Danan was the first to avert his eyes.
“ … Fuuu, well, I see, you quit the journey on your own will.”
“The trigger might have been Ares but I decided to quit the journey myself.”
We kept silent for a short while.
Both our gazes crossed, filled with complex emotions.
“I don’t understand but anyway, I got it. Let me see what you do in Zoltan for a bit. I’ll think of what to do after that.”
“I don’t mind but … there’s one problem.”
“What is it?”
“Ruti is here too.”
“Ha?”
Danan froze from the shock.
“Why would Hero-sama?”
“ … You might be upset with Ruti if you hear what I have to say.”
“I will? Toward Hero-sama? That’s impossible.”
Should I tell Danan the truth? In order to avoid trouble, I could certainly deceive Danan and steer him away from Ruti’s problem.
“However Danan. I want to tell you everything I know. What Ruti is thinking, what she is suffering from. Because you are Ruti’s companion.”
“Hero-sama’s sufferings?”
Why did the hero companions become all disjointed just because I left? I failed to understand when I first heard about it.
All I did were chores that did not require any skills. To put it bluntly, they were tasks that anybody could do with just a little hard work.
I imagined that they would probably struggle once I was gone but those were tasks which could be resolved just by sharing the burden among companions.
But in reality, Ares tried to do everything himself and failed miserably. The party members became disgruntled and the party fell apart.
Was Ares the cause?
He was certainly a factor. If Ares just admitted that it was too much for one person to handle, it would not have reached this stage.
But that was not the only reason. Even if Ares did not voice out, it would have been all right if they just helped out when they realized that Ares could not cope with it on his own.
The other reason could be attributed to distrust toward Ares for chasing me out. After all, Yarandorara and Danan left the party because they could not trust Ares.
“True companion huh?”
It might have been words spoken by Ares but ironically, that was the reason for the collapse of the party.
“I considered you to be a true companion.”
Danan reacted to my words and replied.
I was happy, happy that he said that but … it’s different.
I started telling Danan about Ruti.
About how she has been suffering all along because of how the Hero Divine Protection manipulated her.
About how she lost most of her humanity in exchange for complete immunity.
And about how she was suppressing her Divine Protection impulses by using the Devil’s Divine Protection … and that she might quit being the Hero.
The companions who accompanied Ruti all that time failed to understand Ruti’s anguish.
Ruti was the Hero with the role to carry the party forward. Because that was determined by her Divine Protection.
If all the members performed their roles properly according to their Divine Protection, the party would do well. That was probably Ares’ definition of a true companion.
However, it did not go well. Because I was not a slave to my Divine Protection.
“Troubled because of her Divine Protection? I never imagined it.”
Danan was shocked by my words.
“The Martial Artist Divine Protection complements me well. I enjoy training my body and fighting strong foes excite me. Nothing makes me happier than to see myself get stronger. For that sake, I will endure whatever hardship that may come … I am that kind of person.”
“Yeah.”
” … I don’t get it. I don’t get it at all.”
Danan was basically on the side of humans who can’t comprehend the feeling of suffering due to their Divine Protection impulses. Among all the people I’ve met, Danan was the person who loved his own Divine Protection the most.
The fact that he possessed even greater strength with his 『Martial Artist』 Divine Protection that can’t be considered as a superior Divine Protection than his companions with the superior Divine Protections of 『Crusader』 and 『Sage』 was proof of that.
“I don’t get it. But I get that I don’t understand anything! The only thing I can do is fight!”
“You muscle head.”
“That’s why, for the time being, I will fight for the sake of whatever Hero-sama is trying to do! If Hero-sama quits being Hero-sama, I will think about it when that time comes!”
Ahh sheesh. Danan is really Danan.
“If we’ve decided on that, we don’t have the time to be lazing around here! Let’s go Gideon, it is our role to help Hero-sama if she is having trouble!”
“Wait wait, my story is done but what about yours?”
“We can talk about it on the move, what happened to me is no big deal!”
I feel that losing your right hand is quite a big deal though.
Danan’s expression clearly showed that he could not sit still.
“All right.”
It’s been a long time since I saw that aspect of Danan.
This loveable muscle brain has always practiced actions over thoughts. No matter what situation he found himself in, he was the kind of man who would never stop moving forward because of worry.
I occasionally found myself dazzled by Danan’s simplicity.
☆☆
The door opened and Red and Danan left the shop energetically.
“Are you sure we don’t need to chase after them?”
Said the man with a bandage wrapped around his head seated a couple of seats away from where Danan and Red were seated … Albert.
Theodora who had her spear on her back answered with silence as she looked at her own hands placed on the table.
Theodora stood at the very peak of humanity in terms of magical arts. If Theodora seriously used presence elimination magic, even with a combination of Danan and Red, it would be hard for Danan and Red to detect them when they didn’t hold any hostility. (TLN: Previously translated Theodora as the master of technique but this paragraph finally showed that she was a master in magical arts instead.)
(Hero-sama has given up on subjugating the Demon Lord?)
Theodora did not have Danan’s simplistic way of thinking.
Theodora failed to register Albert’s worried query about her condition as she continued to worry about what she should do.
Emotionally she wished to cooperate with Ruti and Gideon. If Ruti was suffering then she wants to help her!
Theodora never imagined that she would hate herself as much as she hated herself today for not having Danan’s straightforwardness.
GM_Rusaku
Thanks! Nepu!
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Failed Flag Detector-san
Thanks for the chap~
Wow, to be honest, i didn’t see all of this “sympathetic feeling” coming this fast. I thouggt it would be later on after the bloodshed between Ares and co.
Afganitia
Thanks for the chapter.
kirindas
Thanks for the new chapter!
Chad
That leaves Ares out of the loop. Something is going to happen soon, wonder if Ares is going straight towards the ruins where he will meet Ruti.
Auehsusb
Ares will probably meet up with Shansandan, and honestly, I expect them to either join or Ares to be killed…
Lord Of The Flies, Bel-kun
Oh my, it’s getting complicated now.
Not Important
True Ares wasn’t the root of all the partys problems, but he was the one that set everything in motion. The party was precariously balancing on a top, Gideon bearly understood his sister, Ares was plotting, the Elf was probably the most distant or Gideon was trying to get her to open up, Dannan was letting everything happen and doing nothing to create a favorable result. Theodroa was training with Gideon and talking about copeing with an unwanted DP. This party kinda reminds me of P3 in a way, everyone not really knowing each other well and acting as the force to save humanity. Maybe a death in the party might have opened all of their eyes, although that would probably be Gideon or Ares, Gideon was the only one close enough to everyone to create a meaningful impact and would also probably be the only event big enough to make them realize how much Ruti used him as an emotional Tether. Ares dying would only really eliminate one of the elements of destabilization, but would reveal to the party the mortality of their mission, hopefully opening their eyes to eachothers thoughts. Instead we have Ares making a mistake and not addmitting it.
PS: I don’t like how Red is letting Ares off with all that he had done to him. Sure everyone is at fault as no one tried to help Ares with the chores, or try to understand one another, but I can only look at the first scene as Ares was chasing Gideon out, and even lied about it afterwords, wording more fitting to the situation would be “that Ares chased him out, but he has found a reason to stay here” which he does say. I just think that Ares should not be let off the hook yet. Even if Red agreed with Ares that he fell behind the party Ares made the decision to confront Gideon by himself not by the will of the party.
moto
I agree ares shouldnt be left off the hook but gideon himself has already found peace with the situation, so there really no point in pursuing it when the party already fell apart.
I don’t agree that everyone is at fault for not helping ares. Ares was the one to kick gideon outside of the party and clearly the rest of the party was 100% gideon should stay. Noone is obligated to aid ares in the roles that he put himself in just because gideon was a wall against him from using ruti.
Ironically gideon was basically fuuka, he was the informat, scout, cooker, logistics, and every role the rest of the party couldnt do. Which is alot work if you think about it. You cant replace someone like gideon easily. Ares though, u can easily get replaced.
Inbetweenaction
Yeah. Gideon was essentially every single support except high-level emergency heal. He can easily be replaced, as nothing he did was super hard . By a few hundred people, seeing how quantity is a quality of it’s own… But not by any one person
Ares is just a peak level magic user, and anyone else who ranks in the top ten – twenty magic user in the word can replace him.
Zyst
I’d argue that Ares didn’t have the capability to chase Gideon out. Ruti is the hero, and the leader of the party, she makes those choices. As long as Gideon tattled this would have all been solved trivially.
I think taking the chapter at a greater face value is important. Gideon may have genuinely felt that he was starting to burden the party, and he understood it would likely only get worse as the levels grew further.
We could argue he could have remained in a support staff kind of role, not necessarily as a combatant but I feel the things that Ares told Gideon are not completely off mark, unless some plot device like “Teehee~ Normal skills are actually the strongest~” comes out later on he would have genuinely kept falling further, and further behind.
I do think Ares main goal in kicking Gideon out were to remove Ruti’s emotional support/anchor, and placing himself in that position (A lovers relationship) which would help bring his house back. And the “You were never a true companion” crap was completely off base, probably more intended to wound Gideon, and work as a plot device for establishing that “Ares is an asshole/villain”.
Again, just to be clear, even though Gideon may have played a crucial role in the party, what I’m saying is that the perception he has that he would become a burden is real in his mind is important.
All of that said, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Biazar Starkuro
helping ruti have freedom would be a great thing
Zeth
Thank you Tseirp!!
Arte
Gideon was essentially the party bard in a d&d game, with a wide range of mundane skills pushed to the limits. He couldn’t participate in battles as effectively as anyone else in the group, but the other things he did made sure the rest of the party were in top form mentally and physically so that they could keep doing their absolute best. On top of all of that, he was still capable of fighting…just not as effectively as others could.
Ares may be the sage of the group, but I can’t help but think of him as a fool instead. He focused entirely on effectiveness in combat while ignoring everything that Gideon did to make sure everyone else could be as effective as they were in every battle.
Kvetha
Thank you very much for the chapter!
Filip Dinca
Urgh, again the JP novel trope, they ignore or postpone the most important thing, the fcking man eating demon that can change shape of the one it ate. Really, this is annoying. At least one more former party member getting back, but why didn’t she(Theo) wonder why Dannan is missing an arm idk.
Thanks for the translation, I hope you take care of yourself too!!!
Riceball
To be fair, I forgot about that too.
Arienai
Well, no one know that the demon is here
and the muscle brain still kept the reason for his lost arm to himself as he somehow place “problem about the hero” above “Shisandan ain’t dead yet, and it is plotting something atm”
Wait till the next chapters, Lit should notice the fact that he lost an arm as she just recently met the guy[Shisandan in disguise] and that one still got two arms.
This is no spoiler btw, just a guess.
Weasalopes
You’re right, Dannan is a musclehead, he knows it, and everyone else knows it, and that does explain his mis-prioritizing at this time.
And, yes, when Lit sees him she should raise the question as to how he lost his arm in the short period since she last saw him. To which he should react with a “Say, whaaat?” in regard to having seen her since she was last with the Hero’s Party.
At which point people should start getting concerned.
However, the real question is, which party makes it to the Ancient Elf citadel first: Shisandan? Red & Dannan? Lit & Tish & Spider-san? Is Ruti already there? When will Ares, Theo & Albert-sama (and at this point I don’t have a problem with it being sama in Albert’s case, he’s a changed man) follow them all?
Timing, after all, is everything!
Capid
Seeing how the team crashed down in flames just by Gideon leaving them makes for a simple thought.
Gideon was the real leader of the party.
Sure, Ruti is the hero, she’s the one who can take down the DK, but the one who did absolutely everything else was Gideon, and the only reason he was allowed to leave, it was because everyone, Ruti included, were unaware of how vital he was.
It’s like those videogames were your PC has a boss that makes the hard work, like keeping the war going, you will save the world, but because that leader was there to guide you.
Weasalopes
I beg to differ on this.
Not in regard to Gideon being the leader of the party; everything has made it clear that he was the one who kept everything running smoothly, around whom everyone else rotated, knowingly or unknowingly, as the case may be while he was there, but very clear to everyone after he was no longer there.
Ruti, I believe, was aware of how important his presence was, and not just because he was the only one who was able to be close to her without having had a major boot to the head, which at that time none of the rest had.
And from the reaction when Ares announced that Gideon had run away, various of the others also realized just how crucial Gideon was to the success of the party.
Gideon, however, was in denial of what he was truly contributing; he really didn’t comprehend, or allow himself to comprehend, just how vital all the support roles he filled were to the wellbeing and success of the venture. He was too focused on comparing his combat abilities to the rest to understand how important his other contributions were. He’d developed all those skills for the purpose of being close to Ruti, and wasn’t evaluating them from the perspective of how they truly impacted everyone else in the party; while he liked most of them, with the exception of Ares, he wasn’t doing these things for them, he was doing them for Ruti. So when Ares told him everyone saw him as a drag to the party, his lack of ego allowed him to believe it. However, that he didn’t want to be there for any reason other than being with Ruti, and that he’d really prefer having a slow, pleasant existence in a backwater region didn’t hurt when it came to allowing him to be driven out by Ares; while it separated him from Ruti, that was the only true negative from his perspective which made it much easier for him to accept Ares claims.
Ares was aware of how much Gideon truly contributed, Ares ego didn’t allow him to acknowledge that fact consciously, but that was part of why he saw Gideon as an obstacle to Ares’ assuming his “rightful” place as the one the Hero Ruti relied upon. The other reason for wanting Gideon gone was that as Ruti’s brother, Gideon would always have a closer relationship with Ruti than Ares did, so removing him from the situation was crucial to Ares’ long term agenda.
Ares’ problem is that he places his own agenda above the mission of the Hero; the Hero succeeding without Ares obtaining the redemption of the family name would be unacceptable in Ares’ eyes.
Reaper Phoenix
Thanks 4 the chapter!
Trouble brewing. AGAIN.
Zax
The problems are just piling up now. Thanks for the chapter
Cutie Meow
Thanks
splayko
TBH Gideon’s never had to put up with Ares and his shortcomings at his worst, cause he just noped outta there when Ares hit him with the only cheap shot that would work, and every other shortcoming he can nullify himself. So I can totally see why he cuts Ares tons of slack, cause to be honest the party’s problems after he left aren’t his own problems, and they only got really bad after he left!
It’s like if you worked at the same job all your life with the same guy who instead of doing work kept playing office politics, until one day he lies and gets you to resign. Sure you’re out of a job but hey you know you’re capable and can get a job anywhere else, and you were getting tired of doing the same thing anyway, and man you won’t have to deal with that guy ever again (hopefully). So wish them well on the way out!
Kuzo
Lol this ares guy really annoying even his party started to hate him
Thanks for the chappu~
Daiz71
Thanks
Zeronos
Whew
You know what anime/show is matched with this story?
Thunderbolt fantasy.
If you will look at it at first glance, it seems like a generic story but as the plot progresses, it is a huge deconstruction.
TF is a deconstrution of forming parties with ragtag bunch without having to know their agendas while IWKHP is the deconstruction of the chosen one and the party composition.
Airie Chan
Thanks for the chapter desu~!
We all know Gideon is stronger than Ares and them. He is after all the MC!! and MC always had secret powaar!!!
Kel
Danan: “You know, I can count with just two hands the number of people in the world capable of avoiding my forehead flicks.”
Me: Bet you can’t do that now with only one arm ლ(●ↀωↀ●)ლ
Ranic
They just can not understand since they didn’t experience it. But even so Gideon know the best.. well Ares will never understand though…
Anyway thanks for the chapter ya~
DarkoNeko
I was thinking “maybe don’t explain all that next to the inn lady.” but it got a lot worse lol.
Wonder if Danan will gain an artificial hand of sort down the road (related to the clockwork monsters maybe ?). That’d be nice.
DJsanwit
u wu) wasn’t Albert is correctly Jail breaker/Wanted person in this town?
Shiro
No big deal? Cmon a enemy that should be dead cut off your arm , and i doubt danan is dumb enough to not realize that said enemy could be around (Danan and him were going to look for gideon and on the way danan is attacked by him and then he shows up on zoltan) , and it is a high profile enemy but no big deal huh?
Annoying development, now what? the shinsandan will powerup and encounter the “hero squad” in a showdown? or whithout powerup too , maybe even a teamup of ares and shinsandan.
Anyway it is becoming increasingly annoying with the “japanese tropes” , and all this shit about “divine protections” is lame , it is a weak plot , next what? The demon lord is just a guy that fights for freedom from the divine shit and all that?