Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside - Volume 11 - Chapter Pr

Prologue

The Affairs of Heroes

“So,” Salius, Veronia’s new king, began.

This was the front line of the battle against the demon lord’s armies: a meeting room in a stone fortress erected in a single night by the dwarf king’s magic.

King Salius, Van the Hero, the commander of the Bahamut Knights, the Knight King of the Cataphract Kingdom, the high elf elders, the dwarf king, Frost Witch Rogneda, the masked knight Escarlata, Faerie Eye Arnim, and many other powerful figures had come together to fight the demon lord’s forces. All of them were gathered around the table.

The reason so many who’d been fighting all around the continent were able to leave their respective battlefields to assemble, even for a short time, was thanks to Ruti the Hero’s efforts. Her exploits had granted them all the opportunity to prepare a counterattack. King Salius’s and Van the Hero’s recent commitments to the fight against the demon lord had also aided in making this meeting happen.

“Regrettably, we have no choice but to conclude we won’t be able to get any help from most S-rank adventurers going forward,” King Salius stated.

The powerful figures groaned unhappily.

“Why are your comrades not joining us, Sir Arnim?” Esta inquired.

Arnim, a member of the S-rank adventurer party Returner Six, glared at her with his iridescent left eye. It was an aberrant shape, rumored to be an artificial organ that contained a sealed evil fay.

“And your master, Lady Rogneda, the Winter Witch Baba Yaga,” Esta added.

The S-rank party called the Overseer Alliance, of which Baba Yaga was a member, was also sitting out the war. Instead, the S-rank adventurers’ disciples, made up of witches and cursed swordsmen, were the only ones participating.

Adventurers capable of saving a country, like Loggervia’s Rit, were considered A rank. An A-rank adventurer party might resolve threats that even a well-trained army couldn’t.

However, S-rank adventurer groups existed beyond that. They were formed of champions who fought back threats no one else could. Such parties were called upon only when the world was in dire peril. That was what it meant to be the best in the eyes of the Adventurers Guild.

Yet only a handful of S-rank adventurers were participating in the battle against the demon lord’s armies.

“Everyone is fulfilling their own roles,” Arnim answered calmly.

Rogneda nodded with a faint smile.

“I see. Then it cannot be helped, I suppose,” Esta said.

“But Lady Escarlata, for humanity’s greatest powers to ignore the call to aid when all our peoples are in danger…,” the dwarf king protested.

Esta shook her head.

“They answer to no organization but the Adventurers Guild. They are their own masters. We cannot force them to fight.”

“Lady Esta is correct. Nothing is gained by wishing for that which isn’t. We should focus on fighting with what we have,” Salius added, shifting the topic.

He dismissed the problem of the missing S-rank warriors, hoping to conclude the meeting quickly. Unlike during the start of the invasion, there was no longer a need to go searching for great heroes with no desire to join the war and drag them into the conflict. Esta and Salius knew that it would be people’s determination that saved humanity.

“Then, let us move onto the next topic, the plan to liberate Flamberge Kingdom…”

The fight had transitioned from mere defense to liberation efforts. Although the united forces couldn’t afford careless action, the war with the demon lord’s forces had shifted, perhaps progressing toward its final stages.

“…”

Esta felt the Frost Witch Rogneda’s gaze focused on her while listening to the discussion.

“Once this war is over, I’d like to ask the Winter Witch what she was doing,” Esta remarked. She wasn’t probing for anything in particular. Her comment was born of simple curiosity.

“Knowing you, there may well come a time when you will understand,” Rogneda answered.

Theodora would probably have left it at that, but when faced with Rogneda’s knowing expression, Esta felt like prodding her a bit.

“‘May well come a time’? Even if God desires this battle, my fight is for those who suffer.”

“That’s—”

“That will never change.”

Rogneda’s smile faded. Visible unease took root in her eyes as she realized that Esta, much like her master, understood something of the great heights that she didn’t yet grasp.

Esta smiled behind her mask as though she’d expected that reaction. Those who stood at the apex of the world had also reached an answer regarding Demis and Divine Blessings, just as she had.

I can’t say whether they know the Hero and Demon Lord blessings are meant to recreate the first hero’s spirit, but…

Esta didn’t feel the need to become a hermit and cut herself off from others simply because she knew the truth of the world, as it seemed some of the S rankers did.

Admittedly, I only feel that way because Red and Albert were there for me.

If the Theodora who’d traveled with Ruti had learned the truth of the world…she might’ve abandoned the fight against the demon lord’s army like the absent S-rank adventurers.

What would I have done if things had played out that way?

Had Esta learned that God cared nothing for the demon lord’s defeat while she was still utterly devoted to the divine…

Esta suddenly felt very uneasy and decided to abandon that trail of thought.