Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside - Volume 13 - Chapter 5.2

“Yes, sir… But are you sure? There might be others aside from me who know you.”

“We’re all living together here in Zoltan. Ruti and I have made up our minds…and we want to help.”

I want to do what I can as Zoltan’s apothecary, Red.

That hasn’t changed, and it isn’t going to.

“So that’s what happened…”

Ruti and I had lunch with Rit when she got back from the deliveries, and I told her about what had happened that morning.

“What about the people who were in the store?”

“Mm, they understood and said they’d keep it quiet,” Ruti said, lowering her gaze slightly. “Even though I should’ve been the reliable one, everyone encouraged me.”

“Our regulars are all good people,” Rit said with a kind smile.

Apparently, Ruti had tried to explain things to the people in the store afterward, but…

“You were keeping it a secret, right? Then there’s no need to explain. It must’ve been rough, but you still made it out here to Zoltan. Thank you. I’m sure things will work out with Harmon.”

After that, they told the woman who’d brought Harmon in—Eva was her name—about Ruti and me here in Zoltan.

Eva seemed to accept it as well, and she’d even looked happy to hear that Ruti was now an adventurer here in Zoltan, protecting the city.

“I want to explain things properly, though,” Ruti said seriously. “Back then, there were so many things I couldn’t see because I had my hands full dealing with my own issues… But now things are different.”

“Yeah.”

Ruti was growing. She could feel pain she hadn’t been able to as the Hero. That determination to overcome it was called courage.

“That aside…”

There were issues we needed to resolve, but we also had our everyday work to take care of.

“We need to set up our stall for the Harvest Festival tomorrow!”

“Right,” Rit said.

Ruti blinked in surprise.

“I left Tisse waiting at the plantation.”

“Oh yeah, you came to deliver the medicinal herbs.”

“Big Brother, Rit, I’m going back to Tisse. Let’s meet later where we’re going to set up the stalls.”

““Okay!””

Rit and I both smiled.

It felt like she was back to her usual self.

Although I talked about setting up the stall, ours was just a table covered by a tablecloth, a little tent for a roof, and a sign out front.

Rit had arranged for the sign to be made. It had a bottle of medicine and a bronze shotel painted on it, with “Red & Rit’s Apothecary” written in cute, bouncy letters.

It was a pretty different vibe from the sign on our shop, but it fit the festival mood.

That’s my Rit.

“We’re done now, but…”

Habotan and Frank were working together, and they looked to be making adjustments to the shuriken throwing corner.

Frank was throwing a shuriken…but he was surprisingly bad at it.

“I-if they were throwing axes, I’d get bull’s-eyes with all of them.”

“Oh yeah?”

“If you’re saying that, why don’t you give it a go, Red?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Ooh! You are going to try, Sir Red?!”

I took the shuriken from Frank.

Am I right in thinking of using them like cross-shaped throwing knives?

“This is how one holds them.”

“I see.”

Gripping them like Habotan had said, I threw five in quick succession.

“All of them right in the middle. You really are incredible, Sir Red…!”

Habotan clapped excitedly.

Throwing is a common skill, but it’s rare for people to perfect it. There’s a limit to how well you can use bows and crossbows without an inherent skill, so I had attacked enemies at a distance by using Throwing with javelins and weapons I’d picked up off the ground.

At less than two meters, even with a weapon I didn’t know, I could hit a target as small as the eye of a needle.

“Let me try!”

Rit came over, too.

Habotan took the shuriken out of the target and handed them to Rit.

“I love my throwing knives, so I’m sure I’ll be great, too.”

“Oh?”

Rit held up a shuriken.

“Ah, that’s not how to hold them!”

Yet Rit still threw it, despite Habotan’s comment.

“Hngh?!”

She’d hit the target, but it had landed above and to the right of the bull’s-eye.

“Ahaha, close.”

“Don’t worry. You hit the target, so you still receive a prize!”

“But I can do so much better!”

After listening to Habotan’s advice and adjusting her grip and stance, Rit threw the rest of the shuriken carefully. By the third one, she started hitting precisely where she aimed.