“We’ll Definitely Come Back to Save You!” — It’s Been Three Years Since I Was Left in the Most Difficult Dungeon, Isn’t It About Time for Help to Arrive...? - 26-27

Chapter 26: The Blunder of the Elite Party

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When Wurfe arrived at the guild and pushed open the heavy doors, he was met with a space steeped in tranquility and dignity. Along the walls stood bookshelves haphazardly filled with old maps and tomes, while thick curtains softly blocked the sunlight streaming in through the windows.

The thick carpet laid over the floor muffled Wurfe’s clumsy footsteps, but the room’s master didn’t miss even that faint noise.

“—Sorry to call you in so suddenly. I wanted to go over the Demon Lord subjugation once more with you, which is why I asked you to come.”

The Guild Master, seated at the large desk in the center of the room and reviewing documents, set down his well-worn quill and turned toward the door.

“……I suppose I should have worried about your condition before starting the conversation?”

An empty scabbard, cracked armor, a body covered in wounds. The adventurer standing before the Guild Master looked so worn out that it was hard to believe he was the same man who had confidently spoken just a few hours earlier.

“N-No…! There’s no problem, Guild Master! So, um, about what you wanted to discuss…”

Wurfe, his heartbeat loud in his ears, nervously prompted the Guild Master to continue.

“…Right, this is actually good timing. Just earlier, we received reports that several parties engaged in battle with a figure believed to be the Demon Lord in the city. One of those involved was a member of ‘Ordoll,’ so I assume you’re aware of this incident too?”

“Y-Yes… Well… Yeah…”

“According to the reports, some adventurers spotted the Demon Lord near the city square, pursued him, and cornered him on the outskirts. They then joined forces with several other parties and attempted to subjugate him—but were annihilated without inflicting so much as a single wound. It says here that your party, Ordoll, joined in the battle at that point, engaged the Demon Lord, and succeeded in driving him off…”

“Y-Yes! That’s exactly right! We, Ordoll, cornered him! He managed to escape, unfortunately, but next time for sure—!”

“The report continues.”

The Guild Master furrowed his brow slightly and turned his eyes back to the documents in front of him.

“According to the observations of our personnel, the key to repelling the Demon Lord was three individuals. A red-haired warrior who stood her ground and exhausted the Demon Lord through sheer hand-to-hand combat. A silvery white-haired mage who pinned down what appeared to be a close aide using magic and cut off support. And a saintess who charged in undaunted by the Demon Lord’s tricks and played the decisive role in driving him off… Looking at you now, I don’t see anyone who matches those descriptions.”

“Uh… Well, that is… Uum…”

The once-enthusiastic Wurfe visibly shrank, as if his battered appearance had finally caught up with him.

“…As you know, for guild-approved requests, we always send personnel to the scene to prevent dishonest adventurers from submitting false reports and collecting unearned rewards. Their job is to assess the success of the mission and the strength of the target firsthand.”

The Guild Master spoke in a calm but instructive tone, gently tapping a document in front of him with one finger.

“Now then… It seems you haven’t been on the front lines of monster subjugation for the past few years—has your skill dulled with time?”

“Ah…! No, that’s…!”

The quiet yet piercing words struck him like a blade to the chest. The moment those words left the Guild Master’s aged throat, the air in the office turned ice cold.

“I’ll ask again. What happened to the other three? According to the report, they acted independently and pursued the Demon Lord on their own. Do you really believe the Demon Lord is weak enough to be taken down so easily, even by those three alone?”

Wurfe had no proper response to the Guild Master’s repeated questions and could only stammer. Seeing this, the Guild Master sighed heavily.

“…Let me be frank, Wurfe Granzel. At this moment, I have some doubts about your capability as an adventurer. Your achievements have waned, and you’ve become a so-called former elite party leader in name only. I happened to overhear such a rumor when you last showed your face at the guild.”

“Incompetent…?! W-Who said that…?! That’s just baseless gossip from nobodies! And you, of all people, Guild Master—why would you let something like that get to you?!”

“Ah, yes, you’re right. I dismissed it as mere hearsay as well. But after seeing your condition and your inability to keep your party members in line, don’t you think I’d be justified in harboring some concerns as the one assigning you work?”

“That’s… I mean…”

“Also, if it turns out that the leader of one of the guild’s top-ranking parties is just a hollow shell of the past, it would damage the morale of the other adventurers.”

Maintaining his sharp tone, the Guild Master held out a sheet of paper to Wurfe.

“I’m ordering your party to continue investigating and subjugating the Demon Lord. We still don’t know why the Demon Lord appeared in this city. It’s also strange that he withdrew so easily when he should have had the upper hand—or at the very least, been evenly matched. He may have another goal in mind. …I’d like to see you prove your supposed strength here.”

“O-Of course…! I, Wurfe, will show you! I’ll defeat the Demon Lord no matter what!”

With those words, sharp and unyielding like a nail being driven in, Wurfe, full of a tangled mix of anxiety and desperation, accepted the mission of “Demon Lord subjugation”—a task for which he saw no clear path ahead. He was pressured into it by the overwhelming presence of the Guild Master.

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Chapter 27: False Sense of Duty

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Meanwhile—

Deep in a forest far from Calzeria, Athos, having narrowly escaped danger, slumped down and leaned heavily against the trunk of a tree, utterly drained.

“I-I’m exhausted…! I can’t go any further… I need a break…!”

“Haah… Haah… That’s rare… It’s not like you to complain this much from just running, Athos…”

Perhaps because they had been running the whole time, each word came between ragged breaths.

“Well, you know… It was a literal life-or-death escape. Of course I’m physically and mentally exhausted…”

When they’d gotten lost and those three had managed to get ahead of them, he had genuinely thought it was the end. They’d only barely escaped by hiding at the last second. If they’d been spotted and caught back then… Just imagining the outcome made his skin crawl.

On top of that, the three of them came at different times, staggering their approach. It was nerve-wracking not knowing when or where they’d pop up next.

“I will find you, no matter what…!”

”I’ll definitely find you…!”

”…I will… find you…!”

Those voices, filled with terrifying intensity, had passed right by his ears… Just remembering them made his hair stand on end.

“—Wait! No, seriously, what the hell is this…!? I just wanted to go back to town—how did it come to this!?”

As he calmed his rough breathing, his mind began to clear, and all the confusion he had only vaguely noticed before started surfacing clearly in his thoughts.

“The guild or other adventurers misunderstanding me, I can get that… But the real problem is them. They genuinely thought I was the Demon Lord and were trying to kill me. They looked like Eishia and the others, but it was like they were completely different people… They didn’t listen to a word I said, like they were just actors playing out a script that had already been written…”

They were pure, and yet impure. That was the impression Athos got from Eishia and the others.

“…I see. If that’s how you felt, Athos—then it must be true.”

“What do you mean ‘true’…?”

Hel placed a hand over her mouth as if thinking, then looked at him seriously and spoke.

“They’ve had a lie planted in them. A false sense of duty—one that tells them they must defeat you.”

“False sense of duty…?”

“Don’t you think it’s strange, Athos? It’s one thing if they were complete strangers, but even those who were supposed to be your allies are now out for your life. And despite how serious they are about killing you, there’s absolutely no clear motive behind their actions. Nothing is driving them—at least, not that we can see.”

Hel paused for a bit before continuing. 

“…Well, if you’ve been doing lewd things to your companions for a while, then maybe that’s a different story?”

“I haven’t! That last thing was just an accident—! Wait, no, that’s not the point right now…! You’re right, Hel. If it’s really them—people who know me—there’s no way they’d believe such baseless rumors. There has to be room for a real conversation between us…”

That was why Hel’s theory about a “false sense of duty” influencing them actually made sense to Athos.

“But… How do you know a lie was planted in them?”

“…Hm? Ah, I haven’t explained that to you yet, have I, Athos? Perfect. Let’s give it a try—Athos, do you like me?”

“…Huh?”

“Do you like me? Of course, I mean as the opposite sex.”

“—HUUUH!? What the hell are you suddenly asking!?”

“Just answer the question. It’s important.”

As Hel impatiently pressed him to respond, Athos reluctantly shifted his thoughts in that direction.

…Do I like her as the opposite sex?

She was unreadable most of the time, and when she teased him, it did get on his nerves occasionally. But her carefree brightness always managed to lift his spirits somehow, and whenever she showed that unexpectedly clingy side, it made his heart skip a beat.

If someone asked whether he liked her or not, he would definitely say yes. But saying that in front of her face was… Honestly kind of embarrassing.

“W-Who knows…? I don’t really get that kind of thing—”

The moment he tried to dodge the question, the atmosphere shifted. The air felt several degrees colder. Suddenly, a black mist began to pour from Hel’s hands and wrapped itself around his body. It gradually gathered around his face, and before he knew it, everything went dark. Losing his balance, he fell onto his backside.

“Liar♡”

The mist quickly dissipated from around him, and Hel crouched in front of him, looking down with a smug smile as she gently tapped his lips with a fingertip.

“That was…”

“It reacted to your lie. It’s my power—to know the truth, and rot away falsehood. The power of Corrosive Touch—‘The Touch That Rots the Falsehood.’”

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