'Oh? Laust hasn't come back?

It was the day after Lausto left the party that Sword of Lightning Leader Margurus heard of Lausto's absence.
It was then that he was about to go on a revenge mission to slay Hydra.
...... In fact, Raust had been banished, but Margulus didn't remember the events of last night.
When Surberia saw Margulus's condition, she opened her mouth in dismay.

''No, it's not. See, didn't we banish that guy yesterday?

Oh, did you say you were going to banish Lausto? I've been drinking, so I have a fuzzy memory of that part: ......

And the saber rattling finally reminded Margulis of last night.
...... terribly unimportant, with such an attitude.
The attitude of Margurus was too palpable to have banished his companion, even if he had.

'Well, it was just an extension of the eighteenth hour, you know. No wonder I don't remember anything about that guy.

''But then again, he's an idiot for taking it out on me like that and leaving the party. I just got into a top-notch party called the Lightning Sword.

Yes. Aren't defective healers defective at heart?

That's very telling!

...... But there was no one here to blame for that Margurus' attitude.
No, if the female mage Armia, who is not here at the moment, were present, she would not blame Margulus.
To them, last night's banishment of Raust, that was the extent of it.

Particularly for Margulus and Sabelia, Lausto was only included in the party because it was more useful than expected and they didn't complain no matter how much they did as they pleased.

In the first place, Margulus and the others had only joined the party in order to squeeze money out of Lausto.

Margulus and Surberia, the two of them were now renowned as a first-rate party, but before, they were only second-rate adventurers who were trudging through the upper levels of the labyrinth.
Then, disregarding the current situation where they were earning little money even if they risked their lives, Margurus and the others started a scam where they let the stragglers among the adventurers into the party and cheated them out of their money.

The income was not much, but the two became addicted to the pleasure of cheating the stragglers and repeated the deception over and over again.
It's not a legitimate method, but no matter how many frauds they commit, the only person they're dealing with is a straggler.
There was no one to blame.
And Lausto, too, was originally just a target of Margulls' fraud.

That's why in the end they decided to include Lausto in the party because they had too little on hand at the time for it to make sense to deceive, and because he was more useful than they could have imagined, but to Margurus and the others, Lausto and the others were just targets to be squeezed out.

This would be evident from the usual attitude of Margurus and the others towards Lausto.
Even though the party began to grow right after Raust entered, Margurus and the others think it's all about their abilities.

'Well, it's a good time to bring a new healer into the party as well. Someone who's good at what he does, unlike that guy.

Yeah. I know. That's why I'm having Aamir go scouting for new and better healers now.

'I see, that's why Aamir wasn't there. Well, anyway, you're going from that defective bastard to a proper healer, so you can afford Hydra. I'm feeling better today.

So when the Margulls heard that Raoust had left the party, they weren't worried about their own party.
They were convinced that they were a good, top-notch party, and they didn't even doubt it.

''Good! This time I'm going to kill Hydra.

...... That's why Margulis, who started to tell you that, started walking without any sense of danger.





◇◆◇





A few minutes later, when they arrived at the Adventurer's Guild, Margurus and Thervelia were waiting in a room in the guild, chatting and laughing until Armia brought the healer to them.

'Didn't you look like you were in bad shape today, Armist?

Oh, the receptionist. On a side note, I think I've pissed off some adventurers who brought you some low-level material.

Yeah. That was a disaster. Anyway, the other adventurer probably insulted Amherst and was offended when he spoke back or something like that. If that's the case, we, the Sword of Lightning, have to play an active role in raising the stock of the resident guild staff.

'Yes. Anyway, we have to take out Hydra now. Well, I don't have that limp, and I think we can afford it!

And that was when they were chatting and laughing.
There was a knock on the door of the room where Margulls and the others were waiting, as the sound of multiple people walking in approached.

'You're finally here,'

At the sound, Margurus muttered softly and opened its door.

'Sorry to keep you waiting,'

Good luck today.

In the next moment, Aamir, dressed in his usual equipment, and a woman dressed in white robes appear from the open door.
The woman in the white robe had her mouth hidden by a cloth, but even just the exposed part of her mouth could be seen to have a well-rounded appearance, and Margulis unconsciously smiled at her mouth.

'...... Huh?'

But then he was left speechless when he saw the woman's entire body.

'Are you sure you're okay with your gear?'

Because the woman was equipped in the rear guard and was not dressed for close combat.

''In that case, even a blow to Hydra's tail would do quite a bit of damage. You should at least wear the leather armor of a demonic beast .......

...... Huh? I'm not going to be in front of that.

What about ......?

But in the next moment, the woman's words left Margulus speechless.
For he had assumed that the new healers would also be in the vanguard as a matter of course.

'Leader! Ordinary healers don't stand in the vanguard, you know!

Huh!

...... But the next moment the words whispered in Aamir's ear would remind Margulus that healers do not inherently stand in the vanguard.
After years of working with Raust, Margulus had made the mistake of thinking that healers were supposed to stand in the vanguard.
But of course he couldn't ask such a thing of an ordinary healer.

'Oh, right. 'I'm sorry. The previous healer took the property and left last night. ...... I guess I'm still getting out of the mess.

Well, that's what happened: ......

So Margurus quickly puts the blame on Raust and mishandles the situation.
Normally, no one would leave a healer in charge of the vanguard, even if they were confused, but the healer woman didn't pursue it further, perhaps out of sympathy for the episode of being run off in the night by her friends.
Margulis felt a momentary sense of relief that he had managed to deceive her.

...... But that relief quickly turns to concern about whether it's okay to have one less vanguard.
I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of your time with this one.

...... No, it's okay. It's a good thing that you're not going to be able to get away with it, because that's all you can do is run around without attacking, and that guy was useless. Well, the rare attacks were indeed powerful, but they were rare and ......

But immediately Margulis chalked up his concern to concern.
Then he smiled and offered his hand to the healer.

"It's good to see you, then.

"Yes. I'm honored to be a part of the famous Sword of Lightning.

The next thing the woman told him, Margulis smiled as his self-respect was tickled by the woman's words.

'Let's go then. We can introduce ourselves on the road, right?'

Yeah, yeah.

And then Malgrus and his friends left the Adventurer's Guild in high spirits.

...... But at the time, Margulus was unaware of the fact that they were mistaken.


In any case, the big hole created by Lausto's omission, it's not something that can be filled by bringing in a single healer.
But without realizing that fact, Margulls and his team head to Hydra .........