......... Why is this happening?

Inside the inn's room, I, Amherst, was holding my face in my hands and drooping in a paragraph.
What comes to mind is the presence of that masked adventurer directly under the guild.

'...... Why did that guy come out of there!

If that man didn't have me, I bite my lip at the thought.
The man's presence would bring me down further in my position.
Considering that I've already lost quite a bit of ground on the defective healer, it's fatal.

...... But it wasn't the fact that my position was diminished that was dominating my mind right now.
I'm not going to be able to say that I'm not the only one.

...... If only that man had entered the Sword of Lightning, he could have defeated Hydra!

In fact, I had hidden Hydra's quest in order to let my resident adventurer, the Sword of Lightning, take credit for it.
I hid Hydra's quest from the eyes of the other adventurers, and when I saw an opportunity, I wanted the Sword of Lightning to take it again.
Defeating Hydra would raise the Sword of Lightning's stock, and if that happened, my reputation as the resident receptionist would also increase.

That's why my reputation was falling because of the defective healer, and I was in a hurry, so I took action without hesitation.

''Why did I do that!

...... But now I was intensely regretting my actions.

Super-difficult demonic beasts such as hydra can mutate when they live for a long period of time.
They would take in the magical power of their surroundings and become even stronger.
Especially if they were in a damaged state, they would absorb the magic power of their surroundings faster, making them more likely to mutate.
Therefore, if one adventurer party fails to defeat a monster monster on the ultra-high difficulty level, it will have to be passed on to another party immediately.

...... And guild officials who break it will be punished especially severely.

''What do I do! What do I do!

Before, I hid the quest because I was convinced that the Sword of Lightning would be able to defeat Hydra if I took the time to do so.

However, now that the Sword of Lightning had no chance of defeating Hydra, I was in a fierce impatience.

I no longer cared about the receptionist's reputation or me at all.
The punishment for hiding the Hydra from me was nothing compared to that.
I desperately think about what I should do.

I've been working desperately since I felt my lightning sword's abilities had diminished.

I've even made it impossible to get out of the party with a false protocol that says I can't get out of the party against an excellent healer named Lila.
And I was the one who found out that the masked man was a good warrior and forced him into the Sword of Lightning, and I was the one who seduced Margulus into fighting the labyrinth boss.

And the original plan was for the Sword of Lightning to defeat the labyrinth boss without incident, and Margulus and the others, confident in themselves, to undo the trauma and defeat Hydra, and that was the end of my plan.

'd*mn it! Why not?!

...... But all of those plans had fallen apart.

I pale in the face at the current situation, which I can't do anything about.
We still have some time before the hydra mutates.
But at some point, the Hydra will mutate, and I can't think of a way to do anything about it at all.
My mind was at the limit of its current situation.

'That incompetent! This is a big party! I was doing this with my eyes on you!

Then the anxiety turns to anger, and I reveal my anger to Margurus and the others.
But yelling at them doesn't change the situation, and a hollow feeling spreads in my chest.
There's nothing you can do about it now, because there's nothing you can do about it.

...... And at that moment I understood what was causing it all to start falling apart.

If only I could have seen what that healer was capable of ......

That healer I had been told was flawed comes to my mind.
Now that I knew that Margurus and the others were incompetent, I had finally realized the value of that healer.


But I also understood that realizing it now would no longer mean anything: .........





◇ ◇ ◇.





......... How did this happen?

It was the day after I was demoted from a top-tier adventurer by a masked man who called himself an adventurer directly under the guild.
Me, Margurus and Servia were leaning against a desk inside a tavern that was being built inside the Adventurer's Guild.
After fleeing the Adventurer's Guild, me and Cervelia were immediately captured by the guild officials and robbed of all our money.
Even the communal house had to be sold off to pay off our debts, and we literally lost everything.

But even with all that, it was still a little short of a fine.
That means now we have to go on a quest and work again.

I ain't going to ...... do it, right?

I know, right?

...... But we didn't have the motivation.
Not long ago, Amherst told me something and then disappeared somewhere else, but even that I only vaguely remembered.

'I was a first-class party adventurer, wasn't I?

I had been a top-notch adventurer, and that fact made me feel even more empty.
It's so empty that I didn't even want to stand up anymore.

...... Laust, if I can get that guy into the party again.

...... And I couldn't bear the emptiness of it, and I couldn't help but let those words slip out.

''Huh!''

Surberia's face also twisted at those words.
We didn't even have the willpower to assume that Lausto was defective.
The only thing there is is the obsession with the position of being the best.

''There's no way he's going to go back to .......

...... But there was no way I could ask Roust to do it now.
I was reminded of this by Sabelia's curt words, and I bit my lip.
It's a good thing that you're able to get the most out of your time with the help of a good friend.
I can only see a future where he'll be in a bad mood.

''If only I had a chance to take advantage of ......

Thinking that far, I couldn't help but mutter to myself.
All that comes to mind is that I called out to him in order to deceive him, and that's when I saw Lausto.
Unrecognized by anyone and wanting more than anything else to be recognized by others, Laust had entered my party, completely unaware of the deception.
If only there was something like that time, I would vaguely think about it.


......... And that's when I heard the conversations of those who were right next to me.


'Hey, get ready to go. You're going to beat that cocky, defective healer, right?

Hey, that guy drove the wolf of misfortune out of the woods, remember? We'll gather a few more men and hit them tomorrow.

'Tsk! Well, I guess I can't help it: ...... I didn't think that guy was that strong. ......

Yes. But I don't care how strong he is. I cannot let him get away with it. He has to be a defective healer or he'll take us all down. I'm going to go all the way.


It was a conversation between adventurers who saw Lausto as an enemy.
And I happened to overhear the conversation, and I understood that the adventurers were about to attack Lausto.

''I can do it, I can do this!''

At that moment, I forgot that this is a public tavern and was shouting.
I can see Surberia giving me a questioning look.

''Nah!''

The moment I announced the plan I came up with to Surberia's ears, her complexion changed.
I look at Sabelia and open my mouth with a smile on my face.

''With this, I can return Laust to the Sword of Lightning!

As I uttered that, I saw the confidence of victory on my face.