I Became the Porter of a Somewhat Strange Hero Party

6 – A Strange Hero Party Somewhere

The thief and the nameless glanced at each other. They were scared before starting, but now that they’ve tried it, it wasn’t as big a deal as they thought.

“You, you were too fast…”

It was really scary, but my colleagues might have seen it differently. Because I dealt with it too quickly, I was worried that they might think I was pretending to be weak for no reason before.

I felt like I was acting without thinking like a fool again. Allen kept pushing me, saying I could do it, and I unknowingly gained confidence…

“See, I knew you could do it!”

At that moment, a voice praising her from behind was heard. Mu-myeong turned her head slightly, and there was Allen, who had been pushing her.

“See, I told you that you could do it.”

Mu-myeong was a little taken aback. The way Allen looked at her was one that he wouldn’t have done in the past.

What should I call the old Allen? He was kind, but there was a certain emotional detachment about him. He would listen well when you talked, but it was hard to see him happy and enjoying things together.

However, Allen was enjoying what the anonymous person had accomplished as if it were his own. Maybe it was because the task had been a matter of his own life, but the previous Allen…

“His face didn’t look like that before….”

Erin approached Allen at that moment.

“Now you’ve left everything to that girl, what do you like? You’re such a passive guy~♡”

“…What’s the problem with giving a role to someone who is capable?”

As Allen retorted like that, Erin smirked and spoke ill-naturedly.

“Well, you’re good at talking~ Pu hu ♡”

“…Anyway, thanks to you, I can go too. Thank you, thief.”

“Ah…, yeah….”

Although his response was a bit clumsy, Moomyung was able to answer properly without hesitation, just as he usually did. Starting with Allen’s praise, each party member also said a few words.

“Thanks to the thief’s skill, we can travel comfortably. I appreciate it.”

“Indeed, a thief’s skills are impressive! It’s just that your confidence is a little lacking!”

“Aria, weren’t you worried a moment ago?”

“Ahahahaha, as a comrade, it’s only natural to worry!”

Freya kindly expressed her concern about not getting hurt.

“There are no injuries anywhere, right?”

“Umm, yeah…”

“Well, that’s a relief. Now let’s go deal with the lizardmen.”

“…Yeah.”

Moomyung felt a sense of accomplishment after a long time and gained some confidence in his abilities. He glanced up slightly to look at Allen.

If it’s you, you can do it.

That’s what they said, there’s nothing else you can do.

In truth, it’s not like that. Emyna knows the abilities of their party members very well.

If it were Erin, she could easily break through every trap and create a path. If it were Ser-Aria, she would shoot hundreds of arrows to neutralize all the traps.

If it were Leticia, she could handle everything without lifting a finger, relying on the power of various spirits… Frey was the same. In the face of the powerful divine power of the chosen saint by the gods, the various traps had no use.

But still, Allen, who pushed himself by saying he couldn’t do anything else, was fascinating. It could only be seen as deliberately doing so for someone with low self-esteem.

Having someone rely on them, having someone support them so much was something that hadn’t happened in a long time. For a moment, Emyna suppressed the childhood memories that came to mind and closed their eyes.

“Well, let’s move forward. We’ll soon reach the stronghold, so don’t let your guard down.”

“Well, okay!” Allen, who urged his party members to walk faster, looked back at the silent, mysterious individual.

“Thief, you really went through a lot. Now just do what you said in the Lizard Man’s fort.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

As Allen took a step forward, the mysterious individual followed him. Naturally, his large back caught the eye, and the mysterious individual gazed at it silently.

And soon, he whispered to himself with a slow smile.

“…Thank you.”

“There are many of them.”

“There are a lot.”

“Wow~! Our clumsy girlfriend has a bunch~♡”

Who is whose girlfriend, you jerk.

Upon breaking through the trap zone and arriving at the lair of the Lizardmen, there were indeed numerous Lizardmen. The name ‘dungeon’ is not unworthy of their level.

It’s like watching a swarm of ants. They seem to have realized that the trap had been activated and were prepared for our arrival.

“The monkeys have invaded!!”

“Let’s give them a good beating!”

Other races, especially demons, sometimes use those kinds of words to insult humans. It appears in game texts as well.

When reading it as text, I didn’t think much about it, but hearing it directly makes me feel worse than expected. However, they can only chatter like that for now. The massacre show of those monster girls will start soon.

But maybe it wasn’t just me feeling bad, Erin opened her mouth.

“hahahahaha, a lizard with the intelligence level of a dumb frog~♡ Seems like you don’t even have the intelligence to distinguish between humans and monkeys~?”

Her expression was different from when she teased me. She had a smile on her lips, but I could sense her displeasure. It’s hard to believe that she would get so angry…

“hahahahaha, Erin is mad!”

“The lizard men are pitiful too.”

What’s going on?

“The word ‘monkey’ is the word Erin hates to hear the most.”

Huh?

What does that have to do with her? Was she teased when she was young?

…She’s a cute girl with no room to be teased about looking like a monkey.

“…Stay calm and just do as we discussed. Don’t fall too far behind.”

“I already know. I’m not a clueless Allen~♡”

…You know what?

Erin drew her sword. The dazzling sword, shining even when not doing anything, was a symbol of a hero, just like the Holy Sword.

“Are you just going to cower in fear after provoking me? Should I go then~?”

-Hero Erin activates [Storm Sword].

Magic power surged from Erin’s entire body.

Swoosh!!!

In the blink of an eye, Erin’s sword raced forward, decapitating the bulky lizardman warrior who stood at the forefront. It was an incredible speed. The lizardmen were stunned as they beheld Erin suddenly appearing before them.

“Ha, all alone! Don’t be afraid, fight!”

Although a lizardman who seemed like a commander shouted, the confusion didn’t easily subside.

The leader of the lizardman warriors at the forefront may not have been a commander, but considering his position and physique at the front, it was clear that he was a formidable warrior in this fortress. Naturally, one could only be startled when such a warrior was killed in an instant.

It was a perfect display of overwhelming dominance worth marveling at.

“Aria, provide support from the rear.”

“Sure, understood!”

Serge-Aria tightly pulled back her bowstring. As discussed, she took care of the lizardman archers and spearmen aiming for Erin.

-Saintess Frey activates [Glorious Guard].

And in turn, all the arrows aimed at Serge-Aria were blocked by Frey.

Indeed, as members of a heroic party, they fought even better than expected.

Erin was tearing through the Lizardman stronghold without a scratch, while Ser-Aria supported her with perfect sniper skills and Frey ensured the safety of their rear with a powerful shield.

However… There were frequent peculiar mistakes, enough to raise suspicion.

“Ah!”

With Ser-Aria’s sigh, Erin beheaded the Lizardman. Unfortunately, Ser-Aria’s arrow had already pierced the chest of the headless guy.

“Oh, I shot the same thing again!”

Ser-Aria lamented as she scratched her head.

These are exactly the kind of mistakes I mentioned earlier. Attacking together something that other party members could have dealt with resulted in inefficiency. Although Ser-Aria was disappointed, it was actually Erin’s mistake, to be fair.

“With such excellent archers around, did she really have to take that down herself?”

Earlier, Erin was fine just looking ahead without paying attention to what was behind. Ser-Aria was already shooting arrows to provide support. But Erin chose to take a step back and cut down the lizardman approaching from behind before looking ahead again.

“Why do you move so inefficiently like that?”

“What are you talking about, Allen?”

It seemed like mumbling to herself, but Frey must have heard it. I glanced at Frey for a moment and then looked back at Erin.

“It’s not always like that… It seems like Erin is moving to handle things that Aria can handle. That’s why our targets overlap.”

“Well, Erin?”

Frey observed Erin’s movements for a moment. And then Ser-Aria shot an arrow again, but Erin went there and struck down the lizardman.

“Oh! You missed again.”

Once again, Cer-Aria let out a sigh. Frey commented on the sight.

“That’s right. She has already shot an arrow, but Erin seems to be concerned about that direction.”

Does she not trust Cer-Aria’s support? It’s understandable that one might doubt if they can restrain the person who has had this much to drink.

However, it is not a desirable situation. In order to have efficient battles, one must trust their party members…

“Did this happen before?”

“I didn’t pay much attention then… I’m not sure.”

Although an inefficient situation had occurred, there were no problems with the overall situation. The lizardmen were defeated by the joint attack of Erin and Cer-Aria, and eventually, the leaders of the fortress appeared.

Lizardman shaman. As expected from the primitive tribe, their leaders were those who governed shamanism.

They were not just stupidly named shamans. After uttering incomprehensible spells, the strange power struck the warrior lizardmen.

– Lizardman Shaman activates [Strength Enhancement]!

It seemed to be a buff skill of the shaman. Judging by the fact that all the shamans were chanting similar spells, it seemed to be a cumulative form.

“Rogue, it’s your turn.”

“… Okay.”

It would be better to move before they got stronger buffs. Perhaps due to the confidence gained from the recent confrontation, he didn’t hesitate and moved right away.

Dodge quickly burst forward and threw a memorized spell towards the shamans’ heads. Two daggers were planted accurately in the lizardman shaman’s head, but the remaining third was the problem.

Clang!

“…?”

“……Huh?”

As I watched the situation unfold, I was taken aback, as was Dodger who threw the memorization exercise. It turned out that Erin’s final move had blocked Dodger’s attack with her sword.

“What is she doing over there?”

Now she was stepping in to thwart her own team’s offense. I was about to say something out of bewilderment when Erin quickly realized her mistake and spoke.

“Oh, sorry! A memorization exercise came flying from behind, and I thought it was an enemy’s attack!”

“No, no… It’s my fault….”

After saying that, Erin started engaging with the lizardman once again.

“What on earth is going on?”

They shouldn’t have trouble distinguishing between memorization and enemy attacks. However, Letitia and Frey seemed used to it as they spoke.

“…Ah, sometimes he does that.”

“Erin is very sensitive to things flying at him from behind… He defends himself if they come towards him, even if it means going in a different direction. I don’t think it’s intentional. Allen is new to battles, so he didn’t know, right?”

“…I see.”

Sensitive to memorization… Could it be because of the special ability [Sixth Sense]? But even so, he should have known that it was an attack from a party member. And Erin is not the only one with that ability.

“…Overall, the teamwork isn’t great.”

Perhaps their individual abilities are too outstanding, but surprisingly, there were many who were not familiar with party play. Especially that Mesgaski person.

Up until now, they’ve handled things well because each individual’s abilities are exceptional. The problem lies in the upcoming boss room. Especially considering the boss monster, Lizard Lord, and possibly other bosses from the Demon King Army that may appear after, it was clear that such inefficient battles will result in damage.

“I think we should talk about this a bit.”

After finishing this dungeon and taking a short break, it seemed like we should talk about this aspect.

Dodger threw the memorized dagger again. This time, it didn’t intersect with Erin’s path, and she didn’t block Dodger’s dagger.

“Keaak!!”

“Elder!”

“This woman!!”

Dodger properly inserted the dagger into the shaman’s forehead and gracefully maneuvered around the warriors’ swords, entering Frey’s protective shield. As the three shamans became incapacitated, the buffs cast on the lizardmen began to gradually wear off over time.

“Leticia, I can step forward now.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think I can do much if I step forward anyway.”

That’s right. That’s why I told Leticia to wait from the beginning. The monsters and archers here seemed capable enough to handle everything.

While the Lizardmen were terrifying creatures by normal standards, in front of such exceptional warriors, they were no more than inconsequential pests.

The overlapping buffs from the shamans might have been a bit tricky, but thanks to the quick handling by Doggeo, there was no need to worry about that either.

Erin, who had just finished tidying up the Lizardmen, turned back with a sword on her back.

“Pathetic~♡ Enjoyed the show~? Hiding behind the girls with your burly body and doing nothing~♡”

“….Erin.”

“Why are you embarrassed~♡”

“Let’s talk. For now, everyone should rest. It seems to be getting late, and we’ll enter the boss room tomorrow.”

“I was planning to finish it today and go back. Did you chicken out~?”

“No. I just think this might take a while.”

“Talk? What talk~? Why do you want me to make time for another useless conversation~♡”

I confidently said to Erin, who was giggling.

“Let’s talk about your trolling.”

“…Huh?”