The World After Leaving the Hero’s Party

Chapter 31: “This Is Cute Enough (2)

The role of a supporter also includes mental care, and for proper mental care, delicious food and a good night’s rest were essential.

That’s why, during the main storyline, the things I honed my skills the most were precisely these.

“Wowww~ I’d heard the rumors, but people weren’t kidding when they said camping out with the Sage feels like sleeping at home.”

“Exactly. It’s as comfortable as being at home. How do you even pull this off?”

When I was traveling with the Hero’s Party, it was hard to handle mental care alone during battles or story events, so I focused on leveling up these kinds of skills.

Most adventurers tend to focus only on combat and ignore life skills, but these also greatly aid progress in the game.

“Well, they don’t call him a Sage for nothing. By the way, Princess, are you doing okay?”

Baltin asked Lucille, who was experiencing her first outdoor camp. Tossing a branch into the fire, he spoke with concern. Lucille hugged her sleeping bag tightly, looking awkward.

“I-I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine. If you’re uncomfortable, why not sleep next to Luchendi? Humans seem to like the fur of beastfolk.”

Baltin’s party member, a lioness beastfolk archer with lush golden fur, waved a hand. As she opened her arms invitingly, Lucille glanced between the spot I had prepared for her and the archer before shaking her head.

“My master prepared this for me…”

“Then I’ll join you!”

Grinning broadly, Luchendi moved to Lucille’s side. She looked like she wanted to protest, but the warmth of Luchendi’s fur against the cold night air seemed to win her over.

“Your fur is so soft,” Lucille murmured.

“Hoho, right? Baltin’s been obsessed with my fur ever since—”

“Kyaa! Stop! Don’t talk about that kind of thing—”

“Oh, my. Is it that you, as royalty, are unfamiliar with such matters? How amusing. Then, shall I give the Princess a bit of… uh, let’s call it education? Oh, wait. Princess, have you had your first love yet?”

“Th-that’s, um, I… I-I have someone I…”

“Oho~ You’re talking about the Sage, aren’t you? So, Princess, you’ve fallen for him. The Sage has certainly charmed quite a few people. But you know, I’ve heard rumors about him… like that he’s impotent—”

“What?!”

“…What did you just say?”

Lucille and Veronica both turned to me in shock. Feeling an intense surge of indignation, I shouted.

“Who’s impotent?! I’m perfectly fine, thank you!”

“Then why? Among the adventurers I know, plenty of women seemed to fancy you.”

“I just haven’t met a woman yet who I see that way.”

“What’s your type, then, Sage?”

My type, huh?

Hmm…

First of all, they’d need to be mentally stable. A normal, sane person.

When I didn’t answer, Luchendi, seemingly losing interest, smirked and launched into another round of adult talk. Lucille’s face turned crimson.

Luchendi’s conversational skills were impressive. It seemed Baltin’s party, being an S-rank adventurer group, understood the importance of mental care quite well.

As they started chatting amongst themselves, shifting the focus away from me, Gallik’s party began gathering around the campfire.

“Ugh… It really gets cold at night.”

“lizardmen are sensitive to the cold. Should I cast a spell for you?”

“Would you? That’d be great.”

I cast a Warmth spell, raising the temperature in the vicinity. Only then did the lizardman, huddled together with their tails curled, finally seem to relax. Before long, they were fast asleep.

“What about keeping watch?”

“I’ll handle it. You all go to sleep.”

“Isn’t that too much for you? Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be fine.”

I threw another branch into the fire and picked up the tin kettle. While brewing tea with the boiling water, I noticed the others gradually drifting off to sleep.

“master, are you all right?” Lucille asked.

“Yes. But are you comfortable, Princess?”

“Yes…”

She didn’t look comfortable, though. Despite her efforts to sleep, Lucille eventually buried her face into Luchendi’s fur.

“…Cardinal Veronica seems at ease,” she said, glancing at Veronica.

“I’m used to this,” Veronica replied indifferently from where she lay nearby. Well, this wasn’t her first time camping with me, after all.

“The Sage’s touch is something special.”

“…I see.”

Once again, an odd tension filled the air. Still, as long as it didn’t escalate into outright conflict, I decided to leave it be.

“I wonder how familiar you are with your master’s touch,” Veronica teased.

“Well…”

Trailing off, Veronica slowly turned her head. She locked eyes with Lucille, who was staring at her. Then, a sly smile spread across Veronica’s face.

“Probably more than you, Princess. We’ve known each other longer, after all.”

“……”

Lucille bit her lip and closed her eyes, seemingly deciding to end the conversation. Once again, she nestled her face into Luchendi’s fur, and only then did Veronica, looking oddly satisfied, tilt her head back to gaze at the night sky.

“This kind of thing brings back memories,” Veronica mused. “Like when the Hero’s Party fought the Demon King’s lieutenant. Remember? Back when I was battling the Church’s enemies.”

She was likely referring to Chapter 7. It was during the fight against the Count of Discord, one of the Demon King’s lieutenants.

The Count of Discord had a unique skill that caused party members to fail their teamwork if their affinity was low. At the time, my presence might have actually destabilized the party, so I had to step back from that boss fight. Instead, Veronica and I handled other tasks together.

“That was a good time,” she remarked.

“Was it?”

Thinking back, it was one of the rare moments I felt some peace of mind. I could focus on other achievements instead of the main storyline.

“You were preoccupied with something else, of course.”

“Couldn’t be helped.”

“I always found it remarkable how much effort you poured into helping the Hero’s Party. Were they really that important to you? Honestly, they seemed…”

From my perspective, the Hero’s Party was like children left unsupervised near water.

Without a healer and focusing solely on offensive power, they were always one mistake away from game over. To cover for that, I had no choice but to strike a deal with Veronica.

“If only you had come under me, that deal could’ve continued uninterrupted.”

The deal with Veronica had been simple: if I assisted her with her tasks, she would provide the Hero’s Party with holy relics, holy water, and potions.

Through that arrangement, we managed to defeat the Count of Discord and progress the main storyline.

“It’s in the past now.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Regret what?”

“Helping Claire.”

“Not at all.”