While everyone was getting ready, I went over to the Hero who was currently preparing breakfast. “Need any help?”
“No need, I’m used to cooking by myself.” Ah. As I try to think of a way to continue the conversation, he continues. “It seems like you have something to say to me.”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I was hoping we could talk about our party’s plans and growth. I was wondering-”
Before I could finish, he cuts me off. “I know what you want to say, but please wait until tonight. I have a plan for today.”
There he goes again, telling me that he has a plan. “Fine.” I relent. “But please remember to spare some time for me tonight, Mr. Roosevelt.”
“I will.” He says, with his main expression apart from confidence, amusement, plastered upon his face. At what, I don’t know. Maybe it was something I said? I still don’t know what he finds so amusing whenever I talk to him. Hopefully I can find out soon.
After another exceptional, yet uneventful, breakfast, we headed off. Once again, we blindly followed the Hero as he led us through the forest towards a destination only he knew. It’s annoying not knowing what his plans are, but hopefully that will be resolved tonight.
Other than that, our main complaint is that we haven’t participated in any combat. Only the Hero has actually been fighting anything. And he’s fighting a lot, going after every potential enemy either Rapunzel or Hansen find. It would be nice to be able to participate, if for no other reason than to work on our teamwork. I didn’t think my wish would be granted so soon though.
Rapunzel stopped us, having found another threat. I thought everything would be the same as usual, until she announced what they were. “Orcs,” she reported. “Four of them. Three warriors and a mage.”
“Orcs?” I asked. That's odd, we are still fairly close to the capital. We have been traveling in an almost straight line through the forest though, so I suppose it’s not that strange.
Just as I was wondering if the Hero could handle them on his own, he suggests, “Why don’t we fight the orcs together?”
…Huh, I honestly didn’t think he would make such a suggestion. I thought he would fight them on his own again. I’m surprised at how disappointed I am that he’s not. I’ll admit, I was curious to see if he could succeed on his own despite his low level. His suggestion is definitely preferable, though, especially after what I learned last night.
As I was lost in thought, Melly shouted “Yes!” as if she was worried the Hero would change his mind. “I mean, that sounds like a wonderful idea.” She corrects, obviously embarrassed at her excited outburst. I guess even she can get embarrassed.
“My opinion is the same as Miss Melly.” Gregory followed.
“Indeed.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Seems like everyone agrees. As I thought that, everyone turned to me.
“Ah. Yes, that works for me.” I say. I was lost in my own thoughts.
“Since everyone agrees, do you have any suggestions for how we fight them, Hero?” Rapunzel asks. Huh, she’s swapped to calling him Hero. That’s probably not a positive change, huh. Haa.
“We should do a standard setup for now, to see how we work together. We can always adjust later once we actually understand how we fight with each other.”
“Sounds like a decent plan, let's go with that.” Rapunzel confirms.
So we formed up with Melly and the Hero in the front, Gregory and I in the middle, and Rapunzel and Hansen in the back. Once we got in position, we marched towards the orcs.
We decided not to ambush the orcs, as we were trying to gauge how we actually work together as a group. We also didn’t start with any of Hansen’s summons or any of my buffs cast.
Honestly, we don’t need to really worry too much about the orcs. Everyone but me, and maybe the Hero, can easily handle an orc or two on their own, though soloing a group of four, especially one containing a mage, might be pushing it.
As such, we shouldn’t need to worry about anything, so I probably won’t have anything to do. Besides, we are currently figuring out how well we fight with each other, so buffs might skew the results. So, for now, my job is basically to learn how everyone fights and heal anyone that happens to get injured.
As we were openly approaching the orcs, they quickly noticed us. The closest orc drew its club and let out a screech, signaling the start of the battle.
The first move was actually a fireball launched by the orc mage. Before it could hit anyone though, Melly rushed forward and blocked it with her shield. While her move was executed perfectly, I noticed Gregory about to launch his own spell to counter the attack. Looks like we are going to need to spend some time getting used to each other.
Immediately after, an arrow managed to pierce the mage’s eye, though orcs are far too tough to be killed by something like that. As the orcs charged towards us, a wolf, summoned by Hansen, charged at the orc on the left and bit its leg, halting its charge. Now there was only one orc per vanguard. While Melly easily holds the upper hand, the Hero is having some difficulties. I will admit that it is mainly because he is being less aggressive than usual in order to prioritize containing the orc over trying to directly kill it. He is struggling, though, primarily because he isn’t as strong or fast as the orc, making blocking its attacks a struggle. That doesn’t seem to be inhibiting him as much as I expected it to, though.
Meanwhile, Hansen sent a bat over to the mage and had it use a sonic attack, interrupting the mage’s next spell. Before it could even attempt to deal with said bat, Gregory sent over his own spell, a wind spear, while Rapunzel fired another arrow, this one hitting the orc in the leg, making it unable to dodge. The wind spear then hit it in the chest. While the orc is still alive, another attack or two should be able to finish it off.
Sadly, while all that was happening, the third orc managed to break free of the wolf and started to charge towards the Hero. As soon as it tried though, Melly threw something at the orc and used a taunt technique while shouting, “Over here pig face!” attracting its attention and increasing its rage towards her. It didn’t take long for the orc to join its comrade, but Melly was able to handle both of them without much issue. Not that she needed to wait long, as Gregory’s spell shifted the ground under one of the orc’s feet, giving an opening for Melly to cut its throat. While not an instant kill, it was deep enough that the orc would die soon. I did notice that Rapunzel delayed her own attack to see who Gregory would attack, before attacking the mage.
On the Hero’s side, the wolf bit the orc’s leg from behind while a snake, summoned by Hansen, bit the other, the snake wasn’t needed though as the Hero was able to use the opening from the wolf to stab the orc in the eye. While it wasn’t deep enough to kill it, the orc was left distracted enough to be attacked a few more times.
Back to Gregory, he managed to hit an orc in the arm with an ice spear mid swing, causing it to drop its weapon, and enabling Melly to kill it by stabbing it in the throat. The other orc needed to be hit by an arrow so that it didn't attempt one last desperate attack though.
And with one last arrow to the mage, the fight was over. A decent enough fight for our first time working together, but we definitely could have performed better.
“Haa.” Melly sighs, “That could have gone better.”
“We need to analyze this fight to see what all went wrong so we can do better next time.” Rapunzel agreed.
“We should leave that to Elizabeth." The Hero interjected. “She was observing the whole fight and should understand where things went wrong.”
Everyone turned to look at me. “You were?” Rapunzel asks.
“Yes,” I responded, before explaining. “I need to understand how everyone fights in order to properly apply the correct buffs at the right times.”
“Would you mind telling us your thoughts then?” Gregory asked.
“Yeah, I want to know how you thought we fared.” Melly agreed.
“Okay,” I start. “There were a few problems that I noticed. First, as you are probably aware, the long-range attackers had some trouble figuring out who was targeting what. While it only caused a slight delay during this fight, in a proper battle, a pause like that could be detrimental. A slight delay is, however, better than attacking the wrong target, so it was a good idea since we lack familiarity with each other.”
“Second, Hansen’s snake summon was completely unneeded. Your wolf and the Hero together were more than capable of taking down the orc on their own. A summon to either finish off or delay the dying orc would have been more useful, though I understand why you were worried about the Hero.”
“Indeed.” Hansen nodded.
“Third, Melly and Gregory left an orc that was still capable of resisting to act as it pleased. It could have attacked someone, which might have turned the fight around if our enemy had been anywhere close to us in power. While Rapunzel handled it this time, ignoring a combat capable enemy, even a near death one, is never a good idea.”
“Fourth, Mr. Roosevelt is far better at offense than defense, so he should probably prioritize that while having Melly act as the primary tank. Being able to contain enemies is something all vanguards must be able to do on occasion though, so becoming more familiar with the role will be beneficial.”
“That’s how I see it as well." The Hero agreed.
“And I guess I should report on my actions as well to be fair. So… I literally just stood there and watched everyone else fight. If I was exclusively a healer or was waiting for someone to specifically ask for a buff my actions might have been fine, but I definitely should have played a more active role. Standing around doing nothing is about the worst thing you can do in a fight, other than straight up inhibiting someone else’s ability to fight, but that’s grasping at straws.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Overall, our main problem lies in our inability to properly understand each other, with our lack of dialogue during battle only exacerbating it. If anyone had announced what they were doing occasionally, there would have been less confusion. It would also make it easier for us to understand everyone’s combat style and preferences. And most importantly, the better we understand each other, the better our bond will be. Isn’t that the most important thing for a hero’s party to improve?” I finish with a smile.
“That was a very impressive analysis, Miss Elizabeth.”
“I agree with Gregory, you managed to point out every major issue we showed during our battle. We should have an easier time fixing our flaws now.” Rapunzel complimented.
“Indeed.” Hansen added.
“While I’m annoyed at how poorly this fight went, at least we have a good understanding of everything that we did wrong now. Thanks Elizabeth.” Melly thanked me, being calmer now.
“See, I told you Elizabeth would understand where we went wrong. She has a talent for this.” The Hero concluded.
“I agree, please continue to help us in the future, Elizabeth.” Rapunzel requested.
“I’m not that amazing.” I say in embarrassment. “But I’ll do my best to help the party.” I promised.
“Now then, shall we find some more enemies to fight to improve our bond?” The Hero proposed with an amused smile. I think he’s teasing me.
Of course, everyone agreed. So that's how we ended up spending the next few days, while still traveling to who knows where. I’m starting to question if even the Hero knows at this point.
Still, the more we fight, the more familiar everyone gets with each other. While there are still some hiccups here and there, they are becoming increasingly rare. The biggest gain is how much we are communicating with each other now, and not only during combat. We definitely feel like a hero’s party now!
I can even occasionally predict when someone wants a certain buff now! I’ve been using short lasting but decently cheap buffs to practice, and while I still get it wrong fairly often, I’m improving! The more aggressive way of buffing the Hero recommended to me is definitely helping me improve faster. I’m glad everyone seems okay with it, as I was worried that they would end up feeling annoyed. A sudden buff can, on occasion, actually be fairly dangerous as it can mess up your pacing and the like, so getting some practice against some weaker enemies is definitely helpful. Even if it is complete overkill to buff Melly’s strength when she is striking a wolf, causing a fairly gruesome execution. At least it’s helping my timing! That’s worth a few blood stains, or, as the Hero puts it, “suddenly standing in a splash zone.”
Speaking of, I also didn’t forget about my talk with the Hero.
That night, before everyone went to sleep, I went over to the Hero.
“Hello.” I greeted.
“Do you need something, Elizabeth?” he responded.
“You didn’t forget your promise, right?” I question.
“Of course not, I was waiting for you to bring it up. So, what did you want to talk about?”
“I wanted to talk about how you didn’t really interact with the rest of the party, but today has started to alleviate those worries.”
“That's good to hear.” He chuckled.
I end up hesitating over what to say next. Should I inform him about how his power works? It will likely cause him to try to get closer to everyone, but is that even needed anymore? He seems to be heading in the right direction on his own, so I don’t really push him anymore. Besides, him getting closer to someone just to activate his ability doesn’t feel like it would result in the truly deep bonds that the stories describe.
“I guess as long as things continue the way they went today, I won’t have anything to worry about.” I ended up saying. I feel like I spent all that time worrying for nothing. I guess I should have trusted the Hero that was chosen by the Gods more, huh. He did say he had a plan after all.
That's when I had a realization. “Wait, was what happened today part of your plan?” I exclaimed in shock.
“What do you mean?” He teased.
“Mmm.” I ended up pouting.
“I’m kidding. I’m kidding.” The Hero laughed. “Yes, it was. I planned to get strong enough to be able to hold my own in combat, so that when we finally worked together, we would actually be fighting together, instead of everyone just protecting me.”
“I see. That’s not too bad of an idea, but you should have at least told someone about it.”
“Would anyone have believed me? I mean truly believed. Believed in my ability to fulfill that plan.”
“Probably enough to let you try at least.” I reasoned.
“To the same extent of what I did over the past few days?” He continued.
“...Yeah, you’re right. Not to anywhere near the same extent.” I realized. Especially with what I now know about the Hero’s ability. “But,” I continued. “You can tell us your other plans now! Now that we know how capable you are, we definitely would be far more willing to follow any plan you tell us.” I say in excitement.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Why not just agree with me!” I exclaimed in disbelief.
“I’ll consider it once we can work together like a proper party.”
“Fine.” I end up relenting in annoyance.
“So, was that everything?”
“Yeah yeah, just remember what I said.”
“I will.”
As I turned to leave, I noticed his smile. While it’s the same confident smile he always has, it feels even more confident than usual. Haa, I really don’t understand this enigma of a hero. This smile somehow confuses me even more than the amused smile he wears at odd times.
After a few days of traveling, we ended up at the base of a mountain. I guess even the Hero can get lost, if he even had a proper destination in the first place.
At least, that's what I thought. As if just to prove me wrong, he continued to lead us towards the mountain. As I was getting confused, the Hero pulled out a grappling hook. My mind completely blanked at that. W-was he going to try to CLIMB the mountain?! I wasn’t the only one confused. Everyone’s faces had expressions of confusion on them. Except for Rapunzel. How she managed to stay calm amazed me.
It wasn’t until Rapunzel asked, “Are you trying to enter that cave?” that I realized why. As the Hero attached his grappling hook to the tree halfway up the mountain, I finally noticed that the tree was growing from the entrance of a cave.
Now my question is, why are we climbing a mountain to enter some cave? Haa, I definitely am not prepared for this. As I’m not someone that’s particularly athletic, the idea of this is filling me with dread.
It seems that I’m not the only one filled with dread, as Gregory’s smile was so strained, I hesitate to even call it a smile.
“Are we going to climb up to that cave?” Gregory asked apprehensively.
“That’s the plan.” The Hero responded.
“Do we have to?” Gregory almost begged.
“No." The Hero started, but before the relief could settle on Gregory’s face, “But the cave has some good stuff in it that the Gods highly recommend.” Poor Gregory almost looks ready to cry now.
I understand his feelings, the cave is above an almost vertical cliff, and I highly doubt most of us have experience climbing mountains. Or so I thought at first. But when I thought about it, Hansen is quite adventurous, so he might have climbed a mountain or two. Rapunzel is a scout, so it’s all but guaranteed that she at least has some training. I don’t know about the Hero, but considering his ability with his grappling hook, as well as the fact that this was his idea, he probably has experience. Melly doesn’t seem confident, but neither does she seem nervous. And, well, she is likely the most fit and athletic of all of us, so she should be fine.
That leaves me, who spent most of my time in the church reading and learning magic, and Gregory, who spends all of his free time reading and learning magic. I honestly don’t think we can even physically accomplish this task.
As I was worrying, the Hero commented. “Don’t worry, Elizabeth can buff you to make it easier.”
“I see, I could do that!” I exclaimed in relief.
“Yeah, that might work. Maybe.” Gregory mumbles, clearly still nervous.
While I won’t go into detail over the whole ordeal, it went pretty poorly. As I thought, most everyone was quite capable of easily climbing the cliff face. While Melly had some difficulties when she tried to use a proper form, when she eventually gave up, she could just climb up using her monstrous grip strength. I ended up having to apply my buff twice to myself, as the first buff ended during my climb as I struggled to figure out the proper form, causing me to forget to refill it. And unlike Melly, I couldn’t just give up and use pure strength. It ended up taking me over fifteen minutes to climb that twenty-odd-yard cliff.
Then we have Gregory, who required effectively eight separate casts in order to eventually struggle his way to the top. While I felt dead once I reached the top, I am proud to announce that my exhaustion doesn’t hold a candle to Gregory’s. He needed over an hour of rest, as well as a few healing spells, to make him fit for combat again. I was confused why he needed to be combat ready, but the Hero advised that there might be monsters in the cave, so we should be at our best. The seriousness of his expression at the time scared me though. It made me feel like he knew what was here and that we needed to be in top form to face it.
As we cautiously traveled down the cave, we eventually saw a light. The cave then opened up as we found ourselves inside a forest. It turns out that in the middle of the mountain range was a valley. While carefully exploring, we eventually came across a clearing full of a whole bunch of small plants.
“Medical plants.” Rapunzel gasped.
“Alchemical ones as well.” Gregory added. “Even durges are growing here.” He said in excitement.
Even Melly was excited at that, so I couldn’t help asking. “What are durges?”
Melly was surprisingly the one that answered. “The primary ingredient in strength potions. The permanent kind.”
“Does that mean if we use all of the durges, even Gregory would be able to punch orcs to death!” I shout in excitement.
“Ahem.” Gregory coughs. “Sadly durges only give one a permanent boost the first time you use them. They do, however, give you a massive, albeit temporary, boost to your strength every other time you drink one.”
“Oh, that's too bad. Still very useful though. They’re probably worth a fortune too.”
“Indeed.” Hansen interjects. “Even people at the peak desire them.”
“They are one of the few things that can increase your potential, after all.” Melly added. “People who are stuck at their limit search everywhere for something like durges, just to get that one last Level Up.”
“So, we’re rich!” I declare happily.
“Sadly not." The Hero denies, dousing my excitement.
“Why not?” I protest. Everyone else is also wondering why.
“Because we need to use them to defeat the demon lord.”
“Ah, yeah, that's a bit more important.” I say, suppressing my disappointment.
“Why are you so disappointed? Is it not a good thing to be able to use the durges to save the world?” Gregory can’t help but ask.
“Well, I’ve rarely even held money, much less owned much. If it wasn’t for being chosen as a potential saintess, I would be struggling to even get a job around now, much less find an opportunity to be considered wealthy.” I admit.
No one responded to that. Everyone had a guilty expression on their faces, regretting their curiosity. Even the Hero seemed to feel bad.
I ended up having to break up the awkward silence myself. “Don’t worry about it, everyone. That’s all in the past, I have a bright future ahead of me now.” I say with a smile. Sadly, my words didn’t seem to fill them with much comfort. Ah, I guess I am on a very dangerous journey to kill a demon. Maybe they are worried if I’ll even have a future? Note to self, don’t mention the future to everyone, they seem to be more concerned about it than I am.
As I was wondering how to fix things, the Hero said, “That you do. I’ll make sure of it.” with a determined face. Instead of feeling comforted, I was more interested with the new expression on the Hero’s face. At least everyone else seemed relieved.
“That’s right. We just need to make sure her future is bright.” Melly agreed, also filled with determination. Everyone quickly followed suit. While they don’t need to worry about me that much, the warm feeling growing inside my chest is comforting.