“……Alright. In that case, you guys are banished from this party. I am the leader. You have no complaints, right?”
I deliberately chose strong, pushing words.
Homura’s eyes went wide, and then her face turned pale as she looked down. Hearing the thin, leaking sound of her sobbing, I desperately swallowed the words of retraction that rose to my throat.
“……If.”
It was Geld who broke the brief silence.
“If we can get stronger than we are now… would you team up with us again?”
Elsha is looking at me seriously. When I get stronger, huh…? I didn’t even need to think—the answer was obvious.
“…Yeah. When that time comes, I’ll gladly do it. Actually, I should be the one asking you.”
“!”
At my words, the two of them lit up.
I felt like crying. They said they would wait for a selfish and unworthy guy like me. I swore in my heart that I would surely, surely acquire the strength to not shame them.
“We will definitely get stronger! So please wait for us!”
“O-Oh?”
The two nodded strongly. …No, wait, if you put that much spirit into getting stronger on your end, I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch up, or rather…
“Alright! If that’s the case, today is the last victory party for now! Let’s make a huge racket!”
“……Yes, you’re right. If we mope around forever, Leader will be troubled too. Come on, Homura too.”
Urged by Elsha, Homura lifted her head. Some color had returned to her face, but her eyes were red, and tears were still flowing.
“Uuu……. Adem-san, I, I-I’m…!”
“Ah—geez, come on, stop crying, there, there. It’s not like we’re parting for life…”
“Anyway, we’re drinking tonight! Let’s get this party started!!”
My small confusion never reached them, and it was drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the banquet as everyone, having regained a little bit of their spirits, started over.
“Oh, Adem-san isn’t with you today?”
Early that morning, Carine, the staff member standing at the Adventurer’s Guild reception, saw a scene different from the daily routine of a certain party and voiced her question without thinking.
Currently, they are an up-and-coming party that has only been formed for about a year, and despite the members being young, they continue to be promoted at an exceptional speed. The Mage Geld, the Hunter Elsha, the Priest Homura, and the Swordsman leader who leads the three of them, Adem. It is a well-balanced composition. If one had to say, they could use perhaps one more vanguard, but that area seems to be handled by the skill of the Leader, the party’s sole vanguard; I never hear of any problems regarding that.
In any case, the closeness of this currently trending party is famous even among the Guild staff, and their trust in the member Adem is particularly deep. In normal times, they are usually all together, or it’s a combination of Adem and someone else, but today, unusually, only Adem is missing.
“Regarding that matter, we decided to disband the party.”
“Disband… E-Eeennnh!?”
At the words told with solemn faces, a loud voice slipped out involuntarily. Why suddenly, for a party with such good relationships and accumulating achievements? Moreover, they are at the stage where they will reach A-Rank soon.
“W-What do you mean?”
When Carine asked while flustered, they began to narrate the circumstances bit by bit, their expressions clouding slightly.
“It’s our lack of strength…”
“Because we relied too much on Adem-san until now…”
“What does that…”
“Until now, Adem-san has been adventuring by matching his pace to ours. Spoiled by that, we left everything to Adem-san… That’s why he surely ran out of patience with us…”
Homura, her voice trembling, looked like she might start crying at any moment.
“Thinking back, the reason Adem-san stopped giving us training much might have been because he was expecting us to become strong with our own power…”
Elsha spoke with a tone containing a great deal of regret. In reality, there had long been nothing left for Adem to teach, and even if he did give training, he could only say things like”Well… isn’t that fine?”, but that was the only truth.
“Adem-san could go even higher if he were alone. But we were dragging him down… That’s why we will separate from Adem-san for a time and reforge ourselves!”
“I see…?”
There are parts that don’t quite make sense, but essentially, it’s something like leaving the nest? Originally, Adem was an adventurer who often worked alone, and he formed a formal party after looking after them when they had problems. So, judging that each of them could now make it on their own, he disbanded the party once so they could proceed without relying on him—something like that, perhaps.
Aha, Carine let out a small breath of admiration. As expected of Adem-san.
This receptionist named Carine has known Adem for quite a long time. When she first started working as a Guild staff member, when things weren’t going well and she was worried, he gave her advice and listened to her troubles.
He was good at teaching things to people and had abundant knowledge. Not only regarding adventures, but for some reason, he was strangely knowledgeable about Guild staff duties as well, and there were many staff members and adventurers who were helped by Adem in the same way. Being caring, he has a good reputation among the other Guild staff too.
However, since Adem clearly started being active in Labyrinth exploration only after he started partying with them, Carine has her own thoughts on the matter, but judging that it wasn’t her place to say anything, she decided to fulfill her duties.
“By the way, what will everyone do after the party dissolves?”
“For the time being, the three of us think we will continue activities together, but…”
“Since all three of us are rearguard Jobs.”
“Yes, so first we are thinking of looking for someone who is a vanguard Job.”
“I see… Then, allow me to introduce a few vanguards who are looking for a party.”
“Yes, please do.”
The three who finished the dissolution procedures no longer had the melancholy from before, and a fire of certain determination dwelled in their eyes.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
“Ah, Adem-san. Good morning.”
“Oh, morning. Carine.”
At the Guild reception, which I visited before noon to process the party dissolution, a familiar staff member called out to me.
“Just a little while ago, your members were here.”
“Oh, is that so. Which means…”
“Yes, they went ahead and processed the dissolution.”
So they finished it ahead of time for me. I always took the lead in doing procedures and such, so it feels kind of fresh. At the same time, realizing this is the end, I felt a tinge of loneliness.
“They said they would add a new vanguard and continue party activities, but what will you do, Adem-san?”
“Hmm, no, I haven’t thought of anything in particular but… I suppose I’ll do it alone again for a while.”
Leaving those words behind, I left the reception.
Originally, the party was formed just by the flow of things. It’s just going back to being alone again.
Also, well, joining a new party just a day after yesterday feels, you know? Kind of sorry to them, or something.
Anyway, the objective has already been achieved, but going home without doing anything feels wrong…
Just as I was thinking about taking a random request, a particularly loud shout echoed through the bustling Guild.
“Ed! What does this mean!?“
The source of the commotion was in front of a different reception window than the one I was at. Mixing with the onlookers trying to see what was happening, I turned on my heel to observe.
“There’s no ‘what’ about it.I said I’m disbanding the party.”
“That’s why I’m asking you what that means!”
There were four silhouettes in front of the reception.
Among them, a small boy wearing a hood deep over his eyes and a young man, who was just called Ed, were arguing about something.
Apparently, it’s discord within a party or something. A disturbance inside the Guild isn’t particularly rare, but talk of party dissolution is quite a timely topic for me.
“Listen, Linfa. Everyone just can’t keep up with you anymore.”
At Ed’s words, the other two who were likely party members returned modest nods.
“Tch! Hey!!“
The one called Linfa tried to close in on the two of them, his movements conveying a fierce passion even if his expression was hidden deep beneath his hood.
“Stop it!”
“Tch……!”
However, Ed cut in between them, bringing the confrontation to a halt.
“……That’s just how it is. Anyway, the party registration has already been dissolved. That’s the end of the conversation.”
“…………”
Ignoring the boy, who had fallen silent with his fists clenched tight, the young men left the guild without giving him so much as a backward glance. The receptionist looked troubled.
The only one left behind was him, standing there with his head hanging low.
For a while, everyone just watched from a distance with eyes full of pity, ridicule, or curiosity. But he was standing right in front of the reception desk. For anyone who had business there, he was nothing but a nuisance.
“Hey, pal. I guess you’re going through a lot, but… mind moving aside a bit?”–
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