Chapter 14

When I heard that I would be allowed to join the party, I was overjoyed.

The party that told me I could join was a party for new adventurers, but I didn’t feel any concern about my lack of skill.

After all, for me, just being part of a party was enough.

When it came to forming a party, even though it was a temporary one, they were very kind to me. They didn’t seem to care that I was being oppressed within the guild, and I was grateful to be able to join their party.

……However, that sense of elation didn’t last long.

The party I joined, as mentioned earlier, was a party for new adventurers.

——But, without any hesitation, they accepted an intermediate-level final quest.

I was shocked and anxious. I thought they might be overconfident because they had included me, a healer, in their party.

However, no matter how much I tried to convey the danger of the quest, the terrifying monsters that would appear, and the fact that a healer of my level would be of no use, the party members didn’t care. They just smiled confidently and said they had a plan.

……I tried to stop the party members, but their confidence was so strong that they wouldn’t listen to me.

Then, as soon as we stepped into the dungeon for the collection quest, we were surrounded by hobgoblins. I blamed myself for not being able to stop the party members, knowing that the dungeon was a hunting ground for intermediate-level adventurers and that new adventurers had no chance of winning.

So, I tried to call out to my companions to retreat to the nearest teleportation array in the dungeon…

“……Huh?”

……The next moment, I was pushed from behind and fell towards the hobgoblins.

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what had happened. There were no monsters behind me. Yet, I had definitely felt a push from behind, and the only answer that made sense was one I couldn’t accept.

“Alright, let’s use this guy as bait and collect the items!”

“Yeah! He’s really stupid!”

“Yeah, totally. To fall for it so easily!”

“!”

……But the words that came from behind me forced me to understand. I had been betrayed and pushed by my companions. No, that’s not right. They were never my companions to begin with. They had only brought me here to use me. The realization made me feel like I was about to collapse. But even so, I shouted to clear up their misunderstanding.

“Don’t go! Goblins tend to swarm the weak, but hobgoblins are different!”

This was information I had learned from the guild’s literature, and it was accurate. Hobgoblins are considered a higher form of goblin, but their behavior is entirely different.

“Ha! He’s begging for his life!”

“How pathetic!”

“Just get moving! Hey, defective guy, do your job as bait!”

But the party members didn’t listen to me. They didn’t even notice that the hobgoblins were looking at them as they tried to slip past. They were so focused on the reward that they smiled as they did so.

……And they died easily.

◇◆◇

After the other party members died, I managed to escape the dungeon during the chaos and learned the truth about the series of events. The party I had joined was not a bad one. They were adventurers who were accepted by the few townspeople, but their personalities had changed dramatically due to the deaths of their companions and the financial difficulties that followed.

They had taken the advice of an adventurer who suggested that using me as bait would complete the collection quest. The adventurer who gave the advice had been violent towards me before and, in a drunken, cheerful state, had given me a casual suggestion, thinking he might be able to kill me. I heard this from another adventurer.

……And this event left me deeply shaken.

My first party, which I had looked forward to with joy and expectation, brought me immense despair when it all came to an end. After hearing the story about the man who had destroyed the party, I don’t remember what I did. I just felt an overwhelming sense of loss and impulsively ran out of the guild…

“……Here, I am.”

……And before I knew it, I was standing in a grassland that is known as a hunting ground for beginner adventurers. However, it was a place I had never been to, even though I often came to hunt solo. It seemed that in my impulse, I had run quite far. I had been building my stamina to overcome my lack of skills, so the fatigue wasn’t too severe.

But staying here was clearly dangerous.

The grassland is a hunting ground for beginners, and it’s not a place where strong enemies appear. I had a weapon with me, but that was only on the surface. The deeper you go, the stronger and more numerous the monsters become. It’s said that even hydras, which are as powerful as the monsters in the deeper parts of the dungeon, can appear further in. Of course, it’s not that dangerous here, but for someone like me, a low-level adventurer, even this place can be life-threatening.

……But even knowing this, I didn’t feel like leaving.

My chest was filled with an overwhelming sense of regret, and everything else seemed trivial. I was aware of the danger, but it felt as if I were in a dream. Perhaps my mind had shut down due to the strong shock.

“AAAAAA!”

“!”

——However, a scream from a distance brought me back to my senses.

“Gob, lin?”

Then, I finally noticed a group of goblins gathered a short distance away. It seemed they were attacking a carriage that looked like it belonged to a noble, with a young girl inside. For a moment, I wondered why a noble’s carriage, with a young girl in it, would be in such a place. But I didn’t have time to ponder such things. The goblins were still focused on the carriage and hadn’t noticed me. But they could notice me at any moment, and if I wanted to escape, I had to do it now. So, I decided.

“——!”

The next moment, I ran towards the carriage…