I Pretended To Have Amnesia and the Hero’s Party Becomes Obsessed

2 – 1. The Worst Reunion (2)

In our mercenary group building, there exists a sort of reception room.

Of course, it would be difficult to imagine something like a fancy inn or a mountaintop temple. It’s closer to forcing a sofa and snacks into the best room of a cheap inn.

No, it’s not close, it’s actually the case. After all, this building used to be an inn.

Still, considering how much of our budget was spent on arranging this reception room, it can be called a rather luxurious one.

Anyway, at the moment, I was sitting in that reception room facing a woman who claimed to be a porter for the hero party.

“The tea tastes good.”

“Thank you.”

She drank the tea. I nodded my head and looked at her.

At that moment, just as I felt when I was forcibly expelled, she was a peculiar woman.

A youthful appearance as if she had just become an adult, delicate hands that seemed unrelated to fighting or strenuous work, and yet, she didn’t seem like a spellcaster either, as I couldn’t sense any magical power.

Overall, she gave more of a feeling of being tied to a desk rather than being a porter. The young weariness on her face added to that impression.

Yeah, it’s true that it can be like that up until this point. You can call me a porter, or you can read me as an accountant.

The problem, or more precisely, what keeps bothering me, is her eyes.

Back then, and even now, this woman keeps looking at me with a strange gaze.

As if she’s seeing something that shouldn’t exist.

Like a magician observing a peculiar phenomenon.

And on top of that, there’s this strange familiarity that I’ve felt since the first time I saw her.

Feeling a mixture of discomfort and curiosity, I opened my mouth.

“So, what brings you here…”

Finally, the porter put down the teacup. Then, she intertwined her fingers as if carefully choosing her words.

Soon, the words that came out of her mouth were beyond my expectations.

“Firstly, I would like to apologize for the rudeness from the last time on behalf of the party of heroes.”

The porter stood up and bowed deeply.

“The members of the party were not in good health at that time…”

I extended my hand, feeling flustered.

“No, it’s alright. Well… it could happen, I suppose.”

Even if their health was not good, could it really be possible for them to act that way just by seeing my face…?

“Thank you for your understanding.”

The porter bowed deeply once again before lifting her head. Then, she took out a few documents from thin air and handed them to me.

“Let’s get straight to the point, then…”

…An interdimensional pocket?

The porter has such an expensive item?

“Well, I wanted to talk about the matters we couldn’t discuss last time.”

“Ah, yes…”

In an instant, my mind, which was captivated by the valuable item, returned to the topic of work.

As I received the documents, I suddenly looked at the porter with doubt.

“So, you’re still entrusting this task to our mercenary group…?”

“Yes, because we’ve already signed the contract.”

The porter replied as if it was obvious. Inwardly, I let out a deep sigh of relief.

In truth, I was even considering leaving the mercenary group for a moment. I’m glad I didn’t.

I still wonder why they reacted the way they did, but for now, the most important thing was the task at hand.

I looked through the documents, trying to gather my thoughts.

What followed was a simple repetition of agreements and signatures. It didn’t take long. Perhaps because it was a warrior party, they were generous when it came to spending money.

And so, as I finished signing the last document and prepared to finish with a handshake, I was about to call it a day.

“If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask you one thing?”

I withdrew my outstretched hand and nodded.

“Do you have any acquaintances in the warrior party?”

Those eyes again.

Eyes that seemed to be carefully observing me.

As we faced each other directly, I was certain.

This woman is quite wary of me.

But why?

I suppressed my doubts and answered.

“Yes, actually. Although it’s been quite a while since we’ve met.”

“All of them?”

“Yes, that’s correct. Is that a problem?”

I intentionally adopted a sharp tone. I wondered if I could provoke something.

“No, it’s just personal curiosity. If it made you uncomfortable, I apologize.”

But she immediately backed away. I silently clicked my tongue and lowered my head.

“No, it’s fine. I just hope this won’t be an issue for the mission.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Well then.”

One of the party’s baggage handlers reached out to me.

“Thank you for your precious time.”

I glanced at his hand for a moment before shaking it. With a polite smile, I spoke.

“Thank you for entrusting us with this task for our mercenaries. You won’t regret it.”

And with that, the baggage handler from the warrior party bid our group farewell and left the reception room.

Alone in the reception room, I sat back down on the sofa. I downed a lukewarm cup of tea in one gulp and stared at the ceiling with a sour expression.

“There’s something off about this….”

***

Regardless of my instincts, the contract was already stored in the mercenary group’s warehouse, and the schedule was steadily progressing.

From the start, my instincts weren’t particularly accurate.

I focused on the task at hand, suppressing a foreboding feeling.

The mission that the hero party commissioned our mercenary group for was a simple cargo transport.

It involved moving an important item belonging to a distinguished individual to the northern city of Ahrotel.

Originally, it was a mission that the hero party was supposed to carry out alone, but the cargo handlers explained that they had sought the assistance of our mercenary group because the northern region had been unstable recently.

It seemed to be a secretive mission, as we didn’t even know the identity of the cargo, let alone the name of the client.

From that, it could be inferred that there were quite complex circumstances involved, but it wasn’t the mercenary’s job to find out.

Silently, I recruited new personnel and prepared the necessary supplies for escorting.

And so, the day of departure approached.

In front of the gate, we waited for the hero party, greeted by the cold morning dew.

“How secretly are we supposed to go, in the dead of night…”

“Don’t even take a sip.”

Complaining while shivering, Phea approached and handed me a soldier. I opened the lid, wrinkling my nose after smelling it.

“What kind of drink is this before work?”

“The kids have already finished drinking.”

I looked back at our wagon. Our kids, already with flushed faces, caught my eye.

“…If those brats cause trouble, punish them immediately.”

“Yes, understood.”

I tilted my head towards Phea, not because of the cold but because of the stress.

By the time the firearms were adequately concealed, Phea’s light voice reached my ears.

“They seem to be coming.”

I turned my head and indeed saw a carriage approaching. Eventually, the carriage stopped in front of us, revealing familiar faces.

The hero, Amy

The priestess, Clara

The mage, Parsley.

Their attire was not the formal clothing from the inn, but outfits suitable for battle. Even the aspiring saint, Clara, wore a nun’s robe with added leather.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Rose, the captain of the Roselem Mercenary Group.”

The first to approach the hero party was our captain. The hero, Amy, shook hands with the offered hand and smiled.

“I’m Amy. Thank you for your assistance.”

And then, she looked around at our kids and spoke up.

“So, these are all the escorts…”

Then, the eyes of the warrior stop on me. Emotion-filled eyes widen, revealing the inner turmoil.

At that time, it wasn’t certain, but looking at it now, I could be sure.

Amy was looking at me with disgust.

And, Parsley and Clara, who discovered me following Amy’s gaze, were the same.

I felt something slightly twisted.

“Youngest, take charge of the kids for a moment.”

“Huh? Then, what will you be doing, sir?”

“I’m going to check if anything has been overlooked for a moment.”

Swallowing the bitter liquid rising from within me, I turned towards the carriage containing supplies.

Fortunately, some of our guys were standing guard in front of the carriage. The problem was that their faces were red with intoxication.

I roughly kicked their backsides and ushered them away before entering the carriage.

Naturally, there was nothing abnormal with the supplies. I had thoroughly checked them last night.

After all, if I had come for such a purpose, I would have brought the damn ledger.

I casually opened the box next to the rice sacks and took out a bottle of liquor. Then, I uncorked it and poured it coolly into my mouth.

“Kkh…!”

The pungent scent of alcohol passing through the throat.

A feeling like something twisted inside me was loosening a bit.

“Why aren’t you working? What are you doing?”

I put down the bottle and turned around. Then, in a gruff voice, I said,

“What about the leader? Isn’t he the one not working?”

The leader declared confidently, his red hair fluttering.

“I passed it on to Phea!”

“…Leader, if you keep doing that, someday you’ll get a knife in your sleep from him.”

“That warrior from the Forsaken? Maybe he’ll come in the middle of the night and challenge us to a duel…”

“Do you have confidence in winning?”

“No, I’d have to beg even if my hands became feet. But I’m willing to take on the role of leader, so please, just spare my life.”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. The leader also responded with a sly smile and asked me,

“So, why is our vice leader secretly drinking in the carriage on a day like today?”

“Because Phea’s cheap homemade liquor is awful. I thought I should drink something decent.”

“Even though our vice leader isn’t the type to drink.”

The commander’s mouth, while uttering those words, was smiling, but his eyes emitted a sharp gleam.

This is the nature of a relationship that is both comfortable and uncomfortable due to the long acquaintance.

I grimaced, placing the empty bottle back into the box.

“It’s nothing. You don’t have to worry. Just go do your work…”

“Our deputy commander isn’t someone who would be satisfied with something trivial.”

This woman…

“No, I’m not satisfied.”

“Our deputy commander isn’t the type to engage in low-level dealings with the mercenary corps supplies.”

“No, it’s not that…”

“Our deputy commander isn’t the type to casually pass on tasks to Phea without any reason.”

“Commander, please listen to me…”

I stopped talking when I saw the commander’s face, which was already grinning.

I’m in trouble.

This woman has no intention of accepting what I say…

In the end, I sighed and raised the white flag.

“I’ll tell you later, so for now, let’s go do our work…”

“Really? You’ll tell me everything later? It’s a promise?”

“Yes, yes…”

I replied casually and turned back towards where Phea might be in tears.

And that night…

“I’m here.”

The commander came to my tent in his nightclothes.

…Damn it.

***

The city of Eshir, which our mercenary corps has chosen as its base, is quite far from Aholottle.

Not only that, but there are few cities to pass through, separated by rugged mountain ranges.

Moreover, the client of the warrior party, in other words, the one who is urgently requesting a mission from us, seemed quite anxious, asking for the fastest possible transportation.

In other words, we ended up camping from the first day.

Even if I say that I’ve cut off the beginnings of countless remaining camping trips from now on, it might be appropriate.

Of course, it was a camping trip, but it wasn’t as bad as I had thought.

Thanks to my anticipation of such a disaster, I had prepared quite expensive tents and strong liquor.

Except for those buzzing around the lantern, I didn’t know anyone who would get drunk and get bitten by bugs.

…Actually, just in case, I had also prepared a tent for the hero party, but they pulled a small house out of some kind of dimensional pocket.

Anyway,

I had planned to spend the first night of the journey alone in the tent, which was ‘not bad’ compared to what I had expected.

“So, spill everything to the leader here, that’s what I’m saying.”

…If this woman hadn’t suddenly barged in wearing pajamas.

“I’m sure I said I’d tell you later.”

I loosened and reattached the voice transmitter I had set up, but the leader’s audacity always exceeded expectations.

“We promised this morning, so tonight is late enough.”

I was incredulous and asked, “Even so, do grown women usually wear pajamas and visit a man’s bed?”

“Well, so what? Our folks already know that you and I are doing it.”

I was momentarily speechless and couldn’t say anything. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the leader asked with a sly smile.

“So, what’s the problem with our deputy leader, who’s acting all high and mighty in front of friends we haven’t seen in a long time?”

“…You seem to have just mentioned exactly what the problem is.”

“No, no.”

The leader waved his hand with a bottle of liquor and spoke with a serious expression.

“I’m saying that our deputy leader, whom I know, is not the type to be bothered by this kind of thing.”

“…”

“But still, if our deputy leader reacts like this, does it mean there’s more going on with those people than we thought?”

“…So, what do you want to hear?”

The leader finally made a face that seemed to indicate he got the question he wanted. After taking a sip of the drink, he spat out to me.

“Your past.”

And then, he pushed the mouth of the bottle towards me. I tried to raise my hand to grab the bottle, but when I did, the leader pulled the bottle back.

“We need to save every drop.”

I sighed and let go of my hand. Only then did the leader push the bottle into my mouth, letting the drink flow into my mouth.

“Actually, I’ve never told you the story before.”

The heat streaming down my throat.

I took a sip and shook my blunt wrist, and the assistant wiped my mouth instead of dropping the bottle.

I spoke without concealing my displeasure.

“It’s not an especially interesting story.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

The assistant replied with a smirk.

Realizing there was nowhere to retreat, I sighed once more.

And then, I began my tale.

***

The mornings of the season transitioning into autumn were warm to the point of being aggressively so.

Especially when sunlight shattered and fell through the leaves.

Even more so when lying atop the rhythmic motion of the carriage on the ground.

I stretched, yawning further into the sunshine.

“You didn’t sleep properly yesterday, did you?”

I looked at Pea with a question mark on my face. Pea, still focused on sharpening the blade, spoke without lifting their gaze.

“You’ve been yawning continuously for a while now.”

“Ah.”

I sighed briefly, scratching my head casually.

“I stayed up a bit late drinking with the boss yesterday. Sorry if it bothered you.”

To be precise, while discussing the past, dawn had already broken.

Trying to summarize as much as possible, but my life had been so eventful.

“Well, it’s not particularly bothersome. It’s just… Brother, haven’t you refrained from drinking with me for quite some time?”

Unintentionally, I replied with a contorted face.

“But you cry when you drink.”

“I don’t cry!”

Pea, with flushed cheeks, shouted at me and then turned their gaze back to the blade they were tending to.

“It just… enhances my sensitivity.”

“Very refined of you.”

I retorted sarcastically, pondering my memories.

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I drank with them. After this is over, perhaps I should have a drink with the boss and them.

“When he starts crying, just leave the carriage behind and run away.”

“Speaking of that, how long did you drink with the director?”

“Well, it’s obvious. Stories from the time when he was an unknown, tales of suffering together, requests that were like begging, and so on…”

Casually spinning lies, I suddenly stopped speaking as a thought occurred to me.

[Well, what about pretending to have lost your memory?]

It was an idea that came to me at the end of my lamentation about my current situation, which began as soon as all the stories of my past were over.

We were so close, yet the director suddenly suggested that it might make sense for me to vomit upon seeing his face.

I questioned the absurd solution that suddenly emerged, but the director just kept repeating it.

He said that pretending to have lost my memory might make me suddenly act like I know something.

“What nonsense is that…”

“Vice-Chief!”

I stood up. One of our anxious comrades appeared outside the carriage window.

“Oh, it seems there’s a problem up ahead.”

“Up ahead?”

“Yes, Shalik has found something…”

I tightened my gloves and sword belt and jumped out of the carriage. Pea, with an urgent expression, spoke from outside the carriage window.

“I’ll follow you right away.”

“No, stay here.”

Behind the carriage procession were our party of warriors and cargo. And, as an added bonus, our director was suffering from a hangover.

Pea, skilled in combat, was better off waiting in the rear for now.

Leaving a gloomy Pea behind, I mounted my horse and headed to the front of the procession.

At the forefront of the procession, the only elf in our mercenary group was keeping watch. I rode up to him and asked.

“Elf, what’s going on?”

“My name is not Elf, it’s Sharik de Fasitauorodinere si Olaminerea Kun Dinarida.”

“Okay, Elf, so what’s happening?”

He turned his head away from me for a moment so that his mouth wasn’t visible, then looked back at me and said.

“He found something strange up ahead. See that?”

I followed his pointing finger and saw a small dot on the winding road through the forest. Squinting my eyes, I put my hands on my eyes.

“Ars Fee.”

And when I opened my eyes again, what had seemed like a dot had turned into a dead horse.

Judging by the extent of decay, it must have been dead for about three days. The wound on its neck and the twisted leg hinted that someone had shown mercy.

Without averting my gaze, I asked, “It’s a dead horse.”

“Yes, indeed a dead horse. A very peculiar one at that.”

I lifted the enchantment from my eyes and looked at the elf. He spoke with the typical unfortunate expression of his kind.

“You humans are a practical race. When a horse you consider a friend dies, you’re quick to secure its flesh first and foremost.”

“Was the owner quite sentimental, then?”

“If so, wouldn’t it be appropriate to gather the horse’s remains and hold a funeral?”

“Perhaps there was something urgent?”

“For what reason?”

The elf opened his mouth with a detached expression.

“There are no dangerous creatures around here. And the city isn’t too far either.”

Something cold swept down my spine.

“And above all,” the elf contorted his face in disgust, “the stench of decaying corpses pervades.”

I immediately halted my speech and yelled backward.

“Stop!! Everyone stop…!!”

Clang!

A deafening noise echoed from where the horse’s corpse lay.

Simultaneously, amidst startled birds taking flight, a faint creaking sound could be heard.

A sound so worn-out that it didn’t feel like it belonged to any living creature.

And, a warmth-piercing chill that tainted the cozy autumn sunlight.

Sensing my head growing cold, I drew my sword from its scabbard.

“Summon the sorcerers!! Prepare for battle, everyone!!”

And then, the dead surged forth from the shadows of the trees.