I Was the Scout for the Hero’s Party

“You fucking bitch. Try saying that again.”

When I openly displayed my anger and slapped her, Isabel looked at me with confused eyes while covering her stinging cheek with one hand.

“A-Austin… I think there’s some misunderstanding…”

-SLAP!!

Disgusted by Isabel’s continued nonsense, I raised my hand to the opposite cheek this time.

As my palm struck Isabel’s right cheek, her face turned to the left, and she spoke with a trembling voice and tearful expression.

“Austin…!! What on earth are you doing…”

“Shut up and get your head on straight.”

“Ah…… I-I’m sorry… my words came out wrong…”

“Is ‘sorry’ enough? Damn it, I didn’t know such an amazing pardon existed. I’ll be sorry too, so let’s get hit first.”

Unlike her confident attitude just moments ago when she threatened to bring the hero, she was now begging for forgiveness. Accustomed to her hypocrisy, I raised my palm once more.

“W-Wait…!”

-SLAP!!!

“Ahuk…!”

…Hmm… I think I hit her too hard this time.

While I was surprised at my own lack of proper force control, Isabel, whose cheek was turning bluish-purple, raised her hand and began casting a healing spell.

“Hic… H-Heal…!”

White light began to emanate from Isabel’s hand, and eventually her bruised cheek returned to its usual snow-white skin.

But a healing spell doesn’t make the pain of being hit go away.

I showed her my open palm again and looked directly into Isabel’s eyes.

“Hey. After all the shit I went through because of you all, now what? ‘If you don’t want to be dragged forcibly, come along willingly’? Are you guys even human beings like me?”

“Hiccup……”

Isabel, who had been rubbing her cheek and wiping her tears, swallowed hard and shrank back when she saw my palm, which had been slapping her face just moments ago.

Good. Now we can communicate.

Indeed, my father’s saying that if words don’t work, communicate with your body, is correct without exception.

“Anyway, as I told Maya yesterday, I have no intention of returning to the party. I’m sorry for slapping your cheek, but you said things that scraped at my insides first. You know that, right?”

“Hic… sob…”

“…Yeah. I couldn’t control my strength on that last hit. I’m sorry for that. Did it hurt that much?”

“You’re… you’re so cruel… hic!…”

“…Cry. Yes, cry all you want. Damn it, what kind of situation is this.”

I patted Isabel, who was burying her face in my chest and sobbing loudly, and comforted her with a complicated expression, wondering if it had really hurt that much.

“Hic… A-Austin… I’m sorry… I… I… said harsh things to Austin…. Hiccup!… I hurt your feelings… sob….”

I wonder why they behaved like that when they knew they were wrong.

As Isabel’s long confession began, I listened to her story to the end with a somewhat calmer expression.

“I… I… hiccup…! Treated Mr. Austin… badly… hic…! Just… just sorry…”

“Yes, yes. I understand, so please stop crying.”

How much time had passed?

As Isabel’s crying had somewhat calmed, I looked at her as she wiped her tears on my clothes and asked.

“…Are you done crying?”

“…Yes… I’m sorry.”

Looking at Isabel, who was still occasionally sniffling though her tears had stopped, I detached her from my embrace and pointed outside the corridor.

“Well, if you’ve said everything you needed to say, then go now.”

“……Pardon?”

Isabel looked at me with a bewildered expression at my words.

Regardless of her gaze, I firmly pointed to the end of the corridor.

“I said go if you’re done talking. I have no intention of returning to the party. I am a bit sorry for hitting you just now, but that doesn’t mean I intend to return to the party.”

“B-But…”

Just as Isabel was about to rebut my statement, I saw Lady Alexis coming down the spiral staircase opposite the bench where we were sitting.

With joy at the thought of escaping this situation and going to the capital, I hurriedly got up, shook off Isabel, and approached Lady Alexis.

“Lady Alexis, you’re here! Come, let’s use the gate right away!”

When I extended my hand to Lady Alexis, unable to hide my joy, she glanced at me briefly, fidgeting with her fingers, then hesitantly opened her mouth.

“Um… well… about that…”

“Yes! What is it? We can use the gate right now? Oh my goodness, that’s wonderful!!”

“T-That’s not it…!!”

“…Austin. Who is this person..? If this is Lady Alexis…”

Ignoring Isabel, who was trying to interject with a cold face, I waited for Lady Alexis to speak with a grinning expression.

“Um… actually…!!”

“Yes! Don’t keep me in suspense, please tell me quickly!”

Lady Alexis heaved a deep sigh, then finally spoke.

“…Because potion supplies for mages at the front lines are running low, they said they can’t use the gate’s mana… as it’s needed to produce mana potions…”

“………”

The worst possible answer I didn’t want to hear came from Lady Alexis’s mouth.

“Growl…..”

I rolled my eyes and collapsed backward on the spot.

I sat in the corridor and wailed loudly, feeling aggrieved and resentful about why such trials were inflicted only on me.

Thankfully, Lady Alexis hurriedly lifted me up and comforted me; had I heard this news alone, I might have torn out all my hair.

Eventually, we returned to our lodgings and could only sit in the room, staring blankly into space.

“Hah… so what do we do now?”

After Isabel had left and I asked Lady Alexis with an unable-to-hide complicated expression, she too opened her mouth with a gloomy face.

“…There’s nothing we can do. Above all, we’re in a wartime situation… Now that the mana core of the magic tower in the frontline city has been designated for requisition, there’s no way for us to use the gate immediately without a permit.”

Faced with this still desperate reality, I buried my face in the bed and shook my head.

This is a dream… damn it, there’s no way this could be reality…!!!

Whether she understood my feelings or not, Lady Alexis continued speaking, regardless of my actions.

“…Actually, I wasn’t unaware this might happen… I inquired separately, but if you travel by land via carriage, you could reach the capital in about 4 weeks.”

“4… 4 weeks…”

“Yes. But… there is a way.”

“What…?”

“If my father sends a gate use permit by letter, we might be able to use the gate.”

…This… this is it!!

“Then, how long would it take to receive the permit…”

“Probably… about 2 weeks…”

“Damn it, shit.”

To think I’d have to stay in the same city as that hero bitch and her minions for 2 weeks.

I started endlessly agonizing in my mind, constantly uttering expletive-filled exclamations.

“…Let’s wait, what the hell. It’s still faster and safer than going by land, isn’t it?”

At my words, Lady Alexis, who had been pondering for a moment, soon smiled and nodded.

Alright. Let’s just be patient and wait for 2 weeks.

Without gaining a single benefit, Isabel’s steps returning to the inn were swaying this way and that like reeds in the wind.

Despite having met Austin…

“…..Haah……..”

Isabel looked up at the already darkening evening sky.

Is there really no way?

Finding out the location of the inn where Austin was staying, and learning that the gate service was suspended, meaning Austin couldn’t immediately return to the capital—these were the only consolations, if they could be called that.

‘Speaking that way at that time… was perhaps a bit much…’

Those brazen, threatening words she had casually thrown at Austin.

‘…I wanted to resolve this quietly, but it seems impossible. Austin, if you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to bring the hero. Wouldn’t it be better to resolve this through conversation rather than being forcibly dragged away?’

Isabel sighed and ran her hands over her face, thinking about the stupidity she had committed in the past.

Even though the Demon King’s army was right at their doorstep, she shouldn’t have treated Austin—who had left the party after being used like a slave—like a piece of luggage and threatened him.

Recalling Austin’s face, which had not just contorted but completely crumpled at the news that he couldn’t use the gate, Isabel sighed deeply once more.

Does he hate being with us that much? To the point of crying loudly and throwing a tantrum like a child at the fact that he can’t immediately get far away from us?

For Isabel, who had only known Austin’s calm and composed personality, the sight of him lying on the corridor floor, wailing loudly, and flailing his limbs—what would be called a “tantrum”—was unforgettable.

“Haah…. Ouch!”

Isabel, who had been walking in a daze without realizing she had already arrived in front of the inn, kept rubbing her forehead after bumping it against the closed door.

“…Why am I like this today…”

Ever since seeing Austin with Lady Alexis, for some reason her mind had become foggy, filled with all sorts of random thoughts.

With a somewhat uncomfortable feeling and the dull pain she felt, Isabel slightly frowned her delicate brow, then opened the door and climbed the stairs of the inn.

Having reached the door of the room, Isabel paused to organize the day’s events and listened for sounds from inside.

“….It’s quiet.”

Normally, after finishing dinner, the room should have been filled with chatter about their upcoming journey, but for some reason, no sound was leaking out.

Just as Isabel was standing in front of the room door, trying to gather her thoughts, suddenly someone appeared, calling her name.

“Ah, Isabel! Here you are!”

Turning her head toward the sound of the hero Yoo-jung’s bright and cheerful voice that she always heard when entering, Isabel stared blankly at the hero and the party members standing beside her.

Because there was a person she had never seen before standing next to the hero.

A boy who looked about 15 years old, with a youthful face, wearing leather armor and a short bow slung over his shoulder, was looking at Isabel with bright eyes.

It was not an illusion that Maya’s face, showing some discomfort, caught her eye.

“H-Hero. Who is this person…?”

Surely… surely not such a… he’s still a child… it can’t be…?

Whether or not she knew Isabel’s anxious feelings, the hero opened her mouth with a bright smile.

“Ah, say hello! This is Max, our new scout!”

“Hello! I’m Max, who will be in charge of sc-scouting…!”

Isabel’s legs gave out, and she sank to the floor.

“M-Miss Isabel?!”

Looking at Max’s soft hands, which ran toward her—hands without a single callus, hands that seemed like they had never pulled a bowstring in their life—Isabel laughed hysterically.

“Ha… haha… ahahaha…!!!!”

‘We’re fucked, damn it….!!!’

Isabel’s silent scream filled the inn and scattered in the wind.