The Porter Has No Interest in the Hero’s Party

Three demons burst through the tavern door. Their skin was so bruised and blue that one couldn’t distinguish between bruises and skin color, and their skinny limbs were bizarrely bent in different directions, creating a terrifying appearance.

The widow employee with a young child, faced with the ferocious and terrifying appearance of these monsters, jumped in fright, collapsed to the floor, and began to scream.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“Uwaaaaaaaah!”

“Kiaaaaaaaaah!”

The monsters also raised their voices in strange cries. As if representing the pain of the demon realm, they shed tears, kicked the tavern chairs, and screamed.

“Don’t worry! The hero’s party is here!”

And I rolled my body, cutting between the monsters and the employee. After smoothly rolling across a round table like an acrobat, I landed in front of the creature and gave it a sharp glare. The monsters, like dogs facing a dog catcher, curled their legs and shed tears.

“Uuuuu…! Aaaah!”

“P-please spare us…! Please…! We beg you…!”

“We did…! as we were told…!”

Standing at the front, I threw a knife hand strike at the throat of the one spouting unnecessary words. The monster, hit squarely by my hand, fell to the floor and went silent. The remaining two monsters glanced at each other, then without hesitation, began to flee.

“Gueeeeeeek!”

“Kieeeeeeek!”

“Stop right there, you creatures!”

One of them, fleeing toward the tavern exit, stretched out its broken arm. With its guard down, I stabbed a broken glass bottle into its side. Red blood gushed from its side, flowing along the bottle. I saw the blue body turn white as blood drained rapidly, and it collapsed.

The other one beside it, shocked by its companion’s death, crouched on the floor. It spread its palms wide as if begging for mercy and began to cry in a pitiful voice like a child.

“Kieeeeeeeeee!”

But I had no reason to show mercy to it. As a member of the hero’s party, I had a duty to butcher all demons and reclaim the land where people once lived happily. And I had a duty to reassure the trembling widow before me.

My foot, wearing sturdy safety shoes, broke through the creature’s guard and struck its philtrum. The soft flesh was crushed, and a satisfying impact sound rang out as my toe hit the wooden wall. The monster’s body twitched as if electrocuted, then went limp, and I shook off the blood on my foot and looked at the widow.

“Are you alright, ma’am?”

“Ah, aaah…!”

A woman trembling and unable to grasp the situation. I held her tightly and naturally stroked her back. The bumpy texture of the bra covering her large breasts and the faint smell of barley from her body. I buried my face in her hair and said:

“It’s okay now.”

“Aaah…! I was so scared!”

The woman wailed and pressed herself against me. I embrace her and kiss her. Pushing my tongue in, gripping her hips, and naturally moving my body like dancing a waltz up to the second floor of the tavern. The process of comforting life is nothing but unleashing primal desires.

Though there are no right answers to anything in the world, the woman and I were proceeding down a single path like people who had found the right answer to life. I move forward, and the woman accepts me, rubbing our flesh together in mature interaction.

A passionate time filled with the language of beasts, without words of love.

After that time of ecstasy passed, two people sat in a steam-filled room like burned-out logs. The widow was blushing, wrapped tightly in a blanket.

Alcohol and sex are the same in this aspect: after spending time in hot pleasure, they bring you back to reality with pain and give you a sense of emptiness. The brief hot comfort and the emptiness that follows were surprisingly valid trading commodities.

The widow, covering her naked body with a layer of blanket, blushed and said:

“…Will you come again?”

She knew well that I would not return.

“I won’t be able to return. It’s a dangerous path.”

The goal of the hero’s party was ultimately to infiltrate the Demon King’s castle and defeat the Demon King. As a porter, I didn’t know how far I could follow, but there was no doubt that I had to risk my life and enter dangerous areas.

The woman, wrapping her body tightly with the blanket, said in a gloomy voice:

“I wish something like the Demon King would just disappear.”

“I wish so too. Defeating the Demon King is not something humans should do. I wish light would just fall from the sky and restore everything to how it was.”

“Are you leaving?”

“Yes. I have to. Even though I’m nothing special, I’m still important to the hero’s party. Things don’t run properly without me.”

“…Take care of yourself.”

The woman bowed her head and let me go.

I washed up and got ready. Since we had defeated a Demon King’s army officer this morning, it seemed like we could rest properly for a day. The woman never said she would wait for me. She didn’t hold me back until I left, and I didn’t ask her to wait either.

In the end, comforting each other is like this. People in pain briefly lick each other’s wounds and tell each other it doesn’t hurt. After a harsh wind blows, blood seeps back into dry wounds, and pain returns.

But because the moment of embracing each other is warmer and cozier than anything else, we end up wandering around looking for people suffering from the same wounds.

The faster it burns impulsively, the faster it cools.

The scene I encountered coming down the stairs was the remnants of the Demon King’s army sprawled around, and Lena sitting askew on a tavern chair, caressing her dagger. She had her head twisted in such a peculiar way that she looked like a signboard that had been thrown there.

I smiled as if nothing had happened and said:

“Oh my, I heard there was a commotion outside?”

Lena nodded and said:

“That Demon King’s army officer came down on his own and let himself be captured?”

“That’s a good omen. That our hero will catch the Demon King in the future. A good sign, right?”

Lena looked me up and down and nodded. Then she got up and said:

“I heard you caught those monsters? You’re good at fighting, mister.”

Where Lena pointed, the corpses I had killed were sprawled out. They were rolling around with such pitiful and agonized expressions that it was hard to believe they were evil remnants of the Demon King’s army, and the tavern owner seemed reluctant to clean them up.

“I’m a specially selected porter, aren’t I? As a member of the hero’s party, I can’t lose to such pathetic creatures.”

“I rushed here worried about you, but it’s disappointing to hear you did well on your own.”

Lena said this as she picked up a bottle rolling around. The bottle, which fortunately hadn’t broken, was quite expensive. Lena shook the bottle and said to the tavern owner:

“Mister Owner! Can we take this as payment for protecting your place?”

“Ah, yes! Please, help yourself!”

The tavern owner nodded with a kind smile. I bowed to him and then went outside with Lena. As soon as we got out, Lena drank from the bottle and frowned with a smile.

“Keu! This is it! I’m telling you, having a drink after killing the Demon King’s army guys is the best? You drink too, mister!”

Lena handed me the bottle. I followed Lena’s lead, downing the bottle in one go, and put on an equally happy expression.

“Keu! This is the taste!”

Lena giggled at my expression as if she found it ridiculous.

“Hahahahaha! What’s that? Mister, that makes you look like a real fool.”

She took the bottle back from me and continued:

“Mister. What will you do after we catch the Demon King’s army? Do you have any future plans or something?”

“I’m thinking of maybe farming. I should get a few coins out of this.”

Immense treasures lay dormant in the imperial capital where the Demon King’s army was stationed. Just taking a part of that treasure would be enough to live on for the rest of one’s life. After all, Lena was also a member who joined the journey aiming for that treasure.

Lena opened her eyes wide and said:

“Farming? That’s unexpected.”

“Farming is a sufficient hobby for someone like me to spend the rest of my life leisurely. Please let me know your address later. I’ll send you crops every year.”

“I thought for sure you’d live buried in alcohol and women. You’re extremely dissolute, after all.”

“I’m not dissolute. There’s an elegant expression: comfort specialist.”

Lena laughed again. She threw the empty bottle into the trash can. The trash can and the glass bottle created a unique sound as they gently rubbed against each other. I asked Lena:

“You joined the hero’s party for the money, right?”

“No? I came because of a sense of justice to defeat the Demon King.”

Lena shook her head and told an obvious lie. I nodded and ignored her words.

“So, what will you do with that money? With that much money, you won’t need to commit crimes anymore, right?”

“I wonder? I haven’t decided what to do with my life yet.”

In the distance, the hero’s group could be seen. The hero with blonde hair and a bright smile waved at me. His hair sparkled in the sunlight that happened to be shining down, and his features were so fine that at a glance, one might wonder if he was a woman.

“Porter mister! Over here! Here!”

Ashuria was passing time by grooming her nails, and Mille was sleeping leisurely with her head on the hero’s thigh. Lena waved to the hero and said to me:

“Maybe I’ll try farming too?”

“Farming?”

“Why not. I think it would suit me. A former thief farming. With a spider tattoo on the neck as a point of interest.”

Lena said this and pointed to her neck. The distinct spider tattoo glistened as if alive, causing me to avert my gaze. Then, looking at the hero, I said:

“That might be true.”