I Became a Burden to the Conscienceless Party

The idiot and the fool, who both thought their own acting was perfect, finally arrived at the Glacies Magic Tower.

“It’s not as cold as I expected?”

Esmeralda said with a sour expression. Just being near the Magic Tower made it feel like winter.
But when they actually arrived at the Glacies Magic Tower, which researches water, freezing, and stopping, it wasn’t as cold as they thought.

“If I don’t raise the temperature usually, all the underlings would freeze to death when I’m researching.”

Glisha answered with a shrug as if it was nothing.
In other words, if she were to use magic in earnest, even magicians who handle the same ice-type magic could all freeze.

“Ah.”

So they really are crazy!
Esmeralda nodded as if a long-standing question had been answered.
Seeing the human-shaped ice statues frozen here and there increased the credibility.
As Esmeralda was looking around continuously like that, she could spot one person approaching.
There were many people, but as everyone was keeping their distance while watching Tower Master Glisha’s mood, this one person’s presence was outstanding.
No, that’s probably not the only reason for the outstanding presence.

“Hello, Esmeralda. And hello to Irina and Jim too. It’s nice to meet you.”

A woman with short brown hair.
Instead of her usual baggy robe, she was wearing a daring outfit with a lot of exposure, an evening dress.
Yes, it was overwhelming.
Because of the two magic pouches that even women couldn’t help but look at.

“It suits you well, Lady Milia.”
“Yeah, thanks.”

Then how about Jim, who’s been overflowing with lust recently?
He naturally complimented Milia, but his eyes couldn’t leave her chest.
At this point, he’s staring so blatantly it’s unpleasant.
But the other party is Milia. She didn’t show any particular resistance to Jim’s blatant sexual harassment.
No, rather…

“If it bothers you, want to touch them?”
“Yes!”
“No, you can’t!”

Jim answered immediately and reached out his hand, but Irina intercepted it midway.
For some reason, in an interlocked position.
When Jim didn’t give up and tried to reach out with his other hand, Irina smiled and smashed holy power into Jim’s palm.

“Keeeeek!”
“This should have washed away some of the filth. It’s a good thing.”

Irina said with a bright smile.
Esmeralda felt like she had already seen what kind of result would come out when she handed Jim over to Irina.

‘It might be better to hand him over to Milia instead.’

Her best effort.
She can’t be sure about Jim’s treatment after everything is over. She can’t risk her life to protect Jim, can she?
She’s going to retire and return to the countryside after defeating the Demon King.
It seemed much more comfortable to live plowing fields there than to care about honor or whatever.
In that sense, all she can do at the end of the journey is to entrust Jim to a reliable person.
Since she’s decided to take him until the fight with the Demon King, there’s a high chance the Demon King’s army won’t accept him either.

‘Or would it be better to install this bastard as the Demon King and run away?’

Esmeralda doesn’t think about killing all demons.
Her target is the Demon King.
It’s inevitable since the reason for the Hero’s birth was because of the Demon King in the first place.
So if she can just defeat the Demon King, that’s what she wants to do.
After that? Even she doesn’t know what will happen to the demon country.
To begin with, the range of what she can do is too narrow to think about and act on such aftermath.
Yes, it wouldn’t be bad to forcibly put Jim on the Demon King’s throne at this opportunity. Well, he’ll have to deal with assassination threats on his own, but…

“Lady Milia. Please be careful. Mr. Jim has contracted a bad disease where he shouldn’t rashly contact other women right now.”
“Really? What kind of disease?”
“That’s…”
“There’s no such disease, is there?”
“Fufu.”

At least he’d be happier than being placed between those two people.
Esmeralda was convinced of that.

Lilith had just returned to her office after being away to review recent frontline trends and establish appropriate strategies.

“Sigh… So, what’s this mess now?”

But what she saw upon arriving at her office was paperwork strewn all over.
Judging by the sight of her adjutant with a pale complexion, it seemed to be no ordinary matter.
Lilith berated her adjutant while openly showing her displeasure.

“W-Well…”
“I won’t scold you, so speak comfortably. What happened?”

Lilith showed her intimidating presence while hiding her intention to immediately demote him after hearing the story.

“…Corps Commander Five came and rummaged through the Major General’s desk as he pleased.”
“Corps Commander Five? Was he thinking of protesting about the last incident?”
“I don’t know. He just said that if anyone tried to stop him, everything would burn and disappear…”
“I see. I understand. Then, would you mind preparing a cup of coffee? I think I need to check separately what Corps Commander Five looked for here.”

Lilith put aside her thoughts of demoting her adjutant for now.
A Corps Commander is the same rank as her, but in reality, he’s her superior.
To begin with, since Lilith got her three stars through parachuting, it was more comfortable to think that everyone of the same rank as her was higher than her.

“Hmm, so he looked through the documents about Mr. Jim after all…”

Corps Commander Five had said that he never planned or approved an infiltration operation into the hero party.
Of course, the threat level of the hero party at that time was somewhat low for her to care about. But the problem is that such an operation was carried out without even Five’s review. It means forging a superior’s seal.

“I was busy in my own way too…”

Lilith thought about what Corps Commander Five’s purpose might be.
It’s probably one of two things.
Either to find Jim, who is carrying out this operation.
Or to find traces of the person who carried out this operation.

‘Colonel Extra…’

The field grade officer who forcibly pushed through this operation. And died by the Hero’s hand in the mission he volunteered for to retrieve Jim.

‘Are you really dead?’

Like an extra in a play.
The current situation where he disappeared so simply and no one cares about his death.
Lilith felt uneasy.

“Major General, the coffee…”
“I’ll be going out for a while. In the meantime, please organize the incoming documents and classify them on the desk.”
“Ah, yes!”

Lilith left the room without even touching the coffee her adjutant brought.
The more deeply she gets involved in matters related to Jim, the more something heterogeneous remains in her inner self.
Then there’s no choice but to check.

‘First, I should go to the place where Colonel Extra was said to have been killed.’

Corps Commander Five is likely to be there.

I open my eyes with a tingling sensation.

“Uuuugh!”

I remember my hand going towards Milia’s chest as if entranced, but my memory right after that is blurry.
Have I gotten dementia?
Why do I feel like there are holes punched in my memory recently?

“Oh my, Mr. Jim. Are you alright?”
“Ah, I’m fine.”

While feeling the tingling in my palm, I received and drank water that someone handed me.
When I drank it, it wasn’t water. But it had a nice refreshing feeling, so I gulped it down.
After wetting my throat like that, I saw the figure of the Saint, Irina.

“This is delicious. Is it carbonated water?”
“You seemed unwell, so I mixed in a little holy water.”
“Ah?”

No wonder it had a stinging taste.
It was the taste of my esophagus being destroyed.
But since she said it was just a little, it wasn’t that bothersome.
Maybe it’s because stimulating and unhealthy food tastes good.

“How is it? Do you feel like some of the internal filth is being washed away?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
“I’ll brew it for you often from now on. Until all the filth in your body is gone.”
“…”

Irina smiling brightly.
As always, it was a pure and beautiful smile, but it was still creepy.

“Jim, are you feeling better?”
“Ah, Lady Milia was here too. No, the Hero is here as well. I don’t know what to do with everyone worrying about me like this. If that worry becomes a bit excessive and leads to the conclusion that I can’t accompany you on the future journey, that would be the best thing ever.”
“If Jim’s not here, there’s no one to read books with me, so that won’t do.”
“That’s right, Mr. Jim. Companions are precious. Let’s stay together from now on too, okay? Until we kill the Demon King.”
“Haha…”

These barbarians.
Why don’t they resolve things through dialogue?
I want to meet the Demon King in person too, but why do humans all consider demons as enemies?
Honestly, from my perspective of not belonging anywhere, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between the two.

“Jim.”
“Ah, yes. Lady Milia. I wasn’t thinking anything.”

Really.
I wasn’t badmouthing you guys.
I made excuses like a thief pointing to their own feet, but looking at Milia’s expression, it seems she was worried about me.
She spoke with an expressionless face.

“Tell me if it’s hard.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’ll let you touch my chest.”
“I’m really having a hard time.”

There’s been way too much going on.