I Became a Burden to the Conscienceless Party

“Happy birthday!”
“Kyaa! Lady Milia! You’re so pretty!”
“…”

Esmeralda remained silent amidst the heated atmosphere of the party venue.
It’s too awkward.
Is this normal?
In her memory, a birthday was just a day to eat meat?
In reality, even in the hero party, it mostly ended with just eating delicious food.
But was this ordinary?
They even hold such a large-scale party?
For just a birthday, not even something like the Magic Tower’s 100th anniversary?

‘Damn these nobles.’

Esmeralda felt the gap between rich and poor.
Looking at Milia’s chest receiving everyone’s welcome from afar, she couldn’t help but feel the wealth gap even more.
Although she herself wasn’t particularly small, power holders like Irina or Milia all had larger chests than her.
Therefore, Tina must have lived a more unfortunate life than Esmeralda. She probably wandered around slums?
Judging by the complete lack of power pouches, she might not even have had citizenship.

‘I’ll make sure you’re happy, Tina.’

Esmeralda managed her expression with a determination to treat Tina, who must have had a hard life, well from now on.
Although she was irritated by the rich people’s pastimes, now was the time to celebrate.
She didn’t want to appear narrow-minded in front of her friend.

“Milia! Happy birthday!”
“Yeah. Thanks, Esmeralda. It might not be familiar, but enjoy yourself.”
“…”

Esmeralda wondered if Milia was possibly provoking her.
What does she mean by ‘it might not be familiar’? Is it an overreaction?
But she could realize it was her own apprehension as Milia seemed to have no particular thoughts or intentions in her expression or inner feelings.

“Here’s a gift for you, Lady Milia. It’s not much, but it’s holy water and elixirs made by the Celestial Order.”
“Always thankful, Irina.”

Milia smiled broadly.
Then, as if it was natural, she turned her head and looked at Esmeralda.
The critical moment of crisis has finally come for Esmeralda.

‘I don’t have a gift… If I had known, they could have at least given me a hint.’

The situation is uncomfortable.
Since when was it?
Just as she thought she had become close enough to have heart-to-heart conversations with Irina, Esmeralda found herself being left out at the party.
Was she the only one who thought they were friends? Even now that she’s opened up to Irina, is she the only one thinking they’re friends?
Was she the real loner, not Milia?
An inferiority complex stemming from class differences.
Esmeralda worried about such things, as girls of that age often do.

“Hero. Take this.”

As she was looking around with her head bowed, Esmeralda found something poking her waist.
When she raised her head, Irina was handing her a wrapped gift from behind her back with an embarrassed smile.
Yes, despite everything, Irina was a friend.
She had prepared a gift for her share just in case.

“Milia, happy birthday. It’s not much, but it’s a gift.”
“Yeah, thanks Esmeralda.”

Milia received Esmeralda’s gift with another broad smile.
Fortunately, there seemed to be no discrimination. Milia, genuinely happy it seemed, unwrapped the gift right there.
Inside was a book.

[What is Sex?]
[Recommended for ages 10-12]

“Ah… Ahaha. I just remembered some urgent business, so I’ll be away for a moment.”

It was the book Irina had been reading.
Irina seemed to search her bosom for a moment, then left the place carefully with an awkward smile.
Milia lifted the book with her still mostly expressionless face.
She could see others sneaking glances at the book she was holding up with both hands facing forward.

“…”

The surrounding air is getting chilly.
The dagger of social assassination that Irina had suddenly thrust pierced Esmeralda’s heart.
Yes, the two were becoming true friends in real-time.
Of course, Irina didn’t intend this. The book gift for Milia had just been accidentally switched.
Did she make a mistake during the wrapping process?
Apart from that, she never thought Milia would unwrap the gift right there.
As a noble, she would have many gifts, and normally, there would be a separate verification process to guard against assassination threats.
The disaster created like that.
The hero’s public face murder case.

“Isn’t that an insult?”
“Even though Lady Milia was said to be interested in nothing but magic…”

Milia blinked her eyes for a while holding the book facing forward, then looked at Esmeralda and said.

“I’ll read it later and tell you my thoughts.”
“…There’s no need for that.”

Milia seemed unbothered.
Her heart must be as wide as the ocean, just like her huge chest.
It was quite different from Irina, who had a petty heart compared to her chest.
Perhaps because of Milia’s attitude?

“Well, Lady Milia probably hasn’t read such books either.”
“She’s a travel companion of the Hero. She must have known well. Of course, she’s someone who only knows magic.”

People who were tearing Esmeralda apart just moments ago suddenly flipped their stance.
Esmeralda acutely realized what kind of organization the Magic Tower was.
And how scary social life can be.
Honestly, it didn’t look good.

“Yes, the basics are important.”

Regardless of all that.
Milia smiled broadly, hugging the book to her chest as if she didn’t care.
That sight made Esmeralda’s heart ache even more.
Esmeralda was just full of thoughts of wanting to leave this humiliating situation as soon as possible.
And once she left, she would find Irina and hunt her down.

‘Irina… I’ll beat her to death and then throw her to the dogs as food.’

Esmeralda thought of something a hero shouldn’t think.

Esmeralda searched for Irina as decently as possible.
Of course, she was hiding her body with invisibility magic, just as she did in the Celestial Order.
If Irina knew she was looking for her, she would likely run away or hide.
So to capture Irina, she needs to launch a perfect surprise attack without her noticing.
Fortunately, the anger that had risen to the top of her head has somewhat subsided in the process of searching for Irina.

‘I’ll forgive her with just skinning for now.’

Esmeralda mercifully reduced the sentence.
After searching for Irina like that for about 30 minutes, surprisingly, Irina was waiting for her in her room.
No, was it because she knew she couldn’t run away for long anyway?
Irina had built a fortress in her room.
So that Esmeralda couldn’t attack rashly even if she found her.
To eliminate any situation of being ambushed.
If Esmeralda could think of it, so could she.
But even Irina couldn’t think of one thing.

“Do you think that can stop me?”

It’s the reckless personality that made Esmeralda who she is now.

Crash!
Esmeralda drew her holy sword and thrust it into the barrier.
Indeed, an item said to have been created by the gods joining forces.
It can easily tear apart Irina’s barrier.

Crack!
Esmeralda tore apart Irina’s barrier with a broad smile.
Now, as the ripples from that spread throughout the Magic Tower.
Esmeralda had to finish the job quickly before others rushed in, so she immediately grabbed Irina by the collar.

“…Hero, it’s my fault. But it was all a mistake. And I couldn’t even imagine she would unwrap it right there! No, how can someone with a rank be so lacking in crisis awareness?”

Honestly, Irina felt wronged too. Who could have known things would turn out like this?
She had intended to give a proper book as a gift. She had prepared the holy scripture of the Celestial Order.
She meant to gift the symbolic item she usually carried around, but forgot that the book she had been carrying recently wasn’t the scripture.
Milia was Milia to begin with.
It would have been right to hide it after checking, not to display it as if showing off. What is there to show off about such a book?
Her foolishness in expecting common sense from members of the hero party.
That was Irina’s sin.

“I believe you were prepared to be stabbed if you stabbed someone.”

The time to pay has come.
She will physically kill Irina, who killed Esmeralda’s social position.

“Come on, open wide. The corn harvest is coming in. You know, being from the countryside, I’m quite confident in this.”

Quiet madness.
At the confident words of the former farmer, Irina realized that what Esmeralda was saying had high credibility.

“Wait a minute!!”

Irina, feeling Esmeralda’s sincerity, hastily made excuses.
She must somehow be forgiven.
Wasn’t it an unfortunate accident?
Of course, if there’s a victim due to an unfortunate accident, the cause of the accident needs to be identified.
Of course, whether Esmeralda will think of it as an accident is a separate issue.

“W-Wait a minute! Haven’t you ever thought it was strange?!”

Fortunately, because Esmeralda is simple-minded, there’s a high chance she’ll forget about this incident if her attention is diverted elsewhere.

“If you’re thinking of deceiving me with that clever tongue of yours again, you’d better give up. No, why don’t you try? From now on, your corn will be pronounced out!”

But no matter how stupid Esmeralda is, there’s no way she wouldn’t see through such an obvious ploy.
Still, Irina gave it her all.

“Lady Milia! She might have known everything!”
“That’s a novel bullshit. Go ahead and spout it.”

Esmeralda, who had been socially killed, had become quite rough.
To the point where even Irina was disgusted.
Yes, there was a sense of unease as if encountering people whose lives were in ruins, not thinking about the consequences at all.

“First of all, Lady Milia knows that Mr. Jim is a demon.”
“Well, considering you knew too, it’s a possible story. It’s trite. Why don’t you say Tina knew too and is a half-dragon hybrid?”
“…Tina-nim seemed not to know, if no one else.”

Esmeralda was secretly moved.
In the hero party full of all kinds of liars and con artists, Tina was the only safe asset.

“Let’s save the emotion for later. The important thing is that Lady Milia has as much affection for Mr. Jim as I do.”
“No, she probably likes him more than you?”

For someone whose eyes roll at just hearing Jim is in danger, can that be called mere affection?
Esmeralda tilted her head.

“Anyway, in such a situation, you and I, Hero, ended up leaving like this. Isn’t it suspicious?”
“What… Do you think everyone in the world is like you?”

At this point, it’s a disease. And fists have long been a special remedy for curing people with mental illnesses.

“Out of all those gifts, she only opened the Hero’s gift! Moreover, she subtly pressured you with her gaze to give a gift. Even if you hadn’t given one, wouldn’t you have been socially killed, Hero? Ouch! Stop!”

It was just as Esmeralda was about to harvest Irina’s corn before autumn passed, listening to Irina’s nonsense with one ear and letting it go.
At that moment, her fist stopped.
It’s not particularly because Irina’s corn was just white and it didn’t seem like harvest time yet.
Wouldn’t after-ripening be a good method too?
In that sense, the reason Esmeralda had to stop was elsewhere.

“…”

Honestly, what Irina is saying now is just an excuse.
Isn’t she just constantly spouting incoherent words trying to survive?
There’s no such wild speculation.
But regardless of that, Esmeralda now had the fact that Jim was left with Milia flash through her mind.
Esmeralda eventually let Irina go. This is not the time to cause internal strife among comrades.

“…Hero?”
“Um, now that I think about it, we shouldn’t be here like this, right?”
“What?”
“There’s something I didn’t get to say, but Milia had a new characteristic that appeared at the party earlier?”

Due to the gift commotion, we didn’t pay attention, but there was a characteristic that appeared in the brief time we were changing clothes.
We already knew that Milia was incredibly talented, so honestly, it wouldn’t be a problem if she learned a new magic in that short time.
However, if there’s a problem…

“Do you also not care about life or death as long as you can get your hands on Jim?”

[Necromancy Lv. 2]

It was the fact that she suddenly started to break through the necromancer route.