“Hey, Ed. You don’t have to come back tomorrow.”
“Eh?”
I had moved to a new base and had been going to a tavern for the past two weeks. There, I was suddenly greeted by a man wearing light armor who was acting as a scout. His nose was as red as ever, but the look on his face when he was drunk looked a bit different from usual and he didn’t seem to be enjoying himself.
Confused, I asked, “Umm, what do you mean …?”
“It’s just what it says. I said we don’t need you anymore.”
“No, no, no. All of a sudden you said something like that. …”
“It’s not sudden. We’ve talked about this many times without you. I mean, this is our consensus.”
“….. Are you sure about this?”
I looked around with an enquiring look at my fellow tablemates. But the girl in the neat priest’s uniform looked away awkwardly, and the sorceress with the pointy hat sighed in exasperation. …
“Yu,Yuusha-sama?”
“… Oh, it’s true.”
Finally, a young man wearing expensive armor approached me…he told me this with a bitter look on his face.
“Hey, Ed. You were definitely a talented person. That’s why I invited you to the party, and everyone was so happy to see you. And your work in the first few years was really great, too. You’ve helped me, you’ve taught me. There are so many things I can think of now.”
“Then――”
“But!”
As if to interrupt my words of insistence, he replied with a strong tone.
“What about you these days? You’ve been slacking off on the work you’ve been assigned, and you’ve been playing around with the time you used to spend doing independent training. While everyone is improving their skills for the tough battle ahead, only you, …, are still the same as when you joined.”
I couldn’t help but choke up at the painful words of the hero. But no one around me would defend me even if they saw me like that. Well, it was only natural. As I was told earlier, this conclusion must have been reached after many discussions.
“Ha, ha, ha. So then I ….?”
“Hai, yes. Ed …. you are expelled from the hero party.”
His voice was dismissive, as if he was talking to himself and his friends. When I heard this, I turned my head … and shouted.
“Yosshi ~ya~a~a~a~a~a~a!!!”
<<Click!>>
—Condition met. Ten minutes remaining until return.
""
“Ed!? What’s going on?!”
“Why are you so happy? Have you lost your mind?”
For some reason, I shouted with joy, and the hero and the sorceress called out to me. I excitedly patted both of them on the shoulder.
“No, no, no. I’m sane, okay? It’s just that I finally got my wish. Oh, yeah. Would you mind taking this before you leave?”
With that, I reach out into the empty space. Then my hand was sucked into a black hole in the air, and I pulled out a bunch of papers from it onto the table.
“W-What is it?!”
“What, are you saying that you have dimensional storage!? You have a skill like that!?”
As the name implied, dimensional storage was a useful skill that allowed you to store large quantities of goods in another space. As far as I knew, there were only three people in this world who possessed this skill, and unfortunately, none of the members of the hero party possessed dimensional storage.
But this wasn’t a normal dimensional storage. It was a banishment skill called [Stranger’s Box], and its effect was to retain its contents even across worlds. …. Well, that’s enough for now.
“Why didn’t you say so!? If you have that kind of skill, there are so many ways to utilize it――”
“Well, First. You should read this.”
“This is a … instruction manual, right?”
The hero muttered as he looked down at the bundle of papers I had given him.
“That’s right. I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve put together a list of efficient training methods and ways to acquire new skills based on the information I’ve gathered from the battles I’ve been in. So I hope you can use this as a reference for whatever kind of growth you seek in the future.”
“… Ano, there’s this magic I’m supposed to be able to learn that has a name I don’t know.”
In contrast to the sorceress who was reading my manual with a questioning look on her face, the priestess who was reading my handwritten manual with a serious expression raised her small hand and asked me a question.
“Oh, it can be learned by releasing this and that which are sealed around the world. The conditions, the effects of the magic, and how to use it effectively are all laid out on a separate sheet of paper, which I hope you’ll read later.”
With the banishment skill [Rainbow Glasses], one could see a glimpse of the potential of what powers the person they see would gain “in the future” and how much they would be able to do. Of course, it would take a lot of effort on your part to make that happen, but if combined with the training plan mentioned above, I believe they would be able to reach their desired future.
“Yeah, …?”
“Hey, Ed. What’s this all about?”
While the priest girl was puzzled, the scout called out to me. When I turned around and looked, I saw the face of an old man slapping the paper in his hand and staring at me with an intense look.
“What’s with this ridiculously elaborate map? It even has hidden passages and traps that I didn’t notice?”
“It’s like a parting gift. It’s only a map of where we went together, but I thought it might be useful.”
“What? What are you talking about? There’s no way you can draw a map of a place you’ve never been! How did you get this?”
“Ah, yes, yes. Don’t worry about those details. I’m leaving the party now.”
For your information, the map was created by duplicating what appeared in my brain with the banishment skill [Auto Mapping] also with the banishment skill [Copy and Fake]. With this skill, I was able to duplicate what I was seeing right now, only it looked exactly the same, but there was nothing wrong with that, since looks were everything when it came to maps.
When I first got this, I thought, “What am I going to do with it if it only looks the same?” But there were plenty of things that could be used normally if they were made to look the same. Yes, very convenient.
“… Sorry “
“What!? What is it, Yuusha-sama?”
And then, suddenly, Hero sitting in front of me bowed his head, rubbing his forehead against the table.
“I had no idea that you were doing all this work without my knowledge. …. Please forgive my lack of insight. I’m sorry, Ed. This is something you accumulated by yourself without people knowing. I can’t believe I denounced you for not realizing such a natural thing. …”
“Haa… I dropped the ball as well. You’ve been doin’ way better of a job than I have and yet here we are scoldin’ ya. Heck, you’re even young enough to pass as my own dang son too… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry”
“No, no, no, no! Please raise your head! I didn’t mean to do that! It’s just that you’ve all been so good to me, and I wanted to be of some use to you after I’m gone. …”
“You idiot. Of course we are retracting that. You guys don’t object to that, do you?”
The sorceress said, with a dumbfounded look on her face at my words. She looked around, and the other three nodded hastily.
“Of course. Ed, I’m ashamed to ask you again. With us――”
“Oh, I can’t come back anymore. Sorry.”
“…. …. ye, yeah. That’s right. It’s just too convenient to expel you once and then bring you back now.”
“It’s not like that, but …, whoa!? The time …!? Well, that’s it then! I’m looking forward to seeing you all defeat the Demon Lord! Please do your best!”
I raised my hand and bade farewell to the sad face of the hero and hurriedly ran out of the tavern. Fortunately, the sun had already gone down, but even so, it would be bad if the thing went off in a place where there were many people. Even though I would never come back, it would be better not to cause any unnecessary commotion.
“…… Huh. Okay, this is about as good as it gets.”
After turning a couple of times down a random alleyway, I finally found myself in a dark and empty place. With less than a minute to go, I thought again about what I had left behind. … Okay, nothing.
一Three … two … one … world transfer is in effect.
A voice that only I could hear said this, and at that moment, I finally succeeded in escaping from this world.
(T/N: No schedule for this one yet, I am still looking for an editor for this novel. I mtled it and edited as much as i could and also took help from fellow tlers. If you notice any problem do comment. I hope you like it. Have a good day everyone)