Chapter 2
Chapter 2: Let the interview begin!
“Then, I’ll go first.”
She grinned as she tore off a piece of meat and held it in her mouth. The sharp canines peeked through the cracks of her mouth, adding a wild flavor to her smile. Her hair was gathered up in a ponytail, pale pink in color while her breasts rested comfortably on top of the table. She was scantily clad pinkish and white tribal garb. Thinly raised pointy ears acted as the symbolic feature that proved her elven origins.
She spat out the bone that she was nibbling on. She— Louise, wore a daring smile on her face as she asked,
“Do you like food?”
“Food?”
“Aa! Food is great. Food is awesome. It’s my dream to taste the mellow, fatty meat of the Dragon zombies that dwell in the frozen lands. And the crystal mushrooms that only grow on the scorching peaks of Mount Faral. Also, the eggs of Atlantis Goosefish that lives within the depths of the legendary underwater cave of Atlantis''
Louise had a distant look in her eyes as she kept rambling on.
“But of course, it would take a lot of time and effort to achieve a dream like that. Everyone laughed at me saying it was impossible for a incompetent fool, who only knew how to throw punches. Because physical strengthening was my only forte, I couldn’t use any support magic at all.”
It certainly wasn't an exaggeration to say that the essence of elven race lies with support magic.
The most prevalent elven fighting style was to rain down support magic from the rear to aid their allies at the front-lines with healing and boosting physical strength.
In fact, after facing hero parties over and over again, I’d say the most troublesome foes within the battlefield proved to be the elves who acted as healers and rear supporters from the back-line.
“But Nasha was different. She never laughed at my dreams, she genuinely supported me and encouraged me. She’s such a kind girl. That kindness alone was enough to save me from my struggle.”
Louise nuzzled Nasha’s head, while her pointy white elven ears kept on twitching.
“And that’s why, I asked you to tell me what you think about food. This will be my assignment for you.”
I looked straight into her eyes and said one thing.
“I wish to have a delicious meal.”
“Ho~?”
“I just want to slowly enjoy my meals. I don’t want to be called out when I’m eating. I don’t want to be picked on when I’m eating… just that’d be enough for me…”
“...Oh, oh… that sounds really awful. I don’t know what exactly happened to you but don’t worry, it’s going to be okay! Once you join this party, I’ll let you slowly savor every single meal! It must have been very hard for you to be with someone who interrupts your meals.”
Tears welled up in my eyes as we kept going.
As if to console me the elf, Louise, cuddled me gently with her arms.
She allowed me to bury my face in her plump bosom.
And the tears kept flowing down.
〇〇〇
“Is it my turn now?”
Silver hair that fell past her shoulders along with clear white eyes.
She coolly tilted her red rimmed glasses upwards while gazing towards me with a polite posture and said in a courteous tone.
“Nice to meet you, Eric. My name is Suzuette Matilda. Being the middle guard and providing covering fire are my main responsibilities in this party. The basic salary usually depends on the mission reward, but we do have a minimum wage.”
“Will there be any unpaid overtime?”
“Overtime? There’s no such thing.”
“What? ... Is this God’s labor?”
While I was overwhelmed with deep emotions, Suzette focused on the materials at hand.
She briskly picked up the documents and went over them from the beginning to the end.
She seemed to have a surprisingly strict personality.
“Well, Nasha and I don’t really have anything saved up from our salaries though.”
Louise suddenly cut-in during the interview.
“I usually end up feasting with my entire salary on the same day I receive it. Nasha usually spends hers by helping everyone who’s in need. And Suzette pours all her money into some church saying it’s an offering to God or something.”
In contrast to the giggling Louise, Suzette lashed out with a rather sullen tone.
“Obviously! It’s natural to pray to God. After all, it’s all thanks to the guidance of Great Shuwa that we’re living here peacefully and safely even now.
“Heeeh, is that so?”
Speaking of The God, Shuwa— If I’m not mistaken, it was a monotheistic religion which had believers within the demon army as well.
In fact, there were more followers in the demon territory than in the land of heroes.
For us, the upper echelons of the demon army was somewhat of an incredible existence.
And the most powerful of them all, an absolute being, the supreme commander of the demon army -- The Demon King.
No one had ever heard of his name or seen his figure. It was really as if he was a God himself.
Even as someone who held a relatively high position in the demon army, I had only heard his voice before.
“A-anyway, there’s only one thing I wish to ask. Do you believe in God?”
Her eyes were solemn.
The time when I had just entered the demon army flashed through my mind. Which reminded me of the absolute existence of the Demon King.
And then, I pictured an image of a God in my mind—
“Yes, I do,”
— I swiftly gave a short response.
After all, it was a fact that the Demon King was an absolute being in my eyes, and it hasn't changed even now.
But I still have a lot of complaints.
“I only joined the army because I admired the Lord. And because I wanted to be as useful as possible. I had given my very best up till now. But honestly, the Lord hasn’t done anything for me. He pretends not to notice the struggles of us in the middle ranks. We are constantly being pushed from both above and below. At this point, I don’t know if he’s really ready for a war at all. They were actually a black company, it was a black company to the very end. At the very least, I thought they would pray for those who were killed in battle, but now, I even doubt if that’s true—”
“Wha… you served God and even fought in the front-lines? Ah, how painful it must have been! Those nerve-wracking battles in the front-lines must have worn you out so much!”
Before I could finish my ramble, Suzette pulled me into a hug with tears in her eyes.
“Great Shuwa will acknowledge you as a whole, and I also acknowledge everything about you! Although we believe in different Gods, I could still feel the weight of your faith! Let us do our best! Let’s do our best together!!”
Suzette pushed me against her chest, which felt almost like a hard iron plate instead.
My eye wandered to a cutely raised pair of soft peaks on the side. Louise stood while puffing up her chest with a sly grin on her face.
〇〇〇
“Finally, it’s my turn!”
And the final interviewer cheerfully took her seat.
She was the angelic lady who had just bought me food earlier.
With her warm blue eyes and her jade green long hair, she was clad with beginner’s light armor which stood out awkwardly amidst the frontlines— The kind-hearted girl, Anastasia Francesca von Mueller, muttered slowly with an unchanging smile on her face.
“E-Eric-san, I’m really sorry! Everyone suddenly wanted to interview you like that. But I just wish you could join our party right away!”
“But why did you approach me in the first place?”
That was a genuine question.
There should have been many people in the town who were more competent than myself.
I simply wondered why Nasha had chosen me out of all those people.
“It’s because Eric-san has very kind eyes.”
“Kind… eyes?”
“Yes! I thought that, if I’m with this person, then maybe I could even talk with the Demon army! How nice would it be if we could both live together in peace… the heroes and the demon army, I mean.”
Talk with the Demon army, she said?
What is she even talking about, this hero––?
The Heroes and the Demon King’s army.
These two races had been clashing against each other for over a thousand years due to the many incompatibilities they shared.
They caused the whole world to be engulfed in war many times.
Even if they were to reconcile despite the lives that were lost in war, peace would only last for so long. Centuries will pass and the balance will be broken. The conflicts will arise once more.
The history that kept repeating itself over time had built a delicate relationship between the two.
Conflict had become the norm. There was no such thing left as true peace—
While I just stood there, utterly speechless, Louise and Suzette walked up to me.
“Well well, what a hardcore idiot, isn’t she?”
“But still, she truly believes that she can convince the Demon army if she could just talk to them.”
Nasha scurried over to the guild counter to aid the staff members who seemed to be panicking about something.
The other two held my shoulders as they continued.
“I decided to follow her because she didn't laugh at my dream. So no matter who ridicules her, we would never make fun of her dream.”
“If Nasha truly believes that she can really make peace with the demon army, then we will do our best to help her in doing so. And that is our policy.”
“So long as they’re willing to follow our simple-minded fool, we’d welcome anyone.”
“W-well, it would be nice if there were more people who could support her.”
Both of them wore sweet smiles on their faces, as they said so.
I see. So, this is why all of them are so kind and warm––
Just as I was about to reach towards those outstretched hands— right at that exact moment, a flustered Nasha rushed back to us in a panic.
“E-everyone! It’s a disaster! The Demon army is attacking nearby villages. An emergency quest was just issued!
“Oh I see. But Nasha, there’s nothing we can do to help them with just our power, so that’s–”
“So, I accepted that quest! Let’s hurry up and go rescue them right now!”
“Hold right there Anatasia, Why did you accept an emergency quest without our permission? We’ll be penalized if we fail this.”
“B-but! How can I just ignore those people who are suffering!”
“Huh!? Wait, isn’t this– this is A-rank difficulty level! There’s no way we can take on an upper-class demon right now!”
“But if we fail, we’ll be penniless…!? We don’t have enough money… not enough money…”
— Maybe, I should forget about joining this party.
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