”Alright everyone, dinner’s ready!”

At the sound of the party returning, all of the forgotten girls went down to have a meal and cuddle with the hero. Since most were preoccupied with fighting for attention, only a few people in the mess hall felt the overflowing spite emanating from the staircase. After all, the harem was big. It was probably just another lady jealous of the other girls... right?

As the hero, Haruki had few concerns. Even if the battles were tough, he could defeat any demon with the sheer number of girls he could summon at the flick of his finger. Although his old life did leave things to desire, the current life he was adjusted to wasn’t too bad either.

He thought that his childhood friend would have it the same way. Juno and Haruki had been through thick and thin, and they were the only ones who could truly understand each other.

So when Juno slammed the wooden dinner table hard enough for an audible ‘crack!’ to form, Haruki instinctively knew something was up.

“J-Juno? What are you so mad for?” The girl snapped her head up, ignoring the stares from all sides of the room and focusing on the boy at the head of the table.

“Haruki. Tachibana.”

“Yes?”

“I’m quitting.”

“What?”

Juno’s sudden decision brought silence to the mess hall. Even if the girls disliked how close the hero and priestess were, Juno was their only healer! It didn’t take much thinking to realize the odds of surviving against the demons suddenly dropped to nigh impossible.

“So you’re leaving? Good riddance. Maybe when you come running back you’ll be more useful!” A typical Alice remark, but given the context, it left even more people speechless than Juno’s announcement of resignation.

“Alice, shut up!” One of the other girls yelled back, starting a verbal argument that soon turned physical. Among the chaos, Juno started to walk away.

“Wait, Juno!”

“What?”

“What are you saying? You can’t leave just like that?!” Haruki was still processing the sudden change in Juno’s convictions. Although he probably was a bit dismissive of Juno’s role in today’s battle, it was just like any other, right? In the end, this completely average battle was an almost daily occurrence, so what was different that made Juno want to leave?

“Are you fucking stupid?” Those sharp words stabbed straight into Haruki’s muddled brain. Despite being somewhat strict and often lecturing him on his wrongdoings, Haruki had never heard Juno directly insult someone else, let alone her best friend.

“I was fine with you being a useless sack of trash, but at least control your girlfriends! It’s not like this world has a respawn feature! Stop throwing around our lives like it’s something you can play with! I get that you’re living the dream here, but we have a job to do. It’s been ten months, and I just want to go home.”

Juno slammed the door behind her, leaving behind an eerily silent mess hall.

 

In stark contrast to the gloomy atmosphere of the inn, the village plaza was relatively lively. At first glance, no one could have guessed that they were currently rebuilding half of the village. Juno walked at a brisk pace, heading straight towards the small shack that housed the adventurers' guild. 

There was really no need for Juno to walk so fast. All she had in her bag was some money and Vie's potions, and the general populace probably couldn't name any of the girls in the hero's troupe, much less a healer on the side. Even though the hero and holy priestess were a pair, the hero, being the front line fighter, naturally gained more fame, while the priestess remained an entity that existed by the hero's side.

That being said, it was probably for the better that Juno was unrecognizable. Justifiably, the village people all held some degree of disdain for the hero's reckless destruction of their home. Juno had hoped that the adventurers would be less biased, being wanderers, but she had forgotten to account for the demographics of which she had to please.

"Go home, little miss! If you want to fool around, go find the hero or something!" was the unanimous response from all five adventurers stationed at the outpost.

The adventurers' guild had a leveling system, which recorded the experience gained from defeating demons and completing tasks with magic-filled lumite crystals. Using experience as a form of currency, it was possible to buy new weapons, equipment, and spells. However, the most enticing purchase one could make was a "Level Increase." In total, there were six levels adventurers could be: Amateur, Standard, Advanced, Expert, Master, and Slayer. Since the quality of items one could buy with experience increased with one's level, the price to level up was generally worth it. Not to mention, levels of Expert and above gained the title of their level, increasing competition between adventurers. With the leveling system, it was possible to gain massive fame and glory even without being the summoned hero.

But for Juno, as a Standard healer, no adventurer would want her, let alone the stronger ones stationed closer to the demons.

'Damn it, Haruki! You really had to blow all of our experience buying useless equipment...!'

If the higher-leveled adventurers didn't want her, then she'd just carry some lower-leveled ones! Left without a choice, Juno took out a map. The easiest way to find low-leveled adventurers was to head to a large city's guild hall, where more inexperienced youths would attempt to start their careers. Therefore, Juno had decided to travel to Atska, a city not too far away from her current location, but just far enough that there would be an abundance of young, impressionable adventurers to take advantage of. The problem, now, was transportation. Normally, it would have been possible to use teleportation magic at a temple, but in this instance, the only temple in the vicinity was in Atska. It was still noon, so Juno assumed she could find a way to walk to her destination.

 

Unfortunately, based on the map, Atska was three days away on foot, with no villages in between.

 

'What the hell?! Shit, should I buy some more comfortable clothes? Are there horse carriages in this vi-‘

 

"Oof."

Juno looked down at the figure before her, toppled down on its stomach. In front of her, a young girl tripped and fell on her stomach. When she got up, Juno saw that the girl was barely at the height of her waist. 

 

"Are... Are you okay?" Juno pulled the girl over to the side, trying not to cause a disturbance. "Where are your parents?"

"..."

"Are you hurt? I can heal you."

"..."

"...Are you lost?"

"...Ili."

"So your name is Ili?"

"No. Help Ili."

The girl had an ethereal feel to her, seeming like a being from another world. Upon closer inspection, she was a being from another world, at least to Juno. More specifically, it looked like she was an elf. Unlike Vie, however, this girl's white hair and eyes had a glassy shine, almost as if she was a ghost. 

 

"Help... Ili? Who is that? Can you take me to them?" Juno couldn't decipher this child's strange speech, but she also felt bad for just leaving her alone. 

'She's probably waiting for her parents, or something. I'll stay here until someone else comes to take responsibility.'

 

And so, five hours passed. 

In these five hours, nothing of note happened. Juno kept trying to obtain more information from the girl, but she just kept talking about "Ili." When the other villagers were asked, no one knew who this girl was. With the sun beginning to set, Juno was starting to consider just taking the girl with her to Atska. Right when Juno started to move, the girl suddenly ran out into the street.

"Hey, wait, where are you going?!"

Juno could see the figure of a young boy about the same age as the girl in glare of the sunset. She couldn't make out the exact details, but she could see the distinct white hair and white eyes that both children shared.

'Maybe it's her brother?'

A bright, white light started emanating from the two children as their forms started to blur. Juno slightly winced at the sharp light, but could still make out a bit of what was happening. The two forms blended together, and the light dissipated, leaving behind a slightly taller figure with the same white hair and eyes.

'Huh...? They...'

 

'They merged?!'