My heart raced in my chest. I was completely out of my element. The harsh, virtual sun pounded down on me. My cloak was the only shadowy refuge that I could hide beneath. I would have frozen up completely if it wasn’t for the soft hand of the hero leading the way.

I didn’t have the capacity to worry about the hushed whispers surrounding us or how others might perceive me. All of my attention was focused on clinging to the small warmth holding my hand.

“Don’t worry, Iris. I am not going anywhere.”

“W-Who is worried!? I merely want to compare grip strengths.”

“I see. I see.”

Eden was laughing at me. I wanted to let go of her hand and put her in her place, but it was impossible. Being teased by the hero I hated was better than losing hold of the only thing keeping me afloat in these unfamiliar waters.

She didn’t comment further on my sweaty hand or my timid behavior. I thought I heard the word cute slip from her mouth, but that had to be my imagination.

“Over here, Eden.”

An adorable voice broke me out of my thoughts. A small child in a skintight, synthetic bodysuit with robotic cat ears and a tail called out to Eden. I naturally recognized her. She was Athena, the main tank of the hero party. Athena wasn’t alone. The rest of Eden's group was with her. Eden greeted her friends.

“Everyone, thank you for coming.”

A voluptuous beauty in a scandalous maid outfit appeared out of nowhere. She skillfully captured Eden’s arm and pressed her giant breasts against Eden. She shot me a playful glance from her place on the other side of Eden.

“How could you play around with another girl when you already have me, Eden?”

“It isn’t like that, Freya. This is the healer I brought to help us defeat Demon King Serafall once and for all.”

Cross, a wild girl in a black crop top that left the bottom of her breasts bare and ripped jeans, laughed heartily at Eden’s words.

“Gahaha. Our new healer may look as timid as a mouse, but her abilities must be the real deal if you brought her.”

“Of course. I promise that she will live up to your expectations, Cross.”

The exotic swordsman with an ice cold expression expressed her displeasure.

“We don’t need another girl added to the group. It is already chaotic enough with the six of us.”

“Don’t worry, Brynhildr. Iris joining us is only a one time thing. You must have realized how impossible it is to defeat Demon King Serafall without a proper healer.”

Dawn, a mysterious girl in a military dress, pushed up her glasses. She had a strange smile on her face as she looked at Eden and me.

“Does our healer speak or are you planning to be her hero until the very end?”

Six pairs of eyes landed on me. Traumatic memories rose to the front of my mind and I froze. I couldn’t do this. A gentle squeeze on my hand snapped me out of it.

Even though I was desperately relying on Eden to keep everything together, I had not forgotten for a second that it was all her fault I was in this mess to begin with. I took great joy in dragging her into the depths of hell with me.

“Nice to meet you, everyone. I am Eden’s wife, Iris. Please take care of me.”

Poor Eden. She was so happy with my words that she forgot to deny them. All of the attention I had gathered quickly turned to the unprepared hero. The chaotic outburst that followed was something that I would remember for the rest of my life. Heh. That outrageous hero got what she deserved.

 

— e c h o —

 

Tower of Yg was a world composed of multiple zones or battlefields. Each battlefield could be accessed through teleportation crystals. I let go of Eden’s hand and distanced myself from her the moment we teleported to Demon King Serafall’s castle. Her bright expression dimmed, but I didn’t care about that at all.

As befitting of a Demon King’s home, it was a dark, ominous fortress with monsters lurking behind every corner and no humans in sight. I felt right at home.

“Careful, Miss Healer Wife. We will not be able to protect you if you stray too far from us.”

Athena’s cute warning made me smile. Freya pouted at her words.

“Athena, she isn’t anybody's wife. I refuse to recognize her relationship with Eden.”

Another argument was brewing, but Eden skillfully cut it off before it got anywhere.

“Ladies, I am going to start the livestream. Please table this discussion for another time. To make things easier for the viewers, please refer to her as Iris.”

I tugged the hood of my cloak down to cover up more of my face and hopefully hide my blush. I wasn’t expecting to have to show this embarrassing appearance to the entire world when I made my promise to play as a healer to Eden.

A menu popped up in the corner of my vision to signify the start of Eden’s stream. A flood of comments filled the chat as Eden gave her typical greeting. Within seconds, the viewers had caught sight of the extra addition to the party.

I shifted uneasily underneath my cloak. It was as if thousands of eyes were staring at me from all directions. My cloak was all that stood between the viewers eyes and the revealing bodysuit Eden had prepared for me. A hand landed on my shoulder and I nearly jumped.

“Relax, Iris. Worrying about outsiders is a waste of time. Life is a waste if you aren’t going crazy to your heart’s content.”

I nodded in response to Cross’ words, not trusting myself to make a fool of myself by speaking up. I couldn’t shake off the viewer’s eyes as easily as her, but she did remind me that I wasn’t alone. The uselessly bright hero of our party was bound to be the center of attention while I quietly healed in the background.

“Form up everyone. Let’s show the world the power of the Heroes of Yg.”

At Eden’s words, everyone summoned their echo weapons. I let [Umbra Sanctuary], a shadowy umbrella with a built in rifle, appear in my hands. Like all echo weapons, the experiences of past [Umbra Sanctuary] users flowed into my mind and engrained their skills on my body.

I immediately gained the ability to use [Umbra Sanctuary] as if I had trained with it my whole life. Such was the power of Inheritors. [Umbra Sanctuary] opened up and shrouded my figure in shadows, reducing my presence and making it unlikely for enemies to notice me.

Healers that were hard to spot lived longer as the golden rule of combat was to target the healers first. There was nothing more disheartening than trading wounds with your opponent only for them to recover to full health from a timely heal.

Athena was at the front of our party with Brynhildr and Eden right behind her. Dawn and I were in the center while Cross brought up the rear. Freya scouted on her own and reported the locations of nearby enemies to us.

Demon King Serafall’s castle was filled to the brim with living armors. Since Eden and her party had already cleared the castle to fight against its king, they had no trouble dealing with the foes in our way. My presence here was exceedingly unnecessary, but I already knew that it would be this way.

Not only was the hero party known for their good looks, they had the strength and ability to back up with their fame. Their leader, Eden, had an exceptional level of battlefield awareness as she gave directions.

“Cross, take the two in the back. Brynhildr, Dawn, and I will take on the heavy armors together. Athena, hold the front for thirty more seconds.”

Demon King Serafall’s castle was designed to be raided with hundreds of people, but we were only doing it with seven. The barriers created from Athena’s guardian shield hummed with energy as they held back tens of living armors.

Cross’ snake sword snaked behind us and coiled around the two living armors. Bolts of electricity from Dawn’s staff paralyzed the living armors, giving Eden and Brynhildr the opening they needed to dispatch the group of heavy armor monsters with their blades.

Freya disappeared and reappeared amidst the sea of enemies with her death scythe, reaping heads wherever she went. I leisurely watched the one sided massacre from the safety of the center of the formation.

There was an ebb and flow to combat and my allies had perfected it. Suddenly throwing in a foreign element into the mix, namely me, would throw off their rhythm and do more harm than good.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t about to go back on my promise. Even if it was only this once, I was the healer of the hero party. None of my allies needed healing, but healers did more than just heal. My subtle actions would have been missed unless someone was closely paying attention to me.

[Umbra Sanctuary] robbed the vision of the heavy armor monsters that threatened to break past Athena and rush the rest of the party. A second of blindness was enough to take their attention off the frailer targets in the party and return their aggression to Athena, who was more than equipped to handle their fury.

A stray arrow flew at Freya from her blindspot. I twirled [Umbra Sanctuary] and a flimsy barrier appeared between her and the arrow. The barrier shattered like glass, but its presence was enough to kill the momentum of the projectile and have it fall short of its target.

Cross had swapped to attacking with bright red gauntlets in a wild fashion. She unleashed a devastating blow against one of the two living armors, ending its life for good. The finisher left her wide open to the final living armor’s attack. She wasn’t going to make it in time to guard.

I pulled the trigger and a silent, shadow bolt from [Umbra Sanctuary] raced across the battlefield. The bolt impacted the living armor’s blade, delaying it just enough for Cross to intercept it with her gauntlets. The thin barrier surrounding her body shimmered as it endured the blow.

Even if I hadn’t acted, Cross would have only suffered minor injuries. Regardless, a healer’s job was to ensure that their friends were safe and healthy.

My eyes naturally fell on the uselessly bright hero, but Eden didn’t need any support. As the strongest attacker of the party, she displayed her dominance and easily decimated any enemies that dared to stand in her way.

It wasn’t a single battle, but a war of attrition all the way up to the entrance of Demon King Serafall’s throne room. The number of times I had to intervene could be counted on two hands. It brought a smile to my face as I saw the viewers of Eden’s live stream curse me for being useless. In my eyes, the fact that nobody needed to be healed meant that I was doing my job properly.

The waves of enemies stopped the moment we reached the doors and we finally had a chance to rest. Knowing the demon king’s arrogant attitude, the only reason the enemies stopped was because she had deemed us as worthy opponents.

We each did our own things during our break. Eden happily chatted with her viewers. Cross was sprawled on the floor taking a nap without a care in the world to who might be watching. Brynhildr polished her longsword, Dawn had her head buried in a book, and Athena performed last minute maintenance on her equipment.

As for the last member of the hero party, she was underneath [Umbra Sanctuary] with me.

“Hehe~ I’m happy to be sharing an umbrella with a cutie like you~”

Freya’s playful voice tickled my ear. I would have been deceived and thought she liked me if I hadn’t seen how she behaved in Eden’s livestreams. Eden’s viewers liked to call Freya the newbie killer because everyone who temporarily joined the hero party was toyed with by Freya like this.

“Wow~ Eden is looking over here. Smile~”

The hero party was in something of a strange state. While everyone agreed that Eden was the leader and center of the party, they also agreed that it was Freya’s own personal harem. There was a saying that if a girl was cute enough to have Freya flirt with her, then she was good enough to join the party.

I was covered from head to toe in a cloak, so it couldn’t be my looks that attracted Freya’s attention. That meant Freya’s interest in me was due to one thing. She had noticed my subtle actions amidst the chaotic battle. As I thought, everyone in Eden’s party was a monster.

“Are you ignoring me? Well, this is interesting in its own way~”

Freya pouted. I smiled at the sight despite my firm intention to not react to her. It wasn’t until I met her in person that I fully understood why everyone called her the darling of the hero party. Her expressive personality was too cute. I would have fallen for her if she wasn’t part of Eden’s party.

After a few minutes of recuperation, we gathered up again and pushed open the ornate doors to the throne room. It was time for me to fulfill my promise.