The Porter Has No Interest in the Hero’s Party

Extreme violence leaves no room for compromise. Ashuria put on brass knuckles and began mercilessly striking the man’s side. Hitting with mechanical and rhythmic timing as if facing the Demon King’s army, the sound of ribs breaking echoed, intestines twisted, and the taste of blood seeped into his mouth.

With each strike, the man’s body curved slightly into a C-shape from the impact. After repeatedly punching to create a gentle curve, Ashuria, seemingly displeased with the shape, frowned and struck the opposite side.

“Mmmmmph…! Mmph…!”

The man rolled his eyes back, and saliva dripped from his mouth. After swinging her fists symmetrically several times, the man was now straight against the wall, and beside him, Mille was watching with bright eyes while chewing dried fruit.

Ashuria wiped the sweat from her forehead and said:

“Don’t you ever think: Why am I not dying? Normally, with blows like these, my organs should rupture and I should pass out, so why am I experiencing this pain with a clear mind?”

Ashuria showed her golden knuckles and said:

“As a religious person, I cannot easily kill people. People are so fragile that they can easily die from just one misplaced punch. That’s why I developed these knuckles. By engraving healing magic inscriptions in the center of the knuckles, when I hit someone with a certain power or above, healing magic is automatically activated. Thanks to this, you feel the pain, but your body doesn’t break.”

Tears welled up in the man’s eyes. Ashuria smiled and said:

“I can do this all day. So, to avoid wasting each other’s time, I’d like you to answer my questions… Will you answer honestly?”

The man nodded. He did so because the sight of her smiling face right in front of him was too terrifying. Mille removed the cloth from the man’s mouth. Ashuria sat on an old box and asked:

“You’re not working alone, are you? Surely, you have a gang that commits fraud or earns money together. Where have you hidden the money?”

The man hesitated and rolled his eyes at the mention of money. When Ashuria noticed his hesitation, she stood up again and struck his lower abdomen with all her might. The man vomited from the unpleasant and painful sensation of his skin being crushed and his intestines being scraped.

“Guuuuurgh!”

As Ashuria clenched her fist once more, the man shouted, gasping for breath:

“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything! The place is a house with a red tent! Besides me, there’s a guy selling cheap medicine and another selling counterfeit goods! We pool our money and keep it in that house!”

Ashuria, moved by the man’s sincere confession, smiled. Then, patting his head once, she said:

“I’ll use it for a good cause.”

“Ashuria. What have you been doing?”

The hero, who had been enthusiastically discussing countryside stories with me, started sweating as soon as Ashuria arrived and left his seat. It seemed like he was avoiding the conversation, but I decided not to mind. Doesn’t everyone have a secret or two? Just as I work as a porter, the hero might have reasons to disguise himself as a country boy who lived in the countryside.

Ashuria greeted the hero with a face brighter than usual, and following her was Mille, who was sniffling with tears. The hero seemed more surprised that Mille was crying than pleased to see Ashuria again.

“Mille? Why are you crying?”

“Sob… Sniff… I’m moved… Seeing Ashuria donate all that money for a good cause…”

“Money?”

The hero looked at Ashuria in surprise. Ashuria was hugging the tearful Mille and showing her affection.

“Mille. How can your heart be so pure?”

“I… can’t breathe…!”

Only after Ashuria stroked Mille until she stopped crying did she respond to our questioning looks.

“Ah, don’t worry. A certain person gave a large sum of money asking me to work for the world in the future, so I’m on my way back from donating that money to a fund for the poor.”

“You did a good thing. A good thing.”

Picking up knuckle dusters and saying she “received a donation” was truly convincing. Lena nodded and smiled cryptically, and the hero said with an innocent expression:

“You’re amazing, Ashuria. If it were me, I wouldn’t have thought to donate it.”

Ashuria twisted her body as if not knowing how to react to the hero’s praise and nodded.

“Yes, that’s right…”

Her laughter was so gloomy, unlike a nun, that I decided to pretend I hadn’t heard it.

The next day, a soldier who knocked on our lodging door like a crowing rooster passed an order document to the hero with a solemn face. The order with the royal seal contained the next operation area, and the hero naturally read the order and said to the soldier:

“You’ve worked hard, soldier.”

The soldier naturally saluted the hero and exclaimed:

“Yes! Hero! Then I’ll be heading back now.”

“Yes. Please send my regards.”

With a gesture from the hero, the soldier nodded and disappeared outside the lodging. Lena giggled watching this. Seeing her mutter “country person,” she must have had the same thought as me. The hero, seemingly unaware of our thoughts, brought up the order document with a bright face.

“In the next operation area, we’ll finally move to the boundary zone occupied by the Demon King’s army. I heard that our soldiers are currently facing off against a female demon named Halifa there, and because this Halifa employs such vicious methods in defense, they can’t decide the outcome through a frontal attack. Due to the nature of demons, they can’t send ordinary soldiers as a special attack team, so it seems we’ll move directly towards Halifa’s formation without stopping at the military camp this time. Of course, we should send a separate communication to ensure the unit responds when we attack.”

“So we become the special attack team and ambush that demon? What kind of woman is she?”

Lena asked with a confident expression. For her, a skilled thief, infiltration and assassination were actions she was more confident in than anyone else. The hero looked at Lena with a trustworthy expression and said:

“I heard she’s a chemical warfare specialist who makes poisons. I was told her own combat ability is also quite high.”

“So is she a demon who sprays poison from her body?”

To Lena’s question, the hero shook his head.

“I don’t think she sprays poison from her body. I heard she wears a gas mask or detoxification equipment when entering the battlefield. Instead, she continuously sprays poison on the battlefield or upstream, making it difficult for the army to maintain the front line.”

“If they do it that way, it would be hard for them to endure as well.”

The hero nodded at my words. Anyway, the goal of those Demon King’s army guys was to take all human lands and establish a demon paradise. There would be nothing good about becoming a toxic zone. The hero said:

“The fact that she uses poison that even she can’t withstand means that higher-ups are probably pressuring her due to the war situation. Even if she receives criticism for using poison later, she probably doesn’t want to be perceived as an incompetent commander.”

“Our hero empathizes well with the commanders’ hearts.”

At Lena’s passing remark, the hero rolled his eyes and mumbled:

“…I was a gang leader in the countryside.”

Seeing the incredulous expressions flying from all directions, the hero mumbled again:

“Anyway! This commander is now in an anxious state, so she’s probably forming an aggressive formation. That’s why we need to surprise her from the rear.”

Ashuria pointed to the map and asked:

“But Hero, wasn’t this area originally imperial territory? None of us know the geography of this place well, so how do we penetrate the rear?”

With the advent of the Demon King, the empire was destroyed, and hardly anyone escaped the empire safely. The current members of the hero’s party were all from different kingdoms far from the empire. Ashuria’s point was valid.

“No. There is someone from the empire.”

The hero looked at me as he said this. I smiled and raised both arms. Lena, Ashuria, and Mille all stared at me with round eyes.

Why would I be employed as a porter for the hero’s party and follow this far?

Why would I be confident that I would accompany the hero’s party to the capital of the empire, even if I couldn’t enter the Demon King’s castle?

There was nothing to hide now. I was from the empire, a traitor who fled across the border the day my homeland was destroyed.

And now I was just a porter who had turned back to save the fallen empire.

“I was originally from the empire. I know the empire’s geography very well. Because I was a diligent countryman among countrymen.”

I pointed to the forest area on the map and continued:

“If the demon has set up camp here and is releasing poison along the river, going this way would be easier to infiltrate from the rear. If someone who will attack from the rear moves with me, I’ll assist.”

“I’ll go.”

Lena said. I nodded and pointed to another position near the formation, saying:

“If you climb this rock face, there’s a position where you can clearly see the formation. If we place an archer and personnel to cover there, it will be easy to disrupt the enemy camp.”

“Then I should go!”

Mille said, holding her bow. She was enthusiastic about eliminating demons. The hero nodded and added:

“If there’s such a high ground, it would be easier to attack.”

Thus, the operation plan was carefully developed based on my geographical knowledge. We planned to move through higher ground as much as possible since poison might be accumulated below, and we also decided where to split into two teams.

“That’s it. I think we can go with this plan. Mister, you’ve worked hard.”

“Not at all. I should help even in these matters.”

Ashuria, Mille, and Lena all gave me looks as if I were unexpected. I savored those gazes, spread my arms, pointed to myself, and said:

“The brains of the hero’s party.”

“Really, if you hadn’t said that last part, I was going to tell you how impressive you were.”

I ignored Lena’s grumbling.