One afternoon.
I was walking through town at leisure.
Seeing me, the people walking by all gazed at me with respect.
“Hey, look. It’s Douglas-san.”
“As expected of an A-rank adventurer. He has such presence.”
“He’s so cool, Douglas-san. He’s big and looks dependable. I wish just once someone like him would hold me.”
“Don’t be silly, you have no chance. Look at the girls Douglas-san has with him. They’re incredibly beautiful.”
I casually listened to their voices, striding confidently down the middle of the road.
Accompanying me were three lovely girls.
“Nyaa, Douglas. You’ll hold Miina tonight, right meow?”
“What are you misunderstanding, you useless cat? Tonight, I will be held by Douglas-sama.”
“Ehh, no. Tonight is my turn. Right, Douglas?”
One was a beastkin girl with charming cat ears, tail, and fangs.
One was a sage girl with shining silver hair.
One was a swordswoman girl with her black hair tied in a ponytail.
I smiled and replied to the three girls.
“Don’t fight over such things. Tonight, I’ll hold all three of you together.”
” ” ” Yay! ” ” ”
The girls cheered with joy and clung to my arms and body.
Truly, they were adorable.
But that dreamlike scene was gradually enveloped in dark mist.
Then, my vision became completely dark—
***
Chirp, chirp, chirp.
I heard the chirping of birds.
I woke up in bed.
A small room in a cheap inn.
Sunlight faintly streamed in through a gap in the wooden window into the dim room.
Naturally, I was alone in the room.
There was no way a supremely beautiful girl was sleeping next to me.
“…Haa. What a pathetic dream I’m having…”
I sat up in bed and let out a big sigh.
I am Douglas, an adventurer, forty years old.
To put it nicely, I’m a veteran adventurer of twenty-five years.
However, the reality is that I am a textbook mediocrity, an “E-rank adventurer.”
While not the lowest rank of F, I haven’t moved from E-rank for about twenty years.
And of all things, to be A-rank.
Even in a dream, I had quite an audacious fantasy.
Such a rank is, literally, a distant dream.
A-rank is the rank of a global hero, attainable only by those gifted with exceptional talent.
I got out of bed and opened the wooden window of the room.
Along with the refreshing morning sun, a pleasant autumn breeze blew in.
I clapped my cheeks with both hands.
“Alright, enough of this foolishness. Time to get things done today.”
I changed into comfortable clothes for training, washed my face with water from the well, and began my daily early morning training.
***
That evening, at a tavern.
“Hey, old man Douglas. You’re in the way. Get out of our party.”
I was told this by a young adventurer I had worked with for two years.
I asked the young man without showing my surprise.
“Wait, let me hear the reason.”
“Huh? What’s there to explain? If someone like you, with no skill and no potential, keeps hanging around our party, you’re a nuisance. Don’t you get it without me saying it?”
“I see…”
I let out a small sigh.
What this swordsman said was not wrong.
He had talent as a swordsman, and in the two years since becoming an adventurer, his skills had rapidly improved.
When we first formed the party, he was still a novice, and I provided a lot of support as a veteran adventurer. But now, our skills had completely reversed.
I’ve been told I haven’t lacked the minimum effort in my roughly thirty years aiming to be an adventurer, but the difference in innate talent is simply insurmountable.
That’s right—I am ordinary, and this swordsman is a genius.
“Adela, Sheryl. Do you two think the same way?”
I also asked the two young female adventurers standing behind the swordsman.
One was a priest, the other a mage.
Both were quite beautiful.
These two were also members I had looked after and mentored since they were novices. Now, they possessed skills equal to or even greater than mine.
In other words, they too were bundles of talent—
“Yes, as Luke-sama says. Douglas-san, don’t you think it’s presumptuous of you to try to stay in our party?”
“It’s true. We’ve tolerated it out of camaraderie from adventuring together, but we can’t take it anymore. Douglas-san—no, Douglas. Stop trying to freeload off us for profit. Leave our party immediately.”
They said such selfish things.
It seemed they had completely forgotten how many times they failed when they were novices and I saved their lives each time.
Well, I don’t intend to hold grudges for that, so it’s fine.
Still, I think there are better ways to say things.
Incidentally, these two seem to be in a romantic relationship with the swordsman Luke. They are often together everyday, whether adventuring or on holidays, engaging in night activities.
As a grown man and woman, it’s not something to comment on, but for someone like me who hasn’t had a romantic interest until this age, it’s quite enviable.
Ultimately, the world boils down to good looks, talent, and youth.
I have none of them now.
On the other hand, these three possess all of them.
This is precisely the kind of person who deserves to be the protagonist of the hero stories bards sing about.
“Understood. There’s no reason to stay if you all feel this way. I apologize for getting in the way until now.”
I said this, placed some silver coins on the table for payment, and left the tavern.
***
A few days later.
Early in the morning, as I returned to the inn after my thirty-minute run, five hundred axe swings, and other strength training.
Three people who looked like adventurers were waiting in front of the inn.
“Good morning, Douglas-san. We heard. You were rejected by the youngsters. We sympathize with your feelings.”
The man who spoke to me was a man of about thirty, dressed as a priest.
Behind him stood a man of the same age dressed as a mage, and a beastkin girl dressed as a thief, significantly younger than them.
I frowned and replied.
“Honestly, who’s spreading these rumors? What do you want? You’re not just here to mock me, are you?”
“Of course not, far from it. You see, our party recently lost our warrior during an adventure. We are looking for a replacement warrior.”
“And you came to ask me.”
“Yes. We thought you might be running low on funds soon, Douglas-san.”
“…Well, yes, you’re right.”
I went to the back of the inn to get a cup of water and drank it on the spot.
Then I returned to the front of the inn and replied to the man in priest’s robes.
“Understood. I’ll join your party temporarily for now. However, whether I officially join you will be decided after we complete a job. Is that acceptable?”
“Yes, that is fine. Hehehe, I hope we can build a good relationship.”
Looking at the priest’s smile, I felt a sense of unease.
In fact, I had some familiarity with this priest and mage.
Although I had never formed a party with them myself, they were known to be a disreputable group.
As for the beastkin girl in thief’s clothes, I didn’t recognize her, perhaps she was new…
No, I felt like I had seen her somewhere before, but I couldn’t recall where.
It was probably my imagination.
Regardless, with two disreputable individuals involved, it was a party I would normally want to avoid.
However, as the priest said, my finances were indeed becoming tight, and I had to join an adventurer party to earn money.
It’s not good to blindly believe rumors, and I can’t afford to be too picky.
Considering these circumstances, I decided to accept their invitation.
Well, if we don’t get along, we can always part ways after working together in the same party.
That’s what I was thinking at the time—
