After finishing his breakfast neatly and quickly, Kael returned to the cemetery.
But, unlike yesterday, today, he was alone.
But, also unlike yesterday, this time, he was not the only one who intended to visit those 7 graves.
Kael raised his eyebrows.
Capturing Alaric Valthor here was the thing he least expected.
Seeming to sense someone else’s presence, The King immediately turned towards him.
Then, he blinked a few times, feeling quite surprised.
"Oh, it’s you, Kael? I thought you were an enemy."
Kael stepped closer, starting to inspect the surroundings of the seven graves of the Seven Heroes.
"I should be the one asking that. And what are you doing...?"
Alaric suddenly paused.
His eyes couldn’t move away from the thing that was lying on Kael’s middle finger.
"An artifact. I picked it up nearby yesterday."
The King’s tone changed.
Sensing that something was wrong, he glanced at him.
"Don’t even think about stealing it. This is mine."
Alaric raised both hands, smiling helplessly and innocently.
"I have no interest in it. Besides, I can have any artifact I want."
He was the guildmaster of the Azure Crown guild, after all.
"It’s good that you know."
Then, Kael returned to his investigation.
"But you still haven’t answered my question. What are you here for?"
"I was just sightseeing, and stopped when I saw these seven graves. And when I saw the names engraved on each one, I realized that they were the graves of the Seven Heroes."
"Darwin told us about it, remember?"
It was a perfect answer.
So perfect that it was suspicious.
However, he was in no mood to realize that.
After spending more than half a day investigating, Kael still couldn’t find any clues.
And then, with no more reason to stay in this place, they began their journey towards the kingdom of Dicathen.
It was a long journey.
But fortunately, Kael’s group didn’t encounter any major problems.
They didn’t encounter any bandits.
Nor did they encounter any Tower Creatures.
And the carriage didn’t break down or anything.
When night had invaded the entire world, Kael’s group decided to set up camp somewhere in a forest.
"Well, I’m done eating, I’ll take my leave first."
Kael said, putting down the disposable wooden bowl.
"Huh? What’s wrong with you? You only ate one bowl of soup. Normally, you should eat at least four bowls, right?"
"...Eating less for a day won’t kill me, Hans."
"If there’s nothing else, I’m going to sleep. Don’t bother me."
"What? Sleep? Right now?"
The protagonist’s eyes widened.
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"You’ll turn into a pig if you do that."
Kael raised his middle finger at Hans without hesitation.
It was a strange party.
There were a total of 6 of them, not counting Kaelus.
The first one was named Veyra.
The only girl in the party.
And a genius who could master all the weapons in the world.
"Alright everyone! To celebrate the addition of a new member, why don’t we throw a party? Everyone, feel free to order whatever you like. I’ll pay!"
She was a positive person.
Ridiculously positive.
To put it bluntly, Veyra’s intelligence could be said to be rock bottom.
Other than that extraordinary strength, she had nothing else.
"Hah, you paid? What kind of joke is that?"
He was a sword user, and possessed a speed that no one could match.
"Didn’t you just get scammed out of all your money by some crazy guy a few days ago?"
He was the archer of the party, nicknamed "one shot, one kill".
Hearing that, Verya’s face turned purple with anger.
But she couldn’t do anything else because it was the truth.
Realizing that the atmosphere was quite tense, Tharok, the most moderate member of the party, the tanker, and also the possessor of a huge body, tried to calm things down:
"Alright, today is a happy day, so let’s stop here. I’ll pay, is that okay?"
"Tch. You’re too kind, Tharok."
Amon, the brains and also the doctor of the party, assessed.
He didn’t have the slightest bit of malice in him.
However, it seemed like they still had no intention of stopping.
Just like that, the conversation filled with the smell of murderous intent continued.
Everyone had completely forgotten about Kaelus’ presence, as well as the fact that no one had ordered food yet.
Next to him, Dix let out a helpless laugh.
"So, what do you think of this party? They’re interesting, right?"
Indeed, they were extremely interesting.
And as for Kaelus’ first impression of them...
’You guys should change the name from the hero party to the madman party.’
Kael closed his eyes.
Then, he opened them again.
And the hero party was no longer in that restaurant.
They were currently on a path back to the inn.
Everyone was in a gloomy mood, except for Dix.
He looked so relaxed.
"Hey, pay attention to the atmosphere. Aren’t you sad or disappointed?"
Unable to bear it anymore, Kaelus spoke up.
"Why should I feel that way?"
"Huh? Isn’t it because we let the monsters we were supposed to subdue escape? If we had tried harder, we might have succeeded."
Kaelus continued, sounding disappointed.
"But if we had done that, the chances of us dying would have been very high."
Dix replied nonchalantly.
"The important thing is that we survived, and that’s fine."
"...But isn’t the ideal of a hero to be willing to sacrifice himself?"
"Hah! What nonsense are you talking about?"
His reaction was as if he had just heard a joke.
"We’re heroes, not mercenaries."
"Listen, for heroes, the most important thing is to survive. No matter what they do, survival as a hero should always be placed above anything else."
Dix let out a kind smile.
"Because a hero must live to continue helping others."