A Warrior Exiled by the Hero and His Lover

it against the stone pavement.

—Higi!?

—Don’t touch me again.

A female member of my army approached me and gave me a handkerchief to wipe my hands.

As soon as the officers of the Thousand Golden Lions saw their leader on the ground, they drew their weapons and got into a combat stance.

On the other hand, my party members acted as a wall to protect me.

—You… What the hell are you doing? Why are you attacking him out of nowhere?

—You are the one who should limit his movements.
Touching the vice commander without permission is the same as starting a fight.
If you don’t want to get hurt, get the hell out of here.

—Don’t get pushy just because you’re starting to be recognized.
Don’t forget that we are a party with 250 members.

You certainly are a big party.
But most of them are little level 500 puppies.
To be honest, it wouldn’t be right for me to express myself that way about them, no one likes to be disrespected, although they tend to be scum who look down their noses at other people.

If any of them intend to attack me, my party members will do their best to protect me.

—Are you sure you want to go to war against us?

I took a step forward with killing intent.

And my party members replicate my same step with the same intentions.

—O…Okay…

Garfao shuddered.

Right now we just finished a request, and we were ready to fight at any time.
I don’t care if we do it here and now, I’m only interested in crushing them once and for all.

—Garfao-sama, we’d better get out of here.

—Are you saying that we, the Thousand Golden Lions should run away?!

—We also have a request from His Majesty that we must fulfill, and if we lose here for the first time in a war, will our reputation fall?

—Tch… His Majesty saved your lives, Manyu Brigade.

Garfao says a cliché phrase and ran off.

Honestly, I was somewhat relieved about it.

There’s nothing good in a war between big parties, no matter if I win or lose.

Of course I don’t intend to lose, but I want to avoid it if possible.

—The vice-commander was great.

—After all, she is our Ney-sama.

—Did you see the look on Garfao’s face?

—When Toru-sama returns, we will be the most powerful party of all.

All the party members were happy and celebrated what just happened.

On the other hand, I felt a pit in my stomach.

***************

—Fighting with the Thousand Golden Lions?!

I raised my voice in front of His Majesty.

I had an audience with him to inform him of the Goblin King’s defeat, but I almost lost my mind when His Majesty told me of a new request.

—An unidentified monster is ravaging several regions and numerous requests have been received.
It has caused great damage not only to our country, but also to other countries, and although some renowned adventurers have already set out to defeat it, they have all been defeated.

—And you gave it to us?

I have also heard rumors about such a monster.

The entity devastated the capital of the country ruled by its former demon king, Ios, in a single night.
Its true identity is unknown.
There are rumors that it may be a demon created by man with the forbidden arts.

However, His Majesty does not seem to be planning to send a regular army yet.

It seems he wants to see how things go with us first.

—I have obtained this information from a reliable source.
And from what we know, the mysterious monster seems to call itself “Sain”.

—Sain? Are you sure?

—It’s hard to believe, but he seems to be intelligent enough to speak the human tongue.

Sain… No way ….
Is it possible that he’s here too?

That guy was executed, he can’t still be alive.

I’m a little uncertain if he is actually who he says he is… But if he turns out to be Sain, this is my perfect opportunity for revenge.
I couldn’t beat that bastard for what he did to me, and I just went back to my city in shame.

I’ve always regretted that.
If I had had the guts to follow Toru back then, I could have spent my days with a little more pride and peace of mind in my heart.

But I am very different now since that day.
I have the strength and confidence to do anything, and I even have friends I can trust.

I don’t like the idea of fighting alongside the Thousand Golden Lions.
But this is a request I could not refuse.

I need to know if this monster is the Sain I know.

—We already know where the enemy is.

—Excuse my boldness, but could you tell me where this place is?

—It is one of the gigantic cities built by the ancient species.
Now it is dilapidated and turned into a home for ferocious monsters.

If it is a monster lair, it is very likely that they are always on the prowl.

I still have my doubts about cooperating with Garfao, but he is the leader of a party with more than 200 members, and he could never express his feelings about a job.

—We’ll take care of it.

—Don’t let adventurers from other countries get there before you.

—I am aware of that.

I bowed deeply to His Majesty.