He moved around until the broken bones were positioned in the right places, and then released his hand snugly.
"Done. Now heal me."
"…Y, Yes? A-Ah, yes…"
Ophelia felt a little creepy for some reason and quickly used a heal on Kieran.
* * *
Our team was disbanded, and so I thought it was over. At least such was the case in my original world until I was dragged here. But it didn't seem to be the case here.
"Then I'll break the party connection. It may hurt a little."
An old man with gray hair walked up to me and stood behind me.
In this world, there was a pretty tricky procedure to form and disband a party.
When you form a party, you have to register that person's blood on the status engraved on your back, and when you break up, you cover it with your own blood and wipe it off.
The reason for doing this procedure is to share experience points that come from killing monsters.
But, of course, there was no way I could reach out correctly to my back with my own hand. So I had to get help from others.
The person who is rubbing off the party connection on my back is one of the butlers of the Imperial Palace.
The three heroines will be assisted by maids in another room.
"Let's begin."
I could feel a cold liquid on my back.
Instead of a tingling sensation, there was a stinging and throbbing pain.
It was not painful enough to make me grunt though. I just sat there spacing out, and it was over.
"Can I go now?"
"Yes, the party breakup is complete."
"Well, see you later then."
I quickly left the room.
It is said that the Emperor always appears in the social banquet a little later than others.
If you try to leave the banquet while the Emperor was there, you would be stopped by the guard, so I thought I'd better get outta here before he showed up.
Fortunately, the room I was in was on the first floor, close to the exit of the Imperial Palace, so it didn't take long to find my way out.
As I came out of the palace, going down the stairs, another new figure was coming from the other side.
But the face was not unfamiliar.
There was no chance I wouldn't know. The woman who is climbing up the stairs right now is the only female Hero among the four Heroes in 'The Hero's Party'.
Frillite.
The eldest daughter of an Imperial Duke and also the strongest of the four Heroes.
"Kieran? The banquet isn't over yet, where are you going?"
As she climbed up the stairs, she looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face.
"I'm tired. I want to go back a little earlier today."
If the food wasn't even good, what reason was even there for me to be present there?
"…what happened?"
"Nothing much?"
I passed her and went down the stairs.
Her gaze was fixed on me until I made my way down the stairs.
* * *
Surprisingly, there were bars in this world.
In the dark and cryptic atmosphere, the bartender at the center bar table was wiping the glasses.
The only downside is that there are no cocktails, only wine.
'Why do you even need a bartender when you only have wine?'
I had a question like that, but I decided to let it slide.
Because the wine tasted excellent.
Compared to the tasteless ale I drank at the inn, this one was damn good!
'But that beer without carbonation. What kind of devil made such a thing..?'
After all, something like carbonated drinks don't exist in this world, sigh.
As soon as I ever return to Earth, I will drink bottles of coke. Haa, I still can't forget that refreshing feeling from back then.
I really wanted a coke.
I drank the rest of the wine at once. The glass, which had been grayish-white before, reflected a transparent light.
It's strange that glasses are so developed in comparison.
"If you continue to drink like that, you will wake up sick tomorrow."
The woman who came to sit down next to me commented.
When I turned my head, I saw a gorgeous woman with flaming red hair tied in a ponytail.
The dark atmosphere of the bar did not detract her beautiful appearance in the least, though she was dressed in men's clothing, with a reddish golden tailcoat on her, it couldn't hide her womanly sensual body in the slightest.
"Red? Or white?"
"White, please."
"That's quite unexpected. I thought you would choose red."
"Why did you think so?"
"Because you are red, aren't you?"
I said, pointing at her red hair. To which she had an absurd look on her face.
"Aren't you also drinking white wine with the same red hair?"
"This and that are different."
I didn't originally have red hair.
Not knowing that, she smiled.
"I'm glad that you still have the energy to joke around."
The bartender placed a glass of white wine in front of Frillite.
"I wasn't joking, it's the truth. More than that, what are you doing here, Frillite? I don't think it's time for the social banquet to end yet."
Frillite de Perdiac.
As a Hero and the successor of the most powerful family located near the borders of the Empire, she should have been shining in the banquet this time.
Not like drinking some cheap wine in an underground bar like me.
Frillite picked the glass and twirled it, the grayish-white wine rippled like waves. Even so, not a single drop of wine spilled out of the glass.
"I heard what happened today."
She stopped twirling the glass and brought it to her lips.
The wine flowed down endlessly in one gulp.
Even though it was nothing more than simply drinking wine, there was dignity in that simple action as well.
"Didn't you just say earlier that I will get sick drinking like that?"
"Sometimes one has to drink like this to feel better."
She smiled.
Then soon put on a serious expression.
"I never thought those idiots would do something like that. It was my negligence."
"Ha ha. Now, why is this your negligence?"
"I should have been a little more careful. I couldn't do that because I was busy subjugating monsters but I cannot just side myself using this as an excuse. So it's my fault."
"Well."
Frillite drank the wine the bartender had poured again.
Those who didn't know will find it strange, but I knew why she was here.
It's not because of personal friendship.
There's almost no contact between Kieran and her.
So, there is only one reason why she cares so much about Kieran.
He is a Hero.
Frillite is worried that Kieran might lose his inner self because of this incident.
The four Heroes must work together to seal the enemy of mankind, the Demon King.
—A legend that circulates on this continent.
She didn't want anything to break it this time around.
You might think why is some random legend so important, is it necessary that only the Heroes should defeat the Demon King, anybody else can do it too. Then, that's the wrong idea.
A Hero can grow endlessly without being impeded by the growth limit. It means that you can break through your limits as a human being.
In other words, a Hero is like a humanoid nuclear weapon.
Such heroes are supported one each by each of the four human countries except the Principality.
But what if for some reason the Hero of a particular country disappears?
As it is, the balance between the countries collapses.
The gap will be irreversibly widened with time, and the country that has lost its Hero may eventually go into ruin.
Frillite is worried about that happening.
Seriously, I'm telling you—she is a daughter who had been raised under the tutelage of a strict but upright father.
"I don't know how it feels to be separated from colleagues you were with all this time. I honestly can't even fathom."
"Well, uh."
"Nevertheless, I hope you don't break."
"Nay, I don't break."
"I am glad, you are a stronger man than I thought. Anyway, it's going to take quite some time to find some new colleagues for you. I will help you with that, there are many people with outstanding talent in our Empire—"
"No need for that."
Frillite, who had easily moved on despite my short answers, stopped.
Then she looked at me with seriously encouraging eyes.
"I know it's hard mentally. But courage and stubbornness are different things."
"I already know that..?"
"Then take my favor. Even if it's burdensome, it's for your own good."
Oh man, this persistent chic.
"God no. Why are you pushing me some unknown team mates when you travel alone?"
"For me…"
"Yeah, maybe it's because you have that skill. But I tell you, I'm pretty good too. I also like going alone, so don't mind me."
"Kieran, you…"
Frillite was unable to speak for a while, then she sighed deeply.
She snatched the bottle of wine from the bartender's hands and drank it in gulps.
Cool, that's a one-shot.
I smiled and suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.
'Come to think of it, she had no CG in the game.'
She was a very significant character in her own rights, but there was only some vague news that she had went missing after going in the underworld, there were no separate event scenes on her.
"Whew…"
She emptied an entire bottle and placed it down on the table.
I gave her a fitting round of applause.
"That was a cool move, haha."
"…it must have been because I got a little tipsy, ugh. I will talk to you again another time, after I'm sober."
She reached out in between her arms and pulled out a heavy purse and threw it at the bartender.
"With this, deduct the cost of my drink, what this man drank, and what he will further drink. It'll cover it all."
The bartender opened the purse slightly and nodded eagerly with wide-open eyes.
"Then next time."
She glanced at me once, then turned her back and left the bar.
My, that was really cool.