Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

13 – The Flame Hero Remembers His Friend

While he may be the leader of the 4th ranked party in the world right now, Fenix was actually bullied a lot as a child. 

Looking back, it wasn’t because he had a small build, or because he was slow on his feet, or because he was physically weak, or anything like that. It was just that he was weak-willed. He wasn’t very independent, he was indecisive, and he would grow extremely insecure when people pointed these things out. 

The kids loved making fun of Fenix as his face grew red from humiliation. 

And the one who helped him was Lem. 

Lem looked up to Heroes. That was probably why he helped Fenix. 

He wasn’t particularly good at fights or anything, but he was a quick thinker. He had a way with words, sometimes persuading people to back off, sometimes catching people off guard, sometimes setting traps. Through his efforts, he was able to drive back Fenix’s bullies. 

He’d often get beaten up in the process, but Lem would laugh it off saying 「The Hero always wins in the end.」 

He wouldn’t be able to take on multiple people on his own as a kid, but once he became 10 years old, God would tell him what his most suitable Job would be. He was sure that he’d become a Hero, so he trained his body in order to prepare for that. 

No matter how long Fenix took to speak his words, Lem would patiently wait for him. By telling him 「It’s not that you think slowly, it’s just that you think deeply,」 Lem saved Fenix. 

By sticking around him, Fenix eventually grew to not get too caught up in his thoughts and make his judgments quickly. 

Lem had a lot of friends, so Fenix was able to naturally join in on the circle as well. 

That’s why it wasn’t strange. 

No one would possibly dare to abandon him just because of a ritual that told him his suitable Job. 

He was emaciated as he was, everyone celebrated him becoming a Hero. 

All those that became Heroes had to visit the Shrines of the Spirits that were located in various areas of the world.  

If there was a spirit that found a liking to him, he’d be able to obtain great power. 

Fenix cursed himself at the shrine. God, spirits, Jobs, to hell with them. I’ve caused pain to my friend, the person who deserved to be a Hero more than anyone else.  

Fenix obtained the Fire Spirit. 

The majority of people that become Heroes rejoice, and the ones that didn’t rejoice start telling themselves that they’re some kind of special person. But the Fire Spirit apparently didn’t like people like that. The Fire Spirit enjoyed seeing someone explode in outrage over God and the spirits for once. That was why the Fire Spirit entered a contract with Fenix, something that hadn’t happened in about 130 years. 

Why was I the only one blessed? 

Fenix returned to the village in a bad mood. 

His friend that had saved him numerous times had his dreams crushed, while Fenix himself became the Flame Hero. 

Fenix began to feel extremely ashamed of himself afterward. 

Lem recovered and began to focus on training himself as a Black Sorcerer. 

Instead of looking frustrated about it, he got excited as if it was him that obtained the holy sword. 

Heroes were able to grow as strong as hardened war veterans within the span of just a few years. They had that kind of talent. 

Lem wasn’t crushed by that fact. 

He’d just try his best for dozens of years. And he wouldn’t just 「try,」 he’d engage in the most efficient way of training he could possibly do. 

After saying that with a laugh, Lem spoke his usual line. 

「The Hero always wins in the end,」 and 「To look at it another way, as long as you win in the end, you’re a Hero, right? If you slack off enough, I might even surpass you.」 

Fenix’s best friend wasn’t the type of person to be tied down by fate. 

At that moment, Fenix’s future was decided. 

「Lem, make a party with me.」 

He never regretted those words even once. 

「Huh? Just so you know, even though I’m going to win in the end, I’m still a huge small fry right now. Even when I become an adventurer, I’d still likely drag you down. You don’t have to show consideration for me just ‘cause I’m your friend.」 

「It’s not like that. I know you’ll become strong. I don’t want us to be rivals, I want us to be comrades.」 

「…I wouldn’t recommend it. You won’t get any party members with a Black Sorcerer on your team.」 

He became a Hero because he wouldn’t be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with his best friend otherwise. 

「I’ll be able to reach the top with you, Lem. Let’s become the best in the world as the first Flame Hero in 130 years and the strongest Black Sorcerer.」 

Lem’s eyes grew wide, and he took a good long look at Fenix. 

「…You know, you’ve kinda changed.」 

「And you haven’t changed at all, which I’m really happy about. I admire you for that.」 

「Stop that, I don’t want to hear that cheesy stuff.」 

They then broke into laughter at the same time. 

「Wait, you wanted to become an adventurer?」 

「No, I never thought of that until now.」 

「Seriously?」 

「But I want to become one now. I understand now why you look up to Heroes.」 

The admiration he felt towards the title-less Hero in front of him would likely never diminish for the rest of his life. 

「I see… Wait, so you’re saying you didn’t understand it until now?」 

「Ahaha.」 

「What are you laughing about? Geez… You sure are a weird one. Nothing good will happen from teaming up with a Black Sorcerer.」 

Lem didn’t seem to resent his friends that distanced themselves from him. 

「Well, I realized something. Those guys are the same as me. They were disappointed in me becoming a Black Sorcerer. They all think it’s a completely useless Job. They left me because they feel the same way. They look down on Black Sorcerers just like I do. It’s kinda idiotic how people who look up to Heroes unconsciously start discriminating.」 

「But you’re different, aren’t you? I’m sure even if I became a Black Sorcerer, you wouldn’t abandon me.」 

「I dunno.」 

「Well, I know you wouldn’t.」 

If he really was someone who would abandon Fenix over something like that, he would’ve joined the bullies the moment he met him. 

But Lem was different. Fenix was sure of that. 

「Wait three years. I’ll become a Black Sorcerer that’ll be of use to you by then.」 

Fenix deeply nodded to Lem’s words. 

The two of them would become adventurers. 

And then they would rise the ranks alongside their newfound comrades. 

And then the world will see who the coolest hero in the world is. 

– 

I sat down on my bed. 

「Lem…」 

Ever since he left, he’s been on my mind. 

What should I have done? 

I understand his decision. He didn’t want to break his promise with his master. But he couldn’t convince Alba and the others without doing that. I knew that things were reaching their limit, yet I couldn’t do anything about it. 

It’s been almost ten years since our Jobs were revealed. Lots of things have changed since then. 

There were multiple chains now tying down the dream that they shared as kids. 

Even if I kicked everyone out of the party except Lem, things wouldn’t change. 

A party has to have five members. Regardless of the remaining three members I could recruit, the results would be the same. 

The three of them are honestly all amazing adventurers. And Lem wasn’t able to talk about how just as amazing he was while he performed an incredible job supporting us. 

Our new member is the Frost Hero Bella. 

She’s only 13, but being a Hero, she’s already quite powerful. 

In order to work on strengthening the coordination for our new team, we decided to take a break from clearing the Demon King Castle and instead train on various dungeons nearby. They weren’t designed for broadcasts, so there wouldn’t be any footage recorded. 

The results were… somewhat questionable. 

It was to be expected. 

Alba’s bellows-styled magic sword was indeed flashy, but it was hard to use. He had thought he had mastered it to the point where he could just swing it as he liked to mow down his enemies, but the truth was that Lem had used his Black Magic to guide the enemies to the path of his strikes. By using spells like Confusion and Speed Down, he was able to limit enemy movement and fix enemies to a point where Alba’s strikes would land on the mark at just the right moment. 

At the same time, Lily’s accuracy fell, and Lark wasn’t able to throw off his enemies as easily as he used to.  

Bella was also stiff in her movements, possibly because she was still nervous. 

The three of them said that they were just having a bad day, but that wasn’t true. 

It was just that without Lem’s support, the enemies they fought felt much stronger due to them essentially fighting at their base combat level. 

What was frustrating was that they wouldn’t believe that was the case even after telling them. 

And even if they did accept that, it wouldn’t bring Lem back. 

But they were still all top-notch adventurers. Even now, they’re beginning to adjust their combat senses. But they didn’t realize that they had to adjust them because of Lem’s absence, and even if they successfully adjusted them, it wouldn’t nearly make up for the hole Lem left. 

「…I thought we were going to become the best together, Lem.」 

I never thought he would have left. 

「Weren’t you going to win in the end?」 

It’d be a load off my mind if he at least had joined another party, but no such information had been announced. 

And it didn’t seem that he had returned to our hometown, either. 

「You wouldn’t give up. I know that’s not what you’d do.」 

I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’ll eventually become a hero one day. 

In that case, as long as I became the strongest Hero, he’ll eventually show up to surpass me. 

「I’ll do just that and wait for you.」 

Fenix left his room and met up with Alba and Lark. 

They then met up with Lily and Bella near the dungeon. 

He looked around at his comrades and spoke to them calmly. 

「We’ll clear the Demon King Castle and become the number one ranked party in the world.」