Chapter 7 The White Mage, Lost and Confused
#KyoudoushaThe White Mage, Lost and Confused
It has been three days since Vee disappeared.
The clan has been thrown into turmoil by the sudden absence of its central figure.
There were countless projects he was working on.
However, since he had taught everyone the ins and outs of running the clan and we found a well-organized manual, things settled down soon enough.
His presence was (somewhat) unnecessary, literally.
Our favorite merchant continued to wholesale goods at the same price, and the Adventurers’ Guild, though disappointed, didn’t change their dealings with us.
If we ran into problems, we could solve them by referring to the “manual” Vee had created.
Vee’s belief was, that, “An organization that can’t function without one person is not worthy of being called an organization. Everyone should support each other.”
He had trained all members to be cogs in the machine so that they could be replaced.
As a result, it’s ironic that the organization worked well without him, the one who created it.
Sadly, nothing changed when Vee was gone.
Absolutely nothing changed.
No matter how much I worried, time passed and there were things I had to do.
The joint training for the Demon Lord extermination, which was only a month away, had also begun, and although it felt heartless, I no longer had the time to think about Vee.
It’s sad, but with the reality of life and death, such feelings cannot be indulged.
I confirmed the movements of the front line, middle guard, and rear guard with Sieg and improved our skills.
We had done this many times before, so we were used to it.
However, this time, I can’t help but feel that our assumptions about the Demon Lord extermination are a bit naive.
It’s just a small concern, but still…
When Vee was planning it, he made plans with a level of meticulousness that I thought was a bit excessive.
He created Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and even Plan D as a last resort and compiled them into documents that were distributed to everyone.
Of course, not all the plans were used in the end.
Vee would laugh and say, “It’s better if they’re not used. If there are too many unexpected events, it will cause damage.”
This perspective didn’t sit well with the clan members, becoming a source of discontent among them. They labeled him as “cowardly.”
I had often been saved by his caution, so I didn’t think much of it… But is everything really okay?
The upcoming Demon Lord is predicted to be a Goblin King.
According to the materials distributed, he has been seen leading a large number of goblins, and there are reports that two villages have already been swallowed up.
Normally, we should hurry to deal with him, but this time, since we can’t afford to fail, Sieg plans to challenge him after thoroughly improving our skills.
For Sieg, the casualties in the villages out of his sight are a necessary price to pay, and even some clan members seem to think that this is a good opportunity to increase their fame.
Have they forgotten why they became orphans?
Some members became orphans when their villages were attacked by monsters.
Is it really so important to become a noble and live a good life?
I think there was a gap between me and Vee, who grew up relatively normal in a border village, and the clan members who were orphaned in the slums.
They are greedy.
I feel that they have a strong will to rise above others.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but I don’t fully understand their attitude of doing anything to achieve it.
I vaguely wanted to be happy and followed Vee.
I had a vague vision of marrying Vee, having children, and being happy.
Maybe that’s why the clan feels a little uncomfortable without Vee.
The target Demon Lord this time isn’t expected to have a very high fighting ability, and we won’t have much trouble if we engage in direct combat.
Besides, the subordinate goblins that have been spotted are only hobgoblins and goblin shamans, and even if there are 100 or 200 of them, it shouldn’t be a problem.
Goblins that are a threat to ordinary humans are nothing to us, adventurers.
For this extermination, we plan to bring more than half of the 150 clan members, 149 now that Vee is gone.
We will also bring a large number of porters to carry supplies, new adventurer recruits, and even some of the lord’s soldiers.
It’s really a posture of taking every possible precaution.
With over 100 trained adventurers and Sieg, who have the hero skill [Demon Lord Slayer], we should be able to win if we do things right.
That’s how powerful [Demon Lord Slayer] is.
[Demon Lord Slayer] inflicts fatal damage on a Demon Lord, and the wound will not heal.
It’s a skill that fits perfectly with Sieg, a [Paladin] who excels in long battles with strong defenses.
The tactics Sieg has taught us are simple.
The first party will hold off the goblin army while Sieg and our party defeat the goblin king.
Once the goblin king is defeated, the rest will fall like a mob.
Sieg has invited me to his bedroom several times since then.
But now all I want is to be held by the person I love.
It may be too late now, but I told myself it was still possible that I could be forgiven.
In between training sessions, I took the time to find out where Vee had gone.
His trail ended at the South Gate.
I know he said he had an urgent matter to attend to when he left the gate.
After that, his whereabouts became completely unknown.
There are no signs that he visited any of the nearby towns.
I’ve even hired people to check the towns further away, but he hasn’t shown up anywhere.
It’s almost impossible for him to walk through the forest alone.
For an ordinary person, it might be reasonable to think that they were attacked by monsters, but there’s no way that Vee could be killed by any monsters nearby.
In the end, I couldn’t find anything.
Several clan members who admired him were also looking for him, but they seemed to have no leads.
It’s a dead end.
I can no longer apologize to him or ask for forgiveness.
Spilled milk cannot be returned.
I… lost the person who loved and saved me because of my own stupidity.
I threw away his kindness, who swore under the starry night, “I will protect you until I die.”
At this moment, with a feeling of deep loneliness, I finally realized that I was truly all alone.
In the midst of my sadness, I had to face the battle against the Demon Lord.
Little did I know that even greater despair awaited me.