41 – Banished From the Party at Midnight? Fine, the Walking Wardrobe Will Save Me!
Some people began whispering among themselves, and a dwarf spoke up, “E-er, this is pretty suspicious... I talked to the woman who screamed and she said the bard girl was already here before everyone else...”
The relatively strong man from earlier wanted to share his opinion too. “Hm, could a weak woman kill a man easily? And isn't she part of the other mercenary group hired for the naval escort? Why would she do this?”
“I-I didn’t do it...” The little bard was trembling. “I-I... he can p-prove it!” She pointed to a silent guy in the crowd.
Everyone looked at him. He was so still that no one had noticed him before, almost like he was invisible.
This guy... he is familiar...
The guy looked at Makoto and said, “Yeah, I know her. She’s from my group... she was so useless that I was already thinking of kicking her out of the party.”
“W-what!? Julian... you...” She curled up, trembling. “I can’t believe you’re saying this... You know I'm not even capable of doing something like that...”
The silent guy... not so silent anymore, continued, “I vote to throw her overboard—”
“WHAT? JULIAN!?” She began to cry.
The muscular guy spoke again, “Let him talk. We want to hear him before voting.”
Julian stood up from his corner and approached Makoto as he spoke. “She had some problems with Baldy. She told everyone he was watching her take a bath, a few times... but we knew it was a lie. Baldy was practically an old man, he couldn’t feel that way about a girl who can’t even play a single buff song... and of course, he always treated her nicely... and now this happens...”
Makoto didn’t say a word, just stared at Crow.
This is absurd... I don’t even know what to say. I’m sure Makoto is the one responsible for killing Baldy, or one of his elves.
The little bard was kneeling on the wooden deck of the ship, weeping.
Makoto turned to the crowd and spoke, “It’s suspicious and... hard to tell whether she could kill that guy or not. But what do you guys think? If I were a woman and an old dude saw me naked a few times... hmmmm... I know I said that about the plank, but I was just joking, guys... I’ve always wanted to make a joke like that. Sorry. We can just restrain her and hand her over to the authorities when we teleport to the city... they can use a truth spell... what do you think?”
The crowd looked at each other, then the dwarf replied, “Whatever Makoto-sama thinks is best, we’ll follow.”
Some of the mercenaries from the other group approached and lifted the bard. Still crying, she pleaded, “W-where are you taking me!? I-I’m innocent...”
One of the mercenaries replied, “To the makeshift cell. It’s bad, real bad... but you shouldn't have done that—”
“Leave her with me,” Crow said.
The dwarf’s face twisted. “What do you think you’re saying? She killed someone, she’s going to the cell—”
“I don’t care. She didn’t kill him.” Crow stepped toward the mercenaries carrying her.
The mercenary holding her sneered, “Looks like it really was her... she seduced you too.”
Sharon chimed in, “S-seduced!?”
Give me a break... I’m not letting them lock up an innocent girl. This is bringing back too many memories... I need to keep a cool head.
Makoto made a gesture to stop. “Guys, let’s think straight... This is too sudden. Maybe he’s right. If we put her in that cell... that cell is so bad she might die in there. It’s filthy, and it has two monsters I captured for... ah, right, I almost forgot to mention this... my bad.” He looked at the silent guy from before. “Julian, can you take her? Sleeping outside while it’s snowing... she could die from hypothermia, and to move the monsters... I don’t have anywhere else to put them...”
“Sorry... Makoto... sama, she isn’t part of the party anymore... she can think about what she has done while sleeping on the snowy deck.” He looked at the little bard and continued, “Right... Melodie… you’re kicked out of the party. You are useless... we can’t be dragged down.” He looked away from her. “Finally… I’ve always wanted to say this… this is goodbye.” He stepped back into the corner and fell silent once more.
I’ll punch this guy... no, I need to leave without having more problems... No, this isn’t the point, Makoto said something about sacrifice, then a guy died, the monster is from the sea, and he didn’t want to take the guy out of the ocean, and said he will need two days to teleport the ship, but he told me before he had some artifacts for doing that and—
“Whooaa, that was a referen—cough... I mean...” Makoto started again. “What should we do? Does anyone want to look after the bard while we wait for the teleport?” He looked at the crowd, most of them averted their eyes. “If not, let's leave it to Karl... looks like he can handle a few extra problems...”
The mercenaries holding the girl dropped her into Crow’s arms. She was still crying, though not as hard as before.
Makoto approached them and put his hand on Crow’s shoulder. “So this is it, guys. Karl will keep an eye on her for us, and guarantee no one suffers anymore... if she was really the culprit, of course... It’s already midnight or something, so everyone can go to sleep now. We’ll need to be in the best shape for tomorrow, because... who knows, maybe we’ll run into pirates... who knows...”
Pirates? No, maybe the sea boss he talked about before—
He looked at Crow. “Karl, after you do what you need to do with this NPC... girl, I need to talk to you. Come to that room we used before.” He let go of Crow's shoulder, walking back to his elves and leaving the deck with them the same way as before, one on each arm.
I can already tell... whatever it was, it's better if I solve this new problem in my hands first.
The crowd cleared the deck, leaving only Crow, Sharon, and the little bard girl, Melodie, behind. With a tear-streaked face, Melodie looked up at him. “W-why? Why did you help me?”
Crow looked at her. “Good question, but we’ll talk later. I’m going to see what Makoto wants.” He looked back. “Sharon, take care of her in the meantime, and I need to talk to you later, too.”
Sharon simply turned her back and walked off. “Hmph.”
What? Whatever...
He let go of the little bard girl who had been dumped into his arms. “Melodie... right? You can call me Crow or... Karl, like Makoto does, whatever. Go on back with the woman you just saw... she won't hurt you or anything.”
She kept rubbing her eyes, wiping away the rest of her tears. “Thank you... I think... I’m innocen—”
“Relax, I already know. You’d better go, the snow is terrible.” He just turned and headed toward the room Makoto had mentioned.
“Thank you... walking wardrobe...” A whisper from behind him.
Alright, at least she's safe, and she chose the third name option. Right, I'd better get going. I would've hated myself if I had let that injustice happen right in front of me... Okay, I'm almost at the room. Honestly, what that Julian guy said about kicking her out of the party, and then saying he'd always wanted to say that... it sounded so much like Makoto... No, don't tell me that...
“Yoo... we were waiting for you.” Julian, who was leaning by the door, walked inside the room. “Come in.”
Yeah... looks like it was just as I thought.
Makoto was in there near the window, and the room already had a new table. “Karl, I’m warning you right now... if you break this one too, things are gonna get crazy. Have a seat... actually, no, better not sit. Come over here to the window. I’ll tell you something while we take in this fantastic isekai view.”
“I thought you needed to talk to me...” Crow said, approaching the window while looking at Julian.
Makoto turned back and continued, “Well, this guy can answer that faster for you. Julian, tell him where you were born.”
Julian was hiding against the wall in the darkest corner of the room, out of reach of the lamp’s light. “Tokyo, Japan... we studied together, that's all...”
So if they studied together... he must be part of that college group that got transported at the same time, the ones written about in Makoto's diary... that familiar feeling... so he was really a transmigrator, too.
Crow, now at the window, looked to the side. “So... what do you want to talk about?”
Better if I don't question him about Baldy, this guy is unstable... to think Alice is actually more reliable and easier to read than—
“I had to kill him.” Makoto didn't even look over, keeping his eyes on the snow falling onto the deck outside. “He was one of the worst NPCs, he abused a few characters I liked... and because of that, they didn't want to date the Hero anymore. Well, but that's another story. So Karl, do you understand it was necessary? Someone needs to die for the Boss to spawn. It's like a shark, if it senses blood in the sea along with a high amount of magic in the same spot.”
So he isn't going to sacrifice Sharon? Because if he—
Makoto continued, “The boss appears within two days in-game. Since your girl has a lot of mana, combined with mine, Julian's, and a few weak mages I managed to get, the requirements are met. The Boss is really tough and all... a bunch of people will probably die, but don't worry, the groups I selected for defense are all characters who... well, who would be better off dead anyway...”
Hahaha... he loves killing everyone... for NOTHING. I even thought that maybe, just maybe, I could knock some common sense into this guy's head, but he still thinks this is a game. He thinks like: Whooa, I don’t like this fellow, or that one too... whatever, I'm just gonna kill them, they’re just NPCs after all—
A sudden gust of wind rushed to his right side. Julian had darted out of the dark corner at incredible speed, stopping right beside Crow and throwing a strike at his face.
“What!?” Crow reacted, completely blocking the hit with both arms.
Julian tilted his head up and smirked. “I just wanted to see if you had the basics down or if you'd be dead weight.” He moved back to the dark corner just as quickly, muttering under his breath, “Well, if you couldn't take a punch from me... when I pumped practically all my stats into agility, you really would be a failure as a warrior—”
“Stop it, Julian,” Makoto interrupted with an annoyed look. “I already told you that even though he's low level, he's balanced. He could be a mini—cough, I forgot the name, whatever...” He looked at Crow. “After the boss, I'll let you go before the teleport, but the girl... the bard, she needs to die. Otherwise, they'll figure out it wasn't her, and after an interrogation, it would lead back to me...”
Crow put on a look of disbelief. “You can't be serious, right? She didn't do anything wrong, and you—”
“I know, I know. Even for an extra NPC, she's pretty... not that curvy, but... I know, you liked her and want her in your harem too, right? I get it, I thought about that too, but man, you gotta understand. After the good ending, we're gonna be the kings of this world. If I want, I can have like 20 beauties as my wives, you get how it is?”
I don't even know what to say... better just listen for now, this lunatic...
“You can do whatever you want, as long as you don't mess with the ones I've already picked and am going after... though you don't know who they are anyway... whatever, let's focus on the present.” Makoto placed a hand on Crow's shoulder. “Karl, you need to understand, it's just one innocent NPC for the greater good. If I get super strong from this victory while getting rid of the others who would get in the way... since you insist on keeping Sharon alive, we need to eliminate other problems at least, because the Hero isn't a player... sadly... he is an NPC too.”
So the boss really was a sea monster that acted a bit like a shark... If he's telling me all of this, is it because he wants me in his group? What is he trying to do? He did say something about us being the kings of this world... He's worse than Alice...
“Karl, there are a few other details, but that’s pretty much it. In short, the fight will probably happen tomorrow afternoon. I don’t remember the exact time I killed the guy... but generally, you can go ahead and sleep... trust me...” Makoto walked toward the door. “So that’s that. Tomorrow we fight, and after that, I’ll drop you off somewhere around here. We’re already close to the hardcore territory above Alice’s kingdom, so...” He placed his hand on the doorknob. “Though you're way too low-level for that place, and leaving you in their kingdom would be a huge headache for me... since the crew would see it... well, we’ll figure it out tomorrow.” He left the room.
Honestly, I think I’m safer working for Alice. I can already see the end of this world as a very real possibility...
“How long are you gonna just stand there?” Julian said as he followed behind Makoto.
Crow was left alone in the room. He looked out the window once more.
I don’t know what to do to get out of this... my best bet is to fight the Boss and try to convince Makoto to let the bard live. How? I honestly have no idea. I’d better go back to the room and talk to her. There’s a risk Makoto might overhear the conversation... no, the sound of the water drowns things out, and he headed in the opposite direction from the elves' room that I ended up staying in... It’s risky, but I’ll try talking to Sharon again.
He left the room and began heading back toward the cabin where Sharon was. While he was still navigating the inner hallways of the ship...
Thud.
“Who rounds a corner at that speed?” It was the dwarf from the argument on deck earlier. “Not gonna say anything?”
Crow looked at him. “My bad, I was lost in thought... anyway, I’m busy, I need to—”
“Yeah, go on back to your little bard girl, go on and have some fun~—” He dropped to the floor after a punch straight to the face. “W-What!? Have you gone crazy!?”
“My bad, I’m a bit stressed, so try not to talk to me.” Crow just kept walking, ignoring the dwarf.
After walking for a bit, he reached the room's door and placed his hand on the doorknob.
Alright, now I just need to go inside, talk to Sharon, and figure out what to do about the bard... Her name was Melody... no, Melodie. Well, close enough...
Crow opened the door. Stepping inside, he looked straight ahead, then lowered his eyes a few degrees.
Maybe I shouldn't have seen that... well, too late now.