Intermission 1: The Tiny Damaged Cog

Intermission 1:
The Tiny Damaged Cog

 

IT’D BEEN TWO DAYS since he sold Flum to the slave trader, and she obviously wouldn’t be showing up at the designated meeting in the castle basement. Once the other heroes had assembled, Jean spoke up.

“Flum decided to go home. She won’t be joining our party anymore.”

Cyrill was the first to respond. Her eyes went wide, and she fixed Jean with a suspicious look. “What?”

The other members of the party seemed mostly disinterested in this new development. Eterna narrowed her brow, Gadhio harrumphed, Maria cast her gaze downward and bit her lip, and Linus mumbled to himself that this was probably for the best.

Cyrill’s voice wavered. “What do you know about this, Jean?”

Jean scowled like he’d just bitten down on a bug. He’d expected her to be grateful that Flum was no longer a member of their party. Perhaps that had been too optimistic. Somehow, Flum managed to cause him problems even after she was gone.

“I helped make up her mind, of course. It just didn’t make sense for her to accompany us any longer, and she knew it. She decided to go home.”

“She left…on her own?”

“That’s right. We can all just forget about her now. It’s not like she was any use to begin with. You agreed with me on that, didn’t you, Cyrill?”

“Y-yeah.”

Jean fancied himself as the perfect match for Cyrill. There was quite an age gap between the two, with Jean being 28 years old compared to her 16, but he considered skill a far more important criteria than age. If he were to see his bloodline continue on into the future, he’d want it to be with someone just as magnificent as himself.

And then he met her—Cyrill Sweechka, the picture of perfection. There was just one problem: the one that she grew closest to was not him but rather the pointless, talentless, worthless piece of garbage known as Flum. They were both girls around the same age and from similar backgrounds, so it was hardly surprising they’d found common ground. Still, their friendship offended Jean’s already overbearing sense of pride. He’d never felt such rage in his life. He and Cyrill—two highly talented people—were practically meant to be together, and yet here Cyrill was, choosing Flum over him.

He was left with little choice but to lead his wayward Cyrill back onto the proper path. This was something he was quite good at. After all, it was his sheer innate talent and tenacity that had allowed him to achieve the position of sage. If he played his cards right, it would be relatively simple to get Cyrill to forget Flum and get the troublesome girl out of his hair in one fell swoop.

“In that case, there’s no sense in worrying, no?” Jean walked over and wrapped his arms around Cyrill.

“Right.” She gave a weak nod.

The rest of the party members, meanwhile, didn’t seem to think too much of Flum’s sudden disappearance. Once the Return spell was cast, the room filled with light, and the six heroes were teleported back to their last save point.

Jean felt like a young boy again, filled with restless energy the night before a camping trip, as his mind wandered over all the magnificent possibilities that awaited him.

 

***

 

“Hey Cyrill, Jean…wait up, will ya!” Linus’s irritation was clear in his voice as he shouted after his comrades. They were already in demon territory, after all, and this wasn’t the first time he had to call after them.

“Oh, sorry, Linus.” Cyrill stopped and looked back at Linus apologetically.

Jean stepped over and patted her back gently, urging her on. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Cyrill. Now that Flum’s gone, we don’t need to go so slow. Right, Linus?”

“Huh? I feel like I’m repeating myself here, Jean. We weren’t going slow just to help Flum keep up. We’re in the badlands right now, we need to move carefully!”

“There’s nothing out here that can stand against us!”

“But what if we were to be attacked by one of the Demon Chiefs, huh? Don’t you think it prudent to move with a little bit of caution?”

The mere mention of the Demon Chiefs left Jean at a loss for words. Thus far, the heroes had only encountered two of these monsters that served directly under the Demon Lord: the hematophage, Neigass and the will-o’-the-wisp, Tsyon. They’d failed to defeat either. The creatures’ power was so impressive that even Jean’s magic was of little use against them. It had been the closest they’d come to being wiped out.

“You get it, don’t you? We need to slow down.”

“Hmph.”

Jean had little choice but to acquiesce. He had been hoping to speed up their journey with Flum out of the way, but apparently, he was the only one who saw it that way.

Cyrill, on the other hand, looked anxiously at her surroundings with a troubled look on her face. She was thinking about Flum—about all the awful things she’d said and how she’d hurt the other girl. And now their paths had parted. Though she no longer had any right to call herself a friend, she still considered Flum an ally and comrade. Cyrill, who had grown up in a peaceful village far from the front lines, could never have withstood the pressures of being a chosen hero without Flum’s cheerful companionship.

And yet…

“I really was ungrateful.”

Alas, no matter how much she regretted it, it wouldn’t bring Flum back. All that she could do was take down the Demon Lord and save the world.

The rest of the party took notice of Cyrill’s change in demeanor. Now that Jean had been fully admonished, Linus made his way back to Maria and let out a heavy sigh.

“Something’s not right.”

“What’s wrong, Linus? It’s not like you to be so down on yourself.”

“I dunno, just…the whole vibe, I guess? Honestly, I was pretty rough on Flum, and now that she’s gone, the group just feels kinda lifeless.” The mood was certainly a lot more lighthearted when she was around. Sure, Jean was always in a bad temper, but he was like that irrespective of whether or not Flum was around.

“I see what you mean,” Maria mused. “Cyrill’s been down in the dumps, Jean’s rushing ahead like a madman, Eterna’s trying to act like everything’s fine despite clearly being in a bad mood, and Gadhio hasn’t spoken a single word.”

“And how about you, Maria?”

“Me? Well…” Maria hesitated for a moment as Linus gazed at her intently.

“You sense it, too?”

“I…I think so.”

“Strange, isn’t it? You and I didn’t even really interact with Flum all that much.”

“Cyrill and I talk a lot, though. Earlier in our travels, Flum was all she spoke about.”

“I get it. When Cyrill’s down, it has a huge effect on the party’s morale.”

Despite her youth, Cyrill was without a doubt the leading force of the party. Without her, taking on the Demon Chiefs would be next to impossible, to say nothing of the Demon Lord.

“This may be a bit out of line to say in front of a follower of Origin such as yourself, but…”

Maria smiled at Linus’s attempt to appear restrained and sophisticated. “Please just speak your mind, Linus. I’m well aware of your lack of subtlety.”

“I’m not sure if that’s reassuring, but…oh well. Anyway, when I heard that all of Flum’s stats were zero, I was wondering if perhaps the Divine Creator had made a mistake.”

The refined smile that graced Maria’s beautiful face made Linus’s heart race. From her blonde hair to her pale skin, and even the aristocratic way she spoke and carried herself, Maria was the woman of his dreams.

“Origin makes no mistakes,” Maria said.

“Y-yeah, of course. She still had an important role in the team. I guess it wouldn’t be right to try to make her stay, though.”

It was too late to ask her to come back, anyway. Not only would it probably put Jean in an even worse mood, but Linus had reservations about putting the poor girl back into danger after she’d chosen to leave. They’d just have to make do without her.

Maria spoke softly but firmly. “That’s right, Linus. We have been charged with the honorable duty of ridding the world of these demons, and we must see our task through to the end, no matter the cost.”

Linus wasn’t quite convinced. Did she really feel, deep in her heart of hearts, that it was their solemn duty to save the world? Or did something dark and amorphous lurk within, clouding that pure heart of hers?

He’d have his answer once the battle had run its course and the dust had cleared. For now, Linus just knew that he was traveling down a path he’d never been on before.

 

***

 

Normally, Flum was in charge of meal prep. Now that she was gone, Gadhio had taken over. Not only was he an S-Rank adventurer, but he had the most experience with living off the land.

“Just remember, I make no promises about how it tastes.” Gadhio spoke modestly as he served up helpings of the meat from a monster they’d slayed earlier in the day. It wasn’t much to look at compared to what Flum had made, but it tasted good.

While the rest of the party enjoyed their meal, Jean scowled. Monster meat tended to have a rather unique, earthy smell to it. This could be covered up by the use of herbs and spices, but even that only did so much for those unfortunate enough to be especially sensitive to the smell.

“Isn’t there anything you can do about the smell, Gadhio? It used to be a lot more…palatable.”

“Hey, this is the best I can do.”

“So you’re saying that Flum could do it, but that’s too much for an S-Rank adventurer like yourself?”

Gadhio’s expression remained the same despite Jean’s needling, though it did seem to have the effect of annoying Eterna. Gadhio replied, “That’s because she would do all the prep ahead of time for the sake of a certain little someone who couldn’t handle the smell.”

“Ah…haha…yeah, well, that wasn’t really necessary.” Jean was clearly taken aback but tried to keep up appearances by taking a massive bite of the meat. The look on his face told all as he forced the food down. Gadhio simply snorted and went back to his own meal.

After that exchange, silence fell over the party as they continued to eat, the only sound that of the crackling fire. It was a far cry from when Flum had been around, as she always worked hard to keep the conversation going and skillfully filled any awkward silences.

 

***

 

After dinner, provided there were no sudden attacks, the party would generally split up for some private time until bed. Cyrill, Linus, and Gadhio worked on their weapons, while Maria prayed to Origin and Eterna meditated. Jean usually spent his evenings nursing a cup of a sweet herbal tea while reading a magical tome. With Flum gone, though, there was no one to brew the tea for him.

With no other options, he dug through his bags for the components and started brewing it himself. Having lived the life of a gifted mage who later went on to work in a royal research institute, he was hardly accustomed to making his own tea. Making matters worse, he had no real idea how to do it.

After watching Jean struggle for some time, Linus finally made his way over. “Huh. So there is something the great and powerful Jean can’t do.”

“Shut up. This is hardly a task I usually perform myself.”

“You hoity-toity types are really a world apart, huh? Look, just give it here and I’ll make some tea.”

This served as a great annoyance to Jean. He—the greatest mage in the whole kingdom—had to have someone help him complete a task that even Flum could do unassisted! He tapped his food impatiently, arms crossed, as he watched Linus go about his work.

“There, done.”

Jean took the still steaming teacup from Linus, took an impatient sip—and immediately spit it back out. “Good grief, this is disgusting.”

“What the hell? I go out of my way to make tea for you, and you’re gonna be a jerk about it? I made it the completely normal way!”

Jean let all the frustration he’d been harboring since dinner explode on Linus. “What do you expect me to do? It was disgusting and bitter. It even smells awful! How did you manage to make it taste so bad?”

Linus found this nothing short of absurd. The only crime he’d committed was making a good cup of tea. Sure, he understood that Jean had high standards, but this was a bit too much.

“Can you do anything right? Even making decent food seems like too much for you people,” Jean snarled.

That was the last straw. Linus lashed out, about to grab Jean when Eterna joined the two men. Her voice was calm and flat, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

“Flum made it up special for our little princey-poo here, I’d bet.”

With that, she skipped back off, leaving the two men behind. Jean steamed at her remark.

“Nnngrah! Flum this, Flum that! Why the hell is everything about that little useless piece of… Gah!”

He threw his teacup to the ground, sending shards of white porcelain everywhere and splashing the now-lukewarm liquid all over Linus’s feet. Then he stormed off, making no attempt to apologize for his outburst.

“W-wait up, Jean!”

Linus called after him, but he either didn’t hear or was too angry to care. With nothing else to do, he knelt to sweep up the pieces of the shattered teacup, muttering to himself as he did.

“This was a really nice cup, too. Probably just a drop in the bucket for someone like Jean, though.”

Once he’d gathered all the shattered porcelain, Linus wiped down his pant leg and stood by the fire to let it dry. As he stared vacantly into the dancing flames, an indescribable sadness washed over him.

Linus was an S-Rank adventurer, like Gadhio, but still only 24 years old. Ever since he was a child, he’d always been more gifted than his peers, and even at this young age, he’d experienced more than some people did in twice the time. Currently, his fine-tuned intuition was letting off warning bells.

The single most common reasons why parties fell apart wasn’t monster attacks or money troubles. It was interpersonal relationships.

“I just hope nothing truly terrible happens before we reach the Demon Lord’s castle.”

Even as Linus wished this with all his might, his ample experience told him things were unlikely to play out in their favor.