Chapter 95  : The Disease of Justice

It was around noon, so I went to get something to eat, but…

Armor: “Rishia! It’s time for lunch”(Note:lunch is said in English)

Rishia: “Y-yes!”

The armored guy orders the childish Rishia to bring out lunch.

He’s acting quite high and mighty. And why English?

Well, my shield is currently acting as a translator, I shouldn’t worry about his phrasing.

Rishia: “You can do that much by yourself”

Armor: “What are you saying? In this party, you are the newest. You’re assigned to odd jobs.”

Naofumi: “Ha…!?”

No coherent words escape my mouth.

What? Newest?

Eh?

The Hero party system member system may be organized like a company, but it’s a bit different, isn’t it?

Rishia is distributing lunch among her party members.

There also seems to be a Hierarchy she has to follow when giving out the food. Each time, she stops in front of a different person, bows, says their name and goes on.

I brought my own lunch, but with Itsuki’s comrades, the portions seem to be decreasing as Rishia continues to distribute.

The first person is the one with flashy armor. He gets a large piece of meat still on the bone, and a sandwich with another large piece of meat in it.

The second person looks like a soldier. He gets a sandwich and a piece of grilled fish.

The third person…

And so it went on.

From the remaining bag, Rishia takes out some fruit, and starts eating them.

What the hell is this, can’t they just share food evenly?

This is…

Naofumi: “Do you have a hierarchy going on here?”

In response to my question, the other heroes nod as if stating the obvious.

No Name: “Of course, our positions are decided by how much we are trusted by Itsuki, and our contributions to the group. Isn’t it great? Does the hero of the Shield wish to hear more about Itsuki-sama’s greatness?.”

Naofumi: “No, not particularly.”

Armor: “Don’t be like that, after we met Itsuki, the first time we awakened to the voice of Justice was-”

And the companions of the bow went into a lengthy story about the Hero of the Bow’s accomplishments, praising him at every corner.

I don’t remember the contents of the story, and I don’t want to either.

The stories were all about him hiding from the public eye and purging evildoers.

And about how through these actions, Itsuki convinced his party that he was the Hero who would save the world.

Is this supposed to be a religious cult?

He already seems to be their Messiah.

Anyways, here is my analysis.

The fact that Itsuki is always punishing evildoers leads to the belief that these people are always on the side of good.

And thus anyone who opposes them can immediately be labelled as evil. This eventually led to their current Tyrannical behavior.

Hmm… I believe there was a name for this type of person.

In a movie I saw a while ago, a foreign police officer continually defeated evildoers. Is he delusionally trying to be like that?

The police would be in big trouble if those people actually existed.

I can’t remember the name of the movie now. I believe it was derived from…

As no large criminals were at large, his twisted sense of justice would cause him to issue the death penalty to small scale sinners as well.

He would then kill them, giving the excuse that ‘they resisted’.

Naofumi: “This is tiring…”

Even after we had finished hunting, Itsuki’s companions continue to speak of his accomplishments at the inn.

I didn’t really level up.

My attacks became dull after I had learned about their hierarchical behavior.

I’m not getting any good organizational advice either, am I.

They even continued talking when I was in the bath. I am sick of it.

Naofumi: “Fu…”

After the bath, I go outside to look around.

More like I can’t stand to hear those people anymore.

It’s quite nice out here. I think I’ll hide until they’re finished.

Is what I thought when I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around.

And see the childish Rishia coming back with a bag from the Island’s convenience store.

Rishia: “Ah, It’s the hero of the Shield”

Naofumi: “Yeah, Why are you here.”

Rishia: “Um… I was sent out to buy stuff.”

Naofumi: “I see…”

Because she’s at the bottom of the pyramid?

I’m surprised she can stand this environment that is getting infinitely close to bullying.

She’s treated like a pack-mule. She didn’t even get to introduce herself.

This is like a company with Itsuki at the top, and this girl at the bottom.

I’ve been through a lot, so I can kinda understand. I’m also a little interested.

Naofumi: “Hey.”

Rishia: “Yes?”

Naofumi: “Why do you remain in that party?”

It’s probably uncomfortable, and they are a group that will do anything to accomplish their ‘justice’. I would never be able to remain in that group.

I won’t ask her to come to my party, but both Motoyasu’s and Ren’s would be more bearable than this.

Rishia: “There’s nothing I can do… I mean I just got here.”

Naofumi: “I’m asking why you don’t leave despite everything they do to you.”

Rishia: “Ah, that’s because I have been saved by Itsuki before.”)

Naofumi: “Is that so?”

Rishia: “Yes…”

Rishia began to explain the circumstances surrounding her joining of Itsuki’s party.

To put it simply, Rishia was the daughter of a fallen nobleman.

Her family had little money and just barely scraped through.

The village was ruled by a Noble family that was obtaining their funds through illegal means and Rishia’s parent tried to sabotage their operations.

But all of their money was secretly taken by those people. All the villagers who also raised complaints against the noble family were silenced.

And then… as Rishia’s family had no money left to pay taxes, the Noblemen proposed that they could give Rishia in place of money. They threatened that they would kill her family if her parents didn’t comply.

It seemed like a situation that Itsuki would pounce on readily.

That evening, Itsuki and his companions infiltrated the Villainous Nobles’ Mansion and used the authority of the Hero to put an end to their dealings and save Rishia.

It seemed that Rishia felt greatly in debt to her saviors, and decided to join Itsuki’s party.

Rishia: “I… really want to repay Itsuki for saving me.”

From my point of view, everything that Itsuki is doing is pointless, however, from Rishia’s pointof view, he must seem like a true hero.

I clearly felt Rishia’s gratitude towards Itsuki in her story.

She had much more purpose than those other members who were just feeding their egos by playing hero.

Naofumi: “I see, so you have it tough.”

Rishia: “Yes. It’s not going very well.”

Naofumi: “From the way I see it, you are more suited to play rear guard.”

She seems to be adept in magic, and on the front line, everyone treats her as a nuisance.

Her companions are also to blame. If she can use a sword, cast magic and preform healing, shouldn’t they be making better use of her?

This may be because the party has too many members. No one notices the specialties of an individual member.

Rishia: “I’ve never had any talent, I scare easily and I’m a klutz… If I had to pick something, I guess magic is my specialty, but Itsuki prefers members who take the vanguard, so when classing up I selected a class with higher close-combat skills.”

Naofumi: “…”

So because she has ignored her strengths and focused on her weaknesses she has been unable to improve.

While Itsuki’s fighting style does involve everyone being on the front line, if you throw an amateur on the front line, there’s no point.

Naofumi: “Try not to be a Jack of all Trades, but a Master of all Trades”

(Note: He is saying don’t be halfhearted. If you’re going to do them all, master them all.)

Rishia: “Yes!”

She seems to have a lot of heart despite her size, she should be fine.

I had fallen to the very bottom before, and had crawled back to where I am with my own strength.

If Rishia works hard, she should become a useful party member.

Naofumi: “I’m sorry for keeping you for so long. I’ll return with you so the others don’t get mad.”

Rishia: “Thank you.”

And that’s how that night came to a close.

Armor and the others tried to reprimand Rishia for being late, so I had to come in-between them.

The next day was just one long headache.

Why must I put up with this. Like a curse, rumor had spread that a merchant was selling fraudulent goods. Itsuki’s companions were discussing how to deal with the situation.

By the way, I told them that I had already dealt with the fraudulent merchant and that he had had a change of heart, so the curtain had closed on that problem.

If it was just me, I doubt they would have believed me, but Shadow helped corroborate my story.

It took a while before they seemed satisfied with my explanation.

…

Naofumi: “For the love of…”

We were hunting Karma Rabbit Familia in the deeper parts of the Island.

They weren’t strong, but they weren’t exactly weak.

I kept the monsters contained, so defeating them wasn’t exactly difficult, but this party’s attack power was way below expectations.

The party seemed to be based upon acting as a barrier to allow Itsuki to attack from afar, so its damage output was severely lacking.

If I was with Rafatalia or Firo, it would only take a few minutes to defeat these monsters.

I finally completed the conditions to unlock the Karma Rabbit Familia Shield.

–

Karma Rabbit Familia Shield

Abilities (Sealed)… Equipment Bonus, Scan (Small)

–

I’m not sure if he simply disliked my fighting style, but Armor left the party.

If Rafatalia or Firo had a problem, they would probably tell it to me before leaving.

After Armor left, the soldier-like guy began to act strange. He initially took on a high and mighty attitude, but he eventually left the party as well.

This continued for a while until the only one left was Rishia.

Of course, this allowed Rishia, who could take on any role to shine. By the time the sun reached its peak in the sky, we had safely finished hunting and had boarded the ferry back to the previous island.

Not that I care at this point, but Armor and friends are on the same ship.

I’m not sure if they think that Itsuki will be mad at them, but they seem to not want to return to the inn.

Talking to them will be a pain. I look at the ocean and calm my heart.

These two days were the worst.

I didn’t even get much information on Itsuki and I wasn’t able to recruit anybody.

But finally this crappy Information Exchange is over…

As I stare at the sea, I remember the events of the morning.

That’s right… This morning Rishia gave me a piece of ore.

She said it was her way of saying thanks for listening to her story last night.

At the time, I had thought, ‘As expected of nobles, even if they have fallen, they still raised such a nice girl’, however now that I look back at it, her behavior back then was quite strange.

Rishia: “It’s a jewel that Itsuki regularly collected, though I don’t know its use.”

Is what she said.

At first I thought it was a material for modifying accessories, but if he regularly collects it, it must be for daily use.

Once I get back, I have to meet with the other heroes.

I guess I’ll ask Motoyasu or Ren at that time.

AUTHOR NOTE: Note, The mental state Naofumi is referring to is called Dirty Harry Syndrome, I did not write it as it is the name of a movie.