____
The next morning, I woke up early as usual, and unlike the previous days, today I immediately prepared my equipment.
You might ask why?
It's because I wanted to go to the guild this morning and wait for Herald to arrive, then give him my answer to his invitation.
And also, since that day, I hadn't gone to Viola's house like usual. After what happened at the guild bar, things between us had become awkward.
I knew I should visit her, because everything was my fault. But I was too much of a coward to do it.
After preparing my equipment and changing clothes, I went downstairs, left the inn, and headed toward the guild.
…
As usual, the streets in the morning felt quiet. Maybe because the people in this world have no reason to wake up early.
I breathed in the fresh morning air. Then wondered what would happen if I joined them.
And also whether the other members would accept me or not. That's something I always thought about. Maybe Herald and Clare would accept me.
As for Viola, she would probably accept me too.
The problem was the others—especially the messy-haired one. He seemed like the annoying type.
Damn, I felt nervous. So nervous that my stomach felt sick.
And because of that, without realizing it, I took a detour on my way to the guild.
…
Not long after, I realized something—yeah, I was lost.
Damn, how did that even happen? I only walked through a few alleys and—bam, I ended up here.
Maybe this was because I never explored the city. I only knew the area around the guild, and the rest… I really had no idea.
I had even thought this city was small, but it turned out I was wrong. It was much bigger than I expected.
Letting out a sigh, I looked around. And yeah, I didn't find many differences. Most of the buildings looked the same in this world.
Whether it was some kind of trend or something, who knows.
Honestly, I could just go back if I wanted to, but for some reason, I didn't feel like it.
So I decided to explore the city a bit more.
And I would start right around here.
Just as I made up my mind, a familiar voice called out to me. "Hey, is that you, Clement?"
The voice came from behind me, so I turned around and saw Herald walking toward me.
When he was already standing in front of me, I said, "Herald, what are you doing here?" My voice carried a bit of surprise.
He smiled and replied, "What are you talking about? I live near here. I should be the one asking what you're doing here, right?"
"Ah, well, I was just trying to explore the city."
"I see. In that case, how about I accompany you? Since I live around here, I know the area pretty well."
"O-oh, alright." I agreed just like that.
And after that, we walked around the area together. He even showed me his house, and told me about good places to repair or buy tools and weapons.
And after all that, we decided to walk toward the guild.
"Thank you for that, Herald," I said, giving him a small smile.
He shook his head. "No, it's nothing. I'm just helping a friend."
I fell silent for a moment, unsure what to say.
"Herald, about last night." I decided to bring it up, since I had already made my decision.
"Hm? So, have you decided?"
"Yes," I said. "I've decided to join."
I said it while looking him straight in the eyes.
He smiled, then patted my back. "I knew you were going to say that," he replied, his voice full of confidence. "Welcome to the party, Clement."
I stopped walking for a moment, processing what I felt.
"Hm? What's wrong, Clement?" he asked, sounding worried.
I smiled and answered the way I usually do. "No, it's nothing." Then I walked a bit faster, leaving him behind.
He caught up after a few seconds of silence.
Honestly, today might be one of the most satisfying days I've ever had.
…
After walking for a while, we finally arrived in front of the guild. He opened the door and we went inside.
It was as crowded as always—probably because this was the time when adventurers usually took quests.
I looked at Herald and asked, "So, what are we going to do now?"
"W-well, it seems the others aren't here yet. If only they could wake up early like you," he sounded helpless. "So for now, all we can do is wait."
We decided to wait in the bar area, maybe also have some breakfast.
Once we got there, we searched for an empty table and sat down.
As we sat, he started a conversation. "So, Clement, is there anything you want to eat? I'll treat you."
"Really?" He nodded in response. "In that case, I won't hold back."
Even though I said that, I still ordered something fairly cheap.
…
After eating, the others still weren't here, so we were forced to wait a bit longer.
This time, I decided to start the conversation.
"Hey, Herald."
"Hm? What is it, Clement?"
"Well, I just wanted to ask something." Yeah, there was one thing that had been bothering me. "So, why did you invite me to join the party?"
He didn't answer right away, and only smiled.
"For that, I don't really have any solid reason. You could say it was simply intuition."
"I see."
"Yes, something like that."
After that brief exchange, we fell into a comfortable silence—until a voice broke it.
"Hey, Lard-san, did we make you wait?" Turning toward the voice, I saw Clare-san and Viola.
They were walking toward us. For some reason, I didn't want Viola to see me, so I lowered my head.
When they reached our table, Clare-san seemed to notice someone else was there. "Oh, Clement, what are you doing here?"
Just as I was about to answer, Herald spoke first, so I stayed quiet.
"You two are so slow. We've been waiting here for quite a while," he said, though he was still smiling.
"Sorry, sorry. I had to wait for Viola to get ready, and that took forever, you know?" Yeah, I had experienced that before.
"C-clare, you don't need to say something embarrassing like that." Viola replied from behind her.
"Hm? What's embarrassing about it?" Clare-san asked back.
"Alright, alright, stop messing around," Herald said.
"Yeah, yeah, Leader," Clare-san replied before turning to me. "So, Clement, what are you doing here?"
Before I could answer, Herald suddenly put his arm around my shoulders and said, "He's with us now, so let's say something to our new member."
"W-well, it seems starting today I'll be with all of you," I said.
I looked at Viola, then at Clare-san to see their reactions. Viola looked surprised, and Clare-san smiled widely.
"Clement, welcome to our party," she said with a cheerful smile.
"Well, thank you, Clare-san."
Then Clare-san turned to Viola and said, "Hey, Viola, aren't you going to say something!?"
"W-what do you mean?" For some reason, she sounded like a tsundere at that moment.
Clare-san whispered something to Viola—of course I didn't know what it was, but Viola's face turned red afterward.
Maybe it was something embarrassing? Too bad, I kind of wanted to know.
Suddenly, Viola stepped closer to me and said shyly, "W-welcome to the party, C-Clement."
Hearing that made me smile, and I genuinely felt happy. I promised myself I'd visit her house tomorrow.
"See? You can do it if you try," Clare-san said.
"S-shut up," Viola snapped.
After that, the magician finally arrived—Sheila, if I remembered correctly.
"S-sorry, am I late?"
"No, you're not," Herald replied, just like the kind leader he was.
And after he told her that I had joined the party, she accepted it warmly. She also said she had only been in the party for about seven months, so she was glad to have another new member.
Not long after Sheila arrived, someone I didn't want to see showed up as well. If I remembered correctly, his name was Dein.
"Yo, sorry I'm late. Something happened on the way," he said, although his apology felt completely insincere—just something he said for the sake of it.
He walked toward us and sat down on one of the chairs. He looked at me and said, "Hmm? Aren't you that guy from last night? What was your name again? Cement, right?"
"My name is Clement," I said with a small smile.
"Yeah, whatever. Who cares about your name?" Damn, he was really annoying.
"Dein, you can't just say something like that to our new member," Herald said.
"Hah? New member? Him?" He pointed at me. "Why didn't you ask for our approval?"
"Oh, I did ask last night, and you said you agreed."
"That's different! And I was drunk last night."
Herald sighed, then said, "We don't need to argue about this. Everyone already agreed except you."
He replied, "Of course we need to argue! I mean, what can he even do? Why did you even decide to bring him in? Surely there are people better than him."
"No. I'm the leader here, so I don't need your approval to recruit anyone," Herald said firmly.
"Whatever. Do whatever you want," he said, standing up and walking toward the door. "I'll wait outside."
After that, for some reason, I felt guilty.
"Herald, I'm sorry about that. If I hadn't joined, you wouldn't have argued," I said, smiling bitterly.
"No, you don't have to apologize, Clement. He's always like that," Herald said, trying to comfort me.
"Yeah, Lard-san is right, Clement. Don't listen to that messy-haired idiot. Everything he says is nonsense anyway," Clare-san added, also trying to comfort me.
As for Viola, she didn't say anything, but from her expression I could see a hint of concern. And Sheila looked like she wanted to say something, but was too shy.
I smiled and said, "Thank you, but I'm fine."
Yeah… I guess I'll have to earn his approval eventually.
But for now, I'll just let it be.
After all, worrying about other people's comments… that's not really like me.
Since arriving in this world, I've become softer. Maybe because being around people made my personality gentler.
And it's all because I'm afraid of being hated.
Because if I don't hold myself back, I don't know what I might say to others. And that did happen once before, here.
It was really bad, in my opinion.
____