The Healer Banished From The Party, In Fact, Is The Strongest Chapter 43

—Raust—

「…I know it's a sudden request, but… please.」

While we were still dumbstruck by his request, Zieg-san earnestly asked us again as he thought he would be refused.
However, his concern was just needless anxiety.

「No, it's okay! That's also what we planned to do after all.」

The moment I said that to Zieg-san, I laughed.
I didn't think Zieg-san would invite us to phoenix subjugation hence the moment of our silence.
However, I was just surprised, not opposed to his request.
On the contrary, the offer was also something that we wanted as well.
To be honest, Narsena and I had bad compatibility with the phoenix.

……After all, Phoenix was a nightmare for a vanguard, not only it mainly using long-range attacks, it was covered in an armor of flame.

For us who fight at very short range using dagger and fist, it was a difficult opponent to fight against.

「Onii-san and I were planning to challenge it into a sink or swim battle, I will appreciate it if someone like Zieg-san will come too!」

That was why, as Narsena said, if a talented person like Zieg-san came along too, there was nothing more reassuring than this.
Zieg-san was also a vanguard, but considering the great sword he carried, he had a long reach.

If Zieg-san becomes our main attacker, our winning chance against the phoenix would increase considerably.
I hoped so and smiled.

「I see, so both of you are aware of how dangerous that phoenix is…… No, I guess it's natural for both of you, the people who defeated that hydra, to know 」

Zieg-san who saw my smile also smiled as he said so.
Then, I noticed that from his words that he might have the same concern with us.

「Perhaps, you also notice, Zieg-san……?」

I timidly asked Zieg-san, to which he answered with a nod.
That was the best evidence that Zieg-san had the same concern with us.

The possibility that the phoenix would mutate.

It took a considerable amount of time for super-high difficulty monsters to mutate, it took several months even when it was wounded, which was when it would absorb magic power more rapidly.
Considering that, as this was just a few days after the request, there should be time still before it was mutated.

……But knowing the exception that was the hydra that mutated in less than a month, I couldn't help but worry.

Perhaps that hydra was just an exception, still, that didn't mean we could just leave the phoenix alone.
If that happened again and a mutated phoenix showed up aboveground, I didn't know how much damage it would cause.
Narsena and I knew the danger precisely because we fought against the mutated hydra.

……We only won against the hydra because of a miracle happened, that miracle was the kind that would never happen again.

I knew that we were at a disadvantage, even so, we still decided to fight the phoenix.
No matter how much of a threat the phoenix is, if we don't defeat it before it's mutated, then we won't be able to do anything.

Because I had my determination, I was much more heartened than I imagined when cooperation with Zieg-san was decided.

Seemingly understanding that from my atmosphere, Zieg-san let out a smile.

「There is…… something I have to say.」

However, the next moment, Zieg-san opened his mouth with a cloudy expression.
He was going to say something difficult to convey.

「Actually, my party's magician isn't in a good condition, so the one that will come is me and……」

「Zieg-san! I finally found you!」

……But his words were interrupted by a voice from a girl in the distance.

That voice made me dumbfounded for a second.
Realizing that voice sounded familiar, I looked at the source of the voice.

「……Ehh?」

…Seeing the appearance of the former magician of Sword of Lightning, Armia, standing at that place, I was surprised.

「Didn't I say I'm alright?! I will also come along in the phoenix subjugation!」

She raised her voice against Zieg-san, completely unaware of us.

「If you don't have a magician, how much do you think the difficulty of subjugating a phoenix would increase?!」

It seemed that Armia was too emotional as she screamed toward Zieg-san, she wasn't aware of her surroundings at all.
However, I didn't feel the feeling of discomfort I had against her before from her current behavior.

…I believed the sense of discomfort I felt came from trivial things.

Armia kept speaking emotionally toward Zieg-san.
She had changed from what I remembered.

Armia, when she was still in Sword of Lightning, really took care of her appearance.
She had many kinds of clothes, she wore makeup too.
Her doing that at that time, when she was still pretty much a child, made me uncomfortable.

However, I also felt a different sense of discomfort with Armia's current state, comparable to what I felt when I was still in Sword of Lightning.

Currently, her hair ragged, and she wore wrinkled cheap clothes, a look that was unthinkable compared to when she was still in Sword of Lightning.

……In addition, it was her eyes that shocked me the most.

Despite her emotional outbursts, her eyes remained empty.

It was impassive as if she wasn't even here.
The disparity between her behavior and her emotion was enough to make me have a mismatched image of her.

「Ugh!」

I couldn't be indifferent to her situation.

To be honest, I didn't have a very good feeling for her.
Armia, compared to Margulus and Sarveria, treated me pretty well.
But still, I felt an unpleasant feeling by her blind faith toward Margulus and Sarveria.
I didn't hate it.
However, I couldn't help but feel she was a hard person to deal with.

…But even when I felt like that, I still felt pity for her.
All the more so when I knew more or less the reason she became like this.

The end of the former first-class party, Sword of Lightning was now known throughout the Labyrinth city.
After a failed attempt to sell one of their party members, everyone in Sword of Lightning became mine slaves.

With that much information, I was able to understand what transpired.
Most likely, Margulus and Sarveria were trying to sell Armia.
Understanding that, my face contorted despite myself.

…I didn't have any interest in Sword of Lightning, but Armia was too miserable.

「No matter how strong Zieg-san is…… Huh?」

Just when Narsena noticed what was in my mind, Armia who was trying to appeal further to Zieg-san who looked troubled, finally noticed our presence, interrupting her speech.
At that moment, Armia stiffened as she stared at me.

「………Fe?」

Seeing Armia's unexpected reaction, I let out a stupid sounding voice.

…Hearing my voice, Armia came back to her sense, blood rapidly drained from her face.
In her eyes, unconcealed turmoil could be seen.

「… I'm sorry for disturbing you.」

At the next moment, she turned around and then started running.

I stared in blank amazement at the running away Armia's back, not understanding what just happened.

「What the……」

Nobody answered the words my dumbfounded self murmured.

I don't know why but I have a really hard time translating the last part of this chapter, I can only hope I got them right or close to right at least instead of completely wrong

Btw, while going around youtube, I found  and , I found another one, but that one needs Japanese knowledge to understand, hope you enjoy, or laugh, or scratching your head for wasting 3 minutes of your life.

Chapter end