Chapter 108. The Heros’ Departure and Plain Ramen

And so, the grand announcement was finally made: The heroes had been summoned. The time for them to set off on their journey had come.

Up until then, people had only heard rumors—everyone kind of knew something was going on—but there hadn’t been an official declaration.

When the heroes came to visit before their departure, they told me what had been happening: apparently, they’d gotten caught up in a political struggle between the royal family and several powerful noble houses.

First of all, they were at odds over how the heroes should be treated.

On one side were the royal family members who believed, quite sensibly, that they should treat the summoned heroes with the utmost respect and cooperate with them.

On the other were certain nobles who thought, they’re just young commoners who haven’t even mastered their own abilities yet—they can just coax them with money and status, and if that doesn’t work, threaten them with power to get their way.

Yeah… sadly, people like that exist anywhere. And of course, some of those people with “questionable” mindsets held very high positions, which only made things trickier to handle. Like dukes with royal blood from generations past, for instance.

Those nobles had tried to approach the heroes with what they considered kind smiles and friendly gestures.

“Calling that kindness is… a bit of a stretch, if you ask me.”

“Says the senpai who was eagerly pretending to be a lost little lamb—‘Oh, I don’t understand anything, I’m so scared…’—just to draw information out of them.

“How much information can I read without being noticed? I don’t want to be told that by someone who was using them as practice subject for appraisal.”

“It was meaningful to learn that even with specially developed abilities, the range of what one can see varies from person to person.”

Wait—Aoi-kun’s Appraisal skill allows him to see into people’s weaknesses? Does that mean he can also see people’s secrets?

I thought that if you appraised a person, it would say something like “Weak spot: neck.” Not… emotional vulnerabilities. He can see that kind of thing?

I instinctively put up a mental barrier. Come to think of it, It’s the same reaction I had when I first learned about telepaths—

I create a barrier of thoughts like, “If there’s anyone here can read minds, please don’t read mine.” Then I start filling my head with random thoughts, like psychic jamming.

Aoi-kun must have noticed that I was on guard, as he pushed up his glasses and smiled.

“Don’t worry. I won’t. I could if I tried really hard —but I won’t.”

It seems there is certain resistance when trying to pry into something someone wants to hide. To see deeper, he has to push through that resistance—and that sensation is noticeable to the person being read. Got it. So if he does it, you can tell. Good to know.

I couldn’t help but wonder what if that little nudge was the trigger for his appraisal.

Anyway, from what he did manage to see, it turned out that some of the nobles didn’t even consider certain awful behaviors “wrong”, and dint think there was any need to hide it. And the sort of things that make you go “oh no” have come up in the results of light, superficial appraisals. 

But the heroes haven’t actually revealed to the people of the castle everything about their abilities.

In Aoi-kun’s case, he keeps it a secret that he can appraise people to a certain extent without them noticing.

There are people here who have the appraisal skill, but if they use appraisal on someone, it seems like the person they’re using it on will know exactly what they’re doing. 

So using it on a person is considered… well, extremely rude.

That’s why they couldn’t just say “I saw it with Appraisal,” but with Momose-san’s gift for drawing out information through conversation, they were able to confirm suspicious details and subtly point out who was shady.

“We were lucky the royal family was at least decent. Their personalities aren’t exactly pleasant, but…”

No, from the sound of it, the royals seem pretty nice, actually.

The second prince in particular was apparently extremely frank, saying, “I was told to try to win your heart, but that’s not happening, so can we just be friends?” he apparently told Momose-san.

Honestly, that’s the most effective possible way to approach her.

Anyway, it seems some of those troublesome nobles had planned to use the heroes as pawns. With the Demon Lord’s return shaking the king’s authority, they wanted to overthrow the current royal family and seize power for themselves.

But thanks to the heroes’ clever maneuvering, a bunch of additional crimes came to light, and all sorts of shady dealings were exposed one after another. And so, the king was finally able to clean house—politically and literally.

Before they could even think about defeating the Demon Lord, they’d already gone through so much political chaos. I truly feel sorry for them.

“Good job, everyone. Today’s meal is just instant ramen, per your request—are you sure this is really okay?”

Instant ramen for the heroes’ departure. Is that really okay? What’s more they’d specifically asked for plain ramen—no toppings.

I mean, at least let me add some stir-fried vegetables, or a boiled egg, or maybe spinach or corn, anything? But they said that doing so would “dilute the flavor of the ramen.” I get the sentiment, but… I wish they’d understand this parental urge-or maybe it’s just an older persons meddling- to want to pile on the veggies.

And the ramen they wanted wasn’t even the fancy kind. It was that classic, old-school brand named after a region in Hokkaido—the one that’s been around forever and has many loyal fans, with many people saying it’s their favorite.

Looking at my old purchase records, I was shocked at how cheap it used to be—five packs for 183 yen. Unthinkable nowadays.

When I cooked it exactly as the package instructed and served it in bowls, the heroes’ faces lit up with genuine joy.

Plain ramen… it is insanely good sometimes—like when you eat it late at night, It also reminds me of the first time I made it by myself on a Saturday when I was off work, or the ramen I ate straight from the pot when I was living alone.

When I urge them to eat before it gets cold, they all smiled and started slurping happily.

That’s the face I wanted to see. Ramen is the soul food of the Japanese.

When I heard they’d come say goodbye before their departure, I got excited to prepare a big farewell meal, but Momose-san warned me:

“We really appreciated it, but please don’t go overboard. Are you planning to use up all your skill points on us? That won’t do.”

No, I wasn’t planning to use all of them…But being told that in advance left me feeling pretty unfulfilled. Just plain ramen? That’s it… 

Since I couldn’t use my skills, I resisted by at least making rice. I soaked it longer and mixed in a bit of honey before cooking it to keep it from drying out.

I mean, come on—it wouldn’t be enough otherwise! I quietly handed out the rice bowls. Momose-san glares at me a little, but this time it’s okay. I want you to look at the shining faces of the other four. They’re all ready to dump rice into the leftover broth and savor every last drop. I rest my case.

They were almost done eating when I asked:

“Now that I think of it, can I ask something that’s been bothering me? You know the word ‘contradiction,’ right? If you had a cheat sword that could cut through anything, and a cheat barrier that nothing could cut through—which one wins?”

At that, Akagi-kun and Midorikawa-kun exchanged a look. I mean, that’s a fair question, isn’t it? Haven’t they ever tested it?