But as he walked into the darkening woods, he allowed himself a small, quiet smile.
“Let’s see how long he lasts alone,” the Mage said, loud enough for Kael to hear. “Poor people don’t become heroes. They become footnotes.”
The Hero’s party had already turned their backs. The Warrior was laughing. The Priestess didn’t even look up from her prayer book. Raw chapter 46.1 YUUSHA PARTY O OIDA SARETA KIYOU BINBOU
Kael adjusted the strap of his sack. He didn’t argue. He never did. Words were expensive. Arguments cost energy. And he had exactly 43 copper coins to his name.
And Kael knew exactly where to invest his first three copper pieces. End of Raw Chapter 46.1 But as he walked into the darkening woods,
Effective immediately. Your services are no longer required. Reason: Incompatible with party synergy.
Kael read it three times as the campfire crackled behind him. Synergy. That was the word they used after he had calculated the exact angle for a Ricochet Arrow to pierce a Lich’s phylactery through three walls of bone. Synergy was what they claimed he lacked when he suggested rationing the high-grade mana potions instead of letting the mage use them as chasers for his morning ale. They become footnotes
The Hero’s party didn’t know that the “minor dungeon of negligible threat” was actually the abandoned laboratory of a miserly Archmage who had hidden his fortune in puzzles no noble-born fighter could solve. They didn’t know that Kael had been decoding the napkin map for six months, using their campfire hours to memorize patterns while they slept.