Hayashi from Sales Joins the Hero’s Quest

Hero Alec, you must succeed in defeating the demon lord.

Yes, Your Majesty.

Good. I have high expectations for you.

As I bowed my head in the audience chamber, the King slowly nodded while stroking his full beard.

I became a Hero after pulling out the legendary holy sword in my home village.

A divine apostle who appears in response to a demon lord being born into the world . . . That's what a Hero is.

I had continued my training as a Hero for ten years.

My adventure was finally beginning.

After gesturing for the excited me to stand up, the King called people into the audience chamber.

I had heard that the King and important officials had selected Adventurers worthy to be a Hero's companions. These four people would be the members traveling with me. I straightened my posture at the thought.

Now I'll introduce the party members. First is Locke, a Warrior.

Hey there, nice to meet you.

A sturdy-built man raised his hand while his armor clanked noisily.

Next is Leon, a Mage.

Hmph, try not to slow me down.

A bespectacled man about my age turned away with a flick of his black robe.

Next is Shirley, a Priestess.

I'll do my best!

A girl about my age tightly clutched a mace with both hands against her chest.

And lastly, Hayashi, a salesman.

Pleased to meet you. I'm Hayashi, a salesman.

Hayashi?! Salesman?!

A stranger appeared—though I suppose they were all strangers to me.

A person with an unknown profession appeared.

The man had neatly parted black hair and was dressed in an unfamiliar black attire.

He bowed his head to me while extending a rectangular card.

The card was covered in writing or symbols I had never seen before.

What? Who is this salesman Hayashi?!

I'm the person in question. It's always a pleasure doing business with you.

We haven't done any business! We just met!

The man approached with his card still extended, moving in what looked like a weird dance. I instinctively backed away. What was this? It made absolutely no sense.

My head was spinning, so I decided to direct my confusion at the King.

Your Majesty, what's the deal with this guy?!

Hmm. He is an Otherworlder who has appeared in our country for the first time in decades.

An Otherworlder?!

I have heard that Otherworlders possess remarkable skills. They will surely be of use to you.

Huh? What?

Even after hearing that, I still had no idea what a salesman was. It was too unfamiliar.

I looked the man up and down.

He was rather lean, and had the peculiar feature of looking like he could be in his twenties, thirties, or forties.

But he didn't look physically strong, and I couldn't sense any mana beyond that of an ordinary person.

A customer service smile was plastered on his face, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Nervously, I asked the man a question.

Mr. Hayashi? What skills do you have?

I hold certifications in Information Security Management and I have an IT Passport.

IT?

Other things I can put on my resume would be my Health and Safety Officer Certification, and my TOEIC score of around seven hundred.

S-seven hundred points?

Ah, I'm sorry, that's too low, isn't it?

I had no frame of reference.

I couldn't even tell if it was high or low. What was a normal score for that thing anyway?

Since none of the words he mentioned sounded like skills I was familiar with, I tried protesting to the King again.

Your Majesty, this won't work! If we take an ordinary person like him, he'll get hurt!!

Hmm, but he is an Otherworlder. There might be something special about him that isn't apparent from his appearance.

Ehh . . .

You know what they say—nothing ventured, nothing gained.

. . . Fine, I understand.

I sighed at the King; he showed no sign of backing down.

After all, the King was the only patron willing to fund my journey.

But if things get dangerous, you're going back, got it!

Understood.

In response to my words, Hayashi nodded with that same customer service smile.

Let's properly introduce ourselves, shall we?

First, we visited the Guild in the Royal Capital to register our party. We gathered around a corner table with our newly met companions.

Just as I placed my Guild Card on the table, the Warrior began speaking.

I'll start since I suggested it. My name is Locke, I am a Warrior. I owe the King here a small debt of gratitude, which is why I got dragged into this.

I turned my attention to the armor of the man who called himself Locke.

It looked quite worn, and though the emblem on his shield had become quite faded and thin, you could still make out some kind of coat of arms.

He might have worked as a retained mercenary somewhere. Former mercenaries becoming Adventurers was surprisingly common.

Well, I've got the most experience among us. I suspect I was brought in to act as the coordinator, so feel free to rely on me a bit.

Locke laughed heartily after he spoke.

Gahaha!

Indeed, his physique was robust, and he had a solid, reliable presence even when meeting people for the first time. He would surely lead our party well during our adventures.

Noticing Locke's gaze on me, I nodded and stood up.

Then I guess I'm next! I'm Alec! My class is Hero. I've always admired Adventurers. A while back, when I was playing near the holy sword in my home village, I ended up pulling it out . . . After that, I trained under my master until today.

When I showed them the holy sword hanging at my waist, everyone leaned in with interest.

To be honest, the holy sword was like some old folk tale, and all the village children doubted whether it was even real or not.

When the King's messenger arrived, everyone was like, wow, so it was actually real.

My journey training with the Sword Master was . . . well, about forty percent fun and sixty percent hard work. But now, I guess I could say it was a . . . good experience. Yeah, sure.

I suppose that makes me the leader. Looking forward to working with everyone!

I-I guess I'm next!

The girl sitting next to me stood up with a somewhat nervous expression. Her clerical hood and long, glistening blonde hair swayed as she rose.

I'm Shirley, and I'm a Priestess! I've been serving at the Church since I was little, but this is my first time going on an adventure . . . However, I'll do my best not to hold everyone back! I'm looking forward to working with you all!

She bowed deeply before sitting back down.

Among Adventurers, Mages and Priests were generally seen as the intellectual types.

Working as an Adventurer was typically something you did when you were young, and after gaining some experience, the standard path was to work at the Magic Research Institute, the Order of Magic Knights, or the Church Headquarters.

So I thought my new teammates would probably be rookies . . . but she seemed to be about the same age as me.

With that thought in mind, I decided to ask.

How old are you, Shirley? Eighteen or so?

Seventeen.

So you're a year younger than me.

I nodded repeatedly in acknowledgment.

Then I turned my attention to the Mage sitting next to Shirley.

Hey, what about you? Um, Leon, right? You're probably around the same age as us, aren't you?

. . .

I was ignored.

Seriously, why is he ignoring me?

Maybe he didn't hear me?

Hey, how old are you?

. . . Hmph. Age is irrelevant.

He turned away with a sigh.

What's with this guy? He's kind of full of himself. With those glasses and that know-it-all attitude. Ugh, that gets on my nerves. Mages are always like this, I swear.

Influenced by the Mage's attitude, I found myself snorting in displeasure.

Come on, we're all introducing ourselves anyway!

Hey, now, look. It's your turn next.

Locke jumped in as if trying to mediate the situation.

The Mage glanced at Locke before speaking as if spitting out his words.

Leon. I'm a Mage.

. . . Th-that's it?

I nearly fell over in shock.

Surely there was more to tell. Like his age, where he was from, why the King invited him . . . stuff like that.

Say something more! We're going to be adventuring together from now on!

I have no intention of being your friend.

Leon's words were delivered with an aloof expression as if he couldn't be bothered.

W-what a jerk . . .

What's your problem? You're being really rude.

Now, now. More importantly, we still have one person left, don't we?

As I sat there with my lips pursed in frustration, Locke pointed to the one person who had remained silent this whole time.

Oh right. I'd forgotten about him.

It was partly because he'd been quiet, but there was something else too—a lack of presence, you might say . . . Somehow, I'd pushed him completely out of my awareness.

This person with the perpetual polite smile on his face . . . um, what did he say his occupation was again?

S-sorry, um . . .

I'm Hayashi, a Salesman.

Yeah, I still have no idea what that is.

No matter how many times I heard it, it was an occupation I didn't recognize.

Sure enough, I couldn't read any of the text on the card he was holding out.

Otherworlders—I'd heard about them in stories. They were beings who occasionally wandered in from entirely different worlds with different civilizations and space-time continuums.

These days, magic had advanced enough that sending them back was sometimes successful, but intentionally summoning them was impossible.

Still, there were many tales of Otherworlders who helped Heroes defeat demon lords, as well as legends of struggles against Otherworlders who sided with the demon lord's forces.

They apparently all had different abilities, but each possessed special skills that none of us had.

After picturing these Otherworlders in my mind, I looked at the man before me—Hayashi.

Equipment: some kind of thin black cloth clothing. Brown leather bag, leather shoes. Weapons: none. Mana: none. Complexion: poor.

. . . Something felt off.

Nothing about this felt right.

But there was no way that could really be the case, could it?

I held my hand over the Guild Card I'd just received and channeled a bit of mana into it.

Characters appeared floating in the air. Once registered as a party at the Guild, you could check the stats of all party members.

Among the five of us lined up, I checked Hayashi's stats.

Level One. Attack One. Defense One. Mana One. Vitality Five. Agility Four. Evasion Fifteen.

. . . This is bad.

No matter how you looked at it, those weren't stats suitable for taking someone on an adventure.

I had never seen so many one's before, not even for a beginner Adventurer. These were the stats of someone completely bedridden from a terminal illness.

Um, Hayashi, have you ever been on adventures in your other world?

I've had my fair share of business trips.

Uh, like, with a party of companions and stuff?

I worked alone most of the time.

Alone?!

Though I did occasionally entertain clients.

Sending someone with these stats out alone—what kind of world was he from?

He'd die. Instant death.

I wonder if resurrection magic was easier in his world than it was here.

Not knowing what to do, I beckoned the other members over. The two of them came over, excluding Leon.

This is terrible! His attack and defense levels are both at one! There's no way we can take him with us!

Yeah, but the King told us to take him along, didn't he?

Since he's an Otherworlder, perhaps he has some special power that we can't see . . . ?

At Shirley's words, I turned back to look at Hayashi.

From the looks of him, he didn't seem to have any special power.

Although it hadn't worked with the King, I decided to at least try persuading Hayashi himself.

. . . Hayashi, listen. I don't know what the King told you, but a Hero's journey is pretty dangerous.

Yes, I have been informed of that.

You've been informed?

He knows about the dangers and he still wants to come along?

Did the King actually explain things properly?

Really?

We'll be fighting monsters, demons, and ultimately the Demon Lord, you know? You might get hurt, you might even die . . . Don't you think it would be better to stay behind?

Yes, I understand. However, the King has instructed me to accompany all of you and provide assistance.

Hayashi's polite smile never faltered.

I wonder if the King might have said something terrible to him, like . . .

If you don't go with the Hero's Party, I won't send you back to your original world,

. . . or something. Maybe that's why he's forcing himself to come along?

No, there's no way the King would say something like that. With stats like his, he'd know the guy would get killed right away. He wouldn't get anything from that.

As we stood there bewildered, Hayashi turned his palms toward us and waved them gently.

Please don't worry. I'm quite used to cold calls.

C-cold . . . calls?!

He's used to diving into deadly situations?

I really wish he wouldn't get used to something like that.

From that point on, our journey would involve leveling up while preparing for the battle with the Demon Lord as we made our way toward his domain. We might occasionally be able to share carriages or dragon carriages depending on the location, but our basic mode of transportation would be on foot.

Taking someone with stats like his along would be practically murder.

I didn't want to see a companion die so soon.

But Hayashi seemed determined not to listen to me no matter what I said. I gave in and sighed.

It would take three days to reach the next town, but there were hardly any monsters along the way.

With that level of vitality, even walking on this adventure seemed impossible. I was hoping that by the time we reached the next town, Hayashi himself would realize how difficult it was to keep up with us.

The King might have something to say about it, but when that happens, I'll help convince him too.

For now, let's just go together to the next town.

Having reached that conclusion, we began preparations for our departure.

◇◇◇

Oh. I can see the town up ahead.

Aaaah! Finally, a proper bath!

Hayashi, we've been camping this whole time. Were you okay with that?

Yes.

Hayashi nodded in response to my question.

Sometimes Hayashi's presence or aura just seemed to vanish, so I feared I would completely forget he existed unless I made a conscious effort to talk to him.

I thought he might give up halfway, but Hayashi turned out to be surprisingly tough. Leon was actually more troublesome, marching ahead and ignoring us despite being in the rear guard position.

I had no idea how he managed with those stats, but contrary to our expectations, he completed the journey to town without falling behind at all.

It was far more comfortable than sleeping on the office chairs we had at my company.

Company?

Well, it's something like a Guild in your world.

Hmm.

As we talked, we showed our Guild Cards to the gatekeeper to complete the entry procedures for the town.

This town was a trading hub connected to the Royal Capital, so it was fairly large. As one would expect from a place with its own station, numerous horse carriages and dragon carriages passed through its gates. It also had a Guild branch and plenty of shops and inns.

If we just needed a place to sleep, we wouldn't necessarily need an inn, but only Guild-approved inns had magic circles installed that could accelerate mana recovery. That was actually quite important for Adventurers.

For Shirley, having a bath seemed more important. Well, I wanted to sleep comfortably in a bed too, so I supposed we were all on the same page there.

The moment we passed through the checkpoint and entered the town, we were stunned by the sea of people that filled our view.

The main street was absolutely packed with people crammed together.

Sure, this was the town center with lots of shops, so I expected it to be busy, but . . . this was beyond normal.

W-what's all this? Why is it so crowded?

What, are you folks travelers?

A local passing by called out to us.

Yeah, we were planning to get a room at an inn today.

Aw, you're out of luck. The harvest festival is being held this week, so every inn in town is completely booked.

What?!

Huh?!

Shirley and Leon both cried out.

Well, Shirley had been desperate for a bath all this time, so of course she'd be disappointed.

But Leon, too? Was he also that type of person?

Influenced by their stunned expressions, even I started feeling down. I wanted to sleep in a bed, but I guess we were in for another night of camping.

Everyone, please don't worry.

Just as I began to sigh, Hayashi, who had been silent until then, spoke up.

I've already secured accommodations for us.

Huh?

I'm quite accustomed to making business trip arrangements. This way, please.

Though half-doubtful about what he meant, we let Hayashi lead the way and arrived at an inn located just off the main street from the town center.

The sign displayed the Guild emblem, and there was a dining hall attached to the inn. It was cozy, but the flower beds outside appeared well-maintained.

After we entered, Hayashi spoke to the inn staff. Shortly after, he returned with two keys.

It was almost anticlimactic how easily we checked in. He had even secured two separate rooms—one for the men and one for Shirley.

Hayashi, do you know someone in this town?

No. I just booked ahead when I learned about the festival as we were leaving the Royal Capital.

Hayashi said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Seeing our dumbfounded expressions, Hayashi scratched his cheek awkwardly.

It would have been better if they offered any benefits for Platinum members . . .

Platinum . . . ?

The king has provided us with expense funds, so . . .

I didn't really understand what he meant, but we had managed to secure rooms at an inn thanks to Hayashi.

While we were eating dinner at the inn and feeling grateful for both the comfortable beds and Hayashi's help, he lowered his voice and said:

I often served as an event organizer at my company . . . so I've also made arrangements for us to visit an . . . establishment after this.

Establishment?

Since I've been informed that it's legally acceptable for those eighteen and older in this world, I've also arranged for alcohol, and also . . .

Hayashi whispered something to us. I see—so that's why we had separate rooms from Shirley. It was out of consideration for this.

From there, the four of us men spent the night drinking with beautiful ladies and reveling in an extravagant night of wine and women. I had a feeling our bonds had somehow deepened from the experience.

Thank you, Hayashi!

◇◇◇

The next day, as we nursed our hangover headaches, Hayashi presented us with a leisurely sightseeing plan for the festival.

My head hadn't pounded this badly since the first time I'd ever drank alcohol. When I turned eighteen and was legally able to drink, I was so excited . . . I remembered sleeping until noon with my master that day.

The streets were packed with festival-goers just like yesterday, but somehow when we followed Hayashi, we were mysteriously able to navigate through the crowds. The only drawback was that we often lost sight of him whenever he didn't call out to us.

We really wanted to buy some street food, but we held back and only got drinks. Shirley, on the other hand, was buying all sorts of food from the stalls and looked completely satisfied.

Perhaps because Priests used life energy for healing magic, many of them were skinny people with large appetites. The food seemed to disappear into her slim body—I couldn't imagine where it all went.

The souvenir shops had pretty trinkets and accessories, which also had Shirley completely captivated.

Perhaps it was because we felt guilty about leaving her behind last night, but no one complained when Shirley took forever with her shopping.

It was a perfect plan—Shirley got to shop, and we got to stroll around leisurely while our hungover bodies recovered. Everyone was happy with the arrangement.

Hayashi was standing a short distance away with Leon, smiling pleasantly as he talked with the locals to purchase additional drinks.

Leon, who was always snippy and confrontational with me, didn't seem to complain much to Locke or Hayashi. What was up with that?

I'm seriously glad Hayashi is part of our team.

I murmured while gazing at the back of Hayashi's head.

Hearing my words, Locke nodded deeply in agreement.

Shirley, who had just finished shopping and returned, tilted her head in confusion.

Hayashi is certainly a nice person, but . . . is he really that amazing?

This is your first time going on a journey, right, Shirley?

Shirley nodded hesitantly at my question.

It was understandable that she wouldn't know if this was her first time.

I spoke with a distant look in my eyes, recalling my travels with my master.

This level of comfort is definitely not normal. My training journey with my master was absolute hell.

R-really?

Yeah. I've been in other parties before, so I know what it's like.

Locke spoke with a faraway look in his eyes.

You'd finally reach a town, but then have nowhere to stay and end up sleeping in the stables.

With the horses?!

Or eating at filthy restaurants with terrible food, and getting ripped off on top of that.

And then getting food poisoning afterward.

Sometimes villages wouldn't even let us in just because we were outsiders.

And the inns we stayed at only had large communal rooms, and the bedbugs . . .

T-that's enough!

Shirley cut off the rapid-fire stories that Locke and I were unleashing.

Her face had turned pale as she hugged her own shoulders. She must have been thoroughly horrified.

When you're using up all your vitality and mental energy fighting monsters and training, and you finally get a chance to rest when you're exhausted . . . this kind of stuff really gets you down.

Shirley nodded vigorously at Locke's words.

I was glad she seemed to understand the importance of all the little details beyond combat.

We understood their importance too, of course.

We understood, and yet . . .

Somehow those tedious little tasks always got pushed aside. We were too busy with combat, I guess.

Locke seemed to feel the same way, shrugging his shoulders somewhat wearily.

But just because Adventurers are good at fighting or magic doesn't mean they're good at handling all that logistical stuff, right?

Even if we tried to do it ourselves, that kind of stuff is really difficult.

That's right. In other words, someone like Hayashi is extremely valuable.

I-I'm going to thank Hayashi right away!

Did I do something?

Without us noticing, Hayashi and Leon had returned nearby. I still felt that Hayashi sometimes seemed to vanish out of thin air.

While exploring the town, we heard rumors about a dragon that appeared in a nearby dungeon only during the harvest festival season.

Weapons and armor made using the dragon scales were said to be so resilient they could repel even demon magic.

We absolutely had to get our hands on those.

The reason for that? Hayashi's defense stat was only at level one.

After asking the townspeople for the dungeon's location, we headed back to the inn for now.

Once everyone was gathered, I spoke.

Hayashi. Listen to me.

What is it?

You've been doing an amazing job for us.

No, no, it's nothing special.

That's why—would you mind waiting at the inn while we go to the dungeon?!

The other members nodded in agreement at my words.

Our mission was perilous, and Hayashi was clearly wearing paper armor.

We didn't want to lose him.

However, Hayashi shook his head as if to say, absolutely not!

I couldn't possibly. I can't just go home when my superiors are working overtime.

So dungeon exploration counts as overtime?

We continued to press the issue.

Due to his unexpectedly excellent support, our evaluation of Hayashi was skyrocketing.

We never imagined that receiving support for non-combat matters could reduce our psychological burden so much.

We couldn't go back to adventuring without Hayashi anymore.

That's exactly why we didn't want to lose the one person who guaranteed us a comfortable journey.

But Hayashi wouldn't budge.

Since he had already told the King he would go with us, he insisted he couldn't back out now. We eventually gave in to his stubbornness.

. . . With the condition that he would return immediately if things became dangerous, of course.

Hayashi looked like he could die from a single hit. Was it really okay to bring him along?

I mean, we could probably resurrect him if we quickly brought him to a Church, but that was not always guaranteed either.

. . . I was worried.

◇◇◇

. . . Wait. Where were those the stairs we saw earlier?

We got lost pretty quickly after entering the dungeon.

Based on the information we'd gathered from the locals, we had thought the first three levels would be easy. We were now paying for our overconfidence.

As I peeked around the corner with my head tilted in confusion, Leon sighed with an exasperated look.

Hey, why didn't you do any mapping?

Because you kept walking ahead on your own! You're supposed to be in the rear guard, so stay in the back!

Hmph. It's because the rest of you move so slowly.

Leon pushed up his glasses and looked away.

This guy seriously has no concept of teamwork. One of these days I'm going to hit him. After we get out of here safely, of course.

I looked around, but all I could see was cave-like scenery that might or might not be the same as what we'd seen before.

I never thought it would be this much of a maze. Maybe the locals never got lost, but I should have asked for more detailed directions.

As I started wandering around thinking, This way? No, maybe that way? Hayashi pointed to a path in the opposite direction from where we were headed.

This way, right?

Huh?

Huh?

Hayashi looked bewildered. We all blinked back at him in surprise.

Wait, Hayashi, have you been mapping for us this whole time?!

Well, not exactly mapping . . . it's just that this layout is much simpler than Shinjuku.

Are there dungeons in your world too, Hayashi?

No, it's a train station.

A dungeon in a train station?

What was going on through the mind of whoever designed that?

Well . . . ?

Hayashi tilted his head.

I suppose we couldn't possibly understand the mindset of someone who would create a dungeon anyway.

With Hayashi's guidance, we progressed smoothly from there, making our way close to the deepest part until we reached a small room containing a shrine.

But the moment we entered that small room, we were hit with a sensation like our hair standing on end all over our bodies.

A pressure so intense we could feel it on our skin. Something with immense power was there, in that place.

BOOOOM!

There was a deafening roar and a howl.

The ground shook violently as something enormous crawled out from a fissure in the earth.

What we glimpsed through the billowing dust clouds undeniably had the form of a dragon.

But it was incomparable to the dragons seen pulling dragon carriages in town.

It was massive.

It was like watching a mountain move. We were left speechless, overwhelmed by its size.

What business do you have, child of man?

A voice like the rumble of an earthquake, barely recognizable as language, growled low.

It seemed to be coming from the dragon before us. We had heard about dragons that could speak human language, but . . . monsters with higher intelligence possessed greater power.

The pressure was incredible. Even standing was nearly impossible. This was the power of dragonkind . . . !

Forget defeating it—even approaching to take its scales would obviously be impossible . . .

It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Hayashi, I'm from the Sales Department.

Hayashi?!

Just as I sank to my knees, someone briskly rushed past me.

Oh, no, Hayashi!

While bowing slightly at the waist, he was holding out that thing he called a business card toward the dragon.

Hey, Hayashi! Are you okay?!

What do you mean?

This intense pressure is what I'm talking about!

I'm sorry . . . Perhaps due to my former boss's tendency for workplace harassment, the organ that senses pressure might be paralyzed in me.

What did that man do to your body, Hayashi?!

What kind of pressure could possibly exceed the intimidation of dragonkind?

Was his former boss a dragon or something?

Hayashi, you should definitely quit that Guild of yours.

Come join us instead.

After responding to our invitation with a polite smile, Hayashi held out the paper bag he was carrying to the dragon. The dragon's eyelid twitched slightly.

What is that?

I heard you enjoy alcohol, so I brought some for you.

So that's what he was carrying besides his usual handbag—alcohol.

Come to think of it, when we were discussing the dungeon earlier, a child from town had shown us a picture book.

The dragon loves alcohol and good company.

. . . Or something like that was written in the picture book.

The dragon happily drained the alcohol Hayashi offered.

The bottle was empty in no time.

Here, please, drink up!

He offered the next bottle. This pattern continued.

Child of man, thou art quite the drinker.

Not at all, I'm nothing compared to you, Dragon.

Alas, allow me to fill thine cup.

Before we knew it, Hayashi was drinking too. Empty bottles continued to pile up.

Thanks to the delicious alcohol and Hayashi's good listening skills, the dragon became increasingly talkative the more it drank.

These days, Adventurers are . . . , he began to reminisce. These young dragons nowadays are . . . Then he complained. Back in my day, things were like this and that . . . , he rambled on.

Hayashi kept smiling and nodding as he indulged the dragon's lengthy stories.

And he was doing this perfectly, with just the right amount of compliments to flatter the dragon.

As expected of someone so powerful.

I'm not well-studied on this matter, so I had no idea. You're incredibly knowledgeable.

No, amazing is truly the only word for it.

You have excellent taste. Not many people come up with such perfect expressions.

And so on and so forth.

It was no wonder the dragon was in such a good mood.