Chapter 15: Frey (Part 2)
TL: Scaramochi
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[Frey's POV]
At the party meeting, I noticed that one person was missing.
I couldn't find Est, the coward, in the party.
"Oh, that skank isn't here today. Did you finally cut him off?"
When I asked that, Athena nodded with a dissatisfied face.
Heh, you finally got rid of that coward. That's good, I didn't want to fight with the mooks.
And I didn't like the idea of enchant magic. Borrowing someone else's power was repulsive. I wanted to fight with my own strength.
After a quick hello to Dale's old man and Milliaria, we immediately set out for the labyrinth.
It seemed that today's labyrinth was an intermediate level one, not an advanced one, for the reason that we needed to match our breath. I would have been fine with the advanced level, but since it was our first time, I put up with it.
While the four of us were conquering the labyrinth, something inexplicable happened.
I didn't know why, but Athena was really weak.
"Hey Athena, was this how good you are? If so, I'm out of sync, man."
"Yeah, this is how good I am."
"Seriously ...... I thought you were having a bad day or something. I've seen you do better than that."
I told Athena, "What's wrong with you?" but it seemed that this was her real state of mind.
I was surprised to see her in the labyrinth.
She should have been fighting gracefully, keeping monsters at bay.
But what's with this shabby appearance?
I thought she just happened to be in bad shape, but it seemed that's not the case.
Athena was strong thanks to the magic that that pussycat gave her.
I wasn't kidding...... about that.
The one thing that I had recognized was that your power was something you borrowed from someone else!
I was really stunned. I was disappointed.
I was expecting someone who could keep up with my full power, but she's just like this.
While I was frustrated like this, the old guys Mirialia and Dale warned me about it.
They said I was playing individually. They said I was interfering with Athena.
They said the same things they said in Dragon Head.
Seriously ...... I had to be told the same things here too?
It's your fault that you guys couldn't keep up with me. Don't blame others.
I listened to all of their complaints.
Then they started to blatantly start slacking off. This was really crazy. Why weren't they trying to compete with us?
(Don't give up on them.)
I was so angry, but Athena was desperately trying to keep up with me.
She was slow and weak, but she was determined to fight and was determined not to let me down.
I was happy.
Most of the guys were backing away from me, but Athena was the only one who was giving it her all.
I was happy about that, so I decided to hang out with them a little longer.
I didn't like the elf and the old man, but Athena alone was worth being in the party.
It had been a month since I joined Stardust.
Athena still stinked, but she was a lot better than she was at the beginning. I mean, she was growing up so fast. She was still far from me, but if she continued to grow at this rate, she would catch up with me.
However, Stardust's reputation had fallen to the ground, and the adventurers were cursing them a lot.
At first, they had high expectations for us, but when they found out that we having trouble with intermediate level, they turned the tables on us.
They said, Stardust was a failure for pulling out the pussycat Est and putting in the troublemaker Me.
They said behind my back that Athena was strong because of Est.
On the other hand, Est's reputation went through the roof.
It seemed that he was now able to cast enchant magic on himself as well, and he had been conquering intermediate level labyrinths on his own. Rumor had it that he could even hold his own with the gold ranks.
As Est's reputation grew, the topic of conversation often came up.
"Stardust is stupid. They kicked out the competent Est and brought in the incompetent Frey, who is only strong in power. I'm laughing my ass off."
I was being compared to that pussycat.
And I was looked down upon. I was really pissed off. But if you look at the results alone, there was nothing to complain about. I managed to hold out and endure.
But when I talked to the guy from Est for the first time in a while, I was still angry.
When I was cashing in my items, he came over and started yelling at me.
He was really getting on my nerves.
But Athena, the leader of the group, didn't say anything back, so I gritted my teeth and endured.
In this world, there's the law of the jungle.
The weak couldn't say anything to the strong.
But remember this, you p*ssy. I would definitely pay you back!
I wasn't the only one who was fired up, Athena was too.
While we were having our usual argument, old man Dale complained to me.
He was lecturing us, saying,
--- "Shut up, you little fish who don't try to be strong, don't lecture me like that."
I was annoyed and tried to listen to him as usual, but this time he made fun of me and I snapped.
But the old man unusually didn't back down and said to me in a strong tone of voice. He was saying all the right things, so I couldn't say anything back to him.
This was why I hate adults.
They couldn't do anything but talk big. It was the same with all the Dragon Heads.
I was getting tired of it, and the old man asked me to play a game with him.
It was a tag-team time attack between me, Athena, and the old man and Miglia.
When I heard about the game, I made a bet with him. The old man took the bet.
All right, now they couldn't tell me what to do.
This time I would be free to do as I please.
With such joy, I accepted the bet.
But the result was a disaster.
"No way......."
I and Athena were pretty fast, but the old man and Mirialia kicked the monster's ass in an instant. But that was thanks to Mirialia's use of intermediate magic. It wasn't the old man's power.
When I barked, the old man looked at me coldly as if I were an insect and told me why I had lost.
I couldn't even breathe.
I wasn't sure what the old man was saying, because he wasn't wrong in the slightest.
But...... I still couldn't convince myself.
One-on-one match. He also said he would fight me with his bare hands and not with a sword.
I snapped at him, "Don't you dare underestimate me," but a loss was a loss. I refused to take the fight.
Then the old man started to stir things up, and I got pissed off and easily took him up on his offer.
That's fine.
I would kill him with everything I've got.
--- "Come on, come at me from anywhere."
--- "I'll kill you."
I spread my arms out and close in on the old man, who was full of gaps, and I released my fist to punch him in the face.
However, my fist strike was easily avoided and I was thrown away without knowing why.
"Gah!
I was slammed on my back and forced to exhale.
In the meantime, my body was turned upside down, and my left arm was twisted up as he leaned over my back.
"Damn, what the hell! I can't muster up the strength to go wild! Ouch!"
When I tried to lash out, my left arm was twisted and I felt intense pain.
As I was puzzled, not knowing what was going on, the old man spoke from above in a light tone of voice.
--- "Now I want to hear the word 'I've come to you' from your mouth."
Damn...... sh*t!
I didn't want to say it. I didn't want to admit defeat to this b*stard.
But there was nothing I could do to recover from this.
I had completely lost.
I gritted my teeth and surrendered.
"I'm done!"
--- "Good girl."
Damn...... you son of a b*tch!
Why the hell did I let this guy get to me!
What the hell was this old man!
As my head exploded with anger and frustration, the old man suddenly said in my ear.
--- "I'm not an old man, I'm your brother."
Saying this, the old man......dull retreated from my back.
I was so frustrated that I couldn't get up right away.
I didn't know why, but tears were coming out of my eyes.
I wiped and wiped, but it didn't stop at all.
Damn...... why? Why couldn't I stop crying?
That's how frustrated I was.
I couldn't even make excuses for losing.
I would never forget this loss!
I didn't know how I did it, but I would try again someday.
And this time, I would be sure to pound my fist into that pissed-off face.
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