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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 226 Part 1

CHAPTER 226: AN AWKWARD REUNION PART 1

The general layout of the royal capital’s Adventurers’ Guild was pretty much the same as that of its Horizon counterpart.

There was a front counter for reception of visitors, a bulletin board with various requests of varying difficulty being posted there, and common space for Adventurers to interact with each other and so on and so forth.

Although this building was way larger than the branch at Horizon, and its facilities obviously seemed to be of bigger and better quality…… If you were to get down to it, the Horizon and the royal capital Adventurers’ Guilds were basically one and the same.

As for Axe and Cell, they were sitting in the chairs in the common space of the building, talking to some other Adventurers who were unknown to us.

Perhaps they were in the middle of discussing a request that they were going to undertake, or something alongside those lines.

「Ahh…… It’s been a while, huh?」

「Yeah…… I guess you could say that.」

Somehow, we were able to exchange some rather awkward greetings.

But even so, neither Axe nor me could look the other in the eyes properly.

This inability of ours to look the other one straight in the eyes was part of the reason why the already awkward atmosphere would grow even more awkward here.

「Ooh, look, it’s Cell! It’s been a while, huh!?♪」

「How are you doing? Everything’s okay on your end?」

「Yes, thank you for asking. As for you…… Well, I can see that there is no need for me to even ask you that in return.」

As for the girls, they seemed to have nothing to do with the awkward atmosphere between us guys and greeted one another in a happy and warm fashion. As expected of comrades who did not see one another for a while.

Seeing the way in which his partner greeted my party, Axe visibly panicked.

「H-Hey! Hey, hey, hey, hey! C-Cell, what are you doing!? Why are you being so friendly and casual with those guys!?」

「The question here should be: why aren’t you friendly and casual with them? Isn’t it normal and a common courtesy to greet someone like that? Especially since we are well acquainted with one another? Or would you perhaps like me to make weird faces at them and act as if I don’t know them at all?」

「I-I didn’t say that, but…… You know…… Rein group and I aren’t exactly on what you could describe as friendly terms and……」

「You just happened to have a nasty fallout.」

「W-Well, if you know what’s going on and what I’m talking about here, then why are you even……?」

「Haah…… Axe. Could it be that you are actually stupid?」

Cell said those words while trying to look as theatrically shocked as it was possible.

Normally Axe would have surely said something to that insult of hers, but surprisingly enough he remained silent. But his face was twitching nervously at the same time, so it was not as if he was not affected by them.

「While it is the truth that we used to be at odds with one another because of certain things in the past, but now those reasons are gone, so there is no reason for us to be at odds any longer, wouldn’t you agree? And sure, we might have fought with one another, but it’s not like either side was actively trying to kill the other, right? Or maybe what? Do you wish to say that just because you had a fight with someone, you are going to stay mad at them and won’t talk to them for the rest of your life? Is that what this is all about?」

「No, that’s not about it, but…… I mean, this is just way too sudden! You honestly think that I am going to adapt on the spot like that!? Maybe you can do that, but for me things like that are not easy!」

「That’s because you are still a little brat on the inside.」

So, does that mean that I am also a little brat? Because I am also feeling really awkward about this situation.

I wanted to ask Cell that question, but I didn’t want to do it because I was afraid she would just nod her head in agreement without a second thought.

「But wait…… I’m sorry. It seems that I have interrupted your conversation. Please, carry on.」

Cell then turned around and apologized to the Adventurer that she was talking with until just now.

Like a good-natured person, that Adventurer only smiled politely while shaking his head slightly.

「No, please, don’t worry about it. Based on what I was able to hear, your two parties seem to know one another, right? So tell you what, we can continue this conversation later, so how about you take your time to reacquaint with each other?」

「Thank you very much.」

「H-Hey! When it comes to me, I’m not really……」

「Be seeing you, guys! Let’s continue this conversation some other time.」

The Adventurer left the guild’s building with a smile on his face, waving his hand at Axe and Cell.

「……………」

「……………」

What followed was a real bad case of an awkward silence.

To make matters worse, apparently my companions decided that they would leave the talking to me, because they wouldn’t say a word for the time being.

Apparently, Cell must have arrived at the same conclusion as my party, for she was just looking at us with curiosity, seemingly leaving the talking to Axe.

「Ahh…… Umm…… So…… How have you been?」

Since I did not want to make things even more awkward than they already were, I decided to throw some safe phrases in Axe’s way, hoping that he would receive the ball and start rolling with it.

「W-Well, okay, I guess? How about you guys?」

「As you can clearly see.」

「Yeah, I can see that you are still surrounded by your harem of hot Ultimate Species…… God damn it! If only I could be surrounded by some hot babes at all times like that……」

「Oh my, I’m so sorry to hear that. If you are so dissatisfied with me, then we can disband our party at any moment, you know?」

「I’M SORRY! I AM MOST TERRIBLY SORRY FOR SAYING THAT, CELL-SAMA!! IT WAS ALL MY FAULT HERE, SO PLEASE DON’T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME!!!」

Axe got on his knees in one fell swoop, groveling and asking Cell for forgiveness.

「J-Just now…… I couldn’t even see how this guy got on his knees…… What a seamless transition……」

「To be able to do something like that…… That’s actually quite amazing……」

Kanade and Tanya were looking as if they both got goosebumps from Axe performing something so utterly bizarre.

「You seem to be doing alright.」

「…… I could say the same about you guys.」

We were finally able to flash a genuine smile at each other, if only briefly just now.

I genuinely thought that the moment that we’d lost touch with one another it would be all over when it comes to our friendship……