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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 233 Part 1

CHAPTER 233: THE MOCK BATTLE PART 1

「And just what do you think you’re doing, making a scene in a place like this, and at a time like this?」

If you really insist on causing any more commotion than you already did, then I have a good idea as to how we can handle that little dispute.

As if he wanted to say those exact words, Arios placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, looking all sung and confident.

「I-It’s not like we…… We were just……」

「N-Nothing! It was nothing!」

The moment the Hero stepped in between us, the men looked away awkwardly, not wanting to make eye contact with him.

Seeing them behave like that, I felt really stupid and ridiculous for letting my anger take the better of me, and after a short moment I let go of the man’s shirt.

The men stared at us really menacingly for a moment out there, and then they walked away in a hurry.

“We won’t forget this, mark our words!”

I was sure that those guys wanted to say something like that here, but seeing that the situation was not in their favor, they opted to keep their mouths shut.

「Good grief. I would really appreciate it if you weren’t causing me so much unnecessary trouble. Especially with a sorry lot like that.」

「Sorry. It was my bad here.」

As much as it pains me to apologize to Arios for something that was not really my fault here……

But since this time around I was equally at fault for letting the anger take the best of me, I had no other choice but to lower my head and apologize earnestly.

After doing and saying just that, I was about to turn away and walk back under the shade of the makeshift tent, but……

「Wait just a moment, Rein.」

I was stopped by Arios from doing that.

When I turned to see what was going on, Arios was giving me a creepingly friendly smile.

「You must still be on your break right now, aren’t you? And if that is the case, then how about we do some mock battle? Since the occasion happened to present itself?」

「A mock battle? With you, Arios?」

「Yes, that’s right. What do you say to that?」

The sudden offer made by Arios here made me stop in my tracks and almost leave my mouth wide open.

Why would he ever propose something like that? And why now, of all times? It was so sudden that I……

That I couldn’t really help myself but to find it extremely suspicious.

Knowing Arios, he certainly must have been up to something. I couldn’t really help myself but to think that.

For example, the reason as to why he wanted to have a mock battle with me right now was so that he could perhaps injure me in some way that would make me fail the final test of the exam.

I couldn’t help myself but to let my thoughts gravitate towards such dark and grim regions.

I had absolutely no reason or basis to believe that this was the truth here, but……

Since we have used to travel together as members of the same party, I liked to think that I have grown to know and understand Arios’s personality quite well during that time, so right now I was really confident that I knew what he was thinking and what would be the most likely thing that he would choose to do.

「I’m sorry, but I will have to decline the offer here. I still have one more test to pass, so I would rather take a nice rest so that I can be fully prepared for what is to come.」

「Hey, come on now, don’t be so dull like that. It will be a short and small mock battle, nothing to break a sweat over. The worst thing that you could possibly get from that would be a slight physical exertion. And besides…… even though this here was a minor incident, it’s the truth that you were equally at fault here, so you need to receive at least SOME sort of punishment for that.」

「And what about those guys? Will they receive their portion of the punishment as well?」

「Don’t worry about those guys. My Party members will make sure to give them a good talking-to, plus their due punishment. So you won’t be the only one who will be punished here, rest assured.」

「I’m sorry, but I find it really hard to believe when YOU are the one who is saying that……」

「If it’s going to make you feel a little bit better, I can give you a special written testimony. What do you say to that?」

If Arios was going to such lengths to assure me of that fact, then it most probably was not a lie.

「The way things are standing right now, you are in no position to just sit back and do anything at all. But at the same time, it’s not like this situation just now was your fault. The way I see it, you just got dragged into this mess by those two.」

「If you do know that much, then how about you just leave me alone and call it a day?」

「Now, now. You know full well that I cannot just do that. If I were to let you off the hook here, I would be the one who would get into trouble. I know that it was not your fault, but the fact remains that you allowed yourself to be dragged into this mess…… Which is why you need at least SOME sort of punishment, no matter how small or insignificant it might be. So here’s how we are going to do this: your punishment is going to be to have a mock battle with me, Rein. There was some trouble and the Hero resolved the matter…… Don’t you think that this would be the best possible outcome? No one would object to that and no one would dare to pursue the matter further. Pretty good of a deal, don’t you think?」

There seemed to be nothing fishy or suspicious about Arios’s reasoning here.

As things are, this was truly the best possible way in which we could hope to resolve this situation.

It’s just that…… I was simply refusing to believe that Arios would ever propose something so decent without having some sort of ulterior motive for doing so.

He must be scheming something behind the scenes. I was sure of it.

And while it is true that I did not want to get dragged into whatever shady business Arios and his cronies were up to……

I then cast a quick glance around us and saw the other Adventurers were looking at us.

Their gazes were surely laced with a whole lot of unpleasant emotions.

Arios was right, they probably did not think too fondly of me for causing a commotion completely out of the blue like that.

So I guess that even if I were to leave things as they were, that would still bring its own set of problems down the line.