3 bar menu

Chapter 45: Aun’s past

~ 14 years ago, Royal Capital Alraine ~

「Aun! You went too far to the front in the last battle!」

「Shut up. What does it matter, I was able to subdue it!」

In a corner of the adventurer’s guild, we, a rookie adventurer party, were turning in our quest report.

On that day, I received my first subjugation quest after reaching D rank.

I was taught swordsmanship by my grandpa since I was a child, so I was stronger than other rookie adventurers. That’s why I became arrogant as soon as I became an adventurer. Basically, the kind of guy people call “shitty brat”.

However, there was one guy, of my age, who could compete on par with me.

A guy with fiery red hair, a rather large body for a kid, and usually expressionless and silent – Bride.

The [Tempest Cloud] party was made up of five members: myself, Bride, the mage Eria, the healer Darius, and the archer Meloria.

All four members other than me were children of noble families. The four of them also learned combat techniques from an early age, and it was rumored that [Cloud Tempest] would become the hope of Alraine.

However, there weren’t any challenging enemies in D-rank quests and most were monsters that could be subjugated by one person, so we weren’t that good at teamwork.

「I wonder if my rank will go up soon. It’s getting boring simply killing small fries.」

「I agree with you on that.」

Unusual for him, Bride replied. At the same time, the doors of the Adventurer’s Guild were flung open.

「You guys! A dungeon has been discovered to the northeast of this city!」

In response, the entire Adventurer’s guild roared in excitement.

Dungeons can be entered at any rank. You enter at your own risk, but there were rumors that rare items were easy to find, and the first items discovered in the dungeon are more likely to be rarest ones.

Naturally, [Tempest Cloud] was also going to dive into the dungeon. And since we started rushing towards the dungeon without proper preparation, we ended up diving into the dungeon before anyone else.

The dungeon itself had a simple structure, and the monsters themselves were about D rank.

Due to the exhilaration of capturing the dungeon faster than any other party, it was only when we reached the 5th floor that we realized that our party was unable to manage our remaining MP and arrows.

After passing through the 5th floor passage and opening the door, we entered the boss room. The boss was a lower B-rank monster, Naga.

It was a medium-sized monster with four hands on its snake body. But the most troubling aspect was its cunningness.

We fought well in the early stages, but when the rear guards’ MP and arrows ran out, Naga quickly blocked the exit with its body and prevented us from escaping.

My stamina had decreased by half, but I decided to keep fighting.

…But it seems I was the only one who thought so.

Bride hit me in the back of the head and kicked me down to make me into a bait. And while Naga was distracted by me, the four of them quickly escaped.

From the beginning, it seems that they had agreed to do this if they got into trouble…

I was left alone in the boss room, but due to grandpa’s teachings, I always carried a large amount of healing potions with me.

Using that large amount of potion, I somehow managed to defeat Naga. I touched the teleportation magic circle and was able to escape from the dungeon while barely alive.

When I returned to the royal capital, they had already turned the story around.

“Children from noble families abandoned their party member” – would be an extremely inconvenient story for the nobles.

They reversed it and spread the story that I attacked everyone and “planned to monopolize the acquired items”.

And as soon as I entered the city, I was dragged away by the nobles.

And this is what they said…

「We will pretend that this incident never happened. Leave the royal capital right away. Never show your face here again.」

Nobody believed what I said and in the end I had no choice but to leave the royal capital.

I couldn’t control my anger, however.

We always quarreled, but being betrayed by my trusted companion, the one man I thought of as my rival, Bride… the rage swallowed me whole.

After leaving Alraine, I hid in a nearby forest to get revenge on Bride.

I knew that Bride would sometimes go out into the woods alone at night.

A month later, an opportunity presented itself.

Bride came to the forest alone.

But I saw something else there.

Bride was secretly meeting with the demons…

The moment I saw that, I ran away in a panic. My anger quickly disappeared.

The only thing I was thinking was, “Shit, I have to run!”

From an early age, I had heard about the demons and their terror.

The “Human-Demon Wars” 2000 years ago.

It has become a fairy tale now and few people believe it, but humans and demons used to be at war.

The end of the war was said to have been settled by a collision of magic so great that it changed the entire terrain. In addition to the “Sphin Continent”, where races such as humans, beastfolk, elves and others live in, there is also another called the “Magic Continent”. It is said that that is where the demons live.

However, it wasn’t found in any maps or documents. It was just a story that had been passed down as an old tale or a legend.

I ran away. As far away as my legs can take me without looking back.

After that, I reached Recuria and continued living as an adventurer.

Pretending I didn’t see anything…

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

「That’s what happened. I don’t know why Bride was secretly meeting with a demon… but Bride is a dangerous man. However, when I died and became a monster, I have already decided to become stronger and live as I please.」

When I finished my store, Kinu hugged me tightly.

「Aun…it must have been hard for you…」

「Thank you, Kinu. But I’m fine now. I have all of you now, after all. I am no longer alone.」

「Not only did he do that to you, bro, but he’s also kidnapping people… There is no forgiveness for him.」

「Bride became S-rank 5 years ago and he is said to have a magic sword of fire. He will surely participate in the ranking battle.

There I will completely crush him. In addition to that, if we become number one in the ranking, our influence will increase, and the kidnapping of demi-humans would be properly punished.

But if the country says they won’t do it, then I’ll crush the whole country.」

「Aun, to go so far for us demi-humans… I can’t thank you enough.」

「You guys are already my friends, my family. I will never let those who tormented my family go unpunished.

If someone from [Star Supremacy] was suffering, you wouldn’t leave them alone, would you? Besides, Nelfie, you are here because of your own hard work. A simple “thank you” is enough for me.」

A while after our conversation was over, we started running towards Miralda.

The next morning, Black Thunder entered Miralda without being seen by anyone and we changed into our casual clothes and went to bed at the inn.

Now then, let’s head to the slave trader’s shop.