41 – speed change -5

“It can’t be!”

Celia screamed, twirling her arms. Nerwen also had doubts about her words.

“Eleanor. Even if it’s not a lie, it doesn’t contain the slightest bit of truth.”

The Emperor looked at her with pitiful eyes.

“I know how hard your training was. I know how serious you are in your duties. No matter how rigorous your training was, nothing compares to the training you received.”

But Eleanor’s senses knew he wasn’t trying to cover her up, he was trying to rebuke her.

“But you already realized mana then, and you were in a state of minimal training, ate the best food, and lay down in the most comfortable bed to prepare for training.”

Her passion and sacrifice cannot be denied. However, forcing it on others was madness.

“Even Reinhardt is the best swordsmanship teacher I know. There’s no way he would have brought a wooden sword there, so what he touched must have been a holy sword.”

Eleanor hung her head in silence. What she said was no excuse.

“Tell me, Eleanor. Didn’t you really put a single point of emotion into teaching him?”

“I didn’t harbor a single ounce of anger. But…”

Eleanor remembered the training with difficulty. His crumpled expression, heavy breathing, and bruised arms were vividly drawn.

“As for the impatience… it was mixed.”

If I can’t withstand this attack now, I’ll die in the next fight.

It wasn’t that I was forced to train from the beginning. However, in the journey of the warrior party, the rear was never a safe place.

Goblin assassins, who normally would have been just waiting for an opportunity, or a herd of wild dogs possessed by Magi, flock to him, who seems easy enough.

I could see his arm being bitten and in pain. Celia treated him right away, but if he had bitten his neck instead of his arm, it would have been an instant death.

He was the one who asked for training first, but she didn’t admit it when he asked to stop.

Because I felt like dying. One day, when I looked back after a battle, I thought someone was dead.

“But, I had to…”

Always at the forefront, she had no time to look back. Just look ahead and slash and knock down enemies without question.

Sometimes, I even had nightmares. A terrible nightmare with four corpses scattered behind her after defeating all her enemies.

Fortunately, the other party members participate in the battle. Even during the fight, you can feel Nerwen’s arrows, Celia’s divine spells, and the occasional Parseer’s magic.

But I can’t feel his presence. In a fierce battlefield, it is impossible to tell the difference between life and death of an ordinary person.

If that nightmare were to become at least partially real, it was clear who the most dangerous would be.

Anxiety and impatience were carried on her sword, and she beat him mercilessly.

“I had to. I had to! How long do I have to listen to that? Aren’t the four of you repeating that word like parrots?”

Deeply troubled, the emperor looked around at the others.

“There’s no way there’s only that. He couldn’t have collapsed just like that!”

The emperor and Nerwen’s eyes met. Nerwen looked at him with cold eyes, as if bored.

“The guide is probably you, an elf. Please let me know how your travel plans went.”

“It has nothing to do with me. We followed Farseer’s plan.”

“Quit…”

Farseer gritted his teeth.

“It was necessary. It’s what the leader, the hero, wanted, and it’s what we all agreed on.”

Even, he had agreed to this plan. Maybe that’s why he was just keeping that huge anger inside.

“As quickly as possible.”

She opened a subspace portal and handed him a book. It was an old and rough book, but it was not enough to see the contents.

“…it will happen.”

The emperor accepted it and handed over the book on the spot.

“Yes. This side is rather accurate. The information that comes to me is limited. Not only is it not clear, but most of the records are focused on majors.”

The news of winning the next dungeon at an unbelievable speed, the story of defeating an army of monsters and protecting the village, and the story of going out to find another enemy with a tired body.

Naturally, I thought their relationship would be okay too. It wasn’t that the warriors’ party was not without conflict, but it wasn’t the achievement and speed that could be achieved by going through and resolving such trivial conflicts.

The emperor, who passed the first half smoothly, slowly hardened his face as the record entered the middle. The time spent turning the pages increased, and his expression grew darker.

“Whoops… crazy… everyone crazy. I got the wrong person. Everyone here is crazy.”

The emperor gritted his teeth and looked back at the women once in a while.

“Did you say that you defeated the demon lord with such a crazy schedule?”

/////

“You’d better not show up unnecessarily.”

As I was about to return in a good mood after receiving the money I had just promised, a man grabbed me by the shoulder.

“…why are you putting your hand on someone else’s shoulder?”

Arrogance flowed from the wrinkles between his face. It may be a prejudice, but the old adventurer in me did not remain in good shape.

Exactly, there was no middle ground.

Passionate people had endless leisure and powerful power through skill, training, experience, and magic tools, but mediocre people would quit their jobs and do other things with the money they earned moderately.

If there were a lot of people in the guild, they would become guild branch managers, blacksmiths, herbalists, and rarely farmers.

Except for those two, those who remained were mostly expendable. He didn’t die because of his talent, cunning, and cowardice, but he spent his luck on gambling, women, and alcohol recklessly, and was commissioned again.

But the body is finite, and you can’t earn the same money doing the same thing forever. They had to make up for their diminishing returns through cunning and meanness.

“Hey, Captain. Don’t talk too much. What does the guy who got the goblin ears from yesterday know?”

A middle-aged adventurer with a spear calmed him down and pretended to be friendly.

“I’m new so I don’t know, but you have to pay separately for that.”

“Why?”

“There’s an unspoken rule. Those who want ‘voluntary help’ like that will be given 20% more per person. That soldier saved his money, but if we help him, he won’t get used to it?”

I could understand. Because adventurers and employers were never good friends.

“You’re not going to work here for the rest of your life, are you? Conversely, if we’re in danger, do you think they’ll save us? They wouldn’t care unless the line collapsed.”

He will be right. However, it didn’t make much sense to me.

I don’t know how long I’ll be working as an adventurer, but even if the work is long, I don’t think I’ll be swayed by a few pennies like this.

The lives of a few soldiers who might die right away were more valuable than the few pennies they would never get.

“Ah, yes.”

Even so, I didn’t want to fight now. Cutting a knife is labor, and punching is also labor. There is no reason to get caught up in useless things.

“What kind of habit are you, you son of a bitch or an adult, talking about! If a distant senior gives you life advice, you should at least pretend to hear it!”

The old adventurer, who had been lost for a while, drew his sword. The adventurers sitting in the guild building cheered with anticipation.

“No, is this the original atmosphere here?”

“A spoiled bastard. He seemed to use a knife quite a bit, but a naughty bastard like you should take care of it!”

My head was dizzy from the sudden shout.

Even if it’s the first adventurers, shouldn’t the adventurers who went together shouldn’t show that kind of reaction?

“No, didn’t you see me fighting?”

He cut down the orcs so easily, but that didn’t seem to impress them that much.

“Looks like you haven’t even learned how to use a proper sword. Isn’t that the kind of guy who comes from an aristocrat and believes in magic?”

“That’s… not necessarily wrong.”

The people around him, of course, thought that the old man would win.

Am I using some kind of poison? Have they been hypnotized as a group?

“In the first place, if he was a real strongman, he would have belonged to a famous party long ago, or the princess would have hired him.”

“As if he’s a kid, he’s become something… Get scolded!”

-great! Throw away the fuss!

“No, you can’t do that.”

Because of the Holy Sword sneaking in, I covered my mouth and answered in a whisper.

– Subject and object are different! Be aware of it in moderation!

“That’s right… Anyway, I’m sorry.”

I tried to apologize to the elderly man, but the old man interrupted and squealed.

“Who are you apologizing to now!”

It didn’t fit the logic, and the longer I dragged it out like this, the more I felt like it would tire me out.

“Oh, sorry.”

I drew my sword. It won’t kill you even if you hit it moderately, so this will help you save time and get a good night’s sleep.

“Come on. Didn’t you say you’d be scolded?”