Chapter 2
The Person Who
Acts Behind the Scenes
Translator : PolterGlast
The loud laughter of my
former party members remained unceasing as I walked out of the tavern.
Apparently, they were
having rounds of drinks to commemorate my expulsion.
"The look on his
face when he was told he had been expelled was priceless!"
"You can say that
again. Our drinks gonna be good tonight!"
"It was a really
fun spectacle to watch. I've always wanted to beat up a human being. I couldn't
get that feeling from a monster. In that sense, at least he was useful in the
end."
They were having a lot
of fun while insulting me.
It seems that this is
what Luxia's true nature is like.
She just said she
couldn't bear to feel the pleasure of beating people up.
Isn't She's just a
psychopath?
"What a terrible
thing to say, Luxia-chan. You were his best friend, weren't you?"
"Aren't you the same,
Hauser? You seemed to enjoy beating him up too. The only reason I was friendly
with him was because I lost to him in a game of rock-paper-scissors. And he got
all happy because I was being nice to him. What a fool."
"Well, at any
rate, we've gotten rid of our burden now. From here on, we'll go straight to
subjugate the Demon King. The reward will be split among the three of us."
I see now.
So it also meant to
make sure that the three of them got a larger share of rewards, huh?
-Wait, this is not the
time to be analyzing this. How can they be so unreasonable?
"Today's mission
was a piece of cake, wasn't it? I can't believe most people can't even defeat
something like that."
"Since that trash
was nothing more than a burden, we were practically the only three who made it
to the S rank. Our party is going to be a hero party, a group of winners led by
this Arnold-sama!"
"Forget about
that small fry, let's just eat the rest of the food."
Don't tell me you guys
really think that you're so strong? Unfortunately, a party without me won't be
able to beat not only the Demon King, but even his subordinates. As it is,
you're just a bunch of weaklings.
You guys will become
losers.
"Phew~! We're
going to be busy tomorrow. Drink as much as you can today! Let's spend the
money he left behind!"
"I'll follow you,
Arnold-san, wherever you lead me!"
"I'll buy a lot
of servants once I defeat the Demon King. Kufufufu, I'm looking forward to
it!"
I never realized that
they were such a bunch of scum.
It's probably a good
thing that I was expelled.
But alas, I'm in
trouble now. Right now, I don't have a lot of money, let alone equipment. But
it would be awkward to go back to get it now. Besides, I can't just stand here
and listen forever.
Now what should I
do?......
All right, let's go to
the nearest town for the time being!
I need to decide on a
plan for the future, and the first thing I need to do is find a place to stay.
"....... Bye, guys."
While listening to the
three of them laughing behind my back, I began to walk alone through the dark
night streets.
◇◆◇◆◇◆
They expelled me, even
though I was helping the party to win comfortably. If I wanted to, I could kill
an S-rank monster by myself in an instant.
But that would have
been boring, and I might have drawn the jealousy and animosity of my friends.
It is the fate of those who are too strong. I liked the atmosphere of everyone
working together, so I stayed in the shadows and supported my friends.
--It was not that I
played the "ass-kisser" role. I supported my friends with everything
I had. That's why we were promoted to the S rank in just three months. This
seems to be the fastest rank-up recorded.
Then why didn't I tell
my allies about my ability?
It's not that I didn't
want to, but that I couldn't.
It is because this
ability is somewhat similar to the one used by the Demon King's forces.
Everyone has a secret
or two, but in my case, it is this ability.
If it were to become public
knowledge, there would be a concern that it would cause a commotion. I thought
there were possibilities that I might be expelled for being creepy, but I never
thought I would be treated as incompetent ...... I thought everything would be
okay as long as I was one of them, but they didn't believe me and expelled me
......
My ability is ≪Inversion≫. Simply put, it turns the status of the enemy upside down. The
Catastrophe Dragon we defeated today was an S-rank monster, but with my
ability, it will be on the same level as an F-rank monster.
F-rank monsters are
goblins at best. In other words, the three of them were happy to beat a goblin
to a pulp. Even if they did their best, they would only be able to defeat an
A-ranked monster.
When I was beaten and
kicked by them earlier, I used this ability to weaken their attack power.
Besides reversing their status, I can also use it in this way.
They hit me as hard as
they could without mercy. They may have felt the impact of the attack on
themselves, but in reality, for me, it felt as if a fly had landed on me. I was
caught off guard and got hit once, which made me spit out my Neapolitan, but I
was mostly unharmed.
Also, my overall stats
are average, but with this ability, that's not a problem. If the enemy is
stronger than me, I will apply my ability to make him weaker than me. If it is
weaker than me, I will crush it as it is. In other words, it is almost certain
that I can win in a one-on-one fight.
But it is true that my
magic power is zero, and that is a problem. I still admire magic, and there is
probably no one with zero magic power after all. It's one of the reasons I was
expelled.
Well, I have this
ability instead, so all is good.
By the way, here's my
status.
─────────
Name: Rikuto
Stamina: C
Physical Attack: C
Physical Defense: C
Magic Attack: -
Magic Resistance: C
Magic Power: -
Agility: C
─────────
There are nine ranks
of status.
SS, S, A, B, C, D, E,
F, and G.
G rank is the level of
a bug, and SS is a completely out-of-the-world level.
Nevertheless, can
those guys go on an S-rank quest by themselves?
No, let's not think
about the past.
I'm a little worried,
but it doesn't matter to me anymore.
"Let's see, I'll
just call it a night here."
I rested my back
against a large tree and quietly closed my eyes.
It's been a while
since I've had a night alone. But I think I'm going to have a good night's
sleep.
Oh, come to think of
it, I've made up my mind on one thing.
I'm sure there are
others who have been expelled from the party just like me.
Unlike me, I'm sure
they're going through a really hard time.
I'm going to team up
with them and defeat the Demon King.
Let's prove that there
are no incompetent people in this world.
