“Chris, I’m asking you a question. You know what’ll happen if you don’t hurry up and answer, yeah?” I threw a punch, which skimmed his cheek and slammed into the wall.
“Ack! A-All right, I get it. Stop!” he cried pitifully. “I-I don’t know the details, but all Abel did was touch me, and then I was able to use Heart of the Hero.”
“You don’t know the details? I find that hard to believe. Tell me the truth, Chris.” I punched the wall again.
“I-I’m not lying. I honestly don’t know. Please believe me!”
Lying now would only be for the benefit of Abel and Ishtobal, and I didn’t think Chris was particularly loyal.
“Chris, you went on a rampage in an Adventurers Guild and tried to kill me. Those Ishtobal soldiers told me you were acting without orders. Is that true?”
“They’re trying to sell me out! Th-That’s not true. You’ve got to listen to me! I was following Abel’s orders!”
Seeing this pathetic Chris suddenly made me remember. There was this one S-rank adventurer when I was a kid that, despite being all full of himself, started begging for his life the second I beat him up a bit. That was Chris.
“So, you’re saying Abel ordered you to hurt those adventurers, my friends?”
“Th-That…that was because they wouldn’t tell me where you were…”
Meaning Chris has just gone on a rampage.
“Did Abel really order you to kill me?”
“Y-Yeah. He told me to kill you!”
“Then let me ask, what was he trying to achieve by killing me? You’re a member of the hero’s party. If Abel gave you an order, I’d imagine he’d at least tell you what you’re trying to do.”
“L-Like I have any clue…”
That implied Chris was also trying to kill me because he went out of control? But he came to Carnell under Abel’s orders, meaning there was some goal. And whoever was watching him with the familiars didn’t try to stop him. They approved of his rampage.
“Chris, tell me the truth. What exactly did Abel tell you to do?”
Finally realizing he couldn’t evade the question anymore, he bitterly said, “H-He wanted me to bring him SSS-rank adventurers to make the party more powerful.”
“If that’s the case, why’d you try to kill me?”
“I-I never did like you. If I killed you, an SSS-rank adventurer, it’d mean I was stronger than you. Abel told me it was fine if I brought you back dead.”
That’s why he was trying to kill me? Heart of the Hero might have turned him more violent, but he was scum to begin with. He was trying to kill me simply for his own satisfaction. And despite doing all this for a reason as stupid as that, he was still trying to blame it all on others.
Considering his personality, I had a feeling he’d try to retaliate against me if I took off the mana-sealing collar. What would be best for Jessica and the others would be for me to kill Chris here. I pulled my two swords from my Inventory.
“H-Hey, Arius, wh-what are you going to do?” he stammered.
It didn’t matter that he was a member of the hero’s party. I didn’t think what I was doing was wrong, and I didn’t care that I’d be making an enemy of the hero.
“Arius, wait!” The door to the training room opened, and Jessica came in shouting. “If you’re doing that for yourself, then that’s fine, but I don’t want you to do that if it’s meant to be for us!”
I’d known she’d been outside listening.
“I agree with Jessica,” added Allen, his expression serious. “Don’t make more enemies for yourself for our sake!”
“Arius, we’re going to need him to take responsibility,” said Gale. “We’re not the ones who will put him on trial; that’ll be the lord of Carnell. Being an adventurer means running into dangerous people every day. We’ll manage better next time.”
I knew he was saying that for my sake.
“You should trust us more, Arius. We might have fumbled this fight, but we won’t let him mess with us next time,” Marcia stated with confidence.
“All right. I’ll give you Chris and the soldiers,” I gave in, then turned back to Chris. “If you see Abel, tell him: I have no intentions of joining the hero’s party, and I don’t care who you are, I do not show mercy to my enemies. I’ll let you go this time because everyone is telling me to, but the next time I see you, I will treat you as my enemy.”
After that, the Carnell guards finally arrived. By the time we handed over Chris and the Ishtobal soldiers to them, it was past one in the morning.
“I’m sorry I got everyone involved in that mess,” I said. “And I’m sorry to the master and Guild employees for making them work so late.”
When I’d let down the Impenetrable Defense around the Guild, the rest of the adventurers had returned to their lodgings. Jessica’s and Gale’s parties stayed in the Guild, along with the master and some of the Guild employees.
Everyone told me it wasn’t my fault; they were grateful that I rushed in to help.
“And I appreciate you all trying to cover for me, but next time someone comes here and wants me for something, let me know right away. If it’s my problem, I’ll handle it myself,” I told them.
Chris came to Carnell looking for me. It was just a fact that I got everyone else involved. I didn’t want them to be dragged into things because of me.
“I know you’re strong, Arius…but you can’t take on everything alone!” Jessica exclaimed. She suddenly rushed toward me and threw her arms around me, burying her face in my chest. “Why did you even come? I mean, I appreciate you coming to save us, but…Chris is a member of the hero’s party. Even you can’t handle making an enemy of the hero…”
“Hey, Jessica, I’m not so full of myself that I think I can handle everything on my own. But I want to protect all of you, the same way you tried to protect me.”
Because Jessica, Gale, and their parties were all good people.
“Arius…it’s unfair of you to say it like that…”
“Is it? I thought it was normal to want to protect good people.”
I was aware I was evading the point. There was a difference between not dragging people into things and saving them when they were in trouble. But I didn’t want to pull them into things, and I did want to save them.
“You’re not fooling me, Arius, and I’ll get you to acknowledge how strong I am,” Marcia taunted with a grin. She was being a little frustrating, but it sounded like she was trying to say it wasn’t a problem if they did get dragged into things.
“Anyway, it’s late,” I said. “I should be heading out. Let me know right away if Chris or the hero’s party does anything, all right?”
I thanked the master and the Guild employees, then left the Guild of Carnell.