In a certain pub near the kingdom’s borders, a blond man was enjoying a drink. Just a few days prior, he had been banished from Ishtar and stripped of his title of Hero by the Three Great Nations.
Lulu and Sheena were nowhere in sight, though they hadn’t abandoned Allen. He had simply come to drink alone. “Damn it! Nobody sees my true worth!” he screamed, slamming the table with an audible, bang!
Typically, people would find him a nuisance. But in this dilapidated pub out in the sticks, there were no other customers, and the shopkeeper—who was scared of Allen—had gone off to hide in a nearby storehouse.
“They’re all so effing annoying, those damn good-for-nothings! The king, the emperor, everyone in the Holy Principality—all of them!”
Allen had been stripped of his title of Hero, but that wasn’t all. He had been lambasted as the idiot who kicked out the true hero and made into an incompetent fool who had only supported the true hero. Naturally, this “hero” was Lloyd.
Now, Allen couldn’t just no longer live as a Hero, he couldn’t even make it as an adventurer. Nobody would give him any quests.
But quite honestly, he didn’t care about that right now. “I don’t give a damn what anybody thinks of me! They’re just idiots who don’t know how to recognize true talent! If I need money, I can just take on black quests anyway...”
Everybody looked down on Allen, but that was something his pride couldn’t accept. I’m strong! Stronger than anybody! I can lose to no one! I’m the Hero!
His excessive hubris couldn’t accept a society where people saw him as weak.
“I’m strong! I’m a Hero! I’m the strongest man in the whole world!”
After losing his title, Allen had lost a place to belong. He had been stripped of trust, money, and even one of his party members, Mia. Obviously, that was the result of his own failures. He couldn’t blame that on anyone else.
But in Allen’s mind, there wasn’t a shred of doubt that, maybe, this was all his fault. It was the world that was wrong! He was sure of it!
And so, the same thought kept coming back to him.
“Damn it! Don’t anyone dare think this is the end of me!”
He drained his glass, left some money on the table, and headed outside. There, he found Lulu and Sheena, who were ready for battle. They watched him anxiously.
“A-Are we really doing this?” asked Sheena.
“Obviously! I’m a Hero. A chosen one.”
“S-So you’ve already made up your mind,” muttered Lulu, her expression grim.
Allen’s answer was simply that there was no turning back now. “Then, let’s get going! Off to the Holy Principality!”
Thus, the three left town and disappeared into the dark forest.