“What I did was sell information to Luscelt and his gang,” Pelorro said, finally spilling the beans. Now that he had started, he felt there was no point in holding back, and the words flowed out uncontrollably. “The information was about our movements, about Master and Soulgros—what kind of people they are. Things like that.”
Lucil tried to imagine how Pelorro had passed on this information. Perhaps during those times when he disappeared after drinking at the guild, he had met with Luscelt to relay the information.
“Why…?” Lucil’s voice trembled. He wanted to shout in anger, but the shock of Pelorro’s betrayal left him unable to speak loudly. Pelorro’s tone, on the other hand, grew stronger, as if he had resigned himself to the truth. He spoke with intense emotion.
“For money.”
“What…?”
Lucil asked again, not because he hadn’t heard but because he couldn’t believe what he had heard. The words were clear, but their meaning was too shocking to accept.
“The reason I sold the information to Luscelt was simple. I did it for money—because I could get a lot of money.”
Hearing the same words again, Lucil realized it was no mistake. He had betrayed his family for money.
“For such a reason!”
“Such a reason?” Pelorro repeated, his voice now tinged with anger. Lucil’s outrage seemed to fuel his own.
“Yes, for such a reason!” Pelorro glared at Lucil, his face contorted with fury.
This anger was different from the playful anger Pelorro had shown in the past. It came from a deep, genuine place within him.
“Do you have any idea how important money is?! You need it for everything! To eat, to buy necessities—you need money for all of it!”
“I know that! But selling out your comrades—your family—for money?!”
“All of this is your fault, Lucil!”
“What?” Lucil’s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Pelorro. He glared at him with bloodshot eyes, his face flushed with anger. His breathing was heavy, and he showed no sign of calming down. In fact, his emotions seemed to be spiraling out of control.
“Hah. Listen, Lucil. Our guild is small, right?”
“Y-Yeah, it is…”
Lucil nodded at Pelorro’s words. Indeed, their guild barely met the minimum membership requirement of five and was undeniably a small guild.
“Because we’re small, we don’t earn as much as other guilds. After restocking on healing and antidote potions, there’s hardly any money left. I became an adventurer to get rich. How am I supposed to be satisfied with a meager amount of money?”
“Even so, we were having fun together, weren’t we?”
Lucil knew that Pelorro was more obsessed with money than the other members. But he had never found it suspicious; it was a common trait among adventurers. Lucil and Lucika had also become adventurers to earn money and feed themselves.
Despite their small numbers, their guild had competent members. They never struggled to make ends meet and enjoyed their time together as a family.
“Yeah, it really was fun,” Pelorro said with a faint, wistful smile.
If he had only cared about money, he could have left their small guild and joined a larger one. Pelorro wasn’t weak. He could have joined a mid-tier guild like Praeshield if he didn’t aim too high.
Yet he stayed with Lucil and the others because he found comfort and camaraderie. He enjoyed bickering with Lucil, teasing Lucika, drinking with Apollo, and listening to Ligg’s lectures. He cherished those everyday moments.
But something had changed.
“But things were only truly fun until Lucika was cursed,” he said.
“The curse…”
Lucil shrank under Pelorro’s gaze, understanding the gravity of the situation.
“Yes. The curse Lucika took to protect you… Master called it a Ragel’s curse, right? Since then, I—the guild changed,” Pelorro said, laughing bitterly.
“Sure, I never hated Lucika or you. I always used healing potions generously when you got hurt, never hesitating to spend money on you.”
“…”
Indeed, Pelorro had never hesitated to use items for Lucil or Lucika despite his apparent obsession with money. That was why Lucil had never suspected his greed.
“But you see… isn’t it strange that we ran out of money so quickly? Huh?!”
“…”
Lucil trembled at Pelorro’s shout, recognizing the truth in his words.
“We spent everything just to buy information about the Elixir! We used all the money we saved! When that wasn’t enough, we sold guild supplies! Now there’s nothing left in the guild!”
The rarity and value of natural Elixir was indeed greater than human life.
Even if Lucil’s small guild had gathered all their resources, it wouldn’t have been enough to obtain information about the Elixir. Yet, the information broker World’s Eye had demanded just the amount they could scrape together and sold them the information easily.
“When I sold the information, World’s Eye said something about wanting to cause trouble for someone they disliked. I didn’t understand it at the time,” Pelorro explained.
As a result, their guild was left nearly bankrupt.
“And that’s not all. We’re in debt now, too… Damn it. I didn’t become an adventurer to live this desperate, on-the-edge life!”
“Because of me…” Lucil felt a crushing sense of guilt.
It wasn’t Lucika who had originally been the Ragel’s target—it was Lucil. Lucika had sacrificed herself to save her brother. It was unfair to blame her. Pelorro continued, glaring at Lucil.
“Lucil, you don’t know this, but I told Apollo and Ligg many times to give up on Lucika. I said we should stop paying for information on Elixir. They were conflicted, you know?”
“…”
Lucil clenched his teeth. Even hearing Pelorro’s words, he couldn’t bring himself to blame Apollo and Ligg. It was only natural. Spending such a large amount of money for a comrade wasn’t a decision taken lightly.
“Even so, they decided to pay for the information to save Lucika! Despite my repeated objections!”
Pelorro bared his teeth in frustration.
“Comrades? Family? Does that mean it’s okay for the rest of us to suffer just to save one member?”
Lucil looked down, struggling to reconcile his feelings. Pelorro’s anger and frustration stemmed from feeling neglected and from the immense pressure of their dire financial situation. Pelorro felt the burden of their decisions more acutely, leading to his betrayal.
Moreover, the money they spent was only for information. Paying such a large amount didn’t guarantee they would obtain the Elixir. If they became preoccupied with searching for the Elixir and couldn’t take on regular requests, the guild would have no income at all. They still had debts to repay, so there would be hardly any money left.
“I couldn’t stand that!” Pelorro exclaimed.
“Pelorro…” Lucil couldn’t find the right words to say to him.
The greedy man had indirectly caused the deaths of their beloved family members, Apollo and Ligg, but Lucil couldn’t bring himself to condemn him. Not when the man was pouring out his emotions like this.
“And the final reason I abandoned you all was you, Master,” Pelorro said, glaring at Master with vacant eyes. Even under such a chilling gaze, Master smiled serenely.
“When you stopped the progression of Lucika’s curse, it made it impossible to stop the search for the Elixir. Apollo and Ligg became even more determined. When I suggested we give up one last time, they got angry at me.”
If Master hadn’t intervened and the curse had continued to progress, Lucika would have died within a year. Pelorro didn’t know the specifics of the curse, but he knew that much. If that had happened, they could have started over. He could have endured it for that long. But with Master extending the time they could search for the Elixir, it became unbearable for Pelorro.
“It’s partly your fault I betrayed them, Master!”
“No, it isn’t! Master saved us!” Lucil protested, but Master only responded to Pelorro’s sharp glare with a wry smile.
Having said everything he wanted, Pelorro turned and walked toward Luscelt. He, who had been listening to Pelorro’s words with a pale, sneering face, addressed him as he approached.
“Well, well, Pelorro. You’ve finally told them everything. How does it feel to get that off your chest?” Luscelt asked, his tone mocking.
“Shut up,” Pelorro replied curtly, his expression still filled with bitterness and regret.
“Oh, are you done?” Luscelt asked.
“Yeah. I’ve said everything I needed to. You want to kill Master, right? He’s pissed me off too. Make sure you make him suffer before you kill him.”
“Ahyahyahya! You don’t need to tell me twice,” Luscelt replied, laughing unpleasantly. Hearing this, Lucil realized there was no way he could ever reconcile with Pelorro. Luscelt pushed himself off the tree he was leaning against and placed a hand on Pelorro’s shoulder.
“So, you’re ready to say goodbye then?”
“Yeah. Make sure you give me the money,” Pelorro said, glancing briefly at Lucil. Seeing Lucil alive one last time made him feel a twinge of sentimentality, but he had already made his decision when he allied with Luscelt and the Steel Matriarch.
However, Luscelt only laughed mockingly at Pelorro’s resolve.
“You’re an idiot. You don’t get it, do you? Listen carefully to what I’m saying…”
Before Pelorro could understand Luscelt’s words, a loud thud echoed.
Lucil’s eyes widened in shock as Luscelt’s grin twisted even further.
“Huh?”
Pelorro finally realized that Luscelt’s arm had pierced through his own stomach.