“Alina…”
While gazing at the scattering Gald, Jade wept.
“I’m so happy, I am. But for some reason, I just can’t be that happy…”
So your valuation of me is based on my skills at office work…, Jade thought, shoulders slumped, as Lululee and Lowe consoled him in semi-amusement.
“Don’t worry about it, leader.”
“Your determination really got across to her, Jade! That’s a good thing.”
“Yeah, maybe, but…”
As a man, he really did want to be thought of as a strong and reliable guy. Well, Alina’s power was so out of the ordinary, it seemed like it’d be rather difficult to get her to think that way about him, though.
Dammit…I swear I’ll get stronger…
Right as he was firmly swearing that with tears in his eyes, there was the sound of footsteps, and a figure came to stand before him. With her arms folded in an imposing stance, looking waaay down at him wordlessly, was Alina.
Lips pressed in a straight line, eyes totally fixed on him—this face said she was definitely angry. He got that much, but didn’t get why, and so he asked with much trepidation, “Wh-what is it, Alina…?”
Sensing danger, Lululee and Lowe quickly moved away from him.
“…You just about died again.”
“Huh?”
“I said you’re not allowed to die! Why is it every time I take my eye off you, every single time, you go straight to almost dying!”
“I—I didn’t die, so forgive me!”
Jade was yanked back and forth, strangled by his lapels for irrational reasons. Dizzy from blood loss, Jade desperately apologized.
“More importantly, Lowe! Lowe!” Instincts sensing his danger, that he would die at this rate, Jade hastily threw a look over at Lowe. “So in short, this means you’re a member of the Dark Guild?” Choosing the moment when Alina’s hands came to a sharp stop, Jade casually escaped from her grasp and changed the subject. “The Flama that you were using was the Dark Guild’s forbidden technique, right?”
Having the discussion turned to him, Lowe awkwardly averted his eyes. “Ahhh…well, it was a long time ago that I was with the Dark Guild. I’m a proper adventurer now, but well, I guess it’s like I’m just halfway involved with the Dark Guild.”
“Halfway?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“The iron rule when you leave the Dark Guild is that they erase all your memories about forbidden techniques. But I was exempted from memory erasure, on the condition that I help them deal with pact-breakers. Well, basically the Dark Guild was okay with me leaving, but they didn’t want to lose a fighter.”
“…So that means…” Lululee, who had been listening, went pale as if she had realized something frightening. “All this time, in between work with Silver Sword, you’ve been killing these ‘pact-breakers’—?”
“Hmm, well, I got requests from the guild just sometimes and killed people.”
With a “yeep,” Lululee’s face stiffened. “I never thought you were a dangerous person like that…”
“Ahhh, sorry for never saying anything.”
“Don’t you give me that!!” Instantly, Lululee’s cheeks were all puffed up, hands on her hips as she scolded him. “So that was the reason that you didn’t come drinking with us sometimes?! Unforgivable!”
“…Ahhh, yeah, sorry.”
“But that’s what was going on, huh? Now it all makes sense.” Having listened to everything, Jade breathed a sigh of relief. “Since you’ve been using forbidden techniques without hesitation. If you left the Dark Guild, you would have had your memory of them erased. So then I was worried if you were a pact-breaker like Gald.”
“—Well, about that…,” Lowe muttered, ruining Jade’s relief. “I’m a pact-breaker now.”
“Huh?”
When they blinked, a voice came from afar.
“Li’l miss, you guys all right?” Coming up to them at a trot was the guildmaster of the Adventurers Guild, Glen. Glen saw the ruined arena and the Silver Sword’s wounds, and instantly his expression turned grim. “I’ve heard about everything that happened. The medical team will be coming soon—”
“How dare you come brazenly walking down here after it’s all over…!” Alina cut him off, her resentful voice ringing out low. “Don’t show up since everything’s conveniently over! Do you know what happened to us?!”
“S-sorry, li’l miss. I actually did rush back in a panic from the Dark Guild headquarters after hearing about the situation.”
“From the Dark Guild headquarters? How did you get here from that far away—?” Jade expressed doubt about Glen’s excuse, but then Lowe interrupted, voice ringing out.
“Geh! Gramps?!”
Unusually, Lowe sounded panicked for real. He was looking at an unfamiliar old man standing there.
“Hoh-hoh. With my power, moving over a distance instantly is no struggle at all,” the old man said with a low laugh. His back was shrunken and slightly hunched, and his face had the wrinkles of many years. He looked no different from any other old man…but the moment Jade saw him, he felt an indescribable tension.
“More importantly, Lowe—you failed to keep your promise.” The short old man scolded Lowe in a calm voice. “Even if it was my idea not to erase your memories…since the Dark Guild’s forbidden techniques have been exposed, none of you in this place can leave alive.”
“!”
The air around them froze. Oh, so this man— Jade quickly realized who that old man was. He was the guildmaster of the Dark Guild, Zepha.
“Gramps, let them off on this one. You can boil me or fry me or whatever you like,” Lowe hastily told the old man, and Lululee lifted her face, with a start.
Jade also realized what Lowe meant to do, and he muttered without thinking, “Pact-breaker…”
Lowe had said that he was a pact-breaker. A pact-breaker meant someone who had exposed forbidden techniques outside of the Dark Guild. Lowe had conditionally left the Dark Guild maintaining his memory of forbidden techniques, but using forbidden techniques in front of Jade and the others wasn’t allowed, after all.
And Lowe himself knew best what happened to pact-breakers, in the end.
“If you’re gonna kill anyone, make it just me, Gramps,” Lowe argued back determinedly. “Yeah, I’m at fault for using Flama in front of them. But I had to do that, or I wouldn’t have been able to stop Gald. If I hadn’t stopped him here, he would have spread even more forbidden techniques to the world. Can’t you acknowledge my achievement in stopping that?”
Lowe’s remark made Zepha fall silent. After some silence, he snorted. “Clever as always. Then I’ll let them get off just with memory erasure. But Silver Sword, you will forget everything not just about forbidden techniques, but also about Lowe.”
“Wha…?!”
Hearing that decision from the old man, Jade and Lululee panicked and looked at Lowe. But Lowe just quietly listened to the old man’s words, and this time, he didn’t argue back. He was silent for just a few seconds, then nodded with a little sigh.
“I’m fine with that. Do it.”
With Zepha’s eyes on him, Lowe smiled at them with total resignation. “Sorry for not fighting with you all this time,” he muttered, then walked toward Zepha.
Lululee and Jade didn’t know what to say, either, and all they could do was fall silent.
But then Lululee suddenly cried out, “—Y-you can’t do that!” Clasping her rod, she blocked Lowe’s way. “What do you mean, forget about Lowe?! I don’t want to do that! I absolutely refuse!”
Jade also somehow dragged himself along, standing at Lululee’s side. After a glance at Lowe, he glared at Zepha. “Forget Lowe? You think we would accept a condition like that?”
“We won’t hand over Lowe…! And we won’t hand over our memories of him, either! He’s one of us!”
Lululee faced Zepha with determination, as if to say she was even willing to fight. Zepha fixed his eyes calmly on them. Jade fought with his gaze as well, but somehow, he was instinctively frightened of meeting eyes with this old man.
Frankly speaking, even if he was an old man, fighting with a man on the level of guildmaster of the Dark Guild at this point would be a bad idea. They had no clue what kind of powers he had. But even if it didn’t seem like they could win, he didn’t want to give this up.
“Oh-ho. You’re quite the reckless little younglings. So you would challenge a foe without even knowing how much stronger they are?”
Eyeing Jade and Lululee, Zepha chuckled as if he were looking at some foolish little animals. His gaze sharpened further, and he turned to Lowe. “Lowe. Look at this. Your friends are defending you with their battered bodies, even knowing they can’t win this challenge. Is this what you wanted? Do you understand the weight of what you did? You’re no longer so young I can let you off because you’re just a little kid.”