Chapter 102 – Confusing Betrayal (3)
With Aria coming to her senses, Kalt came down to the first floor.
“See, that’s right! I heard that Mr. Kalt will be brought with him.”
“What? You’re fine again?”
Nellis and Scarlett staring at Aria who came down to the first floor.
When they entered, she felt strange when Aria, who had been giving off a strange vibe, returned to her usual self.
Before the two could ask any more questions, Aria spoke to them first.
“I’m sorry, I was late because I didn’t sleep well.”
“Less awake?”
“You said that?”
“Yes. I felt particularly drowsy this morning… I guess I didn’t show up. Furthermore, I’m sorry.”
“Aria gets horny the less she wakes up…”
“Hey, it’s not dirty!”
“No, but in my opinion, it’s a bit weird…”
Beans!
“Ouch!”
“Just move on. Aria is in trouble.”
“Tsk… There’s no need to beat me up!”
“Does it hurt a lot, Nellis?”
Kalt gently stroked Nellis’ head.
“Hehe~ The pain went away because Mr. Kalt touched me!”
“That’s good. Now, let’s eat first.”
◈
While finishing breakfast and heading to the guild, Scarlett glanced at Kalt’s hand.
‘What, pat Nellis on the head for hitting her? No matter how naive Nellis is, isn’t she too easy to mess with?
It was just a minor complaint.
One complaint.
She kept telling Aria that she was dirty, but she was just talking to Nellis, but she was worried, and somehow she felt like she had done something wrong, which made her uncomfortable.
Two complaints.
She didn’t like Kalt’s behavior of stroking Nellis’ head after hitting her a little.
Three complaints.
For some reason, she didn’t like the way Nellis’ face was smiling so brightly as she was being stroked by Kalt.
‘No matter how successful I am in magic or how successful I am in counseling, I have never been petted…’
It’s an amazing thought that makes you wonder what you’re thinking when you become aware of it.
But Nellis didn’t realize it when she looked back on herself.
And when she arrived at the guild.
Scarlett had an unexpected meeting.
It was time to look at the request board together to decide which monster to catch.
“Scarlett?”
“…!”
Scarlett’s name called behind her back.
And Scarlett remembered the voice of the one calling her name.
She is the hero of the first party she joined.
A man who said he was an incompetent wizard.
Even recently, it was the voice of a man that occasionally appeared when I had nightmares.
Scarlett slowly turns her head.
“What, is it real?”
I saw the warrior’s face looking at me with curiosity.
No, it wasn’t just that hero, there were also people who were in the same party at the time and people who were seeing each other for the first time.
“Uh, why… You…”
“Scarlett, who is that person?”
Nellis asked, puzzled by Scarlett’s unusual reaction.
“… I was the first person to join the party.”
“What?”
The first person Scarlett joined a party with.
That means.
‘You mean he’s the one who heartlessly abandoned Scarlett?’
Knowing Scarlett’s situation, neither Nellis nor Aria could give her a good look.
“It’s been a long time? But why are you here? You can’t even come to a place like this with your skills…”
Before the man can finish speaking.
Before Nellis and Aria’s impressions got worse at the man’s words.
Kalt came to the front.
“Excuse me, but who are you? Do you know Scarlett, the wizard in our party?”
In response to Kalt’s question, the man took a simple pose and said.
“As for me, I am the eldest son of the honorable Count Tsire and a dual-strike warrior. Zenit Tsirej.”
“I see. My name is Kalt. I am the vanguard of the Indomitable Hero Nellis’ party.”
“Nellis, the Indomitable Hero? That’s a name I’ve never heard of.”
“I hope you remember this well as it is a party that will be active in the future.”
“This is a party that will be active in the future?”
With a quick glance, Zenit Tshire’s eyes turned to Scarlett.
“Heh.”
And Zenit Tshire laughed without even thinking about hiding it.
“I don’t think it’ll be possible as long as that liar is around, right?”
Scarlett’s eyebrows rose at Zenit Tshire’s words.
“Liar…? Who is the liar?”
“S, Scarlett.”
“Of course it’s you, Scarlett. You’re not lying and hiding it from the party right now, are you?”
“I never lied! Even when I was at the same party as you! I didn’t even know!”
“I wonder what it must have been like. We were treated so harshly back then.”
“It…!”
Biting her molars, Scarlett tried to approach Zenit Tshire.
Scarlett’s feelings of betrayal at that time, as well as her dissatisfaction with Zenit Tsire and the other party members who left immediately without trusting her in the slightest, have not disappeared.
“It’s a pierced mouth!”
However, Kalt blocked Scarlett’s path by moving slightly to the side.
“Move over, Kalt!”
“Calm down, Scarlett.”
“I look real…!”
“What’s the point of talking to someone who is a waste of time to deal with?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
At Kalt’s words, which were kind in tone but not at all in content, Zenit Tsire and Scarlett in front of him also looked up at Kalt blankly.
“A waste of time? Are you saying that dealing with me now is a waste?”
“At least from our perspective, that’s right. Isn’t that right? There’s nothing good to be gained from talking to someone who is trying to denigrate our party’s precious wizard.”
“Oh, that’s right! Why are you criticizing our Scarlett? Scarlett doesn’t lie even if she acts a little harshly towards others!”
Nellis agreed with Kalt’s words and protested to Zenit Tshire behind Kalt.
“Ha, haha. What do you not know? Did Scarlett even brag about being the Academy’s top student? Yes, that’s true. But Scarlett!”
“I already know about Scarlett’s problem.”
“What? You knew that and still stayed together? Are you sane?”
Kalt sighed and shook her head towards Zenith Tshire, who was showing an incomprehensible attitude.
“Sigh, it looks like her head isn’t working well. When did the Scarlett you remember become an enemy? Our talented wizard.”
Calt gently placed her hand on Scarlett’s shoulder.
“She has already overcome her problems.”
“What? That couldn’t be possible… At that time, I thought it would never get better.”
“I also heard from Scarlett about that time. What kind of problem Scarlett had. When did she find out about it. And…”
Kalt took his hand off Scarlett’s shoulder and faced Zenit Tshire directly.
“You don’t know that. No, it’s also how heartlessly you threw Scarlett away.”
There was no kindness in that voice.
“This is such trash that it can’t be considered a warrior’s party.”
“What? Trash? Ha, don’t be funny. What’s trash about kicking out an incompetent, useless, and rather troublesome member? Judging by his name, he’s a commoner, but how dare you insult me, the eldest son of the count and a warrior…”
“There is nothing we can do about changing a member who lacks strength. But can it really be said that it is heroic to ignore a colleague who is trying to fix it and to ridicule, criticize, and throw it away? No, it may have been like that at the time. Even if he is a hero, he is still a hero. “Because I don’t have any experience and not everyone can say I have a mature mind.”
Kalt said, raising one corner of his mouth to make the other person irritated.
“But the first thing you do after meeting for a long time is to disparage Scarlett with trivial lies. You have a personality that is not worthy of a warrior’s protection.”
“Ugh! How dare you…!”
Kalt observed Zenit Tshire’s angry expression.
No, not just the expression now, but Zenit Tsire’s voice and face when she first saw Scarlett.
And after recalling and organizing all the attitudes I had had up until now, I even included the stories of Scarlett and Janet Tsire in the past to understand the situation.
‘Ah, that’s what it was.’
“I understand. You… Felt inferior to Scarlett?”
Zenit Tshire’s face was distorted in an ugly way.
“What! Me! I feel inferior!? Oh, my! I feel inferior to that incompetent bitch who can’t even use magic properly!”
“Jeez, Zenit. Calm down.”
Seeing Zenit so upset, a party member who was watching her from behind tried to calm her down.
But Zenit Tshire waved her arm wildly.
“Shut up! I’m telling you to get over it even after hearing such nonsense!”
Kalt looked back at Scarlett and asked.
“Scarlett, I want to ask you something.”
“W-what is it?”
“I’m not a noble, so I don’t know… Is it possible that the Count Tsire family is lower in rank than the Count Bunnings family?”
“Huh? No, I don’t know about that. I wasn’t interested in that in the first place…”
“Wow, you weren’t interested?”
At Scarlett’s words, deep wrinkles appeared between Zenit Tshire’s eyebrows.
Satisfied with Zenit Tshire’s response, Kalt asked further questions.
“Why weren’t you interested? Don’t nobles know about the differences between each family?”
“That’s because I was only concentrating on improving my magic skills. Because of that, I didn’t particularly go out to social gatherings. I thought that even though I knew the names of each family, I could learn about their relationships later…”
“Aha, that’s right. That means Scarlett…”
Kalt looked at Zenit Tshire and said with a sneer that was very nerve-wracking.
“You didn’t feel any need to be interested in other families?”
A sound of teeth grinding was heard from Zenit Thrash.