Volume 1 Chapter 23 The Return
"...No way. He actually won. And in the second half, he just dominated..."
Frain's words snapped me out of my daze.
"Huh! Did I win?"
"Hey, hey... Are you sure you're okay?"
Frain looked at me skeptically, and I shook my head with a grim expression.
"I don't know... Near the end of the fight with the Chimera, my mind went totally blank."
As I said that, my legs suddenly gave out, and I stumbled. Clay was there to catch me.
"Are you alright, Wade-kun? For now, Ice-san's condition is getting better. ...Honestly, I always thought you were amazing, but I can't believe you beat the Chimera."
And to do it to save someone? You're a hero, man.
Hearing that, I felt a bit guilty. That's not it, Clay. I don't fight for some noble reason.
Just then, Ice started wobbling over to us. I couldn't help but call out in concern.
"Ice, are you okay?"
"Yeah... Wade-kun. I still feel a little queasy, but I'm, uh, okay...?"
As she spoke, Ice jumped into my arms and gently touched my torso.
"Whoa...!"
"Uh, sorry...! I mean, thanks for worrying..."
"No, it's fine... Ouch. For now, I'm just glad you're okay. It would've been tough without your rapier."
As I said that, I glanced at the rapier lying in the middle of the space. It seemed both had been damaged beyond repair in that rampage.
"Sorry for breaking them... I'll get you new ones when we're back."
"No, it's okay...! I'm just happy that you're safe, Wade-kun..."
"Haha. Thanks for saying that... Ice."
With Clay supporting me from the other side, and Ice supporting me, she said while doing so.
"It's frustrating... If I were a water magician, I could have healed Wade-kun's wounds!"
"You're just being greedy. Anyway, let's escape... And Frain, what about your team members?"
"...One person didn't make it. The others are still breathing, so I'll wake them up and take them with us. You guys find your own way to escape."
Looking at the mangled body of his fallen comrade, Frain said, "I don't know what to say, so I just blurted out..."
"I understand. I couldn't save them, I'm sorry."
"Hah, how arrogant. Instead of saying something like that, I'd rather have a good impression of you earlier when you were acting crazy."
Upon being told this, Ice and Clay made strange expressions. Me, acting crazy. It must have been because I said something about liking to fight to the death or something.
Unable to explain, I casually asked the two, "Um, can you at least take us up to the surface for now?"
"Yes. Understood, leave it to me...!"
"Ah. We can handle the enemies up to this point, just the two of us. I'll safely take you to the surface."
I stumbled along unsteadily, the effects of the drugs wearing off gradually until I finally passed out from the pain.
Once we reached the surface, the training ground was chaos.
I was immediately taken to the medical room after collapsing from my injuries, and Ice passed out from the poison acting up again. Clay was detained for questioning about what happened.
Frain, who returned a beat later, added to the explanation. It turned out we had been attacked by a Chimera on a level where we shouldn't have been, resulting in one casualty and five injured.
"Is this explanation accurate?"
"Yes, there are no mistakes."
I was questioned by the instructor while lying in the hospital bed. The instructor sighed deeply and said, "Interrogation is complete."
"Yes, thank you for your hard work."
"It's my line. Wade... you may be a honor trainee, but you always manage to get into some kind of trouble. Whether it's the duel with Manticore or Frain, you have quite a remarkable battle history."
"Sigh"
"Irony, isn't it?"
Feeling somewhat speechless, I remained silent. Then the instructor relaxed his shoulders and continued.
"But, there is no denying your impressive achievements. The Chimera fang that Frain's party recovered and submitted as a forgotten item from your party. That is equivalent to one gold coin."
"...How much is the value of one gold coin?"
"You could live it up for a year."
"Seriously?"
So what does that mean? Living it up... like being able to eat good meals every day, right? So, is it about 3 to 5 million worth?
...Looks like I've earned quite a bit too.
"What you did, that's what we're talking about. No copper-tier adventurer can beat a chimera. Iron-tier goes without saying. That's the kind of stuff you only start hearing about from veteran, top-notch silver-ranked adventurers and up."
"Don't praise me too much. It's embarrassing."
"I'm not praising you. I'm warning you. You are probably a genius. You may be the embryo of a hero. That in itself is wonderful. But it won't be easy for others to follow you."
Upon hearing that, I kept my mouth shut. Ice, Clay. They are good people, but I can't deny that I defeated the chimera by myself more than half the time.
"What should I do?"
"That's for you to decide. Listen, you are strong and talented, but you haven't grasped the basics of being an adventurer. Wade, do you understand?"
The instructor leaned in close to me and said.
"Adventurers are the freest beings of all. They don't take orders from anyone. Even if a king commands them, they can escape to another country if they don't like it. In other words, it's all up to you. You decide everything. You decide, Wade."
I was taken aback by his words and blinked for a while. Then I took a deep breath and replied,
"Yes. I will decide for myself."
"Good, that's the spirit. For now, consider yourself graduated from being a trainee. Here, your adventurer badges."
I looked down at the three adventurer badges handed to me. Sword, bow, torch. All of them were reflecting a dull light on the copper.
"―――Oh... I see, I also learned a third magic at the last minute..."
"Congratulations, Wade. You have achieved the copper rank with all three adventurer badges, becoming the 5th rookie adventurer. Your seniors have already reached silver or gold, and there's even one who reached platinum."
I trembled with excitement at those words.
"But, that doesn't mean there aren't casualties. So, my final words as an instructor, it's still the same. ―――Do your best, but don't die."
"Yes! Thank you for your guidance!"
As I bowed deeply, the instructor said, "Alright, get out of here quickly. The Water Magician has healed your wounds. For now, use whatever money you guys have to secure lodging."
I tilted my head at his words.
"...'You guys'?"
"""..."""
When I turned around, I saw Ice and Clay peeking at us from behind a corner. Meanwhile, Frain was turning away with a bored expression.
"W-Wade-kun...! I-I'll become stronger, so please don't abandon me...!"
"Huh!? W-Wait, hold on a sec, Ice. I'm more embarrassed about you overhearing our conversation just now."
"Wade-kun! I! I'll get stronger! I'm not just watching your heroics! I won't just support you as a hero, I'll become one too and stand by your side!"
"What are saying, Clay?"
"...I can't stand this naive talk. I'm out."
"Don't complain about watching it without permission, Frain!"
We were all yelling back and forth. But then we noticed the commotion in the hallway and looked over.
"Hey, did you hear!? Wade took down a Chimera!" "What?! No way!" "I knew he was talented, but that's...!" "Huh, really? I thought it was just Slow Magic?" "You idiot!"
Just like us, the graduates who had heard our gossip were gathering and chatting excitedly. We stopped making noise and exchanged looks.
"...How are we going to escape?"
No one answered that question. We all froze with tense expressions.
It had been six months since we entered in the spring. It was a certain autumn after finishing the graduation exam.
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