Chapter 38.3 Volume 1 – Intermission Sword of Lightning III

「Armia, where are we going……… Kh!」

Along with the confused Leader and Sarveria-san, I headed toward the place where even beginner came to, an armor shop.
And then, the moment they understood where they were brought to, color of humiliation spread on their face.

「Don’t screw with me! Why are we… in this place…」

The next moment, Leader exposed his feeling and yelled at me.
Sarveria-san also showing the same expression as Leader.
It seemed they were humiliated by the fact they were brought to an armor shop for beginners.

「We are, Sword of Lightning is no longer a first-class party.」

「Wha-!」

「Kh!」

Hearing my declaration, they shut their mouth.

It was a reality that had to be pointed out by someone.
But, even when I understood that, I still felt guilty looking at the expression on their face.

「… No, nevermind not being a first-class party anymore, we are even poorer than the adventurers around. Now is not the time to be picky with the armor shop we visited because of your pride.」

However, I ignored the feeling of guilt and continued my remark.
We whose assets had been mostly confiscated now were inferior even compared to beginner adventurer.
The situation wouldn’t change by escaping reality.
……If we stopped here just because of our pride, then we wouldn’t be able to change.

「But, it’s not yet the end for us.」

Along with these words, I thrust my hand toward Leader and Sarveria-san.

「………Hm?」

「What……」

From my sudden act, they were confused for a moment.
However, the moment they saw something I held in my hand, the expression they had on their face for a while now changed to that of a surprise

What I held in my hand was enough money to buy beginner’s armors.

By all right, I couldn’t have had this amount of money.
While not everything was taken away, we didn’t have enough money to buy armor.
Besides, there was no way there was anyone who would lend their money to the current Sword of Lightning.
And because they knew it, they couldn’t hide their surprise.

「Actually, I got this money from Laila-san. It was when they invited me to their party.」

「………………Wha-」

I told that to them.
Hearing that, despair appeared on their face.
Perhaps they thought, using this money, I wanted to get out from this party.
However, I smiled and shook my head.

「But I refused.」

Yes, I didn’t enter Laila-san’s party.
It was not because their party was weak.
In fact, their party was probably one of the most powerful parties not only in the labyrinth city but also in the capital city.
I also respected her and had a friendly relationship with her.

But it was Leader and Sarveria-san I was being affectionate first.

The scene of the first time I entered the labyrinth as the member of Sword of Lightning still remained in my head.
At that time, I was fascinated by how Leader and Sarveria-san’s fight.
Thinking it again now, it was probably because I was weak.
They were by no means had a spectacular ability.

——— Even so, I didn’t want to abandon them who were my comrade.

「It’s because… I want to keep going to the labyrinth together with Leader and Sarveria-san.」

Along with those words, I laughed.

Borrowing money from someone after refusing their invitation to their party was not something that could be praised.

I knew it was terribly shameful.
Still, swallowing the shame, I asked Laila-san for the sake of Leader and Sarveria-san.

「But if we have this we can start over.」

Hearing my words, their attention was gathered on the money in my hand.

「Surely we may have done something that we shouldn’t do, but we can still make amends and start over.」

I stopped my words there and smiled.

「After we get our equipment sorted with this money, I don’t think we can get that much money right away. However, let’s return the money we take unjustly from Raust-san even if it’s a little bit at a time.」

「Gh!」

From my words, they looked down, their shoulder shaking.
It was as if they regretted what they have been doing so far.

「To Laila-san too, if we have a little room in our saving, let’s pay her back and give her a gift, a thank you gift for lending us money despite our current condition.」

While I said that, I imagined the future I had in my mind again.
With the equipment bought with this money, we won’t be able to earn much.
Still, after apologizing to the people we have troubled and thanking the people that help us, we might be able to become a first-class party again after working hard.
And if that happens, I may be able to evaluate myself a little better.
After I thought so, I laughed.

「…………Huh?」

….But when I saw the expression of Leader and Sarveria-san when they raised their head, I lost my words.

Floating there was anger they couldn’t hide even if they wanted to.
Seeing that, my thought halted for a moment.

「Are you fucking kidding!? We are the victims!」

「Guh!」

……It was a fatal gap.

The next moment, I fell to the ground after I felt an impact on my head.
I could feel blood flowed down on my face as my consciousness became dimmer.

「We are first-class adventurers even now!」

……Finally, along with Leader’s hysterical shout, my consciousness cut off.