INTERLUDE

THE FAIRY’S RAGE

“Lefiya, get a move on!”

“O-okay!”

While Loki Familia’s main group was clashing with the black minotaur, Lefiya and the others were headed to the southern end of Daedalus Street. Following Finn’s orders, they had formed a four-man cell to hound the fleeing vouivre.

“Little Rookie, you bastard. Showing your true colors!”

“Thinking about making money at a time like this…Can you believe this crap?!”

“…”

The human and elf familia members voiced their irritation as they sprinted. They had endless insults for an adventurer who would invite unnecessary chaos by protecting a monster.

How greedy did an adventurer have to be to aim for a rare monster’s high-value drop item at a time like this? That’s how Bell Cranell appeared to them. That was the only way they could rationalize his actions.

Their incandescent rage took the form of open disdain. It was an obvious conclusion.

Lefiya alone kept quiet, lips pursed, face unreadable.

What was that human thinking?!

Lefiya wasn’t feeling the same anger as the others. She was perplexed.

She didn’t want to acknowledge it, but compared to the others, she’d had more interactions with Bell Cranell and, at the very least, understood his nature.

A selfish desire. A vision clouded by riches. Those words could never be used to describe him.

A greedy adventurer? It was so uncharacteristic that instead of bursting with rage, she was more likely to look to the heavens for some explanation. If he was that kind of adventurer, he could have gotten through life a lot easier.

That was why she couldn’t figure it out.

Why would he go this far to protect a monster? Even if it resulted in him being reviled as a greedy adventurer?

Lefiya was trying to process a comparable feeling of shock to Aiz and Tiona when she saw him protect the vouivre. Instead of criticizing him, she was unsure how to respond even now.

Why do I have to be worrying myself over you…?!

That was why she was so unhappy with him—acting in a way that would invite misunderstanding.

Or maybe she was actually feeling anger.

“Other adventurers are…!”

The light from the setting sun shone on Lefiya’s face as a bunch of adventurers from all different familias started appearing on the scene upon hearing the uproar on Daedalus Street. They’d gathered to get the situation under control: If they were going to take out the monster, they needed to act now. Lefiya and the other members from Loki Familia split up and jumped into the forest of interlocking buildings, rushing in the direction from where the cries and dust clouds were originating.

“Eep?! Noooooooooooooo!”

“Whoa, hey, adventurers?! Over here! Over here!!”

The howls of the monster’s advance were without end, and its piercing wails echoed all around. With the others, Lefiya became uneasy as they witnessed weeping prostitutes and their children clambering to escape before them.

Their group accelerated, stepping out onto a straight road.

“There it is!”

They confirmed the sight of the vouivre’s titanic body in the distance. And just before it, the back of a white-haired boy as he pursued the monster.

“We’re going to circle around! Lefiya, hit it with your magic from here!”

“Yes, sir!”

The other three people in her cell moved ahead as Lefiya raised her staff, Forest Teardrop. She could see that the vouivre had already been injured—the adventurers lying in wait must have hit it with their own attacks. The dragon tail hanging from its lower body had a javelin sticking out of it, and from its slender back sprouted arrows.

The monster unleashed a pained roar as Lefiya prepared to chant when she saw something unbelievable.

“Firebolt!”

It was magic.

The boy had cast magic—at the adventurers.

“?!”

She couldn’t believe her eyes. The electrical fire crackled, blowing away the adventurers trying to intercept the monster.

“Wh—?!”

“Arrrrrgh?!”

None of them were able to deal with it—because none of them expected to be attacked by a fellow adventurer, not here, not now. Their weapons were shattered while their bodies suffered burns as they plunged from the collapsing rooftop. Lefiya was at a loss for words at his eccentric behavior—something that far surpassed simple barbarism.

Bell Cranell’s magic was a menace.

He didn’t have to worry about chanting to unleash the Swift-Strike spell, which had the force of a short-trigger cast to match. But it was a Level 3. After becoming a second-tier adventurer, he had magic on par with a Level-2 mage. Its firepower was not an insignificant thing. It shot off at a speed that hardly anyone could hope to block—the members of Loki Familia focused on the monster were no exception. They took a direct hit when they were about to attack the vouivre, and their heads smacked into the wall and the ground upon impact.

“Wh—?”

What are your intentions?!

What are you doing?!

If you do that…!

As her mind fogged over, Lefiya’s apprehensions became reality.

“Little Rookie, you piece of shit!”

“Are you out of your damn mind?!”

“You want the rare drop that badly, you greedy rat?!”

“At a time like this?!”

A violent swirl of rage and abuse welled up among the adventurers.

Lefiya’s hands started to tremble, feeling as though the abuse and slander hurled at Bell was aimed at her. The residents who had been desperately trying to flee froze in place, dumbfounded, and the children started to bawl at an increased urgency, adding to the chaos of the situation.

But despite all of that, Bell kept firing off magic.

He was pushing everyone away from the vouivre as if to protect it while chasing after the rampaging monster.

“Ngh!” Gripping her staff, Lefiya sprinted with all her might.

Taking the shortest path along the top of the roofs, she finally raced fast enough to line up alongside him.

“Bell Cranell!! What are you doing?!!” she screamed.

“Gh…!”

He glanced over at her once, but that was the limit of his response. His twisted face didn’t allow for a dialogue as he sped up, trying to leave her in the dust.

—Are you ignoring me?! Lefiya seethed.

“Wait! Answer! My! Question!” she huffed, shouting over the wind whipping against her body.

But the boy refused to meet her eyes. He was focused on the monster making its escape, and he’d discarded everything except for that.

“Why? Why…?!” Lefiya growled.

Why do you look like you’re suffering?!

Look at me!

Explain yourself!

If you don’t, I won’t be able to understand anything!

She screamed in her mind at the boy whose face was clearly conflicted and distressed.

What happened to your usual excuses? Turn red already while you shout You’ve got it all wrong! Hurry up and say something! Just like when you make excuses after angering me by getting involved with my beloved Aiz! Do it now, and I’ll get a little mad, lecture you, give you a warning, and then forgive you—just like usual!

Don’t make a pitiful face!

That expression doesn’t fit you at all!

She couldn’t hold together the list of all the things filling her heart. Lefiya certainly didn’t want to see him in this sad state. It wasn’t disappointment or despair but unpleasant.

As a competitor, as a rival, as an adventurer aiming for the same aspiration, she wanted to ask about his true intentions. At this point, she wasn’t even chasing the monster.

She was chasing him.

“Guaaaagh?!”

“—?!”

With the screams echoing around her, she had no choice but to give up on questioning him. Adventurers kept collapsing, blood flowing freely from their wounds, and the vouivre continued to rampage. Without the red stone on its forehead, the dragon had become entirely indiscriminate, no more calculating than a storm now.

Her eyes wavered, and Lefiya had to destroy the monster.

“—Unleashed pillar of light, limbs of the holy tree. You are the master archer!” She cast concurrently, sprinting at full speed.

Bell’s shoulders quivered as he felt the magical energy building, and he looked back at her for the first time. He hesitated to fire off a spell—possibly because she was an acquaintance—then he began screaming as if he were being split in two.

“Please stop!!”

Don’t be unreasonable!

If I let it go, more people will get hurt. In the worst case, the ordinary civilians will get tossed around like the adventurers are now. This is long past the point of trivial grievances.

If I fail to stop it, you’re the one who’s going to face a tragic future!

“Loose your arrows, fairy archers. Pierce, arrow of accuracy!” cast Lefiya, thrusting out her staff and firing her spell with a contorted face.

“Arcs Ray!”

A single shot of magic homed in on its target. After it was released, the missile would not disappear until it hit home. This was an arrow that would never miss.

The ray of light shone with enough power to lay low a large-scale monster.

Upon seeing that dazzling light, the boy turned around in despair.

“?!”

He leaped into the path of the magic, spreading his arms, trying to intercept the ray of light before it hit the vouivre.

Lefiya gazed in wonder as he attempted to physically shield the monster.

“A-Alio?!” He immediately chanted a spell to disperse it.

When it was hit by the homing spellkey magic, Arcs Ray scattered just before reaching him.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrm?!”

Even though he wasn’t directly hit by it, Bell was blasted away when it exploded directly in front of him. With smoke rising from his armor, the battered boy leaped to his feet and resumed his chase of the vouivre.

Lefiya was left behind, dumbfounded.

“…Why?”

In the middle of the road, the legs of the elf stopped moving.

Why would you go that far?

Why would you go to such lengths to protect a monster?

Why do I feel this way about you when I’m right and you’re wrong?

She couldn’t wrap her head around it.

“…Wait, Bell Cranell!” she screeched at the back moving away from her position on the street.

But the boy didn’t pay her any heed. It was as if he didn’t want to waste a second in his pursuit of the vouivre. He persisted in playing the fool.

Lefiya clenched both fists, ignored again and again, her body starting to tremble. Her long ears turned red to their tips, and as if she could bear it no more, she closed her eyes, roaring as loudly as she could.

“Your reason! Your situation!…Explain yourseeeeeeelf!!”

The sun dipped below the city walls. As dusk set in, the screams of the bright-red elf echoed across the evening sky.