Grail Recovers

“G-G-G-G-G—”

Grail crawled along the floor. Not to escape. It was to pick up the sword he had accidentally dropped.

(Swordsmanship was a skill that strengthened swords. A sword was my lifeline!)

As if to crush that hope of Grail’s—

The elegant-looking man kicked Grail’s sword far away.

“You have no chance of winning.”

The elegant-looking man pressed the tip of the sheathed sword against Grail’s back.

“Y-You bastard, what are you—higyeeeeeaaaaaaaah!?”

Electricity ran through him, and Grail’s words turned into a scream.

“I have to discipline you, after all.”

The elegant-looking man said it while suppressing a laugh.

“If a man like you is forgiven halfway, you will hold a grudge. I have to thoroughly teach you that I am an opponent you can’t do anything against.”

The electric shock stopped.

“Y-You bastard…”

“Grail, you really are exactly as the rumors say.”

Why did this man know my name?

Grail had that question. He had no memory of introducing himself.

“Rumors—?”

“A user of the Swordsmanship skill whose ability is decent, but whose attitude is terribly bad. They say you’re a man like a rabid dog.”

At that moment, Grail understood.

He glared at the scout and priest and shouted.

“You bastaaaaaards!”

But the scout shook his head and said this.

“N-No, you’re wrong! We weren’t the ones who said it!”

“Haaah!? Don’t you lie to—haaaaaaaaaaahn!”

The elegant-looking man’s electric shock started again.

While electrocuting Grail, the elegant-looking man continued.

“They are not lying, Grail.”

With a wry smile, the elegant-looking man threw them a lifeline.

“You’re famous in Piptat, you see… in a bad way.”

What did that mean—Grail thought, but from the sheer pain, he could not put it into words.

“You formed parties with several people, didn’t you? Bad people become rumors. I don’t think there’s anyone left who will team up with you anymore, is there?”

“—!?”

Those words pierced Grail’s heart.

Even the arrogant and self-willed Grail was not an invincible person. As expected, knowing that even people he had never met disliked him was a shock.

To hide those feelings—

Kruaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

He wanted to scream, but Grail was in so much pain that he was about to lose consciousness, and he did not have the energy for that either.

The elegant-looking man continued.

“Well, Piptat isn’t the only place to adventure. You can go somewhere else. You can start over as a ‘clean Grail’ with the feeling that you’ve been reborn—”

With those words as the last thing he heard, Grail’s consciousness fell to the bottom of darkness.

How long had he been unconscious?

“U, ah—”

Grail woke up.

It was the same place as before, but—there was no one there except Grail.

Had someone carried him? He had been moved to the corner of the room where he had collapsed. His sword and luggage had also been carefully placed nearby.

The pain that had tormented his body was gone too.

Rather than having subsided because time had passed—it was as if healing magic had been cast on him.

(…The priest…! Was it that guy…!)

A parting gift, at least.

Atonement for the guilt of abandoning Grail here.

“Don’t screw with me!”

Grail raised himself and slammed his fist into the floor.

“Shit, shit, shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit! Shiiiiiiiiit!”

Every last one of them made a fool of me!

The humiliation of being abandoned by his companions.

The shame of losing so miserably.

The rage at the bad reputation that had spread through Piptat.

Every possible negative emotion swelled in Grail’s chest.

“Don’t screw with me!”

He shouted as his emotions drove him. He struck the wall. His fist hurt, but he did not care.

“Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!”

Even though I have the winning skill Swordsmanship! Even though at the training school, the guys with useless skills kept saying, “As expected of Grail!”

He had dreamed of it all along.

Of a future where he charged down the elite path and Grail’s name grew famous in every land.

He had thought that future was certain.

And yet he was stalled at a mere E-rank. He had no companions to fight alongside him, and he could not even earn experience properly.

How did it come to this!?

How did it come to this!?

How did it come to this!?

“Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh—!”

The war cry that poured from Grail’s mouth came to an end.

The fist that had been striking the wall opened, and he gripped the wall.

In those eyes—

There was no darkness of despair. The light of will, still trying to seize the future, shone there.

“Not yet! I’m not finished yet…!”

I lost everything!

So what!

I just went back to the starting point!

Grail decided to think positively. It was not yet a situation to think of as serious. Even among the world’s great people, few had succeeded without knowing hardship.

(My heroic rise has only just begun from here!)

He had been expelled by his companions.

That was fine.

Success stories that began with expulsion had been popular tales since long ago.

It was truly fitting for Grail, the “protagonist of the world.”

Feeling just a little better, Grail began walking. There was no point in worrying about what was over. He had to think about what he would do from here on out.

(Iiiiiiooooooooos! How about that!? I’ve already recovered! Have you recovered yet? Are you still sobbing in the corner of your room and standing still!? I have the Swordsmanship skill, so I can face forward! It must be hard for a piece of crap skill holder like you, since you have nothing!)

Thinking such things, Grail walked through the dungeon.

At that moment—

He saw a pair walking at the far end of the passage.

“…Hm?”

It was a pair of a man and a woman. Judging by their equipment, were they a warrior and a mage?

He could only see their backs, so he could not make out their faces well, but—

The warrior-like man was wearing Blue Firebird chainmail.

At that moment, Grail remembered certain words he had heard several months earlier.

—They are apparently a pair of a warrior and a mage. I don’t know the details, but… it seems the warrior was clad in Blue Firebird chainmail.

The appearance of the adventurers who had defeated the area boss that had suddenly appeared on the E-layer.

The guild employee had certainly explained it that way.

“Is that them…?”

It probably was.

There were many adventurers in Piptat, but it was hard to imagine that someone else would match this closely.

The pair who had defeated the E-layer’s area boss.

(…What kind of people are they…?)

Intrigued, Grail decided to follow the two of them.