Swing and Miss (2)

"Come to think of it, Katsuragi, you use a one-hand sword, yeah?"

"Yeah… why?"

"I didn't see you using a shield."

"Hahaha, great joke, TamakiShield."

"Alright, so I'm going to start your pig-face reconstruction surgery. Try and hold still would you?"

In this manner, we looked through the weapons and chose what we liked.

I ended up choosing a long sword and a dagger, while Tamaki went with somewhere around a hundred throwing knives. I felt like she'd bought a bit much, but I didn't complain since she'd seemed to have thought it through herself.

"So where should we head next? We still have a good bit of time left."

"We could try buying potions and elixirs? Our mana reserves were running pretty low when we fought Fantra, right?"

"… Right."

I recalled the battle every time I closed my eyes, we were forced into an extremely hard fight.

When I asked them about it later, Shuri and Tamaki both said they'd practically ran out of mana…

And I think I learned a lesson from fighting against Fantra—I need to come up with a better way to kill myself for when push comes to shove.

We were also running low on our stock of yanu leaf, so we needed to restock those.

"I don't mind, though we'll have to go to the Adventurer's Guild for them."

"Yeah… oh, aren't I supposed to be dead though? Wouldn't it be bad if I went?"

"It should be fine. There's some idiots spreading news like 'The heroes that were summoned to fight the Demon King died before fighting the Demon King'."

That was only if Hayase had actually managed to tell Ginger about it, though. She'll definitely get it done, though, to curry goodwill from me.

"Right… I guess."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. C'mon, let's go."

Tamaki and I set our course for the Adventurer's Guild

 

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Russell's Adventurer's Guild was located just before the central plaza. The reason for this was that Russell targetted different kinds of visitors on its left and right sides.

The left side that Shuri and Leadred went to was for the wealthy, while the right side was for the general public, like adventurers.

Although the guild's floor plan was like I'd expected, it was much, much larger than I'd seen before. Trading such as the purchasing of supplies needed for heading into dungeons could be performed on the second floor, but quests were accepted on the first floor's lobby.

Furthermore, the third floor and up were something like a cheap hotel for adventurers.

But what stuck out to me was the slightly bizarre atmosphere I felt upon walking inside. The only way I could describe the feeling was savagery.

Moreover, there were no women. None among the adventurers, nor the reception staff.

The only one was the one standing beside me—Tamaki, who was like a breath of fresh air for the guild's dirty feel.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. I have here your twenty potions and elixirs, as well as ten yanu leaves."

"Thank you… Also."

"Is there something else you would like?"

"Did something happen here? The mood in here seems off, somehow."

"You don't know?"

When I asked that, the man behind the counter seemed surprised as he opened his jade green eyes wide.

"A party of people known as heroes came from the Royal Capital recently. They were making great progress in making their way through Blazing Execution Grounds… A female adventurer who knew the dungeon was taken by them under the guise of accompanying them."

It was something I wouldn't have ordinarily been able to let slide. Something that I would just cherry pick what I wanted, get worked up, and start feeling jealous. However, there was something more important.

"… Heroes?"

I wound up reacting to the receptionist somewhat too keenly. Even Tamaki behind me shook with a start.

An amazing opportunity may have just rolled into my lap.

"Heeh… did the heroes give their names?"

The anger that had been amassing in my gut this whole time and my expectations for this unexpected chance both surged within me.

Not seeming to notice, the man told me their names.

"Mikiyama… I think? The others said they were Tokuhara and Suzaki… customer? Is something the matter?"

… So it was them?

I felt a bit disappointed.

I guess I could still have a bit of fun, though?

"Oh, no. I was just in a bit of a good mood. I have a debt that needs repaying with them, after all."

A really, really large debt. The beatings, how they abandoned me, how they left me to die—it was a debt so great that not even their lives would pay it back.

And so it would remain unpaid so long as I couldn't get my hands on Samejima.

I would hunt and kill every last one of my classmates that bullied me.

"Heeh, really… I hope you'll be able to return the favor, then."

Just thinking about the future caused a devilish grin to come to my face.

Like a kid who just got told he'd be getting his favorite toys to play with, I was so elated I just couldn't help myself.

I couldn't wait.

With this sword, with these hands, seeing them dyed in their own blood—

Receiving our purchased items, Tamaki and I headed out into the central plaza.

What for? That much was obvious.

To begin my revenge.