chapter 56

Pomera readied her large cane, pointing it towards Octavio.

「P-Pomera doesn’t mind if you speak ill of Pomera but… Pomera won’t forgive anyone who speaks ill of Kanata-san! Take back your statement!」

「The likes of demi-human trash should just shut up. How dare you to point your cane at me? Are you looking to die?」

Octavio threatened Pomera, but Pomera didn’t avert her gaze from Octavio. Seeing her reaction, Octavio seemed to become more and more annoyed.

「Hou? It seems that you really are looking to die. Then don’t blame me for turning you into forest trash.」

I stepped out in front of Pomera.

「What’s the matter? For you to suddenly come to this place, looking for trouble with us.」

「Of course I am. Even a stupid f*cking sissy a**h*le like you who does adventuring as a hobby should’ve realized my reason for coming to this place.」

Octavio snorted loudly as he took out the axe on his back.

「I had no intention to kill you guys since that Ouf b*stard suddenly vanished but… since you’re getting on my nerves, I took the same commission as you guys and tailed after you.」

In short, he might be trying to kill us by using Goblin’s Train like what his follower, that pipsqueak, had tried to do before.

「Our actions are getting on your nerves…?」

「Stop lying, you ba*stard!」

Octavio replied with bulging, wide open eyes.

He’d snapped.

「Fu*cking bastards like you guys who buy achievements with gold are the main reason for the scarcity of diligent adventurers like this great me! I knew that you gained achievements by bribing the guild with monster corpses behind the scenes. The other guys are saying the same things too. Though it’ll be fine since the guild also profited from it, from our point of view, you guys were too sloppy. Only an idiot would do something like that.」

…There was this kind of doubt in the guild, huh.

Sure enough, anyone would be curious if a wandering adventurer who came out of nowhere took in a Lv.7 adventurer in their party and suddenly raked in the achievements.

But, I don’t think it’s the true reason behind Octavio coming after us this time.

Octavio was planning to kill us during the commission while disguising it as an unfortunate accident. In short, this guy was simply trying to kill us for outpacing his rank in a short amount of time.

「… That pipsqueak… Ouf-san, did he not give you a warning and leave before giving it to you?」

「He did say something very confusing but… that’s your doing right? You bribed him, right? As expected of silk pants with a high social status who does adventuring as a hobby.」

「So you still came after us despite Ouf-san’s warning, in short, you’re prepared to kill us.」

I’d definitely told Ouf back then that I would kill them if they tried to mess with us next time. Though I’ve killed a large number of monsters along the way while arriving at this city, I had yet to kill a single person.

But, that didn’t equate to not having the resolution to kill a human.

Additionally… since Octavio was going out of his way to kill us in this place, he shouldn’t want us to spare any effort against him either.

I guess I’ll leave him within an inch of his life.

「Prepared? The one who needs that are you guys. No one is going to judge me for killing someone outside of the city. In the end, you’re just low-level trash, a young master who left his parents house for adventure. No one is going to mourn you even if you die in this place. Don’t worry, I’m gonna kill you along with that demi-human pet of yours.」

Even I ended up snapping upon hearing Octavio’s last words. I’d reached the end of my rope with his absurd comments towards me and the way he was looking down on Pomera.

The main reason he despised Pomera to the point of saying that kind of thing might be because she received a nomination to become a C-rank adventurer.

Pomera bit down on her lips upon hearing Octavio’s words, clearly vexed by them.

Her vexed expression finally snapped the final stray of my patience.

For me, Pomera was a kind-hearted girl who chose to believe in humanity and saved me when I was in a pinch regardless of her situation. She’s an important comrade-in-arms who’s working together with me to achieve our own goal.

She wasn’t a useless baggage.

I mean, even with her current level, I wouldn’t so easily let her go back to Roy and get used again like before. In fact, I would still be reluctant to let her go even if she really was a useless girl.

Pomera has always done her best to help others and she also has the courage and a strong will to do so. There’s no way such a kind girl was useless just because of her low level.

Moreover, though it was true that Octavio’s level was higher than Pomera’s before I trained her, the current Pomera’s level had far surpassed Octavio’s.

「… I understand. If that’s the case, let me show you proof that I’m not doing any fraud. You’ll leave obediently if I do that, right?」

「… What?」

Octavio balked, clearly confused by my statement.

「Please have a bout against Pomera-san. If you lose, never show your face in front of us again. If she loses, you may take anything from me, be it the magic pouch, or my life.」

「P-Pomera? W-Why must it be Pomera? I mean, it’s not like Kanata-san has to show proof of your power.」

「It annoys me to hear him bad-mouthing Pomera-san. You feel the same way as me, right?」

「P-Pomera doesn’t feel that way but…」

Pomera looked at Octavio with eyes brimming with self-confidence.

It seems that she’s already realized that she’s far more powerful compared to Octavio, but she’s fatally lacking the experience of interpersonal combat and thus couldn’t visualize herself winning the fight.

「Let’s go and kick his a*ss, the current Pomera-san should be able to that with leisure.」

「U-Understood. Pomera is coming!」

Pomera gripped her large cane strongly as she walked towards Octavio.

「So I have to kill this girl first, huh? Fine by me, I’m gonna kill both of you anyway… As you wish, I’m gonna make a mess of this fake human in front of you!」