Chapter 73 - Passing Time#2

"My name is Albert and I am here to talk about a certain member of your party. He goes by the name Morpheus I suppose. It's simple really miss Lucy, at least for a mage of your calibre it should be quite easy. I want you to throw that prick out of your party," Albert speaks with a gentle smile on his face.

'Huh?' With visible confusion on my face I tilt my head at him. Did he just take the name of the Leader, called him a prick and asked me to throw him out of the party? No! No! No! No! No! He must be mistaken about something, let me clarify it before a misunderstanding occurs.

"I am sorry but I think I misheard something. Can you repeat what you just said?" I urge him to speak again as I focus on his words. 

This time he looks at me, slightly gulps, then smiles again before speaking, " I want you to throw out a certain member of your party. His name is Morpheu-"

He stops talking as he looks at me. This time confusion comes on his face first followed by horror. 

Of course, he will be scared. My mana started surging out of control. 

'Who does this f*cker think he is? To ask me to kick the Leader out of our party? Did he hit his mind somewhere? Is he an idiot? He must be or else why would anyone try to do that to…Our monstrous Leader,' a shuddering sensation takes over my body as I imagine even trying to do that to my saviour. Is that even possible?

"Kek.." A small laugh escapes my mouth as I once again try to understand the situation. I look at Albert and picture him trying to push Leader out of our party,

"Pfftt..hahahahaha," I can't help but laugh at the idiocy he will be committing. Will he even live after doing that? Who will kill him first? His brothers? Leraye? Kaneto? Or perhaps…

He is looking at me like I am some sort of maniac. Oh! How naive he is…

Then it clicked in my mind, why? Why would someone go specifically for the Leader?

I observe his scared and confused face properly then ask him,

"May I know why you want me to kick him out of the party?" 

He looks at me for a few full moments then speaks something along the lines of 'All adventurers are barbarians' before maintaining his composure as he begins to speak,

"Adventurer Lucy Farcel-" I cut him in his statement as I light a fire right below his neck,

"It's Miss Lucy for you," I speak in a dominant voice.

He gulps and nods before readjusting his words,

"Miss Lucy, I want to ask you the same question. Why do you want to keep such a useless person in your party? With no mana present in his body, he is just taking advantage of your and his other companions' merit. Even an Idiot won't take much time to figure out that he is nothing but a burden to your party. As for why I want him out of your party, let's just say that I don't want him to hinder his brothers' growth by leeching off them. He doesn't deserve to stand beside them. I simply want to remove that cancerous bud before it becomes big enough to destroy the other companions of your party," He explains as his anger oozes out.

Now that I am quite calm, I can see that his points are genuine, at least from his perspective or perhaps anyone who hasn't seen Morpheus' powers. 

So this was the reason why Morpheus said that on paper and in front of the world, Old man Kaneto will be the leader of our party, huh? 

I once again look at Albert, I don't know how he got to know Leader and his brothers but clearly, he knew about them before they became adventurers. Maybe Leader never showed his powers to anyone before he started adventuring with his new identity. I wonder what kind of life he had lived before. Well these kinds of things are best to be heard from the person themself and not from someone else's mouth.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, Albert. Here are the 200 Gold coins you spent to meet me. I don't think I can make any decision regarding any other party member. It is our Leader that has the power to make those decisions, not me or any other member," I slightly bow before I begin to leave.

He looks like he wants to speak something as he tries to raise his hand to

stop me but stops before he can do anything. I look back once more to see a sad and bitter expression on his face as he looks down. I then sigh as I move out of there,

"I don't know why he is so fixated on Leader. Let's hope he doesn't end up doing something that he will end up regretting," I mutter as I go back to the Inn.

…

On my way back, I see Leraye carrying some bags filled with groceries in both his hands and the Scythe on his back. I then observe him for a while before reaching beside him and taking one of the grocery bags.

He looks at me with a smile of appreciation as he lets go of the bag. Once again, I see some killing intent coming from the back which I completely ignore. I should get used to it now. 

"Did he approach you too?" Leraye asks out of nowhere as he looks forward as he walks. I turn to him then look forward again as I understand what he meant,

"Yes, did he approach you too?" I ask him back.

"Yeah, apparently he is trying to approach Kaneto too," Leraye answers with a smile.

"Well, let's hope Kaneto handles the situation properly," I speak as I think about Albert once again. He was genuinely worried about our party, it's just he does not know the capability of our Leader.

"Did you accept?" Snapping me out of my thoughts Leraye asks once again, this time his eyes are looking in my direction.

"No! Obviously not," I answer as I narrow my eyes at him. 

'Just what is he pointing at?' I can't help but think that.

"Nothing, it's just that he was willing to go as far as to offer 1000 Gold coins to kick the Leader out of the party so, I thought you would have accepted the invitation. If only to fool that guy and to know his plans," Leraye again speaks something that confused me even more.

My eyes widen as I ponder over what Leraye just spoke again…

"What do you mean plans?" I look at Leraye for answers at which he smiles.

"It is going to be slightly interesting again, huh? Don't worry it's not something we can't handle but let's just say that in the next wave tonight, it will be more than just monster hunting," Leraye then looks back in front and starts walking faster.

My expression turns serious as I too start walking faster along with him towards our home, looks like this is just the beginning of something much more complicated.