Chapter 37

37 – Laughing With a Friend 1

「Ohhh…」

Right.

I understood what he was saying.

Even after everything that’s happened, we were still best friends.

Our lives as Adventurers first began when we made a party together.

Fenix said that we’d reach the top, and I agreed with his dream.

Things were only going to get more complicated if I stayed in that party.

Even so, leaving the party like that without talking to him about it was, in a sense, a betrayal.

It was like I was spitting on our promise.

But Fenix didn’t blame me.

Right now he just wanted to understand me.

He wanted to find out my reasoning for what I did, and how I felt about the results.

「Alba, Lark, Lily, and of course Bella are all my precious teammates. But didn’t we make a promise to each other as kids when we first set out?」

『I’ll be able to reach the top with you, Lem. Let’s become the best in the world as the first Flame Hero in 130 years and the strongest Black Sorcerer.』

「But it never would have worked out if I stayed there. I couldn’t show my power. Even if I showed it only to our teammates, Alba wouldn’t be able to hide it nor would he plan on hiding it. He’d want to use it as part of our appeal. As long as I couldn’t do that, I’d be nothing but a deadweight Black Sorcerer in the eyes of the viewers. And I can’t change my Job, either.」

A profession determined by God. That’s what a Job is.

Although, it is possible to live while defying that Job. It would be very difficult, but possible.

But that can’t be said for Adventurers. It was against the rules to register under anything other than your own Job.

「But we made it all the way to 4th rank, we were so close…」

He was right. 4th rank is definitely close to the top of the world.

We started off at rock-bottom, too. Newbies are always going to be the lowest-ranked.

But despite that, we climbed up the ranks at blinding speeds.

I first met Milla two years ago, and we were at 13th rank back then. But we shot straight up to 4th rank soon afterward.

Some time after reaching 4th rank, we had our rank updated.

Our rank didn’t change.

Our achievements should have been enough to be deserving of at least 3rd rank, so what was holding us back?

「That’s exactly why. Alba exploded in frustration because we were stuck at 4th rank.」

Fenix was a Hero amazing enough to be considered the strongest human in the world.

All our other teammates felt that it wouldn’t be strange if they reached 1st rank with him. No, they felt that they should have reached 1st rank.

Their achievements were more than enough.

Fenix had good looks, a nice build, superb abilities, and he had a contract with one of the strongest spirits out there.

He had a lot of exposure on television and all videos that featured him had an incredibly high view count.

So why didn’t we reach 3rd rank?

The top three hadn’t changed for many years by now.

But Fenix was the Flame Hero. The magic sword-wielding Warrior, the Hunter that let loose arrows faster than the eye could see, and the Paladin that excelled at both offense and defense were all extremely capable Adventurers as well.

「But he might have changed his opinion of you if we reached 3rd rank at the next rank update.」

If we managed to dig into the immutable top three rankings, things could have taken a very different turn.

It didn’t matter even if I didn’t have the appeal of someone like the White Sorcerer Panacea who restored the damage taken by her teammates’ Avatars.

That’s just how much of a big deal it was to reach the top three.

It would be impossible to break into the top three with deadweight in the team.

To be part of the top three, your party had to be composed of only the cream of the crop.

Even if we did make it in, there’d be opinions like 「they only made it in because of the Flame Hero’s popularity.」 Many Adventurer fans would likely resent them for that.

Because they all know that it takes more to truly be considered part of the top three.

「Well, yes, but that’s impossible.」

Both Fenix and I aimed for the top.

If we reached the top, then the people who once rejected me would accept me.

After all, would anyone actually think that someone who surpassed Aerial’s party would be incompetent?

Just that kind of thought alone would be an insult to Aerial’s party.

So if a Black Sorcerer was in the party ranked 1st in the world, then that Black Sorcerer would have to be exceptional.

If I had accepted Aerial’s offer, the same result would have occurred. In fact, that probably would have been even more effective in changing everyone’s opinion about me.

As long as I would have managed on maintaining their party’s overall party even without Panacea being there to help.

The viewers’ opinions would have slowly changed via thoughts like「Huh? It’s kind of hard to tell, but it seems like they’ve been clearing more smoothly now that he’s joined the party.」

「I can’t deny that, but…」

「If achievements and the popularity as a Hero aren’t enough, then what is? After thinking about that, the only answer to come up would be my existence in the party.」

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「But the reality is that we only climbed the ranks so fast because you were there with us.」

「It wasn’t just me. Besides, the new girl that joined you, Bella, seems to be pretty good as well.」

「You’ve been watching our runs?」

「Yeah, with my eyes glued to the screen.」

I even watched all the cut footage.

「Then you must have noticed. Our on-screen performance might have become flashier, but…」

Fenix stopped mid-sentence.

「Now that I think about it, that’s also probably my fault.」

Alba was a top-class adventurer, but he didn’t have the same outrageous growth rates as a Hero, nor was he trained by a Demon King like me.

We were all around the same age, meaning that there was only so much that could result from hard work alone. We had room to grow because we were young, but that also meant that we lacked experience and maturity.

I was well-trained thanks to Master, and I’ve been able to draw out my limits and technique due to constantly expending my Magical Energy 24/7.

But that was something I could do only because I was a Black Sorcerer.

I wanted to reach the top alongside Fenix. As soon as possible. All while not having my abilities exposed, of course.

That’s why I used my magic in a way that made my party members appear strong.

As a result, they were all able to perform far greater than their own ability, but my magic essentially impeded on what should have been learning experiences for them.

Since they were always able to perform at their peak, they lost any chances to discover mistakes and improve themselves.

「I’m just at fault in terms of that.」

Now that I had left, their abilities have become on the same level of all the efforts they’ve spent so far. This whole time they had thought that they were stronger than they really were, so they were likely having a hard time coming to grips with reality.

「But didn’t things change a little after reaching the seventh stratum?」

「Yeah, thanks to Bella.」

Bella apparently suggested that the party make the assumption that my Black Magic was actually of use to the party.

「…Wow. And Alba was okay with that? It’s kinda hard to imagine.」

「Yeah, he would’ve never agreed with it if I had brought it up.」

Fenix made a wry smile.

「Yeah. But at this rate…」

「I know. Bella is very competent, but she is still a Hero.」

Someone who fights.

「Well, I do think that more and more members have been getting defeated.」

In the fifth stratum, it was Bella. In the sixth stratum, it was Lark and Lily. In the seventh stratum, everyone but the Hero got defeated.

Their movements had improved compared to right after I had left them.

They essentially became able to fight at their actual power level.

And now they’ve learned that their current ability wouldn’t be enough to clear that outrageously difficult Demon King Castle.

It’s not like they wouldn’t stand a chance at all, but they would have never had even reached the tenth stratum without the Hero Fenix.

「It seems that Lark and Lily have changed their opinion about you. Alba too, but…you know how he is.」

「Yeah. But that actually might be troublesome for me…」

「I did try to cover for you to an extent, at least.」

Like Panacea, I was a Black Sorcerer that was out of the ordinary.

The main difference is that ancient White Sorcerers that were especially exceptional were often considered to be saints or sages, while most exceptional Black Sorcerers were witches and such that were on the Demons’ side. Not to mention that the strongest Black Sorcerer in existence was a Demon King that single-handedly destroyed an entire city.

It would be bad if people started suspecting I was a user of Black Sorcery since rumors would quickly travel across the country and start causing trouble for my party.

That’s why I hid it.

I didn’t live a total lie though, considering it was easy for me to just act from the rearguard like Panacea.

「I see.」

「Lem, I…」

「Fenix, don’t say anymore.」

Our food came in.

I immediately started digging in, but Fenix didn’t even touch his utensils.

Chew, chew, chew, chew…Ugh.

This isn’t going to work.

Looks like I’ll have to talk to him about it.

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「You know why I didn’t talk to you about leaving, right? It was because I didn’t want to make you end up saying that certain thing.」

I’ve known this guy ever since back when he was a timid crybaby.

And I knew that he still greatly cherished our old promise.

Well, that’s not to say I didn’t feel the same way.

「Even if…even if you had told Alba and the rest to leave when they wanted me gone, it would have been pointless. No, not just pointless, it would be the worst thing you could possibly do. You wouldn’t be able to reach the 1st rank anymore.」