"Lifting that much luggage every time…"
Before I could finish speaking, Lin intervened.
"Is it hard for a porter to lift a load? Isn't that something a porter should naturally do? No, isn't it a normal way of thinking to think of it as an honor to join a warrior party to save humanity and even serve as a porter? Anyway, lowly things surround each other. I don't know the subject or the grace. I'm so disgusted that I'm dying."
"You probably don't know what I mean. You know best how we treated Damien, Lin."
A red haze flickered all over Lin's body.
"If you call my name with that dirty mouth just once, I will turn you into ashes."
Damian, who was watching the situation, shouted urgently.
"Ah, Abel! Lin! I'm really fine. Because of me... ."
"Shut up. How dare you interfere, you porter!"
"… I'm sorry."
Lin said, glaring at me.
"Don't be presumptuous and get the hell out of here right now. I don't want to see that disgusting face."
Teresa's cold gaze turned to me.
"Abel, I know what you mean. But you talk as if we were harassing Damian. Am I understanding correctly?"
"What are you asking when you know everything? Teresa, are you trying to say you weren't involved? That's hypocrisy. You just watched while others treated Damian like livestock. You and I, who knew but pretended not to see and just stood by, are all the same."
Teresa blushed and shouted in shame.
"Well, that's… !"
Lia said with a sneer.
"Teresa, there is no need to be swayed by useless words. Since he was going to leave the party anyway, he couldn't overcome his anger and did something low-level to hurt his companions. A person like that should not have been accepted into the party in the first place. How can you go through the battlefield, trusting your life with someone who is dark, selfish, and he have no idea what they are thinking!"
I raised the corners of my mouth and muttered softly.
"What can you say, a bitch who is crazy about being a hero?"
"Well, what? Bitch? Saying that to me now... ."
"Oh, did you hear? Sorry if I was too loud."
I continued speaking, ignoring her stuttering from shock.
"This is the end of what I have to say. I'm leaving this shitty party at this point, so I hope you'll keep my last request. If even that is not followed... ."
I took out a transparent crystal ball from my pocket.
"I'm going to make this public."
"… Memory crystal?"
"This crystal sphere records every detail of my travels so far. Of course, even what we did to Damian."
As soon as I finished speaking, Ras' hand went to the sword sheath.
"How dare you… ."
Blatant murderous intent.
The bastard, known as a brave man, was thinking about killing and destroying people.
However, before his sword was drawn, I opened my mouth first.
"Don't even think about doing something stupid. Do you think I brought this up without any countermeasures?"
Yes, in fact, it is true that this was brought up without any countermeasures.
"The transmission to the recording device has already been completed."
Yes, of course, it's a lie.
All that was contained in this crystal ball was a video of Lia and Teresa washing or changing clothes.
It simply contains Abel Croy's ugly desires.
'… If this truth comes to light, I will die in some way.'
"I promise that this video will never be made public if you do my bidding."
Ras let go of the handle of his sword, glaring as if he were going to kill me.
"You. You will definitely regret what happened today."
"You also." I'm serious.
I will make you regret leaving it behind. I never forgot what they did to Abel.
'Look forward to it.'
I went out of the inn, ignoring the intense gaze. As the tension went away, my body lost strength.
"… I really didn't know it would work."
After looking around for a moment, I quickly left the village.
The first reason was that I did not want to stay here even for a moment longer, and the second reason was that my next destination had already been decided.
If things go as planned, it will be Damian, not me, who gets expelled.
Damien, who was expelled from the warrior party, does not receive any compensation but is admitted to the academy through Teresa's consideration.
'… From then on, it really starts.'
Damian, who entered the academy, regains his original strength in earnest and begins to build his own power. In order to stop it, I needed to increase my own strength and power.
To do that, I also inevitably have to enter the academy.
However, because my identity was already widely known, I could not take the entrance exam through the normal route. So what I chose was… .
"I think it's roughly like this."
I ran non-stop for about 30 minutes while wearing layers of acceleration magic.
I had some idea of the location, but since it was my first time traveling there, I got lost several times. It would probably have taken even longer without the detection magic.
After going through the thick trees and walking a little, a cave with a gloomy aura was revealed.
The entrance was blocked by a huge rock, with an unidentifiable symbol engraved on it.
"Found it."
As I approached the rock, I placed my palm on it and muttered.
"Andromalius."
The black energy extending from my fingertips covered the rock, and after a while, the entrance opened with a screeching sound.
The thick darkness beckoned me to come into its embrace. I walked inside without hesitation.
Jeez. Jeez.
Every time I took a step, a fishy smell assaulted my nose. There was an unidentifiable thick liquid sticking to the floor.
"Light my footsteps in the pitch-black darkness and thrive."
I can't get used to the shame I feel every time I recite a spell. A sphere emitting bright light was formed in front of my eyes.
"… It's terrible."
A piece of meat so damaged that its shape is unrecognizable.
Light pink internal organs tangled in a haphazard manner and flesh dripping with blood.
Arms and legs divided into countless equal parts, like scattered ball-joint dolls.
And white bones.
Seeing these made me think I had come to the right place.
"72 denominations."
It was then.
"Who are you?"
I didn't even feel their presence.
A man with an owl skin covering his face appeared.
Beside him, dozens of humans wearing black robes began to surround me. Clear intent to kill.
It was clear that if I did even the slightest bit of nonsense, they would immediately kill me.
No, since I came here in the first place, they probably had no intention of letting me live.
That's why I shouldn't have looked even more shocked. Did they say that even if you go into a tiger's den, you can survive as long as you come to your senses?
"Are you not going to answer?"
Gulp.
My throat moved. I slowly took off the mask I was wearing. The original ugly face was revealed.
"… … ."
I spoke softly, popping the head of the nearest believer.
"This is extremely disappointing."
There was silence for a moment, and then everyone around them bowed their heads to the floor and shouted in unison.
"Meet the Apostle of the Most High-!"
I will impersonate a tiger from now on.