Act 2-47 - Return

Chapter 47 : Return

Edda, Mani and I finally arrived back to our battlefield against the grey cultists.

In addition to our comrades, we also saw the figures of the hostages amongst them.

It seems the hostages were safe.

But… the atmosphere in that place was so gloomy.

Everyone had this sorrowful look on their face.

「W-WHAT THE MEANING OF THIS! ARE YOU FU*CKING KIDDING MEEEEE! WHY IS THE ENVIRONMENTALIST THAT WE PREPARED DEAD!? WHAT ABOUT CHILDICK!!?!」

「I-I’ve told you that Childick… left us behind after he killed the other environmentalist with his magic. I… really had no idea what was happening…」

Gamdon was shouting at the wounded adventurers.

His figure when shouting at the wounded adventurer with bloodshot eyes were scary.

「Okay, that’s enough! Where’s that Childick now! all of you are useless! I want to hear his opinion!」

「C-Calm down Gamdon-san! We’ve already told you that Childick is betraying us!」

It seems we arrived right when they were reporting about Childick’s betrayal.

But as expected, Gamdon seems to be really upset by such a betrayal.

Well, that was natural.

I mean, Gamdon left every small detail of the plans to Childick.

「D-Dean-kun has already chased after him… another two adventurers following after that. Uhm, I think you should run after them as soon as possible rather than screwing with me…!」

「Dean…? Who’s that?」

「T-The brown haired you—Ah! They just got back!… ah… no way…」

The male adventurer who was pointing toward me dropped his shoulder when he saw that we didn’t bring Childick with us.

Gamdon turned around and glaring at me as he let go off the poor, wounded male adventurer.

He then walked toward us.

「Let me handle the explanation. You just take a break and watch the rest, Dean.」

Despite what she said, I shook my head and stood in front of her after I took my arm off from her shoulder.

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I’m not stupid enough to let Mani, a woman facing someone as rude as Gamdon.

He might exert violence on Mani in his current confused state.

「SO IT’S YOUUUUUU! WHAT ABOUT CHILDICK! HOW DARE YOU TO COMEBACK WITHOUT HIM!」

Gamdon screamed at the top of his lungs, his saliva was raining down as he screamed.

… Yuck, now I regret standing in front of him.

《Beelzera》’s sheath trembled lightly.

『YIKES! HIS SPITS STICKING ON THIS MISTRESS! CLEAN IT UP QUICKLY, DEAN!』

… It seems Gamdon’s spit was even more unpleasant than the battle rat’s blood which was sticking to her when we dismantled the battle rat.

Edda was also pulling away from me, obviously trying to avoid this “Local Rain”.

「Those two girls obviously can still fight! Why don’t they go after Childick!? Are you an idiot!? all of us are doomed without environmentalist!」

Gamdon kept shouting at me, blue vein almost popping out his forehead.

「C-Calm down and hear me out will ya! In fact… though she’s not too adept in it, Mani can use matter magic too! The reason she didn’t say anything about it is because she is lacking confidence in it. And she doesn’t want to receive special treatment just because you know that she can use it. The reason they caught up with me is because they know that I can’t beat Childick in my current condition…」

Not being able to bear standing in the “local rain” either, I cut off Gamdon before he finished his speech while introducing Mani.

「W-W-W-WHAT! WHY ARE YOU GUYS DIDN”T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THIS! I SAW HER FIGHTING IN THE FRONTLINE ONCE BEFORE! IF SHE DIED, WE’RE LITERALLY DOOMED! YOU SHOULD TELL US BEFOREHAND THAT SHE IS AN ENVIRONMENTALIST SO THAT WE CAN KEEP HER SAFE!」

Gamdon slowly raised his clenched fist.

Oh crap, he’s about to go wild anytime now.

Recalling the fighting spirit he showed during battle, one hit from Gamdon-even without status correction from his weapon- was no joke for the current me.

Since he looks rather deranged right now, he might beat me to death if I showed any suspicious movement.

「Calm down already, Gamdon. You should be happy that we at least have a way to get out of this situation, right? That’s why you should make sure you’re teaching your junior properly next time.」

Heidar caught Gamdon’s wrist, stopping the latter from exerting violence.

「First… let’s reaffirm the situation again. Remember that he killed Ciel, the other environmentalist right before he escaped, making sure that we’ve no way out of this situation. In another way, the fact that he overlooked the fact that there was another matter magic user, albeit rather unskilled, hidden amongst us is a blessing in disguise.」

「… I-I see now.」

Gamdon started to loosen his clenched fist.

His complexion softened from before, at least not as red as before.

Seeing the change in Gamdon’s face, Heidar finally let go off the latter’s hand while heaving a sigh as if he just witnessed the most idiotic muscle brain.

T-That was a close one.

I thought he was going to kill me.

「Yosh, good job!」

Gamdon then used his other hand that was free to pat my back.

A shock running through my entire body.

「GUH!?」

That pat on the back sent me straight on my knees.

Seeing that, Mani rushed toward me in a hurry.

「D-DEAN, HANG IN THERE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! HE’S INJURED REALLY BADLY!」

「M-My bad, it seems I used a bit too much power. Oi, you lot!! We’ve got a spare environmentalist! Now let’s go back!!!」

After apologizing to Mani, Gamdon called out to the other adventurers with a lively voice, different from before.

… Seeing his honest and frank personality, I know that he wasn’t a bad person but, honestly, he wasn’t the kind of a person that I could get along with.

After Heidar rearranged our formation, placing the adventurers who could still fight in the front, the wounded in the back, and the hostage in the middle, we returned toward the 3rd floor.

Both Mani and I were stationed in the middle.

In my case, I was already completely exhausted and might have fainted at any moment now.

I wasn’t in any condition to fight.

Seeing that Mani was also injured due to Childick’s ambush, she was now banned from joining the front line.

On the way to return, Mani kept hoisting 《Gadras》 as she kept purifying the miasma with 《Airla》.

「… Are you okay, Mani?」

「Yeah,I think I should be able to keep going on until we leave the 4th floor as long as I’m not overdoing it. I do feel bad for the people who fight in the frontline but, we’re at least safe from miasma poisoning. I mean, even Heidar-san said that if there’s someone who started to show the early symptoms of miasma poisoning, they should temporarily retire from the front line till their symptoms eased.」

「I see… thank god. Well, since I’ve recovered to the point of being able to walk on my own. I guess I’ll walk on my own as to not disturb you from maintaining 《Airla》.」

When I tried to pull myself off her shoulder, Mani desperately pulled me back.

「Don’t worry about me. Look, a glance at your feet is enough to tell me that you’re lying about your condition. Don’t be shy when you need to depend on me.」

Mani brought her face close to mine as she told me so.

Since it happened so suddenly, I turned my gaze in hurry.

「I-I see, well then…」

When I was about to complete my sentence, I saw Edda’s figure on the edge of my line of sight.

Since Edda can still move, she was placed in the rear.

Though the other adventurers were sharing their joy celebrating the end of the fight with minimum casualties, she was the only one amongst them who was glaring with a sullen look toward Mani and I.

「E-Ehm… you’re, Edda-san, right? Thank you very much for your help during the battle! I mean, I’m so amazed seeing you fight those creeps head on, and defeating them by yourself…! I mean, here we need three people just to fight one of them…」

A female adventurer called out to Edda with a timid voice.

Ooh, good job miss.

Seeing that, I felt relieved.

I thought that this was the best chance for Edda to open up to the others.

「Is something the matter, do I look that lonely to you?」

「N-No, I just…!」

Oi Edda, that woman was trying to get along with you.

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TN: I’ve said before that I’m gonna picked this up again but, MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES!!! I’VE FOUND AN EVEN BETTER PROJECT ONE DAY AFTER THAT AND HAVE BEEN ITCHING TO TL IT!!!