Chapter 158: The Battle Against Pride I (1/2)

The name of the party in question is ”Argancia”.

It's an old word from the center continent that means ”pride” and ”arrogance”.

They're an up-and-coming party with a young leader, and they're the next fastest party to become intermediate adventurers after us.

What's more, by a narrow margin of only two days

I've heard their name being brought up from time to time. However, I'm not interested in other parties<That and there's the time when the one party I had teamed up with got wiped out>, so I've never gotten involved with them, and even though they sometimes glare at me, I've always ignored them.

And that's the party that I'm going to meet together with Evetta-san.

The location was the country-run bar that I hadn't been to recently. They were seated in a corner.

「Excuse me, which of you is the leader?」

Come to think of it, I don't know the leader's name or gender.

Evetta-san probably knows, but it's forbidden for anyone working for the Adventurers' Guild to leak the personal information of the adventurers. It's a pretty strict prohibition.

I surveyed the party in front of me for a moment.

The first person to catch my eye was a young woman with short hair that was silver, which I strangely knew many people with. Her two machetes stood out, and she was outfitted lightly in the style of a reconnaissance or exploration adventurer. She was slender and had adorable features, but her expression resembled a Noh mask.

Maybe she’s just wary of me

Next was a beastkin with short animal ears. She had a thick, reptilian-looking tail. Her dark brown hair was also short and slicked back. She was dressed in the usual underwear-like garb of beastkin. Her face reminded me of the otters that I had seen recently.

Is there such a thing as an otter beastkin? From the fact that she carries a staff, I'd say she's probably a magician of some sort.

The most striking one was a huge person in full plate armor.

Encased entirely in that armor, it was impossible to tell this person's race or gender. Moreover, there didn't seem to be any weapons on their person.

The armor's gauntlets look strong, but are they enough to kill monsters, I wonder? It's quite a mystery.

Almost as a side note, there was a slim boy hidden behind the armored person.

He was probably around the same age as Shuna.

With armor, cloak, shield, and sword, he was dressed like a knight. He embodied the saying ”the clothes make the man”. His blonde hair was cropped short and he had a cocky look on his face.

He reminds me of the wielder of the magic sword that I had defeated in the past.

In summary, the party ”Argancia” consisted of one silver-haired young woman in charge of scouting, one beastkin magician, one mysterious armored person, and one brat dressed like a knight.

「You! Aren't you from Seeker Brigade?! What the hell do you want from us?! Huhhh?!」

I ignored the brat who came at me……

「Sorry, who's the leader?」

……and repeated my question.

The silver-haired young woman pointed at the brat snapping at me.

「Ohh, it's you? The leader?」

「I'm the leader!」

He's so loud though.

「I'm here today to ask a small favor」

「What the heck do you want, asshole?」

I wanted to punch him in the face, but being an adult, I resisted the urge.

「Evetta-jou here says that your party wants to hire her, but I'd like to ask you to let us hire her first」

「Don't be ridiculous! We applied to hire her first!」

「No, that's not true」

Said Evetta-san.

「The applications were submitted at almost the same time. I believe both parties have equal claim to me」

「What?! You must have pulled some kind of dirty trick again, Seeker Brigade!」

By the way, Evetta-san is the one who had pulled the dirty trick, forging an application by imitating my handwriting and submitting it together with theirs.

Maybe it’s her prerogative as my person-in-charge, but I wonder why she had done that.

「Wait, young man. What do you mean by ”again”?」

He was right, but I couldn't let that ”again” pass.

「First, you've got two beautiful elven princesses in your party! I heard that you threatened another elf with your bow to get them to join you!」

「That's not what happened. Rana was tricked by that same elf, and I was only trying to save her. Threatening that elf with a bow was just payback」

「Then, what about the subjugation of the Dragon-Tortoise Midoranga?!」

He uttered a name that brought back memories. The materials from that tortoise were so pricey that they still hadn't been sold yet.

「That's a result of my party combining their strengths. Though it was eventually fixed, we sacrificed one of our most valuable weapons in that battle」

「No, I don't believe you!」

「Then……」

……it doesn't matter what I say, does it?

「Well, in that case……」

I don't know what case he’s talking about, but……

「……”Dragonshell Slasher” and ”Dragon Scale” are also frauds, right?」

「Huh?」

……I got pissed off.

You can say whatever you want about me. But it's a different story when you speak badly of my party. It's partly because of my own emotional issues, but I'm not the kind of leader who can laugh it off when someone ridicules my party members.

What this guy just said is taboo among adventurers.

「I'm especially skeptical about ”Dragon Scale”. After all, he's from a family of criminals and was exiled from Elysium. What was the charge again? Umm, they fell for an elf's charms or something? Oh, right. Maybe you used the elves in your party to――――――」

I swept the brat's legs out from under him.

「Unhh!」

It resulted in him hitting the back of his head on the table as he fell over comically.

I reached for my katana, but Evetta-san stopped me.

「Souya, I know how you feel, but we came to talk」

「Can you not stop me? This guy just ridiculed Irvin, my wife, and my sister all at once. That's more than enough reason to cut him down」

We can talk to him after I've chopped off his limbs. In fact, for people like him, that'll make things go faster.

「You bastard!」

「Come and get what you deserve」

「If you're gonna fight, don't use your weapons! Do it bare-handed!」

It can't be helped

I'm not very good at fighting bare-handed, but I'll kick his ass. He's also raring to go anyway.

「Souya, we・came・to・talk」

「Owwowowow」

My right arm, which Evetta-san had grabbed, was in agony.

This is that thing where she's implying, ”If you don't listen to me, I'll crush it”, right?

「You've given me one hell of a greeting, party members and leader of ”Argancia”. I challenge you assholes to a match for Evetta-san. You don't have to accept if you're scared and want to run away from the city」

「Y, y, you bastard!」

The brat bellowed at me.

But instead of him, my gaze was directed behind him.

The barkeeper’s was as well. Rather than me, he had been eyeing the silver-haired young woman from the very beginning. She had drawn her machetes and was holding one in each hand. Moreover, she didn't seem inclined to sheath them even after being warned by the barkeeper.

This is the first time I've seen someone not obey Master in this bar.

Is she really that brave or is she just plain crazy??

「………Fine! I'll take that challenge! I'm going to beat you to a pulp! I'm going to expose you for the fraud you are, and make it impossible for you to go adventuring ever again!」

「Early tomorrow morning, meet me at the Adventurers' Guild. At that time, the Guild President will reveal the rules of the match」