An A-Ranked Adventurer's 'Slow-living'

A man with black hair dressed in black clothes.

Maybe it’s due to his angular shaped face and stubble that he really gave off a rough vibe.

His left eye has a black eyepatch over it, possibly because it lost its vision after I slashed him there in the past, and his remaining right eye is red like the color of blood.

I’m sure of it. That man is Zoak.

「Zoak! What did you do with Flora!?」

「…Hmph, so this time you’re taking me seriously, huh?」

Even though I shouted at him angrily, Zoak just snorted and muttered to himself.

Is he talking about how I didn’t take him seriously at the royal capital’s dragon slayer’s banquet?

But right now, there’s something else I want to confirm instead of that.

「I came alone. Flora’s safe, right?」

「……Yeah, your woman is right behind me」

When Zoak moved a step aside as he stood ahead facing me, I saw that Flora had been tied to a tree behind him with a rope.

「――! 」

Perhaps it’s because is now able to see me as well, she started to scream out to me in a muffled voice.

But since she was gagged, it was difficult for her to speak.

From what I can see, it doesn’t look like Zoak did anything violent to her so far.

Knowing that Flora’s safe for the time being, I let out a sigh of relief.

「…You have become pathetic. What is that look on your face? You weren’t someone who would make a face like that in the past」

He’s right. But I don’t think the current me is that bad.

I have someone important to me now and I feel relieved knowing that she’s safe. What’s wrong with that?

When I took a firm attitude to the very end to display such feelings, Zoak’s expression changed to an unpleasant one.

「Is this what Avalonia’s strongest A-ranked adventurer, the dragonslayer Aldred should be like?」

After Flora heard him calling me by my real name, she had a strange look on her face.

I instinctively made a bitter expression when I saw that look on her face.

If my secret was going to come to light, I wanted to at least be the one to tell her.

Zoak grinned broadly. Perhaps he understood what’s going on after he saw my bitter expression and the strange look on Flora’s face.

「What, Aldred? You didn’t tell your woman about your background?」

He slowly walked to where Flora is as he grinned.

I felt an impulse to cut him down immediately when I saw him approaching her, but Zoak could kill her faster than I kill him.

Even while I’m feeling such frustration, I tried hard to calm myself down. f𝐫ee𝘄ℯ𝚋no𝐯𝐞l.c𝘰m

Flora had a frightened look in her eyes, possibly because she’s feeling anxious about Zoak coming near her.

「You poor thing, getting dragged into this without knowing the reason at all」

Zoak looked at Flora as if he was taking pity on her and removed her gag.

How long is he going to run his mouth for? I was so angry that I clenched my fists.

「……What do you mean by Aldo not telling me about his background?」

「Your man’s name is not Aldo. His name is Aldred」

「……What? Aldred?」

Flora responded in a puzzled voice after Zoak put it out clearly for her.

Stop it. Don’t tell her.

「Yes. On top of that, he is the strongest A-ranked adventurer in the Kingdom of Avalonia who had slain a dragon」

「Slain a dragon? Aldo? The kingdom’s strongest adventurer?」

Flora spoke in a confused voice after she suddenly heard my real name and my past from Zoak.

And then, she slowly looked at me as if she was asking me if that’s true.

Being looked at by her innocent eyes that never doubt anything, I ended up looked away without thinking.

After that, I heard her gasp as if she received a shock.

If I knew it was going to be like this, I should have told Flora my secret at the very beginning like Kurune said.

However, right now is not the time for regrets.

I put my feelings aside and decided to find out what Zoak wants.

「What is it that you want?! Were you told by some nobles to bring me back?!」

「Yeah, I was in fact told to do that」

I was perplexed by the fact that he just simply admitted it.

I expected him to dodge the question a little more.

「A noble asked me to bring you back, and then when I wandered to the west according to his intel, I found your female wizard companion and followed her here. However, that is what the noble wants, not what I’m after!」

After Zoak said that with a strong tone, he pulled out the sword he wore by his waist.

A sword that’s as black as the night was unsheathed with a *shing* sound.

Then, he slowly pointed the pitch-black sword at me.

「――What I want is you. I want to fight you again and beat you」

「If it’s me that you want then didn’t I come here alone?! It has nothing to do with Flora then. Let her go!」

「……Indeed, this woman is just bait to simply bring you out. If you were the same as before, I would have already let her go」

I felt an indescribable uneasiness from the strange way Zoak’s phrased his words.

「However, you have degraded since you slayed the dragon! You shut yourself in inns for a while and you ended up not even being able to wield your sword. When I tried looking into it, it’s because you can’t find any meaning in fighting? What is that?! I suffered a wound like this and lost to someone like that?! Then you went to the countryside that has nothing, found a woman, and began living a carefree life in the end! I arrived at this village even before that wizard girl, you know? You have become so soft that I had to let my bloodthirst out before you finally realized that something was wrong!」

Zoak suddenly exploded out of his calm mood with a ghastly look on his face.

I completely understand that he’s clearly not happy with me and those were his sincere feelings.

However, those words do not move me at all.

It’s true that it’s embarrassing for me to not realize that there was a dangerous person like him roaming around before this happened, but I decided to live as a villager now.

Even if I’m told that I’m pathetic, it doesn’t anger me.

「I am not the A-ranked adventurer Aldred now. I’m the villager Aldo who lives in Nordende. You don’t have the right to tell me how to live my life. I’m no longer who I was in the past. So just let Flora go and leave this place」

Although I spoke softly to the end, Zoak was looking at me with cold eyes.

「There are other strong people in the kingdom as well. And if you go outside the kingdom, there will be many more of them. There’s no point in being fixated on me, right?」

「No, just being strong won’t cut it. I realized this in the past several months. They have to have a strong will, so it won’t do if it’s not someone who could mercilessly cut down others. Yes, like the fight we had on that night…! Slashing and being slashed…I want to have a battle of life and death again just like that time!」

Half of his words were dyed in madness.

He had become completely obsessed with me after he recalled our fight from the past.

「But right now I don’t have a strong will like I did in the past」

When I flat out declined him, the fire in Zoak’s eyes disappeared instantly.

「……Yeahh. I thought the you right now would say that. That’s why I’m going to use this woman to give you, who has lost your motivation to fight, a reason to fight」

Zoak spoke in a cold tone, then he started getting closer to Flora.

Perhaps it’s because I witnessed his madness just a second ago, I yelled out anxiously,

「Oi, what are you trying to do to her?!」

However, Zoak ignored my voice and pulled a dagger out from his waist.

That silver-colored blade had a purple liquid on it.

That’s most likely poison.

「No, please don’t come near me!」

Flora screamed out in a high pitch voice when the blade was pointed at her.

「S-stop! Zoak!」

Zoak turned to me with a big smirk after I screamed out from the top of my lungs at him.

But in the next moment, he slashed Flora’s shoulder with the poison-covered dagger.

「――Hyaa?!」

A voice of anguish leaked out from Flora.

Together with that voice, some blood scattered through the air.

She was injured from Zoak’s dagger.

The moment I saw that, my mind became completely blank as if the inside of my head exploded.

And then, an icy rage that killed all of my emotions and logic surged out.

Before I realized it, I had kicked off the ground, closed the distance between me and Zoak and started slashing at him.

My silver sword and his black sword clashed with a high pitched sound and ignited a spark.

Then, maybe because Zoak judged that he was going to be out-pushed by my momentum, he accepted the flow and retreated several meters backward.

「……That dagger just now was coated with poison. And I cut your woman with it. If she’s left alone, she will probably die within an hour once the poison takes effect. Also, I have the antidote in my hands. You know what to do next, don’t you?」

「Zoak!」

「Now, come at me for real. If you don’t kill me, your precious woman is going to die, right?」