The Grudges and Grievances of an Old Guy Who's Hardly Had Any Focus Until Now

Baron Martz Salar had been born a commoner, the third son of a blacksmith in Namedake, a town in southern Teenidys.

From a young age, he showed more interest in swinging a sword than forging one, and in the spring he turned 15, he ran away from home to become an adventurer.

The one who had been in a party with him ever since, sharing both the joys and hardships, was his childhood friend, Mauve.

Unlike Martz, who had a talent for the sword and rose quickly to prominence, Mauve had no talent for combat.

But Mauve was proud of his stamina, and in Martz's party he had kept supporting Martz from behind the scenes as a porter, that is, a baggage carrier.

However strong Martz was, however mighty the monsters he could slay, an adventurer's income would plummet if the materials weren't brought back.

Yet no one can fight properly while hauling materials.

That problem is what a porter solves.

A plain job, but for an adventuring party, an indispensable, much-needed member.

Among adventurers, there are heartless ones who revile porters for not participating directly in combat.

But Martz was not like that.

He understood the importance of porters, as well as Mauve's talent and skill as a porter.

He valued him highly.

Martz was a first-rate adventurer as a swordsman, but Mauve was a first-rate adventurer as a porter.

The two complemented each other's shortcomings, adventuring, fighting, and growing together.

Who he was today, he owed to Mauve.

That was what Martz believed.

That was why, when he was raised to the peerage and retired as an adventurer, he invited Mauve, saying, “Won't you keep working with me?”

By then, both of them had passed their physical prime and were beginning to feel their decline.

Mauve couldn't stay in a job as unstable as adventuring forever, either.

In that case, even if it meant being employer and servant, hiring him and giving him a stable life would be a way to repay Mauve.

Martz made this offer from the bottom of his heart, with nothing but Mauve's good in mind.

Mauve had accepted the proposal with a smile.

He and Mauve were bound by a firm friendship.

Martz believed this without a shadow of a doubt.

That was why he trusted Mauve, and in the midst of this emergency, he entrusted him with the high-priority task of ‘evacuating the villagers’.

And yet, look at this.

What in the world had happened?

The Mauve in whom he had placed his absolute trust.

The friend he thought was bound to him by a strong friendship.

Was holding a blade to his beloved daughter's throat, wearing a twisted, dark smile.

......Why?

“‘Why?’ That's, what you're thinking, right? You.”

The casual tone was the same as back when they were adventurers.

But in a low, dark voice, Mauve began to talk.

“Bullseye, right? I get it, y'know. What you're thinking. 'Cause I was with you all along...... all along, see.”

The knife gripped in his hand was shaking.

“But see! You don't get it, do ya! What I'm thinking right nooow!!”

Suddenly, Mauve screamed.

Sara, held as a hostage, turned pale and her shoulders gave a sudden shudder.

“W, what's wrong, Mauve! Calm down! Come back to your senses!”

“Senses!? Hahaha, come back to my senses? Hahahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha! I'm perfectly sane! No doubt about it!”

Despite his words, the sight of Mauve laughing loudly while spraying saliva was anything but sane.

“Mauve, listen! We came to the study with Sara, just as I promised, didn't we!? Please, let Sara go......!”

Emma pleaded.

Sara, Emma, and Maid had been caught off guard and attacked by Mauve while on their way to evacuate to the basement.

At the time, Maid had been struck in the head and knocked unconscious; she was currently sprawled out in the hallway.

“No! Hahaha, not yet! ......Hey, Martz! Sinister butler! Get your hands off the barrier stone!”

“S, sinister......!?”

“Sneigen, restrain yourself...... it can't be helped, the repairs...... are on hold.”

Martz and Sneigen slowly removed their hands from the barrier stone.

The restoration of the barrier stone, which had been progressing bit by bit...... stopped.

“Good, that's it. That'll do.”

Keeping the blade against Sara's throat, Mauve moved inch by inch, standing with his back to the window and glaring at Martz and the others.

“Come on, Mauve, calm down...... why are you doing this!”

“Ha, ha, ha. You don't get it, Martz. You could never get it, how I feel.”

Mauve's dark eyes, glaring at Martz.

Martz had never seen this expression on Mauve's face before.

“Always, always! You're always the one who succeeds! Even when you fail at something, you always make it up with hard work and get past the hardship! Amazing, huh! Everyone always recognizes you!”

Mauve shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Compared to that, what about me!? No matter what I do, I don't stand out! I'm not acknowledged! It's always you who gets everything! Honor, titles, a peerage, a wife, a daughter!! You're the only one who gets them! The only one who gets to be happy!! As for me...... no one even looks at me!!”

“I! I acknowledged you, Mauve! The person I am today is thanks to you! That's exactly why......”

“Exactly why? You hired a plain, inconspicuous, useless porter as a servant? And as a result, what happened to me? Every day I gloomily slog through work I'm not used to and not suited for, while the sinister butler curses me out! Called an incompetent hired out of pity!”

Mauve's grip tightened on the knife.

“Ngh......!”

A small cut appeared on Sara's throat, and a single streak of blood flowed.

Sara let out a small whimper.

“Ah! Sara! Saraaa!!”

Baroness Emma was utterly distraught by now.

The usual calm and composed version of her was nowhere to be found.

“I've been holding it in, Martz. For a long time. Yeah, I've been holding it in for a long time. I killed my own feelings. But that was a mistake!”

“A mistake......!?”

“Yeah! Because, that time! That time I dropped the roof board on your wife and child who happened to be passing below! The exhilaration I felt then! It was the best!! I finally realized my true feelings! I want to steal from you, Martz! Your precious things! The happiness I could never get!!”

“Th, that was your doing, was it!?”

“Huh!? What're you acting surprised for now! Well, I screwed it up that time. That damn cursed child.”

Mauve, clicking his tongue and spitting.

Martz had never once seen him curse like this, not from their adventuring days until now.

He was supposed to be a man who was always gentle, modest, and smiling quietly.

“Mauve, if you resent me, then come after me, won't you? Please, let Sara go! Don't drag my daughter, into this!”

“Hah? Were you even listening to me? I told you, I want to steal. From you, your precious things.”

“What, what good will doing that do!? Please, just calm down, Mauve. Doing this won't make anyone happy.”

“No!! They will!! With this, my fate will change!! That's what I was told!!”

“T, told, you say?”

“Hey! Hey, is it time yet!! I did exactly as I was told!! What should I do now!?”

Mauve screamed, his eyes darting frantically toward the ceiling and walls.

What Mauve had just said made one thing clear: someone had put him up to this outrage.

And judging from where Mauve's eyes went as he begged for instructions, that someone was a third party who had not shown themselves in this room.

Martz searched for any presence of someone hiding where Mauve was looking, but there was none.

“Uncle, Mauve......”

The next one to speak was Sara, who was held as a hostage.

Perhaps because her body hurt from being gripped roughly, her voice lacked its usual energy.

Yet she showed no sign of cowering or trembling, either.

It was due to her innate strength of character.

“Uncle, weren't you and Father friends?”

“Huh?”

“Father says it all the time. That Mauve is the best comrade ever. That he's almost too good for him, as a friend.”

“......”

“Uncle, I want you to calm down. I want you to go back to being the kind uncle you always are.”

“......”

“Hey, Uncle. You two are friends, right?”

They were such pure words.

Such straightforward words.

Sara was sad.

Her father and Mauve were supposed to be friends.

And yet, Mauve was trying to hurt her father's heart.

That wasn't right.

For friends to end up like this was painful.

More than the danger to her own life, it hurt to watch a friendship crumbling to pieces right before her eyes.

She thought of nothing but wanting her father and Mauve to make up.

“Friends, we weren't anything like that. Not for a long time now.”

But what came out of Mauve's mouth was a fact that only saddened Sara.

“......Once, we were.”

Words wrung out of him, one by one.

“I was always grateful. I respected you. I was proud. I thought Martz was the best friend there was. But now, I just envy you! I hate you!”

“Uncle......”

“I can tell, Sara! You're probably just like Martz! Loved by everyone, facing any hardship without faltering! I'm sure you'll become a winner like that! You'll get to live in a world of pretty ideals! Lucky you! I'm so jealous! I hate it so much!”

Spraying saliva, Mauve began to scream again.

Tears fell from Sara's eyes, drop by drop.

She was so sad, so sad, that she could no longer find words to say to Mauve.

“But see, today all fate changes. You lot stop being winners, and me, I put an end to my life in the shadows.”

Mauve began to laugh.

The way he let out a loud laugh with bloodshot eyes gleaming was abnormal by any standard.

Martz had felt a sense of wrongness about Mauve's behavior this whole time.

Even if the claims he had made until now were spoken from the heart.

Even so, what would be gained by causing such an incident while a horde of monsters was heading for the mansion?

How would fate change because of this?

Taking his daughter hostage and holing up in a room, where did he think that would lead?

All that awaited him there was a future as a criminal, wasn't it?

“......‘You took my daughter hostage, so what do you plan to do from here? All that awaits you there is a future as a criminal.’ Is that about what you're thinking right now? Martz.”

“......!”

Mauve said this with a smirk.

Martz bit his lip, his thoughts once again read by Mauve.

It seemed Mauve really could tell what he was thinking.

And yet he himself couldn't tell at all what Mauve was thinking......

“Well, normally, you'd think that! Hahaha, but see, I have an ally.”

“An ally...... who is that?”

“Hahaha! Wanna know? Course you do! Sure, I don't mind telling you! You'll freak, y'know? Bet on it!!”

Mauve's collaborator.

Mauve's behavior a moment ago had made it certain that such a person existed, and now Mauve said he would reveal who it was himself.

Perhaps the Carriage Ambush had been that person's doing, too.

Tension ran through the room.

“Listen, okay? Listen well. My ally is......”

It was in the very next moment

that, with a roar, the giant Poison Topopolock Queen's head smashed through the window and wall and into the study.