episode_0107

＂Sigh…”

As the dreadful incident unfolded before my eyes, and after venting out uncontrollable emotions, reality began to sink in.

Dain Adamas blowing up the warehouse door, the flying door knocking over tables, and the cafe in shambles.

Seeing some tables so destroyed that it would be better to buy new ones, my frustration bubbled up once again.

“Ugh. This is really pissing me off.”

I sighed at the unexpected expenses and started moving to clean up the mess in the ruined cafe.

There’s no way anyone would come to such a messed up cafe, so it was necessary to tidy up.

Clatter. Thud. Crash.

I stood up the fallen tables, moved the completely destroyed ones to the corner, and as I was organizing, a sudden realization hit me.

“Come to think of it, the expenses of two people’s salaries have disappeared, right？”

I sent out Nir and Mary… No, Nir and Mei, no… Mir Ryuin and Mei Luina, so the expenses that should have been given to them as salaries have vanished.

With no customers, I was worried about how to pay their salaries, but thanks to this turn of events, I didn’t have to worry about those expenses anymore.

“It’s not just expenses, but fixed expenses have disappeared. It’s like finding an emergency fund that was hidden and forgotten by chance! Haha! Ha. Sigh…”

However, even realizing that fact and trying to cheer myself up didn’t make me feel better.

Just the thought of being taken advantage of by those lunatics for a whole month only brought irritation and anger.

“Grrr. Mir Ryuin… Mei Luina…!”

So, I called out their names in anger.

The betrayal and disappointment towards them for deceiving me and clinging to me with hidden intentions were too much to bear.

“I trusted them. I even promised to treat them well as the first subordinate I’ve ever had…!”

To think that the freedom I so desired and the first connection I made was actually with Mei Luina and Mir Ryuin.

The severed connection was filled with deceit and clinginess, all while being fooled until Dain Adamas revealed their true identities…!

It was a great humiliation that grew in anger as I thought about it, feeling like a fool for a whole month.

“I wouldn’t have been this angry if they had just come clean upfront…!”

To the extent that, compared to those two perverts who wrecked my precious cafe without even a word, Dain Adamas seemed like an angel…!

Ring~

“What is that! I’m still better off compared to those perverts!”

At that moment, a voice full of discontent entered along with the sound of the bell cutting through the silence.

Turning my head from the broken table towards the door, I saw Dain Adamas, who seemed furious for some reason, standing there with a defiant expression.

Sigh.

“…”

“I didn’t deceive you like those two, I didn’t treat you like a fool, I didn’t betray your trust! I just couldn’t stand not seeing you, that’s all! So kicking me out while treating me like those two perverts is unfair!”

Dain Adamas vented out his grievances sincerely, his shoulders rising and falling in excitement as he waited for my response.

As if she had something to say, as if she felt it was unfair to be treated the same as the others because she didn’t show any signs of submission, she stood tall with her chest puffed out confidently, leaving me speechless with her audacity.

＂Look! Stei, don’t you have anything to say？ Then apologize quickly! You told me to leave after cursing at me just now, so apologize…”

“Dain Adamas.”

“Ugh.”

But just because I couldn’t find the words, it didn’t mean I didn’t say anything at all. If I stayed silent, she might actually think she did nothing wrong, so I gathered my thoughts and called out her name.

With a low and dry voice, I called out her name, and Dain Adamas, who had been fierce just moments ago, visibly deflated.

Although the effect of the “Crazy Girl Fixing Strategy” seemed to still linger as I took control of the situation, the more pressing matter at hand was dealing with the mess in front of me. So, I focused my nerves and pointed my finger at Dain Adamas, who was concentrating on me.

“Look here.”

“Ugh…”

What my finger pointed to was the interior of the shop, still in disarray and not yet cleaned up.

“This is my dream, my space that I’ve longed for. It’s as precious to me as my own body, no, even more precious. But how could you destroy such a precious place to me?”

As I pointed out the disaster with my finger, Dain Adamas finally realized what she had done wrong, shrugging her shoulders and glancing down.

“You… you rearranged the furniture.”

“You wrecked it. My dream that I barely achieved, my space that I carefully decorated. You just did as you pleased.”

Even as she tried to gloss over it with a casual attitude, I cut off her excuses and continued speaking with a dry voice, still devoid of any emotion.

“This is everything I have. My dream and my life that I’ve poured everything into. And yet, you destroyed this most precious space to me for no reason. Common sense dictates that you don’t break something you’re asked to open. You should have some common sense, right?”

“Ugh…”

“But you did such a thing, thinking it would be easy for me to forgive you.”

“No, I…”

“No? You came here on your own and suggested that I should throw away everything I’ve built and come with you. And then when I refused, you spouted nonsense about how the responsibility is all mine. How could you see that as easy?”

“Ugh…”

Since the mouth is connected to the heart, no matter how much I wanted to suppress my emotions, the feelings inside me couldn’t help but spill out.

In addition, the heart is like a dam, so once emotions start to burst out, there’s no stopping the flood.

“Dain Adamas, feeling wronged? No reason to be treated as harshly as the other two? Don’t talk nonsense. In the end, you ignored me just like those two.”

So, even though I tried to restrain myself from showing too much emotion and spoke dryly, the end of this conversation turned out completely different from what I had hoped for.

I always thought of them as people living in a different world, so I never compared myself to them. But deep down, I was an awakened one who aspired to be a hero.

Therefore, feeling inferior when looking at the three S-class heroes who were in a position so high that I couldn’t even compare myself to them was natural, and what I was pouring out to Dain Adamas was nothing but the inferiority coated with anger and betrayal.

I didn’t want to admit it, so even when the store collapsed in real-time, and when I found out about Nir and Mary’s true identities as Mir Ryuin and Mei Luina, I somehow managed to hold back and told them to shut up briefly.

＂You don’t treat people like people. How could I possibly like creatures like you？”

In the end, the forcibly built wall of my heart against the unexpected invasion by Dain Adamas crumbled, and the inferiority complex that had been piling up burst out.

“Ah, ah······.”

Whether I didn’t know I would say this much, or if he really thought he hadn’t done anything wrong, Dain Adamas was wide-eyed and trembling.

It was not funny to think that the world’s strongest human ended up like this because of a mere F-grade nobody, who was now just a retired ordinary person with hero aspirations.

Still, in the current situation where my mind was soaked in inferiority, knowing that I had made Dain Adamas like this didn’t feel so bad, so I regained my composure and told him.

“If you understood, then leave. I don’t want to see you anymore.”

Upon my words, Dain Adamas, like a small rabbit allowed to escape, without even saying goodbye, ran out of the store like a dart.

Ding-a-ling······.

And so, I was left alone in the mess that was ‘Stay this place’.

Naturally, it didn’t feel too good.