ALL NOVEL Chapter 95
95. The Miscalculated Gale [SIDE – Barry]
Numbers are a very good thing. If you stack 1 on top of 1, it will always become 2. Add another 1, and it becomes 3.
Simple and something anyone can do. That’s why I trained myself every day, constantly stacking 1 on top of 1.
Before I knew it, I had become an S-rank adventurer. It was the natural result. I kept moving forward, one step at a time, every day.
That’s why hearing people around me talk behind my back made my skin crawl.
Why don’t you stack your own numbers? Why don’t you do what anyone can do?
At some point, I realized. They know that 1+1 equals 2, but they can’t truly calculate. That’s why they can’t stack.
――So, I decided to ignore them. Once I thought of them as monkeys who couldn’t calculate, I stopped caring.
The change came after that.
Even after becoming an S-rank adventurer, I continued stacking my 1s. Because I believed that doing so would eventually make me stronger than anyone else.
But I was wrong. There were people in this world called ‘geniuses.’
When I joined the dungeon raiding team organized by the country, I met one.
Her name was Laura, unforgettable. A woman with blonde hair and green eyes, possessing overwhelming skill. It was a realm I could never reach, no matter how many decades or centuries I trained.
Watching her swordsmanship, I was captivated. At the same time, I understood I could never catch up to her.
It was my first experience of failure in life.
“Damn it, what kind of monster is she!?”
I had been training incessantly until then. I knew that stacking numbers would always pay off. I believed that.
But I was wrong. The higher you go, the less meaningful it is to stack just 1. It felt like my efforts up to now were worthless.
So, I ran away. I spent my days lingering in the guild, drinking away my savings.
One day, while drinking as usual, I overheard some adventurers talking.
“Isn’t that Barry? The S-rank adventurer?”
“Yeah, but I heard he doesn’t take any quests anymore. He’s just a drunk now.”
“He was only impressive in the past. Just a one-hit wonder.”
Normally, I wouldn’t care, but that conversation strangely stuck in my ears.
I was hungover and my stomach was churning. So, I stood up and yelled at the three guys.
“What do you bottom-feeders know!? You have no idea what it took for me to get here!”
After that, I started fixating on people weaker than me.
Looking down on the weak made me feel better. They struggled with problems that could be solved with daily effort. Watching them, I vented my frustrations.
At the same time, I began to realize. What was the point of staying stagnant like this?
――What am I living for?
One day, with these thoughts in mind, I got lost due to the alcohol and ended up at a garbage dump.
There was a man there. For some reason, he was sitting in that dump.
“…Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I’m Elgen. …Just got branded as a good-for-nothing.”
Elgen told his story. He had apprenticed under a blacksmith named Diego and was just told to assist his junior apprentice.
“My skill is just the ability to warp things a little. My junior apprentice is much more suited to be a blacksmith.”
“That’s a strange story. Why do you want to become a blacksmith?”
“…I just want to. I know I don’t have talent. But I still want to, even if I have to push others down.”
Elgen shared everything he felt. Before I knew it, I was also talking about my past.
I finally understood. There are people in this world driven by something beyond calculation.
And at the same time, I became curious. What would happen if I combined my calculating skills with this man?
“Hey, this might sound sudden, but… how about teaming up with me? And entering the next hero tournament?”
“You and me? Teaming up with a useless guy like me, what’s gotten into you?”
“It’s not a whim. It’s a calculation. If you and I work together, we can be the best. We will rationally ‘use’ each other. We’ll do whatever it takes to be number one.”
Elgen laughed. Before we knew it, we were on the same wavelength.
“That sounds good. I’ll become the best blacksmith. And you, the best adventurer.”
“Yeah, we definitely will.”
We would use any means, no matter how dirty or underhanded. That was the path we found.
And――we lost. Defeated completely, even with cheating, by the guy we called a bottom-feeder.
“]It’s not over yet! Irena will definitely come! That’s why I’m fighting and believing!]”
“[Irena didn’t give up. Even when you cheated and she doubted herself, she still made this sword! She hasn’t given up on evolving like you!]”
Those two didn’t give up because they believed. That’s why they won.
Before, I would have dismissed it as not being a calculation.
But now, I found myself envying that way of living, even if just a little.
“Golem, attack!”
My vision blurred, and my body was in pain. In the hazy view, the bottom-feeder and the red-haired boy were fighting. They seemed to be cornered.
Simple calculation told me the bottom-feeder was losing. If I watched, he would be defeated. Serves him right.
But why? Somewhere inside, I wanted him not to lose.
A bottom-feeder, covered in wounds, unable to calculate. I envied his way of living.
Can I move my body?――No, I’ll make it move. Not by calculation, but because I want to.
I can do it. Get up and dive into his arms. Just buy a little time. Visualize it. Running like――
――a
“Uooooooo!!”
As I ran with all my might, something inside me snapped.
“Do it! Now, bottom-feeder!”
My voice, squeezed from the depths of my stomach, cracked beyond calculation.