Chapter 2: Reven the Avenger Meets

A year had passed since Reven was expelled from the hero’s party.

In Zagig, the city of adventurers, rumors were spreading about a certain rookie adventurer who had arrived in town.

But this was no ordinary adventurer.

A princess of the small kingdom of Serenade had come to this city.

The princesses of the Serenade royal family were said to awaken to the power of “summoning magic” through the generations, possessing the ability to freely call forth the spirits of all things. Even the hero’s party, which had reached legendary status, had come to this town seeking to recruit her.

The one assigned to this mission was Kozah the Barbarian, and he had his subordinates searching for the princess from the most luxurious mansion in town.

Of course, other parties were after her as well.

“Get out! We don’t need a useless piece of trash like you!”

Oikawa, one of Kozah’s subordinates, was kicking out a rookie adventurer he had hired just three months ago.

“Wh-What are you doing?! Out of nowhere!”

The boy who had been expelled from the party raised his voice in protest.

His name was Roaks, a young man who had always dreamed of becoming an adventurer.

Roaks was only seventeen years old, a Warrior with distinctive brown hair and a mischievous-looking face, wearing blue-based clothing.

The sword on his back was cheap, and its still-new appearance gave away that he was a rookie adventurer.

Oikawa looked down at him and said maliciously:

“We’re here to find the princess, you hear?! We don’t have the time to babysit some useless rookie adventurer!”

“Hold on a second! When you were recruiting for the party, you wrote ‘inexperience welcome!’ This is unacceptable!”

When Roaks said this, Oikawa snapped.

“Huh?! We’ve been feeding a good-for-nothing like you for three whole months! You got a problem with that, you little brat? Let me tell you something—a rookie like you throwing a tantrum won’t change a damn thing.”

At those words, Roaks gritted his teeth.

It was then.

“Excuse me, I heard there’s an idiot around here expelling people from his party.”

“Huh? Outsiders should stay out of—”

Oikawa froze when he saw the figure.

The man’s features closely resembled those of someone his employer had once expelled.

The man was a hulking mass of muscle over two meters tall—a perverted muscle freak—accompanied by mysterious, surreal monsters that resembled gorillas moving via knuckle-walking.

Reven Avengeyan had appeared.

“Y-You… could you be ‘Reven Avengeyan,’ the one Kozah-aniki mentioned?!”

“Huh? No, I’m not.”

That single statement created an awkward atmosphere.

“Um, who are you…?”

Roaks asked Reven for his name.

“I’m Kozah’s ex-boyfriend, ‘Reven Avengeyan.'”

“What?! But you just said you weren’t…”

“No, I’m Kefir.”

“This makes no sense! What the hell is this guy saying?!”

As Roaks delivered this retort, Oikawa, who had been watching, burst out laughing.

“Hahahaha! Maybe you’d be better suited as a comedy duo! Perfect match—you should stay with that perverted muscle freak! I know about this guy! He’s the incompetent bastard who got kicked out of Kozah-aniki’s party, right?!”

That statement struck Reven’s nerve.

“Oh? So you’re saying you want to go against me?”

“Heh, you want to fight me? Let me tell you something—private battles between adventurers are forbidden in the city. If the military police find you, you’ll be arrested immediately. Got that, incompetent boy? ♪”

“Doesn’t matter. I am the law.”

“Huh?”

In the moment of confusion caused by that statement, Reven charged at Oikawa.

Taking advantage of that opening, he delivered about a hundred rapid-fire punches.

DOGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAH!

“Bluuuurgh!!”

After padding out the character count sufficiently, Reven grabbed Oikawa’s head and pressed his face to the ground, dragging him with all his might.

ZUZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAZAH!

“Gah… Agaatsu…”

After dragging his face along the ground with brute strength until it was misshapen, apparently satisfied with the character count, Reven carried him to a restroom.

After filling the sink with water, Reven pressed Oikawa’s face into it.

“What a filthy face! I’ll clean it up real nice for ya!”

“Glubglubglub, gobaperi!”

Just before Oikawa drowned, Reven pulled his face up from the sink.

“Ah… hah, hah… l-let go…”

“Breathing break complete! Still got more to go!”

He cruelly pushed the face back into the sink again.

“At this rate, you’ll never become a proper swimmer!!”

“This is clearly just torture! And where the hell are we?!”

Roaks couldn’t help but shout at the gruesome training scene (torture).

“All right, breathing practice is over! Now, next up…”

He grabbed Oikawa’s head and hurled him with all his might toward a certain location.

It was a place filled with a large amount of water.

“Gehoh, I’m saved… Wait!! Where is this?!”

When Oikawa was released from breathing practice, he looked around.

Then, the silhouette of a large fin appeared.

“A sh-shark? Is this the ocean?!”

“It’s a public pool!! And what’s chasing you isn’t a shark!! It’s a man-eating palette surgeonfish!!”

As he said this, a giant regal blue tang emerged from the pool.

“That’s a regal blue tang! Where the hell did that come from?!”

The regal blue tang looked at Oikawa with cold eyes and began chasing him at tremendous speed.

“Wh-Whaaaaaaaaaaa! Help meeeeeee!!”

Oikawa desperately swam toward the poolside.

The man-eating regal blue tang chased Oikawa at tremendous speed.

Fortunately, Oikawa managed to reach the poolside before being eaten by the regal blue tang.

“Hah, hah… Damn it, what the hell…”

However, waiting on the shore was the demon coach Reven.

“Your training is insufficient!!”

He looked down at Oikawa coldly, grabbed his head, and threw him back into the pool.

“Blubah! What is with that guy?! This is insane… Huh?!”

When he came to his senses, the man-eating regal blue tang was behind him.

The regal blue tang silently let him go without a word.

“Wh-what…?”

However, Reven would not allow this.

“You bastard! You left food on your plate again!!”

Reven blew away both Oikawa and the regal blue tang with a destructive beam from his mouth.

DOGOON!!

Perfectly cooked! ♡

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

Since he hadn’t padded the character count enough, an irritated Reven drew two swords.

“For someone like you who bullies the weak with such a slovenly attitude, even hell is too good! I, the ‘Avenger,’ will punish you on behalf of the world!! Here I come!!”

He lunged at Oikawa with both swords.

“H-Here it comes?! That dual-sword technique!!”

“Uooooooooooooooh!!”

He slashed at Oikawa, who had been weakened by the torture, with both swords.

“Bayakaho Dual-Sword Secret Technique! ‘Blade of Vengeful Severance!'”

“Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! That’s a surprisingly normal technique name!!”

The spots where Oikawa was cut turned dark black.

“Wh-What is this?! What’s happening?!”

“That’s my revenge energy. When you’re hit by this, you turn into a weird gorilla-like monster.”

“N-No… anything but that! Please, help me! I-I know! I’ll tell you where Boss Kozah is! You hate Boss Kozah! I’ll give you the chance to take revenge on him! So…”

“No.”

With that single word, Oikawa lost it.

“Nooooooooooo! I don’t want to become an ugly monster like that!”

The gorilla-like monsters surrounded Oikawa via knuckle-walking, excited about gaining a new companion.

“Uhohohoh! Uho uho uho uho uho uhooooooh!! Ah-yah! Ah-yah! Ah-yah! Ah-yah!”

The gorilla-like monsters danced wildly in celebration of their new companion’s birth.

And they presented a gift to their soon-to-be new companion.

A gorilla-like monster costume.

“What?! I have to put it on myself?!”

“Uho uho uho uho uho uho!! Ah-yah! Ah-yah! Ah-yah! Uho!!”

Apparently, they wouldn’t let him go unless he wore the costume.

Growing irritated with Oikawa for not putting it on quickly, they raised their fists.

If he was struck by those fists, he wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Fine… I’ll put it on!”

He put on the gorilla-like monster costume.

Huh? Oikawa’s condition is…?

Congratulations! Oikawa evolved into a gorilla-like monster!

The gorilla-like monster seems to want to learn a cry…

“Don’t need it!!”

Reven said this and punched the gorilla-like monster (formerly Oikawa) with all his might.

“Hmph, such a substitute can’t satisfy my desire for revenge. After all, Alex… unless I take revenge on you all, I won’t be freed from this vengeance…”

Roaks, who had been watching this gruesome scene, could only hide and observe.

“Th-That’s incredible…”

“Hey, kid over there.”

He flinched involuntarily at those words.

(This is bad—I’m going to be turned into one of those weird monsters!!)

“You look like you’ve got potential. What do you say, want to team up with me?”

“Huh?! No way.”

Roaks reflexively answered before thinking.

“Whaat?! I’m shocked!”

Reven was genuinely hurt by that response.

And thus, two expelled adventurers met.