S-Rank Adventurer Betrayed by His Fiancée in the Hero’s Party Sets Off on a Journey to Heal His Broken Heart ~The Strongest Betrayed Adventurer Ends Up Forming a Harem Party~ - Chapter 37: Only Lunatics Wait at the End of Hard Work

Chapter 37: Only Lunatics Wait at the End of Hard Work

“Frey, Frey. You’re forgetting to hold back.”

“Huh—ah!? S-Sorry! Are you okay!?”

As soon as I said that, she quickly let go of my arm and looked genuinely worried.

Thanks to my reflexes, I had activated a Reinforcement Spell just in time, so I wasn’t hurt.

Still, if it had been a normal person, their arm might’ve snapped clean in half.

“I’ve been boosting myself non-stop lately, so I forgot I need to control my strength…”

“You’re doing great, though. That just means your body’s getting used to constantly using mana and skills. It’s a good sign.”

I reassured Frey with a smile.

She hadn’t meant to hurt me, after all.

Right now, she was keeping herself enhanced with a physical buff—《Boost》—applied all the time.

If she didn’t stay aware of that strength, accidents like this could happen without warning.

Not that Frey was the only one dealing with that kind of thing.

“Hey, Maria. Your 《Ball Bolt》 is losing shape.”

“What? No way!? Ugh—it’s ruined…”

A few glowing orbs of lightning hovered around Maria, shaped like triangles and squares instead of perfect spheres.

They shifted back to balls a moment later, though.

“Elmie, how’s your spell holding up? Still going?”

“Umm… actually, it kinda fizzled out earlier. But I’ve been doing my best to keep it going!”

Elmie was focusing hard on the mana flowing through her body.

All of this—what they were doing now—was part of the special training they had asked for.

Getting overwhelmed by that Demonkin and the monster horde had clearly left a mark on them.

Not long after we set out on this journey, they came to me and said, “We want you to train us.”

They told me,

“We don’t want to just be protected—we want to be able to fight alongside you.”

Well… I couldn’t argue with that. Getting stronger was always a good thing. Yeah.

That said—I didn’t use any skills myself.

My job was just 《Swordsman》, one of the weakest.

I relied entirely on pure swordsmanship and magic.

So while the training leaned a little more toward magic, I was doing my best to teach them

For Frey, besides using 《Boost》, she was also layering smaller support-type enchantments on herself—up to her limit.

As someone with the 《Enchanter》 trait, she specialized in applying skills to others, so being able to stack more enchantments made her stronger.

This training helped her improve both her skill mastery and overall mana capacity.

Maria was a magic-focused fighter, so her training was easier to structure.

She already had a naturally high mana pool, so I focused on helping her sharpen her control.

Since she was a 《Magic Warrior》 who balanced magic and swordsmanship, this kind of training fit perfectly.

Keeping several Ball Lightnings floating for long periods—while changing their shapes—was a great way to hone her control.

It was tough, sure, but it would really help her grow.

As for Elmie…

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could teach her.

She was already a top-tier A-Rank adventurer.

Her strength was basically complete, and her fighting style relied mostly on skills—which I didn’t know much about.

Even her physical enhancement came from skills, not raw training.

In the end, the only thing I could help with was one issue she had:

Because her class, 《Sword Saint》, focused on ultra-fast movement and intense stepping techniques, the strain on her legs was pretty serious.

That made her endurance a bit shaky.

So I taught her a non-elemental healing spell—《Re-Life》, which boosts recovery—and had her keep it active on herself constantly.

We’d even had a few mock battles during the trip.

Unlike three years ago, our roles had flipped—I easily beat her now.

Still, I think they’ve all grown stronger, even if it’s just by a step or two in the last week.

Not that I’m really in a position to say that… since I used to be the one learning from them.

“This is what you always did, right, Abel? That’s incredible… We’ve trained before too, but doing it nonstop like this—it’s way too hard.”

“Well, I mostly did it because I had no choice.”

I kept fighting even when I was injured.

Kept moving even when I was exhausted.

I worked myself to the bone just to survive another day.

I was constantly using 《Body Enhancement》 and 《Re-Life》 on myself, and at some point, all that training just became second nature.

What I did when Frey hugged me earlier—activating magic instantly without thinking—

That kind of thing actually took really advanced skill.

You needed both fine mana control and instinct-level familiarity.

If nothing else, I wanted the three of them to reach a point where they could do that—

Even if it was just with one spell or one skill.

“So this is S-Rank level… I guess the others must be way stronger than us, huh?”

“I can’t even imagine~ Oh right, Abel, have you ever met the others?”

“Mm… yeah, I’ve met a few. But… the other S-Ranks, huh…”

The moment Frey asked that, my voice dropped noticeably.

I could practically feel my own face twisting into a weird expression.

“I thought maybe we’d run into some of them eventually, since we’re with you now… But you don’t sound too thrilled about it?”

“I’d really rather you didn’t meet them… And if you do, make sure it’s when I’m around.”

“Huh? Why so serious…? Are they dangerous people or something?”

“Dangerous…? Well, not exactly. It’s more like… they’re all completely unhinged. That’s what being S-Rank does to people.”

As I spoke, I thought back to the seniors I had crossed paths with in the past.

They weren’t bad people—not at all. But every last one of them was a lunatic. Something about them just felt unstable.

“In my opinion, all the other S-Ranks were already a little broken to begin with… Then they just went completely off the rails. Every single one of them is insanely strong—and just as broken in the head. I don’t even know which came first.”

They all had absurd combat strength, no doubt about that. But each one lived in their own world, with their own rules, making them nearly impossible to deal with.

It’s like they’re walking bombs—

You never know where their trigger is or when they’ll explode.

That’s why… unless I’m there to keep things under control, I honestly get worried just thinking about it.

“Well, I’m one of the rare normal people among them, though.”

“…Normal?”

For some reason, they all tilted their heads.

The three of them looked at me with suspicious eyes…

But I am normal. Aren’t I?

“Hey, Abel. You’ve got an insane amount of mana, right? Since when?”

“Hm? Since I was born. Back then, I had nearly thirty times more than Millia.”

“Thirty times… compared to someone with a top-tier magic job…?”

“And I was better at controlling mana too. I was actually the one who taught Millia how to use it properly.”

Well, having tons of mana didn’t mean much if you couldn’t output it as magic, though.

Mana control was everything.

“Hey Abel. You mentioned you nearly died while trying to save Millia, right? How bad did it actually get?”

“Mm? If you mean the times I was half-dead and covered in wounds, probably more than I can count. Double digits at the very least.”

“Eep… More than ten times!?”

“There were also plenty of times when getting hit once would’ve meant instant death… So if you count those too, then way more than that.”

The three of them had all faced death during that Demonkin attack.

If they kept going through life-or-death battles like that dozens of times in just a few years…

With their talent, they’d definitely get stronger. No doubt about it.

“…All just for your partner?”

Elmie asked, but for me, that was just normal.

Because it was for the person I loved.

While I stood there wondering why she’d ask something so obvious, the three of them suddenly leaned in close and started whispering to each other

“—So it’s true that the truly insane ones don’t even realize they are.”

“I see… That level of obsession makes a lot more sense now.”

“For now, we just have to make sure he doesn’t push himself like that ever again—”

What the heck were they whispering about? They looked at me like I was some kind of unstable lunatic.

I’m normal, okay? Normal!

I had a really bad feeling.

If this kept going, they were going to say something I didn’t want to hear.

I had to change the subject—fast—

And right at that moment, I saw something up ahead.

“Anyway! Hey, check that out!”

“Whoa…!”

“Oh my!”

The three of them let out gasps of awe at the sight.

We had just finished climbing a hill, and now standing at the top, the view opened up before us—

A shimmering, endless blue stretched across the horizon.

In front of that sparkling sea was a lively city, full of buildings and bustling streets.

It was the grand sight of a vast ocean and a thriving coastal town.

“Whoa… I’ve never been here before, but this place is amazing…!”

“The ocean’s so pretty…! And hey, what’s that? Something’s floating out there?”

“As expected of Shunarte… One of the biggest tourist hotspots in the world.”

That city ahead was the very first stop on our journey to return the magic swords—

A place tied to one of the people who had given me a sword.

It was Estena, the Eternal Summer Frozen-Sea City—

Shunarte’s most famous coastal resort and pride of the southern continent.