The Day I Would Regret Turning Against You Will Never Come
I never thought the day would come when I’d regret falling out with you. And Sylvia got absolutely wrecked. In less than a minute.
When she launched her first strike with a charging assault like a raging wave, everyone expected an easy victory for Sylvia. Her movements were so fast that Jeanne couldn’t even see them. Jeanne. I always wondered why that pathetic loser never dropped out of the knight academy. Since we shared a room, I naturally bullied her plenty. I didn’t hold any personal grudge against her, but in a knight’s duel, you can’t expect mercy.
Jeanne’s nape. If I cut her there, she’d die. Given her skill level, she probably wouldn’t even realize how she died—she’d just drop dead in an instant. Honestly, it would be doing her a favor. I swung my blade without a shred of respect for her short life.
But what came back was the feeling of a sabaton smashing into my gut. The lunch I’d eaten came rushing back up as I fell flat on my ass. I tried to stand and counter, but Jeanne danced a picture-perfect sword form, and my helmet shattered while my sword snapped in two.
It made no sense, but Sylvia had lost.
Sylvia has been defeated by Jeanne.
“Kuhuk! N-no way! This is bullshit! It’s a scam! How could I lose to a pathetic loser like… kuhuk!!”
“………….”
The knight academy students who knew Sylvia’s skill level began to murmur. The instructors were just as shocked. They had expected to be dragging Jeanne’s corpse away… but the swordsmanship Jeanne had just displayed was on a level that even the academy director—who had won Olympic gold in fencing—could only describe as godlike.
The director clapped with genuine admiration for her student’s explosive growth.
“Magnificent, Miss Jeanne. When did you become this strong? It seems the Hero truly had a reason for choosing you. ‘A skilled hawk hides its talons,’ they say. I am truly impressed.”
Starting with the director, the other students joined in the applause. Their faces were filled with bitter envy.
Jeanne’s entry into the Hero’s party was now all but guaranteed.
‘Wait… I beat Sylvia? Is this real? But her movements were so slow…’
Jeanne herself was so dazed she couldn’t fully process it. The first praise she had ever received. The first round of applause. The first victory. The first taste of superiority.
“Miss Jeanne, you are now an honorable knight of the Hero’s party. Your name will be carved into the history of our knight academy. Should we begin addressing you as Dame Jeanne from now on?”
“N-no, Director. H-how could I possibly…”
“That won’t do. A knight of the Hero’s party stands at the pinnacle of all knights. From now on, we are essentially your subordinates, so please treat us with mercy. We will all remember the time we spent with you as an honor.”
The director, who had once been as terrifying as a tiger, knelt on one knee and bowed in submission. The students who had ostracized Jeanne followed suit, prostrating themselves. Even Sylvia swallowed her tears and bowed her head.
In the hierarchical world of knights, Jeanne now stood at the very top of the pyramid.
A strange pleasure bloomed in her chest like a flower. Her lips trembled. Her body convulsed. Looking down at the dozens of knights who willingly called themselves her subordinates, Jeanne felt for the first time in her life that becoming a knight had been the right choice.
Was this what it felt like to be on cloud nine? It was like walking on air. She hoped it would continue like this forever. She never wanted to go back to the days when she was called a loser.
‘That’s right. I was a swan all along. I was actually a genius. I just couldn’t spread the wings on my back because I was being tormented by those wicked ducks. From now on, I’ll fly however I want.’
There was only one reason she had become strong.
It was all thanks to Werther’s SSS-rank skill.
There is no free lunch in the world
SSS-rank Buff Skill
Transfers massive growth to party members while the user remains in the party.
Even the director’s secret technique—which had once won her the championship in Olympia and led a major imperial knight order—had barely scraped an A-rank evaluation. Originally a commoner, Amelia had received the title of baroness as a reward for developing an A-rank skill and became Amelia de Longsword. That year’s award had gone to her.
An A-rank skill was that valuable. Simply possessing one guaranteed a path to high office. S-rank skills already belonged to the realm of archmages—something ordinary people couldn’t even dream of. If someone developed an S-rank skill, their name would appear in textbooks and they would become a celebrity everyone had heard of at least once.
SS-rank was so rare that people doubted anyone alive could even use it. It was said that during the war against the elf queen’s legion a thousand years ago, a dark mage had used an SS-rank skill. With a single spell, he killed a hundred thousand elves and carved an indelible Slave’s Mark onto the elf queen, ending the war. The elves, who had once held greater power than humanity, were reduced to a race of eternal slaves and never regained their former glory.
Even the legendary magic that decided the fate of an entire race was only SS-rank. In practice, SS was considered the absolute ceiling of magic.
Therefore, the SSS-rank skill that Werther possessed was a cheat that completely shattered all common sense. The fact that simply being in a party with him could turn an incompetent loser into someone stronger than the top graduate in just a month was proof of its overwhelming power.
The buff from There is no free lunch in the world was so absurd that, in extreme terms, there was no need to carefully select party members. If Jeanne’s base ability was 1 and Sylvia’s was 100, common sense would say to recruit the hundred-times-stronger Sylvia. But if everyone gained 10,000 power per month anyway, whether you ended up with 10,001 or 10,100 made no difference.
Werther had simply accepted a girl who looked kind-hearted into the party.
—The problem was that power gained for free makes people arrogant.
“Heh… hehehe… hehehehe. That’s right… I am now a knight of the Hero’s party. If any of you call me a loser again, I won’t let it slide! Those who bullied me out of jealousy for my genius talent, come forward one by one and apologize right now!!”
From that day on, Jeanne became a completely different person.
After taking revenge for five years of bullying at the academy, the Jeanne who joined the party was no longer the kind-hearted girl Werther had chosen, nor the pathetic loser she once was.
She acted like a valiant knight. Even her speech had changed.
“I am Jeanne. I have decided to join the party at Werther’s invitation. I look forward to working with you all.”
No one could have guessed her past as a loser from that arrogant tone.
Jeanne’s combat power, which handled the party’s offense, grew day by day. At a rate where she grew stronger just by breathing, within a few months she had earned the title of the strongest swordsman alive.
Jeanne grew increasingly arrogant, and her attitude toward Werther especially turned ice-cold. For Jeanne, who wanted to live a brand-new life, Werther’s existence—someone who knew her past—was a burden.
“Werther, you’re still stuck in the same place. Don’t you have any talent?”
“Wow, you really became a different person just because you got a little power. If I’d known, I should’ve brought Sylvia instead of you.”
“Hmph. Sylvia… there was a girl like that, wasn’t there? You’re comparing me to such an incompetent failure? It seems you can’t even see my dazzling talent.”
“You really think you got this strong all by yourself?”
“Of course. Then whose help do you think it was?”
“……Sigh.”
Like someone who had plastic surgery and wanted to delete all their old photos, Jeanne treated Werther with cold disdain. Werther shook his head and swallowed the words he wanted to say.
“Hey… look, it’s all good, but just use that amazing power to take down the Demon King, okay? Please. Got it?”
“I only follow my lord’s commands.”
“You’re especially obsessed with Leonhart.”
“Naturally. He is the one who saved my life. My current position exists only because of him. Aside from the time I lived protected as a princess, this is the happiest I’ve ever been.”
“Haah… everything’s thanks to Leonhart, huh.”
“I endured a long, hellish time. I never want to go back to those days. I will maintain my current life no matter what. My genius swordsmanship and my social status as a knight of the Hero’s party—these are the two wings that hold me up. Neither can be broken.”
“And if one does break?”
“Hmph. What a foolish question. That will never happen. But I’ll answer anyway. If I lose my power again and return to being the old loser, I will kill myself. Better to die than live like that.”
“…Is that so? Then be careful. Make sure you don’t get kicked out of the party.”
“You should be the one watching your back. Everyone hates you. Especially my lord. You’re the one who could be kicked out at any moment.”
“If I get kicked out… you’re all fucked.”
“I have no idea where that ridiculous confidence comes from. While everyone else grows stronger every single day, you’re the only one standing still. Honestly, you’re the most useless person in this entire party.”
“Watch your mouth. Once you spit something out, you can’t take it back.”
“Why would I need to take it back? Even if you get angry, I have no reason to be afraid.”
“I’m saying this because we’ve been together for a while and I feel some sense of camaraderie—don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
“Ha! Such concern is pointless. What power could someone like you possibly have to make me feel regret? I am the party member my lord favors most, and my power grows stronger every day. No matter how I think about it, the day I regret falling out with you will never come, will it?”
“……………”
“Have you finally run out of things to say? Are you feeling inferior because you’re falling behind alone? Are you jealous of us as we keep getting stronger? Then why don’t you just quit the party for real? I honestly don’t know what use you are. Even if you disappeared, our party would have no problems at all. Why don’t you stop being so pathetic and remove yourself? This is sincere advice. Don’t you feel even a little guilty riding the bus on the backs of teammates who are better than you?”
—That was the last conversation Werther and Jeanne ever had alone.