𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏: 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞

“Cut it out! What’s your problem! You’re always complaining about everything I do!”

With a shout of anger, the pen holder thrown at me grazes my face, and blood drips from the slight cut on my cheek.

“Calm down, Luke. I’m not complaining about everything.”

“You are! Right now! Even at this moment!”

I raise both hands in an attempt to calm him down, but it has no effect at all.

Rather, it seems to be fueling the flames of his anger.

This is troublesome.

“Sure, you’re the vice-captain of this Gold-lined Butterflies, Lionel! It’s natural to have opinions on how the clan is run! But! Why do I have to listen to you about my love life too!”

Luke is ranting and raving, pounding on the desk.

He’s the clan leader of the prestigious Gold-lined Butterflies, one of the top five adventurer clans in the trading city of Gaillia. That’s his title.

The one facing him is me, Lionel.

I’m the vice-captain of the clan, and I’ve been with Luke since the start. I pride myself on being his best friend.

“I have no intention of complaining about your love life. I’m just saying you need to clearly separate your personal and professional life.”

It all started about a month ago. He fell in love at first sight with a woman named Fīna who came to us after seeing our recruitment poster.

That in itself is neither strange nor unusual.

It’s not surprising that a romantic relationship would develop where men and women work together, and the Gold-lined Butterflies doesn’t prohibit relationships or marriages between members.

The problem is that Luke has been treating Fīna too specially.

Promoting a newcomer who’s only been in the group for a little over a month to the position of middle captain is unthinkable. And her salary is the same as ours, the executive members.

Even though being an adventurer is all about ability, or rather, because it’s about ability, nepotism is not good.

Especially the female members were on the verge of exploding with dissatisfaction.

Although their temperature is a bit lower, the men are also grumbling.

Of course they would. A young woman, whose abilities are unknown since she just joined the clan, is ordering them around as a middle captain.

Anyone who feels great about this is probably not cut out to be an adventurer.

So, I was consulted by the members, and I also thought this was dangerous, so I decided to advise Luke.

If he likes her that much, he should make her quit the clan, get married, and settle down.

Then he got really angry.

He said not to interfere in his private matters.

What’s private about it? It’s clearly having a negative impact on the management of the clan.

“Listen, Luke. I don’t care who you fall in love with or who you marry. I’ll even congratulate you. But that’s separate from work, right?”

I try to persuade him with reason.

“Shut up! What’s with that attitude! You’re always preaching to me from above! Are you my mother?!”

Who’s the mother?

I’m a man. Why do I have to be treated like a mother?

At least call me dad.

“We’re the same age! But if! Just if! If you were my son, you wouldn’t be this stupid! You octopus!”

So I snapped back.

It’s a case of a word for a word.

“Who’s the octopus, you bastard! That’s enough! You’re fired, Lionel! Get out of the Gold-lined Butterflies right now!”

“You said it, you bastard! There’s no taking it back! I’m never coming back!”

With a loud bang, I kicked open the door of the commander’s room and stormed out of the clan.

Taking only the bare minimum of my personal belongings.

Oh man, I’ve done it now…

This is my second expulsion.

It’s a laughable story, but this isn’t the first time Luke and I have had a big fight.

Originally, the Gold-lined Butterflies was a clan that the two of us started. About ten years ago.

We worked hard to grow it from there.

We’ve been through life and death together many times, broken through countless dirty traps together, sometimes surviving by sipping muddy water, and now we’re one of the top adventurer clans in Gaillia.

But five years ago, I was fired once.

The cause was that I pointed out Luke’s spending habits.

As the clan grew and both income and expenses increased, we couldn’t continue with the sloppy accounting we had been doing.

Using the clan’s money to eat and drink or buy women was out of the question.

Luke and I had a fierce confrontation over this, and I was expelled.

However, less than half a year after my expulsion, Luke appeared before me, rubbing his head on the ground in apology.

He said that without me, the clan’s finances had become a mess, and we were even behind on our contributions to the Adventurer’s Guild.

He said that there was no one else who could be the Vice Captain but me.

He said he was sorry and asked me to come back.

Of course, I had a lot of things I wanted to say, but I kept them all to myself and decided to return.

One reason was that I knew Luke was a fool, but not a villain.

I thought he could reflect on his actions and correct them.

In fact, we’ve had some troubles so far, but we’ve managed to get by somehow.

“In the end, I guess I just don’t have a good eye for people.”

Muttering under my breath, I pass through the doors of the adventurer’s guild, which is located not far from the clan.

Being able to set up a base near the guild, which can be said to be the biggest stronghold for adventurers, is probably a testament to the success of the Gold-lined Butterflies.

But I don’t care anymore.

I was not blessed with good superiors, and I lacked the ability to choose my companions.

The fact that I was kicked out of the same clan twice is proof of that. If I continue to be an adventurer, it will just be a repetition.

So I thought I would cancel my adventurer registration.

“Hold on! Please, just one second!”

However, the moment I entered the building, I heard a woman’s voice, which sounded extremely desperate.

What’s all the fuss about?