"f*ck!

　The basement of the royal castle ... in its prison, Arios punched the wall as if to take out his frustration.
　A flurry of dust and sand fell.
　But that's it.
　The sturdily built room would not be destroyed.

''Well why don't you calm down?''

　Aggus said as he was thrown into the same room.

　By the way, Leanne and Mina are not there.
　Even though it was only for one night, it was indeed because there was a problem with keeping a man and woman in the same prison.

''You think you can stay calm!　I can't believe I'm going to prison for being brave enough to be put in a cell... oh, shit, shit, shit, shit!　I've never been humiliated like this in my life!

　Arios shook his fists, followed by a flush.
　Then he shouted out to the outside of the prison.

'Oi, is anyone out there!　You have to get me out of here now!　You must be crazy to put me, a brave man, in jail!
'Please be quiet, my brave friend. This is where you fit in now.

　Arios's anger swells even more when the soldiers on guard give him a scornful look.
　But the prison is sturdy, and as a bonus, a warding has been developed that absorbs magic power.
　There's nothing you can do about it.

''You have fallen, hero-sama.......I'm disappointed.
Why don't we just keep him locked up like this?
Haha, that's a good one. You want to make a suggestion to the king afterwards?
"f*ck!

　With a crunch, Arios banged on the bars.

'Hey, hey, Arios. You're making too much noise. Why don't you do as Aggus says and calm down a bit?

　Leanne, who was being held in a face-to-face prison, opened her mouth.
　The man and the woman could not be kept together, they were separated.
　Arios stared at Leen through his prison.

'Do you expect me to stay silent after being treated like this!
I don't understand why this is happening to me, but...
But this time...

　Mina follows Leanne and says awkwardly.

'What?'　What's your point?
'This is your fault. Arios.

　Aggus tells him.
　Arios' face turns grim as he clearly points out the iniquity.

'What do you mean by that?　You think it's my fault?　Using that Heavenly Clan was something that everyone agreed to do, right?
'Yes. There's no denying that.
Then....
But I've never heard of him killing a guide adventurer.
Huh.

　Arios couldn't help but stop speaking, as if he had been hit in a sore spot.

'If I was just trying to use the Heavenly Clan, I could still manage it. To catch them off guard.......there are many excuses. But if it was that you killed an adventurer, then there was no excuse anymore. Why did you do that?

　Aggus asks, but....
　To a certain extent, it was to be expected.

　Arios is a cautious man.
　Rather than that, he has a personality that does not trust others.
　Hence, he was probably afraid that the adventurer would keep the incident out of his mouth.
　That's why he chose to keep his mouth shut.

''Well I don't feel the need to talk to you about it.
Okay.

　Although the answer was strayed from, Aggus could only reply with a single word.
　His expression was ........terribly cold.

''You know what?''

　From the opposite prison, Lean spoke to me.

'I know that Arios has his own ideas, but as expected, killing him was a bad idea. You should have at least threatened him, shouldn't you?　Well, it's too late to talk about that.
Do you question my actions, Leanne?
The main reason we're in this situation is that we killed some adventurers.　To be frank, it's Arios' fault.
I agree with Leanne. I think there were more things we could have done differently.
Gulp.

　One after another, my companions hurled denials at me, and as expected, Arios flinched.

　Then.........I realized.
　Aggus, Lean, and Mina, too.
　All of them are giving themselves a cold stare.

　This has happened because of you.
　It's because of the unnecessary things you've done.
　The look in his eyes told me that.

"d*mn it.

　Arios moves to the cot as if to escape and goes straight to sleep.
　Whenever the situation turns bad for him, he doesn't want to face it and runs away.
　It was a bad habit for Arios.

　However, I can't blame Arios alone.
　Even though the murder of the adventurer was unexpected.....
　Aggus and the others were all for using Iris.

　They either got their hands dirty or they didn't.
　The only difference between the two is that the fundamentals of the game don't change anything.
　It doesn't change the fact that he's doing the same thing as Arios, and if he were to be held accountable, he can't be exempted from it.

　And yet.....

　Aggus and his friends refuse to face their own sins by blaming Arios alone.
　They look away and show with their attitude that they are not to blame.
　It was a story that was hard to save.

''...Leanne, Mina. Do you have a moment?

　Aggus spoke to the prison he was facing, keeping his voice low so that Arios wouldn't hear him.

'Hmm?　What's going on?
Don't you think Arios has been running amok lately?
It's...

　Mina stammered.
　It seems she was thinking the same thing as Aggus.

'He said he was going to use the Celestial Race, and then he killed more adventurers... and if you ask me, there's a good chance that he was involved in some way when the demon race appeared in Horizon.
What, is that for real?

　Aggus nodded quietly to a surprised Leanne.

'I don't know the details, though. But there's a good chance that there was something going on behind the scenes.'
'Why would they do such a thing?　The demon race is an enemy we must defeat...
'I don't know about that but whatever. The recent outbursts of Arios have been too much for me to bear. In fact, he's even been thrown in jail for this.
It's so smelly and stuffy in here, I can't stand it.
'We don't have time to stop and think about all this...'

　It's not just Arios' fault that he's been put in jail, it's equally the party's fault, but...
　They didn't seem to be aware of this, and Leanne and Mina played the role of victims and looked exasperated.

'There's no guarantee that this won't happen again in the future. But we can't allow this to happen again. So......... I'm going to keep an eye on Arios.
Surveillance?
'Come to think of it, Arios has never let anyone stop him before, and he's been free to do it. I've done too many things and taken things too far. The result is this. To prevent this from happening, I will monitor Arios' behavior and if he tries to go too far, I will try to stop him.
'Hmmm ... it's fine.　And I think Aggus can handle that part. Isn't he the right man for the job?　What does Mina think?
''Well I don't know how you can keep an eye on Arios, a brave man, for his actions, but there's something about Aggus' story that makes sense. I understand. I agree with you.
It's settled. I'd like to speak with you regularly in the future without Arios. A surveillance report, you know. Is that okay?
Okay, okay.
I understand.

　The decision was made to monitor the actions of the fellow party, roughly, something unthinkable for a normal party.
　There is no such thing as companionship.
　There is only doubt, calculation and self-preservation.

　Another step closer to the collapse of the party....