Chapter 382: Inadequacy
She had wanted to become an Explorer like her mother. A warrior so strong she could turn the tide of battle on her own…
“You doin’ okay over there?”
“…Shaddup.”
Amira swatted away Hannah’s outstretched hand. She had collapsed to the ground, her stamina pushed to its limits after a punishing mock battle. It was more like a brutal brawl, really, with Garm and Amy. Using her greatsword for support, she forced herself to her feet and turned to face those two, who were currently being healed by Korinna.
After dying in the hundredth layer at the maws of the Corroded Elder Dragon and being forcibly ejected to the Guild, Amira had been informed, quite awkwardly and almost apologetically, by Amy and the others who had watched the Monitor that Tsutomu might have abandoned the fight and run away.
Amy, who had studied the workings of the God Eye in depth, could tell that the Monitor’s broadcast had been manipulated. Garm, too, had noticed slight but telling changes in Tsutomu’s demeanor before the team had descended to the hundredth layer. They had pieced together his mindset from his unusually unsteady behavior and reluctantly concluded that he must have fled.
But for Amira, who had been in the arena, the truth at the moment had seemed different: Tsutomu had died. That was what Daryl had told her. So she could not bring herself to believe what Amy and Garm were saying. Only after seeing Monitor #1 remained unchanged for hours, and reading the illustrated newspaper articles the next morning, was she forced to accept the truth.
[Why? Why the hell did you leave me behind!? You think I’m worse than Diniel or something!? Is that it!? You think I’m… shit… Goddammit it… Damn it all!]
To Amira, Tsutomu had become something more than a person she respected; he had become an object of awe, much like her mother was. That realization had struck her during the battle on the ninetieth layer, when he single-handedly revived four fallen comrades and pulled the party back from the brink.