“What are you guys doing?”
I looked at the bastards who had surrounded me from three directions, striking a rather stylish pose.
Meanwhile, there was no way they wouldn’t recognize me when I was holding a Light.
“…Do Gyeonu?”
“Gyeonu, why are you…”
“What? It was Do Gyeonu?”
“Yeah, it was Do Gyeonu.”
The triplets awkwardly straightened their stances.
Bewilderment surfaced on their faces.
Well, of course it would.
“Say that again.”
“…”
“What? You’ll spare my life, so if I don’t want to die, I should hand over my exam ticket? That I’m stupid?”
“H-Hey, this is a misunderstanding. Why would we say something like that to you?”
“Right. Why would we do that to you? It was dark, so we didn’t recognize you properly.”
“If you were Do Gyeonu, you should’ve told us beforehand.”
“Then you should’ve told me beforehand that you were my lackeys.”
“A-Anyway! Gyeonu! It’s great to run into you like this!”
“You’re planning to spend the night here too, right? Perfect! We were looking for a place too!”
“Then we can move together from now on! If you’re with us, collecting exam tickets will be a piece of cake!”
The triplets desperately tried to flatter me.
It seemed like they were trying to gloss over the slip of the tongue they’d made just moments ago.
‘Not a chance. These punks think they can act up?’
Even if it had been a mistake, I had no intention of letting it slide.
A dog that fails to recognize its master deserves to be punished.
I drew the Guncheong Sword from its sheath.
“Hey! Hey! Hey! Wait!”
“Why are you drawing your sword!?”
“We apologized, didn’t we!”
“Why else would I draw it? You said you wanted to go a round. Fine, sounds good to me. It’s been a while, so let’s see how skilled you’ve gotten.”
“Hey, seriously, what’s wrong with you!?”
“We said we were sorry!”
“Do you really have to do this!?”
“Yeah, I really do. So hurry up and draw yours too.”
“You really… won’t regret this?”
“Gyeonu, there are three of us.”
“We’re not the same as we were back then.”
Perhaps they sensed that I had no intention of putting my sword away.
The triplets’ attitudes changed completely.
They each drew their swords as well and gathered their momentum.
“Fine, this actually works out! We had plenty of complaints anyway!”
“Just because we bowed and scraped, you thought we looked like dogs all this time, didn’t you!?”
“Even Do Seungu didn’t treat us like that!”
“What? What did you just say?”
“…Still, you’re better than Do Seungu.”
“R-Right! Still! What we’re saying is that maybe our treatment can change a little now.”
“We’ve been acting as your lackeys for so long! Five years, five whole years!”
“And?”
“What do you mean, and…? Are you asking because you really don’t know?”
“Just like the minimum wage goes up every year, we’re asking you to raise our treatment too!”
“Right! Give us better treatment!”
The triplets poured out their grievances.
As for me, I could only laugh.
Even so, they did have a point.
“Well, it’s not like you’re wrong. I have been rough with you all this time.”
“Exactly, Gyeonu. It’s not like we’re saying we won’t be your lackeys anymore, right?”
“We’re just saying we should change what needs changing.”
“You finally understand how we feel!”
“Yeah, fine. I’ll do as you say. On one condition: try taking my exam ticket.”
“…”
“Then I’ll think about it.”
“So in the end… words aren’t enough.”
“If you want rights, struggle for them. Is that what you mean?”
“Fine, good. We’ll take it from you! Don’t regret it after we beat you!”
The triplets charged at me from three directions.
Their coordination was excellent.
Unfortunately…
“Well, you have grown.”
“Ugh…”
They were no match for me.
I removed the exam tickets from the triplets, who had been beaten thoroughly by me and were now rolling around on the ground.
They were red exam tickets worth 50 points.
Three of them, so 150 points.
“Hey! Why are you taking those!?”
“You already collected them all!”
D-Don’t do that! Give them back!”
“If you tried to take my exam ticket, then you should’ve been prepared to have yours taken too. Who told you to lose? Still, I won’t take the exam tickets you earned, so don’t worry.”
“Take something else instead, you bastard…”
“Those are worth 100 points to us!”
“Please, Gyeonu…”
The triplets pleaded.
I ignored them.
“Lackey Gold, Silver, Bronze.”
“Lackey Gold!”
“Lackey Silver!”
“Lackey Bronze!”
“I want to see you guys grow, you know? So…”
The triplets might misunderstand, but I did feel close to them.
If you thought about it, these guys were basically my childhood friends too, just like Yeon Haneul.
The memories of being bullied by them when we were in elementary school had become so distant that they were practically fond memories now.
So…
“Work hard and roll for it. Here are your exam tickets, catch!”
“…!”
I threw the triplets’ exam tickets with all my strength into the darkness beyond.
Shock spread across their faces.
“Doooooo Gyeonuuuuuuuuuu!”
“Hey, you evil bastaaaaard!”
“That lunatic, seriouslyyyyy!”
The triplets scrambled to their feet and ran off after the exam tickets.
Though the exam tickets had already disappeared into the darkness.
I turned away from them.
“This is all for your sake.”
There probably wasn’t another friend like me anywhere.
The triplets would likely be too busy searching for the exam tickets that had flown away, so I decided to personally use the shelter they had intended to use.
This, I thought, was true friendship—and give and take.
* * *
The sun had set, and the sky was growing dark.
The first night on Honrim Island was falling.
Judging by the way the explosions and metallic clashes that had occasionally rung out had stopped at some point, most of the examinees who had been fighting over tickets had probably begun preparing to spend the night.
‘There’s no one who collected more than me, right?’
The little griffin of the Mado Min family.
Min Arin was the same.
Including her own exam ticket, she had collected close to 300 points’ worth of exam tickets in total today, and she too decided to find a safe place to spend the night.
The path was too dark.
She couldn’t see what lay ahead.
She could illuminate the darkness with Light, an elemental spell of light, but that would be the same as exposing her position to enemies.
Min Arin cast a 3rd-rank spell that enhanced her eyesight in order to peer into the darkness.
Now she could see into the darkness stretching out in the distance.
‘The place I marked should be somewhere around here…’
As she walked toward the sound of crashing waves,
Min Arin looked around the forest.
There should be a mark she had left somewhere nearby.
‘Found it.’
Before long, Min Arin discovered an arrow visible only to her eyes.
She walked along the direction of the arrow.
It was then that a figure entered her field of vision.
“…”
Hair so white that it was visible even in the darkness.
It seemed to have a hint of blue mixed in as well.
And something long swaying atop her head.
Rabbit ears.
‘…The disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch.’
Min Arin immediately identified her.
Apparently, the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch also intended to spend the night in this forest.
She was looking around, perhaps searching for a place to sleep.
‘Should I just pass by like this, or…’
Should she pick a fight?
Min Arin hid herself behind a tree and thought.
Her opponent was the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch.
She would surely display extraordinary skill incomparable to the examinees Min Arin had faced so far.
It might turn into a hard fight.
If that happened, it was obvious that both she and the other girl would expend quite a bit of energy.
“Nngh…”
Even so, there were three things she stood to gain.
First, the black exam ticket was valued at 100 points.
And since the girl was the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch in name and reality, she surely wouldn’t be carrying only her own exam ticket.
She must also have several exam tickets taken from other examinees.
‘If I can get what she has… being top of the entrance class is as good as mine.’
And second, she would not be compared to the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch.
There were an extremely wide variety of hunter fields, but among them, ten were considered the most representative.
Magic, swordsmanship, spearmanship, alchemy, black magic, white magic, spirit arts, archery, martial arts, and shield arts.
Min Arin belonged to the magic field.
The disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch was also highly likely to belong to the magic field.
They were in the same field.
‘I’ll probably be competing with her throughout my time at the Academy.’
Among people her age, there were also the direct descendants of the Black Magic O family and the Bright Light Seong family, but since their fields differed from hers, she would not be compared to them as a pure mage.
However, the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch was different.
She and the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch would be compared by the world because they were the same age and belonged to the same field.
Perhaps even after graduation, after they became hunters, they might be compared for the rest of their lives.
Of course, Min Arin was confident she would not lose even if compared to her.
She had competed to the point of exhaustion within her family, and it was still ongoing even now.
There was no way she would lose to her.
Even so, the premise that she would be compared to someone for her entire life offended her.
It hurt her pride.
A griffin was always a noble being, one that stood alone high in the sky and looked down upon the world.
For her, being placed on the same line as someone else was intolerable.
So if she defeated her here, she could eliminate the possibility in advance.
Lastly, third.
‘If I just pretend not to notice and pass by… it’ll look like I’m avoiding her, won’t it? Me, Min Arin?’
She could preserve her pride.
From the looks of it, the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch had not noticed her presence.
If, in such a situation, she gave up on fighting her, it would be the same as lowering her tail.
Some might consider it petty pride.
But from a magical perspective, that petty pride was the very foundation of magic.
Magic, which materialized imagination into reality, possessed greater reality the more concrete one’s imagination was and the stronger one’s will to materialize it.
And yet, if she backed down here?
Her subconscious might come to recognize itself as being lower in rank than the other girl.
A magical superiority between herself and the other girl would be born.
Magic was something that could be influenced by even the smallest thought.
Min Arin could not ignore that.
Therefore.
‘Might as well give her a flashy greeting while I’m at it.’
Min Arin made up her mind.
Now was her chance, while the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch had yet to notice.
Using the staff in her hand as a medium, she activated her magic.
A massive fireball appeared in midair.
It was a 2nd-rank fire elemental spell considered superior to the commonly known Fireball in size, power, and speed.
Min Arin immediately launched the spell.
Whoosh!
Fire Rush flew at high speed, brightly illuminating the darkness.
The flames swallowed the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch, who sensed the attack too late.
Seeing the place where she had stood blaze with fire, Min Arin said,
“…Did I get her?”
She said the words one should never say.
It was right then.
───!!
The flames shook violently.
The fire burning the surrounding area instantly became embers and scattered into the night sky.
“…”
From within it, the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch emerged completely unharmed.
Holding an iron hammer taller than herself, she turned her gaze toward Min Arin.
The very next instant, she kicked off the ground.
‘She’s fast…!’
The disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch rushed toward her.
Had she used magic?
Or was it because she was a demihuman?
She closed the distance in an instant.
In the darkness, her red eyes left an afterimage, drawing a long line.
If the distance closed like this, it would be dangerous.
Min Arin quickly deployed the spell she had cast moments ago.
Once again, a massive fireball rushed toward the disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch.
Whoosh… Swish!
“That was dangerous. I almost got hurt.”
“…!”
The disciple of the Seven-Colored Witch did not dodge, but swung her iron hammer.
With that single motion, the flames scattered and burst apart into embers.
‘What the hell is with her!?’
As if physics itself were magic.
Min Arin was horrified as she watched the girl extinguish her magic by swinging an iron hammer.
It seemed she would not be able to avoid a hard fight.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss