I Became a Raid Boss

Former Crimson Aegis Knight and Ordo’s Guard Captain Eric.

Born to commoner parents, Eric was not particularly satisfied with his life.

His family was busy living paycheck to paycheck, while the nobles up high could eat whatever they wanted and throw away food without a second thought, no matter how much was left.

If Eric ever did that, he would have surely been beaten to death by his father.

And it wasn’t just about food. Their houses, clothing, and leisure time… everything they had was vastly more abundant than what the commoners received.

It was unfair.

But speaking such thoughts recklessly could easily cost him his head, so Eric, who kept his complaints bottled up, one day asked his father,

“Father, how can one acquire honor and wealth?”

“Honor and wealth? There’s no place like the Crimson Aegis! It’s where the strongest from Grasis gather, so honor is guaranteed, and they’d reward you handsomely to keep those strong bastards around, wouldn’t they?”

The phrase “wouldn’t they” was a guess, not a certainty.

After all, his father was just a busy man who knew nothing of the upper world.

He was simply repeating what he had heard in old stories passed down through generations.

Yet, Eric, captivated by his father’s words, opened the gates of hell himself.

“Are these guys really the strongest in Grasis?”

Eric realized he had a knack for swordsmanship.

He picked up a sword relatively late, but learned quickly, soon catching up to his peers, and after a few years, he defeated the former mercenary who had been teaching him.

Of course, it was possible only because his teacher wasn’t a trained swordsman, but nonetheless, his confidence soared.

In fact, Eric’s talent was quite exceptional and allowed him to join the Crimson Aegis without difficulty.

So, as he joined the knight order and observed the other members, he thought,

“With these skills, the captain can’t be all that impressive.”

Thinking so, he threw down a challenge to the captain—

“… pathetic.”

Without even getting to fight the target he aimed for, he was utterly crushed by a young girl.

As he lay there, beaten and staring up at her indifferent, pink eyes, the pain of defeat carved itself deep into his bones, marking the beginning of his nightmares.

“Eric, fetch water.”

“Eric, get food.”

“… Can’t fight, huh? That’s fine. But you will fight me.”

“I won’t go easy on you, so make sure to dodge well.”

“… gasp!”

Eric, dozing off in his office, jolted awake like he had just fallen off a cliff.

His heart racing, he looked around, and as he recognized familiar sights of the office, he wiped the cold sweat from his brow.

“Just a dream…?”

A dream from when he first met the captain.

He thought there couldn’t be worse nightmares than this while he gulped down cold water.

The day he threw down the challenge to the captain, it was not the captain who came forth, but a girl who introduced herself as the vice-captain.

Having seen her around the knights’ order, she wasn’t a completely unfamiliar face, but Eric had always thought of her as just a handmaid helping the knights.

After joining, he had never been formally introduced to the vice-captain, and he couldn’t even imagine that such a young girl would hold the title.

He had asked if the vice-captain was like a secretary to the captain, but when informed that it wasn’t the case, Eric couldn’t hide his surprise.

What it meant was that this girl, who looked no older than ten, was stronger than him and the other knights.

No matter how he thought, that couldn’t be true; it must have been the other knights simply coddling her.

Feeling bad for the girl, Eric had no choice but to shatter that illusion since he was set on becoming the captain himself.

“Still, let’s not hurt her too much.”

But at that time, Eric had no idea.

What would break would not be the girl’s illusion, but his own pride.

“If only I had known, I wouldn’t have challenged her…”

After being defeated by the vice-captain, he had to literally roll around like a dog.

Simply for the audacity of challenging the captain.

Thanks to that, his skills had improved rapidly, but if he could go back to that moment, he vowed never to make such a choice again.

“Compared to then, now feels like heaven.”

No vice-captain to roll him around, and no need to fight monsters or the imperial army in the war.

Just having to patrol regularly for law enforcement, and stepping in to fight only when criminals or monsters emerged—this peaceful routine brought him solace.

The Eric who chased after honor and wealth was long gone.

“Another day wrapped up~”

As he stretched his weary body and muttered relaxedly, beep!

“What now?”

He frowned at the sudden call signal.

Feeling irked by the anomaly in his peaceful routine, he checked the signal.

“Ah, it’s the checkpoint?”

Was someone causing trouble again?

Scratching his head, he received the message from the checkpoint.

“Hey, it’s me. What’s going on?”

– Ah, um, Captain….

“Stop stuttering and just speak.”

– Yes, right! We discovered a suspicious duo! One is an apostle, and the other is a young girl, but the item she presented is highly unusual, so we’ve detained them in the temporary prison… It seems you should take a look yourself.

“What? What are you talking about… Did you take a bribe or something?”

– N-no, I didn’t!

“Just kidding, why are you taking that so seriously? Don’t make it awkward.”

That guy’s name… Ah, it was Garrett.

He didn’t strike me as the type to take bribes; in other words, he was inflexible, so he surely hadn’t done that.

“Sigh… Fine, I’ll head over right now, so wait for me.”

– Yes!

Cutting off the connection with the checkpoint, Eric hurriedly gathered his gear and left the office.

As he hurried through, he brushed past subordinates giving him greetings, and upon arriving at the checkpoint, Garrett, who had been waiting, greeted him.

“At your service!”

“Enough with the formalities; let’s finish this up quickly because I want to go home.”

“I received this…”

“… What? The royal crest?”

Why is this here?

Upon seeing the small badge emblazoned with the Grasis royal family emblem, Eric felt a chill run down his spine as if someone had dumped cold water over him.

Something, something… this ominous feeling was beyond words.

He could dismiss it as just a feeling, but Eric never ignored his instincts that had saved him countless times on the battlefield.

“… Wait a second, who gave you this?”

“A young girl.”

“What did she look like?”

“Um… she was cute enough to be one of the noble’s daughters. When she grows up, she’ll surely make many guys weep.”

“… Was her hair pink?”

“Um, yes, that’s right.”

“And her eyes were pink too?”

“Indeed…”

At this point, Garrett, sensing something amiss, became cautious.

“… Do you know her?”

Eric’s face had long since pale.

“… Where did you say she is?”

“… We’ve locked her in the temporary prison.”

At those words, Eric instinctively glanced around the checkpoint.

Thankfully, the checkpoint remained intact and undamaged.

“Garrett.”

“Yes…?”

“Don’t mention what you saw today to anyone else. And….”

With an expression that aged him ten years in a moment, Eric added,

“Please, just be a bit flexible….”

Leaving that heartfelt statement behind, Eric entered the checkpoint, and his back resembled the youthful figure who had opened the gates of hell all those years ago.

*

“Kana, take this.”

“… What is this?”

“If someone bothers you or tries to act all creepy, show this. It’ll sort everything out.”

“Hmm…”

Garid, you liar.

Sort everything out, sure, but it just made things messier.

Or could it be that I used it differently than what Garid intended.

Sighing at the bars in front of me, I realized.

“… No.”

Let’s admit what needs admitting.

I was being a bit of an idiot.

By trying to avoid the hassle of the moment without considering the consequences of my actions, I had called forth a bigger hassle.

Every time I faced such situations, I felt my lack of patience quite deeply…

Reflecting on my past actions, I suddenly pouted in frustration.

But seriously…

“Is locking me up really the answer?”

The people from Ordo surely know how to deal with Granic; it wouldn’t hurt to hear a word before they toss me in jail!

Even if showing the royal crest caused problems, I thought I’d at least be able to talk it out and wouldn’t just get thrown in some cell without warning…

I wasn’t someone like Garid who liked going out, so after receiving the crest, I hadn’t had a chance to use it, and I never imagined such a situation would unfold.

Unless nobles or royals called for me… even then, if I didn’t need to be present, I wouldn’t.

And they knew me, so there was no need to show the crest.

“I don’t want to cause a scene,”

Still, keeping my head down in prison wasn’t appealing either.

Hmm.

“As long as it doesn’t bother anyone else, it’s fine.”

Nodding as I confirmed the bars’ durability by tapping on them, I decided.

Yeah, let’s do that.

Even if someone encounters trouble because I escaped, that’s not my problem.

Health is the most important, meaning as long as I don’t get hurt, that’s all that matters, right?

As I gripped the bars, trying to channel my mana, a man entered with hurried footsteps, roughly opening the checkpoint door.

Thud thud thud!

Bang!

“Captain! Please wait!”

“… Captain?”

There aren’t many people who would call me that.

“Whoa!”

Stagger.

The man hastily moving toward me stumbled and nearly fell, but he quickly regained his balance.

Finally face-to-face with the man, I recognized him.

“Hey there, loser.”

“It’s Eric, not loser…! What on earth are you doing here in jail?!”

“Because they locked me in.”

As if I’d willingly walked myself in; did he think I was crazy?

Calmly mumbling, Eric scratched his head and dug into his pocket, pulling out keys to unlock my cell.

Click.

“Is this really okay to open?”

“Aren’t you the type to not stay quiet, anyway?”

That’s right.

After stepping out of the prison, Eric plopped himself into a chair of authority.

“Do you realize how surprised I was when a person who vanished right after the war suddenly shows up?”

“I didn’t.”

“I wasn’t asking, you know….”

After splashing cold water on his face, Eric slumped down onto the chair across from me.

It hadn’t been long since I last saw him, yet he seemed to have aged drastically in that short time.

As far as I knew, Eric wasn’t that old.

What a shame…

“Isn’t it all because of you, vice-captain?”

“… Huh? Me?”

“You keep forcing me to fetch water, bring food, run errands, and when I encounter monsters, you kick my ass to hurry me up. When I finally try to take a break, you summon me to beat me up…!”

What a backlog of grievances he had, he even looked teary-eyed expressing his complaints.

After listening quietly for a while, I nodded.

“Uh huh, I see.”

“… Is that all?”

“What else do you expect me to say?”

“Sigh…”

Eric sighed, as if expecting nothing more.

But you know, listening to him made me feel a bit wronged too.

Anyone would think I was a terrible person to deal with.

“You agreed to those errands too, didn’t you?”

When he chose to challenge Garid instead of me, we made a promise.

If Eric won, he’d take over the captain role.

But if I won, he would do whatever I asked without complaints.

Knowing the weight of what we put on the scale, why did he suddenly act like a victim?

“Ugh, but….”

“The kicking part was because you kept backing down from the fight.”

“…”

“Calling you was because you got too cocky.”

I noted his overly tense posture, showing he hadn’t quite recovered from being beaten down yet, and decided to teach him some discipline.

After a few rounds, he finally began to humble himself.

“If you hadn’t poked the bear, I’d have left you alone.”

Really, why did he poke a sore spot?

Eric looked a bit hurt.

“Ah, I didn’t know you were suffering back then! If I had, I would have—”

“I figured you would’ve done something like that.”

“Hey! I’m not that reckless!”

“Hmmmm… ”

“I’m telling you the truth!”

Seeing me with suspicious eyes, Eric jumped in protest.

Well, let’s just go with that.

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