10 These Retards

Caleb's P.O.V.

"These damn retards..."

"Want us to call him over for you to nag at him too, nanny Caleb?"

The beast-kin Caleb had an odd temper, any small spark was motive for a snarl and what irritated the young man the most was stupidity.

It wouldn't be so alarming to have the poor guy this close to blowing his fuse today, because as if cursed by a black cat, he kept seeing and hearing stupid people doing stupid things these days, and somehow it all went right back to piss him off.

Indeed, one of the reasons Caleb hated perfectly functioning retards that were worse than actual disabled people was that it all went right back at him, somehow.

"I hope Leroy's punch is faster than my leg, someone is going to break otherwise."

"You're asking too much of a midget, brat. Shit's already hit the fan and there's no more horse dung over our head for today, just home and sleep, a drink for me."

"You better take a bath first then, Leroy, don't want a shitty dwarf spreading the smell over our house when I'm resting."

"Were you meaning to ask whether someone could hold ME back from breaking you brat? My fist is always ready for your scalp, kid."

"Sorry, I'm not ready to fight against a level higher than me."

"Tsk. Where's the stubbornness of a hot-blooded youth in you, brat? I keep telling you to take a bit of Brenna's fire for you."

"You can keep at your broken record, Leroy, I'll keep my life. Hm? What is it, Anna?"

The green haired elf, stemming from their race's royal family, Anna, was currently frowning while looking towards the way the group just came from.

Elves were beings closer to gods than most humanoid species, being thus granted greater insight to anything related to the supernatural, though this trait was only deeply rooted on their royal, green haired family and brought but slightly higher affinity towards magic to normal elves.

Having Anna in their team, the party could detect enemies approaching before they either appeared or spawned, she could also preemptively discover when a boss or unique monster prepared to launch a special skill and was also a frightening magician with incredible power in the field.

Relying on her cheaty skills became a natural ending for them all, leading the group to place much trust and attention to her every hunch and reaction.

Caleb's call was not unwarranted, even in the safety of the upper-level.

"That stranger just now had an awful vibe."

"...Leroy?"

"Leave it! The city's crap without him already, there isn't much a level 1 can do anyway."

"Thank god. I don't want to run around doing dumb chores again. Thrice is enough."

Their comments didn't do much to calm Anna's scowl, however, as the adult beauty kept her gaze on the path taken by that man.

To say the truth, though, some part of her also wanted to make believe that they had never crossed paths and that the newcomer was nothing much, it was almost close to the level of taking a quick, twenty years long stroll out of the city and coming back when there was no sign of him.

It was realizing this that made her extremely uncomfortable. If such a vibe was running rampant while he is level 1, what would happen when that person grows?

Leroy, the squad's captain, was of one mind with Caleb, though, and unworriedly led the twenty plus party out of the dungeon.

"Leave it be. We're not murder hobos and we don't have any proof of him doing any terrorism or anything. Let's just... go home and drink, a lot."

"Go by yourself, shitty dwarf..."

"Said something, Caleb?"

"You're hearing things, Leroy."

Leaving the grim premises of the dungeon, the team once again was met with sweet sunlight and a crowd of cheering adventurers, talking and gossiping merrily as they witnessed one of the strongest parties of the city back from their delving adventure.

It was somewhat strange, however, that the number of people passing by was extremely low for the time of the day when everyone was supposed to be rushing into the dungeon.

And Caleb, being the strongest beast-kin in the group, was the first to smell something wrong going on, he made his dissatisfaction clear on his face, and let some lazy words slip through his tongue.

"These retards, what have they done now?"

"They haven't done anything, brat! And we sure as hell have heard less! We were urgently called to deliver assistance and rushed down the dungeon and up again! We, are, tired. And tired people need a nap... and booze."

"You can go be a dump at home then, Leroy, I'm getting some beer at the Maiden's."

"Five p.m. and we're sparring a little, brat. There's much, much for you to learn."

"I'm kicking your ass, poopy dwarf."

Most of the party followed Leroy to the Household Headquarters while Caleb uninterestingly and unhurriedly walked towards the famous pub for a mug, already planning where he would hide for today, the ruins oddly standing out in his thoughts.

As he walked, he heard the footsteps of four people following him. His super beastly senses recognizing that their rhythm and strides belonged to Anna, the Royal Elf; Bia and Bianca, the Amazon twin-like friends; and Pavel, the Plum.

He walked as if he had no knowledge of their presence for a good 3 seconds before the Amazons came to bother him, the entire group had been chatting by themselves as the three strongest were having their discussion, their talk low enough to not bother Caleb's ears, before now.

"Caleb's running away again~ He lost before it began~"

"Say what you want, Bianca, no one's bothering me today anymore. Better yet, couldn't you have stayed down there with that crazy masochist and made my life happier?"

"The boss, Caleb, it's the boss."

Miss 'I don't want to be weaker than anyone' made a fuss about wanting to solo the boss herself to see if she could level up.

With the boss gone, however, the mobs there were too weak and the deeper floors were too dangerous for the unprepared party, there was no other choice but to come back.

"Bia, be the boss for this retard here."

"Don't wanna. I want to be your boss, Caleb."

"...These retards."

It didn't take long for them to reach the pub, on the counter stools were two guys talking between themselves and a waitress on the other side of the counter. Of course, that had nothing to do with Caleb.

Caleb noticed that Cinthia, the psycho plum, was not present for the moment. He gave a sigh of both relief and exasperation, relief at the fact that the crazy girl was not here to make noise, and exasperation at the fact that she had already blown something up in the start of the day.

"Sophia! Kaiser beer and some meat!"

"Orange juice and pasta for Bia~!"

"Kaiser beer and meat for Bianca!"

"How could you, Bia!?"

"Sigh, these children, what do you want Pavel? Hm? Pavel?"

"Snore..."

"...These retards."