Meanwhile, The Former Friends...

"Can you believe him? He really thinks he can team up with us!"

"Some people seriously need to learn their place, jeez."

In the back room of a tavern, reserved for the use of wealthy VIPs, three people sat and talked. The very same three people who, just a few moments before, had sworn oaths binding their future to Remille's.

Rui swirled her glass as she spoke. "Does that fool honestly believe things can just go on this way forever?"

Margus speared a piece of meat with his fork. "With no brains and no pedigree, it's not like anyone else would team up with him. I say we keep him around for a little while, long as we can squeeze any use out of him. And he should damn well thank us for it, that freeloader."

Aman nodded in agreement. "And as soon as he can't keep up, we dump him."

From the start, Remille had been nothing but a disposable tool to the three of them. Or to put it another way, you could say he was basically their slave. They didn't see Remille as deserving of the status of true nobility, as he came from a family of the rank of knights. The noble title of "knight" was, by definition, not passed down by inheritance. Sure, none of the three of them were actually in line to inherit a title either, but there's still a difference between a theoretical possibility and no possibility at all. Or so their fragile pride made them believe.

And anyway, it's not like slaves were unusual. Nobility often kept slaves instead of servants. To them, that's all that Remille was.

"We can push the annoying stuff onto him. He's always been best at, like, guard duty and chores," Aman suggested.

"Better him than hiring some commoner, right? At least, a bit better," Rui agreed.

"Exactly," Margus said. "Imagine the disgrace to our families if we joined up with a random commoner. If that's what it's come to, at least Remille has a bit of blue blood in his veins. That's at least something."

"It's something," Aman conceded. "But it's not much."

From the very start, Remille was nothing but a convenient person to delegate chores to. On that fateful day three years in the future, Remille thought that he died in a tragic, unforeseen accident—but that was wrong. The three of them had lured him to a zone where monsters of terrible power spawned, to get him killed for their own amusement. Sure, the horrors that appeared were powerful beyond their imaginations, and they couldn't avoid some damage to themselves as well. But expelling him from the party or murdering him directly would have left a stain on their good names. If he chose to give his own life in an act of valor, well, that was another story. Remille thought that he'd sacrificed his life to protect his friends, but in reality it was just this scenario playing out seven times over.

"So that's settled. We'll run him ragged. Better than nothing, I guess."

"I hope we can meet up with royalty before too long..." Rui said.

"I'm gonna make A rank and earn myself a noble title," Margus declared.

"And I will..." Aman began. "I'll make the chivalric order regret turning me away!"

Their goals were that simple: to be part of the world of the nobility, or at least of children of nobility. Nothing more. The highest they dreamed was to somehow form ties with the royal family. Even short of that, if they could prove themselves with their deeds, there was the possibility of being granted a title. That's why they had chosen to become adventurers.

"Man, I can't wait."

"Same."

"Hear! Hear!"

They continued their meal in cheerful ignorance, never imagining that this very conversation could be the thing that closed the door on their dreams.

They had heard about the Eye of Appraisal possessed by the so-called "uncut gem," but the extent of common knowledge was that its power was limited to detecting skills and talents. As such, they had no idea. They never suspected that it could be a power capable of seeing clearly into the depths of people's hearts. They had no idea that such a power resided with a member of the very royal family they dreamed of meeting.

And they had no idea that without Remille, whom they deemed so disposable, all their plans of noble life would come crumbling down around them...