“Hmph...,” Gregório looked at Ozul from top to bottom with a discreet mockery, “I see that you managed to get here whole, despite your noisy inconvenience... Oh?”

Gregório looked at me with raised eyebrows, as if he had noticed my presence just at that moment, and then went back to Ozul with arrogance.

“Oh, now I understand how you made it.”

Because of this speech, I felt angry with Gregório. From what I knew, his problem was more with Ozul's weapon, which was a shotgun, than with Ozul himself. Maybe I was wrong, but it seemed that he had trouble adapting to new technologies.

“Ozul was more than convenient for me,” I positioned myself.

Gregório, however, seemed not to have believed it.

“Oh, really? You poor thing.”

I refrained myself from saying some unpleasant things to him. Gregório couldn't get along with Ozul and, consequently, wants the same to happen with anyone else who makes a group with him. Clearly, the problem was Gregório himself, but he didn't want to admit it.

Ozul looked behind Gregório’s shoulders, where there was nothing, and became tense. With firm and fast steps, Ozul passed straight by Gregório and went back to the entrance looking for something or someone, but there was nothing there either. Ozul came back to us and addressed Gregório:

“Where is Lynette?”, Ozul asked her.

“I have no idea,” Gregório replied as if it were an unimportant subject.

“She was with you. What do you mean you have no idea?”

“Because she just left. When I wasn't looking, she went in another direction without even saying a word to me.”

“And you didn't even go after her?”

“That was her decision, not mine.”

I rolled my eyes with Gregório’s answers.

“That's what I call imprudence...”

Without noticing, I ended up thinking out loud and only realized when Gregório looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. Wanting explanations, he ignored Ozul and walked up to me, positioning himself right in front of me so that I had no choice but to look him in the eye.

“Care to add something to our conversation, miss?,” despite the polished language, Gregório’s voice showed arrogance.

I know this tactic, he was trying to intimidate me. However, I knew I could a worthy response, maintaining the same language in my speech.

“With pleasure. Miss Lynette was an archer, a long-distance striker, and you let her go without even going after her. As a swordsman, a short-reach warrior, you were reckless,” finally, I added a mocking comment. “I know that Mr. Reignia said in the letter that we were not at risk of dying, but we shouldn’t stop making smart decisions.”

Gregório shut up and made an long face, a facial expression that, due to his noble face, was not unpleasant to see. He heard what he didn't want, but it was precisely he who asked me to talk, he could very well have ignored me. You see, he wanted to see me acting meek.

This time, I was the one who looked behind Gregório’s shoulders and saw Ozul, who had been ignored moments ago. He was staring at Gregório, who seemed to be analyzing me. He was suspicious of Gregório’s intentions to me. From what I could see from Ozul's posture, it seemed that he was just waiting for Gregório to grab the handle of the swords to attack him.

Finally, Gregório stopped making that ugly face and smiled at me, but he did it with arrogance.

“Heh, now I know how you are. It was with you Lady Banloros was talking to in the auditorium, wasn't?”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

In response, I spoke in a provocative tone:

“Hm? So you've been looking for Erina in the auditorium, right?”

“Argh,” he grumbled. “…You’re definitely her friend. I see you got a little of her mannerisms.”

“Speaking of Erina, did you happen to meet her in these dungeons?”

“Unfortunately yes,” he sighed annoyed. “She was accompanied by a lynx girl wielding a war hammer.”

Knowing that he had found Erina, but didn't form a group with her made me angry. If he had teamed up with her, I would have already met my friend again!

“And why aren't you with them now?,” I asked, crossing my arms.

Gregório raised one of his hands and pressed on his temple.

“Because, the moment Lady Banloros saw me, she tried to make me duel with her, completely ignoring the situation we are in. In addition to having addressed me wrongly. There is no way I can collaborate with a woman who only thinks about her own pleasures.”

That was definitely something Erina would do, but I have my doubts about "addressing him wrongly". Gregório made it sound as if she had behaved in a vulgar way, but I doubt this was the case. After all, she wasn't alone, there was a lynx girl with her. Playing by the fact that Gregório didn't mention the girl's name, or he thought that revealing her name would be irrelevant or he had spent so little time with the girls that he didn't even bother to learn her name.

I think Gregório's problem was with the concept of teamwork.

“Look, do as you see fit, but a group can be useful sometimes, especially when they have attributes that compensate for their weaknesses,” I sighed, thinking of him as a hopeless case. “Honestly, it's hard to understand your side.”

“I don't need your understanding,” he replied. “...and neither yours,” he said, turning to Ozul.

There was nothing else to be said between the three of us.

Being fed up with our company, Gregório decided to withdraw, keeping his gaze up and not caring to say goodbye. The moment he passed straight by me, I turned around and grabbed his wrist. Gregório, turned his head, looking at me with disapproval. He was probably ready to insult me, but before he had the chance, I used a spell and cured him.

All this time, Gregório was hurt and, as much as he had hidden it, I was able to notice. He at least knows how to hide weaknesses and pretend to be imposing, I'll give him that credit.

After my healing, Gregório took his wrist out of my grasp rudely, ready to belittle my achievement.

“Haven’t I said-…”

“This is not for you,” I promptly interrupted him. “It's so that monsters can have more fun with you.”

Gregório slid his tongue and took his hand to one sword, where his fingers slide down the handle. He turned his back on Ozul and me and, this time, withdrew from the rest area.

It was just Ozul and me again in that place again and, without Gregory's presence, the atmosphere seemed more pleasant - considering that we were in a dungeon.

I sighed with relief. What a lame guy! Who was he thinking he was? A all powerful protagonist who carries his team on his back? "I don't need your understanding", as if! I can't wait for him to crumble because of that attitude! When Erina said that he was playing hard to get, I thought she had been very insistent and said some naughty things to him, but I'm seeing now that the problem was his way of acting. Wow, Erina, was for this type you fell in love with?

“You know,” Ozul approached. “after the way he treated you, you didn't need to do that kindness.”

“It wasn't a kindness. You see, if he comes across a strong monster and comes out victorious, he will be wondering if his victory had only been possible because of my healing,” a malicious smile formed on my face. “This will stir his pride and the thought will be ruminating in his head!”

“Oh! I understand now... I liked that,” Ozul spoke softly and took his hand to his face to hide his smile, as if Gregório was still here.

After enjoying the image of a disturbed Gregório, Ozul changed to a more attentive posture and asked me:

“By the way, did you manage to rest?”

“Yes, I did,” I confirmed, since I no longer felt pain in my feet. “Are you ready to continue?”

Ozul nodded and we continued with our quest. When we passed through the rest area’s exit, Ozul looked at me with curiosity.

“A question:” he started, making me turn my face to him. “why did Gregório call Lady Banloros ‘a woman who only thinks about her own desires’?”

“It's a nobles thing: old blood nobles are more judgmental with the new nobles. I think Gregório is an old blood, that's why he has a negative opinion of Erina.”

“An unnecessary complication...,” Ozul sighed.

Hearing Ozul's statement made me laugh.

“Hehehehehehe, you summed it up very well!”

I remember that, in my past life, I read an article about psychology on the computer. It was something about "common enemies". As far as my memory allows, the article said that if two or more people had a common enemy, they tended to get closer, because a sense of union and identification was created - obviously a group needs more things to stay united. And I believe this phenomenon just happened between Ozul and me.

Both Ozul and I had a negative opinion about Gregório and it probably facilitated our cooperation, because we didn't have to explain to the other why we were dissatisfied with him. Who knew that something random that I did in my past life would bring me a new perspective in this life!

Speaking of Gregório, thanks to his report, I found out that Erina was still in the dungeons, but she was not alone. I had no way of knowing exactly where she was, but because he found her at some point between his separation from Ozul and the reunion of the two, I can assume that she was not far away and that eventually we would end up seeing each other. I know Erina is strong, but I hope to find her soon.