“Finn! How many times have I told you that’s not the way to swing a sword! Why can’t you do such an easy thing?”

While swinging my sword outside the inn, an angry voice sounded from behind.

The voice came from Alfine, my childhood friend and also my girlfriend.

Jet black eyes that captivate the viewer, smooth skin that seems to tempt man, and the lips ーthat let out a pleasant voice to the earsーthat tinged with seductive glow.

Lithe bodyーwhich was was trained by sword techniqueー, plump chest and glossy black hair extending to her waist.

Alfine, a peerless beauty who would make 10 out of 10 men have a lewd look on their face when they looked at her.

Moreover she is titled as one of the only three Sword Master in the world for her remarkable ability as a swordsman, then she was appointed as the kingdom’s knight and conferred nobility.

The Flawless Sword Goddess ― that was the evaluation from the general public that was given to Alfine.

However, that is the evaluation of strangers that only knows Alfine’s outside appearance.

As childhood friend and lover, to me, that is only the guise of Alfine to feign friendliness externally.

The real her is far from the beauty of her appearance, a troublesome and selfish woman with poor personality and self centered thought.

“Alfine… I told you I couldn’t understand the way you instructed.”

“It’s Finn’s bad habits to question my instructions, even though I seriously trying to make you understand!? Do you understand your own position?”

I am an adventurer.

Of course, Alfine too.

Born and raised as childhood friend in the same village, after going to the city together and becoming adventurer together, we formed a party and adventuring together, and are also lovers now.

However, whatever I do, I’m no match for Alfine, no matter how many times I tried, it only ends up with me being looked down upon and hurled with abusive words by her.

It was painful, but I managed to hold it in until now.

She spit out whatever she wants to say, and if I keep a low profile and apologize, she will immediately feel good, and she will be in a good mood as if nothing ever happened.

Even so, I still have a recollection of when we were still kids and when we just became adventurer, her tone was somewhat gentle then.

But, because she received the title of Sword Master and the status of a nobility, her stress is increasing, and lately she has been hurling abuses at me to relieve her stress three times a day, and if she doesn’t vent her frustration, she will bite her nails.

I repeatedly warned her not to bite her nails, but each time she replied “Finn doesn’t have the position to give a comment about me”, and she will become more sullen.

“A useless guy who can’t do anything well”, “It’s embarrassing to be always together with Finn since childhood”, “But, I’m giving you my favor, so be grateful and absolutely be obedient to me, okay”.

Thrown such words everyday, I realized that I was losing confidence as an adventurer, as a man, and as a person.

Unknowingly I lived every day as a slave of Alfine.

A lover-***-caretaker who takes care of her mood and daily life.

That’s what I am now.

“I know. I’m Alfine’s boyfriend and partner at the same time.”

Immediately, I saw a sneer rose on Alfine’s face.

“Puhーkusukusu. Finn, did you seriously just said that? You’re joking, right? Even if it’s for arguments sake, it’s still impossible though.”

I’ve already predicted that she would say that.

I haven’t been dating my childhood friend for a long time.

She looked down on me and mocked me, retorting to her words has become my own stress reliever, then when I thought she is comforting me with gentle words, in the end it end up with abusive words.

I was tricked many times by her when she suddenly showered me with tender words, then I was hurt by her abusive words afterwards.

But, those days are over today.

I decided to quit from being her lover-***-caretaker, and decided to go out as an adventurer again.

The reason I thought to do so was related to the fact that she became a knight and the number of times she was called to the royal capital for kingdom’s business has increased.

When Alfine wasn’t there, I recruited one person or more on the spot and take a job from the guild, which was surprisingly went well.

Until then, it’s not unexpected that everyone in the guild only see me as powerful person’sーAlfine’sー accessory, but now they’ve recognized the ability that was hidden and buried in her shadow.

Thanks to that, my self-esteem that was worn out by Alfine has regained it’s brilliance, and I have gained the courage to break up with her.

“If that’s the case, then from today, I’ll quit being Alfine’s boyfriend and partner.”

“Haa!? What’re you saying? Even if you say you wanna quit your position as my lover and partner, your meaning is unclear though!?”

Maybe as an obedient stress reliever, she never thought that such words would came out of my mouth, surprised and impatient expression rose on her face.

That’s only for a moment though, ーwhile looking displeased and glaring at meー immediately she said, “Even though this me has deign to date the good-for-nothing Finn, why are you saying such words?”

Until now I used to received those eyes, then looked down and apologize, “I’m sorry, I said too much. It’s my fault, everything is my fault for being good-for-nothing.”, but from today, I won’t say it anymore.

I held the shoulder of Alfine who looked sullen, and looked straight into her eyes and said the following words.

“Because I’ve already decided, the equipment and money that Alfine has given me so far, I’ve sent them to the mansion that you’ve bought recently, so please deal with it as you like.”

“Eh? Eh? What are you saying? The good-for-nothing Finn is thinking of living separately from me? Even though you don’t have that kind of ability at all? Aren’t you misunderstanding that you had enough ability because you’ve been adventuring together with me?”

Alfine doesn’t seem to understand the reason why I want to leave her.

While her shoulder being grabbed by me, her big eyes that was blinking and stared at me seems to say, “Why do you say things like that?”

“That’s right, I’ll leave Alfine and start over as an adventurer in the frontier. You should be relieved that you finally parted from your useless good-for-nothing boyfriend. Thank you for everything… We will walk our own path from now on, but let’s do our best.”

“Wai-, wait a minute. I apologize if Finn gets mad. I’m sorry. I’m a little bit harsh these days. Don’t seriously take your lover’s cute jokes, okay.”

Alfine ーwho seems to be playing around halfwayー, “This again, Finn’s angry at his position again, it is bothersome, but should I gave him a bit of gentle words?”, I seems to perceived that from her expression.

Many times, I’ve fallen for these words, but today, I won’t listen anymore.

“Yes, this was also given by you, right. I’ll return it. With this, we’re not lover or childhood friend anymore, from now on we’re total stranger.”

I put the sword that I used to practice before in her hand.

When I returned the commemorative sword that we gave to each other when we became adventurer, and seeing my serious expression, Alfine finally realized that I’m different from the usual me, her complexion changed and she started to become impatient.

“Wai-, wait! Why are you returning this sword to me! Finn! If now, I’ll just treat it as a joke, think back! You’re alone, and the monsters at the frontier are strong, there is no way you can be an adventurer there! Are you listening!? Listen to me!! I don’t mind Finn’s uselessness!”

“That’s why. Well then.”

Alfine, who saw my strong resolve, “As if Finn could abandon me, unbelievable”, her expression seems to say that while looking at me.

I thought she might chase after me, but it seems that her hips gave out from too much shock, and she is now sitting on the ground and can’t to move.

“Finn! Wait-! Wait-!”

I ran away from Alfine without answering or looking back.

When her figure can’t be seen anymore, I took a breather.

With this, I’m officially free, right.

My heart is pounding just by thinking that I don’t have to listen to Alfine’s abusive words everyday.

Well, from now on, should I start as an adventurer in the frontier from 1?

I came to the carriage station, and when I got on the carriage, I became excited thinking about my new life in the frontier that’s about to come.

It’s been two weeks since I’ve left the power harassment of the childhood friend Sword Master Alfine who had robbed me of my dignity, and being swayed in the carriage.

The horse-drawn carriage arrived safely at Youg Hannotes, the most remote city in the kingdom.

When I parted from her, I returned all my equipment and fund, but with the money I saved when I was taking requests alone, I have some surplus for the traveling expenses.

When I arrived in the city, firstly ーso that Alfine can’t find meー, I decided to change this appearance that made her keep calling me a good-for-nothing.

My black eyes and black hair, which are the same as her, is an unusual color in this world, so if I live an adventurer life from here on and become a little famous, there is a possibility that it will reach Alfine’s ear in the capital and I would be brought back immediately.

I thought that disguise and pseudonym were indispensable to avoid it.

After liberated from the tyrant Alfine with great pains, I’ve been drifted until the frontier city where no one knows me.

On this occasion, I also decided to abandon the name Finn, which has a strong impression as an accessory of Alfine, and live as a new adventurer in Youg Hannotes.

I decided that when I arrived in the city, first of all, I’ll go to the barbershop to cut my hair and dye it.

“Excuse me, can you cut this black hair short and dye it into a blond hair?”

“Nii-chan, even though you have rare and beautiful black hair, you want to dye it to the common blond hair? It’s a waste.”

“Well, there are some circumstances.”

Even though the Oji-san of the barbershop said that it’s a waste when he looked at my black hair, but from now on, I don’t want to be reminded about Alfine and feel uncomfortable, whenever I looked at these hair and eyes color in the mirror.

As my determination of throwing away my past, I’ll shorten my hair and dye it.

“What, so Nii-chan has special circumstances? If it’s like that, you’ll just have to say so from the beginning. This Youg Hannotes is the place where various people drifted. Nii-chan must have been through a lot. Alright. Let’s stop with the common blond hair and make it the flashy red hair.”

“Red hair… it’s too flashy…”

“It needs to be about that flashy, to reveal Nii-chan’s attractive face. As the skilled person of Youg Hannotes, what I said can’t be wrong.”

“Is that so. Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

I decided to entrust everything to the Oji-san of the barbershop who showed a lot of motivation.

While Oji-san cut my hair and dyed it red, the tiredness of traveling came to me and I fell asleep.

“Nii-chan, it’s done. As expected, you are a handsome man. Hey, the women in the city will start to make an uproar.”

Oji-san shake my shoulder to wake me who was asleep.

In front of me, there is a man with trimmed bright red hair and masculine face.

Even his eyebrows were carefully dyed red.

“This is me?”

“Ah, it’s a big difference from Nii-chan, who had a terrible face when he came in. For the eyes, my acquintance fake eye expert can change the color with magic. Because you said you had special circumstances, I can’t leave it alone. If you want to change your appearance, you can’t do it half heartedly.”

Next to the barbeshop’s Oji-san, an Oji-san of similar age was laughing.

“Well, because it seems that if your eyes are also red, it will make your appearance more flashy. If you put this on, you should be able to disguise the color of your eyes as well. It’s thin, but durable, so it won’t come off even with intense exercise, so it’s fine y’know. Usually I’m supposed to get a fair amount of fees, but for those with special circumstances, I’ll make it cheap, so please be assured.”

The person next to the barbeshop’s Oji-san seems to be a fake eye expert.

He had a small, thin, glass-like object in his hand.

“Is it okay to put on the eyes?”

“Don’t worry, look.”

The fake eye expert Oji-san put the red glass product on my eyes.

It doesn’t hurt, and my vision is the same as before.

Just changing the hair color, it’s length, and eye color, made the face of Finn who was keep called good-for-nothing looked like a different person.

With this, even if I met Alfine, she wouldn’t recognized me instantly.

Even so, the difference is too big…

“How much is the cost?”

“It’s cheap, only 3.000 oz.”

Cheap! Is this the price difference between the capital and frontier city?

I thought that with such drastic changes, tens of thousands of oz wouldn’t be enough, but I didn’t think that it would only be 3.000 oz.

I immediately took out 3.000 oz worth of silver coins from my wallet and added another 1.000 oz as tips and hand it to Oji-san.

“It’s a tip. I really like Oji-san’s skill, so I’ll come back when my hair grows.”

“Even though Nii-chan is young, but you are thoughtful. I like it, I’ll treat you as my regular. I’m Loran. A little known barber in this city of Youg Hannotes. So, what is Nii-chan’s name?”

My name was asked by Loran who did my hair.

The name Finn was thrown away as a farewell to Alfine, so I have to think of a new name.

I wonder if there is any good name… Should I take the name from King Frederick, whom I adore?

Frederick is a little too aristocratic, so Frick… Frick is more appropriate.

From today, I’ll call myself Frick.

“It’s Frick. I’m thinking of being an adventurer in this city from now on. I think I’ll need Loran-san’s help from now on, so please take care of me.”

“If people ask you where you cut your hair, please do some advertising for me at that time.”

“If it’s only that, I’ll advertise it as best as I can.”

Then, when I left Loran’s shop and walked around the city, I felt that the eyes of the women were concentrated on me, unlike when I was coming.

Then, when it seems that they took a glance at me, they’ll be talking to each other in whisper, then they’ll continue whispering while glancing at me.

I was incredulous about the changes in attitudes of those women, but when I called out to those women to ask the location of the Adventurer Guild, I finally understood that what makes them boisterous is myself.