the story of the banished side

**Mirialia's POV**

After that, I picked up my wand. Daru, Athena, and I left our apartment and ran toward the dungeon. Daru and Athena were running ahead of me; I couldn't keep up with their speed without Est's magic. Whenever Est used his enchantments on me, he didn't just increase my magical power; he also enhanced my physical abilities. I often told him, "I'm a magician. I don't need physical enchantments; focus on increasing my magical power." But he would reply, "We don't know when the enemy will reach us, so as a safety measure, you should have physical enchantments too. That way, you can escape more easily if the enemy gets to you before you finish your spell."

He always cared for all of us. He often carried our luggage and did all the chores to compensate for his lack of support, but I couldn't even say a simple thank you to him. When I came to this city, I quickly became famous because of my high magical power. I easily cleared beginner-level dungeons, but people often viewed me differently because I was an elf. We elves are very secluded; others usually try to exploit our high magical abilities. Only a few like me have come out of the village, yet people always see us as rare creatures and remain wary.

The same goes for beastmen and demi-humans, but our numbers are smaller than theirs, leading to even more discrimination against us. When I came here many people approached me to invite me to their parties but I can sense they only considered me a tool. When I did my best for them, they started to be scared of me and kept their distance from me. So, I began to halt my powers, but they saw me as a normal magician and banished me from their party because they didn't need a long-ear creature. Who can't give them any advantage over other parties? I started to get depressed because of a lack of funds and not having someone I could talk to then Athena and Est approached me. I thought they were the same as the others but I didn't feel any malicious intent from them. I feel warm and cozy whenever I am with them like a family.

But everything started to change when Est got badly injured in a fight with a monster. We managed to defeat that monster but Est became unconscious after the fight due to a lack of blood. Daru picked him up and we started to run towards the town. When we reached the city we let a priest check on him and the priest cast healing magic on him. After that, Est remains unconscious for a week. In the meantime, Athena and I kept on checking on him from time to time.

At that time Athena and I made the worst type of decision. We decided to be exiled from our party. We already knew we shouldn't do this but we also feared seeing Est in a state like this again.

We already knew that if we told Est we were doing this for his safety, he would not listen to us. So, we decided to exile him forcefully by saying harsh words to him, like, "You are weak and slowing down us to move forward."

We decided this for his safety but did not know that our actions would make Est do such a dangerous thing.

After some time, we reached the dungeon, but there was no sign of Est there. So, we started to go down the dungeon to see if we could catch him.

Athena Pov

We are running through the fourth floor towards the fifth. Daru told me that he and Est often went to train on the fifth floor because the monsters there were powerful but slow in moving Est can take advantage of his light build and act freely using his agility but they are still powerful to break rocks in with single punches. I am angry at Daru for taking Est to such a dangerous place to train but I also regret that Est did all of this for me and our promise but I exiled him from our party by saying so many harsh things to him.

I am a failure as a friend. I can't even understand the feelings of my best friend.

"We reached the fifth floor follow me I will lead you to the place. Where he trained frequently." Daru said

After some time we reached a big space where we could easily move Then I saw something familiar to me shining on the ground. That's the dagger I gave to Est for safety measures i also see a lot of blood on the dagger and surround him.

I ran towards the dagger and held the dagger in my hands just seeing this much blood and which blood could be tears starting to come from my eyes. My legs lost their strength I fell on the ground.

" Athena hold on this can be the monster's blood and Est could be returned to town after that, " Daru said with a sad and worrying expression on their face.

" No...no the only monsters in the levels are golems they don't have blood. Because of me Est ... "

I couldn't control my tears I started to cry in the dungeon Mirialia and Daru trying to confront me but I could see tears in their eyes too. That's all my fault If I held him to overcome his weakness then nothing like this happened to him. That's all my fault.

"Hey, what happened? Why are all of you crying?" A random guy asked.

"Nothing we just trying to find our part member who lost on that floor. Did you see a boy with short black hair using enchantment magic? Daru asked hesitantly.

"Ah yes, I see him he is a good fighter by just using Enchantment magic he easily cut through a golem's hard skin by using a tiny dagger. In the middle of the fight, he shouts his name. What is it, Yeah Est, I clearly remember now." Random guy said

Just hearing Est's name the strength I lost came back to me I stood up grab that guy by his shirt's collar.

"Athena first stop pulling him and calm down first," Dary said while pulling my hands away from that guy's shirt's collar.

" Sorry for that," Daru said while bowing to him.

"No that's okay, I understand that you are worried about him. Let me tell you what happened to him and where is he.