Both of them consider themselves/treat Gideon on a master-student basis *a little add-in to anyone curious, but its been mentioned that while yes, Ares can one shot Gideon most of the time IF Gideon isn't fast enough to counter his spells but anything else, Gideon takes the cake since Ares is a literal glass canon whose only advantage is Max level spells, Gideon just has to beat him BEFORE he gets to prepare and cast spells*. But going back to the relationship between the 3 of them, if I remember it right, it is just in Danan's nature to be blunt *and again, they've been in a party in a while enough to be casual but long enough to stop and thank Gideon's contributions at every little thing or that's how one can interpret it* and as a Martial Arts master himself *I forget if the guy has a dojo of some sort* but BECAUSE they've been in a party for so long, both specialists admit they HAVEN'T been openly praising or watching over Gideon *so they don't notice the poor dude's inferiority getting bigger since he's not contributing in actual combat* that much since 1. its been his (only) job (left at the party) to do the support role 2. the other 2 people (Lit and Yarondorara/elf girl the Druid that should be watching over Gideon other than the Hero isn't present since these two naturally are on a closer wavelength with Gideon and treat him in higher ground. Lit and him bonded while strategizing, and in an alternate timeline, the timeline/the what if the story/party continued as planned where Gideon does die if he stays long enough with the party, elf girl is his love interest.
But this just goes back to the issue where Gideon could've just consulted the rest, but his inferiority took over and he had the terrible timing of witnessing the scene with Ruti and Ares and just concluded Ruti didn't need him as much seeing as he thinks she can function without him/has another support system. But like I mentioned earlier, if Gideon did stay, there was a medium-high chance he would've died. I put medium first because in the what if timeline, Gideon didn't get to train early like in the main story where he had a master *the knight commander who taught him the value of mastering normal skills and his swordsmanship* (he wasn't a respected vice commander like in the main timeline but was an above average knight thanks to his advanced level but again did not specialize in anything) and didn't get to master most of his normal skills so no enhanced speed and endurance, longsword equipped strengthening, flash steps, etc.
