If this story does not end with Daru being a manipulative A-hole that wanted Est out or dead so he could get "his party" back... then i will apologize to myself for the time wasted, like the only thing that i want is for the party to acknowledge how stupid they where and not in a "i´m the victim" way like Athena does, I want Daru saying to Est "I knew the first thing you would do when we kick you out was going to the dungeon, but i still let you go" because now i know for sure that Daru and the elf girl really did not care for Est at all, and i want Athena to realize that
This is like watching a huge accident... i know is bad to see and i will win nothing from it, maybe even i will loose things by watching, but i can´t take my eyes from it, is like i can hate this with such freedom that it is actually cathartic
Who exactly cares about anyone in this story? Est seemed to care, but he was also immature and blind, not realising what kind of people he was teaming up with, or why the others were doing what they were doing. So, his caring would have been doomed to be wasted, no matter what.
Athena mostly cares about reaching the top. She might not be a wicked person, but she's ready to cut out any unnecessary things to make personal progress. You shouldn't think Athena was somehow manipulated or fooled. She knew what was going on and accepted it as the best solution.
Mirialia only cares about her own comfort and being Athena's fangirl.
Frey only ever cared about herself, finding good fights, and becoming a stronger fighter. She cares so little that she can barely coordinate with others at all.
Daru is chasing ghosts. He's trying to relive his past through Athena, so obviously he would be ready to remove anything unnecessary. He does care about Athena, but in a twisted way. He somewhat looks after Frey and Mirialia now, but only because their cooperation is necessary for Athena to make progress.