Chapter Seventy
“You’ll regret it. Even if you manage to stop me here, you’ll regret not taking my hand.”
“In that case, I’ll just take your place. I’ll put on a grand show against the country all by myself.”
“Fu, fuha, ahahahaha! I see, so that’s how you think. However, I wish you would make up your mind whether you’re rational or foolish. But I don’t dislike that way of thinking. It’s just that we’re incompatible right now.”
—That’s all the more reason why I find it unfortunate. That I have to kill you.
Saying that, Amses produced a weapon from thin air. A pair of daggers with gleaming silver blades. His poised stance betrayed no openings, and my intuition told me he was a formidable opponent, no less skilled than the ‘Magician Hunter.’
Several magicians surrounded us. In contrast, there were only two of us.
However, being at a disadvantage was nothing new. To me, it was always like this. Therefore, it didn’t bother me much. Thinking that, I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword, and at the same time—
“—Excuse me. We were also looking for the culprit, so I don’t think it would hurt to at least give us a report now that we’ve found him, don’t you think?”
A voice laced with exasperation reached my ears. It was coming from a distance. It was Lilea’s. And beside her was Sofia, who seemed to be looking around restlessly, perhaps because of the loud explosion earlier.
“You look as if you’re wondering why we’re here. But it’s unavoidable, isn’t it? Since you’re always running off on your own. That’s why we allowed ourselves… to follow you. Sofia couldn’t leave you alone either.”
Lilea’s words made sense. Considering my personality and Sofia’s caring nature, it wasn’t surprising that Lilea was here.
So, if there was anything unnatural, it was just one thing.
I was one thing, but Ryuuzas was also here. How had Lilea, while acting together with Sofia, managed to follow both of us without being noticed until now?
“…Following us…?”
Ryuuzas seemed to find the same thing strange. He muttered in a distrustful voice, furrowing his brow.
“It’s that kind of ‘magic.’ Mine, that is.”
I didn’t know Lilea’s magic. But magic was something that made the “impossible” “possible.”
Therefore, I had no choice but to accept her words. Especially since Ryuuzas and I were both magicians.
“I’m not going to apologize for following you. Because it’s Julius’s fault. And besides, you’re being too irresponsible towards Sofia.”
And for some reason, I was being blamed. Sofia, beside her, also had a far from happy look on her face.
“I understand your way of thinking. To a certain extent, including the fact that swordsmen are selfish creatures. But, I wasn’t originally going to say this, but do you know why Sofia was learning healing magic?”
“…That’s because Sofia has talent, and…”
I assumed that was the reason Sofia had left the village before me, along with Lilea and the others. When I replied, they looked even more exasperated.
“That reason—”
“Wait a minute! Lilea!?”
Sofia tried to stop Lilea from bluntly stating the reason, but Lilea continued speaking without hesitation.
“It’s because she couldn’t leave her reckless childhood friend alone. To add to that, she wanted to help her foolish childhood friend who got seriously injured saving her, you know?”
“…”
I was speechless.
“I know you’re aspiring to be like someone you admire, Julius. After all, I’m the one who used to practice swordsmanship with you.”
Swordsmen were creatures who spoke with their swords. Therefore, by crossing swords, they could generally understand each other.
Even if it wasn’t spoken aloud.
“But you have to care for the people you don’t want to lose. You probably don’t know this, but the mastermind visited us while you were gone, you know?”
“…”
I gritted my teeth inwardly, realizing I hadn’t been thinking about that, too focused on the task at hand. Sofia was someone I didn’t want to lose.
I should have realized that during the incident with the Ogre. I just had to make sure she wasn’t caught up in things. I had wrongly assumed there would be no problem as long as I was the only one who went ahead.
“I understand that you can only see what’s in front of you, and I understand why you’re in such a hurry, but I’m not impressed. Oh, and this is some valuable advice from your senior, so you better listen.”
Some things can be obtained by continuously reaching for them.
However, things that slipped from your hand would never return.
Lilea said so casually, but her words carried an indescribable weight.
“…That’s a lot coming from you. It’s not like you to talk about the past.”
“I don’t particularly want to talk about it, but I’m not hiding it either. Besides, there’s no point in hiding it now that the effects of my magic have been revealed, right?”
In this world, the magic that manifested was generally related to the user’s strongest desires. For example, if someone yearned to resurrect the dead, they would gain magic related to that.
That’s why many people manifested magic at turning points in their lives.
Therefore, if you knew their magic, you could mostly figure out their past.
Of course, coincidence wasn’t impossible, but the probability was extremely low.
“…So, are you going to interfere with me?”
“I’m an adventurer in this royal capital, you know? I have my connections, and it’ll be troublesome if you’re allowed to do whatever you please. Oh, and of course, I’ve also been itching for a fight.”
She declared nonchalantly. Amses frowned slightly at her incredibly selfish reasons, but he remained silent, perhaps judging that there was no room for persuasion.
“But well, even if I were to just watch, the moment you tried to use magic on Sofia or me, that was a no-go.”
At that point, there’s no way I would just let you have your way, Lilea implied.
“…Hey, kid. So, can I assume the young lady and the scary-looking girl are on your side?”
“Sofia and Lilea are my allies. You can trust that.”
“Is that so?”
He probably already guessed that from my tone, but perhaps just to be sure, Ryuuzas asked, and I replied. The scary-looking girl was probably Lilea.
Immediately after that thought—
“—”
Amses, who was wielding a pair of daggers, suddenly vanished. Then, with the sound of him landing, I heard a whooshing sound, growing louder as it rapidly approached. Reflexively, I held the sword I had created like a shield in front of me. A solid impact resonated through my arm, sparks scattering around.
“Julius!?”
Sofia cried out in surprise, but before I could react, Amses, having closed the distance, spoke.
“…Not bad.”
Our trembling weapons clashed. Amidst the struggle, he praised me.
“Indeed, your thinking isn’t wrong. If you don’t like something, you crush it. Yes, I think that’s a perfectly valid thought process. But generally, by the time you dislike a country enough to act, you’ve already lost something crucial. Just like me, and the person you admire.”
I had been thinking this for a while now, but Amses was surprisingly knowledgeable about the Star Slayer.
…Well, that aside.
“…Amses.”
There was one question that bothered me.
“Hmm?”
“Why did you call me here?”
The several magicians began to move. Lilea and Ryuuzas went to deal with them, probably under Amses’s control.
“If you didn’t want to be interrupted, there was no reason to call me here in the first place.”
“No, there was a reason. I called you because it was a… promise.”
“A promise?”
“I couldn’t let you interfere with the ‘Magician Hunter’ any longer.”
Deflecting my forceful sword swing, Amses jumped back.
…Indeed, if it weren’t for this, I would probably be heading towards the ‘Magician Hunter’ right now.
“I need the ‘Magician Hunter’ to finish off that troublesome Knight Commander who’s fawning over the nobles.”
“…So that’s why…!! I thought you would have known the Knight Commander had returned.”
So, it would be best to lure away the most likely candidate for interference from the beginning. That must have been Amses’s thinking. That’s why I was called here.
“You’re all too soft. Soft in every way. Evil nobles should be punished by luring them into traps. But you all only went as far as interfering, and did nothing more. Look what happened as a result!?”
Amses declared loudly.
“They escaped their sins, made excuses, and then continued to commit atrocities as if nothing had happened! It was the same cycle repeating itself, wasn’t it!? See? My way of thinking was right. Nothing changes without sacrifice.”
Information I was unfamiliar with was piling up.
“Because I finished off the nobles you lot only interfered with, they could no longer act openly! …Right? That being said, House Gavelia went ballistic after I eliminated all the nobles they had under their wing.”
That night I fought the ‘Magician Hunter.’
I remembered Ryuuzas telling me to be wary of House Gavelia.
The groomed nobles, whose misdeeds had been thwarted by the former Knights, were being killed off one by one.
The Gavelia family must have been furious. It made sense that Ryuuzas mistakenly thought this whole incident with the ‘Magician Hunter’ was orchestrated by House Gavelia, not Amses.
“Those nobles believe their status is inviolable. That’s why they can do whatever they please. That’s why sacrifices are necessary to change this. Great sacrifices that cannot be ignored.”
It would lead to saving tens of thousands of lives in the future.
Then, sacrificing a hundred now would be a small price to pay, right?
“Julius, you said it would be troublesome if the Knights were gone. No, that’s wrong. The Knights are partly to blame for the current state of affairs. That’s why I had no hesitation in choosing them as sacrifices!”
He rambled on, driven by emotion. As if he couldn’t stop himself. His eyes bloodshot, he spoke relentlessly, his usual composure gone.
“Listen, Julius. Most of the nobles in this country are corrupt. And the Knights are just useless buffers, protecting the people only in appearance from that rotten filth. Tell me, is this system really necessary? In times of crisis, they protect themselves, abandon the commoners without a second thought, kill and sacrifice them, and then laugh at the tragedy, saying, ‘There’s a hierarchy of lives.’ Do such scum really have any value!? No, they don’t. That’s why. That’s why I—”
“—That’s why you’re continuing your revenge against the nobles who dismissed your family as a noble sacrifice, despite the possibility that they could have been saved, using a seemingly just cause as a shield? Alstead Barnabas.”
A new voice interrupted Amses. It was a familiar voice I had heard nearby just moments ago.
“…You’ve come at such a convenient time… Current Vice-Commander, Zenoah Almerida?”
It was Zenoah Almerida’s voice.
[Translator – Vine]
[Proofreader – Lust]
Join our discord for updates on releases! https://discord.gg/Eh2ayfR4FB
