Vol 2: Chapter 47
I felt that the Earl himself might have already foreseen the young lady relinquishing the title.
It was the same when he let her crush the human resources centres, and let her do as she pleased when she wanted to take a walk in the city. And even giving her a skill orb outside of the award ceremony—it is disrespectful towards the ways of the noble society.
In other words, the Earl prioritizes the young lady’s growth as a person rather than her position as a noble. Hmm, but it does feel like he is rushing it.
(The Earl might have given up on life on the day when he was attacked last year where I saved him. And he might not live through the next attack. If so, I guess he hopes the young lady will be able to become independent as soon as possible.)
I have never heard that from the man himself, though. And well, he is not the kind of person who would share that.
(Eh, wait a minute… If the Earl died, I would definitely blame myself for “not being able to protect the Earl.” Due to that guilt, I would definitely decide to “stay by the young lady’s side until she grows up.” Yeah, that’s definitely something I would do! Earl, are you already seeing that far into the future?!)
In this world, mere brute force alone does not decide the strong and the weak. Nobles are scary. I’m especially scared of the smart nobles. Who was it goddamnit!? The one who decided to put the Earl in power…!
「Reiji…」
As I was lost deep in my thoughts, the young lady seemed to have been thinking of various things too.
「I am the daughter of Earl Sillys. I will follow that path. There are many things that only a noble can do, right? It’s not too late to be free after accomplishing all of them.」
There was no hesitation in the young lady’s voice. She was squeezing both hands tightly on her knee.
「S-So, Reiji…」
「Yes?」
「I… I want you to be by my side from here on too…」
GUU–
My belly growled loudly.
「…………」
「…………」
It can’t be helped, right? I haven’t eaten anything since morning, and I’ve worked my body quite hard and even shed blood! So don’t look at me like that, my lady!
「Haa… well, the first words out of your mouth when you woke up was “hungry”.」
「Hahahaha… I’m sorry.」
「I’ll get the chef to make something for you.」
「No, it’s okay. I’ll go to the kitchen and get a bread or something.」
「Okay…」
「…Leaving that aside, weren’t you saying something earlier, my lady? Because of the loud noise my belly made, I didn’t catch most of it.」
「!!」
When I asked that, the young lady turned beet red, enough to be seen clearly even in the dark room.
「I’m going to sleep too!」she said loudly, standing up.
「I-Is that so? Then I’ll take you to your room.」
「No need to! I’m going alone!」
「Eh…」
Didn’t you say that the escort is supposed to be near the lord…
I don’t know why, but the young lady angrily left the room. After that, I headed for the kitchen. There was no bread left, but there were a lot of fruits, looking like green apples.
「…Hey, isn’t this that green apple-like fruit I ate in the forest when I ran away from the mine?」
While feeling nostalgic, I ate a bunch of those green apple-like fruits. The fresh and sour taste blew away my lingering sleepiness.
(…I’m a coward.)
Someday I will leave the young lady. Because I have something I must do.
(Even though I told the young lady she had options, I knew full well that she wouldn’t say “let’s run away”.)
I wanted to subconsciously induce the idea that she can stand on her own feet even if I’m gone.
How easy it would be if I could just stay as the young lady’s escort all the time.
Or should I come back here once I’ve finished what I have to do?
(…It’s not time to think about that now, I guess.)
I think I will be in the Holy City until I get information about either Lark or Lulusha-san. I’m happy to see Silver Balance again, but I don’t think we can join together right away.
(There are a lot of things to think about.)
I grabbed another one of the green apple-like fruits. I felt change in the air. Dawn was nearing.
Earl Sillys came back at dawn and immediately called me into his office.
As we entered, the butler was urged to step outside, leaving the Earl and me alone in the room. It is probable that the Earl spent the night in the gaudy clothes he wore for the award ceremony yesterday. He looked totally exhausted, but for handsome guys I think it brings out a different angle of charm even in such a state.
「First of all, Reiji-san, thank you for your hard work yesterday.」
「Seems like you had it hard, too.」
「Well… yes, it was hard.」
The sofas were placed facing each other in the reception space, and the Earl, unusually, slouched into the couch.
「I suppose you have a lot to ask, Reiji-san, but let’s talk about the most important thing first.」
「Okay.」
「You have been summoned to the Holy Royal Palace at noon today. I will be with you, so be prepared.」
「Me… to the Holy Royal Palace?」
「That dark dome, the 8-star skill orb, the mediator, basically everything that happened yesterday is a highly confidential matter.」
「Well, I suppose so.」
「In the worst case, there is a possibility that a contract magic will be cast to prevent you from leaving the Holy City again.」
「What!?」
I got upset and rose to my feet, but thinking from their position, that might only be natural.
It is beyond doubt that everything that happened yesterday was some of the highest guarded secrets of the Kruvan Holy City.
「I will try to prevent that from happening, but I can’t predict what will happen.」
「…Why?」
「What do you mean, Reiji-san? I am sure you know a lot about the necessity of contract magic.」
「I mean why did you give me that information, Earl? There is a possibility that I might try to escape at this very moment.」
「To be honest, I think there’s a 50% chance that you will leave the Holy City this morning.」
「Then why–」
「His Majesty the Holy King probably has thought that too. That is why he must have given a half day extension.」
「…His Majesty?」
I have a headache. The Holy King summons me. On the other hand, he also thinks that I might run away. If he wants me to come, he doesn’t have to give me time and can just summon me right away.
「It’s probably because he feels grateful to you.」
「Grateful…?」
「Stopping the mediator was due to your actions.」
「But His Majesty was strong enough, right?」
「That’s because the logic was destroyed. The order matters here, so let’s talk about that.」
And the Earl cleared his throat.
「That dark dome is the middle point between this world and the world we call the “Other World”. By creating that dome, I heard that you can interfere with this world from the “Other world”. And that dome creates a logic where neither the people in this world nor the people in the “Other world” can attack each other.」
「Eh? But what about the mediator?」
「The only exception is the mediator, who is allowed to do anything as long as he abides by the “covenant”, is what I heard for the first time last night.」
So, it’s a top secret that even the Earl didn’t know.
「Thanks to Reiji-san breaking the dome, the logic also broke down, and His Majesty’s attack could finally connect.」
「What about that stone?」
When I arrived at the dome, Earl Sillys was about to break it with a stone.
「I don’t know the details, but it seems to be a stone that was from the same period when the First Altar was made. It was stored extremely carefully in the treasury of the Holy Royal Palace.」
Did you steal the stone that was “stored extremely carefully”?
But I couldn’t ask out loud. The Earl was looking at me with a sweet smile. A face which was saying, “don’t ask”.
「It’s a story from thousands of years ago… a story from a time we call the “Holy Ancient Age”. The Holy Royal family which owns the First Altar has a certain “covenant” applied to them. That is the 8-star skill orb.」
