Final Farewell
A week ago, I walked out of the Imperial Palace under a charge so absurd it barely deserved the name.
"……"
Step by step.
Even after leaving the palace grounds, I kept walking.
The Emperor was probably watching me through some window. So I didn't stop. Not until I was completely gone from his sight.
"…This should be far enough."
I slipped into an alley and glanced back over my shoulder.
No tails. No watching eyes I could sense.
Apparently they really thought something this pathetic would make me give up for good.
Just how little must they have thought of me?
"Ha. Those bastards really saw me as a complete fucking joke."
Looking back, it had been strange from the start.
I'd known for a long time that the Emperor was wary of me. The reason I never paid it any mind was that I knew him from the original story.
I was never supposed to be the protagonist of this world. That role belonged to Damian — the Hero born after me.
In the original, Kyle dies horribly at the hands of a Demon King's officer long before he ever reaches the Demon King himself.
And his companions share the same fate. Jain. Emilia. Muni. Alice. Yuli. Every last one of them was supposed to have died alongside Kyle ages ago.
The ending only changed because I got transmigrated into him.
"But that Emperor bastard was never this proactive."
The Pastus I knew was a timid, cowardly man who would never gamble on something like this.
Even in the original, when Damian returned after slaying the Demon King, the Emperor could only seethe with jealousy. He never laid a finger on him.
How could he? The Hero who killed the Demon King — the same Demon King that all of humanity had failed to defeat for centuries?
I'd assumed it would be the same this time and left him alone. This once, my prediction was wrong.
I don't know who put him up to it, but with a single petition, the Emperor managed to brand me a criminal.
Of course, that bastard didn't pull this off alone.
If he had that kind of spine, he would have done the exact same thing to Damian in the original.
"There's definitely an accomplice. Some fucking bastard who goaded that Emperor into this."
Demons, then? I considered it at first, but the odds were low.
Those things were too busy trying to keep their dying Demon King alive to waste time on petty schemes like this.
"More than anything, that petition. The way it was written reeked of someone who knows me well."
How else could every single accusation be the exact opposite of everything I'd ever done?
It almost looked like someone who knew me intimately had written it just to provoke me.
Anyone who would go that far had to hold a deep grudge against me.
Which meant the bastard who wrote it and delivered it to the Emperor was someone close to me.
"Yuli. It's him, isn't it?"
A suspect rose in my mind immediately.
After five years as companions, I knew that bastard was barely any different from the Emperor himself.
That was why I hadn't confronted the Emperor. I needed the one hiding behind him to let his guard down so I could drag him out.
Besides, this had been a stage carefully set by the head of a nation determined to bury me.
Even if I'd raised an objection and forced a trial, I never would have won.
Even in the twenty-first century, how many people ever beat a nation in court?
Unless I was prepared to destroy the Empire itself, there was nothing I could do in that hall.
So for a full week I pretended to have given up on everything, waiting for them to grow careless.
That was how I ended up infiltrating this inn…
"I never thought even you would betray me."
Perched on the inn's roof, I spoke in a dry, hollow voice.
Right below me, their laughter was still drifting up.
"And after we finished eating, I kept talking with the Hero. Hehe — it was so much fun I completely lost track of time."
"Well, when we were all traveling together, we hardly ever got a chance to be alone with the Hero."
"Heheh, now that you mention it, you're right."
"Ehehe. I'm already looking forward to the next time we meet!"
They were using my misfortune for their own entertainment.
While I hid in a house little better than a ruin, treated like a criminal.
Did they know? That of everyone, I had trusted them.
The one I'd suspected was Yuli. I'd come here to tell them the truth.
But there was no need for that anymore.
"Haa. I brought this for nothing."
I looked down at the copy of the petition in my hand and gave a bitter smile.
I'd stolen it from Yuli's room just a short while ago. For it to hold any weight as evidence, I needed their help.
As witnesses, the only people who could testify to its authenticity were the ones who'd spent five years at my side.
Now that I knew they were on Yuli's side, it was worthless.
Whether they realized it or not, they were still chatting away as if they were the happiest people alive.
"Heheh. At first I was so worried about how things would turn out, but now every day I get to meet the Hero is pure happiness."
"I know. It's such a relief everything worked out."
Everything worked out, huh.
I wonder if they could say the same thing to my face.
The only reason I'd believed I could turn this situation around was because of them.
I'd believed that at least they would stand by me.
I was wrong. From the very beginning, there had never been anyone on my side. They were all in it together.
The citizens were no different. Now, the moment I stepped onto any street, curses against my name came as naturally as breathing.
The house I'd once lived in looked worse than a haunted ruin. The statue of me in the plaza had been defaced with graffiti and smashed to pieces.
No one needed me anymore. Once that thought settled in, I found I no longer cared.
"…Maybe I should quit. Being a Hero."
I muttered it while staring up at a night sky without a single star.
I wasn't talking about some empty title.
Hero or not — the duty to kill the Demon King. That was what I was holding in my mouth right now.
The Emperor had betrayed me. So had my companions.
The citizens, too.
There was nothing left in this place for me to protect.
"Yeah. Let's leave. They can handle whatever's left on their own."
There was no longer any reason for me to stay in the Empire. Once I accepted that, there was nothing left to hesitate over.
Listening to the traitors' laughter, I began planning my departure at once.
"Still, if I just vanish without a word, they might come looking for me someday."
Anything else I could tolerate. That, I refused.
For any reason at all, I never wanted to see those people again.
So I had to make sure the thought of searching for me never even crossed their minds…
I looked toward the shop run by the Necromancer.
"At this hour, it should still be open."
Fortunately, the solution came to me quickly. I might even be able to leave this place before the night was over.
I was about to move on that thought when I saw Emilia step out of the inn alone.
I watched her for a moment, lost in thought.
"Well. Might as well say goodbye before I go."
People usually leave some kind of last words before they die, after all.
I followed her footsteps for that final farewell.
The hour when the pleasure district shone brightest.
Emilia walked those streets humming under her breath.
"Hehe. Heheheh."
Everything was going exactly the way she wanted, and it felt wonderful.
Truthfully, she had always been confident she could win against any of her companions.
Jain the Knight Commander and Muni the First-class Mage needed no discussion. Alice the Saintess had been a somewhat bothersome rival, but Emilia had never once believed she would lose to her.
Compared to herself, the Saintess's body was rather meager, after all.
The same went for the other nobles.
Her companions had fretted over the mountain of letters that arrived, but Emilia had remained perfectly at ease.
Until the Princess proposed.
The Princess alone was a rival worthy of the name.
In a fair contest, it would have been fifty-fifty.
But Emilia had never cared for gambles that close.
She only wanted bets she was certain to win. And if that wasn't possible…
"Then you simply have to rig the board."
She chuckled softly as she said it.
The smile drew the eyes of every man who passed.
Long pink hair. Golden eyes. A small face with striking features set above a lavish black dress, wearing a seductive smile.
She looked every bit as dazzling as the street itself.
But she had no intention of entertaining the filthy stares of men like that.
There was only one person on this entire continent she wanted.
She was enjoying the cool breeze and those hungry gazes when a voice reached her.
"You look like you're having fun, Emilia."
A voice she knew all too well.
For a moment, Emilia thought she must have misheard.
Because the owner of that voice was someone she knew better than almost anyone.
"…Ka… Kyle?"
But when she turned her head, he was standing there.
As if he had been there from the very beginning.
His sudden appearance left her no choice but to be flustered.
If it had been any of her other companions, that emotion would have spilled into their words and actions. Emilia, however, recovered her composure at once and greeted him with a smile.
"My, it really is Kyle. What brings you out here at this hour?"
"Just something I wanted to ask you."
The expression on Kyle's face as he said it looked strangely detached.
Emilia studied him while her mind raced.
This wasn't part of the plan. Why is Kyle here right now…?
According to her scheme, he shouldn't have been anywhere near this place.
The city was overflowing with people who resented the Hero Kyle, after all.
That was why he had been hiding in the slums until now. This was a variable she had never accounted for.
But she wasn't about to waste the opportunity.
It was the alone time with Kyle she had always wanted so badly.
"Heheh. Then shall we go somewhere just the two of us can be alone? There are far too many people here."
She tempted him with a sultry smile, but Kyle shook his head.
"No. Here is fine."
"Aww. You're no fun."
Click. Click.
Emilia stepped closer with each soft tap of her heels.
She slowly slid both arms around his neck and pressed her body against his.
With her chest crushed firmly against him, she mixed a laugh into the whisper she breathed against his ear.
"Hehe. So? What is it you're so curious about?"
The moment she embraced him, Emilia was certain. Tonight, she would finally bring Kyle down.
Yes — she had always been like this.
She always faced people with a smile and a tone that said she already knew everything.
In truth, she was the sharpest and most insightful member of the party.
That was why the others had tacitly treated her as the party's second-in-command: a mature, reliable companion.
But even she failed to predict what came next.
"Emilia. How does it feel to betray me?"
"…Huh?"
The single, flat sentence from Kyle.
For the first time, her smile crumbled.