In the NTR Game, the Childhood Friend Is a Bitch Worse Than the Demon King (8)
I had clearly warned Amy not to spout that bullshit about doing it "for my sake."
I put my sword to her throat and told her that if she ever said that kind of thing to Ronan again, I would never forgive her.
"Ronan... no. I really..."
But Amy paid it no mind and kept repeating the same words over and over.
Even with my blade at her neck, she started begging me through her tears. She insisted to the very end that it wasn't true, that I was misunderstanding everything, clinging to her claim of innocence.
Seriously disgusting.
That performance of hers almost made a snort of laughter burst out of me. I was thoroughly disillusioned with Amy, who was still trying to deceive Ronan right to the end. Even now she was probably scheming inside her head about how to trick him again—what a piece of work...
I genuinely wanted to just kill her on the spot, but...
Well, unfortunately, the predetermined end was already approaching.
"That's enough."
Sure enough, the heated battle came to a close. The Second Prince declared the friendly match over, and I had no choice but to lower my sword. I hadn't really intended to kill her anyway, so ending it here was fine.
"The duel is over."
With the duel finished, I left the training grounds without looking back. Normally the nobles would have flocked to me as the winner to chatter about this and that. But since they had overheard the entire conversation during the duel, they seemed to possess at least a shred of tact. Thanks to that, I exited the training grounds without any interference.
After walking a short while, I sat down in an empty garden, gazed at the flowers, and let out a snicker.
"Looking real good."
Honestly, I hadn't expected even one percent that the party members would apologize to me or anything of the sort. If those whores were going to reflect, they would have done so long ago, right? If they were the type to beg Ronan's forgiveness just because of a little duel, they never would have betrayed him in the first place.
I knew their way of thinking completely, and I wasn't idiot enough to commit murder right there, so I considered this the expected conclusion.
"Glad I dueled after all. Feels damn refreshing."
So why did I duel knowing it would turn out this way? Obviously to beat the crap out of the party members. From the start, that was the only purpose. It was a shame to just send them off after they'd drained Ronan's lifespan like this. Even if they leave, they should leave after getting their asses kicked, right?
I had aimed for revenge for what they did to Ronan from the very beginning, and I had accomplished that purpose splendidly.
"Plus, now they'll get cursed out too."
Also, this wasn't something I had particularly aimed for, but the fact that the nobles overheard the conversation between me and the former hero party now seemed like it would have quite a large impact. They must have realized Ronan was betrayed, so they would understand just how much trash the hero party members truly were.
Thinking about it again, it was an excellent achievement.
"Time to dust myself off and get up."
At this point, I could say my business with the party members was truly finished. I had gotten my refreshing revenge, and now I should live my own life. It was time to live without regrets as myself, not as Ronan.
I stood up from the garden. And just as I was about to set out on my own path again—
"...Huh?"
Strangely, a hot liquid began flowing from my eyes. Did I catch some disease? Was I crying blood? Did I get hit wrong during the fight or something?
With that thought I brought my hand to my eyes, but the liquid was completely transparent. A moment later, I realized it was tears.
"Why... am I crying?"
It was strange. I couldn't control the tears. It felt like my body wasn't listening to me. Why suddenly like this? Tears were something you shed when you felt sad emotions, right? Right now I didn't feel sad or anything at all, so why was I crying?
I pondered the incomprehensible situation, and as I thought it through, I reached one conclusion.
"Is it because of Ronan?"
No particular basis, but somehow I felt like I knew the reason. Probably because of Ronan.
Clearly, the mind in this body right now was definitely me, and not a single speck of Ronan's spirit remained. But this body was the flesh of a man who had sacrificed everything for his childhood friend and party members for ten years. This utterly pathetic man's body was instinctively feeling the emotion of sadness and crying.
"Should I let him cry a little?"
Well, it's the end, so why not? I didn't particularly stop the flowing tears. I'm not that heartless, you know?
Ronan... you are a man who has the right to cry. I permit it. Cry as much as you want.
As I looked up at the sky, shedding Ronan's tears in his place, someone approached me.
"Are you crying?"
"Princess...?"
A woman with long golden hair cascading down, radiating a certain elegance—the Third Princess Ataraxia whom I had seen before. She quietly came to my side and silently gazed at the sky I was looking at together with me.
"...Um..."
It felt a bit awkward. The hero Ronan crying alone after the duel ended—maybe she was misunderstanding? I wasn't crying because I was sad, but I wondered if Ataraxia might take it that way...
As expected, it seemed like a situation where she couldn't help but misunderstand.
"What brings you here?"
"I watched the duel well. I thought you might be deeply hurt..."
"It's not that deep, though..."
"You look far too sad for that to be true."
"There's a reason for this."
"I must have been lacking in consideration. But still, I don't think you need to hide it even here."
I desperately tried to say it absolutely wasn't like that, but Ataraxia nodded as if she understood everything. With very sad eyes, the princess spoke to me again in a gloomy tone.
"Hero Ronan. I understand your heart."
"Yes?"
"I also... had someone I trusted in the past. Someone I could truly believe in, but because I had no chance of succession to the throne, I was betrayed."
"..."
"Because of that past, I can fully understand Hero Ronan."
So she had that kind of past... In the game, the Third Princess was almost like an extra. She was the most normal person in the Empire, but the setting was that she had no succession rights so she couldn't exert any power. Nothing much had been revealed, but this one must have suffered no less than Ronan.
Just as I empathized with Ronan's pain, I also empathized with the princess's pain.
"It's all an old story now. Cheer up. Hero Ronan. As time passes, it won't be hard like it was for me."
"Don't worry. As I said earlier, I'm shedding tears for a reason, but I'm not particularly sad."
"Hehe. Is that so. Then there's no need to worry."
Well, the gloomy and sad story ended right away. Because the princess and I weren't people trapped in past sadness, but people who overcame it and rose up. We soon smiled and thought of the future.
"If there's a chance next time, let's definitely meet."
"Yes. Please stay healthy."
The conversation with the princess ended like this. Ataraxia, the Third Princess, smiled at me and waved her hand; I also waved back to her. Whether I had truly received help was ambiguous, but since I had received the sentiment, I decided that someday I would repay Ataraxia...
I left the Imperial Palace with light steps.
"I am no longer the hero Ronan. I am me."
As I left the Imperial Palace, I made one resolution. From now on, I would live not as the hero Ronan, but as myself. I was neither a hero like Ronan nor anything of the sort. I had no obligation to do things for the party members. From now on, I would thoroughly act for my own benefit, for my own people. I would clearly live a completely different life from the Ronan of until now.
"Hmm... first, the most important thing to do is."
So what should I do to live as myself? I thought briefly about the future, and in not too long a time, only one answer came out.
"Let's go resolve this lifespan problem first."
First, I had to somehow resolve this 89-day terminal life that had no answer. I couldn't just die right away before doing anything, right?
"There is a method."
Well, it couldn't be called a normal method. But there did exist a way to extend lifespan. I walked out toward the next destination to extend my lifespan.
Meanwhile, after the duel ended, Ronan left, but there were people who had not left yet. Jaxx, who needed treatment for injuries from the duel, and Ronan's former hero party members were still staying at the Imperial Palace out of necessity. After the duel, they finished simple treatment and were gathered for the time being in the room where Jaxx was staying.
"It's because of you bitches."
Thud!
In the room where the party members had gathered, Jaxx's rage-filled words rang out along with a dull impact.
"Ugh..."
"Get up. You fucking bitch."
Amy clutched her stomach from Jaxx's fist and curled up in pain. Jaxx grabbed her by the hair and forcibly hauled her back to her feet. They were having a "conversation" as the hero party.