Traces of the Sword Saint
"S-Sword Saint?"
"...I just got here."
I had let my guard down. Cleaning up the room hadn't taken that long, but with my pathetic stamina, even that was exhausting. I had muttered it to myself while resting. And she had heard it. Of all things, the one thing she absolutely shouldn't have heard.
"I-I'm sure I put the 'Away' sign on the Counseling Room door..."
"I thought you were asleep. You looked exhausted. I came in to help clean up the mess."
Ah. Only then did I realize this was entirely my own doing. I was the one who, feeling entitled to a reward for working hard lately, had stayed up all night gaming. I was the one who had worried Aileen because of it. And finally, I was the one who had carelessly muttered to myself, thinking no one would come to the Counseling Room.
...I had absolutely no excuses.
"So? Where is that man?"
"Uh, well..."
There was no way I could tell her. Aileen, who used to do nothing and just drift through life, only began to get involved with others to find her father's whereabouts. The moment I told her, all the events she was supposed to experience would be skipped, and she would just get the end result. It would be like deleting the entire mystery from a detective novel and only leaving the scene where they say, "This is the culprit!" I couldn't give away the catalyst that would make her move on her own.
"You're not going to tell me, are you? Well, you don't look like you have any intention of speaking anyway."
"..."
Was it time to borrow the power of Hypnosis, which I preferred not to use if possible? Tense, I looked at Aileen to activate it.
"Aileen."
"Yeah?"
"I cannot tell you your father's whereabouts. So..."
In a way, the power of Hypnosis could be considered almighty. If an ability that could be cast on most people without any conditions wasn't almighty, what was? Of course, against the absolute strongest beings in this world—like devils or the headmaster—it wouldn't work unless I laid some groundwork beforehand or caught them when they were in poor condition... But conversely, it meant that with just a little preparation, even the strongest beings in the world would fall to my Hypnosis.
...The problem was, I wasn't ready to accept such a power.
When I first arrived in this world, I had used Hypnosis to commit various acts. It hadn't been that long ago, but I had run wild enough that I wanted to dismiss it as the immaturity of my youth. I had acted as if I were the protagonist of the world.
But one day, a thought suddenly struck me.
If I keep going like this, there's no telling what I might do.
Would I end up as just another trashy villain, drunk on the immense power of Hypnosis? Once that thought took root, it became difficult to use Hypnosis like I used to. I had seen countless fictional works featuring people who committed evil deeds with hypnotic powers until I was sick of them. The thought of becoming one of those people was unbearable.
That was why I didn't want to use Hypnosis unless it was absolutely necessary. But things had come to this, so I had no choice. This was one of those necessary situations.
"From now on, you will..."
"Well, if you don't want to tell me, Counselor, you don't have to."
"Huh?"
"Looking at you, it seems like you have a reason you can't tell me even if you wanted to. In that case, there's no point in keeping on asking."
"..."
"Even if I bother to keep asking, we'll just go in circles. Why would I do something so tedious?"
...Come to think of it, Aileen was not someone who liked exerting herself. I had been about to use Hypnosis to erase the very fact that I had spoken, but she, knowing nothing of my ability, simply assumed I would keep my mouth shut.
"Now, let me ask you this. Can you tell me when some time has passed?"
"I-I would never tell you something like that."
"Great. So it's a no for now, but it'll be fine later..."
"?!"
"Why are you so surprised? You're incredibly easy to read."
Easy to read? Really?
Unable to hide my embarrassment, I reflexively brushed my cheek, only to realize the truth when I saw Aileen grinning at me.
I had been tricked.
"So that's how it is."
"T-That's playing dirty!"
"If we're talking about playing dirty, you're the one hiding the location of my so-called parent who hasn't shown his face in over ten years, Counselor."
"Ugh...!"
"Perfect. Now I have another reason to visit you often, besides slacking off."
Muttering that I seemed like the type who would eventually spill the beans if she stayed close, Aileen sprawled out on the sofa.
"Take your time telling me. It's not like I'm in a rush to find out where he is."
"...Alright."
Watching Aileen's reaction, I abandoned my plan to erase her memory with Hypnosis. It was a relief that she wasn't one to sweat the details. Since she was highly perceptive of people's reactions, she had quickly realized I would eventually tell her on my own, choosing to wait rather than pry.
In that case, there was no need to force a memory wipe. Instead of waiting around for some tedious random encounter to trigger, I could just point her in the right direction myself when the time was right.
"Um, just out of curiosity... what will you do if you meet your father?"
"Why ask such a tedious question?"
Without even looking at me, Aileen replied in a bored tone.
"I'm going to kill him."
"...But your father is the Sword Saint. He's on the same level as the headmaster."
"I know."
Her follow-up reply was dry.
"That's why I have to pick up the sword again."
"..."
Indeed, she was exactly the person I knew her to be.
The Sword Saint.
When people hear that title, they usually assume the person holding it is at least somewhat strong. At least, every Sword Saint I knew of was powerful.
...Granted, that was in video games.
Ahem. At any rate, the Sword Saint of this world was no different. He was your run-of-the-mill, average Sword Saint. I wasn't sure if it was right to use the word "average" next to "Sword Saint," but whatever.
When Aileen was young, he had answered the imperial call to the battlefield and... poof, vanished.
Not sure what I mean? You can take it literally. He disappeared as if a person named the Sword Saint had never existed in the first place.
Aileen's main quest was to trace the footsteps of this vanished Sword Saint.
He had been her idol and her gentle father. But one day, that father had vanished in an instant, leaving behind only a brief promise: "I'll be back soon."
Aileen and her mother waited. One day, two days, ten days, a month... on and on.
And on a night six months after the day he promised to return soon, Aileen buried her face in her bed and realized.
He wasn't coming back. He had abandoned his family.
From that moment on, she stopped swinging her sword.
People assumed Aileen had laid down her sword and grown lazy out of grief over losing her father, but it was actually the opposite. Aileen had always been lazy and hated troublesome things.
The only reason she had swung her sword in the first place was because her father loved watching her do it.
She was happy because her father was happy. He showered her with even more affection when she achieved results. That was why Aileen had been able to put in the effort.
But with her father gone, her motivation to try had vanished.
It didn't take long for admiration to turn into hatred.
If I ever hear news of him, I'll kill him with my own hands.
That was likely what she had been thinking.
But now, she had suddenly overheard me talking about the Sword Saint. It was obvious she would start honing her skills again—all to kill him.
"Is that so? I always thought the Sword Saint was a magnificent person."
"He is magnificent, just as you think, Leo. However, heroes often neglect their families."
To build a reputation as the Sword Saint, one was inevitably forced to distance themselves from their family. You couldn't build fame unless you went to dangerous places, and you couldn't exactly drag your family along to those dangerous places.
"But... why are you telling me this, Counselor?"
Leo looked at me, puzzled.
Well, it was only natural. Calling him in out of the blue only to suddenly bring up someone else's family drama was highly unusual for a counselor.
But while it might have been someone else's family drama, Leo was actually involved in it too.
"Are you taking good care of that relic?"
"Pardon? ...Well, yes. It is an item given to me by my savior, after all. I am doing my best to keep it in its original condition so that I may return it to him one day. But why do you ask about this relic...?"
"That belongs to the Sword Saint."
"...What?!"
The boy hurriedly looked down at the armor he was wearing. Not that looking at it would change anything.
"I'm saying Aileen's father was the one who saved you."
To put it in chronological order...
After the Sword Saint left his home and suddenly went missing on the battlefield, he saved Leo and then vanished once more.
"B-But I have spoken with Lady Aileen before! If it were her father's possession, there is no way she wouldn't have recognized it...!"
"It's already been over ten years, and she absolutely detests her father. She probably worked incredibly hard to erase him from her memory. Besides, that's just a piece of armor, isn't it? It would be stranger if she did recognize it."
"Oh dear, what should I do? I must return it...!"
"Now, now, there's no need for that."
What had this boy been listening to? Aileen hated the Sword Saint. Why would he need to tell her that he had the Sword Saint's item?
"What I want to say is this."
Aileen's quest to find the Sword Saint.
The main adversary of this main quest was none other than Leo.
Was it because both children were connected to the Sword Saint?
...Whenever I thought about things like this, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Orca. The other kids had interconnected quests, giving them at least some bond, but Orca was completely isolated. She was always treated like an outcast.
"Would you like to search for him too? The traces of the Sword Saint."
I didn't even need to hear his answer.
What boy could possibly refuse an offer to search for the traces of the person he had idolized in his childhood?