My Protagonist (4)
In the moment she finally collapsed, Rania found herself thinking of one man.
...Eugene.
The only man who had ever worried about her, in a life spent worrying about everyone else.
...I suppose he won't come this time either.
Somewhere in her heart, she hoped he would. But Rania already knew. Sacrificing yourself for someone else was never an easy thing — and when it meant putting your life on the line, asking for that kind of help was harder still.
So without even realizing it, she gave up.
She reached toward the hallucination that had appeared, as if her time had come.
But then.
"Pretty good eye for a villain. That's right. Rania's the protagonist."
Eugene appeared.
And not just that —
He called her — the girl who had been about to give up — the protagonist who had saved his life.
And just like that, Rania was carried to her bed. Inside her own room, a space far too small to fight in while protecting someone.
"I'll have to kill him."
"W-why are you doing this?!"
"There's no other way. Sorry, Haviel."
Eugene — who was clearly just another student — was overwhelming Haviel, a Sword Expert Advanced.
But something was wrong.
Eugene, who was usually so talkative and bright, was now impossibly dark. Rania was bewildered.
Can Haviel not see it?
The cold sweat. The trembling of the hand gripping his sword. That endless hesitation — was Haviel truly blind to all of it?
"...Any last words?"
"Rest in peace."
The moment Eugene finally spoke, she understood.
He's afraid of killing.
Of course he was. Even Rania, who was used to fighting monsters, still feared taking a life. How could she not, when she still dreamed of the ones she'd cut down, howling in agony? Snuffing out another person's life with your own hands was that kind of torment.
Vulkan had taught her as much.
"No matter how strong a knight you are, you must never take a human life because something pushed you into it."
"Only by your own will — only when you are prepared to bear everything that comes with it. Only then, when there is truly no other choice, may you take a life."
But the Eugene standing here was not that.
He was being shoved by circumstance, forced into taking Haviel's life. And the reason was probably —
For me.
The instant she pieced it together —
"Eugene!!"
Rania forced herself up. The burning ache of potion-forced recovery tore through her, joined by the searing agony of wounds that hadn't yet healed.
None of it mattered.
Protecting Eugene came first.
Clang!
"Nngh...!!"
"D-don't...!!"
Eugene, shoved by circumstance into losing his chivalry — losing the path he was meant to walk with a sword in his hand. She had to put him back where he belonged.
"If you don't want to kill him, then don't!!"
She barely managed to block him once.
Can I block him again?
No. There was no way she could.
I knew he was hiding his strength, but I never imagined it was this much...!!
The pressure crushing down on her and Haviel surpassed even her father, the head of the house.
"Eugene. P-please...!!"
Rania barely lifted her head. The killing intent was overwhelming. He wouldn't even need a sword. This alone was enough to kill someone.
...I'm scared.
Rania was terrified. The Eugene standing here wouldn't listen, no matter who threw themselves in his way.
But Rania believed.
Just as Eugene had believed in her and come to help, she believed in him with all her heart.
So, Eugene.
Just like you came to help me, I'll do everything I can to help you too.
And then —
Overpowering (S+)
The pressure crushing her body vanished.
"Thank you, Rania."
The enormous killing intent disappeared as if it had never existed at all.
"You snapped me out of it."
Eugene pulled Rania into his arms.
"Thank you. I mean it."
"Wh— kkh, kkhk."
"Before, and now. For all of it. I feel like I'm always the one in your debt."
"I-I'm the one who..."
Caught off guard by the sudden hug, Rania froze in an awkward tangle of limbs.
"How's your body? You okay?"
"Th-the p-potion."
"Good. Still, rest for a bit."
"...Okay."
Cradled in Eugene's arms on the way back to the bed, Rania was certain.
He's back.
Not someone she had to protect, but the Eugene who worried about her instead.
Just in case, though.
Leaning against the bed, Rania caught the hem of Eugene's clothes as he turned away.
"...You're not going to kill him, right?"
Eugene smiled.
"Of course not."
He ruffled Rania's hair, then stepped in front of Haviel.
"Yeah. I had the wrong idea."
"...Are you messing with me?"
"No. I'm gonna beat the hell out of Haviel."
"What?"
Crack.
Eugene's fist curled into a ball.
"You. I'm gonna wreck you."
Rania thought.
...Not killing him.
...That's what this is, right?
Thanks to Rania, I understood.
Don't lose your way.
The destination I had to reach was a happy ending.
The clear conditions are still uncertain.
Which meant that even if I made mistakes, I couldn't afford to make one I couldn't take back.
For example: what if I killed Haviel here, and it turned out Haviel was required for the clear condition?
Then I'd be completely screwed.
So choosing to kill someone was something I should avoid as much as possible. Of course, it was also true that the current Haviel was enough of a problem to warrant killing.
You. I'm gonna wreck you.
I only beat him to the brink of death.
Obviously I don't particularly enjoy beating people up either, but —
"It's better than me dying."
I answered cheerfully. And immediately after —
"Hah..."
Vulkan's brow twisted into a peculiar expression.
"That much is true, but I never imagined you would destroy his Aura Heart."
"You've got to be kidding me."
"What did you just say?"
What did I just say? That's rich, coming from him.
"We almost all died, you know?"
Brainwashed into becoming a cult spy or not, Haviel had nearly wiped out the entire family.
"I saved the guy who got brainwashed and I saved House Vulcanus. Why are you pissed at me?"
"But destroying an Aura Heart is a taboo among knights!"
"Ah, that?"
Right. That was a thing.
Among the knights who had sworn loyalty to the Emperor, there existed an unspoken rule. There were all sorts of complicated ones, but this was one of them.
Even if you take your opponent's life, you do not destroy their Aura Heart.
When you live by the sword, clashes of ideology are inevitable. A winner and a loser emerge, and the winner chooses one of two options: shatter the Aura Heart and force them from knighthood, or take their life.
The former was obviously more advantageous, and yet the vast majority of knights chose the latter. The reason was simple.
Having your Aura Heart destroyed was more shameful than dying.
No matter how fallen a knight might be, they would never shatter an Aura Heart.
Of course, from where I was standing —
"So what?"
It was all complete bullshit.
I was getting irritated without meaning to, so I leaned toward Vulkan and sneered.
"What, should I just kill Haviel right now, like you want?"
"That's not—!!"
"Or what? Would it have been better if Rania or I had died instead?"
"You—!! That is not what I meant!!"
"Then what the fuck am I supposed to do, huh?!!"
The desk split in half under my fist.
Right after subduing Haviel, I had gone to Vulkan and laid everything out. That I was the 2nd Apostle. That I was currently operating as a double agent. That I'd heard about the attack on House Vulcanus in the middle of all that, and come to save them.
I'd spilled everything except the really big stuff — possession, the world's destruction, Unique Traits.
Then Vulkan told me his story too. He went on about this and that, but the core of it was that he'd been poisoned by the cult, and Ariel had come and healed him.
And then he'd added one last thing.
"Right after Lady Ariel healed me of the poison, she said this."
"If you hide yourself underground, the cultists will come to the estate."
A bad feeling flickered through me, but that was a problem for later, not now.
To sum up what Vulkan had said:
"Because you took Ariel's word at face value and let your guard down, House Vulcanus almost got wiped out!!"
The words I'd been trying so hard to swallow boiled over like a volcano coming to life.
"If it weren't for me and Vivian, Rania would've been left alone in this world!! Do you get that?!"
Vulkan shut his mouth. Realizing that both of us had gotten too heated, we fell silent, trying to cool down.
After a while, Vulkan stood and bowed his head.
"...I apologize. I should have been thanking you, and instead I only lost my temper."
"...No. I'm the one who showed an immature side to my friend's father. I apologize."
It wasn't that I couldn't understand Vulkan. To the knights of this world, an Aura Heart was considered more precious than life itself. If word got out that I'd shattered one, I'd be condemned by countless people. In other words, a large part of it was worry — for his daughter, and for me, her friend.
But there's nothing in this world worse than dying.
Haviel is family to them too.
The odds were slim, but he might be a necessary condition for the happy ending.
Of course, I can't say that out loud.
Whenever I tried to tell someone about this, a warning window would pop up like a threat.
So I mixed in a little lie.
"But I had no other choice. To break Haviel's brainwashing, I had to destroy his Aura Heart."
"...Even after receiving the cult's baptism, destroying the Aura Heart undoes the brainwashing?"
I nodded, and Vulkan asked with a grave expression.
"Is this a method known only to the Six Apostles?"
"No. The only people who know this are you and me, my lord."
"Then that means you were the only one who knew!"
Vulkan asked, eyes wide with shock.
"How in the world did you find that out?!"
...It just came undone when I smashed it.