Chapter 229: The Melancholy of RoFan Protagonists (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 229: The Melancholy of RoFan Protagonists (4)
A RoFan male lead has been kidnapped.
To be honest, it wasn't really any of my business, but...
"Please help me!"
"And why should I?"
"I heard you used up a lot of Holy Water!"
"…!"
Our RoFan heroine, Daisy, had already mastered the art of manipulating me.
In the past, she would have started with something sentimental, like "we're classmates" or "we're friends." Now, she just goes straight for the jugular: You're out of Holy Water, aren't you?
"If only Delmoa knew how to make Holy Water..."
It seemed their specialties were strictly divided. Delmoa was great with buffs, but crafting recovery potions or Holy Water was still beyond her.
Consequently, I went looking for Asran to recoup the potions and Holy Water I’d spent on Sword Father’s lessons, as well as the Holy Water I’d distributed to Asran and Bell.
After the terror attack, I managed to track down Sososo’s location by pestering Uncle Aeryun—who had been making himself scarce around the Academy—via the communication device.
The only problem was...
"So. You're saying my grandson was taken?"
The Sword Emperor himself was standing right in my path.
"Isn't this joke going a bit too far?"
I couldn't find the words to answer him. Honestly, considering the usual Asran, the idea of him being kidnapped was unthinkable. To abduct a warrior of his caliber, a high-ranking demon would have had to make a move.
And yet, he’d been snatched away by a mere Academy senior.
"..."
I was caught in a dilemma. Should I tell the Sword Emperor the truth about Asran’s state right before the kidnapping to bring him back to reality? Should I tell him that while he was away from the Academy in a fit of rage, our dear Sososo had completely broken down?
Or should I hide the truth, if only to preserve the shred of dignity Asran had left?
However, my deliberation didn't last long. It wasn't because I didn't care about Asran's circumstances...
"Lord Sword Emperor! Look!"
"...So the rumors were true?"
"One more step and the boy dies!"
It was because the opposition decided to reveal their hostage before I could even finish my thought.
"That's the butler of House Machell. It seems the Machell family was also involved with the dark mages, just like House Basten and House Parast."
"I saw no signs of it. I thought they were merely being deceived by the dark mages..."
Official business was being discussed, but the Sword Emperor’s gaze never wavered from Asran.
Well, it made sense. This was a man who usually ignored the Empire’s decrees, claiming, "I don't listen to those weaker than me," yet he’d accepted a teaching position at the Academy just because his youngest granddaughter was ill. Seeing his prized grandson held hostage was bound to draw his focus.
Sure, the Sword Emperor had played with me like a lab rat under the guise of "special training," but he was the type of man who treated the entire Swordsmanship Department as his personal playground.
And while it looked like he was just messing around, he actually had been helpful. Despite it being a deal, he had come to the Kingdom to assist us.
Plus, compared to the other RoFan male leads, Sososo was practically an angel... so I decided to give him a little help. Or more accurately, a justification.
"Right now, Asran is... under the influence of a dark mage. His mind is being controlled."
"Is that true...?"
"It is. Otherwise, there's no way someone like Asran would have been captured so helplessly."
I buried the grim truth.
The truth was that the boy once called the Minor Sword Emperor had spiraled into a mid-life crisis because his friends had become Sword Masters while he remained stuck behind a wall. He’d gotten dead drunk and was subsequently bagged and dragged away like a sack of potatoes by a senior accused of treason. That was a truth neither the Sword Emperor, nor Asran, nor any citizen of the Empire present would ever want to know.
So, I pinned it on the dark mages.
Given their usual track record, it was entirely plausible. Since those bastards were headed for the executioner's block anyway, adding a few more charges wouldn't hurt.
"His Lordship has already seen through your filthy schemes to seize our territory using the dark mages as a pretext! We, the House of Machell, will not fall for your tricks! We will resist and fight to the end!"
"See? Would anyone in their right mind say something like that to the Imperial Army? He's either a dark mage himself or clearly brainwashed by one."
The Sword Emperor nodded at my words.
"So be careful. Even if they release the hostage, there's no guarantee that's the real Asran. Even if it is him, he might attack suddenly. If that happens, just subdue him and leave him to the Saintess, who will be joining us shortly."
I gave the warning just in case, though I doubted it would come to that. The enemy wouldn't just hand over a hostage like Asran, so we’d have to rescue him somehow.
After that, we could just pretend he needed treatment and dump him on the RoFan party.
I could already vividly imagine Asran having his human rights trampled by the RoFan male leads, and then spending a month kicking his blankets in shame for showing such a pathetic side to Daisy...
But who was he to complain?
He was the one who got drunk alone and got himself kidnapped.
Actually, this might be for the best. Who knows? Maybe, like Arwen—no, like that Magic Spammer—he’d get so embarrassed that he’d finally confess to Daisy and regain his intelligence in the process.
And so, by selling out the dark mages, I prevented the Minor Sword Emperor from being known as Sososo outside the Academy.
Deceived by my lie, the Sword Emperor prepared an operation under the guise of a hostage negotiation.
In the meantime, Daisy and the rest of the RoFan party arrived.
For some reason, as soon as Daisy appeared, the opposition began negotiating with the Empire as if they’d been hypnotized—or rather, hit by a RoFan Death Beam. They agreed to release the hostage the moment their conditions were met.
As the RoFan party, led by the Sword Emperor, approached the enemy lines to exchange the promised supplies for Asran...
A sharp sword strike flew straight toward the Sword Emperor.
"...As I thought."
"How...?"
The old man acting as the butler gasped in shock at the Sword Emperor’s cold voice. Not only had the Emperor blocked his hidden blade, but he’d also parried Asran’s sword—which was flickering with a faint aura—as if he’d expected it.
"Pathetic boy."
His voice was chilling, but even that coldness couldn't hide the Sword Emperor's expression. A face full of bitterness and eyes brimming with pity turned toward Asran, who was swinging his sword with vacant eyes.
Seeing that, I was left speechless.
"..."
What the hell? Did my words actually reach Asran? Why is that idiot actually swinging his sword there?
In a scene where my lie had suddenly become reality, I had no choice but to escape from the truth for a moment.
#Asran - Desiring Power
Asran Lostsword.
Born into an Imperial Count’s family and living a life of abundance, the thing that changed his life wasn't a single sword, nor the fairy tales or hero novels he read as a child.
"No matter how many times I hear it, that family name is laughable."
"Lostsword. A lost sword, indeed..."
"His Imperial Majesty is too much. Even if he doesn't care about the meaning of a name, to give one so blatantly..."
It was the gossip of the nobles visiting his home. That was the beginning.
Usually, noble family names are derived from the name of their territory, related legends, or great figures. Of course, if the land lacks such things, the Emperor might bestow a name on a whim... but occasionally, those names carry a blatant subtext.
Asran’s family was one such case.
Lostsword. A sword that was lost.
It was a name meant to mock the Sword Emperor, who had kicked away the Empire’s will and continued to walk the path of a rogue.
Once he realized this, Asran was furious. The very existence of his family was being called a mere substitute for the Sword Emperor!
"That's right. That's exactly what it is. What's the problem?"
But his father spoke of it as if it were nothing. Asran rebelled against his father for the first time.
"..."
And he was beaten like a dog.
It was only natural. His father was also a Sword Master the Empire took pride in. Even without the Sword Emperor’s reputation, he was a man guaranteed at least an Earldom.
"Though, it's only for my generation."
"What's so bad about that?"
"It's bad. A non-hereditary title isn't treated as true nobility."
"Is that really so important?"
"It is. Your grandfather is a great man, but he wasn't a good father."
"What do you mean? How can you say Grandfather wasn't good!"
"When you say it like that, it makes me sound like some unfilial son..."
It took a long time for Asran to understand the expression on his father’s face as he sighed.
A child born between a woman and the Sword Emperor, whom she had met by chance in his youth. Because the Sword Emperor hadn't known of his existence, they eventually became a couple, but his father had to endure many hardships during his childhood.
And even after the father he thought was dead—the Sword Emperor—returned, that didn't change.
Even now, the Sword Emperor was like that, but in his youth, he was not a man who could stay in one place. He rejected the Empire’s titles, wealth, and fame, becoming a paragon for all swordsmen.
"You'll understand when you grow up. That I was a much better father."
"I like you now, Father."
"...Really?"
"Yes. Because I'm not an unfilial son."
"......Son. What exactly do you mean by that?"
He spent his turbulent youth that way, and eventually, the time came when he understood his father's words.
"I am leaving the family."
"So it's come to this in the end..."
Asran chose his grandfather's path, not his father's.
"Because it's cooler."
"One does not live life based on what is 'cool'."
"But isn't that how Grandfather lives?"
"That's the problem. It's only good for him. It's a nuisance to everyone around him."
"Even if I'm a bit of a nuisance, don't I have you, Father?"
"Raise your own children yourself. Only when you raise a child from nothing will you realize you were wrong."
"I have no plans for children yet. I don't even have a girl I like. Besides, the moment I place a grandson or granddaughter in your arms, you'll raise them for me immediately, won't you?"
"You little...!"
Leaving the future to his family-loving father, Asran lived a life like his grandfather's.
In the process, Asran’s father eventually attempted an act of impiety when the Sword Emperor asked, "See, wasn't I right?"
"You're still weak, my son."
"You damn old man..."
Because he was too weak to be unfilial, he remained a devoted son.
Thus, he cast aside the name Lostsword, left his family, and followed his grandfather for several years. It was around the time he began to be called the Minor Sword Emperor.
"I hear Ariel is very ill."
"..."
The condition of the youngest, who had been frail since childhood, had become critical.
"I beg of you, Father."
His father, who had usually treated the Sword Emperor as a half-stranger in accordance with the Emperor's own wishes, knelt.
"...I am going to the Academy. Will you follow?"
"Yes."
And so, the Sword Emperor bent his will and entered the Academy according to the Empire’s wishes. Asran also enrolled in the Academy, following his grandfather.
And true to his reputation, he thought he would have no rivals at the Academy.
"……?"
Until he met Adam Smith, who looked at him as if to say, Who is this guy?
"……???"
Until he met Ellen, who defeated him even more brutally than Adam Smith while wearing a bright smile.
"You are weak, male."
Even after that.
"Heeek..."
The defeats continued.
"No, I lost this?! If only I had used magic!"
"Then use your magic..."
Of course, he won occasionally, but those were victories that would have been taken for granted before the Academy.
At some point, defeat became the norm.
Why did it turn out like this?
—Do you desire power?
Within his consciousness, sinking deeper into the abyss, he answered that question.
He desired power.