Where Is He?
"Where is he?"
I jammed my top hat down over my head and hurried outside.
When I pushed open the mansion's heavy iron gate, the bluish air of early dawn flooded deep into my lungs. The sweet scent of wine and the lingering warmth of Ruby's skin, still clinging to me from moments before, seemed to wash away on the cold wind.
……I'm sorry, Ruby.
I forced down the urge to look back. The dark window of her bedroom on the second floor caught at my eye, but if I hesitated here, I truly wouldn't be able to leave. This might be a cruel farewell for her. But it was the best thing I could do for her.
Ruby Scarlet was no longer a patient who needed to lean on someone. She had to stand as a noble in her own right. And I'd left a letter — just as I had with Elara von Heim. There was no chance she would come after me.
"……Excuse me. Where are you going?"
"……?"
I turned my head. A familiar girl was standing there.
"You're……?"
Who was she again? I dug through my memory for a moment. Ah — right. The elf girl who'd nearly been harassed by those thugs. The one Ruby had saved with her flames.
"I— I…… where are you going at this hour, with your luggage packed and everything?"
"I should be asking you that. Why are you standing out here in a maid's uniform?"
"Well…… I've decided to become Lady Ruby's loyal servant."
"Ah…… right. Lady Ruby did save you."
I nodded. Back then, Ruby had incinerated those thugs with her magic and rescued this girl. It might have been nothing more than a whim on her part — but the result was standing right in front of me. A girl who had chosen to remain at Ruby's side not out of fear, but out of admiration and loyalty.
This, more than anything, was definitive proof that Ruby Scarlet was no longer just a tyrant who knew only how to rage — that she had been reborn as a true noble.
"I'm glad. That someone who truly follows her has appeared at Lady Ruby's side."
I fiddled with the brim of my hat and smiled faintly.
"B-but…… are you really leaving? Did you tell Lady Ruby?"
The girl looked back and forth between my travel bag and top hat with anxious eyes. Sharp kid. She'd already sensed I was trying to slip away unnoticed.
"I've already said my goodbyes."
"Huh……? But Lady Ruby, she…… the doctor……"
"Shh."
I pressed a finger to my lips, cutting her off.
"When the one who's leaving talks too much, it only gets ugly. Besides — right now, Lady Ruby is almost certainly having a very pleasant dream."
"……"
The girl closed her mouth, though her expression still said she wasn't convinced. I pulled a pouch of gold coins I'd prepared in advance from my pocket and pressed it into her hand. To me, it was barely a hundred points' worth. But by local prices, a hundred gold was a small fortune — enough to eat well and buy fine liquor with plenty left over.
"It's a bribe."
"What?! I— I can't take this!"
"I'm not just giving it to you. Forget that you saw me leave. And……"
I glanced once more at the second-floor window, then met the girl's eyes again.
"Please look after Lady Ruby. She looks strong on the outside, but deep down she's terribly lonely. Even if she wakes up in a foul mood and throws a tantrum — stay by her side and take it well."
"Ah……"
The girl stared at me blankly, then clenched the gold pouch tight and nodded with a resolute look.
"……I understand. If that is truly your wish, Doctor."
"Thank you. Your name?"
"It's Rina."
"Alright, Miss Rina. Knowing she has a maid like you, I can leave with peace of mind."
I tipped my hat brim slightly in a polite farewell.
"Well then. I'll be going."
"W-wait! Doctor!"
Rina called out at my back.
"Someday…… you'll come back, won't you? Lady Ruby will definitely be waiting!"
I didn't stop walking. In place of an answer, I simply lifted my top hat and gave it a light wave.
I wouldn't be coming back. My story with Ruby Scarlet was already over. From here on, she would have to write a story of her own.
Step. Step.
Until my figure vanished completely into the dawn mist, the girl stood in that same spot for a long time, her head bowed.
You have successfully conquered Ruby Scarlet.
Ding.
Esteemed Counselor.
You have just lifted the second star, Ruby Scarlet — once trapped in a fate of ruin — free from the mire.
She was born a noble vessel, one who should have received the love of the spirits in full measure. Yet for far too long, that vessel had been filled with a poison called misunderstanding.
The delusion that she had reduced her own father to ash with her own hands. That horrific guilt of patricide poisoned the girl's heart, and to keep from burning herself to nothing, she had no choice but to spew blind flame at the world.
No one heard her scream. Every elf pointed at her and called her a fallen pyromaniac, branded her a terrorist, and looked on her with contempt. That the fire she unleashed was, in truth, a plea to be saved — not a single soul understood.
Except for you, Aris Mardia.
You stood at the side of the woman everyone else had turned away from, and taught her how to sublimate seething rage into endurance. In place of the savage flames that scorched everything in their path, you placed in her hands a bow of reason — one that pierces evil and defends justice.
Look. Through your counseling, the twisted vine has straightened. She will now live with a bone-deep repentance for her past sins, carrying the justice you taught her in her heart — to repay the debts of the past, and to protect the bond she shares with you.
History will record her as a true Iron Noble, one who practices the sacred duty of Noblesse Oblige.
You who turn another's hell into heaven. To the true counselor, we offer our respect — and a reward befitting this tale of salvation.
This is Ruby Scarlet's psyche itself.
Within flames that seemed ready to burn everything to nothing, you discovered tears more fragile than anyone else's. This skill is the power of insight that lets you face the true face hidden behind another's mask — and the key that opens a closed heart.
Psychological Insight has awakened to Lv.3
That settled it completely. This was the formal announcement that the conquest of Ruby Scarlet was truly finished.
All that remained was to find the next heroine. The number of salvations still left……
They say starting is half the battle — I was already nearly halfway there. If things kept going like this, I'd escape this game soon enough.
I needed to get the hell out of this shitshow of a game as fast as humanly possible. Goddamn it.
Slash—————!
The world didn't even have time to scream.
An Orc Lord. A catastrophe that could trample an entire village flat into open ground. A monster that made even dozens of veteran mercenaries and high-ranking mages shake their heads — cut down in a single breath.
Crack. KRAAAASH—.
Before its massive body could even hit the ground, it froze solid like transparent crystal. The sight of the hideous monster's death throes transforming into ice flowers that scattered dazzling light in the sun — it was less a scene of brutal slaughter than something closer to sacred art.
But the girl standing at the center of that spectacle flicked her blade clean with complete indifference, as if the artistry before her held no interest whatsoever.
"……It's over."
A dry, emotionless voice, as though all feeling had been stripped away. As her robe's hood slipped back, silver-white hair spilled free, mingling with the ice crystals drifting through the air and scattering coldly on the wind.
"W-whoa…… th-that girl took down an Orc Lord in one hit?!"
"That's impossible…… that giant thing……"
The villagers couldn't even manage a cheer. They could only stare back and forth between the frozen monster and the girl, eyes mixed with awe and terror. Overwhelming beauty — and yet a sacred, untouchable pressure that no one dared approach.
The girl walked toward an old woman standing dazed in place.
"Ah, th-thank you so much, miss! I-I should at least give you a reward……"
"No. I've cleared away a nuisance, so I'll take my payment. In information……"
Her blue eyes flashed.
"……Tell me. Where is he?"
"H-he……? Ah, you mean that counselor fellow?"
The old woman stammered under the weight of that chilling presence.
"R-rumor has it…… that man is staying in the elven city of Gracia Wonderworld. You should head that way."
"……Gracia Wonderworld."
The place name was chewed softly between her lips. The elves' paradise, said to be advanced in both cuisine and civilization. Solid information.
She bowed her head without hesitation and turned away. Then, watching her silver hair recede into the distance, one of the villagers sucked in a sharp breath.
"……Wait. That appearance. Could that be Elara von Heim?!"
"What? The…… the Empire's hero, Elara?!"
Elara von Heim. The Empire's blade, before whom even the Emperor himself bowed his head. A living legend who single-handedly butchered S-rank disasters and beyond, known among demonkind as terror itself.
What was a figure of that magnitude doing in a backwater like this?
The villagers' murmurs rose behind her, but nothing reached Elara's ears. Her mind was filled with only one person.
Her cold expression melted in an instant, flushing red. She cupped her burning cheeks in both hands and murmured with a look of pure rapture.
"Doctor……"
A damp voice, laced with breath.
"Just as you said — I've become a hero more capable and stronger than anyone. Now that I've proven myself……"
She had made a promise. That if she became a hero great enough to make her name known across the continent, he would meet her again. Of course, that had been her own interpretation — a freewheeling reading of what had been written in the letter……
"Please wait for me. For the rest of my life…… I'm fully prepared to serve you now."
Her eyes glittered with a strange, possessive hunger.