Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Secret Meeting (3)
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◆
The moment he heard those words, several questions immediately sprang to mind.
First and foremost, he had to ask.
“If you’re saying we’ll do one job together, what kind?”
“Something involving Gray.”
“...”
Ah.
That cleared up all the doubts in an instant.
It was about saving someone, after all.
No less than the fate of all humanity hanging in the balance.
“You’re asking me to do something big.”
No doubt about it.
She’d brought up offering everything she had, after all.
“But if it’s this, it feels like we’ve talked about it before. Lady’s matters—”
“It’s not about bringing Gray in. I’m talking to you.”
“...So, the love support you mentioned last time?”
“The exact opposite.”
Cardinal Felix smirked as she spoke.
“Whatever you’re planning with Gray, stop it.”
“...”
“Whether you just want to be friends, like the kid, or dream of something more... if you keep going, it’ll end badly.”
She continued, citing two reasons.
The first was to free Gray from her own ‘purpose.’
Felix had already seen Gray’s weakness back in the cave.
She’d witnessed the hero, who should cut down any foe without hesitation, halting her blade.
“You tried hard to cover for her, but it was too obvious.”
She’d noticed.
He hadn’t truly believed it would go undetected.
“...Sorry, but do you see the Lady as some kind of weapon?”
“Yeah.”
“...”
“That’s the most efficient way. I sponsored her because she seemed best suited for it from the start.”
A hero must remain a tool.
With great power comes great responsibility.
The power to save many must be used solely to save many.
The moment personal feelings interfere, unnecessary sacrifices occur. The power that should be used efficiently gets squandered.
“Someone bearing so much must act rationally, like a machine. Every time that fails...”
Felix paused for a moment.
“...Countless people died every time I slipped up.”
Those words were surely written in blood, tears, and regret.
They were etched into her from experience.
Frankly speaking.
Carlyle couldn’t deny such words either.
In the previous regression, his own knowledge had led everyone to death, and memories of that rose up.
In that process, every time his ‘emotions’ intervened, there were unnecessary losses.
...It had definitely been that way.
“And the second reason?”
“For your sake.”
“Pardon?”
“The closer you get to Gray, the more danger you’re in.”
...This.
Carlyle had never even considered it.
“Every hero in history has been single, with no family. Know why?”
Carlyle fell silent for a moment.
Actually, a little thought made it obvious.
“...Because they become targets.”
“Weak points. Inevitably.”
The moment you grow attached to something and keep it close.
It becomes a fear of loss, carrying risk.
Such risks make perfect targets for enemies.
Especially if the foe is an evil that throws all caution to the wind to destroy you.
“You’ll be in danger, Carlyle Bellfast. So stop getting closer to Gray.”
“...”
“...I know it feels forced. That’s why.”
I’ll give you everything I have.
Just as she’d said.
“...You’re paying a high price.”
“I’m serious.”
“...”
“I respect you, Carlyle Bellfast. I know you’re not approaching Gray for some agenda. So I’ll grant anything within my power.”
Within the full scope of what the Gray Cardinal could provide, she’d fulfill his demands.
So stop spending time with the protector of all humanity.
It’s best for Gray and for Carlyle.
It was reasonable.
So reasonable that Carlyle couldn’t call it wrong.
But even so.
“Cardinal.”
“Speak.”
“I refuse.”
He refused.
Just like last time.
“...Unlike before, I’ve laid all my cards on the table. This is for Gray and you.”
“I know. I still refuse.”
“May I ask why?”
“Two reasons.”
Felix smirked at that.
She’d taken a hit.
“First?”
“The Lady must not be a tool. Even if it’s the right thing.”
“Why?”
“Because it fails.”
“...”
“If you ask how I know, I can’t answer, but I just do. I know.”
She’d shown a bit of sincerity, so he’d respond in kind.
Even if it’s generally correct theory and action.
The ‘evils’ they’d face weren’t ordinary at all.
Carlyle had already clearly seen the future with a Gray raised that way.
If the old formula failed, shouldn’t they try something new?
Felix nodded after hearing that.
“...Second?”
Carlyle sighed.
“I don’t like you, Cardinal.”
“...”
“And while I get where you’re coming from, I hate the method.”
One thing to remember.
This was the ‘Gray’ Cardinal.
Realizing pure white ideals through pitch-black means.
He’d seen the pure white. Just today proved it wasn’t false.
But the black parts hadn’t been revealed yet.
“Do you know Elena Lindel Anastasia, by chance?”
“...Marchioness Heiress Anastasia?”
And Carlyle remembered those parts precisely.
“At the imperial banquet hall. You tried to hurt the Lady somehow.”
“I can explain. There was a reason she had to do that then.”
“I’m sure. You’re much smarter than me.”
Reasons aplenty, no doubt. Complex moves considering things Carlyle couldn’t even imagine.
Perhaps having Elena cut down by Gray there could have saved many.
The Cardinal before him was an expert at stacking such actions to save lives.
But.
“Senior Elena is a good person.”
The Elena Carlyle had met was just an overzealous, kind-hearted senior.
She put on airs to avoid being ignored but buried herself in others’ requests, a good person.
A good person.
Someone who deserved happiness.
“To you, she’s probably ‘expendable.’”
He couldn’t agree to such methods.
Call it foolish or naive.
Through countless regressions.
Because he knew what future came from treating lives as numbers.
Because he stood here now, stepping on promises, memories, and regrets.
In this final regression, he absolutely couldn’t walk with such a person.
“So no matter what you ask of me, Cardinal, I’ll refuse. It might lead to someone else’s blood.”
If he pulled away from Gray, she’d grow into the same person as before under Felix’s guidance.
He couldn’t bear to see that, even in death.
“...”
Felix, listening silently, sighed and brushed back her hair.
“You didn’t give a third reason.”
“Hm?”
“Are you okay with that?”
Being by the hero’s side puts him in danger too.
An evil even the hero can’t handle would target his life.
In the end, even Gray couldn’t protect him.
That’s what she was asking.
“The exact opposite.”
On that point, Carlyle had a very clear answer.
“If not me, who will protect the Lady?”
Don’t misunderstand.
Of course, once grown, Gray would protect him.
But now, he protected Gray.
Who else in the world could fulfill the unique duty of raising a hero?
◆
“How was the secret meeting?”
Siona, seated in the driver’s seat of the magic engineering motorwagen, grinned and asked Felix.
“It’s been ages since Your Eminence showed this much interest in someone.”
“Ah— I’m tired. Don’t make me talk.”
“Hmm, but I can’t help being curious.”
Siona leaned back from the rear seat toward Felix as she entered.
“It’s been a while since you went out to recruit personally, hasn’t it?”
“Recruit? I just wanted close observation.”
To know what kind of person he was.
Felix’s process of gauging people was like reading a book.
What they think, their intent behind words, their desires. She ‘read’ it all as if sentences floated before her eyes.
In observation, she was a natural.
Her accuracy proven by her achievements: a human who rose to Orthodox Cardinal.
“What was the observation result?”
In that regard, Carlyle Bellfast was...
“...A library.”
If one person is a book.
That guy was a library.
“Pardon?”
“A person’s aura is a single trajectory. Built from accumulated experiences.”
But Carlyle.
His speech, aura, thoughts, intentions, ideals—all of it.
Didn’t belong to someone who’d lived ‘one life.’
No one living just one life could accumulate that much experience.
“Vast and deep.”
Especially.
“He seems to know a lot about Gray that even I don’t.”
“...”
“Is that kid really a student? Not some long-lived species hiding their race?”
“...No way.”
Siona chuckled dryly.
“Right. You’d have noticed if so.”
If it were a race transcending humans, ‘Siona Libel’ would know.
...No way kin wouldn’t recognize kin.
Felix yawned as she spoke.
“I wish he’d listened.”
Recruitment failed, but.
He was intriguing anyway.
“You went in expecting failure from the start, yet here you are.”
“Half serious? That’s why I exposed my weakness.”
Siona’s eyes widened slightly.
Utterly emotionless pupils.
Her following words flowed casually.
“...Planning to kill that student?”
“What?”
“Usually, you handle people who know your weaknesses that way.”
“No killing, no. I told him because he seems like a good kid.”
Carlyle was trustworthy.
A good kid who’d never use someone’s weakness for blackmail.
“...Sounds like you’ll kill him if he does.”
“Quiet.”
She opened the locket she’d shown Carlyle earlier.
“Also true that I told him because I like him.”
A familiar face appeared in the locket.
What was it?
His actions and speech were quite similar.
Even his looks.
Yeah. Similar.
Excessively so.
“Siona.”
“Yes.”
“You’re investigating him, right?”
“...”
“Thought I wouldn’t know?”
“Man— I can’t win against Your Eminence.”
At Siona’s feigned nonchalance, Felix smirked and continued.
“—Look into ‘Valtheimer.’ There’s definitely a connection.”
With that, Felix closed her eyes.
Long ago.
A memory so old dust gathered in the recesses of her mind surfaced.
Someone’s voice.
The reason she was here now.
A sentence engraved at the bottom of her soul.
-Felix. Make weak people happy.
-You were born for that.
Of course.
She’d fight for that from now on too.
◆
-System Message
▶ Target ‘Cardinal Felix’ added to taming targets.
▶ ‘Cardinal’s Ideal Type’ trait unlocked!
▶ Develop the trait to earn rewards!
-Specialty Info
[Cardinal’s Ideal Type]
You resemble greatly the person who gave the Cardinal a reason to fight for ordinary folk.
Perhaps more deeply connected than even the Cardinal realizes.
But even one fighting for good ends needs their radical methods tempered.
Help the Cardinal find balance between ideals and methods!
▶ ‘Scheduled Trait’ unlocked.
▶ ‘Scheduled Trait’ is not yet open but will unlock unconditionally later upon meeting conditions.
▶ Use the Cardinal’s feelings toward you well to develop the trait!
[ ♠ Regret 0% ]
[ ♠ Guilt 0% ]
[ ♠ Obsession 0% ]
◆
“...Hero.”
[What.]
“I’m gonna be seeing the Cardinal a lot from now on?”
[...]
Good or bad, with this window floating before him, there were no real choices.
The Holy Sword coughed awkwardly after a dumbfounded silence.
[Got any guesses?]
“...No, not really.”
Meeting Cardinal Felix was a first in this regression, at least within Carlyle’s memory. No entanglements with her ‘past’ anywhere.
‘Even if she says I resemble someone...’
He didn’t even know who.
As he glared at the window lost in thought, a puzzled voice came from the Holy Sword.
[But is that bad?]
“Huh?”
[When unsure, start there. Good or bad?]
“...”
Hm.
If he had to say.
“Good, I guess?”
[Then that’s it.]
“[Good is good.]”
Carlyle and the Holy Sword chuckled in unison.
Yeah, right.
Pondering unsolvable issues just wastes energy.
Better to think later with a clear head.
Carlyle yawned tiredly, hugged the Holy Sword, and flopped onto the bed.
“...Ah— today was exhausting. Can’t oversleep though.”
[No scheduled classes anyway.]
“Still, Lady’s coming tomorrow to grill me again.”
[One thing I’m curious about though.]
“Yeah?”
[Don’t you study?]
“...”
Huh.
Such a trivial but real issue suddenly?
[Not so trivial anymore.]
“Huh? Why?”
[If memory serves, periodic evaluations soon.]
“...”
[Fail and it’s instant expulsion. Cradle’s the top academy.]
“...”
[...]
Oh, right.
Completely forgotten.
“...I mean, as someone busting ass to save the world, do I really need to sweat the small stuff?”
[Tell that to this timeline’s me, not me.]
“...”
[If low scores give others ammo to attack you, how’d that go over?]
“...”
[Expelled? What then?]
No rebuttal possible.
Carlyle shook off creeping drowsiness, bolted up, and checked the calendar.
Let’s see, time left till exams...
“Hero.”
[Yes?]
“Any way to cheat with the Holy Sword’s power?”
[...]
One week till exams.
Classes attended: 0.
Study time: 0 minutes 0 seconds.
Carlyle Bellfast, in absolute crisis!