Even If I Betray the World
“This was a party the Academy assigned in the first place. How could any of you even…”
“If every party member agrees except the one being expelled, it’s possible,” Esther said.
Ah. That made even less sense.
Don’t tell me every single person here voted to kick me out?
I looked at them with a hollow, empty stare.
I had never expected anything from the Saintess or that elf archer bitch to begin with. I didn’t know the details, but Leo was almost certainly the one who had spearheaded my expulsion. So I started with Felice.
“Felice. Are you serious?”
She hated me—or more precisely, she hated my family. Even so, I never imagined she would go so far as to throw me out of the party because of it.
She answered without hesitation.
“I am. I had my doubts, but after seeing the way you acted today, I’m convinced it was the right decision.”
I turned my eyes next to Veronica.
“W-what are you staring at?! Of course I don’t want to stay in a party with someone like you!”
She always sounded that irritating, yet until now we had managed a sort of bickering, not-entirely-bad relationship. Apparently that had all been my imagination.
Finally I looked at Aine—our party’s thief.
Anyone else, fine. But not you. You of all people shouldn’t do this.
That was what I thought as I met her eyes.
“I’m sorry…”
She only mumbled those two words.
“Ha! Then that settles everything, doesn’t it? You’re expelled, Louis Wallenstein.”
The Saintess delivered the verdict like a final judgment.
Right.
In the beginning I had sworn I would save them no matter what. Even so, treatment this cold would wear anyone down. The sense of futility that had been building for weeks, the blatant double standard they used when dealing with me versus Leo—it had made me want to quit a dozen times over. Yet I had stubbornly endured, clinging to foolish effort.
Now that it had come to this, I was almost grateful. They had finally given me a clean reason to let go without regrets.
No—I meant that sincerely. Even though I had already made up my mind about certain things, I had never wanted to cling to them and beg them not to cast me out. I truly hadn’t wanted it to go that far.
Since things had turned out this way… I actually looked forward to watching them suffer exactly as the original story dictated. Unlike the game, the protagonist of this world was not going to save them. He lacked both the character and the ability.
Ah. I misspoke.
I was the protagonist of this world. Leo Epsilt—the original hero who was supposed to save them—was nothing more than a worthless extra here. Because I would make him one.
I let that quiet resolve settle, then swept my gaze across their faces.
You first, Felice Ansberg.
Just as I had said, the gargoyles would raid her territory. I was curious what expression she would wear when the original plot unfolded. Once upon a time the thought would have twisted my chest with pain. But the moment she had demanded an apology from the person who had been working so hard for her sake, something in me simply… snapped.
Still, a final warning couldn’t hurt.
“You all know everything I’ve done for you until now. And you’re still throwing me out?”
A few of them looked faintly guilty. Hard to tell for sure.
Leo Epsilt spoke up in the middle of it.
“What a joke. I’ve been the one handling every single monster so far.”
An amusing perspective. I had been the one who killed most of the monsters. He simply waited until the girls softened them up, then finished them off with that absurd mana of his. And he probably believed his own version with complete sincerity. In a way, that was almost frightening.
“We don’t need you. We’re fine on our own! You never did anything useful anyway!”
Veronica shouted.
At least she said “we’re fine on our own” instead of “we have Leo,” so she seemed to have a rough idea of his actual skill. Anyone with a working brain would notice. A few empty-headed girls, of course, simply cheered for his mana and left it at that.
“Fine. Just don’t come crying to me later.”
“As if!”
Well. We would see.
I wasn’t even talking about the story they were about to walk into. I wasn’t sure the party would function at all once I was gone.
Even so, Aine was the one I still couldn’t quite let go of. She kept her head bowed the entire time I turned and walked away.
Truly disappointing.
The serious wounds could be closed with potions. Our family might be poor, but we could still manage potions. The rest of the injuries could be treated at the Academy infirmary; I only needed my body functional enough to make it back.
I mounted the horse they had issued me and rode for Helon Academy. Every part of me still screamed. I wanted nothing more than to reach the infirmary, get patched up, return to the dorm, wash off the blood and dirt, and collapse into bed.
Not yet.
The dangerous wounds were already handled. There was something I had to do before Leo Epsilt and the others returned. That was why I had ridden straight back without rest.
First I needed to draft two documents. One I intended to submit. The other was insurance in case the first was rejected.
Next I unclasped the necklace around my neck. I examined it carefully. No cracks, nothing broken—perfectly intact, aside from the blood smeared across it.
It was a Video Recording Artifact, the necklace every Academy cadet wore during assignments so the footage could be reviewed afterward. It, too, had to be turned in. Every party member carried one, but the contents of mine were special. I hadn’t considered the mission finished the moment we confirmed the nest the way the others had. Instead of ending the recording there, I had kept filming all the way through the gargoyles’ escape. I simply hadn’t bothered recording the whole “you’re expelled” farce.
I slipped both papers and the necklace into my coat and walked the Academy corridors at a brisk pace. Unfriendly stares followed me. It wasn’t only the blood and dust covering my body. It was the name Wallenstein that clung to this body I had possessed. By now I was used to those looks.
Under that unwanted attention I finally reached the student council room and knocked. A voice told me to enter. I opened the door without hesitation.
The council members inside frowned the moment they saw me. Some of it was probably my appearance. Most of it was simply who I was.
No—correction. There was nothing wrong with who I was. I was an extremely diligent, decent human being. The problem was my family.
Only one person in the room did not wrinkle her face at the sight of me. Ironically, she was probably the one who disliked me most of all: the student council president of Helon Academy and princess of the Lucia Empire, Kalia Speltz.
I walked straight toward her.
“Well? What is it?”
“Mission complete.”
I set the necklace on her desk. The blood on it was impossible to miss. She glanced from the necklace to the state of me and asked,
“Where are your party members? Why have you come alone looking like that?”
“I have something else that needs to be submitted.”
They had decided to expel me. I had no intention of clinging to them and begging them to reconsider. At the same time, I had no intention of meekly accepting expulsion either. I would leave the party on my own two feet before they could throw me out. If I were expelled, it would look as though the fault lay with me. If I quit, it would look as though the problem lay with the party. Pride, pure and simple.
That had been my thinking as I raced back to the Academy. On the way, though, a better idea had occurred to me.
I held out a sheet of paper. She took it with a puzzled expression that steadily turned stranger.
Of course it did. The document I had handed her was a party expulsion request form.
Persons to be expelled: Leo Epsilt, Aine, Veronica Eltwin, Esther Kalt, Elin Nidia, and Felice Ansberg.
Person who consents to the expulsion: Louis Wallenstein.
Cao Cao once said, “I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me.”
In that case I would rather abandon the party than let the party abandon me.
The president stared at me in pure disbelief.
“…What is this?”
“Exactly what it looks like.”
That clearly wasn’t enough, so I added,
“Someone told me that if every party member except the one being expelled agrees, expulsion is possible… Is that correct?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“The ones to be expelled are everyone except me. The one who consents is every remaining party member.”
That “everyone remaining” just happened to be a single person: me.
The president pressed a hand to her forehead at my miraculous logic. I handed her the second sheet.
“That first one was more or less a joke…”
Half a joke, anyway.
“This is my party resignation form.”
She studied the second paper for a long moment, then finally said,
“…Very well. You may go.”
“What is wrong with that guy?”
One of the council members muttered in open irritation the moment the door closed.
The princess picked up the papers Louis had left, an amused curve to her lips. She would have to speak with him properly soon.
She handed a sheet to the nearest council member.
“Process this.”
“Yes, understood.”
The girl who answered soon frowned in confusion.
“Um… President? I think you gave me the wrong paper…”
The document the president had passed her was not the resignation form. It was the expulsion request.
At her question the princess simply shook her head.
“I did not give you the wrong one.”
Of course such a thing was not normally allowed.
But what did that matter?
She was the Imperial Princess.