Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: 15. Realization (4)
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While the prince was arresting Sylvia and Kaily, Kati checked over my condition.
"Dude, you've already checked everything."
She'd inspected me obsessively for a good long while, yet she still kept peering at me.
Finally, after staring until she was satisfied, Kati nodded.
"Anyway.... you, though...."
"Ian!"
"Ian!"
After Sylvia and Kaily had been hauled away, Vivian and Helena came running from a distance.
"You two? Weren't you resting inside?"
"Mercy said you were in danger, Ian!"
"Ah."
Since Kati, who'd been with them, had suddenly vanished, Mercy must have immediately grasped what that meant.
Vivian carefully pulled Mercy from her pocket and showed her to me.
She was drenched in cold sweat, her face ashen.
She looked utterly overwhelmed by the auras pouring off those two from the 1st Hero Party, even from afar.
"M-Mercy? Mercy looks sick...."
"She's probably out of it right now. Let her rest a bit more."
"Y-Yes...."
While Vivian tucked her away again, Helena glanced around and asked,
"That was Kaily and Lady Sylvia.... right?"
"Yeah."
The area around us was a total wreck.
And Kaily was the one who'd kicked off this whole disaster trying to kill me.
Sylvia had stepped in with every intention of killing her.
...Yeah, it probably needed some explaining.
"How about we relocate for now?"
*
There were too many eyes on us, so we headed inside.
The prince and the Holy Emperor were likely discussing how to handle the captured Kaily and Sylvia, so they probably wouldn't need me right away.
They'd decide among themselves first and call me if they needed my input.
I sat Vivian and Helena side by side, then took the seat across from them.
Mercy seemed to have passed out from exhaustion, and I'd sent Kati to the room where Lucia was, just in case she woke up.
"To answer your biggest question first.... Kaily came here because of me."
Helena gulped at my words.
Vivian looked a bit tense too.
"Ah. Not to beg me to come back or anything like that...."
They both let out small sighs of relief at the clarification.
...But seriously, why did she come?
Just to kill me?
"Probably.... to kill me."
"Pardon?"
"What...?"
"I'm just as baffled. The reason is...."
The golden rule of power.
I knew what Kaily's creed was.
In my second go-around, I'd just thought she was some power-drunk lunatic, but after traveling with her this time, I'd come to understand the principle she held so dear.
...Though she was still a lunatic, no doubt about that.
Her lunacy was reason enough for her to try killing me....
"...Honestly, it's hard to explain. She has this twisted belief that's uniquely hers. My guess is she thought I'd violated it...."
"A belief...?"
"In short...."
I glanced at them briefly before speaking.
They might not know, but these two used to idolize the 1st Hero Party.
Saying this here....
It wouldn't matter.
They'd already seen that berserk display earlier—what difference would it make?
"She believes the strong have a duty to kill the weak."
"......"
"Yeah, I figured you'd react like that. She's always been that kind of weirdo."
"I-Is that so...."
I could practically hear the illusions crumbling in their minds.
It felt oddly like crushing their childhood dreams.
"No need to worry about any of that, so rest easy."
"Y-Yes...."
"What His Highness said.... is it true?"
The 1st Hero Party's treason charges.
I didn't know the details either.
"Guilt or innocence will be determined in court, but yes, there are charges."
"I see...."
Regardless of the truth, just being implicated was a huge deal for the 1st Hero Party.
In their heyday, it might've been dismissed as malicious slander.
But with all the bad rumors swirling lately, that wouldn't fly.
Still, Vivian and Helena's expressions remained unsettled.
Had I missed explaining something?
"They were investigating the castellan here, Lorenzo di Fiore, for rebellion first, and the 1st Hero Party's name came up in the process."
"Ah...."
That didn't seem to fully satisfy their curiosity.
"Ask anything else you're wondering about."
After hesitating, Vivian spoke up first.
"Um.... Ian."
"Yes."
"What exactly is your relationship with the 1st Hero Party?"
"Pardon?"
"...Who are you, Ian?"
Helena stared straight at me, clearly wanting to ask the same thing.
They were demanding an answer, but their faces suggested they already knew it.
I'd dropped too many hints since arriving here.
[Master. A bit late on the report, but Grace stopped by around lunchtime. She claimed you two are engaged—an obvious lie—and left.] ...There were hints I'd dropped without even realizing.
It was bound to come out eventually.
I hadn't planned to hide it forever, but saying it outright felt so abrupt, and I wondered what the point even would be.
Things were different now, though.
It was basically out in the open already.
The palace would probably seek my advice nonstop while deciding the 1st Hero Party's fate.
Every time, these two would feel something off—unease or dissonance, whatever.
Still....
It bothered me that they held this subtle illusion about "Philip," just like they did with the 1st Hero Party.
Once I revealed I was Philip, would some distance or wall spring up between us?
...But they already seemed to know, so better to come clean than hide it.
Lying in such an obvious situation might make them think I didn't trust them.
I said it as casually as recounting everyday life.
"You're guessing right."
"You mean...."
"I'm Philip."
A heavy silence fell.
But their expressions shifted wildly by the second.
Questioning, shock, more questions, confusion, understanding.
In that short time, thoughts must've been racing through and vanishing from their heads over and over.
"Y-You're...."
"Wha—wha—what...."
"Anyway, no need to make a big deal of it."
I kept talking in their place as they struggled for words.
"It's not that impressive. I'm the same person you know. Philip's achievements are mostly exaggerated. Even his existence was this staged image, you know."
"......"
"I didn't mean to deceive you two.... but it ended up that way. Sorry about that."
"N-No...."
"It's fine....!"
They still couldn't shake off the shock.
To help them adjust faster, I'd need to keep talking, feeding them info.
So they could treat me normally,
"Well, now that it's out, ask whatever you want."
They hesitated, then spoke up at the same time.
"Um...."
"Why...."
Their words overlapped, so they shut their mouths and eyed each other.
Vivian yielded first, and Helena looked at me.
"Why.... were you kicked out?"
Vivian turned to me too, clearly wondering the same.
Vivian added,
"Even if it's exaggerated, it's true that Phil—Ian, you took those four in...."
I couldn't come up with an easy answer.
Hearing that question made me understand why they were still reeling.
It'd be absurd, unbelievable.
To handpick those people, raise them up, only to get exiled.
I'd been floored too—how must they feel?
"The reasons are complicated.... but the conclusion is simple. They didn't need me anymore."
"No way...."
Those were the words I'd heard when I got booted, so nothing more accurate than that.
"You might wonder if I was completely blameless...."
Vivian and Helena jumped, frantically shaking their heads at my words.
"Hey, just a hypothesis. Anyway, I'm not claiming to be some flawless saint. But.... no regrets or anything like that lingered. I'd done everything I could."
That wrapped up my explanation.
I waited as they sank into their own thoughts.
[Master. Lucia has woken up.] ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Even after Ian left, Vivian and Helena couldn't shake their confusion.
It wasn't just because he'd revealed he was Philip.
They'd had a few rare experiences since arriving here, enough to anticipate and brace for it somewhat.
Of course, bracing didn't make it any less shocking.
The 1st Hero Party they'd so admired.
And Philip—the one who'd scouted and raised them—was Ian, the same guy who'd been with them all this time.
Even if he'd tacked on "Just kidding, haha" at the end, it wouldn't have felt out of place.
It might've felt more natural, even.
But Ian hadn't joked.
He'd meant it.
"Haa...."
"Huu...."
They sighed in unison, then met each other's eyes.
That one shared sigh conveyed everything they were thinking.
They gave awkward smiles and looked away again.
There was another reason gnawing at them.
If Ian really was Philip, then why had the 1st Hero Party members kicked him out?
What on earth had happened...?
No way to know just by thinking.
Even hearing it from Ian probably wouldn't make it any clearer.
This time, Vivian called Helena's name with resolve.
"Helena."
"Yes."
"...We need to do better."
They'd realized the astonishing truth: Ian was Philip.
In other words, he'd watched the 1st Hero Party grow from the very start.
It made them wonder if they'd never once met his expectations.
"...Yes."
So they had to step up.
They no longer felt that same powerlessness from before.
Helena's words rang even truer now.
Ian—the man who'd personally scouted and trained the 1st Hero Party—had chosen them after being exiled.
No need to fear anymore.
But separately from that....
'Why on earth....'
The 1st Hero Party had met Philip—no, Ian—and turned their lives around, only to exile him.
That fact was hard to swallow.
'Even if Ian had done something wrong, if they were that close.... surely there was room to talk it out amicably.'
No matter what, they vowed never to do the same.
Vivian and Helena made their pledge.