I'm Not the Culprit (1)
So he really did come here knowing everything.
The shrine maiden was certain of it.
Evan had orchestrated this entire situation.
The remnants of the heretics. Bishop Dexter.
The moment she saw him, she knew.
Their fates had been “decided” — sealed for destruction.
And at the end of that destruction stood Arthur.
A pitiful knight who had offered his sword to the moon for nothing but vengeance and his little sister.
Yet it was not complete.
The crimson threads of fate bound to him were tangled, as if some impurity had forced its way in.
Evan, most likely.
He had probably dragged Osera in the same way.
The fact that he had located her position and come in person made that clear enough.
And as a bonus, he could clean up the remnants while he was at it.
He might even have anticipated the situation where I would be misunderstood.
If he had used his family’s power, it made perfect sense.
The Alcarte Duchy.
The true power that ruled the underworld.
For a nation already inferior to the Empire in every aspect except raw military might, digging up a single piece of information would have been trivial.
She still had no idea what he was planning.
But one thing she thought she understood.
One of the things he sought to obtain.
That monster.
The shrine maiden’s eyes settled on the creature sitting at Evan’s feet, whimpering.
A two-headed form that looked grotesque at first glance.
It did not seem like a chimera.
Two fates had become completely entwined, two beings fused into one.
A wolf that walked the sky, chasing the sun and the moon.
A destiny of rebellion against heaven, born solely to kill a god.
Yet that rebellion would never come to pass.
Because the stars beyond the sky were watching, plain as day.
Even so, it remained a rebellion against heaven.
An ordinary person who merely touched it would feel their soul twist in agony.
That was the heavenly punishment.
Especially for the virtuous whom the stars periodically watched over.
Only those who rejected fate to worship an evil god, or those born under a destiny of ruin, could make contact.
“Hmm.”
With a smooth motion, Evan scooped the puppy into his arms without the slightest change in expression.
Pain?
He felt none.
There was no sign of burning either.
Did that mean Evan was an evil man?
No.
Even the wicked felt the influence of a rebellion against heaven.
Instinctive revulsion and a strange sensation would rise unbidden.
An irresistible urge that this fate must be destroyed.
Rather than cradling it, the normal reaction would be to crush it underfoot and kill it on the spot.
None of that appeared in Evan.
“Mm.”
He swayed slightly and turned to Lapis.
“…Lapis. Could you support me a little?”
“Yes! Evan, your arms are shaking way too much. You need to exercise!”
“…If I exercise, I might cough up blood and die.”
“Ah! We can’t have that! I’ll do all the heavy lifting for you!”
“Thank you.”
With Lapis’s help he adjusted his hold with practiced ease.
He deliberately came looking for that dog. I’m sure of it.
Perhaps—
Evan himself might be a rebel against heaven.
That frail body of his could be the price of rebellion.
Evan had coughed blood into the sandstorm.
No matter how weak his constitution, it made no sense.
Unless he was already ill… or his lifespan had run dry.
In other words—
Absence of lifespan.
He was already living on borrowed time.
Probably the price of rebelling against heaven…
The moment every piece of the puzzle clicked into place, a thrilling rush of dopamine flooded her brain.
Emotion welled in her eyes.
Osera. You knew this, and that was why you handed me the letter.
It was pure joy.
Whatever Evan intended to do, it was surely…!
Boom!
The ground suddenly thundered.
When she looked down, her eyes began to glitter like a night sky scattered with countless stars.
In an instant the fates of the entire area came into view.
A vision of the future unfolded before the shrine maiden.
When a moment was directly linked to her own death, the constellations of the future revealed themselves.
The centipede that had slept below, quietly offering its scales after receiving every kind of sacrifice, was awakening—
and the scene of it rising like a waterspout, shattering everything in its path.
Before the shrine maiden saw the future.
Heavier than I expected.
Evan grunted and looked down at the puppy he was barely holding with Lapis’s support.
Now what do I do with this puppy?
Both its life force and mana were faint.
At this rate it would die.
A day at most?
And even that only thanks to a monster’s natural regeneration.
It won’t kill it if I treat it, right?
The Living Armor gave a small wriggle as if to say it would be fine.
Ready to block any sudden lunge.
Right.
Even if I can’t trust you, I trust the me who made you!
Subspace open.
He pulled out a high-grade recovery potion he had stored and carefully poured it into the puppy’s mouth.
Panting, lapping, gulping — the puppy swallowed the potion.
Its breathing gradually steadied.
The mana was still faint.
About the level of a low-rank monster, maybe?
…At this level it shouldn’t be too dangerous. I can probably pet it.
Trusting the Living Armor, Evan stroked the puppy’s head.
It squirmed as if the touch were unfamiliar.
Afraid a sudden thrash might snap his arm, he hurriedly soothed it.
“Shhh… good boy.”
Whine…
The puppy twisted awkwardly for a moment, then found a comfortable position and went limp.
It seemed quietly content.
The missing leg still looked pitiful, though.
Just then Lapis, who had finished restraining Dexter, looked up at Evan and asked,
“…Evan. Can’t you soothe me like that too?”
“?”
Excuse me?
Evan looked down at Lapis.
She still hadn’t fully grown.
They looked more like older brother and little sister.
Cousins at most?
And he was supposed to go “shh, good girl” to her?
The mental image was… a little off, wasn’t it?
“…No. This one’s an animal. It’s different.”
“An animal? These ones?”
“It’s one animal.”
“Oops.”
Two heads must have confused her.
It was a bit fascinating, honestly.
There were fire-breathing dragons out there; one extra head was nothing.
“Anyway. This puppy is an animal.”
“Mm… the category of ‘animal’ is pretty broad, so…”
When Evan spoke firmly, Lapis accepted it.
Whew. Close call.
He had nearly died socially.
“So what are you going to do with this one now?”
“…I was thinking of releasing it with those other monsters.”
“It’ll die if you do that. Why not take it with us and raise it? Isn’t that why you treated it?”
That wasn’t it…
Wouldn’t a bicorn be cooler?
This one just isn’t cool.
The bicorn’s broken horn could be fixed.
In terms of pure style that one won… though the golem horse might start acting up in protest.
“By the way, Evan.”
“?”
“This isn’t a puppy. It’s a wolf.”
“Ah.”
A wolf?
Then when this one grows a bit…
Wouldn’t it become cool?
Before he transmigrated he had seen plenty of videos on YouTube.
A magnificent wolf protecting its master!
Huskies were basically the same, weren’t they?
As long as it stayed gentle only with him…
Tch, it won’t end up treated as emergency rations, right?
Nah, of course not.
He could just ask the duke how to tame monsters.
The black horse the duke rode was a monster too.
And it’s cute, besides.
Manly-man trait: absolute weakness for cute things.
All right.
Decision made.
They would take this little one with them for now.
As for the parents… he would look for them first, and if they existed, bring them along too.
“Evan, what name are you going to give it?”
“A name, huh…”
“They say a name carries great meaning!”
Evan paused for a moment.
Did a name really hold that much weight?
When I named Lapis… did I put some grand meaning into it…
He was pretty sure he had just picked something.
It was a pretty name, and it was a gemstone.
It should be fine, right?
Please let it be fine.
“Hmm.”
Maybe it would be better to name each head separately?
As he thought, two names that instantly came to mind for wolves surfaced.
Mythological names ought to be acceptable.
“Hati. Skoll.”
Skoll he had taken from the scorpions that appeared so often in the desert; Hati had simply popped into his head.
This should be fine, right?
Hati and Skoll both gave low, rumbling growls.
They looked satisfied.
Apparently they liked the names.
“Now the problem is the leg…”
“Even alchemy probably can’t fix this, right?”
“I’m already in contact with the Saintess. I’ll ask her later.”
“…The Saintess of the Sun? That crazy bi—”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, nothing.”
Aegis hastily covered it up.
Looks like the two of them don’t get along.
Evan kindly pretended not to hear.
First, a temporary measure.
With a soft rustle he used Transmutation, Disassembling the scattered materials nearby and Reconstructing them.
A leg of iron.
For now it would only serve as a support, but later he could turn it into a full artificial limb.
Whine…?
Sensing the new leg, the puppy reacted.
Both Hati and Skoll looked up at Evan, eyes sparkling, tongues lolling out.
Pant, pant. Lick.
“Oh…”
So this was healing.
All the fatigue that had piled up seemed to melt away at once.
Evan adjusted his hold on the puppy.
Calling them separately every time would be a hassle.
“From now on, the dark-red head is Skoll, the dark-blue head is Hati. Together I’ll call you Ska. Does that work for you?”
Grrrr.
“…You don’t like it? Should I call you separately?”
Bark! Bark!
Skoll and Hati — together Ska — nuzzled against him as if to say they approved.
Fine… I’ll just call them separately then.
That was when it happened.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble!
A sudden vibration.
As his body swayed hard, Hand No. 2 shot out of the shadows and Lapis steadied him.
Aegis hurriedly waved her hands.
“It wasn’t me!”
“…Evan.”
The shrine maiden, still staring downward, spoke.
“This Colosseum is fated to collapse.”
“Pardon?”
Collapse?
It wasn’t supposed to collapse until much later.
“…When does it collapse?”
“Fifty…”
“Fifty days?”
“Forty-nine…”
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
The vibration came again.
No, no!
It was collapsing now?
“An ancient monster buried underground has awakened.”
Ah, damn it.
For real?
Evan had a rough idea what it was.
The ancient monster sleeping below.
Don Quixote had put it to sleep with sacrifices and harvested its scales.
Whether the offering schedule had been missed or it had noticed its food bowl was gone, it had woken up.
And of all times, now!
“Let’s run right away!”
“Just a moment.”
Evan stopped Aegis, who was about to use transmutation.
“We still have to collect the rewards.”
“Ah.”
Aegis hastily adjusted her formula.
Even so the countdown kept dropping.
“Thirty-nine…”
Everything worth taking had been roughly gathered.
All that remained were the people still left in the Colosseum.
“Number Five.”
The instant he called Number Five, he felt the link connecting him to the golem.
Number Five stood ready, waiting for any order!
Evan pointed a finger upward.
“Smash it.”
The Colosseum was still seething with heat.
—Waaaaaaaaaah!
“Guh!”
Felix tumbled across the ground.
Arena sand clung thickly to his entire body.
The leather armor he had worn when he entered had long since been shredded.
With a creaking motion he lifted his head.
His eyes were filled with shock.
—Uoooooh!
Just what kind of monster had been created?
It was overwhelming.
From raw power to physique to technique.
A golem built solely for combat.
And something like that had been born from human hands?
Talent he could at least understand.
It was a gift from the gods; how could a mere human comprehend it?
But a creation was different.
It raised its two heavy arms to whip up the crowd’s cheers—
Didn’t that mean it possessed a self?
What am I even…
Far from seeing the path he should walk more clearly, it only felt darker.
What was a pilgrimage?
Was he even walking a proper road?
…First I should declare surrender—
Then.
—Number Five.
A faint voice reached him from Number Five.
It was Evan’s voice.
“!”
—Smash it.
At the sound of that voice the sand writhed and formed a face.
A grinning face.
Don’t tell me… it’s ordering it to kill me??
“……!!”
Felix threw himself aside on pure instinct.
Part of the sand that made up the golem’s body gathered into one arm and stretched long and thin.
Then—
Boom!
—Kya, kyaaaaaaah!
—Wh-what the hell is happening all of a sudden!
Uoooooooh!
—Th-the Dead Bear has suddenly gone berserk!
The Colosseum began to be demolished.
As if every bit of power it had used until now had been only a fraction, buildings shattered indiscriminately.
Spectators screamed and fled in every direction.
Felix’s mind spun wildly.
What?
Why the sudden rampage?
Some kind of error?
Should he stop it?
That was when it happened.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
A vibration that shook the earth.
An enormous presence stabbed into a knight’s senses.
This is…?
A monster!
An immensely huge one!
A presence even greater than a sandworm.
His whole body prickled.
Crisis instinct!
Felix hastily spun around.
Charging in would be pure recklessness.
To live, he first had to run!
“….”
The running Felix slowly eased his pace.
His father’s words had suddenly risen in his mind.
And those words had caught his ankle.
—A knight does not flee from danger.
—Though I became a wandering knight… my son, I never avoided crisis.
—My son, you said at first that you wanted to become a hero. A knight is the same. You must not run from danger.
…You must not run.
Hadn’t he been running all this time?
Making every excuse under the sun?
He had seen countless walls, and rather than fight to climb them, Felix had avoided them.
That was why he had wandered again and again.
Because he had stepped off the path he should walk and entered strange roads.
Then, to walk the pilgrimage—
I must not run.
Felix slowly turned his head.
Did he go down into the underground himself just to teach me this?
At last he felt he understood what he had to do.
The sensation of standing at the threshold of the pilgrimage road.
Felix adjusted his grip on his sword and turned his body.
He would fight.
This time he would not retreat!
No matter how strong the enemy—
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Like a rising waterspout, a red-scaled centipede burst through the arena floor.
Its size dwarfed every monster he had ever seen.
At that scale, wasn’t it basically a dragon?
Felix couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.
…Wasn’t that a little too big?