You Should Have Lied
X's eyes flew wide at Circe's proposal. He'd never imagined she would suggest something like this — but accepting it was out of the question.
"You know about the restriction..."
"I know it's not easy because of the restriction. But that restriction has a blind spot. As long as you don't say it yourself, you're fine."
"...You've already figured that much out?"
"If what you told me is true, I won't fall victim to the restriction again. If you've got information to share, just tell me."
She'd reached that conclusion from nothing but fragments of information. As expected of Circe — the wisest person in the world. A true Sage.
"I won't be able to ignore you anymore. I know too much now. Whenever something happens, I'll come looking for you. Even if I don't, I'll still be thinking of you."
Circe took X's calloused hand in hers. Her touch was cool, almost refreshing against his skin.
"If there's one thing I learned the hard way in my previous life, it's that you can't weather a great trial alone. You're still young, so you probably think you can handle it by yourself... but you absolutely cannot."
"...I'm not quite that young, you know."
"From where I'm standing, all of you are children. I don't like saying it, but if you count my previous life, I've lived twice as long as you."
Circe had been about twenty-two when she died. Add her current life, and that made her thirty-nine.
Even by that math, X was still older.
That's not something I want to hear from someone younger than me...
Circe didn't notice the discomfort stirring in him. She was simply trying, with complete sincerity, to persuade him.
"If this world weren't someone else's story, you would have been this generation's Hero. You would have been the protagonist."
"No, that's..."
"Just look at everything you've done. That's proof enough. Even we have never stopped an incident that nearly destroyed the Empire in this life. At best, we happened to take down a demon or some demonkin riffraff here and there."
"That's..."
"I'm afraid you'll just keep burning yourself away until you vanish without a trace. That can't happen — not for humanity, not for us, and not for that little girl. So I'll ask you again."
Circe let out a faint sigh and looked at him.
X was at a loss for words.
He'd never expected Circe to change this quickly. In the original story, she had been a neurotic wreck who barked at everyone — a real rabid dog. And she'd had every reason to be.
Because the world she'd risked her life to protect had ended up in that sorry state...
Brilliant students obsessed over immediate profit and power instead of pursuing the true nature of magic. The church, which should have been a pillar of faith, had become an organization that squeezed donations and trained soldiers. The demonkin — humanity's enemies in all but name — grew stronger by the day, and no one seemed to care. She hated all of it.
And once again, she would have to handle all of it alone. She would have to save this hopeless world by herself. Under that crushing pressure, of course she'd become irritable.
There was only one reason she'd changed like this.
Because she'd joined Leon's party.
She'd found peace. She'd found comrades who would share her mission. She'd found people who understood her.
That was when her personality had started to soften.
And that wasn't all. Her hostility toward X had vanished when her memories were sealed. The first time they'd gotten involved after the memory seal was at the demon's mansion. Back then, X had been someone doing everything he could to stop a crisis. In Circe's eyes, he was another young comrade who shared her purpose.
If X hadn't pushed her away so hard afterward — if he hadn't refused to join Leon's party — she would have made this proposal even sooner.
X's silence stretched on, and Circe stepped forward, muttering with open dissatisfaction.
"What are you agonizing over so much? Is it really that big a decision?"
"It's not the kind of thing you can just not think about..."
"Is there something wrong with what I said?"
There wasn't. Not a single thing. Any information spread through Circe wouldn't trigger the Probability Penalty, because it would be Circe sharing it, not X.
He had no reason to refuse. And yet he hesitated. It wasn't a matter of right or wrong. It was something more fundamental than that.
So he deflected.
"Could you step back a little... you're standing pretty close..."
"Ah, sorry..."
Circe pulled away in a fluster. Then, faced with the firmness of his answer, she grumbled.
"I didn't think you'd be so decisive about something like that in a situation like this."
"It's better if we don't do anything that could be misunderstood."
"Misunderstood? What misunderstanding?"
"You're in love with Leon, aren't you, Circe?"
"What?!"
Circe squawked at him, utterly incredulous.
"Why the hell would I like a guy with a personality like that?!"
"...Huh?"
In the original story, Leon and Circe had ended up as lovers. Circe was one of the four main heroines. She'd carried a fondness for him since their previous life, so the pairing had been a natural development.
"...Didn't you go on the adventure with him because you liked him?"
"What kind of nonsense is that? I wanted to go on an adventure from the start. Leon was competent enough and decent-looking, so I tagged along. The only person who'd fall for a personality that warped is Frey, and—"
Something seemed to dawn on her. Circe's face went deathly pale.
"D-don't tell me... later on, he and I actually start dating...?"
"Well... you two made a pretty good-looking couple..."
"AAAAAHHH!! That's impossible!! I refuse to accept that!! Who the hell wrote that garbage of a story?!"
X looked away. The person who had pushed to include the romance plot in the original work was none other than X himself.
"Hey! Listen up!"
Crack!
Circe, furious enough to blow a gasket, kicked him square in the left shin.
"The shin again...!"
"I'll admit I notice a good-looking face! But that's purely from the standpoint of appreciating a nice piece of art! My type is not some pigheaded bastard who can't listen to a damn word anyone says!"
"B-but in the future..."
"The person I'd take as a partner is someone who actually listens to others, who can navigate society with some flexibility! And if they have the backbone not to compromise when it really matters, even better..."
In the middle of her passionate speech, someone suddenly came to mind. She went blank for a moment, then arrived at a conclusion her brain apparently did not like. Circe shut her eyes and shook her head, as if turning away from the thought.
"No. That's not it. There's no way."
"Wow. I think you just had a rather rude thought..."
They were still talking when a door flew open in the distance to their right, and a group came pouring in.
"Circe!! You're okay!!"
Five of them, every face one they knew well. Circe took one look at the group and sagged with relief.
"Leon! You guys! Is everyone okay?"
Leon, Frey, Diana, Rosaria. The Hero party, reunited, didn't look seriously hurt.
"Wait. The one next to her..."
"That's him...!"
Diana and Rosaria recognized X and bristled with wariness. Leon eyed the two of them standing together and frowned with suspicion.
"Why are you two together?"
"We ran into each other when the rooms changed. You met a little girl back then, didn't you? Where is she?"
Circe hurried to look for Lola. She was every bit as worried as X had been.
"...What is this?"
The moment she saw the result, Circe's blood ran cold.
"Leon. All of you. What the hell did you do?"
"Wait, Circe — I need to see her too."
X stepped past her and looked at Lola. And then his breath stopped.
A girl in a wretched state hung bound in nothing more than rope. Her entire body was covered in the marks of a beating she hadn't even been able to resist. One side of that bright, confident face had swollen into something ugly.
"X...? You were alive... I'm so glad..."
The girl — Lola — saw him and smiled, bright with joy. That wrecked, sunlit smile brought X's thoughts to a halt.
Circe's voice came out cold and sharp as a blade.
"Explain what you did. Right now."
"Calm down, Circe. We had a difference of opinion."
"A difference of opinion? So you beat a child half to death?"
"We had no choice if we wanted to subdue her. We were in danger too, dealing with her. She was throwing explosion magic everywhere..."
"And treating a person like that is the 'right thing' you're always preaching about?!"
"Just listen to me for a second...!"
X left the sound of their fighting behind and walked forward. Diana and Rosaria moved to block his path.
"Move."
Before they could even draw their weapons, the White Light Sword flared into being, sharp and merciless. The phantom blades rippled violently, trained on both their throats.
"...Control Blade?"
"...No. This is something else."
Even so, the two of them were warriors who had survived countless hardships. Guilty or not, in a situation like this their fighting spirit still burned.
At least, until Frey, standing behind them, spoke.
"Please step aside."
Diana and Rosaria moved out of the way, faces dark with discontent. X came to a stop in front of Frey and the bound Lola.
"I'm sorry."
Crushed under the weight of her own guilt, Frey managed that single sentence.
"...You weren't going to treat her?"
Silence.
"...Right. I see."
He undid the ropes with care and lifted Lola into his arms. She was so light it was obvious they hadn't given her food or water. X carried her slowly toward a safer place in the distance, pulled out a sleeping bag, made a place for her to lie down, and settled her onto it as gently as he could.
A little more comfortable now, Lola murmured to him.
"X... I lost... They took my magic tool too..."
"How did this happen?"
"They said you weren't a decent person..."
That was all he needed to hear.
After they'd joined up, rumors about X must have come up somehow, and Lola would have argued back fiercely that they were wrong. That had started a fight. And Lola had been stronger than they'd expected — strong enough that they'd had to beat her this badly to put her down.
"Drink this."
X tipped an emergency high-grade recovery potion into Lola's mouth. It was a potion worth five million El, but right now all he could do was blame himself for not bringing something better. At least it was worth the price — the wounds closed in moments.
"I'll just rest a little... I'll get up soon..."
"Please rest."
But wounds of the heart couldn't be healed by even an elixir. Knowing that, X's own heart grew heavy.
Behind him, the argument was still raging.
"If you go around beating people just because they got on your nerves, how are you any different from a tyrant or that damned Demon King?!"
"I'll admit I went too far at first. But watch your mouth, Circe. You weren't there. You don't know anything."
"And if I don't watch my mouth? Are you going to beat me half to death too? And if I still don't listen, you'll kill me later?!"
At that, Leon fell silent. He thought it over, then answered with a hard, set expression.
"If that's what it takes, I will."
Something inside Circe snapped.
"You should have lied."
The words came out close to a sob. She wanted it all to be a lie.
To that wish, Leon answered without a shred of shame.
"I don't tell lies."
As always — the upright, honest Hero.
"...Right. What was I even expecting. How stupid of me..."
Circe's eyes went cold. Those eyes were no longer looking at a comrade from a previous life. What stood before her wasn't Protego. It was just Leon.
"...Circe?"
"I can't do this anymore. I can't travel with you anymore."
Only then did Leon feel, too late, that something had gone terribly wrong in those icy words.
"Circe... no, Aerial! What's wrong with you!"
"Don't call me by that name anymore."
"Aerial! We don't need to fight like this over some girl we don't even know! Fine, I'm sorry, I was wrong...!"
More excuses. Another apology designed to wriggle out of the situation. Sick of it, Circe raised her hand.
"That apology should go to someone other than me...!"
Her palm turned toward Leon's face. Leon, a warrior to the bone, simply closed his eyes, ready to take the hit. If he let her land one slap, her anger would cool.
"Yeah — you should've said it to Lola, you son of a bitch."
But what came flying at him was not a palm.
CRACK—!!!
A fist like a boulder, heavy with concentrated fury, smashed down with the intent to shatter every bone in Leon's face.
"Ghhk—!"
The blow, packed with densely concentrated internal energy, sent Leon flying like a rag doll. Caught completely off guard, he tumbled across the floor several times before he managed to collect himself and break his fall.
One side of his vision went blurry. One side of his face ballooned. His cheekbone and nose were probably broken. Coincidentally, it was the exact same place they had struck the girl's face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing...?!"
The attacker's identity was obvious. There was no one else it could be but X, that infamous weed who refused to die.
"A beating's the only medicine for a bastard like you."
"But a beating isn't enough for you."
X drew the Rung's Sword he had brought with him. As Auror bloomed around the blade, Leon's party dropped into combat stances.
"The only answer is to put you down."
X spoke as he slowly, deliberately reined in his rage.
"Circe. I'm sorry, but I will never join that party of yours. Not for as long as I live."
Now that it had come to this, he would cut ties with Circe completely. This would put them in danger going forward. He was making an enemy of the woman who knew everything, after all.
But right now, he shoved that thought aside. The price for what they had done to Lola would be paid. Hero destined to save the world from ruin or not — he didn't care.
He was still settling into that resolve when Circe answered from behind him.
"I should be the one apologizing. I went out of my way to invite you, and now this."
"That party? I just quit."
Circe opened the Book of Eibon and took her place at X's side.
The future X had predicted shattered into pieces.
But that was fine.