After the Terror (1)
After the Terror (1)
After the order of knights departed, I asked my teammates to bear with me, then ran ahead in the direction they had gone.
After running for a while, I found only the Royal Knight Commander—that giant of a knight—sitting on a wide boulder.
The other knights were nowhere to be seen. Only the horse he'd been riding was nearby, diligently grazing on the grass.
"Yo."
"Thank you for your help."
Although I'd hoped he would stop them from deploying altogether, I was grateful that he'd kept anything from happening until I returned.
"What did I even do? Just when it was my turn to step in, a righteous Hero had to make a grand entrance and win over all the princesses."
Come to think of it, they weren't even metaphors—they were actual princesses. This was a total scam, a complete foul.
The Commander, who had been grumbling to himself, narrowed his eyes as he looked at me.
"It looks like you came straight here the moment you were released."
"I am the Princess's escort knight, and the other students are my friends as well. I knew the Commander would handle things well, but as her escort knight, I couldn't just stand by and watch."
At my words, the Commander nodded.
It seemed my answer wasn't too bad.
But he didn't stop questioning me there.
"For someone who calls them friends, you did a clean job of arresting that exchange student. Do you hate the Empire? Or is it for the sake of this Kingdom?"
The Commander's question seemed to be a sort of test.
I didn't know what it was for, but I gave the answer I'd prepared beforehand.
"Even after learning what was happening, Joachim fled without a thought for those he would leave behind. I captured him only for the sake of the Princess and the friends who were left behind."
I handed the Commander the letter I'd found on Joachim.
It was the letter Paula had delivered to him—the same one I'd seen in my previous life.
Though he might have thought otherwise, the fact that Joachim had fled even after reading that letter left me no choice but to view him as an accomplice.
Despite that, I actually quite liked Joachim, but I had no intention of saying so.
Instead, I told the Commander something else.
"I learned their destination from the mercenary who was taking Joachim before he died."
The mercenary hadn't said a single word before his death, but I'd already been to the place they'd intended to go.
It was the Organization's safehouse I'd visited in my previous life. I gave the Commander the location of the dilapidated inn on the Domain Border.
"It seems you have a knack for torture as well."
"I am of illegitimate birth."
Just as I'd thought, the Commander misunderstood what I meant.
It was easy enough to imagine a Duke secretly raising an illegitimate son of my caliber to use him for dirty work.
If so, it was only natural for him to assume I had a knack for torture.
Fortunately, the questioning ended there.
The knight, who looked taller than me even while sitting, let out a deep sigh.
"I only meant to take a look around, but the order of knights was in worse shape than I thought. At this rate, just as the old man said, there won't be any Royal Knights left."
I hadn't witnessed it this time, but if the knights had behaved as they did in my previous life when the Princess was injured, it was no wonder the Commander was sighing.
"Just because I don't want to be buffeted by the trials of life, I can't very well let the place I have to return to disappear. It seems I'll have to return to duty."
I could only be grateful if he did.
If the Royal Knights simply maintained their neutrality, my worries would undoubtedly be cut in half.
The Commander, who had been venting his grievances, looked at me and asked again.
"By the way, what is your goal?"
A goal, huh.
As always, surviving and not dying was my most important goal. On top of that, it would be nice if the people around me could live well, too.
But the Commander was talking about a completely different goal.
"Surely, you aren't planning to place the Princess on the throne as queen, are you?"
Everyone believed it was impossible for the Princess to ascend to the throne.
That was, of course, because she kept her 'Mana Resonance' a secret.
But even the Queen, Katrin, and the Princess herself—all of whom knew about her 'Mana Resonance'—had never imagined she would become the ruler.
In such a situation, someone had finally brought up the possibility of the Princess becoming the ruler.
The Commander must have said this not because of the Princess, but because he recognized my abilities.
It meant he acknowledged my abilities to that extent. Though his words carried a negative nuance, they also meant that if I put my mind to it, her becoming the ruler wasn't entirely impossible.
I had no intention of making the Princess the ruler, of course.
She was only eleven years old.
Even for the Princess, simply thinking about survival was overwhelming enough at the moment.
It seemed best to clear up the misunderstanding before it took root.
"My contract with the Queen was to protect the Princess until I graduate from the Academy. Even now, a year later, that remains unchanged."
Though wrapped in various pretexts, the condition the Queen had set was that I protect the Princess in exchange for being allowed to attend the Academy.
I'd accepted, and even now, I considered it a highly satisfactory contract.
Although protecting the Princess brought many hardships, it had also allowed me to meet and build relationships with incredible people.
I would never have met the Grand Archduchess, learned the sword from the Duke of Ceuta, or been able to speak with the Royal Knight Commander like this.
On top of that, learning swordsmanship from the Carlos Hero inside the sword was ultimately thanks to my serving as the Princess's escort knight.
Ultimately, my rapid growth was, to some extent, thanks to accompanying the Princess.
When I said that, the Commander's face went blank. Then he nodded, only to tilt his head in confusion again.
As his massive frame shifted and his expression changed, I slowly took a step back.
"Well, I suppose I'll find out in due time. More importantly, drop by once in a while. I've been struggling to find a sparring partner, and while you're still a bit lacking, you're at least worth facing."
Sparring was a welcome proposition for me, too.
I could spar with the Duke of Ceuta if I used the mana-charged bracelet, but given the choice, I still preferred sparring with the Commander.
Mentioning that he'd sold his house in the capital long ago, the Commander said he'd let me know through the Duke of Ceuta once he found a place, then mounted his horse.
A strange creaking sound came from the horse's back, but both the Commander and I pretended not to notice.
After the Commander departed, I stayed where I was and waited for the group.
Some time passed, and the carriage escorted by the knights approached.
Normally, I should have ridden in the rear carriage, but my teammates, curious about everything that had happened, pulled me into their carriage.
"Now, all your other business is finished, right? Tell us what on earth happened."
Balea pressed me for an explanation on everyone's behalf.
It was something I had to tell them anyway, and it wasn't the first time we'd talked like this.
I calmly explained what had happened.
Everyone had realized it was no ordinary matter when they saw the Royal Knights dragging Joachim away, but they were all shocked to hear that a massive explosion had occurred in the capital.
When I told them that the ones who had caused the explosion were from the Empire, and that Paula had taken part in it as well, their faces filled with disbelief.
They all knew Paula and had spoken with her before.
It must have been hard for them to believe that someone who seemed so quiet and diligent had taken part in a terror attack.
But that didn't change the facts.
I continued my explanation.
I told them that the attackers' original goal had been to kidnap an Academy freshman, and that they had self-destructed while fighting the escorts.
"I stepped in and saved the freshman, but since Joachim was one of our team members, I was worried about all of you. That's why I ran straight back and happened to run into Joachim."
To be honest, I'd been more worried about the Royal Knights who had rushed over using Joachim as an excuse than about Joachim himself.
My encounter with Joachim hadn't been a coincidence, either, but I had no other choice.
To avoid revealing my abilities, I had to disguise many events as mere coincidences.
"So that's why you brought Joachim back."
Just as the Grand Archduchess said, everyone understood my actions after hearing the explanation.
But one person still seemed dissatisfied with what I'd done.
"Then, doesn't that mean Young Lord Joachim had nothing to do with it? He didn't cause the attack himself, yet he was injured like that and dragged away..."
Mirisa spoke up for the first time in a while.
Perhaps she'd grown close to him at the ruins, or maybe she secretly harbored feelings for Joachim.
Either way, she seemed angry with me for bringing Joachim back covered in blood and handing him over to the Royal Knights.
Fortunately, I didn't need to explain it to her myself.
"Young Lord Alex captured Young Lord Joachim for our sake."
The Grand Archduchess stepped forward to explain.
"Just a moment ago, the Royal Knights tried to frame us for harboring Joachim. If Young Lord Alex hadn't brought him back, we might have been arrested."
I'd thought it was just a typical standoff, but it seemed the situation had been worse than I'd realized.
"I stayed quiet because I saw the Commander and thought they wouldn't go that far, but that knight was strange."
The Princess added this with an apologetic expression.
With both princesses speaking up, Mirisa had no choice but to fall silent.
Still, it didn't seem her dissatisfaction with me had completely vanished.
Even so, whether because she was angry or not, she no longer seemed afraid of me.
Seeing how she answered me properly, I couldn't tell whether my relationship with Mirisa had actually worsened.
Though I'd finished explaining and answered their questions, Balea still had one question left.
She was curious about something else.
"So, is the freshman you saved a girl? Or a boy?"
At her question, everyone stared at me.
Feeling everyone's gaze on me, sweat broke out on the back of my neck.
It was a trivial question, but I had the distinct feeling that I shouldn't tell the truth.
As was always the case, the culprits behind the terror attack were not publicly announced.
The incident was presented as an accident and buried, and before long, it faded from the memories of everyone except those who had been directly affected.
Fortunately, because I had connections to the royal family and the knights, I was able to hear how things were progressing.
I didn't know what kind of deal had been struck between the two nations and their higher-ups, but the two surviving individuals involved—Joachim and Paula—were repatriated to the Empire shortly afterward.
It seemed they hadn't been able to extract much information from Joachim and Paula.
They investigated the safehouse I'd pointed out, but failed to capture the owner who was guarding it.
Thanks to that, the high-ranking officials came to believe the incident had been orchestrated by the Empire, and they seemed to have their hands full adjusting their diplomatic relations with them.
In the end, I was still the only one who knew about the Organization.
Unfortunately, I didn't know that much, either.
Since I still didn't even know the Organization's name, it was hard to say I truly knew them.
Even so, I had no intention of dying just to repeat everything all over again.
I'd lived through multiple repeated lives, but none had ever been perfect.
I would simply do my absolute best and move forward.
<The crisis has ended. A new 'Save Point' has been set.>
For that reason, I was able to dismiss the message window that popped up before my eyes at once.
A new life began once again.
I looked at the freshman standing in front of me.