39. We Need to Talk
39. We Need to Talk
It was impossible for Amy, who couldn't move her legs properly, to climb on by herself.
I crouched down, and Amy wrapped her arms around my neck, leaning against me as I hoisted her up by the thighs.
There was a size difference, but not so much that I couldn't carry her.
Our current location was the deepest part of the dungeon, below the boss room... if we stayed still, we wouldn't be able to escape and would be crushed to death.
After confirming that Amy had a firm grip, I started making a quick escape.
Amy, who had her face buried against my neck, spoke quietly.
"...You weren't a demon?"
What the hell was this nonsense now?
'Damn, even I get called a demon now.'
Or maybe back in my apprentice days, I used to get called a 'demonic bastard.'
Had she fired that silver bullet because she thought I was a demon?
"Why would I be a demon?"
"You were at the place where the fanatics were performing their ritual."
It seemed the misunderstanding arose because we ran into each other while I was dealing with the demon church fanatics first.
"I found the demon church bastards before you and sliced them up in advance."
"Demonic energy was pouring out too..."
"A demon got summoned as well, so I sent it packing too. That came from its corpse."
Apparently, she had seen the traces emitted by the dead demon and assumed I had finished making a contract with it.
"That's why I said back then, I don't know what you're thinking, but it's a misunderstanding."
"... I'm sorry."
Amy said in a crawling voice.
I wanted to smack her on the head, but I held back because she was on my back.
I resolved to smack her plenty once she recovered.
"But Atlas... if a demon told you it could make you taller, I thought.. you'd make a contract right away."
"Tch. Well, that's true, I guess."
If demons weren't frauds, I probably would have considered it.
"I've chopped up how many demons. You think I don't know they're swindlers? And I told you, if you're having a hard time, tell me. What's with this state you're in?"
"I couldn't open up and talk about it. ...You lied to me, didn't you?"
"I did?"
What was she suddenly talking about?
"Your name... it's not Atlas Nemea, is it. I told you everything, but you gave me a fake family name..."
"How do you know that?"
"I have my ways too. You're not a Nemea, you're Atlas Titan."
If I had enrolled as a Titan, it would have caused too much of a stir.
After all, Titan was a tremendously prestigious family too.
Rumors about the eldest son who never appeared at official functions still circulated in high society.
Of course, the biggest reason I changed my name now was that a guy who'd become a Master had deserted from the Imperial Knights, but still.
"That's true, but Nemea is my real surname too. My mother's side is Nemea and my father's side is Titan. I'm just using my mother's name here. Because I didn't enroll as a member of the Titan family... it's personal circumstances."
"And you hid being a Master too..."
"Hey, then if it got out that a Master enrolled in the academy, it'd be embarrassing.. I didn't enroll because I wanted to either."
"If you hated it, why did you enroll...?"
"Family circumstances."
It would be weird if a new student was a Master.
If someone asked why a person of that caliber even came here, I'd have nothing to say.
What would they think if I said my younger sibling told me to go cool my head...
And lately, I hadn't just been attending normally. I'd been going around beating up kids who couldn't even swing a sword properly. If a person who was a Master had been going around doing that... ugh, embarrassing.
"If Atlas is a Master of the Empire... you must be one of the Imperial Knights' Shadows."
"You know your stuff."
There were three Masters in the Empire.
One was Linda Westhaven, the 2nd Commander of the Imperial Knights. The other two only existed as announcements from the Empire and their identities were never revealed.
The two unknowns were the Shadows of the Empire.
Unlike ordinary knights who handled official duties under the brilliant sun, they were the ones who existed in the shadows where the light didn't reach.
They carried out secret missions and couldn't enjoy the glory of being a Master, but by the same token, bore no great responsibility.
Their glory wasn't forcibly stripped away by anyone.
The two Shadows, me and Teacher, had chosen that path ourselves.
If formally announced as Masters, we could enjoy tremendous glory, but we would also draw that much attention from others.
Both of us liked living as we pleased.
"Why would such an amazing person... keep being so nice to me...?"
"Do you really need a reason?"
"I.. was wary, thinking you had some ulterior motive. Atlas.. you were too kind to me. I have nothing... I'm just the daughter of a poor viscount with one small territory... I was scared to accept Atlas's kindness as pure goodwill..."
Amy's words were right.
Of course I had an ulterior motive.
Because you seemed destined for Hayden's fate.
As someone who knew what events would unfold in this world, I wanted to keep you within my field of vision.
"You were kind to Liber too."
"With Liber, you exercise together and spar, talking about the same topics. It's not the same with me."
But that was only the starting point.
If that reason was truly all there was, if you had the same personality as the vengeful Hayden, I would have just kept you where my eyes could reach, not tried to keep you by my side.
Many nobles who were raised like precious jewels in their homes came to this academy.
Most of them were socially inept, communication-impaired types who thought they were all that, and the majority had problematic personalities.
"Background or whatever isn't important when a person likes another person. You have a good personality and you're fun to be around. That's enough, isn't it?"
"You barely even talked to me though.."
"That's because you avoided me. Don't avoid me anymore when I come to talk to you from now on. What was with that, seriously. Were you going around hunting demons or something every night?"
"I wanted to revive my territory.. that's why."
I wanted to hear, later at a more leisurely pace, what path Amy had taken to become a Devil Slayer.
Fighting the demon church was never easy.
It wasn't something you could just do alone because you wanted to.
The mithril greatsword on her back, the pistol, the anti-demon red coat—none of these were things the daughter of a mere viscount could possess.
I could be certain.
Someone had definitely intervened in her life.
In the original work, there was a teacher who taught Hayden too. But his nature forced him to keep moving, never staying in one place.
Amy said she kept living in her territory, so that didn't match either.
'She says I'm hiding a lot, but Amy's led a life just as suspicious.'
But I didn't want to interrogate her about that right now.
"It must have been hard."
"......Yeah."
Because it would take a long time to explain, and more than anything, Amy's body clinging to my back was so terribly fragile.
Had she always fought like this?
The original protagonist, Devil Slayer Hayden Parker, had different physical conditions from Amy.
There was the difference between a man and a woman, but Hayden was also tall, packed with muscle all over his body, and above all, his mindset was different.
Unlike Hayden, who threw away much of his humanity for revenge after losing everything, Amy was still human.
Fighting non-human entities while holding onto your humanity was bound to be hard.
Amy's habit of brooding alone like now and putting herself in mortal danger alone—that needed to be fixed for the future.
If something related to the demon church happened, and Amy tried to handle it by herself in secret and failed, the Empire would be utterly screwed.
If only she would tell me, we could discuss a way to solve it together.
The rest... we'll continue after we get out of here and Amy's injuries are fully recovered.
The dungeon's collapse was getting worse.
Rocks fell from the ceiling several times, but they couldn't even graze my body.
The exit was gradually coming into view.
"Why... did you save me...?"
With the exit shining brightly ahead, Amy spoke in a low voice.
She still had her face buried against the nape of my neck.
"I thought Atlas was a demon, so I shot at you.. swung my Aura Blade at you... kept my distance thinking you had some ulterior motive... I wronged you so much..."
'At least she knows she did wrong.'
If she had been talking back without realizing her mistakes, I was planning to slap her first. Showing reflection was a good attitude.
I felt Amy's voice, speaking quietly, gradually trembling.
The nape of my neck, touching her face, was hot.
A hot liquid ran down my neck.
I felt like I knew what it was without needing to look.
What would be the best thing to say?
Suddenly, I remembered what Teacher had said to me right when I reached the Master realm.
"We're friends. Was I the only one who thought that?"
"...."
Before we knew it, bright sunlight was shining on us, who had been wandering through the long, winding dungeon.
We had safely escaped the dungeon where you couldn't see an inch ahead.
She was a mess, but Amy had survived once again, just like always.
This time, she wasn't alone.
—————————————
Andy returned to the capital for the first time in a long while.
In recognition of his merit for brilliantly resolving the academy dungeon runaway incident, he was to receive a medal directly from the Imperial Palace.
From Andy's perspective, he had conveyed his opinion that Atlas should be the one receiving it, but Atlas had frowned deeply.
'Let's say you handled it all, sunbae. Everyone seems to think that anyway. And it's not entirely wrong, is it?'
Saying that if his name became known it would be troublesome, Atlas even told Andy that he could take all the credit for this incident.
As a result, Andy ended up receiving the award at the Imperial Palace, so Atlas's judgment proved correct.
Being chased by the Imperial Knights, entering the capital where they resided was surely burdensome for him.
'It's all good. I don't care, but let's make this clear. If my name comes out even a little, I won't let it slide.'
Andy knew exactly what it meant when he said to give him everything in exchange for keeping his name out of it.
"Heh heh... I hitched my wagon to the right star."
It was incredibly hard work watching Atlas's back while he ran wild at the academy and securing the bare minimum of justifications, but it was worth it.
His personality was a bit filthy, but Atlas was a capable knight.
Unlike Andy, who had only managed to become a regular member at best, Atlas had reached an executive position even within the Imperial Knights.
That position was only given to those who reached the top-tier Expert realm within the Imperial Knights.
As soon as he shed his apprentice tag, Atlas immediately earned that title.
When someone like Atlas said he'd make sure scraps fell his way if Andy just handled the aftermath well, he thought it was an opportunity.
The Imperial Household viewed this incident as quite a major case.
It was a massive incident where dozens of promising heirs of Imperial nobility had almost lost their lives.
The discovery of demon church traces meant that they had breached the academy's supposedly ironclad security.
The breach of the academy's security, which was maintained at a level similar to the Imperial Household's, provided a major clue that the demon church's reach could extend even to the current Imperial Palace.
With one misstep, this incident could have shaken the pillars of the Empire, so the merit of navigating it without any fatalities was immense.
"I am proud of you. Even after leaving the knight order, it is good to see you continuing to devote yourself."
"Thank you, Commander."
Andy's eyes fell on the golden flower-shaped medal that would hang on his chest.
It was the 4th Class Gavera Medal, an honorable decoration given to knights who distinguished themselves in moments of crisis.
The one holding the medal was a healthy-looking woman who appeared to be in her early thirties at most, no matter how generously you estimated.
Her neatly braided ebony hair emphasized her pure white nape.
Her beautiful eyes with their calm gaze resembled the color of a deep night sea.
Her flawlessly clean, healthy-looking skin and warm atmosphere made her seem like a female knight without much experience, but the reality was completely different.
She was none other than Linda Westhaven, Commander of the Imperial Knights.
One of the only three Masters in the Empire had personally appeared for the award ceremony.
The fact that Linda Westhaven, who was always so busy that even regular members could barely see her and only gaze at her from afar, had appeared in person moved Andy deeply, filling his heart to bursting.
Linda leaned slightly forward to pin the medal on him personally.
His heart pounded at the fact that the knight commander he admired had come right before his eyes.
"So..."
She spoke quietly, as if giving a congratulatory remark, while pinning the medal onto Andy's chest.
"Where is Atlas hiding?"
Andy thought he had misheard.
"...Excuse me?"