Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Indirect Reunion - 1
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We flew back to Tetra territory on Agril, a two-hour ride.
Then, after waiting about three more hours, Offense showed up.
Instead of a greeting, he tossed something over with a flick of his wrist.
“Here.”
“You actually managed to snag it. And how’d you catch up so fast?”
“Well, you know all about my shaman arts, don’t you?”
“Indeed, Bright Death. Terrifying stuff.”
Shing.
I drew my sword and held it up to catch the sunset’s glow.
“So this is the famous hero’s sword.”
“It’s a fake.”
“Don’t ruin the mood, Neril.”
“Just making sure you haven’t forgotten.”
“Well, now I just have to make this sword the real deal.”
I sheathed it at my waist.
Meanwhile, Risel’s eyes were wide as saucers, darting back and forth between me and Offense.
“Uh… um. Hold on a second.”
She rubbed her eyes and looked at Offense again.
“He’s still there. Please wait just a bit longer.”
“No need. I’m Offense.”
“No! Mr. Offense fell to his death just a little while ago!”
“A remark that tells me exactly what you thought of me.”
“Why are you even here?”
Risel’s expression sharpened suddenly.
She wasn’t the type to get angry easily by nature, but this was downright chilling.
Jenia asked.
“Can I explain now, Mr. Maide?”
“Yeah.”
“Mr. Offense joined forces with us a long time ago.”
She gave a brief rundown of the situation.
Risel’s face cycled through a rainbow of emotions before settling into a dark scowl.
“So we were totally in the palm of your hand, huh.”
Offense shook his head.
“That’s an overstatement. The info I passed along was pretty worthless.”
“…”
“And in reality, Maide didn’t really interfere with you guys, right? You even got the hero’s sword properly.”
“Yes, that’s true. But somehow, that sword’s in Mr. Maide’s hands now.”
“Hm. Sorry about that.”
Offense shrugged once.
Risel pressed her forehead, looking dizzy.
“Mr. Kaild won’t forgive you.”
“That guy’s definitely scary, but my new leader’s got my back. Right?”
I just smirked.
Risel asked quietly.
“Do you really think he can protect you?”
I answered that one.
“You just saw it all, didn’t you? My fight with Kaild.”
“…”
“Let’s put aside the pointless arguments for now and focus on handling this situation.”
“You want me to stop the second earthquake? As if I’d—”
“I’ll turn you human.”
Risel blinked in confusion at my casual remark.
It seemed the words hadn’t quite reached her brain yet.
But soon enough.
“W-what? How in the world…”
Neril spoke up.
“I already know all about it.”
“Huh?”
“You’re the king of spirits, aren’t you?”
“…”
“We’ve got an excellent necromancer. We summoned a soul that knew the full story and got the details.”
Risel’s eyes shook violently.
She must’ve realized we heard it straight from Grade.
I spoke again.
“Help me kill the Demon King, and I’ll make you human. So lend me your aid.”
“…”
“I’m not saying join my party right now. You can decide that after this is over.”
“…”
“And don’t worry about excuses to Kaild. Just say I captured you and threatened you.”
Risel nodded slightly without thinking.
But then she caught herself and looked away, startled.
Good. Almost there.
I swallowed hard and continued.
“Putting everything else aside.”
“…”
“If you don’t help, the territory’s people will lose their entire livelihoods. Is that what you want?”
Risel finally spoke after a long pause.
“Mr. Kaild only acted after the earthquakes had built up some damage.”
“Well, no lives were lost, at least. Though he probably wouldn’t have cared if there were.”
“No way that’s…”
“Fine, say it isn’t. So what?”
“This time, I want to stop it with zero damage. Is that okay?”
I smirked and replied.
“Fine. Do it that way.”
Risel looked me straight in the eye and asked again.
“But then you won’t gain much fame.”
Having spent the most time closest to a fake hero, Risel seemed to grasp well how crucial fame was for becoming a hero.
She was the one who’d hidden her face to protect that very fame, after all.
I answered flatly.
“Between building my fame and the territory folk’s happiness—which do you think matters more?”
“…!”
“For me, obviously the latter. Any hero worth his salt would make that call.”
In other words, Kaild, who chose the former, wasn’t a hero.
That was the implication.
And it was the decisive blow for Risel.
She answered as if justifying it to herself.
“Fine. Since both of you have stopped one earthquake each, it’s not like you’d gain any special edge anyway.”
Hm. We’ll see about that.
Kaild’s so-called ‘path to becoming a hero’ apparently didn’t teach him this far.
That fame’s core is the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
Rewind six days.
My strategy briefing was nearing its end.
Load Kaild’s party onto Agril and drop them far from Tetra territory.
Kidnap Risel.
Convince her to stop the second earthquake.
And finally…
“You’re not using Apparent View?”
Neril blinked.
She looked a little cute like that.
…
No. Am I crazy?
“Yeah.”
“Why? Didn’t you say you’d use Apparent View on Kaild? Shouldn’t it be the opposite?”
“I’ll use Apparent View on Kaild, but not on myself. If things go my way, this simple ploy will turn into a great bomb.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Think about it from the territory folk’s perspective.”
“Hm…”
That’s when it happened.
Adwin suddenly shot up from his seat.
“I think I get it!”
“Oh? Let’s hear it.”
Adwin calmly laid out his guess.
I couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction.
A fourteen-year-old boy piercing right through my plan.
This kid’s got a bright future.
Who’s he take after?
“Correct.”
“Hehe.”
“How’d you figure that out?”
Adwin replied matter-of-factly.
“I based it on your usual personality, bro.”
“My personality?”
“Yeah. You’ve got a bit of a sly side.”
…
Now I’m worried about this kid’s future.
Who’s he take after?
Temporary evacuation shelter.
Many territory folk were chatting about the daytime earthquake or hero Kaild.
But some couldn’t gossip so carefree.
Those not in the ‘greatest number,’ who hadn’t secured the ‘greatest happiness.’
One such person, a carpenter named Braman from Tetra territory, felt a bit down.
The daytime earthquake.
To him, a local, it wasn’t earth-shattering.
He himself had weathered four or five quakes of that size just today.
Going back to his father’s generation, he couldn’t count them on two hands.
‘Still… my lumberyard got totally smashed. Damn it.’
He’d saved his life, but he’d seen his livelihood reduced to rubble.
Not with his own eyes, of course.
For some reason, the scenery had shifted right at the quake’s onset, showing him the scene.
‘That must be the magic you only hear about. The hero did that too?’
He tilted his head.
‘Why show it off like that?’
No ordinary person could stop an earthquake anyway.
Even without magic, everyone would’ve credited the hero.
‘So why show it? Like he’s bragging… Whoa.’
He shook his head quickly.
It was the hero’s doing, after all.
No one like him should doubt it lightly.
Fortunately for Braman, voices agreed with him.
“But that weird experience during the daytime quake.”
“Oh, showing us him stopping it?”
“Yeah. Honestly, that felt off.”
Braman’s ears perked up.
“I saw Kaild reaching dramatically toward the sky, striking a pose.”
“It was cool, sure.”
“No, I mean why show us that scene?”
“…”
“Quakes like that aren’t new to us. Not familiar, but living in this cursed territory, we’re braced for it, right? Yet he acts like he saved the world…”
The man kicked a pebble and continued.
“He even uses magic to show it. I saw my restaurant get wrecked by that magic. Like our misery’s something to brag about?”
“Hey, come on.”
“No, it burns me up, and he shoves that in our faces.”
“You’re always twisting everything.”
“Shut it.”
That kind of talk.
Braman hurried over to them.
“Ahem. You guys think so too?”
“Huh? What?”
“Well, I felt the same. I’m Braman, run a lumberyard.”
“Nice to meet ya. Name’s Bain.”
“About what you were saying…”
Braman didn’t know, but similar conversations were buzzing around the shelter.
Especially from those who’d barely escaped with their lives, losing their livelihoods—they were speaking up loudest.
And strangely, their talk spread contagiously.
Even to those in the ‘greatest number.’
“No, it’s not that I dislike it, but you know…”
“Yeah, I get it. For us, it was life or death.”
“Right. But it felt like he used it to show off.”
“Hey, he still stopped the quake. We shouldn’t say that.”
“Come on. Who do you think I am, ungrateful? I’m thankful, really… but…”
By the time the territory folk’s murmurs had ripened fully.
A loud voice suddenly boomed across the sky.
“Everyone! Be careful!”
“Huh? What, what is it?”
Jenia was atop Agril.
She poured her all into acting urgent and shouted again.
“The second earthquake is coming!”
The folk buzzed.
“What? What’d she say?”
“Earthquake! Another one’s coming!”
“But didn’t Kaild stop the last one?”
“Oh, she’s Mr. Maide’s ally! She helped me evacuate.”
Jenia took a deep breath.
Then she recited the line Maide had taught her.
“This one’s on a whole different level from the daytime one!”
It looked utterly desperate, no pretense or staging.
Pure concern for the folk’s safety.
I stood five or six paces from Risel.
Her eyes were closed, concentrating.
Neril whispered.
“Jenia should be spreading the word by now, right?”
“Yeah. Thanks to your voice-amplification magic. Appreciate it, always.”
“Ahem. No big deal.”
Neril turned her head slightly.
Offense spoke up in the gap.
“You sure know how to work the angles.”
“Learn some reverence for the hero from me.”
“You’d have to teach me.”
“…”
“No reverence, but I’m impressed. Kaild definitely missed something.”
Exactly.
He doesn’t understand ordinary people’s hearts.
Stopping an earthquake? Impressive, sure.
But Kaild overlooked the despair of those who lost their livelihoods to that very quake.
That’s why he waited for some damage to pile up.
If not for that blunder, I’d have pegged this plan’s success at under fifty percent.
But I had a hunch.
I’d seen the pattern plenty in my past life, when Kaild played hero.
I said.
“He got a hero’s welcome daytime. You need your head attached to scheme, after all. They were just grateful to be alive then.”
“Hm. Yeah, the hype for Kaild was huge.”
“But hours later, heads cooled, and reality hit. What now for work? Debts piling up. Kids eating us out of house and home… etc.”
“…”
“They needed something to chew on. And then it hit them.”
Kaild Wake.
More precisely, how he treated the life-or-death quake for them as a ‘stage’ for show.
Trail said.
[Yeah. Without Apparent View, quietly stopping it would’ve been different.]
‘Right. One of his big mistakes was deploying magic just to brag.’
Well, I goaded him into it, but whatever.
The fool who bit on an enemy’s unexplained kindness is the idiot here.
Apparent View screams intentional to anyone.
So I banned it for myself and had Jenia spread the word verbally.
That’s when Offense spoke.
“But didn’t you pull off a flashy show in Aibis territory? Descending from Agril like a god.”
“And you said I was more stylish than Kaild.”
“…Yeah. I remember.”
“Why’d you rate it that way? No actual war then, so the masses were happy. Now, Kaild’s screw-up created real unhappy people.”
“What’re you on about?”
“Never mind. It’s a thing.”
Offense tilted his head.
‘Alright then.’
I rubbed my palms.
Kaild: blocks spatial jam, brags with magic.
Maide: stops massive quake, no ‘magic brag’ in sight.
Let’s see which the folk prefer.