Can You Help Me? (3)
I looked at Linus for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Are you kidding me? You want me to teach kids?"
But Linus wasn't laughing.
"I'm not joking, Dian."
The truth was, I already knew he wasn't. That man never did anything so frivolous as crack a joke. He'd come all the way from the imperial capital to offer me the Academy Principal position in earnest. If he'd simply wanted to see me, he wouldn't have arrived on an imperial warship with Imperial Guard knights in tow.
But I was going to refuse.
"Sorry, but I don't think I can do that."
"There's no need to be modest, Dian. You have more than enough ability to be Academy Principal."
"I'm not being modest. I really can't help you with this."
Linus asked, looking somewhat taken aback.
"May I ask why?"
"You know me. I can't sit at a desk pushing papers. And a position with that kind of heavy responsibility? That's way too much pressure."
"You wouldn't be doing it alone. Plenty of capable professors and administrative staff would support you. All you'd need to do is pass on the experience and know-how from our old days, as you see fit."
"That's not the point. We're not talking about just anything—we're talking about an Academy Principal. Authority and responsibility come with it, and everything would hinge on my decisions. I don't want that."
After I refused again, Linus let out a faint sigh.
"The current founding Academy Principal has thoroughly worn out his welcome at the Imperial Palace. They're desperate to find a successor so they can kick him out. But we've vetted countless candidates, and none of them met the standards we wanted. You're the only one who can do this."
Still no. Why had I refused a title and a fief, taken only the money, and come all the way out to this distant neutral port? Because I wanted to live quietly, without any headaches, with my mind at ease.
If he'd asked me to kill the Demon King again because the bastard had come back to life, I'd have done it without a second thought. But Academy Principal? This was something I had to refuse.
"I'm sorry, Linus."
After a brief silence, Linus spoke.
"The truth is... the Imperial Palace wanted to install me as Academy Principal."
"What? You little—are you dumping this on me?"
"It's not that. I'm planning to retire soon... and they told me that if that's the case, I need to find a suitable replacement and then leave."
"Retire? Are you looking to settle down somewhere quiet too?"
"I wish I could. The fact is, the baby's due next month. I want to devote myself to raising the child."
"What...? A baby? Childcare...?"
The unexpected words left me so stunned I could only parrot them back like an idiot.
"You... got married?"
"Yeah. I married Celine."
"W-what!? Are you serious?!"
Celine had been the hunter in the Hero's party, and throughout the entire journey she'd had this subtle chemistry with Linus. Right before the battle with the Demon King, Linus had even left a will asking that if he died, I escort Celine safely back to her hometown.
They were both so hopelessly dense I'd been dying of frustration waiting for one of them to confess—but they'd actually gotten married. This was genuinely wonderful news.
"Congratulations, you bastard! You finally got married!"
I thumped him on the shoulder, and a contented smile spread across Linus's face.
"Who confessed first? Huh? It was Celine, right? She was always more forward than you. Is it a boy or a girl? Wait... hold on..."
I was pouring out words in my excitement when a thought suddenly struck me, and my voice trailed off.
"The baby's coming next month...?"
Celine had lost her left leg in the battle against the Demon King. With a body like that, she couldn't look after a baby on her own.
"That's right, Dian. That's why. You understand now why I want to quit, don't you?"
"Couldn't you just hire a nanny or something?"
"Work at the Imperial Palace is incredibly busy. I'm often out at dawn and not back until dawn, Dian..."
Linus spoke in a subdued voice.
"Until now, I've done it gladly, thinking it was for the continent. But getting married and having a child... it's changed how I feel a little. Like you said, I could hire a nanny, or find some other way to have someone look after the child in Celine's place. But that's not the kind of family I want to build."
So kind-hearted it was almost a fault, he'd lived his whole life overflowing with sacrificial spirit—and now that someone had actually appeared who needed him to make a sacrifice, he'd been thrown into confusion.
It reminded me of something from my previous life. When I was in the military, some high-ranking officer had said something like this.
You go on leave, and the kid's walking. You go on leave, and the kid's talking. You go on leave, and the kid's starting elementary school. At first they cried when they saw their dad. Later they called him the uncle who came home once a month. And only now do they call him Dad.
You work for your family, but you only grow further and further from them. Like Linus said, what was the point of that?
Especially in Linus's case—even if he quit his job this instant, he had the means to live comfortably for the rest of his life, so of course he'd want to devote himself to his family all the more. The service he'd given the Imperial Palace after killing the Demon King had been about establishing a stable peace in the postwar era. Making a living had never been the real point.
"I've heard enough to understand your situation. A nanny isn't a real solution. I get it."
"I'm sorry, Dian. Coming to you after ten years with a request this difficult."
"No. Hearing the good news that you married Celine more or less balances it out. You're leaving at dawn tomorrow? Then I'll think it over and give you an answer."
"Understood, Dian. I'm sorry again."
After Linus and the knights returned to the ship, I lay on the terrace sunbed and sorted through the situation.
My two closest friends had finally gotten married, and they were having a baby next month. Celine's body wasn't in good shape, so Linus wanted to retire and devote himself to raising the child—but the Imperial Palace was telling him to either take the Academy Principal position or find a suitable replacement before he left.
And in the middle of this mess, coincidentally, Linus had tracked me down after that incident I'd had with Ferenchino and come all the way here.
He could just use a nanny, but Linus felt that having a nanny raise the child while he remained tied to the Imperial Palace defeated the purpose of having a family. On that point, I agreed with him a hundred times over.
So, should I weigh the two options against each other?
Breaking the original story, pocketing the money, and loafing around in hiding at a port city versus going to work at the academy for the sake of the friends who'd shared life and death with me.
Obviously the latter. If my precious friends Linus and Celine were in trouble and I could solve it, I'd do anything.
And, embarrassingly for a recluse, after ten years of nothing but eating and loafing around, my body was starting to itch for action. A long-distance outing with the purpose of helping a friend, in a situation like this. Not bad.
But Academy Principal was still too high a position. I didn't want to sit in a seat that burdensome. Wasn't there a better way?
"Dian, sir. What are you doing?"
"Come sit here for a second."
Olicia happened to come out onto the terrace, so I sat her on the sunbed next to mine and explained the choice I was facing. Olicia was sharp—she'd come up with something good.
After listening to my story, Olicia thought it over, stroking her chin, then snapped her fingers.
"I've thought of a really good way! A way for you to help your friend's family without taking on a huge responsibility. Of course, the high-ups in the Empire would have to give their permission."
Olicia leaned in and whispered what she'd come up with into my ear. Oh, this was pretty good.
Dawn was slowly breaking. Linus stood leaning against the deck railing, thick fog swirling around him, and gazed toward the docks.
Would Dian come? He probably would. Dian was the friend Linus trusted most in the world.
It was shameless to make such a difficult request after meeting for the first time in ten years, but Linus had had no other choice.
He'd worried about how Dian was doing after leaving the Imperial Palace—whether he might have died somewhere—but there'd been no way to find him. Dian had vanished completely after that day, and though letters arrived from time to time, tracking their origin had been impossible.
Dian had often said things like this to Linus in the past. That Linus was the protagonist of this world, and that there was no place for Dian in the postwar age of peace.
Was that what the past ten years of disappearance had been about? He didn't know. But Dian would help him, regardless.
From their days as the lowest-ranking soldiers in the legion all the way to killing the Demon King, Dian had always helped Linus, and ten years ago he'd clearly promised to help whenever needed.
When Linus had first been deployed into actual combat, Dian—who'd enlisted around the same time—had been the one to strike up a conversation.
"You're a new recruit too? Nice to meet you. Let's get along."
With his unkempt brown hair and cheerful eyes, Dian was a somewhat different sort from Linus. Unlike the honest Linus, who couldn't stand to look the other way when he saw injustice, Dian was, well... a delinquent.
He'd slack off in some hiding spot while keeping an eye on the commander, use every trick in the book to draw extra rations, or sneak into the warehouse to steal fresh supplies. Linus didn't particularly care for that type of person—people who only wanted to take the easy way and felt no shame about being immoral.
So at first he'd tried to avoid Dian, but in a platoon of barely thirty men, how easy was that supposed to be? Linus kept getting tangled up with him whether he wanted to or not.
"Hey, Linus. Come here. Let's eat this together."
"Where did you get that? Did you swipe it from the supply warehouse again?"
"Quit nagging. The platoon leader stashed this in his tent, the bastard. It was supposed to go to the soldiers in the first place."
"Still, this is a problem..."
"Hey, Linus. Let's not bother pitching a tent. Let's sleep in those bushes over there. They look nice and soft."
"Leaving the encampment is not allowed, Dian. And how do you plan to skip roll call tonight?"
"The assistant platoon leader's on duty. That guy does a half-assed roll call and then sleeps all night. Come on, let's go."
"Are you sure that's okay..."
Dian had always looked after Linus—a country-born serf's son with an inflexible personality and no close comrades. And once they actually became friends, Dian surprisingly had his good points.
What's more, Dian had an innate talent for combat, and he had saved Linus from the brink of death more times than Linus could count.
"Hey, Linus. Just my personal opinion, but we should maneuver this way. I think that's what we need to do."
"But the platoon leader's order is to charge. That's insubordination. Insubordination is a death sentence."
"You idiot. Charging in this situation is a suicide run. You don't want to die from some stupid order before you even achieve what you set out to do, do you?"
"Well, that's true..."
"Hey, Linus. Let's take that one ourselves."
"That's absurd! That thing's an ogre! Wait for support!"
"If you just listen to me, the two of us will be enough. Let's take that bastard's head and get ourselves a medal."
"Dian! Dian! Come back! Damn it! I'm coming with you!"
And so, with Dian's help, Linus had crossed countless lines of death. In the end, their achievements were recognized, and they were promoted to officers side by side.
Even when they were selected for the special task force deployed to the Demon King's Castle, Dian had always been with him. And in the battle against the Demon King...
"Hey, Linus."
Dian and his maid Olicia emerged through the fog on the docks, both of them carrying large travel bags.
"Dian! You came!"
Linus vaulted straight over the railing and landed in front of him.
"I knew you'd come! Have you made up your mind?"
"I've decided not to be the Academy Principal."
Linus's face hardened at the unexpected answer. Hadn't he come here because he'd accepted the offer? Then what were those travel bags for?
Watching the flustered Linus, Dian continued.
"I won't be the Academy Principal. But if it's just a professor at the academy, I'd be plenty willing."
"A professor?"
"If I take the Academy Principal's seat, I'd have to take responsibility for all the headaches. But a professor is a different story. And what the Imperial Palace wants is for me to train the academy kids with my know-how anyway, right? Not administration. You know as well as I do that I'm not diligent enough to do an Academy Principal's job."
"That's true."
Linus thought carefully about Dian's new proposal. The conclusion: not bad.
The Imperial Palace had earmarked Linus and rejected every candidate he'd recommended, but Dian would be different. Dian possessed outstanding combat talent and a wealth of real combat experience. Even if not Academy Principal, a professor position would make a good compromise.
"If you... if you'd do that..."
Linus opened his mouth to speak, then had to clench his teeth as tears suddenly welled up.
He hadn't even been able to send a single letter asking how Dian was, because he hadn't known where to find him. And after meeting for the first time in ten years, he'd made an unreasonable request out of the blue, and yet Dian...
Celine. We're receiving Dian's help again this time. As I thought, Dian is the friend and ally I trust most.
"If you... if you'd do that..."
When Linus's eyes welled with tears, I let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.
"Alright. Decision's made, so let's go. I'm bringing her along too, that okay? I don't feel right leaving her by herself."
"Of course. Come aboard."
Linus led the way, guiding us onto the ship.
"By the way, your friend seems well aware of how you loaf around, Dian, sir."
"Quiet, Olicia. It's called being laid-back."
I scolded her for the joke as we crossed the gangplank onto the ship.
"Set sail! All hands to stations!"
At the captain's shout, the sailors moved in perfect unison, unfurling the sails and casting off the lines.
Standing at the bow of the slowly moving ship, I looked out at the sea and thought.
I hadn't wanted to pull any of that I was trying to live quietly nonsense, so I'd helped Linus and we'd reached the ending. And now that I was truly trying to live quietly, ten years later the protagonist had come asking for my help all over again.
What could I do? I had to help. I'd promised I would, ten years ago, and Linus and Celine were truly precious friends to me.
From now on, my latest goal was to become an academy professor and guarantee the original story's protagonist—Linus and his wife—their time to raise a child.
An academy professor, huh... Fine, I'd do it. How hard could it be?