Linus's House (6)
The rest of the story went like this.
The two of them had taken down an ogre from the enemy vanguard, severed the rebels' supply lines and starved them out, and ambushed an enemy infiltration team on a night march and wiped them out. They had been the only two to walk away from a major battle, and while they were fleeing, they couldn't bring themselves to pass a civilian village under attack, so they saved it. They had scaled the walls of an enemy-held fortress in secret and thrown open the gates, assassinated several corps commanders, and beaten Hindrastar so thoroughly they drove her from the battlefield.
And in the end, with Dian's help, Linus succeeded in cutting the Demon King in two. Just as Dian had so confidently declared, they stormed all the way to the Demon King's Castle, killed the Demon King, and brought the war to a close.
The people of the Empire know perfectly well that every one of these events was the achievement of the Hero Linus. But aside from a handful of high-ranking officers and ministers of the Imperial Palace, almost no one knows that another comrade was always there beside him.
Of those who had seen Dian up close during his days as a common soldier, almost none survived the war. And once he was promoted to officer and became a member of the special task force, his identity was kept under the strictest secrecy. After that, Dian rejected every offer from the Imperial Palace and vanished. The Emperor, displeased and unsettled by this, had every related record erased — and so Dian was forgotten.
"If it hadn't gone that way, I'd probably be slaving away at the Imperial Palace just like you."
They had been swapping stories for hours. The sun had set, and the late evening darkness had settled in. Dian carved into the prime beef steak Linus had specially prepared, a leisurely smile on his face.
"When a supporting character hits the ending, the best thing to do is retire and live quietly. That's gotten a bit derailed lately, though."
"You still say the most incomprehensible things."
Linus smiled as he looked at him.
Looking back, it really had been insane. The original novel I had possessed opened its prologue at the founding of the Demon King Special Task Force. In other words, Linus's enlistment in the army happened before the prologue, so I couldn't actually foresee anything from that point up to it. But I had to keep Linus alive until the prologue somehow, so I found him and just dragged him around. The man was overflowing with a sense of justice — you never knew when or where he'd snap and throw himself into danger like a moth to a flame, ready to throw his life away.
And he really did pull several death-defying stunts. Thanks to me keeping him in check at the right moments, I managed to get him to the prologue in one piece. If I'd slipped up even a little along the way, neither of us would be sitting here now.
"By the way, Dian."
Linus asked as he served food onto my plate.
"How's the Academy? Managing all right?"
"It's not bad. For one thing, I don't have to watch anyone's face, so it's comfortable."
"When have you ever watched anyone's face? A guy who doesn't even care what the Emperor thinks — as if you'd start now just because it's an academy."
Celine said it with a laugh.
"No conflicts with the principal there? From what Linus told me, she sounds like quite the stubborn one."
"Not stubborn so much as scared. You know, right? She's from the Nemara Clan."
"I know. The dark elf's daughter who stopped the assassination attempt on His Majesty and became a war hero. I heard the clan chieftain personally requested she be made principal."
"That's exactly why."
I laid out Kirlin's impossible predicament for Celine and Linus. The Nemara Clan of dark elves wanted to be recognized as members of society. But with a history of cooperating with the Demon King's army, they couldn't openly leave the forest — so they sent one of their own daughters into public office instead. As a half-blood, she lacked the characteristic cruelty and coldness of her kind, which made her the perfect candidate to rehabilitate the clan's reputation.
The problem was the Second Princess. Distrustful of dark elves, and wanting Linus entirely as her own, she was looking for an excuse to dismiss Kirlin and install him as principal. Terrified of giving anyone ammunition, Kirlin had scaled back or shut down anything that might possibly cause an incident. She knew full well this ran counter to the Second Princess's intentions — but the fear of being dismissed and driven back to the forest dwarfed any fear of falling out of favor.
"A vicious cycle. But I can't say I don't understand that principal."
Linus said.
"Dark elves lack the emotions essential to living in society. In the process of getting what they want, they give no consideration to others whatsoever. Not even family."
"Don't I know it. I saw it firsthand at the Rajoram Siege."
Back then we had wiped out a dark elf infiltration team attempting a flanking surprise attack, and I felt a powerful doubt — whether dark elves even belonged among the intelligent races like ourselves. Just thinking about the atrocities they committed at Rajoram still sends a chill down my spine. Compared to them, the demonkin almost seem warm and friendly. That's why Kirlin had felt so jarringly out of place when I first met her.
"That's why last time she dropped to her knees, bawling, begging me to please help her."
"Oh dear."
"You know Duke Toulouse, right? His daughter's at the Academy, and she asked me to give her private lessons."
This time I told Linus about Nightly Toulouse. He found the story extremely interesting.
"What a curious coincidence. The Duke of Toulouse's young lady becoming your student. So, did you agree?"
"I said I would. Hard to refuse when she's crying her eyes out like that, and I was a bit curious myself."
"Curious about what?"
"How far she could actually go if I trained her."
When I described how I'd been training Toulouse, Celine and Linus both burst out laughing.
"Dian! Are you raising a Hero's party over there?"
"It's fine. She pulled it all off in the end. Her attitude's a complete disaster, but she's got the talent."
"Well, the House of Toulouse has produced warriors for generations, so she must have inherited some of that. The current Duke included."
Among the noble army commanders during the war, Duke Toulouse had been one of the more sensible and capable leaders. If it hadn't been for him, the noble army wouldn't even have managed a proper retreat — they would have been annihilated. It's just that the commoner-born officer corps led by the Second Princess, then commander of the 3rd Corps, was so overwhelmingly superior that he didn't get much of the spotlight.
"Raise that girl well, Dian. As you said, if you lift the overall level of the graduates, Her Highness the Second Princess will be pleased."
"If I could fix her personality while I'm at it, that'd be even better. Want to come knock some sense into her sometime?"
At that, Linus gave a low laugh and shook his head.
"Common sense says you're the specialist when it comes to breaking people, not me."
"How is that common sense?"
"Shall we fetch those demonkin officers currently sitting in prison and ask them? The answer would come immediately."
"Unanimous vote, guaranteed."
Celine burst into a peal of laughter.
After that, the conversation moved on to the Combat Department overhaul, the development of the Academy Commercial District, and Hindrastar's rampage, in that order.
"This is just my thought, Dian."
Celine, who had been listening, spoke up carefully.
"I think you need to be careful about how you conduct yourself at the Academy."
"Why?"
"This is just my gut, but..."
The word gut made me tense up a little. Celine was a hunter by origin, with an extraordinarily developed instinct for sensing danger. If the famous hunters of Quiranna were technicians skilled in methods passed down through generations, Celine was the kind of person you'd say was born a hunter to begin with. Thanks to that gut of hers, we had made it through countless crises unharmed. What Celine felt with her instinct was almost never wrong — and that was why I was tense.
"No matter how I look at it, I think Principal Kirlin has feelings for you."
According to Celine, Kirlin genuinely liked me, and her tendency to lean on me was very strong. She was probably already scheming in her own way to get herself involved with me somehow, so I should be careful.
"Is that so...?"
"It's just a feeling. I'm not certain."
"I agree with Celine."
Linus said.
"I had the same impression the whole time I was listening to you. You're practically a savior to that principal. Then what about Student Nightly?"
"Student Nightly... well."
At Linus's question, Celine shook her head with a doubtful look.
"I think that girl's possessiveness. She wants you all to herself. Like some expensive, precious piece of jewelry."
"Yeah. Well, whatever she does is her business."
"I suppose so. Dian, have you ever once been influenced or swayed by anyone? Except for Rormane."
At the mention of Rormane's name, I felt my mood plummet.
"Rormane... she's terrifying."
"She is."
"Yeah."
With that, the three of us ate in silence for a while.
"By the way, about that priest at your Academy infirmary."
After a moment, Celine broke the silence.
"You said she's an Oracle Priest? That Rormane recommended her."
"Yeah. They were going to send thirty bishops, so I said one would be enough, and they sent her."
"Hmmm. I see..."
Celine set down her fork, her expression turning serious, and Linus looked somewhat worried as well.
"Nothing unusual happen at the Academy?"
"Nothing much, other than her barely talking. She does her job meticulously, though."
"I see... Hmm..."
Celine, who had been stroking her chin, spoke carefully.
"That priest named Maya. You'd better be careful of her."
"Why?"
"You said Rormane sent her, right? She wouldn't send an Oracle Priest she's personally training to the Academy where you are for no reason."
"That's true. If it's Rormane, of course she would. But so far there hasn't been any sign of anything."
"There's definitely something. Rormane isn't that sloppy. What could it be... What did she tell her to do..."
As Celine tapped the table with her finger, lost in thought, Linus, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
"Dian. You said that priest works at the infirmary, right? Don't they keep a Patient Log at an infirmary?"
"They do. Every time I go to the infirmary I see her writing away diligently..."
I closed my mouth. Linus nodded.
