Chapter 122
Translator: penny
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: Graduation - 1
After finishing up, I headed straight to the garrison. Claire must have returned by now, so I needed to talk to her.
"Where's Claire?"
"Huh? Oh, she's in the barracks."
"Yeah?"
I went right to her barracks. When I opened the door...
"Eek!"
There was Claire, kneeling in the corner with her hands up. I glanced at her peeking at me nervously and pulled over a chair, holding it out.
"...Huh? Oh, you want me to sit?"
"Hold this too."
Claire grimaced as she took the chair.
Sure, she's a hero, so this probably wasn't that tough on her physically, but it must be embarrassing as hell.
Be grateful, at least.
I'm not making her do this in front of everyone.
"Hero!! You're back..."
The door burst open.
It was General Leoden.
He'd just returned from searching for the hero, his armor splattered with monster blood.
"...What are you doing right now?"
"Can't you tell?"
"Who do you think you're asking for? ...No, why to the hero?"
"If someone's done wrong, they should be punished. That's only natural."
"But the hero went to rescue the captured people..."
"Who said this is about that?"
"Then?"
"Report, contact, consult. If you encounter ruins, you report back immediately. Why'd you go charging in on your own? Do you have any idea how many people suffered looking for you?"
Claire flinched.
She knew she was guilty and hung her head.
"Hmm. Sage, you're not wrong, but... she's still the hero."
"That's exactly why I'm doing this. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't bother."
I cut him off firmly, and in the end, Leoden couldn't argue anymore. How long had I been standing there with my arms crossed, staring?
Unable to bear the silence, General Leoden fled the room, and I pulled up a chair and sat down.
"I know what you were thinking when you did that."
"...."
"I'll say it again. Absolutely. You can't fix the past."
"...Really... promise?"
"Yeah."
"I saw it there... and..."
Claire's voice was thick with tears. I could guess what she'd seen.
When I came to this world, if Claire had saved me, the future that would have come to pass.
So of course she'd feel regret.
"It might have been that way."
Her head drooped. A single tear ran down Claire's cheek, but I didn't forget what I had to say.
"But in the end, that's just an 'if.'"
Chin's words came to mind.
Even if you succeed in turning it back, would Claire have no regrets?
Once you change a relationship, greed sets in—you'll want to fix more.
Fix a little more, fix it all, until you get perfect happiness.
Who who has regretted once can swear they'll never regret again?
I already knew there was no perfect answer in life.
"...But what if you could find the perfect answer...?"
"Even if you could find it, you shouldn't. Are you thinking of crumbling everything people have built so far just for your own greed?"
"Th-that's!"
"I'll say it again. No. This is a warning, Claire."
Claire nodded. That should be enough.
"Put that down."
I cast Heal on Claire as she weakly set the chair down. No major injuries, but she had some scrapes and was pretty drained stamina-wise.
Claire's eyes widened as she looked at me, then she flinched and bowed her head again.
Such a small, pretty head.
I placed my hand on her sparkling orange hair, like the sun.
"...Eh?!"
And gave it a light pat.
How shocked was she? Claire just stared up at me blankly, unable to react.
"What."
"N-no... p-pat... patting... head... h-head. P-pat... patting..."
Her tongue was even twisting.
Good.
"You should remember this touch."
"...U-uuu. Y-yeah! Yeah! Nyeh! Nyehet!!"
Flustered, Claire nodded her head vigorously.
I crouched down to meet her eyes.
Her orange eyes trembled with anticipation.
"The moment you join hands with Chronos, this hand will smash your head."
"....Hic!"
"You're dead. For real."
Seeing Claire freeze up solid, I patted her head once more and turned away.
"Then I'm off to handle something else.
If you betray me even after this and become a Chronos apostle, I got nothing to say.
It'd suck, but I'd have to deal with it.
I wanted to warn Leventia and Evangeline too, but they're out on operations and haven't returned yet.
Seems like after last time, they're dead serious about slaying monsters.
I wrote them letters for their sake, then headed to one of the continent's city-states: Alkein, the city famous for alchemy.
I went into a tavern I knew there, ordered a bottle of booze, and poured myself a drink while I thought.
Sitting around doing nothing until shit hits the fan and then whining to others isn't my style.
So, if I know something's coming, I should prepare as much as possible.
Among the Seekers of the Eight Stars, who might join hands with Chronos?
Surprisingly, most of them had potential.
Claire, Leventia, and Evangeline aside from the stuff involving me— their stories had plenty of hooks.
You learn it playing the main story: Claire feels a huge burden from becoming the hero.
What if someone else had become the hero instead? They'd have done better.
If she hadn't drawn the hero's sword, wouldn't someone more suited have appeared?
Knight Leventia regrets her father's death.
Archer Evangeline has a bad relationship with her sister.
These three have backstories that could easily lead them to take Chronos's hand, and the same went for the others.
Take mage Karin, for instance.
Karin's cool-headed and competent, but she has one fatal flaw: she's dependent on Cecil.
What if Cecil dies to the followers, monsters, or Chronos?
Karin would become a Chronos apostle without looking back to save her.
Shaman Sairon? Low probability, but not zero.
Her backstory: when she was young learning shamanism, there was a junior who helped and guided her in every way.
But when Sairon returned from training with her master, that junior died fighting invading monsters.
Sairon took Chronos's hand to undo it.
Swordswoman Raysi had a similarly low chance of becoming a Chronos apostle.
The difference: unlike others regretting not saving someone, she regretted saving them.
As a child, she saved her brother in a crisis. After that, they fell out, leading to a succession struggle where she had to eliminate him herself.
If she was going to kill him anyway...
If she hadn't saved him then, she would've naturally become the family heir, and the succession war could've spared many lives? She always thinks that.
Thief Chin rarely takes Chronos's hand, but can't be fully trusted.
He regrets his past but never tries to change it.
But if Chronos's followers poison the Thief Guild Master—who's like a father to him—and blackmail with the antidote, he'd grab Chronos's hand weeping blood tears.
And the alchemist...
Without any prep, he's got the highest chance of becoming a Chronos apostle.
But with preparation, he'll never betray.
"O~ Isn't that the Sage? What brings a busy guy like you all the way here?"
Casual tone, heavy steps. Waist-thick thighs like a kid's, arms like logs.
A silver-scaled lizardman boasting massive pecs swaggered over grinning.
Two of his eight horns broken, two discolored red, he plopped down in front of me and grabbed the bottle on the table, chugging it.
"Puhah~ Truly 32-year Golden Shower!! The flavor dancing in my mouth is like a lady from the Iscorn Dukedom dancing the tango!"
"That's 25-year Rosebelle, isn't it?"
He flinched, blinked a few times, checked the label, and burst out laughing.
"Puhahaha! Indeed 25-year Rosebelle! The flavor dancing in my mouth is like a lady from the Iscorn Dukedom dancing the tango!"
"Look at this bum who chugs cheap swill pretending to know his stuff."
"Tch. Don't diss bums."
He flicked his forked tongue and downed more booze. He finished the bottle in seconds, glancing at me warily as I raised my hand.
"Three more bottles."
"Yes, sir."
The polite server brought three bottles of 25-year Rosebelle. His eyes gleamed as he eyed me again.
"And the house's best fish dish."
"Yes, sir."
He grinned ear to ear. Feeling great, he wagged his stumpy tail.
What soured his mood was a rough voice.
"Hey, Kerubim!! If you got money for booze, shouldn't you pay back what you borrowed first?"
They all had ugly mugs—clearly debt collectors.
I looked at Kerubim, who averted his eyes.
"You borrow money again? How pathetic can you get. What for? Gambling?"
"Nah, I found a new recipe combo. But the ingredients cost a fortune. Uhihihi. But this poison's killer. One bottle and you fart and hiccup nonstop for a month..."
"Ugh."
I stared at Kerubim with even more pity in my eyes, while the thugs surrounded the table, growling.
"If you ain't paying, come make drugs or something."
"Eh, I don't do drugs."
"Then pay up!!"
"How much."
I asked the thugs, who glanced at me then whispered to Kerubim.
"Hey, that guy's got a fancy vibe, doesn't fit with you. Who is he?"
"Fancy? He's the hero's mentor who beat the Demon King."
"Beat the Demon King...? W-wait, the Sage?"
The thug flinched in shock, flustered in front of me. I pulled a gem from my pocket and held it out.
"How much you owe?"
"Exactly ten gold."
"Damn, that's a lot."
That's enough for a cartload of decent herbs.
Anyway, I gave the thug a gem worth ten gold, got the receipt, and told Kerubim.
"Do one job for me."
"What job?"
"Make some Panacea."
"Why?"
"Got a use for it."
"Hmm. Can't ignore a request from the Sage."
Good.
After all you've mooched off me so far.
"And one more thing. If someone comes offering big money to become a Chronos apostle..."
"How much?!"
This guy?
"...Do it, and all the potions you've made vanish. Their goal is turning back time to destroy the world."
"...Oh. Can't join hands with those bastards, no way."
Then he grinned.
"But big money's tempting. Sounds like some secret society... Maybe they'll hook me up with research materials? Alchemists dream of unlimited budget to make whatever potions they want, right?"
Heh heh.
This crazy alchemist couldn't care less about changing the past.
He wants just one thing.
Funds and materials to brew whatever potions he desires.
Among the Seekers of the Eight Stars, he's the alchemist character with massive unremovable penalties 'Poverty' and 'Overspending,' but he can craft every potion and poison from the start, with base combat power rivaling a decent warrior—the 'absolute' alchemist.
I shoved Moonlight at Kerubim.
"You little shit. Wanna cough up everything you've mooched from me and go back to square one in debt? FYI, what you've mooched and borrowed from me totals over 870,000 gold now."
870,000 gold could wallpaper you in unique gear.
At auction house prices, anyway.
"Gasp... Wh-what money? I'm broke. Don't even have bread for tomorrow..."
"Gonna be a Chronos apostle or not?"
"N-no! Absolutely not!"
Good.
I even got his alchemist's oath. He won't betray now.
Alchemy's his most precious thing; betray and lose alchemy skills? No way.
Secured one reliable guy...
"But what's the Panacea for?"
"If the Thief Guild Master gets poisoned, use it to pull Chin to our side."
Soon, number two.
Author's Note (Afterword)
You know what I'm going to say, right?