Episode 17

“What did you mean by that?”

“Were you not listening? I said it had nothing to do with me.”

After hearing a situation that could be taken as a national crisis, Ciel and Selen showed no small amount of agitation, but Zeke stayed flat.

“You are a noble of the Kingdom of Diabalet and a member of the House of Lagias. In other words, you will inherit the lordship someday, won’t you? Then you can’t call it unrelated.”

“Are you trying to preach noblesse oblige? The one being targeted this time isn’t the Lagias Domain. That’s your answer.”

He took a sip of coffee. Perhaps it had already gone cold; he didn’t take a second.

“Even if the Lagias Domain isn’t affected now, don’t you think the threat will reach it someday?”

“I don’t. I’ll erase the eyesores before that happens.”

He ate a cookie that had been served with the coffee. Zeke frowned slightly, as if it wasn’t to his taste.

“I thought a regimental commander might have a slightly better thought process, but it looked like I was mistaken.”

Zeke wore a mocking sneer. Strohk’s expression did not change, yet that only made his anger easier to imagine. In the tense air, Ciel looked timid and uneasy.

“Why do I need to humor your convenience? If you have concerns, move on your own. The reason you can’t is because you value your own skin.”

He dismissed them outright. Zeke cut down Strohk’s plea without mercy.

“There’s a traitor among you? Are you stupid? You knew that from the start. It was your failure for not acting the moment you felt something was off.”

“…You are right. We may have blindly believed in the knight order and the national military.”

“Hah. You do understand your own ridiculousness. Then keep dancing from here on out while you regret it.”

He showed Brink no mercy either.

Zeke stated the facts coldly, without lies or pretense.

“You want me to save the squad leader? Like I care. That one chose to become a knight, didn’t he? Then dying is his responsibility too.”

“It is true that death always follows a knight. But then… why did you save my son back then?”

Brink would never forget what happened five years ago. It was Zeke, then twelve years old, who saved Luke when he was suffering from an unknown illness.

“Are you misunderstanding something? Do you think I move out of goodwill? I didn’t care whether he lived or died. I only needed the result.”

“Zeke-san! Luke-san should be your friend. You don’t have to say something so cruel!”

Hearing Ciel, Zeke let out a small chuckle.

“A friend? I don’t have one, and I don’t need one. The only thing I can trust is my own power.”

Zeke swept his cold gaze over everyone. Rejection floated in his eyes.

“You deny Lagias at every turn, but when it’s inconvenient you ask me to lend my strength? Did you have no better reason than that?”

Zeke stood up. Without a word, he left the table and walked out of the shop. On his seat were several paper bills—likely to cover the food and drink.

After Zeke left, the shop fell silent. A heavy atmosphere hung in the air.

“Um… I don’t think Zeke-san meant any harm. That’s just how he normally is, I guess…”

“That’s right. He didn’t mean any harm. —The ones who lacked sincerity were you.”

“Hey, Selen…”

Selen spoke sharply. She showed no mercy despite it being their first meeting.

“I understand wanting his cooperation. Zeke has the power to flip the situation by himself. But bringing up ‘because he’s a noble’ or ‘because he’s a lord’ was a bad move. …Especially from his position.”

“You’re right. We… no, I was trying to force everything onto him again.”

His wife had died, and his beloved son had fallen ill. Brink had been pushed to the edge of despair.

When he had given up on everything, he met the hope called Zeke and was saved. The same was true during the enlistment exam three years ago. He relied on Zeke, clung to him, and shoved everything onto him. As a result, the light called Luke was never lost.

“I really am unfit to be a knight.”

“Yes. And with that understood, you should think about what you’re going to choose to see clearly.”

“…You’re harsh, too—just like him.”

“You can’t survive on sweetness alone…”

As if she had something on her mind, Selen looked off into the distance.

“Ciel, let’s go. Either way, what we can do is limited.”

“Yes. All we can do is trust and wait.”

Selen and Ciel stood up and left as well.

Only Brink and Strohk remained.

“You got chewed out pretty badly, Brink.”

“You did too, Strohk.”

The two of them raised their cold coffee to their lips. A bitterness without sweetness spread through their mouths.

“Getting told that much by someone the same age as my daughter really hits in a lot of ways.”

“Yeah. It’s the right argument—and when he says it, it carries a different weight.”

Zeke had saved Strohk’s family as well.

It was the attack on the royal capital two years ago. He had heard later that his daughter, Eris, had also been saved. She had always been reckless and sheltered in her words and actions, but after that incident her way of thinking changed drastically. He felt happy about her growth, and yet also a little lonely.

“Strohk… I’ve been working nonstop lately, and I’m tired. I’m going to take some leave.”

“…What a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing. Leaving the royal capital for a change of pace wouldn’t be bad.”

The nice middle-aged men got moving.

Zeke (Hiroto) walked alone after leaving the café.

He was somewhat surprised by what Brink and the others had told him, but he had known it would happen sooner or later. Considering Luke’s (Fonsell’s) position, it had been decided that he would be targeted eventually. The attack during the enlistment exam had been about finding the “key,” after all.

His first meeting with Luke went back about five years.

Brink had introduced him while Luke was recovering from mana sclerosis and slowly doing rehabilitation.

To begin with, he hadn’t acted to save Luke; he had cooperated because it would be troublesome if Brink, his tutor, quit. He had had no way of knowing Luke was Fonsell.

‘A main character won’t die. If he did die, then…’

If a main character exited, it would not be an exaggeration to say that, for Hiroto, it meant breaking away from the scenario.

Even though he had wanted to change this reality many times, he still hadn’t been able to.

Starting with Glanz, then Ciel, Van, Fonsell, Selen, and the heroine—some characters had survived without issue even with Zeke’s (Hiroto’s) interference. Even if he had done nothing, they probably wouldn’t have disappeared.

‘Is it about time? If the Masfelt event is getting close, I should leave the Kingdom of Diabalet…’

Zeke’s turning point in the game had unquestionably been the event involving Masfelt. Seeking power, Zeke appeared before Masfelt and it escalated into a fight.

In the end, Masfelt died due to mana sclerosis. It had been the decisive event that made him an enemy of the protagonist’s group.

‘It was a turning point for the protagonist, too.’

He walked alone through the bustling royal capital. The noise that normally forced its way into his ears did not bother him at all now. To survive, what came next—he sank into a sea of thought.

“Ah, um, excuse me!”

A voice calling him came from behind. Maybe there was some trouble.

But Zeke did not turn around. He had no room to care about others.

“Huh!? Please, wait!”

Blocking his path were three people: a boy and a girl around fifteen, and a suspicious figure dressed entirely in black.

“…What are you? You’re in the way. Get lost.”

“!? Um, well… Ricky, say something too.”

“Me!!? You’re the one who started it, Nell.”

The boy and girl started bickering in low voices. Perhaps they were nervous in front of Zeke; they looked flustered.

‘What are these idiots…?’

He had been called out suddenly, and before they even said what they wanted, they started quarreling and made him watch it. Hiroto began to suspect it was some new kind of harassment.

“If you don’t want to die, don’t stop.”

The girl in black spoke abruptly. The statement made no sense, but more than that, her suspicious appearance drew his eyes.

Everything she wore was black from head to toe. From the gaps in what was clearly a black wig, her real hair stuck out. It looked like low-quality cosplay.

“Hey, Mei!? What are you saying!?”

“You promised you’d stay quiet, right!?”

Nell and Ricky pressed in on the girl called Mei.

“It is because you two never stop CHIRPING.”

“Stop it already! You’re nothing like the real one!”

“And you don’t even look like her at all…”

They were getting worked up, but Hiroto had no idea what they were talking about. It felt like being forced to watch an inside joke.

“Vermin, shut up and watch. I shall settle this.”

Mei stepped forward, as if things had been decided. She crossed her arms and puffed out her chest, brimming with confidence.

“Are you Zeke Lagias? You have done a GREAT SERVICE.”

“…”

‘…Bad. I don’t understand a word she’s saying.’

What “great service” even meant, he had no idea. And he didn’t recall doing anything to these three. Was it harassment after all?

“By your deeds, we yet live. That is what these vermin claim.”

“…What are you talking about? If you have no business, get lost.”

Even against kids, the harsh words flew without restraint. He couldn’t help it, but he did feel a little sorry for them.

“Um! Do you… not remember us? We met here in the royal capital two years ago…”

“I don’t know you. No fool pays attention to trash like you.”

In this country, there were far more people who held malice toward Zeke than those who liked him. He didn’t know what the three in front of him were thinking, but if they had no serious business, they shouldn’t get involved with him. If others mistakenly thought they were close to Lagias, it would be hard for them to live here.

‘It doesn’t matter what happens to them. But if they start holding a grudge, it’ll be a pain.’

Judging it didn’t seem urgent, Zeke tried to leave. But the three didn’t look like they would back down.

“When monsters appeared in the royal capital, we could only run away. But… Lord Zeke saved us! That’s why we’re still alive like this!”

Ricky spoke rapidly, choking as if he’d forgotten to breathe.

“I’m sorry our thanks came so late! We’ve seen you around the royal capital, so I kept thinking ‘someday’…!”

He finally understood what they were trying to say. During the royal-capital attack two years ago, he had killed many monsters.

Some lives had surely been saved by what he did. In the end, many citizens of the royal capital must have been saved too.

“…Don’t tell me you wasted my time for something that stupid. —Don’t get full of yourself.”

Yes. To Hiroto, it was only a matter of results.

He hadn’t hunted monsters to save the citizens. He had only followed a request from a ducal house. What happened to strangers whose names he didn’t know did not matter to him.

“Do you think I saved you out of goodwill? Do you seriously think Lagias would reach out a hand to garbage like you?”

No matter what Hiroto felt, in this world he was Zeke Lagias.

He was denied just for existing, met with malice and hostility. He didn’t think of himself as a good person, but he had no intention of carrying crimes he didn’t deserve.

He hated the idea of people denying him as Lagias in everyday life, yet offering thanks only when it was convenient.

“…I know about the House of Lagias. People around me talk about it a lot.”

“I see. Then don’t come near me. You and I are different in every way.”

“…I don’t know what’s true. But we were saved by y-you. Not the House of Lagias. By you, Lord Zeke.”

‘Because you… you saved me, didn’t you?’

It overlapped with a memory from the past.

He remembered a boy who chased his dream—straightforward, earnest, stubbornly sincere.

“I’d never seen monsters before. They were terrifying, grotesque things that chased us. I thought I was going to die right there.”

No matter how he tried to push him away, the boy kept coming closer. Teach me swordsmanship. Show me magic.

Even as he found it annoying, somehow they ended up spending more and more time together.

“The House of Lagias and what people say doesn’t matter. We’re alive right now. Because Lord Zeke saved us.”

He had acted to survive. Everything had been for himself. And yet, in the end he hadn’t been able to change anything. The essence of this world had been far too immense.

“You have changed the future of these young ones.”

“…Mei, you were there with us back then too, right?”

“You’re still not like her at all. The real one has a totally different weight.”

Nell and Ricky surrounded Mei again. They seemed to be arguing, but Hiroto was thinking about something else.

‘Were they supposed to have been written out in the original story…?’

He still hadn’t changed the story’s core. But none of it had been pointless either. A changed future did exist.

“I shall allow you, as a special favor, to become my mate.”

“You can’t allow that! What are you saying!?”

“I’m sorry! Lord Zeke! We just wanted to thank you! Thank you so much!”

Mei was dragged away by the other two. She shouted to let her go, but they didn’t listen.

After the three were gone, Zeke was alone again. The noise had vanished.

“…Don’t get the wrong idea. Any of you.”

Zeke’s voice was swallowed by the royal capital’s clamor, and it did not reach anyone’s ears.