Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Chapter 167
Elisha silently leaned against the wall, blankly staring at the banquet hall filled with all sorts of human figures. And then.
“Actually, you're right. Me. A justice fool.”
“….”
“My passion just outpaced my abilities. That’s why I greatly misunderstood someone. I caused a lot of trouble, a whole lot.”
“….”
Then she lifted her head and faced me with a serious expression.
“Right to you. Sir Martin.”
“….”
The words and actions Elisha had done out of misunderstanding me. In fact, if I were to count them, there would be too many to list.
“Do you… remember? A long time ago. When you had just returned to school. The disciplinary committee that was convened for the cheating issue.”
The sentence Elisha carefully threw out began to paint my faded memories vividly.
It was a story from the early days of my possession. I was the trash extra villain Martin, but I had planned to show that I was trying to change, even if it was late, and approach the protagonist.
But as fate would have it, the academy threatened me with my exam scores as a condition, and I snatched the top spot at once.
“Yes. I think I remember.”
“That day, Sir Martin took the top spot… and I had a lot of thoughts too.”
Martin, who had been trash, was now number one. The Vice Principal, who was connected to the four great ducal families, used that as an excuse to convene a disciplinary committee, accusing him of cheating.
If Hectia and Hailey hadn't barged in and helped, instead of being here now, I….
‘Might have become Martin of the Apocalypse.’
But why bring that up now?
“But no matter how much I thought about it, the conclusion I reached was ‘there’s no way Professor Hectia wouldn’t have noticed the cheating’.”
“….”
“And yet, the reason I didn’t raise an objection, the reason I stood by and watched the injustice… was because I was suspicious and misunderstanding Sir Martin.”
Stood by. That's right. The protagonist's party had stood by and watched my crisis back then. But what I'm saying now is not that the act of standing by was bad.
I'm not an idiot, how could I not know.
That the disciplinary committee back then was not because of the protagonist's party… but was orchestrated by the Vice Principal and his superiors, that is, the dukes.
It was probably Frohadin and Wilhelm without even looking.
“I’ve said it before, but I’m always sorr…”
I cut Elisha’s words short.
“That’s enough.”
Startled, Elisha’s red eyes widened slightly.
“It’s, done now.”
“Uh…, yes?”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
“….”
Elisha, who didn't know what I meant, just rolled her eyes around. Sighing, I decided to speak in a way that wasn't like me.
“It’s true that my crimes were grave at one time. For that, I even received the extreme punishment of being exiled from the noble society. And even after that… I returned to the academy. Misunderstanding? It was understandable. Sir Elisha, your actions were appropriate. How could you just stand by, not knowing what other evil deeds I might commit? That’s what idiots with flower gardens in their heads do. Of course, I’m not saying your actions were unconditionally right. But…. I’m saying it was understandable enough.”
“….”
“Yes, Sir Elisha. I forgive you.”
To be honest, Elisha has never given me any material compensation. I have nothing to say even if I’m cursed at for being a fool for accepting an apology made only with words.
“So from now on, you don’t have to say you’re sorry.”
But think about it. It's also true that I treated them as if they were just characters in a novel.
I didn’t try to communicate. I even tried to avoid seeing their faces.
Just as Elisha's actions couldn't be said to be unconditionally just, it would be a lie to say that I had no part in the cause of Elisha's misunderstanding and excessive actions.
So… let's leave it at that.
“Uh, wow, ah!”
Elisha, unlike her usual self, stuttered.
“Th-then!”
She showed me a bright smile, the first I’d ever seen, as a gift of reconciliation.
“We’re! Friends, right?!”
‘Th-this woman… saying something so cheesy.’
But I couldn't say no here, could I?
‘This is an ordeal.’
Friends. Friends, huh….
I averted my gaze slightly and answered awkwardly.
“…Yes. Let’s just say that. Friends.”
To be honest, though I say it, do I sincerely think of her as a friend?
‘No.’
It’s also true that there’s no great reason to call her a friend.
‘I have decided to accept the fact that this world is ‘reality’ and not a ‘novel’. So….’
There's no reason to refuse either.
It's strange to call her a friend, but it's also ambiguous to say she's not. Isn't that the kind of position we're in?
Completely unaware that I was thinking this, at the meaningless words I spat out to get past the situation, Elisha took a deep breath. She placed both hands on her heart and let out a sigh of relief, ‘Phew’.
“Thank goodness, really.”
It was like the reaction of someone who had heard that a dead person had come back to life.
“…Is it that much of a relief?”
“Of course!”
Then she called Mary and Bord behind me.
“Guys! I made up with Martin!”
“It’s Sir…”
Before I could finish my sentence, Bord and Mary whipped their heads around and looked at me and Elisha.
“Wow! Really?!”
“R-really?!”
And then the three of them gathered together and started exchanging well-wishes like ‘that’s great,’ ‘you did well,’ and ‘what a relief,’ as if they were perfectly in sync.
“….”
Lilac quietly came up and stood next to me.
“I’m happy that you seem to be making good friends, Master.”
“Uh, uh….”
I couldn't bring myself to say that we were once enemies….
“Excuse me, Sir Martin.”
“S-Sir Martin….”
Finally, Bord and Mary approached. Then, without even being able to make proper eye contact, they suddenly confessed.
“Actually, I think I should apologize too.”
“I-I also… misunderstood….”
The air is stuffy. Am I supposed to go through that awkward situation again?
I hastily waved my hands.
“Stop, stop. It’s fine. I’ll forgive everything. …Though there’s nothing to forgive.”
The ones I often clashed with were Gilbert and Elisha, not Bord and Mary.
“Wow! Then we’re friends too!”
“If-if it’s Sir Martin, I’d like that…!”
Elisha, Bord, and Mary sang a song about us being friends.
‘I want to die.’
When I rolled my eyes, Lilac was looking back and forth between me and the three of them, clapping her hands.
‘Kill me!’
I was so embarrassed….
Just as I was thinking of running away to the terrace, a firm voice echoed from the center of the banquet hall.
“Enough.”
Not just me, but Elisha, Bord, and Mary, as well as everyone in the banquet hall, turned to look at the center. Even the Emperor at the highest seat, and Kazaks and Adela.
It was the voice of a special person that everyone in this place had to pay attention to.
‘That place is definitely….’
Because it was where the Elf Queen was.
The noble figure of the Elf Queen, sitting on a chair made of intertwined tree trunks that had grown in the center of the banquet hall, was revealed as it was.
She, who resembled the purity of nature as if untouched by any filth, was quietly angry. The elven royal guards protecting the queen were also emitting a murderous aura.
“No more disputes will be tolerated.”
The cause was obvious. Around the Elf Queen, merchants who were doing well were confronting each other with two men at the forefront.
“Two great nobles of the Empire. Do you understand?”
The one who answered the Elf Queen’s warning was.
“…Yes.”
Frohadin, the duke of the Raincloud Deminiyan, his face wrinkled at the difficult matter.
“Understood.”
And Arnold, the Marquis of Elidore, who held the continental commercial power and was about to face off against the old monster of the political world.
‘I heard the news, but this is more intense than I thought.’
Anyone with even a little interest in politics and commerce would know. The economic landscape of the continent would change depending on which merchant group would be in charge of diplomacy with Fog Island.
I had also seen Arnold struggling with the Fog Island diplomatic rights every time I went to visit him on business with the Star Child.
The nobles murmured at the rather fierce battle between the two great nobles for the exclusive rights.
“Deminiyan and Elidore are going to have a proper go at it this time.”
“But I didn't expect it to get this heated.”
Because they didn't expect them to compete so openly. The confrontation between Deminiyan and Elidore was such an unusual event.
“The conflict between the four great ducal families and the Elidore marquisate has been famous for a long time, but this is particularly severe.”
“Think about it. Just how much power will Duke Frohadin, the monster of the political world, have if he monopolizes diplomacy with Fog Island as well. The Deminiyan ducal family is supplied with magical goods from the Elidore merchant group. That’s their only weakness. But if they monopolize the magical goods of Fog Island, which are qualitatively incomparable to those of the continent…. The Elidore marquisate’s entry into the political world is over.”
A discussion from a group of nobles enters my ears. It was extremely correct.
“Also, look at it from the opposite perspective. What if Marquis Arnold, who is said to stand at the pinnacle of the continental commercial power, also wins the Fog Island monopoly? He might truly be able to crush power with money. No matter how much they are the four great ducal families, they are also continentals who live off the money flowing through the continent. This Fog Island diplomatic right might be… the Elidore marquisate’s last chance to rise to a ‘dukedom’. How could it not be fierce in this situation?”
“Hah…, this… was no ordinary matter.”
The gazes of all the prominent figures were directed towards the center of the banquet hall. Marquis Arnold of pink ambition and Duke Frohadin of gray schemes were glaring at each other without a single step back.
The political direction of the empire was at a turning point here.
“…Marquis Arnold. You, you are out of line. At this point, there will be no one who doesn't know your ambition, so step back now.”
Either the Deminiyan ducal family, the pinnacle of the noble society that had maintained an ironclad power, would kneel.
“Well, I wonder. How could Elidore be left out of a matter related to the continental commercial power?”
Or the golden mountain that Marquis Arnold had painstakingly built would crumble.
“So, you want to see this through to the end?”
“Let’s go to the ends of the continent if we must.”
Even with the Elf Queen's warning, the two great nobles could not stop their fight.
“Unpleasant.”
The Elf Queen rarely expressed her emotions. The air in the banquet hall froze in an instant.
The Elf Queen is the representative of the World Tree, which has protected the continent for a long time, an age that cannot be fathomed by human standards. An insult to her was the same as an insult to the World Tree.
“The Mother of Life did not send me to see such stubbornness and strife.”
Since a problem had suddenly occurred at the joyous Founding Festival banquet, it was natural for the highest authority on the scene to step up.
The Emperor, who had been sitting on the golden throne, rose from his seat and met the Elf Queen's eyes.
“Elf Queen, I hope you understand that there was never any intention to displease you.”
“I understand. But Emperor, since when did understanding and comprehension turn back time? The disappointment I felt cannot be undone.”
Since the human Emperor had risen from his throne, the Elf Queen also rose from her seat and treated him with the same courtesy.
“The World Tree wished for the peace and well-being of the continent, and even now, that thought has not changed, like the evergreen leaves of the four seasons, yet why do humans fight over the grace that the Mother of Life bestows with mercy? And in front of me.”
The Founding Festival, which should have been peaceful and joyful, began to grow more and more serious.
“Just as I know about the currency and classes you humans have established, it is not that I cannot understand human physiology. But did you have to display it like this in front of me?”
“Queen, I apologize. On such a joyous day, you joined us with your noble will, and it is utterly shameful to show such a poor sight. I will apologize, so please release your anger.”
The sight of the Emperor declaring he would sincerely apologize without hesitation was refreshing. He, who reigned like the sun before the many nobles, was being so humble.
“Duke Frohadin and Marquis Arnold, also sincerely apologize to the Elf Queen. Apart from politics, commerce, and succession competition, this is an anti-human act that breaks the friendship between humanity and the World Tree.”
“Understood.”
Frohadin and Arnold obediently submitted to the Emperor's command and repeatedly bowed their heads to the Elf Queen as well.
“Frohadin of Deminiyan apologizes to the Elf Queen. Please forgive me generously for the parts where I disturbed your noble mind and was offensive.”
Although he apologized, Frohadin couldn't help but be engulfed in one question.