Chapter 100 : Chapter 100
Volume 2
Chapter 24 : Words Once Spoken Are Like Water Spilled
Everything in the world had its opposite.
Where there was prosperity and light, there would naturally also be deep darkness breeding in response.
For a colossal city like Belland, one of the greatest metropolises on the continent, the shadows festering beneath the surface had long since reached a terrifying scale.
The “underground black market,” where one could buy anything, was proof enough of that.
This had long since become a grotesque kind of expansion.
Yet because of certain people’s indulgence—or rather, tacit approval—not only had those shadows failed to recede in recent years, they had even begun showing signs of encroaching upon the world of light.
But shadows were still shadows.
They could flourish as they pleased in the dark, but once they entered the sight of the holder of this nation’s supreme authority—that is, His Majesty the Emperor—they would inevitably face utter destruction.
“I remember that in the original novel, there was a similar incident too.”
“It started because someone placed a bounty in the black market on the life of the Emperor’s most favored Imperial Consort. And then someone actually accepted it... and even succeeded in the assassination.”
“Enraged, His Majesty ordered the Royal Knights to thoroughly purge Belland’s underground world. That brutal manhunt lasted for a full three months. So many people died that the sewers of the royal capital ran red, which was why it became known as the Blood River Incident!”
“After that, the protagonist even complained that for a long time, not even thieves could be found in the royal capital!”
“But that should have been an event that happened two years later!”
At this thought, Muen’s face turned a little pale.
“In other words, just because I gave the maid at home two days off, an important event from the original novel—one that was extremely important to the protagonist—got moved forward by a full two years!”
“Damn it, what kind of butterfly effect is this?!”
Muen could not help cursing aloud.
“Hm? What butterfly?”
Ann shot him a puzzled look from the side.
“N-Nothing. I was just saying the butterflies this year are especially beautiful. Yes, especially beautiful.”
“Hehe.”
After casually brushing Ann off with a few words, Muen sank back into thought.
“But if I think about it carefully, maybe it doesn’t count as being moved forward. After all, this definitely can’t compare to the Blood River Incident from the original novel. The assassination didn’t actually succeed, so at most this is probably just a warning to kill the chicken and frighten the monkeys.”
“But even so, Belland’s underground world should behave itself for a long time. At the very least, no one should be so arrogant as to dare assassinate royalty again!”
“In other words, the assassination of the Imperial Consort that was supposed to happen two years later might also never happen now.”
“If the Imperial Consort doesn’t die, then the real Blood River Incident won’t happen.”
“But in the original novel, the Blood River Incident was a hugely influential event for the protagonist in the middle of the story!”
“The protagonist attended an auction in the underground black market and got swept into the conflict between the Royal Knights and the underground world, nearly dying several times. In the midst of that danger, the protagonist’s strength grew at an incredible rate thanks to the protagonist's halo!”
“It could be said that the Blood River Incident was the crucial chapter that bridged the Academy Arc into the later Savior Arc.”
“But now... it’s gone. Completely gone. All because I, Muen Campbell, gave my own maid two days off!”
“Oh no. Could this actually affect the protagonist’s later mission to save the world?”
The more Muen thought about it, the more horrifying it seemed.
If the protagonist could not defeat the final boss—the Demon God that would break free from its seal—then the whole world would be finished!
And all because he had given his maid two days off, the world would be gone!
“No, no, no. That’s not right, not right. I’m just going down a blind alley here. The world can’t possibly be that fragile!”
“Even if the Blood River Incident really disappears, there will definitely be some other event for the protagonist to grow through!”
“And the Blood River Incident might not disappear at all. This is all just my own speculation!”
“There’s no need for me to worry so much. The protagonist is loaded with cheats anyway, so there’s no need for me to worry on their behalf!”
Muen kept comforting himself in his heart, and at least managed to calm down a little.
In truth, it was because the previous small deviation from the original plot had led to Selicia’s assassination attempt, leaving Muen with lingering trauma.
He was terrified that one more flap of his tiny butterfly wings would trigger yet another earth-shattering event.
“Anyway, I should just trust the protagonist.” Muen shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
...
“Then, Young Master, please get some proper rest. I’ll take my leave now.” Seeing that it was getting late, Ann bowed and prepared to depart.
“All right.”
“Ah, right, Young Master. You have a letter.”
Ann suddenly handed an envelope to Muen.
“A letter?”
Muen turned the envelope over and found that it bore neither a postmark nor the sender’s name.
“From whom?”
“It is from Her Highness Selicia.”
Ann answered respectfully,
“She personally asked me to deliver it into your hands.”
“...Her, huh.”
Muen was a little surprised, but said nothing. He merely told Ann to go and rest first.
He himself stared at the white envelope for a long time.
“Well, it’s definitely full of things insulting me.”
Muen laughed at himself.
For a proud princess like Selicia, who regarded chastity as something even more important than life, there was no way she would write him a special letter to thank him just because he had saved her after doing that sort of thing to her.
“I just hope she doesn’t curse me too harshly.”
Muen opened the envelope.
Unexpectedly, it did not contain words of abuse.
Instead, written in neat and elegant handwriting, there was only one simple sentence—one that would leave a person baffled at first glance:
【I’ll reluctantly count you as half a man, Muen Campbell.】
Half a man?
Since when could a man be divided in half?
Muen was dumbfounded.
But very soon, he realized why Selicia would say such a thing.
Because of something he himself had once said.
【So now... do I look like a man? Your Highness.】
Those were the words he had spoken while taking the blade for Selicia, just to act cool.
Only, if he really had died because of that, then those words would have become a finishing blow. Selicia might never have forgotten them for the rest of her life.
But... he had not died!
If he had not died, then those words were just unbearably cringeworthy!
It was practically like some overbearing CEO from a Mary Sue novel, lifting the heroine’s chin with a crookedly seductive smile and saying:
“Do you think I’m manly, woman?”
Aaaahhh!
Too embarrassing!
Could I go back in time and slap my past self across the face?
If you were going to die, then die—why were you trying to act cool first?!
And why did you have to make it this awkward?!
Even Her Highness the Princess couldn’t bear it anymore. She actually wrote you a letter just to mock you!
“I can’t take this anymore!”
Muen tore up the letter at once, wrapped himself up in the blanket, and wriggled around like an earthworm.
...
“Half a man?”
Outside Muen’s room, Ann stared fixedly at the door and murmured to herself:
“So that means that, as far as Your Highness the Princess is concerned, Young Master Muen still has the possibility of becoming a real man?”
“And if he becomes a man, what then? Will you fall in love with him?”
“Ah, no, that won’t do. How could Young Master Muen possibly accept the love of any woman other than me?”
Ann’s gaze gradually turned cold.
“It seems some things must be moved along more quickly.”