Chapter 95
Chapter 95
The fragrant scent of wine brushed the tip of my nose.
We sat on an outdoor terrace with a clear view of the cityscape, sharing glasses of alcohol with each other.
Perhaps because it hadn’t been long since I had come out of the bath, the night breeze gently rustling through my hair made me feel good.
The night, slowly slipping into autumn, was pleasantly cool, and with fragrant wine and a friend who shared my mood right before my eyes, I wondered if there could be any place better than this.
‘It almost makes me want to recite a line of poetry.’
I missed reality, but that didn’t mean I disliked the present moment.
An imperial prince, a sword master, a fourth-class mage.
Even if the elements that made me up weren’t entirely mine, my effort had gone into them.
That was why I couldn’t help but feel attached.
Moreover, those around me were results that belonged solely to me, untouched by Leios’s influence.
Of course, the circumstances and background were his, but it was my effort that had carried the story to this very scene.
“…What are you thinking so deeply about?”
For a while, we tilted our glasses without exchanging a word.
But perhaps those thoughts showed on my face, because Werner asked with a curious expression.
I refilled my empty glass and answered.
“What is life, anyway?”
“What a pointless thing to say.”
He chuckled and poked fun at me.
Maybe it was because he was a character written that way, but even so, I thought he was a good guy.
He really did go along well with this kind of pointless talk.
Turning my glass, I asked him in return.
“I’m more curious about what you’re thinking.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I was wondering if you’re really okay.”
It was a question laden with many implications.
At that, Werner gave a bitter smile, and after a slightly long silence, barely managed to speak.
“I’m trying to act like I’m okay.”
The second semester had ended, and vacation had begun.
Others had come to South Yorkshire without much thought, sightseeing, but Werner’s situation alone was a little different.
The terror that had occurred in the Kingdom of Demedrio.
It had been resolved swiftly and stably, almost as if it had all been planned in advance.
With Sword Marshal General Isaac firmly at the center of it, it was only natural, but even so, the fact that a country’s king had passed away and yet everything returned to normal without so much as a ripple was astonishing even to me.
But for some, it must have become an unerasable wound.
Werner, in particular, had lost his father in this incident.
Of course, it probably hadn’t been an ordinary or smooth relationship, but the death of the parent who had given birth to him must have come as a great shock.
“…Well, as a king maybe, but he wasn’t such a good father.”
Having fallen into silence for a moment, he gazed into empty space with a wistful expression, as if recalling someone.
It was an emotion that could never be expressed by some mere character in a novel.
‘I see.’
Only then did I realize it.
That at some point, I had begun to accept the people of this world as living beings, just like myself.
How could I regard those who breathed the same air as me, felt emotions, and moved alongside me as nothing more than accessories of a work of fiction?
Whether he knew my feelings or not, Werner calmly opened his mouth.
“The Sword Marshal General sent me a letter telling me to return to the country, but my elder brother told me not to come.
He must have known that even if I went back, I wouldn’t see anything good.”
“What kind of person is your brother?”
“He’s a good person. Almost too good for a younger brother like me. If he had ascended the throne properly, the Kingdom of Demedrio would probably have been able to grow even more.”
At the familiar words I’d heard somewhere before, a small smile formed on my lips.
After speaking as if letting it spill out, Werner fiddled with his glass in both hands, wearing a hesitant expression.
That went on for quite some time.
And when the moon, which had been hidden behind the clouds, revealed itself, something like resolve settled in his two eyes, glittering as they reflected that light.
“Ostia, when you introduced yourself at the start of the semester, you said your hobby was recruiting talent.”
At the nostalgic memory, I gently swirled my glass.
-My hobby is recruiting talent.
If you possess outstanding ability and talent but have nowhere to put it to use, then come to me.
That’s all.
Thinking back now, it felt like a rather rough introduction.
I probably could have put it more nicely.
Back then, Werner likely hadn’t paid much attention to my words.
At most, he probably thought there was an odd person around.
But the expression on his face as he faced me now was deadly serious.
“I have an absurdly low chance of inheriting the throne. It was already like that, but after this incident, it’s practically converged to zero. My abilities are ambiguous, too. If we’re only talking about the Academy, I’m confident in my swordsmanship, but looking broadly, I don’t even reach your toes. The forces backing me are insignificant, and at best I only have enough wealth to look after my own safety.”
He continued without even taking a breath.
His expression was calm, but his body was not.
His body was stiff, and the tendons in his arms, tensed with force, bulged visibly.
The glass clenched in both hands didn’t shatter, so he seemed to be barely holding on, but his increasingly shallow breathing meant that Werner’s heart was breaking.
“Even so… would someone like me be acceptable?”
The moment his words ended, I set down the glass I had been holding.
Then I awakened the bearing sleeping within my chest.
Hwaaaak-!
The bearing of one who had reached sword master seized control of the space we were in.
It formed a perfect domain, one that even the Count of Sheffield wouldn’t have noticed, and it completely blew away the atmosphere from just moments before.
“…….”
Werner’s hands trembled violently.
He looked as if he might collapse at any moment under the pressure born of the overwhelming gap between us, but he did not retreat to the very end.
At that, I formed a small smile.
A human without will or goals was not truly alive.
I had said I recruited talent, but I had no intention of keeping walking corpses by my side.
That was why I crushed the self-loathing and anxiety piled up inside him with overwhelming power, and Werner endured it splendidly.
“Yes, just as you said, I told anyone to come to me. But that doesn’t mean I’ll keep just anyone by my side.”
The people by my side had to constantly prove their own worth.
That could be personal martial strength, or knowledge they possessed and the wisdom to apply it, or it could even be wealth or luck.
Only then would I grant them wings called another chance to leap forward once more.
“Do you have the resolve to prove yourself?”
At my question, Werner closed his mouth.
The bearing of a sword master was still crushing his entire body.
It would rob him of the leisure to think of anything else and reveal Werner’s true feelings.
At last, with a strained expression, he barely managed to nod his head.
At that, I broke into a bright smile.
If this were a novel, it wouldn’t be something written with insane prose, nor something achieved through tear-jerking direction.
It was merely a conversation made up of simple questions and answers.
But I didn’t mind.
To someone else, this might be a story of no consequence, but to me, it was a heartrending reality.
“Welcome to taking the hand of the crazy butcher prince, young prince.”
I withdrew my momentum and lifted my wine glass.
Only then did Werner seem to relax, letting out a deep sigh as he wiped the sweat that had been streaming down his forehead.
“I thought my whole body was going to be torn to shreds.”
“I only showed my sincerity in response to yours.
There are so many storms you’ll have to push through from now on—this much should be something you pass lightly.”
“…Hearing that makes me a bit worried.
I can take it back later, right?”
We faced each other, trading jokes.
At my glance, Werner lifted his glass, and soon the two glasses collided beneath the moonlight with a clear sound.
Thud thud thud thud-!
Just as we were about to finish off a bottle of wine, the corridor resounded with noise and the presence of several people approaching could be felt.
Wondering what was going on, I turned my gaze toward the door with a puzzled expression and saw a group of women with stiff faces.
“…Why?”
The looks directed at us—especially at me—were complicated.
Thinking they might be upset that we had been drinking without them, I lifted myself from the backrest, when Alice, her hair still damp as if she’d been in a hurry, approached me and spoke.
“I’m sorry to say this when it sounds like we’re suspecting you, but…….”
Scratching her cheek, she explained the whole story.
While they were bathing, someone had apparently snuck in.
Because the steam was thick, they couldn’t see the face, but when Maria screamed, the intruder hurriedly fled outside.
“We were on guard just in case, but to think they’d even fool my senses.”
Alice said with a frustrated expression.
At that, I realized why they had no choice but to suspect me.
In this estate, aside from the Count of Sheffield, the number of people who could infiltrate the baths while deceiving Alice’s senses could be counted on one hand.
But not only was there no reason for them to do such a thing, if it were discovered, they’d be beaten half to death by their own master, the Count of Sheffield.
That was why they suspected that the men, myself included, had played a prank.
“To dare suspect me—how impertinent.”
I immediately grabbed Alice’s cheeks from both sides and carried out her punishment.
“Ahh, I’m sorr-y.”
“Where did Leysias go?”
At that moment, Werner tilted his head as he looked over the group’s composition.
Elysia answered his question.
“She went to ask the guards if they saw anyone suspicious. Just in case they might have.”
Then suddenly, the estate grew noisy.
Lights flared brightly in all directions, and I saw more than a dozen soldiers hurriedly moving beneath the terrace.
“…It looks like something serious happened.”
The group seemed to notice it as well, and the atmosphere sank.
Shortly after, a party led by Leysias arrived.
“…There’s nothing abnormal.”
The knights and mages first swept their surroundings with stern gazes to secure our safety.
Just as Leysias was about to let out a sigh of relief, I asked her.
“What happened?”
“…The mages and knights who were guarding this sector were found dead.
It seems their breath had already stopped just before I went to ask about the incident in the baths.”
At that story, the group stirred silently.
Wasn’t this saying that someone had attacked the estate?
We woke Diark, who had been sleeping soundly, and gathered in the central reception room.
He had just woken up and wore a dazed expression, but at the sound that someone had intruded here, he widened his eyes and scanned his surroundings.
“The mages and the order of knights are guarding very close by, so it’ll be safe if you stay here.
I’ll go check the situation once more.”
“Ah, I’ll go with you. Alice.”
Since Alice hadn’t even detected the intruder’s presence, the opponent was expected to be at least a mid-to-high level sword expert.
Still, if it were her, she’d be able to hold out no matter what until I arrived.
“Yeah, leave this side to me.”
Alice nodded as if to say she understood at my call.
After that, I gave Werner a look, and he followed behind me.
“To think I’d be put to work right away.”
“Think of it positively. You’ve immediately been given a chance to prove your ability.”
Werner grinned at my words and pounded his chest, telling me to leave it to him.
I turned my head and asked Leysias.
“Can I see the bodies?”
“Yes, my father and the mages are investigating right now.”
We moved outside with our escort.
Soon, we arrived at the place where people had gathered, and at the same time, the thick smell of blood began to stab at my nose.
“Ah, Y—.”
The Count of Sheffield tried to call out to me, but upon seeing Werner beside me, he hastily shut his mouth.
At the Academy, openly revealing one’s royal status was regulated, but I nodded to indicate that it was fine.
“More importantly, what’s their condition?”
“They died instantly. It looks like both the mage and the knights were taken out at once.”
‘One mage and two knights.’
I was told this was one section of the barrier protecting the estate.
The barrier was divided into seven sections in total, and patrols of this same composition managed them at regular intervals.
“Hm…….”
The state of the corpses was gruesome.
The mage’s chest had been torn open, and the knights’ bodies had likewise been ruthlessly ripped apart.
“It looks like a beast attacked them.”
Werner muttered.
I agreed, but there was something more important than the state of the corpses.
I extended my hand and examined the faint energy lingering around the wounds.
This was…….
[It’s demonic energy.]
“…River?”