EP.83 23-4. Who is the uninvited guest?
***
Head entered the Magic Club’s booth. In front of the dimly lit mirror maze.
“Hehe! Were you surprised! …Huh, huh? You’re not surprised?”
“Ariel, you must not have startled them properly.”
“It’s okay. Young people.”
The hero couple, who looked huge in front of him, appeared and tried to scare him, but the Demon Lord stood still without showing any signs of surprise, just pondering something intently.
‘As expected, it’s not Kainel.’
The Demon Lord made a humming sound. The yellow Cerberus in front of him hadn’t grown enough to break through his ignorance yet.
“Not bad. This old man almost had a heart attack.”
“See, Kai. I did it right!”
The same went for the red-haired magician who smiled slyly at the hero from the side. He couldn’t even see any artifact-level equipment.
As expected, the most likely candidate was the person who had shown the anomaly in the grade exam. Only the man wearing the black knight helmet.
‘The fact that he almost beat Phine Gransia, the princess, is bothering me.’
He judged that Licht was also the one who had injured Magic Hat. No matter how many hundreds of times he calculated, there weren’t even any variables. Even if the information was covered in falsehoods and he couldn’t read it.
‘Gaining an advantage in the information war means not revealing the cards you have.’
The man named Licht was already like a protruding rock. He stood out too much, and no matter how much he thought about it, there was only one possibility.
“1 minute left.”
He checked his wristwatch and spoke briefly. If there were no more variables, the future where he and Licht met was confirmed.
“...What is this?”
But passing by the hero couple and walking further into the maze, he confirmed that the place where the students dressed as Sphinxes and Kuers should have been was empty.
His calculations were off again. Even if he hadn’t known about the Charitines kidnapping incident,
‘I didn’t know exactly what his abilities were as a hero.’
He was dumbfounded that the two people who should have been here at this moment were not here. He came to the conclusion that he was a person who not only broke through ignorance, but also nullified even Omniscience.
‘Is it an ability to completely twist recognition?’
Head felt a sense of futility and hit his forehead with his palm, feeling like he was two steps behind. Well, he was a hero who had even defeated the Demon Lord of Truth.
He had carefully moved to preempt the place in advance, but he couldn’t meet him. The Demon Lord looked at the bottom of the deeply dug tunnel.
“...Did they fall here?”
He muttered as he watched the training slime squirming below.
***
The incident happened suddenly.
“...Licht. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay… more than that, please get off of me.”
Because of a student who was surprised by my Durahan costume and took out a fire spirit, I stumbled backwards and missed my footing on the trap next to me.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Mardol, seeing me fall into the place filled with training slime, immediately threw her body and came down to the underground with me.
“I’m sorry… I guess I’m still scared of fire.”
“It’s okay. Licht.”
It was the same when Ariel had held a fireball to me last time, and it seemed that my body hadn’t recovered from the wounds of that day yet.
“...I thought I was getting better.”
I sighed deeply. Mardol, who had fallen on top of me, was clean, but I was covered in the sticky slime and felt uncomfortable.
“Licht… why are you scared of fire?”
She got up and asked me as if curious. Something like that had happened when I was young.
The reason why I had burn scars and avoided people. There was no miracle in the fire scene where I heard the screams to save me and ran back in.
What would I have done if there was no <Knight Heart>? That thought occurred to me momentarily.
“There was an incident.”
“...That’s not good.”
The golden wolf eyes in the tree costume were twinkling as if she had noticed my mood. She’s really quick to notice. Unlike someone else.
I was grateful that she didn’t ask more. This was a scar I had to live with. It was something I couldn’t expect others to understand or carry with me.
“Licht. I’m here.”
“...So you followed me down?”
“Yes. I can’t leave a pervert alone….”
Mardol, who had been clenching her fists, suddenly lost her balance and staggered. Why all of a sudden.
“...Mardol?”
“...”
“Don’t tell me you sprained your ankle?”
“Ah, I think so…”
Mardol was limping. She could heal it with divine power. I was about to say that, but the training slime was coming around.
The surroundings were too dark, so if I swung my sword, the booth could be destroyed, and the situation was unfolding as if telling me to take care of her.
‘I have no choice.’
The flags must have overlapped and exploded. How could the person who came to save me get hurt even more? It was absurd. I turned my back to Mardol and sat down.
“Get on.”
“Licht..? If you wait a little, I can….”
“The slimes are coming. Besides, you’re hurt, so you can’t use magic.”
“...Okay. Licht.”
If I wasted time here, a strange scene might be produced. The fact that she, who was wearing the Masterpiece Armor, had sprained her ankle, left me with only one choice.
‘This must be the right decision.’
It was already like a force. In games, these kinds of sudden events often happened when flags gathered. Besides, she was the main heroine.
In romance simulation games, it’s not uncommon for the female protagonist to run into the male protagonist while biting a piece of bread and shouting that she’s late.
The thought that I might be subjected to cruel treatment by the slime flashed through my mind. Chance overlapped with chance, becoming destiny itself, so
“Then, I’ll walk forward.”
“...Okay.”
It wasn’t unreasonable. Even so, it would be wrong to just leave her here or swing a sword. The Imperial Guard might appear and hold me responsible.
‘She’s not very heavy.’
As I chose to face the event head-on, the princess put her arms around my neck. The rough texture of wood was felt on my back.
I’ve felt it before, but she’s quite light. Or maybe it’s because I’ve become stronger through training.
“Mardol.”
“...Licht, that’s rude.”
“I didn’t say you still needed to lose weight….”
“Pervert, pervert.. Licht.”
The princess on my back was lightly hitting my back with her fist. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be seriously injured. I inwardly calmed my surprised heart.
“Ah, come to think of it.”
“Why..? Licht?”
“Why don’t you take off your helmet, Mardol?”
I judged that there was a reason why the system had created me and her alone, so I asked what I had been curious about all along.
“...”
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I won’t ask about bad memories.”
Then, she buried her face in my back. What was that? Her affection must have gone down since she was constantly hitting my back a little while ago. Soon, Mardol opened her mouth.
“..It’s because of Magic Hat, who I met when I was young.”
The truth that she barely uttered in a tearful voice. Actually, I knew that this would distance me from our Saintess route.
‘I’ve been worried about it. As expected, was it because of the Demon Lord?’
She was the one who threw herself to save me when I fell into the pit and even sprained her ankle. Mardol had already developed more than a certain level of feeling for me.
“What exactly did the Demon Lord of Truth do to you?”
“He said it was a problem because I was a girl. While killing the maids….”
“So you hid your gender.”
“Yes… I was afraid that others would be harmed by the Demon Lord because of me.”
Then she must have lived a life far from normal. Omnipotent. It might be easy to think that the position of the Imperial Princess meant there was nothing she couldn’t do, but
“..That must have been hard.”
“It’s my fault.. I..”
“Don’t say such things. You said it was when you were young, didn’t you?”
Everyone has times when they are weak. From what I heard, it was as if that crazy magician had ruined her entire life.
“..I said too harsh things before. I’m sorry.”
The steps I was taking forward stopped. I apologized again, remembering the dark history of saying bad things to her in the swordsmanship training ground in the past.
She was like cold glass, but in fact, she cared for others more than anyone else. A life ruined in childhood cannot be easily recovered.
“No.. Licht.”
“Then, as an apology, I’ll tell you the reason why I don’t reveal my face too?”
“Huh..? Huh..! Tell me..”
I sympathized because I knew her better than anyone else. A child, not even an adult. If you were to be frustrated by hitting a cold wall at that time, what solution would there be?
“I also got a bad burn when I was young.”
In the end, if you can’t hold anyone accountable, you turn the yardstick to yourself. Since you can’t blame others, you gnaw at yourself.
It was better not to do the immature and clumsy self-blame that everyone was likely to have.
“I barely got out… but I heard screams to save me and ran back in. That’s when I got hurt.”
“..I see. It seems like you didn’t want to talk about it. Why to me..?”
“You also told me one of your painful memories, didn’t you, Mardol?”
Joy is doubled when shared, and sorrow is halved when shared.
Besides, since the grade exam, Mardol had been someone who was constantly trying to protect me, so I couldn’t help but worry about her.
“..So don’t just blame yourself. The Demon Lord is the bad guy.”
“Licht..”
“In the end, there’s no need to hurt yourself. I know from experience, it’s really not good.”
Emotions weren’t linear. I wanted to give some encouragement to the knight who resembled me.
‘The Saintess will be angry, but… this is right.’
Perhaps I was momentarily moved by the warm warmth I felt on my back.
Or maybe it was cheap pity. I didn’t know her well, so I might be saying things easily.
‘In the end, she just didn’t have anyone to rely on. Like me in my childhood.’
But even the smallest encouragement was desperate for a wounded person, so I couldn’t push away Mardol, who had brought out her trauma to answer my question.
“..Cheer up. Or, would you like to have a drink with me today?”
“Huh..? At the night market?”
“Yes, you have to relieve your feelings when you’re not feeling well.”
I suggested a drink to the tree monster. It would be nice to enjoy the night of the summer festival with the hero couple too.
She was also a freshman in the academy who had completed her coming-of-age ceremony. She could drink alcohol with me. The Imperial Guard would be watching around, so there would be no incidents.
“Good. Licht.. For the record, I’m not going to lose.”
“Haha. I’ll be looking forward to it. Let’s finish the day with fun stories, not these gloomy ones.”
It was also a method I enjoyed doing when I was stressed in reality. If I bought a can of beer and snacks from a convenience store and played a game,
“..Licht.”
All the difficult memories of that day would fly away. Maybe this would be okay. The chances of her being interested in my face inside the helmet would also decrease.
“..Thank you. Licht.”
“You’re welcome. Aren’t we friends. Mardol.”
“Friends..”
“Whenever you have these kinds of worries, tell me. I’ll take the cost later by having you buy me a meal.”
Actually, asking for a meal was a joke. She seemed to have more to say, but soon buried her face more in my back. It seemed like she was feeling better now.
“..Yes, we were friends. Us.”
As we shared each other’s burdens, we walked out together to the exit of the booth where the light was visible.