Dame shouted even before Xenia had finished speaking.
“That’s not true!”
Though Ophelia was Xenia’s best friend, Dame also cared deeply for her.
No matter how much it was for the sake of the Empire, he wasn’t so ‘corrupted’ that he’d harm his daughter’s friend.
Xenia studied his expression carefully, then nodded.
“While I was waiting for you, I thought through the worst-case, average, and best-case scenarios. Thankfully, this isn’t the worst-case.”
“……”
“Then what about Ophelia?”
“I don’t know. She disappeared entirely during a mission. She was a high-ranking officer in the Holy Knights of Light. If someone of that level goes missing and the Order can’t find her…”
“Their reputation must’ve taken a hit. So they borrowed the name of the Witch of Carnage.”“That’s right.”
Xenia nodded and stood up. Then she bowed politely.
“Since it wasn’t the worst-case, I’ll greet you like this.”
“And if it had been?”
“I would’ve grabbed you by the collar.”
Dame let out a short laugh.
“What was the best-case scenario?”
“That you’d accept what I said and step down as captain.”
“And if I had, how would you have greeted me?”
Xenia answered with a gentle smile.
“I would’ve given you a hug. To thank you for listening.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Truly.”
She gazed off into the distance.
“Really.”
Neril contacted Xenia, and she responded immediately that she would return.
I was surprised by how she answered without a moment’s hesitation, so I cut in.
“You haven’t even finished negotiations yet, right?”
—No, it’s done.
“Huh?”
—Pfft. Why do you sound so shocked?
“Well, I thought it’d take at least two weeks. I figured we’d be lucky to wrap things up just before the Black Sun rises.”
Xenia replied in a soft voice.
—I was hoping it might end sooner than expected. I didn’t say anything just in case.
“Why?”
—Father’s always been good at listening to me.
Neril twitched her lips.
“He’s that soft on his daughter, huh.”
—Yes, exactly. That’s why I couldn’t be too harsh either.
“……”
—Anyway, it wasn’t a total disaster. I’ll explain everything in detail once I’m back.
Click.
As the communication orb went silent, a brief silence settled in. Then Neril spoke up.
“Dame’s got a surprisingly different side to him. Well, that doesn’t change the fact he’s still a bastard to me.”
“You mean that weakness thing?”
“Yeah. Though to be fair, it’s not entirely Dame’s fault. He didn’t steal that weakness from me.”
“Of course not. With his skills, how could he possibly steal anything from you?”
“Heh.”
She smiled faintly, looking slightly cheered up.
Some time later, Xenia returned.
“Tada~ I brought some snacks. Want some?”
She was smiling brightly.
Maybe things had gone better with Dame than expected.
But we couldn’t match her cheerfulness.
“Welcome back. Sit down first.”
“Sure. The mood’s kind of gloomy, though.”
“……”
“Don’t worry. Mr. Mide, and all of us—we’ve overcome all sorts of crazy obstacles so far. This time will be no different.”
“This time, it’s about you.”
“What?”
I let out a sigh and spoke.
“This time… Dame’s life is on the line.”
After hearing everything, Xenia’s face turned pale.
Her expression was so dark that Adwin, looking nervous, quickly spoke up.
“Big sis, don’t look like that. If we all put our heads together, we’ll come up with something. We always do.”
“……”
“Uh, right. You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Should we unpack those snacks you brought?”
“I’m not hungry.”
Those words felt like the end of the world.
Especially to me—I even stuttered.
“C-Calm down. Don’t do anything rash.”
“…?”
“Nothing’s happened yet. Don’t go doing anything you’ll regret.”
“No, I just said I’m not hungry?”
“You’re the type to eat two full portions even before fighting the Demon King.”
Xenia shouted back.
“I’m not that bad!”
No. Before the regression, she really was.
I’d meant it sincerely, but everyone seemed to think it was a joke to lighten the mood, and they chuckled.
The atmosphere did ease up a bit.
Then Offense spoke.
“So… removing the cursed gem without harming Patrick and without triggering its rampage… Is that even possible?”
“No clue. I’m not exactly an expert in this area. What do you think, Neril?”
Neril crossed her arms.
“Like I said before, I won’t know until I see it.”
“Then let’s go see. Right now.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go to Patrick. If we can’t bring him here, we’ll have to go to him.”
“And where would that be?”
Xenia quickly chimed in.
“I’ll use visual link with Agril to locate him.”
“Oh, right. You can do that.”
“Yes. I’m sorry, but can I start right away?”
She looked quite anxious.
Understanding her urgency, we all stood up without protest. Within five minutes, Xenia located Patrick’s whereabouts.
She wrinkled her face in disgust and said,
“That guy’s almost as much of a scumbag as Kaeld.”
“That bad?”
“Hmm… maybe not quite that bad, now that I think about it.”
“So what did you see?”
Xenia answered,
“He was spitting on a grave.”
The grave Patrick spat on, shockingly, belonged to Krotz.
His grandfather—and a man who had a brief connection with Neril.
[You’re really emphasizing the “brief” part.]
‘Shut it.’
We hid at a spot Offense had selected—“absolutely undetectable”—and observed his actions.
“Heh. Watching from the underworld, old man? Damn bastard.”
“……”
“You were always so popular, but in the end, vice captain was your limit. Meanwhile, I became captain. I surpassed you!”
Neril murmured.
“Did he have some inferiority complex toward Krotz?”
“Looks like it.”
“Gross. That bastard doesn’t deserve to spit on Krotz’s grave.”
Krotz must’ve been a decent person.
Especially since Neril, who generally disliked people, was acknowledging him this much.
“So… at this distance, can you analyze him?”
“Yeah. It’s close enough.”
Neril closed her eyes and formed a quick hand seal.
Analysis magic.
A spell that revealed the causes, mechanics, and possible solutions for any phenomenon affected by mana.
After a brief silence, Neril opened her eyes.
Drip.
A cold bead of sweat slid down her nose.
“What is it? Difficult?”
“Not just difficult. Impossible.”
“……”
“I think I underestimated it after dealing with the Gem of Desolation. But this one is filled with extremely detailed trigger conditions.”
Neril hesitated, then added,
“If I had to find a silver lining, unlike with the Martial King, this gem is connected to Patrick.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means the one who decides whether something’s harmful… is Patrick. Not the gem itself.”
So it’d be easier to fool Patrick than to fool the gem. That’s the hopeful part?
It was a far trickier situation than I’d expected. I suppressed a groan.
‘Now that I think about it…’
In the previous timeline, the gem had eventually gone berserk.
The Black Sun that rose over the capital—that was evidence that the Gem of Corruption had rampaged.
‘Then who harmed Patrick back then?’
Even with the Eye of Omniscience, I couldn’t know—it was in the past.
But I had one possible lead.
I closed my eyes and recalled that moment.
One night before the regression.
I’d messed up the schedule and ended up sleeping outdoors. I was deep in dreamland when someone shook me awake.
“Mide. Wake up. It’s your turn.”
It was Xenia—she’d been on watch before me.
I yawned loudly and looked at her.
Her eyes were completely red and swollen.
“Did you cry?”
“No.”
“You really think I’d believe that when you look like that?”
“…Sigh. Yes. I cried.”
She quickly wiped the tear stains with her sleeve.
I sat up and spoke.
“Did you have a sad dream or something?”
“Yep. Said the situation in Raynus was more urgent. I mean, we did find Adwin there, so it was a big deal.”
“…”
“The Black Sun turned nearly 30 percent of the capital’s citizens into monsters. If we had chosen the capital instead, maybe we could’ve stopped it.”
I scratched my head.
In Raynus, the place they’d chosen over the capital, Xenia had used a grand-scale purification ritual, sacrificing some of her lifespan.
If she’d done that in the capital, they might have averted the catastrophe.
Not that it’s a matter of comparing which tragedy was worse, but still…
“It’s only natural for someone to want to save the place where their family lives. I get it.”
“…”
“But… isn’t worrying about Dame unnecessary? The Order of the Holy Light is still intact.”
“…You know Dame retired, right?”
I tilted my head at that.
“He did?”
“Yeah. Said he was retiring due to age, right after the Black Sun incident. Some guy named Abel is acting as his temporary replacement.”
“Well, the Black Sun was a huge mess. Maybe he pushed himself too hard.”
“Maybe…”
She whispered softly.
“I know the Order of the Holy Light pretty well. They’re scarily good at covering things up.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I think it’s possible that Dame was taken out by the Black Sun too. That he turned into a monster—and the Order is keeping him restrained somewhere.”
“To cover up the shame of their captain becoming a monster?”
“Isn’t that entirely plausible? That’s probably why Xenia’s crying like that.”
Neril added a few more pieces of circumstantial evidence.
Xenia had been contacting the capital more frequently since the Black Sun incident.
She’d been seen weeping like this several times.
And recently, she’d been eating only half as much as usual.
“Does the third one even count as evidence?”
“Of course it does.”
“….”
“Anyway, it’s all just speculation. So keep it to yourself. Don’t tell the others.”
“Why tell me? Wouldn’t it make more sense to tell Kaeld?”
Neril stayed quiet for a moment before answering.
“I would’ve. Before.”
“Before what? What do you mean?”
She murmured softly.
“…Before I met someone more reliable.”
I stopped reminiscing.
Thanks to the clarity of my pre-regression memories, I could now be sure.
‘As I thought, the Black Sun incident happened because Dame killed Patrick.’
[Hmm. All the evidence points that way.]
‘And I think I know why Dame killed Patrick too.’
That threat I saw through the Eye of Omniscience—Patrick telling him to step down and let his daughter take his place.
It must’ve been that threat that pushed Dame to act.
‘Which means… the same thing might happen again.’
I need to be careful.
One thing about Dame—I have to give him credit for how much he loves his daughter.
Trail asked,
[You said your party stayed out of the Black Sun incident entirely before the regression, right?]
‘Yeah. I only heard about it afterward, since I joined later.’
[Xenia must’ve been really disappointed.]
‘…’
Yeah.
After something like that, maybe even back then, Xenia never truly trusted Kaeld deep down.
Just like Offense secretly hadn’t.
Just like Neril openly didn’t.
Maybe every party member had their own reasons.
A wave of regret hit me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have focused so much on that peaceful retirement life…
[Don’t dwell on the past.]
‘Is it even correct to call pre-regression events “the past”?’
[The fact that you’re nitpicking like this means it is bothering you.]
‘…’
[Even if you had stepped up back then, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Like I said, the difference in reputation between you and Kaeld was overwhelming. Back then, you could’ve died and come back to life and still not become the hero.]
‘I did die and come back, and now I am the hero.’
[…Tch.]
I let out a small laugh.
‘Thanks for the comfort.’
[Ahem… hm-hm…]
Trail was right.
Now’s not the time to regret the past—but to move forward.
To reach a different ending than before.
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