Caprice

,So, how about persuading Roel as quickly as possible? Our ultimate enemy isn’t Roel, but the god of the Chaos Church. The faster Roel joins us, the more we can focus on facing the final enemy.”

Raelran’s words caused a murmur at the table. Everyone seemed to have different ideas about how to persuade Roel. Eunice, who had been lost in thought, twirling her crossed thumbs, opened her mouth.

,Of course, it would be great if Roel were on our side. But Roel has a blind purpose. It will be difficult to persuade him without solid evidence. Rather, a hasty attempt to persuade him could increase Roel’s vigilance.”

Everyone nodded, seemingly agreeing with Eunice’s words. Following Eunice, Bella revealed her thoughts.

,I think it’s right for Ellie and me to stay by Roel’s side, watching to see if he acts differently from the novel’s flow, and to build our strength. Wouldn’t the safest path be to buy as much time as possible and gather solid evidence to persuade Roel?”

This time, Raelran didn’t seem willing to back down, twisting one corner of her mouth as she spoke.

,You’re all thinking too safely. I understand the desire to reduce risk, but haven’t you forgotten that if the stakes are low, the rewards are also low? This is our last betting opportunity. There is no next time.”

Raelran, who had been looking at Bella, shifted her gaze to me and continued in a low voice.

,Honestly, there’s no need to persuade him.”

,…?”

,Roel is trying to save everyone, he’s not some inferior bastard who would destroy the world because he lost. He’s a crazy bastard who would gladly offer his neck if he could save the world with his death.”

Raelran’s voice was cold. Her manic eyes gleamed. She took a deep breath and slowly opened her mouth.

,We completely ruin Roel’s salvation plan and become the alternative to salvation. Then there’s no need for persuasion or clear evidence.”

,….”

Everyone fell silent at Raelran’s words. Bella, not liking Raelran’s opinion, glared at Raelran with a stiff face. I stroked my chin and reconsidered the strategists’ advice.

The direction of the advice differed depending on the strategist’s disposition. It is the lord’s job to gather these and create a single, common opinion.

To be honest, I wanted to side with Raelran’s opinion. Roel has already ruined several worlds with his own salvation. I didn’t think he would easily accept that he had made a mistake with just a few pieces of evidence.

Having finished organizing my thoughts, I said in a firm voice.

,I will not decide anything right away. For now, we will aim to monitor Roel and buy time, as per the existing policy. I think it is right to follow the flow according to future changes in the situation.”

Everyone agreed to my words without much objection. Although their opinions differed, there was definitely something in the content that everyone could agree on.

Now that I had made a decision, I felt the need to change the subject. I looked around and asked.

,Is there anything else to talk about?”

,Now it’s our turn to report to our lord what we’ve done while you were away on your trip.”

As Raelran said that with a spiteful smile, Bella, resting her chin on her hand, opened her mouth.

,You’ve already heard about recruiting Lamine, right? There was nothing else special to report. I’m just too busy.”

There was also the issue of the Crown Princess that needed to be dealt with right away, and Bella had come all the way to the east to help me, so it was true that she was busy. I nodded in understanding and shifted my gaze to Eunice.

,I started investigating the power of the Church and the Order. I also decided to investigate information about the undead with Estelle-onni. We are dispatching Modiste’s personnel to investigate Ludwig in detail.”

Without me saying anything, the strategist who read the situation seemed to have grasped the focus of the flow. I nodded in satisfaction and turned my head to Raelran.

,I met the Coordinator in the West.”

Previously, I had told Raelran that I wanted to recruit the Coordinator as a colleague. Raelran seemed to have approached the Coordinator first without ignoring it.

,He said he would visit the academy as soon as he finishes his work, whenever he has time. He didn’t seem to completely trust my words, but I managed to persuade him to some extent using memories from another world. If you show him your memories, you will be able to easily recruit him as a colleague.”

If the great magician, the Coordinator, becomes our colleague, it will definitely be a great help. Although he died, the Coordinator was the one who held Roel back the longest.

Estelle didn’t have anything to report separately because she focused on supporting other colleagues. But Estelle was the one who was working the hardest. Even Bella, who doesn’t get along well with her, readily admitted that Modiste’s support was helpful.

With everyone’s reports finished, it was now my turn. I ran a hand over my face and wondered how to start.

,There are some changes to the activities of the Lily that I mentioned before.”

,Changes?”

Eunice tilted her head with a puzzled look.

,First of all, I want to apologize to everyone for being capricious. I realized belatedly that my choice was wrong. I don’t think it’s right to put the names of people who haven’t committed any crimes on the kill list simply for efficiency. People deserve a second chance.”

At the time, I thought that supporting characters who would not affect the plausibility would not be of great help, so I thought it would be more efficient to kill them all rather than wasting time on persuasion. I even tried to kill innocent families for the sake of the Lily’s influence.

Eunice, who was originally destined to become a strategist for the Order, thought that those who had not yet committed crimes, like herself, should be given a chance, but I, who was collapsing under the pressure of catching up with Roel at the time, ignored Eunice’s feelings.

Looking back now, I get chills at my choice. It was a choice that I would never have made in the first place. Originally, I was a born liar, not a crazy killer. It was as if I was playing a game, and from some point on, I had been looking at this world only from an efficient point of view.

But after receiving the hope that the Saintess gave me, I kept feeling uneasy about the choices I had made. This world was the fantasy that I had always imagined and dreamed of. What I loved was not only the characters, but also the world they lived in.

Ross, who was just a mass of inferiority and a disposable item for Roel, is now trying to save the world. Then shouldn’t other people also be given the opportunity to change their fate?

,Honestly, I only thought about efficiency before. I thought I had to become like that in order to beat Roel. But I realized that that thought was wrong. People can change. Just like my fate, which should have been tempted by the devil and killed by Roel, has changed like this.”

Everyone except Lamine, who didn’t know the situation, exchanged glances silently. After a while, Bella tapped the table and asked quietly.

,It seems like we need a sufficient explanation of exactly how you plan to carry out the Lily’s activities?”

That’s right. I nodded and said what I had in mind.

,I want to give other people a chance to live a new life, like Eunice and Lakar’s sister here, Lamine. I don’t think it’s right to kill them just because they are planning to join hands with the Order.”

,What if they can’t be persuaded?”

,The important thing is that we don’t shed unnecessary blood. If they are impossible to persuade, or if they have already committed many crimes, I plan to kill them in the name of the Lily as planned. However, my intention is not to harm innocent families or people around them.”

I leaned back in my chair and took a deep breath. I was worried that the strategists would be disappointed in me for suddenly being capricious. But I felt that not correcting something that I knew was wrong would come back as a bigger problem later.

I’m not trying to be a hero or act virtuous. I just want to do what I think is right, even if I get cursed at and my qualifications as a lord are questioned.

The strategists and Estelle, who had been exchanging glances, nodded and turned their gazes to me. Eunice, as if representing everyone’s opinion, said with a smile.

,Actually, we were worried all along. We were worried that you would simply think of this world as just a world in a novel. It seemed like you had changed a lot from the way you first reached out to me to save the world. It felt like you were going to drop the pieces on the board out of the game without a second thought for the sake of efficiency.”

Bella continued Eunice’s words.

,That’s why we prepared things like the Proposal Operation. To prevent you from giving up on this world easily. Just the fact that you have affection for this world makes us feel relieved and able to help you.”

They were probably wary of me becoming as extreme as Roel. When I nodded, Eunice spoke again.

,With the hope that Ross of Hope gave you through the Saintess, we will be able to create a completely new game. It will be the starting point of a true journey to save the world.”

Raelran, who had been silent until then, rested her chin on her hand with a sullen expression and said.

,Honestly, I don’t care whether you kill innocent people or save them. It’s the same even if you’re capricious, change your plans on the fly, or get annoyed for no reason.”

She then added these words.

,Because the fact that you are the last hope to save all worlds doesn’t change.”