episode_0047

“Go ahead and try.”

“Huh?”

“I said try it. Confess your feelings.”

After all, the most crucial condition for an ordeal is the target’s emotions. No matter how much empty talk of love or regret someone spouts, it has no effect on me.

Of course, I’d naturally tense up at an apology or confession of regret—but if Cecilia were to say she loves me, would I believe it’s genuine?

What have I ever done for her?

Delusions like that are a sickness. When Cecilia first spoke, her confident demeanor made me nervous, but upon reflection, I almost fell for her clever rhetoric.

How many times have I been fooled by this sweet gaslighting?

Not anymore.

“Try it…? Y-You mean… I, I…”

Cecilia ultimately couldn’t bring herself to say it and closed her mouth, but Christine cut in instead.

“The menu. Hurry up and decide. If you don’t, I’ll drag you into town by force. And if we say we’re going, any place would scramble to make room for three, don’t you think?”

“Steak! I want steak!”

I couldn’t possibly cause such a massive disturbance. The mere fact that Cecilia stayed silent meant my modest goal was achieved.

“You should’ve said that from the start.”

Pressed by their momentum, I blurted out “steak” without much thought.

Of course, there wasn’t any particular reason for choosing that dish.

I’d just never had it before, and when the opportunity arose, it was the first thing that came to mind.

“Steak…”

“Not bad. Simple enough, and a good way to gauge each other’s tastes…”

But the two of them exchanged glances at my answer, then suddenly broke into bright smiles.

“Leave it to me, Oppa.”

“We’ll find the best dish for you, so just relax and wait.”

“Don’t you want dessert? Anything else?”

“Just steak is enough…”

Honestly, the sooner they both disappeared from my sight, the better—but I didn’t have the nerve to say that.

“We’ll be back. Get some rest.”

Click—

The door closed softly, and I was left alone once more to enjoy my own time.

“Sigh…”

When Cecilia mentioned confessing, my blood ran cold for a second.

Right.

No matter how much they talk about capturing the Demon King or being the world’s saviors, at their core, they’re just schoolgirls who should be enjoying their youth.

Sometimes, they need to let loose like this.

Maybe if they keep hanging out like this, their guilt toward me and the weight of being the “Hero Party” will fade.

No—it has to. Carrying emotions that’ll never be returned is far worse.

That aside, are they seriously planning to go out like that?

Well, they’ll figure it out.

“Ughhh—”

I stretched lazily.

No matter how powerful an empire is, it can’t monitor everything.

So, there are places beyond its watch—and within those shadows lurk the forces of the underworld.

Demon worshippers, illegal slavers, dark mages…

In the first run, I went to great lengths to keep our precious Hero Party members from getting tangled up in such dangerous places. But now, I don’t need to worry about that.

The underworld and the criminals within it only prey on the weak and defenseless.

The heir to the Grave family and a Saint candidate?

If anyone dares pick a fight with those two, I might just seriously consider siding with them instead.

Even if Christine and Cecilia hide their identities, there’s no one in the heart of the empire strong enough to subdue or kidnap them.

If there were, I’d have already sought them out in the previous run and recruited them somehow.

And even if such a powerhouse existed back then, they’d be no match for the two of them now. Knowing that, they must feel confident enough to stroll through the empire’s nightlife in their school uniforms.

“Good enough.”

Once I erased the last lingering worry from my mind, all that remained was the fact that tomorrow was the weekend.

Finally, I could relax.

No more headache-inducing group projects, no more overwhelming crises of the world—for now, I could forget it all and pull the covers over my head.

—–

“So, do you have a place in mind?”

“Hmm? Steak is sold everywhere. The real challenge is finding a place that suits Oppa’s taste, don’t you think?”

“True. Then, are we eating at the place we find?”

“Probably. Rather than bringing food from another restaurant to him, it’s better if we find the best one ourselves. By the way, Unnie.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you still using formal speech? It’s awkward. Are you trying to play the kind Saint and eldest sister now? It’s a bit late for that—we’ve already come too far.”

As Christine said, no matter how much Cecilia used honorifics and polite manners now, none of the Hero Party members would believe it.

Though she had a talent for persuading ordinary people, those who knew her well would not only distrust her words—they’d react with outright aversion.

“Um… Do you remember that alley where you and Christine had that argument?”

“Ahh, the one where you went on about how ‘God is dead’ and all that? What about it?”

“After we fought, I thought about it a lot. Even if I really did rebel against God and lived as I pleased, would Eric want that? Could I really make him happy?”

“Hmm. And what conclusion did you reach?”

“It was impossible. No matter how much I raged, Eric’s heart was already firmly closed.”

“Figures. He might claim he has no feelings for us, but that’s even scarier. But what does that have to do with your formal speech?”

“That’s when I realized—what I thought was ‘for Eric’s sake’ was just a facade. My true motive was my own comfort. That’s hypocrisy.”

“So what, you’re keeping up the act to remain the beloved Saint in others’ eyes?”

“Yes. If I’m going to do it, I might as well commit fully.”

“Hmm, I see. Personally, I think this world’s version of you is pretty good.”

“Don’t joke, Chris.”

Before they knew it, the two had left the mansion and entered the bustling marketplace.

“Unnie.”

“Yes, a light disguise should be enough, right?”

After a brief exchange, the moment they took their next step, Christine and Cecilia were gone—replaced by two ordinary-looking girls.

Though the marketplace was noisy, the clamor was nothing more than background chatter to them.

“The disguise seems good enough… but why school uniforms?”

“In a place like this, wearing ordinary clothes just attracts filthy pests. Consider it the bare minimum of safety measures.”

“Fine. Anyway, back to what we were talking about—look at the people here. Do you really think they’d dislike you for dropping formalities? If anything, they’d praise the Saint for breaking down her own authority.”

“It doesn’t sound like a joke when you say it. Is it because you’ve experienced it?”

“My apologies. For a noble lady, I have no manners to speak of.”

“Hehe. That one was a joke.”

“Not funny.”

As they exchanged idle banter, Cecilia suddenly stopped and fixed Christine with a sharp look.

“Speaking of speech—now that I think about it, shouldn’t you be just as careful?”

“I’ve been careful enough at the academy. Unlike a certain someone who only just realized.”

“Someone who gets sarcastic when angry? Not a very desirable habit for a duke’s daughter.”

“Ugh… That was just because that brat was annoying me. Bragging about discovering a new magic formula like he knew anything—ah.”

“Oh my? Who was the one shouting earlier? How very junior of you.”

“Junior?!”

“Yes. I was just stating facts—is there a problem?”

“I finished combat training first! If anything, you should be calling me sunbae!”

“Only in combat training. In every other field, I was ahead. Except monster theory… but no one could beat Eric in that subject anyway.”

Beating Eric—who already knew the original story and the future—in knowledge was impossible for anyone in this world. But these two had no way of knowing that.

Still, Cecilia had plenty of other ways to attack.

“Who was top of the class in herbology? Defensive magic? Strategy and command? The only ones who ever beat Elia in that were me and Eric.”

“B-But combat training was the academy’s top priority!”

“Do you really want me to call you sunbae that badly? How curious.”

“Getting you to admit it even once is what matters. That you’re worse than me.”

“Me?”

Apart from the slight age difference, Christine wasn’t far behind Cecilia.

The Saint and the duke’s daughter—one with a gentle nature and broad tolerance, the other with a different charm. Yet in their ability to draw people in, they were alike.

Even so, right now, Christine was aggressive enough to keep pressing Cecilia.

“It’s about discipline. Oppa will have to deal with all sorts of people from now on—we can’t let him get caught up in annoying situations every time.”

“Hmm…”

And so began the childish prelude to a battle between the Saint and the Archmage.