episode_0099

The Emperor’s office.

It was a place where important imperial documents were kept, a place where even a member of the royal family could not enter without the Emperor’s permission.

In that Emperor’s office were the Emperor, Duke Adelian, and Duke Freya.

If a knight or mage had been present, they would have either trembled or tried to strike up a conversation.

Duke Freya was renowned as the Empire’s foremost swordsman, and while Duke Adelian used magic in an unusual way, he earned the respect of mages.

And Duke Freya and Duke Adelian, whom everyone respected, were now…

“I saw the video of the midterm exam. Clara has gotten much stronger, though she was ‘second place’.”

“What did you say?”

“For your information, our Johanna has never missed first place in practical exams.”

“Ha! It would’ve been different if Clara was a second-year or Johanna was a first-year, wouldn’t it?”

“No, the results wouldn’t change. Our Johanna is always first place.”

They were boasting about their children in the Emperor’s office.

The Emperor, who had been looking at documents, tapped his desk and said,

“Haa… I don’t mind you two fighting, but why are you making so much noise in my office?”

Though the Emperor spoke with a frown, Duke Adelian’s and Duke Freya’s expressions didn’t change at all.

“We just came because we were bored.”

“I came because this guy called me.”

Their tone was so light it was hard to believe they were speaking to the Emperor.

The Emperor merely let out a deep sigh. He didn’t say anything about them not using honorifics.

The three had already fought together, risking their lives at the academy, so they spoke comfortably like this when no one else was around.

Of course, if even one other person was nearby, they would use honorifics.

“Of course, Clara just barely got second place, but! First place was my disciple!”

“He is also my disciple.”

The Emperor, who had been looking at documents, spoke as soon as Duke Adelian finished his sentence.

“Why is that fellow your disciple in the first place?!”

“It was that child who first sought my tutelage. If you have any complaints, speak to him, not me.”

“Ugh! That’s right! You invited him to your mansion without my permission, too!”

Duke Adelian, unable to refute the Emperor’s words, shifted his target to Duke Freya.

“I don’t know why I need your permission to invite that fellow.”

“Aha! Speaking of which, Loki, that fellow, won against Ascal in a spar, didn’t he? Just as expected of my disciple! Haha!”

“He is also my disciple.”

The Emperor pondered how he could hand all these documents over to the Chancellor and go play with the Empress.

“Ascal lost?! What are you talking about?! Of course, our Ascal went easy on him!”

“Going easy on someone is also a skill. Someone at the academy used to say that often, didn’t they?”

‘Those guys haven’t changed.’

The Emperor thought he should give the Chancellor some restorative medicine as he selected the documents to hand over to him.

“In the first place, I was the one who taught fighting to a guy who only had killing intent.”

“………..?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Duke Freya and the Emperor felt the same emotion after hearing Duke Adelian’s words.

Doubt.

Killing intent? Loki, that guy?

The Emperor and Duke Freya thought of Loki.

They acknowledged he was strong and smart, but they had never once sensed killing intent from him.

“Hmm. Now that I think about it, when I first described Loki, I said he was like a beast.”

“Ha! Don’t even mention it. I’ve never seen anyone like him in my life. Someone who handles killing intent so freely.”

Pressuring others with killing intent is different from pressuring them with mana.

It’s possible to learn how to pressure others with mana.

But killing intent is different. There’s nothing written anywhere about how to use killing intent, and you can’t learn it from others.

“Well, he doesn’t emit killing intent while walking around like he used to, but if he had become an assassin or something, we would have been quite troubled, wouldn’t we?”

* * *

I looked around at the fog-shrouded surroundings.

‘This should be enough.’

The fog had already spread widely and thickly enough that nothing would be visible from outside.

Daron, perhaps so shocked by what he had just heard, tried to escape from this place, but his arms and legs were already bound with threads.

He squirmed and crawled hideously like a worm, trying desperately to escape, but his speed was as slow as a worm’s.

“Hmph! Please save me!”

Daron, after squirming and crawling, seemed to decide he couldn’t escape in this state and began to beg me.

“I’ll do anything! Just please, not that!”

The smug smile he wore when he harassed Sepia earlier was nowhere to be seen. He pleaded, shedding tears and snot, his head pressed to the ground.

‘I know.’

That what I was about to do was not rational at all, but emotional.

‘I know it very well.’

That what I was about to do would shatter the plan I had built up until now in an instant.

The cameras outside the fog had recorded everything: Daron’s subordinates attacking me, even using artifacts.

Even if I didn’t hit Daron here, I could use that footage to corner him to the brink.

I knew very well that if I endured Daron’s harassment of Sepia, I could handle him more easily.

In fact, I could even use it to push Daron off the edge of the cliff.

No matter how I thought about it, beating Daron inside the fog was not to my advantage.

‘But what does that matter?’

Everyone has something that shouldn’t be touched, and Daron touched it.

Would it have been different if I had maintained a poker face?

‘No, impossible.’

I asked myself, and I answered myself.

If I had thought rationally after hearing what Daron said to Sepia, I would have ended my own life.

I know it’s better to think rationally than emotionally.

However, humans sometimes need to act emotionally rather than rationally.

This is a human privilege, and I don’t want to live while abandoning that privilege.

Someone close to me was subjected to such harassment, and I’m supposed to think rationally?

Just imagining it makes me nauseous; I can’t endure it.

‘Reason over emotion. There is no action as foolish as ruining everything you’ve built up with a single mistake.’

One of the few serious words uttered by Duke Adelian, who taught me how to fight, came to mind.

If Duke Adelian saw me overturning a well-laid plan just because of a single phrase, what would he say?

I couldn’t even imagine what he would say.

But I could imagine what Duke Adelian would say to me if I had just stood there and listened to those words.

‘You utterly useless bastard.’

I knew from the game that Daron was using the tragedy that happened in her village to utter unspeakable things to Sepia.

Yes, I already knew.

I knew, but…

Hearing it in person felt much more disgusting.

Sepia, who had suffered such pain, shouldn’t have to hear such words from a guy like this.

Sepia, who had worked tirelessly for revenge, shouldn’t be subjected to such harassment by a jerk like this.

“Please, sa…”

I wanted to kill Daron, who was begging with his head pressed to the ground, right then and there.

If this hadn’t been the academy, I might have killed him long ago.

I wanted to kill him, but death was too much of a luxury for this guy.

And above all, Daron still had a lot left: power, money, reputation.

I intend to take all of that away.

Much more cruelly and swiftly than originally planned.

But even so, I should at least tell Sepia beforehand.

Because what I’m about to do is an act of revenge.

“Sepia.”

I spoke informally without realizing it, but I didn’t particularly care.

That wasn’t important right now.

But it seemed it was to Sepia.

“………Uh, y-yes!”

Sepia flinched as if startled and replied.

She was so startled that her voice cracked.

The way she spoke with a dazed expression was cute, but the tears welling up in her eyes bothered me.

I started walking toward Sepia, and

Sepia took a step back for a moment, then seemed to make up her mind and stopped.

Before I knew it, the distance between Sepia and me had become so close that if either of us took one step forward, we would bump into each other.

When I reached out my hand towards her face, Sepia closed her eyes and trembled slightly.

I extended my hand and wiped away the tears welling up in Sepia’s eyes with my fingers.

Sepia, who had flinched when my hand touched her skin, opened her eyes and stared blankly at me after I removed my hand.

As if to ask if this was all.

Her wide-eyed stare made me think of a rabbit.

What on earth was she expecting?

A small smile escaped my lips.

Perhaps hearing that small sound, Sepia bit her lip and glared at me with a flushed face.

Seeing that look, I felt another smile about to escape, but I managed to hold it back by placing my hand on Sepia’s head.

Sepia continued to bite her lip and glare at me, but she didn’t remove the hand on her head.

“I told you yesterday, didn’t I? That I have no intention of taking revenge for you. And you wouldn’t want that either, would you?”

I don’t know the name of the village Sepia lived in. I don’t know the people, I don’t know the scenery.

I know nothing of what Sepia talked about with the villagers, what she ate there, or how she played.

Perhaps that’s why I shouldn’t take revenge on Sepia’s behalf.

Because revenge only has meaning when carried out by the one who remembers.

“…………….”

Sepia didn’t respond to my words, but she was definitely listening, so I continued.

“But now, it’s not someone I don’t know who was hurt; it’s you.”

It’s different now than it was with Betzdo.

I remember Sepia and recall her.

At this point, don’t I have the right to take revenge on Daron’s behalf, for Sepia?

Just as Sepia wouldn’t entrust her revenge to others, I have no intention of handing my revenge over to someone else either.

“So, you wouldn’t mind if I carried out this revenge, right?”

Sepia stared at me, mouth agape, in a daze.

Sepia’s eyes blinked open and closed repeatedly.

Watching that eased my mind, but paradoxically, my killing intent toward Daron deepened further.

Sepia nodded without a word.

“Good, stay here quietly.”

I roughly stroked Sepia’s head and walked toward Daron.