Chapter 22
"Iris Webern. I'm the daughter of Baron Webern. What on earth is the heir to House Randall doing here?"
The beautiful crimson-haired girl stared straight at me.
That was Iris Webern herself.
One of everyone's favorite main heroines, and, just as her words suggest, she had an unusually strong sense of justice for a noble.
Well, that strong sense of justice meant House Webern was somewhat of an odd one out among the nobility.
――Honestly, let me say this.
I loved this scene in the story.
Iris, appearing before the players, never backed down from Kuzutos, a noble clearly of higher rank than herself.
Truly noble.
Still, she wasn't just stiff and serious; raise her affection enough, and she'd show her softer side, which made her incredibly popular among the heroines.
And in most Last Arcanum fanfics, it was practically a given that the reincarnated protagonist would save Iris when she was a child.
...Kuzutos???
Young Kuzutos usually gets beaten to a pulp. Don't make me say it.
"Well, what do you think I'm doing?"
I answered brazenly, with that intimidatingly beautiful girl before me.
Remembering Kuzutos from the story, I smiled as sleazily as I could.
"Heh heh heh..."
"The nobles in the capital really are nothing but scum, aren't they?"
Iris's beautiful face twisted.
"You don't even have proper discussions about countermeasures against monsters, and spend your nights partying instead, huh? And that smell—you're having quite the time in there, aren't you?"
Of course, she was being sarcastic.
From the perspective of a noble from the frontier, maybe the nobles here seemed to lack any sense of urgency.
"...!!"
Furthermore, Iris seemed to have noticed something about Liera's disheveled clothing.
"That girl standing behind you—"
Iris said with an expression that made clear she hated even saying it.
"I can tell just by looking at the maid you've got at your beck and call. You're a despicable piece of trash. If you weren't a noble, I'd cut you down right here and now."
As she said that, Iris put a hand on her sword.
I wasn't exaggerating. Iris Webern's swordsmanship was incredible.
In fact, in the story, even Sieg-kun, just after enrolling, couldn't lay a hand on her.
"...................."
Silence.
A hush fell over the area.
And at that point, two problems had arisen.
First,
For some reason, I felt like she hated me even more than in the original.
It was probably because of Liera.
Iris's intense gaze continued to bear down on me.
"You high-ranking nobles seem to mistake other people for puppets you can control however you please."
"Uh... well..."
N-No, it's a misunderstanding...
If anything, I was the one who'd been made to touch her breasts as instructed; I was the puppet being manipulated here.
And second.
I could feel an incredible killing intent coming from Liera behind me.
"...What is that girl... saying to Ultos-sama... Disrespectful... arrogant."
Liera was muttering her complaints under her breath.
I thought, this is weird.
Are there nothing but enemies both in front and behind me???
Every time Iris insulted me, a chill ran down my spine...
As a result,
"W-Well, anyway...!!!"
Feeling the situation getting worse by the second, I decided to wrap up my exchange with Iris quickly.
"Interesting. Heh heh heh... What a cheeky woman. Perhaps I should make you my mistress."
Then, just like in the original, I made a petty scumbag remark and leered at Iris.
At the same time, I felt like sighing.
What would happen if I said something like that to a heroine with a strong sense of justice???
Even an idiot could figure it out.
The answer, of course, was—
"Y-You...!!!!" Iris shouted in a rage.
The answer was simple.
She'd be absolutely furious.
In an instant, Iris's face turned as red as her beautiful crimson hair.
"...!!"
She must not have been able to hold back.
Iris stepped forward and reached out. The fact that she didn't resort to her sword was probably because she was exercising some self-restraint.
Thanks to my training with Enrique, a former F-rank adventurer, I could follow her movements clearly, as if in slow motion.
If I'd wanted to, I could have dodged her without any trouble.
But I didn't dodge. I took Iris's slap.
A sharp, dry smack rang through the area.
――Now was my chance to show what I could do.
"W-Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
I smoothly dove straight onto the ground.
Then, loudly enough to make anyone nearby cringe,
"I-It hurts so muuuuuuuuch!!!!!" I shouted, rolling around.
"Y-Young master, are you all right?!"
Liera's worried voice.
Without answering her, I covered my face and kept a close eye on Iris through the gaps between my fingers.
How was that for a cocky scumbag act??
I'd provoked her relentlessly, then started crying the moment she hit me—a picture-perfect scumbag move.
And just as I'd expected—
"Spineless, pathetic... You have neither a noble's pride nor any strength. So this is what the high-ranking nobles of the capital are like..."
Even Iris, the very person who'd slapped me, was completely exasperated.
Iris sighed.
"My grandfather told me that nobles were once warriors who rose up to protect the people. But there are no more nobles who live up to that ideal. So I don't see any reason to stay here."
Saying that, she turned her back and started to leave.
Normally, that would have been the end of it.
Kuzutos would remain a scumbag, and Iris would remember him that way.
But I couldn't let her leave like this.
――All for the sake of my life as a background character.
"――Wait."
I called out to her as she turned around.
"What is it? If you're talking about my slapping you, I'll accept whatever punishment comes my way. Go ahead and abuse your power like you always do."
"No, that's not it."
I stood up, facing Iris as she was about to leave.
"A coin has two sides—heads and tails. Isn't that right?"
"Huh?"
Iris looked completely unable to understand why I'd suddenly started talking about that.
But I continued without paying her any mind.
"Where there's light, there's shadow. And it's because there's shadow that light shines. In other words, everything has two sides."
"What exactly are you trying to say...?!"
What exactly am I trying to say? Huh.
It was a perfectly reasonable question.
But I couldn't answer it.
Because...
Because...
I, too, had no idea what I was trying to say...
...because I didn't really understand it myself.