A Man's Resolve (Though It Doesn't Quite Come Across)

"I'll show you another way out. So escape through there."

"Huh?"

I stared at Baldo, taking a good, long look at him.

"But you..."

Baldo had taken a direct hit from my sword, and his wounds were deep.

Even now, he was clutching his wounds.

But...

Baldo said, "No need for pity, Genesis," wearing a strangely bright expression.

"Kukuku. Maybe I used to be just like you. Believe it or not, perhaps I was more devoted to justice than anyone."

"【Severing Shadow】..."

I called Baldo by his alias.

Along with the question: What the hell have you been going on about this whole time?

"I've abandoned that name. I'm just Baldo now."

As if he had made up his mind, Baldo began to speak.

"I feel like I've been walking in darkness for a long time. It seems I've forgotten something truly important. And yet, what mattered most was right beside me.

"—Genesis. A masked hero of the shadows. How ironic. You, a light, reminded me of the person I once was, when I was lost in the shadows."

"…………………"

"…………………"

Silence.

"...I see."

This was no good. I didn't understand any of it.

It was all far too poetic. Light and shadow, heroes, darkness...

It seemed my assessment that he was on Enrique's level hadn't been wrong.

Unlike Enrique, who straightforwardly pulled off the strong-guy act, Baldo was probably another troublesome type of chuunibyou who spouted all kinds of cryptic, supposedly cool lines.

I'd tried using the same tactic myself, saying all kinds of cryptic things to Iris, but now that I was on the receiving end, I realized how confusing and frustrating it was...

"Hmph. That silence... Are you trying to say you can't leave me behind? You're a hopeless softie."

Maybe he'd decided I was getting nowhere, because Baldo turned to Iris and spoke to her.

"I'm sorry, miss. I've done a lot of things I shouldn't have. I have one request: take this idiot outside. If you move that boulder over there, you'll find a small passage."

"B-but what about you...?"

"Please. It's the one thing I'm asking of you."

"I understand... Th-then I promise I'll take responsibility and see it through!"

"I'm sorry. I owe you one. This idiot still seems to be worried about me. Get him out of here. The passage will lead you near Hafen Village."

Baldo laughed and said that, since he'd sensed familiar magic, things were probably getting interesting over in Hafen, too.

"Let's go, Genesis. There's no need for tears at parting! Hurry!" Iris urged me on for some reason.

"...Y-yeah."

I didn't know why the atmosphere had turned into one where I was terribly worried about Baldo, but I'd reached a conclusion.

At the very least, I figured this was fine, too.

Well, now that I thought about it, the knights were an organization of justice.

There was no way an organization like that would gang up and beat a wounded, battered man to a pulp.

This was basically a surrender.

Baldo was already in rough shape, so it wasn't as if he was eager to fight, either.

It should end peacefully.

Thinking that, I moved the boulder and saw a small passage through the gap. It seemed to lead somewhere.

Iris went into the opening first.

"Come on, Genesis. Let's go...!"

—But.

My eyes were fixed on Baldo, who was trudging toward the hideout's entrance.

No, I mean... I kind of felt sorry for him.

"—Hey," I called to Baldo, whose back was all I could see.

"...What?"

Baldo replied without turning around.

"...Well, um, let's make sure we fight again sometime."

For what it was worth, I meant that sincerely.

To be fair, this man named Baldo was strangely poetic, and he had plenty of other questionable quirks, like suddenly licking his blade.

But still...

The truth was, I had fun fighting him.

I wasn't some meathead who found joy in fighting, but... I really had fun.

"...Hah."

A moment of silence.

Baldo stopped for an instant, as if I'd caught him off guard.

"...Yeah, that's right, Genesis. But next time, I'll win. Remember that."

With those words, the man left.

"Let's go, Genesis."

Urged on by Iris, I got moving so we could hurry up and escape, too.

Following Iris, I ducked and made my way through the narrow passage.

—Thinking that once I turned myself in and everything was over, I might ask him for a spar sometime, as a way to get some exercise.

◆

The exit.

Following Iris, I crawled out through the long, long escape passage and finally got a breath of fresh air. We'd arrived at a place that looked like a small hill.

"Phew... We finally made it out."

"Y-yeah..."

But there was a problem.

That escape had been unbelievably difficult.

And the reason was Iris's butt.

Iris, the main heroine, had an incredible figure, thanks in part to her regular training.

Especially her lower body.

On top of that, the passage we'd come through was narrow.

Inevitably, I'd spent the whole way staring at Iris's butt as she went ahead of me.

"………………"

I sighed.

Honestly, the greatest foe of the night had been her butt. The unexpected danger had been lurking in an unforeseen place.

The overwhelming violence unfolding before my eyes, in the form of a 'butt.'

After all the effort I'd put into coming here as an unknown, masked third party, that butt was threatening to ruin my resolve.

Terrifying...

To banish my worldly desires, I desperately fought back by picturing the bare upper body of that massively muscular old man named Rain, from the bath scene in the original story.

And then.

Iris looked around and exclaimed,

"Wow...!"

Following Iris's gaze, I looked in the direction she was pointing.

"Hafen Village is really something, isn't it?"

She smiled serenely as she said it. She was beautiful, and under normal circumstances, even I would have been struck by her.

But right now, I couldn't even take in her beauty.

Because—

"It's so lively and fun... Could there be a festival at this time of year?"

"...Right."

From Hafen Village, which should have been devastated by bandits and turned into a scene of carnage, a ridiculously cheerful tune was playing.

"………………………………"

Only one thought crossed my mind.

There was no doubt about it: he had something to do with this.

I called out to Enrique in my heart.

I definitely remember telling you to give me a happy ending, but I don't remember asking you to make the whole thing such a ridiculous spectacle...