A Difficult Problem

"—Is that guy in his right mind...?"

Watching Enrique leave the mansion, I couldn’t help making a very conflicted face.

That man had set off full of enthusiasm, declaring, "I’m heading out to gather information!" But for some reason, just before he left, he turned toward the window where I was and bowed.

And not just any bow... It was incredibly showy.

"He’s leveled up at last. The guy’s gone off the deep end."

That’s right—his chuunibyo level. Was he some middle schooler who’d just discovered Western movies on Friday night TV?

No, I’ve seen that kind of thing in Western movies.

You know, the sort where a man makes a cool exit.

It happens.

To be honest, I’ve admired that sort of thing myself.

But still.

That’s the kind of thing you see in an undeniably cool scene—like when a man who’s always been a lone wolf and never trusted anyone finally swears his loyalty. It’s absolutely not something that looks cool when Enrique, a middle-aged adventurer chasing his dreams, does it.

I watched the man’s back as he left the mansion and sighed. "Haaah..."

Was that guy really going to be okay?

I couldn’t imagine anything other than him getting mocked at the guild.

I bet the guild’s brats and receptionists would make fun of him, going, "Hey, look! It’s weird Enrique!"

This is making me want to cry.

"Heehee, off he goes."

I turned around at her words.

Behind me, as I wore a gloomy expression, Liera nodded as if she were impressed.

"What is it, Liera?"

Why are your eyes sparkling like that?

I didn’t think anything had happened that was even remotely exciting...

But Liera continued, looking like she couldn’t believe it.

"That’s amazing...!"

"Hmm??"

"W-what is it??"

"Ultos-sama..."

My optimistic maid, looking embarrassed as she let the words slip, relaxed her beautiful expression and declared:

"So this is what they mean by the much-talked-about friendship between men!"

"No, it isn’t."

I took a deep breath. Apparently, Liera had mistaken that whole scene for an emotional farewell.

Wait, that’s what you got from it??

I’d completely intended to get rid of a nuisance in a convenient way...

It was such a terrible misunderstanding that I was starting to worry about Liera’s health.

"Liera."

As I spoke, I approached the maid and placed my hand on her forehead.

"Ultos-sama... W-what are you doing?!"

"It’s all right. Just stay still."

"N-n-n-n-n..."

I checked her temperature with a serious expression.

That’s right. Something was wrong.

A moment ago, Liera had said...

"That’s the much-talked-about friendship between men, isn’t it!"

But there was no way an objectively quiet young master from a good family like me could have forged a manly bond with a cringey punk like him.

Enrique and I weren’t like that.

If anything, we were just an old nuisance and the person stuck putting up with him.

For normally levelheaded Liera to misunderstand things like that could only mean—

"You do seem to have a bit of a fever after all."

Up close, Liera’s face was bright red, and I could feel the heat through my palm.

"Y-yes..."

"You’re not pushing yourself, are you?"

For now, I said to the maid, who was repeating "n-n-n-n-n" like a broken record:

"Sorry. Take a little time to rest."

Come to think of it, I might have been relying on Liera too much lately.

The Lyon incident, for one thing. And the information gathering, too.

I had to be careful.

I’d been making her work so much that my mob-son-of-a-noble vibe was starting to fade. If I kept giving such efficient instructions, wouldn’t that make me a capable young master?

Even a thousand-mile journey begins with a single step.

Surely little details like this would help preserve my mob-character feel when the original story began.

Liera looked as if she were daydreaming.

I gently tried to talk some sense into her.

Then I added, "Because..."

"Liera is an important maid to me."

...That’s right.

After dealing with so many eccentric people lately, an ordinary person like Liera was important to me, too.

Please, Liera.

Please stay just the way you are.

And so, the trouble had passed.

Well, it was unexpected when Liera said,

"...All right! I have to make sure I don’t lose to Enrique-san! Friendship between men is wonderful, sure, but Ultos-sama and I have shared an 'aah' moment!!"

and left the room looking strangely determined.

I wondered if that girl was exhausted after all??? But then I reconsidered. Well, maybe it was fine.

"But if I think about it calmly, there’s no question—"

That’s right.

It was then that I began to realize what I needed to deal with more than anything else.

I sat down in a chair and looked up at the ceiling.

The biggest problem was—

"—Sieg-kun."

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Now then.

Based on my experience so far, I’d started to understand this world little by little.

In the game Last Arcanum, you mainly learned Magic and Skills to improve your combat ability.

Magic followed almost exactly the same rules as in the game.

Naturally, there were ways of using magic known only to players that weren’t known in this world either... but for the most part, it seemed safe to assume my knowledge applied here, too.

On the other hand, there were also techniques used by the knights and adventurers of this world—in other words, what the game called "Skills."

By the way, I asked Enrique,

"Don’t you use any techniques?"

And he kindly explained: "Techniques? I don’t use any petty tricks. Relying on that stuff is what the weak do. A true powerhouse doesn’t think about unnecessary things in a fight. Every move I make is a killing blow."

That was the moment I thanked the heavens, from the bottom of my heart, that this guy worked for the House of Randall.

If he hadn’t had me and my understanding, kind parents looking out for him, a liar like that would’ve been fired on the spot.

I mean, sure, powerful people might be able to get by with a simple fighting style, but...

Enrique, are you sure someone like you should be saying that????

...Well, whatever.

But still.

There was one clear difference from the game.

"I can’t believe you can’t check people’s stats."

That’s right.

In this world, checking someone’s stats was an extremely advanced technique. It wasn’t something you could just do whenever you wanted.

Even Carla-sensei, who knew a lot about magic, made a dubious face and said,

"Hmm... I’m not too familiar with that sort of thing."

It made sense.

You could investigate the material of a sword as much as you wanted, but being able to see a person’s strength in the form of stats was absurdly overpowered when you thought about it realistically.

I’d hoped I could see people’s levels and figure out how strong they were, but for now, it seemed the only way was to judge by an adventurer’s rank or by how they felt when I fought them directly.

Anyway, setting aside what I’d gradually learned about this game world...

There was one thing I could say was absolutely the same as in the game.

—The story.

The recent incident in Lyon had unfolded almost exactly as it did in the game.

Which meant...

I could say for certain that Sieg-kun was the biggest problem.

There was no question he was in trouble.

Iris, Gregorio, Baldo, and the others could maybe be dealt with later, but Sieg-kun was supposed to train relentlessly from childhood and become the hero who saved the world.

And that gave us an equation anyone could understand.

Question: What happens if the hero Sieg-kun doesn’t train at all and spends his childhood holed up in his room???

Answer: No problem for now, but the world is definitely doomed in the future. (smile)

That’s right.

If the story was going to progress the same way as the game, then the current situation—where, for some reason, Sieg-kun had lost his motivation and shut himself away—was pretty bad.

I was certain of it.

If I put this off, we’d be doomed. No doubt about it.

"But still..."

As I said that, I slumped over the desk.

The fancy tea leaves Liera had bought me were long gone by now.

But there was a problem.

"Sieg-kun hates nobles."

For starters, the worthless son of his own lord, Kuzutos, had given him a bad impression of nobles in general. And since his father, Rain, belonged to the Order of Knights and seemed to be treated like a servant by the nobility, Sieg-kun hated them even more.

He had opened up somewhat to Iris, the tomboy who was anything but a typical noble, though...

"What am I supposed to do?"

I agonized over it.

Should I have gotten to know Sieg-kun before attacking him in my Genesis disguise the other day?

But if the lord’s son suddenly showed up in the village, they’d be wary of him, too.

I couldn’t come up with an answer.

Just then, a bell rang. Gong.

"Oh, it’s time."

I left the room, still thinking up one plan after another for getting closer to Sieg-kun.

That’s right.

Today was Carla-sensei’s magic lesson.

Even after the Lyon incident, I’d kept training diligently, believe it or not.

—So I could learn a new mob-character spell.