Chapter 102
When the margrave shouted at the top of his lungs, the armed soldiers hauled their fallen comrades to their feet or roused them from unconsciousness, then trudged dejectedly away.
"Reiji!"
The young lady, who had been watching over me until then, came running over and threw her arms around me.
"Reiji, are you all right? Even though I said you would win, I was still scared..."
"Just as I said. If I give it my all, there's no way I can lose—though, since I destroyed the cobblestones, someone will have to repair them."
Feeling the young lady tremble, I gently stroked her back—but I didn't let my guard down around the margrave.
"Heh heh heh. Stop looking at me like that. You're going to make me want to fight you."
"If you're going to stand in my way, I'll eliminate you even if you don't want to fight."
"You're incredible! I thought you were amazing when I saw you fighting the Mediator, but I can't even fathom how deep your strength runs!"
The margrave dismounted, set his battle-axe on the ground—and, making a terrible racket as it clanged—walked over to us.
"Sorry about House Ebenyu going and doing something unnecessary. If anything had happened, I was planning to fight in your place, but it turned out I didn't need to."
"You? What do you mean?"
"I came to formally convey an apology from the Holy King."
I shook my head.
"No need. I'm leaving the Holy King's Capital and the Kurvaan Holy Kingdom."
"Oh... I see."
The margrave closed his eyes, his expression severe.
"This country really made a fool of itself... treating you, who fought the Mediator and saved so many lives, like this."
"No, this has nothing to do with the country. I simply have something I need to do. —Let's go, my lady."
"...Yes."
As long as he wasn't an enemy, that was enough for me. I took my lady's hand and passed by the margrave.
"Wait a moment. Don't tell me—you're planning to take Lady Eva with you?"
"...And if I am? Are you going to swing that vicious weapon at me and stand in my way?"
"Whoa, you're way too quick to start a fight. Don't pick unnecessary fights, and don't take them on either. I've got nothing against House Suilies. I was only asking."
"That's... right."
Perhaps the excitement of battle still hadn't worn off.
I need to calm down—I'm acting like a mad dog.
"I've decided to leave with Reiji. Farewell, Margrave."
When my lady pinched up the hem of her skirt and curtsied like a proper noblewoman, the margrave nodded in response, his expression troubled.
"Boy... no, Reiji."
The margrave drew the sheathed dagger from his belt and tossed it to me. I hurriedly caught it.
The thirty-centimeter sheath was decorated with inlaid iridescent shell and looked quite valuable. When I drew the blade, an icy-white blade emerged.
"...What is this? It seems to contain mithril."
"If you can tell that much, all the better. It's a parting gift. Take it."
"I can't accept something this expensive."
"It's fine. I like you. Seeing a man like you walking around outside without a weapon would make me feel downright sorry for you. Also, this is the money you were supposed to receive."
A leather pouch came flying toward me. When I caught it, I heard gold coins clatter inside. It must have contained the holy gold coins the Holy King had said he would award me. Still, the "reward I was supposed to receive" was probably just a pretext. Seeing that I was about to leave empty-handed—almost as if I were being thrown out—perhaps the margrave had given it to me because he couldn't bear to let me go like that.
"...I understand. I'll accept it."
I tucked the leather pouch inside my coat and gripped the dagger in my left hand.
This man—and this man alone—among all the nobles, treated me without any ulterior motive. He must know that I have black hair and black eyes too—after all, he had come here as the Holy King's representative. Even so, he was sending me off like this, and I felt it would be rude not to accept.
...No, but what if that was all an act to deceive me? If so, I'd never trust a noble again for the rest of my life...
"Take care. And if you ever feel like it, come visit my territory. That invitation stands until the day I die. Wahahahaha!"
I bowed to the margrave as he laughed heartily, and we set off. The knights of House Suilies, who had been murmuring among themselves, tried to follow, but the margrave stopped them. "Don't go making trouble for a man setting out on a journey," he had said. What a manly fellow... If only he didn't look like a berserker, I could respect him...
We gradually moved farther away from House Suilies.
Still holding my lady's hand, I walked through the "Second Holy District."
Magical lamps stood here and there, serving as streetlights, but there wasn't a single passerby. This was where the nation's true elite lived.
Come to think of it, maybe this was the first time my lady had ever walked along this street rather than traveled it by carriage. Oh, no, there was that time when we went incognito to see the streets where commoners lived.
"...It's quiet."
"Yes, it is the middle of the night..."
The houses were dark, and I couldn't sense a single person nearby.
It almost felt as though my lady and I were the only people left in the world.
"Reiji, where were you born?"
My lady suddenly asked the question.
"...It was a rural town. A large river ran through it, and rice paddies stretched out all around. I walked to school along the paddies every day."
Strangely enough, my answer came from my memories of Japan.
"Rice paddies? School?"
"A rice paddy is a field for growing a particular grain. As for school... this country has vocational schools for commoners, but I attended one where we studied general subjects."
"Reiji, were you from a noble family?"
"Heh."
I couldn't help laughing. The thought of my father, a civil servant in a provincial city, being a noble was just too funny.
"I wasn't from a noble family. I came from an ordinary household... but I was comfortable there."
I remembered my past life in the mine, but strangely, I had never felt anything like nostalgia or homesickness until now. Perhaps it was because I had truly died in my previous life, perhaps because I had lived in this world for so long, or perhaps because those memories had somehow begun to feel distant.
But now—I found myself desperately longing for my life in Japan.
I wanted to walk through that town where nothing had ever happened together with my lady.
"Reiji, in that case—"
After that, my lady asked me all sorts of questions. It may have been the first time anyone had pried this deeply into my private life. My favorite foods. Books I had enjoyed reading. People who had left an impression on me...
But even that time had to end.
Standing before us was "Wall 3," which divided the "Second Holy District" from the "Third Holy District." A particularly large magical lamp had been installed there, and guards watched the people going in and out.
A guard approached, wondering what was happening at such a late hour, but I presented the count's crest and he let us through. I was no longer part of the count's household, but the count hadn't told me to return it, so it would probably be fine.
Because it was so late, the gate in "Wall 3" had been closed, but they went out of their way to open it when they learned we were leaving. As the gate opened, the darkness of the "Third Holy District" spread before us, and a cold wind blew in.
"My lady."
I said,
"This is... where we part."
My lady looked up at me in surprise.
"...What?"