Chapter 44
“Aizasu, you’ll admit it now, won’t you?”
Surely he couldn’t find anything to complain about after that.
I’d fought her head-on, knocked her weapon away, and left her unconscious.
If he still tried to make baseless accusations after this, there’d be nothing I could do.
“...Yes. You’re right. It seems there was no wrongdoing at this Guild. It certainly seems this guild had the strength to defeat a 〈Dream Lord〉.”
Aizasu finally spoke, his words heavy.
After making one baseless accusation after another against the Adventurers Guild and me, he was probably reluctant to take them back.
Aizasu had always been a proud man.
His expression was painfully strained.
Perhaps he’d thought he could at least save face if Malice won, but it was plain as day that she was in no condition to fight.
Whatever the case, it seemed he would back down now.
I’d been bracing myself for Aizasu, having backed himself into a corner, to make another desperate accusation, but apparently there was no need to worry.
Aizasu hadn’t been hostile toward me to begin with.
He’d only been questioning me because he believed I’d been “throwing around the count’s name.”
Unlike Malice, he hadn’t seemed eager for this mock battle in the first place.
Though he’d ended up humiliating himself in front of the son he’d cast out and the Guild staff, he apparently had no intention of making things even more embarrassing by causing any further trouble.
Aizasu picked up Malice’s katana and carried her unconscious body on his back.
Then Aizasu glared at me, his expression stiff.
He moved his mouth a few times as if he wanted to say something, then gritted his teeth and started to turn away from me.
“Father.”
I called out to Aizasu.
Aizasu stopped and turned to look back at me.
“...Thank you for raising me for fifteen years. I was so shaken that day that I couldn’t even properly say goodbye. Please tell Mother as well.”
I bowed my head.
Aizasu’s eyes widened as he stared at me.
After a few seconds of silence, he turned away from me again and started walking.
He didn’t answer, but that was fine.
I hadn’t expected a reply in the first place.
I just wanted to put things to rest for myself.
“U-Um, please wait, Count Aizasu-sama!”
Ruche called out.
I was taken aback by Ruche’s voice.
Aizasu was arrogant and cold-hearted, proud, and not a particularly patient man.
Since he was leaving quietly, she shouldn’t have stopped him by calling out.
“I don’t know what happened in the past, but... please apologize to Elymas-san! You made baseless accusations and forced unreasonable demands on Elymas... and now that you’ve realized you were wrong, you’re just going to leave without a word? Why can’t you say those few simple words, ‘I’m sorry’?”
Aizasu’s expression darkened.
Aizasu never tolerated anyone talking back to him, not even a relative.
I’d been severely punished over trivial things more than once or twice myself.
And Aizasu wasn’t generous enough to let a commoner lecture him to his face.
He was strict about differences in status and station.
“Ruche, it’s all right. Don’t say any more...”
“If you were strangers, maybe, but... Count, you’re Elymas-sama’s own father, aren’t you? This is just too cold... More than anything, it’s so sad. Seeing you like this makes me feel so sorry for Elymas-san...”
Ruche let her shoulders droop and murmured in a voice that was almost too faint to hear.
Aizasu fell silent for just a moment, then turned his back on Ruche and headed for the Guild’s exit again.
“Hey, you little girl.”
Aizasu stopped as he reached for the door and spoke without turning around.
Ruche went pale and her shoulders jolted.
She seemed to realize she’d said too much to a noble.
I instinctively stepped in front of Ruche to shield her, just in case.
“...Please look after Elymas for me.”
Aizasu forced the words out.
I was surprised to hear Aizasu say something that sounded like concern for me.
Taken aback, I stared at his back.
Perhaps he’d only said it to Ruche because his position and pride wouldn’t allow him to say it directly to me.
With that as his final remark, Aizasu left the Guild.