Raise Your Head

When I went to Leo's room, I found him sitting motionless in a chair.

Elna was gazing at him sadly.

"Al..."

"How is he? How does he look?"

"He's been like that ever since he found out."

He had completely lost his spirit, looking as though his soul had left him.

Leo was so proper that he never hunched his back. But now he was hunched over, taking up as little space as possible in the chair. It was impossible to tell what he was looking at.

"Leo... Al is here."

"..."

Leo didn't react to Elna's words.

Seeing Leo like that, I sighed. He had completely lost heart.

It couldn't be helped. Leo had proposed to Leticia. Whatever her answer, from that moment on, Leticia had been the most important person in the world to him.

He must have sworn in his heart to protect her no matter what. That resolve, that determination—everything had been shattered.

It couldn't be helped. There was nothing to be done.

Normally, that would have been understandable.

But there were people who could be forgiven for that and people who couldn't. Leo was in the latter group.

"Get a grip. Do you have time to sit there like this? The battle is only just beginning. You're competing for the throne, remember?"

"...The throne... I don't care about it anymore..."

"I see."

Leo muttered that without even looking at me.

His attitude said that nothing mattered anymore.

So I clenched my right fist and punched Leo in the face as hard as I could.

"Al!?"

Leo fell from his chair and hit the desk. Things on the desk fell, and various sounds echoed throughout the room.

I grimaced at the pain in my right fist. I hadn't punched that hard without magic in ages. I had probably fractured something, at least.

But that was even less important.

"Could you say the same thing in front of those who died for your sake? How many people do you think have given their lives believing that you could make the Empire a better place?"

The person you loved died, so it couldn't be helped.

Someone important to you died, so it couldn't be helped.

There were people who were allowed to say that and those who weren't.

The imperial family is in the latter category. Especially those vying for the throne must never stop, no matter what happens. No matter how much despair you feel, you have to shake it off and claw your way back up.

But Leo remained motionless on the floor.

"Stop... I'm... not as strong as you, Brother..."

"I'm strong? You've got it backward. You're the weak one."

"...Is grieving when someone important to you dies... really a sign of weakness...?"

"Grieving isn't weakness. Stopping is. Looking down won't solve anything. If you want to become Emperor, then no matter what happens, you have to say even so and get back on your feet."

"...I never cared about the throne... I only aimed for it because I had no choice... because if I didn't become Emperor, I couldn't protect the people around me... But the person I wanted most to protect is dead... and even so, I have to try to protect everyone around me...?"

His broken, dispirited voice reached my ears.

Even if I told him right now that Leticia was alive, Leo probably still wouldn't be able to stand.

I understood. Leo was kind.

He was afraid of standing up and losing someone else.

The more desperately you cling to protecting someone, the greater the despair when you lose them.

But if he didn't stand up, he couldn't protect anyone.

"Being afraid of losing someone... of not wanting to grieve anymore... curling up where you are is a defensive instinct humans possess. It's because your heart can't take it anymore. But if you stay like that, you won't be able to protect anyone, will you? You'll only be able to watch people disappear one after another. No matter how much you tell yourself that you have nothing left... a person is never alone."

When I was thirteen.

I learned of my mother's illness. It was so serious that every doctor had given up.

I immersed myself in all kinds of books to find a cure. In the process, I learned about my great-grandfather, who had become obsessed with ancient magic, and while investigating him, I learned of a secret room that could only be opened by someone with an aptitude for ancient magic.

I found that secret room, freed my great-grandfather, who had been sealed inside a book, and learned ancient magic.

I worked harder than ever before.

It took nearly two years, but I learned a reasonable amount of ancient magic and tried to treat my mother with its healing barrier.

But it had no effect. Ancient magic was powerless against my mother's illness.

A barrier that worsened her condition had been placed in my mother's room. I could destroy it, but doing so would only accelerate the disease festering in her body.

My mother had been ill from the start, and I had no way to remove the disease.

I wanted to die. I had devoted myself more intensely than ever before to saving the mother who accepted even a good-for-nothing like me. When I was forced to face the fact that it had all been meaningless, I wanted to die.

I stopped caring about everything. My efforts seemed worthless. More than that, I was plunged into despair by the fact that even after going that far, I still couldn't save my mother.

It would have been enough if I could just save my mother. I wanted her to keep watching over me forever.

I shut myself in my room, cried, and cursed my own helplessness. What meaning was there in power that couldn't save my mother?

I was in no state to look ahead.

Even so... I had Leo.

Without asking why, he brought meals to me while I shut myself in my room. He kept talking to me through the door about trivial things.

Seeing my little brother go that far for me, I realized I couldn't give up. I had to raise my head.

I realized that if I remained stuck there, all I could do was watch my precious family disappear.

After that, I researched the legendary medicines known throughout the continent. Every one of them was so uncertain that I couldn't even tell whether it existed, and not one could be obtained through conventional means. Even if I became Emperor, I probably couldn't get one.

There was one kind of person who might offer a chance.

Adventurers, by nature of their profession, were highly likely to encounter the unknown. If I reached the highest rank, I thought I might have a chance.

Monsters called legendary or phantom creatures were often listed as ingredients for medicines, precisely because they were so rare.

I needed enough power to hunt them down, but fortunately, I had acquired that power.

In truth, it would have been more efficient to travel all over the place, but the Empire at the time was shrouded in gloom after recently losing its Crown Prince.

Leo was worried about that. He said the crime rate was rising and that it was the Imperial family's duty to do something about it.

So I donned Silver's mask and became an SS-rank adventurer. I held sway in the Imperial Capital, protected the Empire, and continued searching for the faintest glimmer of hope.

Giving up would have made it all pointless. When you raise your head, you can see all kinds of things.

You begin to see the glimmer of a possibility, however faint. You realize that you aren't alone. You can see the things precious to the people you want to protect and save. You come to understand that protecting and saving those things is for their sake, too.

I found that I wanted to protect the Empire that my mother loved and my little brother wished to save.

The ancient magic that had seemed worthless began to shine. Everything I had thought didn't matter took on color.

"Raise your head. Even if it seems you've lost everything, you're not alone. You decided to become Emperor to protect what matters, didn't you? You wanted to become an Emperor who could keep his people in mind, didn't you? You wanted to deny every tragedy that occurred in the Empire, didn't you?"

"...I'm a man who can't even protect the woman I said I loved... Someone like me can't protect the Empire... I shouldn't become Emperor...!! I'm not fit to be Emperor!"

"Then become fit from this point on. If you're afraid of losing people and don't want to cry anymore, then you have to protect everything. Someone who has reached the point of thinking that nothing matters and fallen to the depths of despair is strong. They become strong because they never want to return there. I'm sure that's how the Emperors of old grew strong. They overcame the sadness and the things they couldn't change, and protected everything so they would never have to grieve again."

"...I...!!"

"No matter what you say, I'm going to keep telling you. Raise your head. Look at me. You're not alone. We're twins. We've been together since we were born. I'll protect what you can't protect. In exchange, you protect what I can't. We'll make up for each other's shortcomings and keep moving forward. If you stop, I can't move forward either."

"Brother..."

Slowly, Leo raised his head.

His face, wet with tears, was surely the same face I had worn that day.

I held out my aching right hand to Leo.

Leo reached out for it. But his hand stopped midway. Then, with a look of resolve, he firmly grasped my hand.

"Leticia told me... that I was suited to be Emperor... For her sake, too... I'll become Emperor... I'm sure that's..."

"That's just like Leticia. She said something wise. Then go thank her for saying it."

As I spoke, I pulled Leo to his feet.

Leo's eyes widened at my words.

"Huh...?"

"She's alive. The corpse in her room was a fake made to look like her. This was an abduction made to look like murder."

"That's a lie... But..."

"If you'd looked closely, you probably would have noticed too. But if there's anything you fail to notice, I'll notice it for you."

Saying that, I flashed him a grin.

But someone beside me grabbed my ear and yanked it hard.

"Al? What do you mean by that?"

"Ow, ow! Stop, Elna!"

"You knew Saint Leticia was alive!? And you went through all that knowing!? Give me back the tears I shed over your brotherly love!"

"No! It was only a guess! Besides, what would have been the point of telling him while Leo was still so depressed!?"

"You should have told him first thing! He obviously would have recovered faster that way, wouldn't he!? You're awful!"

"I was trying to be considerate in my own way...!"

"Shut up! You're so roundabout!"

Saying that, Elna kept yanking harder and harder on my ear.

Just when I thought it was going to be torn off, Leo muttered:

"I see... She's alive..."

"That is, if my theory is correct. And even then, it's no reason to relax. She's probably in the hands of a criminal organization, and she's in serious danger right now."

"But she's alive... Then we just have to save her. Right?"

"Exactly. First, I need to convince Father to accept this theory. For that, I'll need your power..."

"Sorry, can I leave that to you? I'm going after her."

With that, Leo grabbed his sword and ran out of the room.

Elna and I watched him leave, dumbfounded.

"Huh? Has he lost it?"

"Who knows... Well, I suppose he has a lead."

"How? Don't tell me he's going to say it was the power of love."

"Well, if that finds her, I won't complain."

"But even if Leo can follow Saint Leticia's trail, will he be all right? Wasn't he needed here?"

"We'll manage somehow if that's the case. Though I suspect I'll need your help too."

"Of course. Being outsmarted inside the castle is a disgrace for an Imperial Guard. More importantly... they hurt my childhood friend. They deserve death a thousand times over. Wherever they are, I'll tear them to pieces!"

Scary, scary.

The people responsible this time had incurred not only Leo's wrath but Elna's as well.

Well, they weren't the only two who were angry.

They had harmed the woman my little brother loved.

They'd better be prepared to pay the price.

"All right, then let's go after him for now."

"Right. If it turns out to be a delusion, we'll have to drag him back."

With that, Elna and I went after Leo.