| Author: Himezaki Shiu | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: Jiro | English Source: Re:Library |
“You may wonder why I didn’t enslave you back then. Was it because I wanted to befriend you, the heroes? No. Was it because the rings weren’t ready yet? No, again. Was it because you were stronger than we thought? Yet again, no. We simply weren’t allowed to do it. We had no choice but to give you, heroes, a free and secure life. We couldn’t go against that.”
My heart suddenly skipped a beat.
I felt uneasy about this. My mind would not stop working, and I felt as though I had finally realized some things I shouldn’t have. My heart continued to race, pumping more blood to my brain.
(What did Sion say just now? A safe and free life? Where have I heard that before?)
“And whether you fought or not was also entirely up to you. We couldn’t do anything.
Should a hero choose to give up fighting, we would be bound to continuously support them. And it wasn’t like we could simply force you out. Nor could we assassinate you. Our hands were completely tied. We’d lost a potentially strong army in the matter of a single move.”
Sion spoke in an excited tone. She was grinning brightly, like an innocent girl who had just received an unexpected gift.
“Previously, one of the heroes told me that there was only one hero to whom I didn’t have to pay respect. But in my opinion, out of all 25 of you heroes, that one individual is the only one who warrants respect. It was a huge pain, you know. Our plans had to be revised, and we had to do things we didn’t want to.”
“With just one move, he put the whole of Fraus into disarray. He was the only true hero. For sixty whole days, you were able to live a better life than the knights, thanks to him. He was able to bind the hands of a whole kingdom on his own for sixty days. If it had been just him, he likely would’ve been able to take control of the whole Fraus Kingdom. After all, no one could oppose him.”
“Luckily for us, 24 people could defeat him. He wasn’t smart. That is why he put everything he had into that first move. He wasn’t strong, either. That is why he tried everything he could to become stronger, because he knew there was no one he could rely on. He rebelled against Fraus, which is why he was targeted by the kingdom. He was a rebel, so by nature, he could not be respected. But I did respect the person he was.”
Sion talked and talked. She slowly revealed my sin to me. The one I’d despised was the person I should’ve respected the most. The one I’d despised was the one we should’ve protected with everything we had. Could I accept that? Of course not.
I glared at Sion, showing my dissatisfaction, but what I got in return was a bright smile.
“Thank you. My plan can finally proceed thanks to you. We finally have the necessary weapons to oppose the Demon Lord.”
“But Toriyama killed that maid. He did whatever he wanted inside the castle. Didn’t he?” I asked, forcing myself to believe that Toriyama was indeed evil.
However, Sion’s expression didn’t change one bit.
“You wanted to speak to me about the training, right? You’re right, I did make it harder than it was yesterday. However, if we look at the time alone, it is much shorter than the time that Sir Toriyama spent training voluntarily. If he were here, right about now, he’d probably be in his room training magic. He’d also be out running outside before the sun came up.”
Sion stressed how different Toriyama was from me by referring to him as “Sir” during her speech. Still, I was unable to say anything. I mean, I had no idea Toriyama was doing that.
“Sir Toriyama trained diligently every day. He was busy the whole day. Just when do you think he had the time to kill her?”
“When…?”
I couldn’t answer. I had no idea.
“When I think back on what he did, a small transgression like killing a maid wouldn’t have troubled me. Furthermore, it wouldn’t have been odd if he had done it considering how cornered he was, but he chose not to.”
(It had to be Toriyama who killed her. If it wasn’t, then just why did I kill him? Why? Just why did I kill him? Why did I kill an innocent person?!)
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”
“Don’t run away!”
I suddenly stopped screaming, and my body stopped trying to escape. I turned back to look at Sion, who was looking at me with an ecstatic expression.
“There it is. That’s the face I wanted to see. I had to feel like a fool every single day because of you. This made me feel a bit better. It’s annoying to have to deal with idiots, don’t you agree? I spent all this time waiting for this.”
“You tricked me!”
“Tricked you? I did no such thing. I just didn’t tell you the truth. I was bound by Sir Toriyama’s contract.”
“You b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲a̲a̲r̲d̲s̲! You shouldn’t have summoned us.”
At this point, I wished I could kill someone with just my gaze.
“I suppose that makes sense from your view. However, I am a member of the royal family. Even if it means being unreasonable, I must guide my people. Fraus needs to thrive. I can’t allow it to fall into ruin. I would gladly take on the responsibility of being unreasonable toward my people.”
“However, the fact that you killed Sir Toriyama remains unchanged. You were the one who chose me over him. I do not intend to take accountability for that decision. You’re free to despise me for summoning you here or for the unreasonable situations that you’ll have to suffer from now on.”
“I will not bear the sins of killing Sir Toriyama, mistreating him, or ruining your friends’ lives. So don’t try to shift the blame over to me.” Sion said with a disdained expression, “Farewell. From the moment you put that ring on, you lost your rights as a human. You are now nothing more than a tool for the Fraus Kingdom. Make sure to never forget that1.”
Sion walked out of the room, leaving me crawling on the floor.
(Was I wrong all this time? Just where did I go wrong?)
I couldn’t understand these overflowing emotions. All I could do was shout.
