Da shouted even before Xenia had finished speaking.
“That’s not true!”
Though Ophelia was Xenia’s best friend, Da also cared deeply for her.
No matter how much it was for the sake of the Empire, he wasn’t so ‘corrupted’ that he’d harm his daughter’s friend.
Xenia studied his expression carefully, then nodded.
“While I was waiting for you, I thought through the worst-case, average, and best-case scenarios. Thankfully, this isn’t the worst-case.”
“……”
“Then what about Ophelia?”
“I don’t know. She disappeared entirely during a mission. She was a high-ranking officer in the Holy Knights of Light. If soone of that level goes missing and the Order can’t find her…”
“Their reputation must’ve taken a hit. So they borrowed the na of the Witch of Carnage.”
“That’s right.”
Xenia nodded and stood up. Then she bowed politely.
“Since it wasn’t the worst-case, I’ll greet you like this.”
“And if it had been?”
“I would’ve grabbed you by the collar.”
Da let out a short laugh.
“What was the best-case scenario?”
“That you’d accept what I said and step down as captain.”
“And if I had, how would you have greeted ?”
Xenia answered with a gentle smile.
“I would’ve given you a hug. To thank you for listening.”
“That’s a sha.”
“Truly.”
She gazed off into the distance.
“Really.”
Neril contacted Xenia, and she responded imdiately that she would return.
I was surprised by how she answered without a mont’s hesitation, so I cut in.
“You haven’t even finished negotiations yet, right?”
—No, it’s done.
“Huh?”
—Pfft. Why do you sound so shocked?
“Well, I thought it’d take at least two weeks. I figured we’d be lucky to wrap things up just before the Black Sun rises.”
Xenia replied in a soft voice.
—I was hoping it might end sooner than expected. I didn’t say anything just in case.
“Why?”
—Father’s always been good at listening to .
Neril twitched her lips.
“He’s that soft on his daughter, huh.”
—Yes, exactly. That’s why I couldn’t be too harsh either.
“……”
—Anyway, it wasn’t a total disaster. I’ll explain everything in detail once I’m back.
Click.
As the communication orb went silent, a brief silence settled in. Then Neril spoke up.
“Da’s got a surprisingly different side to him. Well, that doesn’t change the fact he’s still a bastard to .”
“You an that weakness thing?”
“Yeah. Though to be fair, it’s not entirely Da’s fault. He didn’t steal that weakness from .”
“Of course not. With his skills, how could he possibly steal anything from you?”
“Heh.”
She smiled faintly, looking slightly cheered up.
So ti later, Xenia returned.
“Tada~ I brought so snacks. Want so?”
She was smiling brightly.
Maybe things had gone better with Da than expected.
But we couldn’t match her cheerfulness.
“Welco back. Sit down first.”
“Sure. The mood’s kind of gloomy, though.”
“……”
“Don’t worry. Mr. Mide, and all of us—we’ve overco all sorts of crazy obstacles so far. This ti will be no different.”
“This ti, it’s about you.”
“What?”
I let out a sigh and spoke.
“This ti… Da’s life is on the line.”
After hearing everything, Xenia’s face turned pale.
Her expression was so dark that Adwin, looking nervous, quickly spoke up.
“Big sis, don’t look like that. If we all put our heads together, we’ll co up with sothing. We always do.”
“……”
“Uh, right. You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Should we unpack those snacks you brought?”
“I’m not hungry.”
Those words felt like the end of the world.
Especially to —I even stuttered.
“C-Calm down. Don’t do anything rash.”
“…?”
“Nothing’s happened yet. Don’t go doing anything you’ll regret.”
“No, I just said I’m not hungry?”
“You’re the type to eat two full portions even before fighting the Demon King.”
Xenia shouted back.
“I’m not that bad!”
No. Before the regression, she really was.
I’d ant it sincerely, but everyone seed to think it was a joke to lighten the mood, and they chuckled.
The atmosphere did ease up a bit.
Then Offense spoke.
“So… removing the cursed gem without harming Patrick and without triggering its rampage… Is that even possible?”
“No clue. I’m not exactly an expert in this area. What do you think, Neril?”
Neril crossed her arms.
“Like I said before, I won’t know until I see it.”
“Then let’s go see. Right now.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go to Patrick. If we can’t bring him here, we’ll have to go to him.”
“And where would that be?”
Xenia quickly chid in.
“I’ll use visual link with Agril to locate him.”
“Oh, right. You can do that.”
“Yes. I’m sorry, but can I start right away?”
She looked quite anxious.
Understanding her urgency, we all stood up without protest. Within five minutes, Xenia located Patrick’s whereabouts.
She wrinkled her face in disgust and said,
“That guy’s almost as much of a scumbag as Kaeld.”
“That bad?”
“Hmm… maybe not quite that bad, now that I think about it.”
“So what did you see?”
Xenia answered,
“He was spitting on a grave.”
The grave Patrick spat on, shockingly, belonged to Krotz.
His grandfather—and a man who had a brief connection with Neril.
[You’re really emphasizing the “brief” part.]
‘Shut it.’
We hid at a spot Offense had selected—“absolutely undetectable”—and observed his actions.
“Heh. Watching from the underworld, old man? Damn bastard.”
“……”
“You were always so popular, but in the end, vice captain was your limit. anwhile, I beca captain. I surpassed you!”
Neril murmured.
“Did he have so inferiority complex toward Krotz?”
“Looks like it.”
“Gross. That bastard doesn’t deserve to spit on Krotz’s grave.”
Krotz must’ve been a decent person.
Especially since Neril, who generally disliked people, was acknowledging him this much.
“So… at this distance, can you analyze him?”
“Yeah. It’s close enough.”
Neril closed her eyes and ford a quick hand seal.
Analysis magic.
A spell that revealed the causes, chanics, and possible solutions for any phenonon affected by mana.
After a brief silence, Neril opened her eyes.
Drip.
A cold bead of sweat slid down her nose.
“What is it? Difficult?”
“Not just difficult. Impossible.”
“……”
“I think I underestimated it after dealing with the Gem of Desolation. But this one is filled with extrely detailed trigger conditions.”
Neril hesitated, then added,
“If I had to find a silver lining, unlike with the Martial King, this gem is connected to Patrick.”
“What does that an, exactly?”
“It ans the one who decides whether sothing’s harmful… is Patrick. Not the gem itself.”
So it’d be easier to fool Patrick than to fool the gem. That’s the hopeful part?
It was a far trickier situation than I’d expected. I suppressed a groan.
‘Now that I think about it…’
In the previous tiline, the gem had eventually gone berserk.
The Black Sun that rose over the capital—that was evidence that the Gem of Corruption had rampaged.
‘Then who hard Patrick back then?’
Even with the Eye of Omniscience, I couldn’t know—it was in the past.
But I had one possible lead.
I closed my eyes and recalled that mont.
One night before the regression.
I’d ssed up the schedule and ended up sleeping outdoors. I was deep in dreamland when soone shook awake.
“Mide. Wake up. It’s your turn.”
It was Xenia—she’d been on watch before .
I yawned loudly and looked at her.
Her eyes were completely red and swollen.
“Did you cry?”
“No.”
“You really think I’d believe that when you look like that?”
“…Sigh. Yes. I cried.”
She quickly wiped the tear stains with her sleeve.
I sat up and spoke.
“Did you have a sad dream or sothing?” ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ N0v3l.Fiɾe
“I was on night watch. I shouldn’t be dreaming.”
“Then why were you crying?”
“…Weren’t you the one who didn’t care about your teammates?”
It was true that, before the regression, I hadn’t paid much attention to my party mbers personal lives.
But that didn’t an I wouldn’t at least ask why soone was crying in the middle of the night.
“I care now.”
“…Sigh. I just got so news from the capital, that’s all.”
“The capital?”
“Co to think of it, you don’t know anything about ‘that,’ do you? You were the last one to join.”
“Nope. No idea. So be kind and detailed and explain.”
“Weren’t you trying to comfort ?”
“To comfort you, I need to know what’s going on.”
She gave a small smile.
But it was so fragile it seed like crying again would be easier than forcing it—and looked sad enough to make that feel true.
“It’s nothing. Not really sothing worth explaining now.”
“…”
“Keep watch, okay? I’m just going to step out for a bit.”
“To finish crying?”
“…Ugh. Seriously. No wonder you’re not popular.”
She threw that jab so suddenly that I was left speechless.
Xenia giggled at my dumbfounded expression and vanished into the darkness.
As I scratched my head, I suddenly heard soone moving.
It was Neril.
“Yeah, you’re definitely not popular.”
“What do you know? If the rcenary guild leaders all lined up for , they could circle a castle.”
“That’s not the kind of popularity she ant.”
“…Why are you awake?”
“You guys were too loud.”
She sat up groggily, then looked in the direction Xenia had gone.
“Leave her alone for now. She’s probably feeling pretty torn up inside.”
“Feels like I’m the only one in this party who doesn’t know what’s going on.”
“You never try to find out. Why not pay a little more attention? If you did, maybe you’d be the leader by now.”
I chuckled at her half-joke, half-serious remark.
Neril smiled back, then continued in a more serious tone.
“She’s probably worried about her father.”
“Her father? Da Seide?”
“Yeah. Let’s see… oh, it was when we recruited that Adwin kid. There was a big incident in the capital.”
“You an the Black Sun?”
“Right. Back then, Xenia asked Kaeld for sothing. She asked him to delay the Raynus territory mission and head to the capital instead. She wanted us to take care of the Black Sun there together.”
Even back then—let alone now, after the regression—I could easily guess what Kaeld had said.
“He refused, didn’t he.”
“Yep. Said the situation in Raynus was more urgent. I an, we did find Adwin there, so it was a big deal.”
“…”
“The Black Sun turned nearly 30 percent of the capital’s citizens into monsters. If we had chosen the capital instead, maybe we could’ve stopped it.”
I scratched my head.
In Raynus, the place they’d chosen over the capital, Xenia had used a grand-scale purification ritual, sacrificing so of her lifespan.
If she’d done that in the capital, they might have averted the catastrophe.
Not that it’s a matter of comparing which tragedy was worse, but still…
“It’s only natural for soone to want to save the place where their family lives. I get it.”
“…”
“But… isn’t worrying about Da unnecessary? The Order of the Holy Light is still intact.”
“…You know Da retired, right?”
I tilted my head at that.
“He did?”
“Yeah. Said he was retiring due to age, right after the Black Sun incident. So guy nad Abel is acting as his temporary replacent.”
“Well, the Black Sun was a huge ss. Maybe he pushed himself too hard.”
“Maybe…”
She whispered softly.
“I know the Order of the Holy Light pretty well. They’re scarily good at covering things up.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I think it’s possible that Da was taken out by the Black Sun too. That he turned into a monster—and the Order is keeping him restrained sowhere.”
“To cover up the sha of their captain becoming a monster?”
“Isn’t that entirely plausible? That’s probably why Xenia’s crying like that.”
Neril added a few more pieces of circumstantial evidence.
Xenia had been contacting the capital more frequently since the Black Sun incident.
She’d been seen weeping like this several tis.
And recently, she’d been eating only half as much as usual.
“Does the third one even count as evidence?”
“Of course it does.”
“….”
“Anyway, it’s all just speculation. So keep it to yourself. Don’t tell the others.”
“Why tell ? Wouldn’t it make more sense to tell Kaeld?”
Neril stayed quiet for a mont before answering.
“I would’ve. Before.”
“Before what? What do you an?”
She murmured softly.
“…Before I t soone more reliable.”
I stopped reminiscing.
Thanks to the clarity of my pre-regression mories, I could now be sure.
‘As I thought, the Black Sun incident happened because Da killed Patrick.’
[Hmm. All the evidence points that way.]
‘And I think I know why Da killed Patrick too.’
That threat I saw through the Eye of Omniscience—Patrick telling him to step down and let his daughter take his place.
It must’ve been that threat that pushed Da to act.
‘Which ans… the sa thing might happen again.’
I need to be careful.
One thing about Da—I have to give him credit for how much he loves his daughter.
Trail asked,
[You said your party stayed out of the Black Sun incident entirely before the regression, right?]
‘Yeah. I only heard about it afterward, since I joined later.’
[Xenia must’ve been really disappointed.]
‘…’
Yeah.
After sothing like that, maybe even back then, Xenia never truly trusted Kaeld deep down.
Just like Offense secretly hadn’t.
Just like Neril openly didn’t.
Maybe every party mber had their own reasons.
A wave of regret hit .
Maybe I shouldn’t have focused so much on that peaceful retirent life…
[Don’t dwell on the past.]
‘Is it even correct to call pre-regression events “the past”?’
[The fact that you’re nitpicking like this ans it is bothering you.]
‘…’
[Even if you had stepped up back then, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Like I said, the difference in reputation between you and Kaeld was overwhelming. Back then, you could’ve died and co back to life and still not beco the hero.]
‘I did die and co back, and now I am the hero.’
[…Tch.]
I let out a small laugh.
‘Thanks for the comfort.’
[Ahem… hm-hm…]
Trail was right.
Now’s not the ti to regret the past—but to move forward.
To reach a different ending than before.
Read advance chapter on Patreon. Click here.
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