【”The hell was that about, Justus?!”】
His tone of voice was horrifying, as if he had just crawled out from under the ground. But that did not break Justus’ habitual cold behavior.
【”You’re back? I won’t be needing a report for this time’s mission. It was just for playing around after all.”】
【”Yeah, what a lame farce this was. I won’t cooperate with you to act upon such stupid matters again, bastard.”】
【”Cooperate? Don’t forget that you’re just a pawn under my control. Know your place, Harold.”】
【”We’ll see if you can handle me. However, I have some ideas if you ever stick me to those people again. “】
【”Is that fiancee of yours that important to you?”】
【”You’re joking, right? That girl and I are completely incompatible, just like you and I, if not more.”】
【”Ahahaha, you say some interesting things! However, that’s only natural, isn’t it? Because you and I are the same.”】
While Harold was about to leave in a hurry, Justus kept talking to him with an intoxicated tone of voice.
【”No matter how you try to smooth yourself over, at your core, you’re just like me. We’re both mad men who would do absolutely anything to reach their goals, aren’t we?”】
【”Oh, you came back.”】
【”What about the girl?”】
【”If you mean Lifa, she’s in her room. She’s preparing to go back to her hometown tomorrow.”】
【”I see. Did you have any trouble in my absence?”】
【”I don’t know if you’d call that trouble, but Justus told me about how he met you.”】
【”What kind of bullshit did he tell you?”】
【”And that’s pretty much it, however, I’m not the only one he told this to, Lifa was listening as well.”】
【”I see.”】
【”…… Is that it?”】
【”What else is there to say?”】
【”Well, I see your point, but Lifa got quite the shock from this….”】
(Shock, huh?……)
【”….You said she’s in her room, right?”】
【”Ah, yes”】
【”Who is it?”】
【”Hurry and open the damn door.”】
【”Ah……!”】
【”I heard I’d get to watch the rare sight of you looking like a sad sack but you’re more normal than expected. This is boring.”】
【”What’s that?!”】
【”You’re speaking as badly as ever… And whose fault is it that I was feeling down?!”】
【”You listened to that story of your own accord, and you’re feeling down of your own accord. I don’t recall saying a single word to you.”】
【”- – – Uh!”】
【”Enough already! If you’re going to be like this, I won’t worry about you anymore!”】
【”Are you kidding me? I haven’t fallen low enough to need your worry, idiot.”】
【”You really have a comeback to everything…. And yet, it looks like you’ll never be willing to break your own determination, no matter what.”】
【”What do you mean?”】
【”I asked Doctor Justus about the details of what happened after the tribunal pronounced your sentence. And he said that, because you wanted power, because you wanted to become strong, you allied yourself with him.”】
【”……”】
Harold affirmed it through his silence. Accepting that, Lifa then asked him.
【”But I think you’re plenty enough strong already, and yet you’re trying to gain strength so hard that you’re willing to exchange your own life for power, why is that?”】
【”That’s a dumb question. There is something I have to do no matter what, even if I have to risk my life for it.”】
He was genuinely hanging between life and death. Otherwise, he would not have been able to continue training ten hours a day or more for as long as eight years. He was able to do it because great efforts were needed to rework the reality of his death that he could not avoid by merely working on his character.
【”Even if you have to risk your life for it? Really, you’re so….”】
Probably from the fact that Harold intended to keep going even though she thought he didn’t have much longer to live, Lifa was at a loss for words. For some reason, it seemed like she was not able to look straight at Harold.
【”Well, still, I believe there is nothing in this world that is worth as much as my life. There is no way in hell I’m gonna let myself get killed easily.”】
He was not going to die, he said it so arrogantly and with such a mysterious self confidence that one could not simply find it in themselves to call out how incoherent it was. Any listener would just be utterly stunned.
【”Hah…. You are that kind of person after all. If that’s really how you feel, it’s quite amazing.”】
【”What did you do?”】
【”Nothing really~ It’s just that there was something I didn’t want you to hear.”】
◇
【”Liner, are you really going?”】
【”Don’t worry so much. They escaped towards the neighboring town so I won’t be going far.”】
【”But it’s dangerous! There are monsters outside of the village, and you’ll probably have to fight the people whom even Leona-san and Olbel-san were unable to defeat, right?!”】
【”I’m the only one who knows his face. And, also, I’m the only one who can fight them.”】
【”So please just wait for a little while. I’m entrusting you with my father and mother, alright?”】
【”Uh……”】
【”Well then, Colette, I’m off.”】
Translator’s note: And this is the end of volume 3, next chapter will be the first of volume 4, the volume where the game’s story finally starts… that was one hell of a prologue!
And of course, I’d like to thank all the current Patrons for their support, this really means a lot!
