Chapter 93
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After saving the ice wolf race's village from the Dioral Kingdom, we were invited to a banquet and we stayed overnight after enjoying sake and some cooking. Finis.h.i.+ng up our preparations for the journey, we leave the room.
"Freya, do you still have a hangover?" (Kearuga)
"Uhh, the sake was stronger than I imagined." (Freya)
A beautiful girl in her mid-teens who was wearing travelling clothes that placed importance on functionality leaned against me while being unsteady on her feet. This girl is Freya.
Although she was originally princess Flare, she had her memories erased and currently serves as my attendant, Freya. Even while wearing unfas.h.i.+onable clothes, her feminine appeal is overflowing. Her soft, beautiful pink colored hair looks good on her.
"The ice wolf race's sake is a warrior's sake. It's sake that is too strong for women or children." (?)
An uninterested voice came from the opposite side of Freya.
"Woman, the child, Setsuna, seems to be fine, but she drank quite a lot." (?)
"Yeah, that's because Setsuna is a warrior. Besides, I'm not a child anymore." (Setsuna)
Setsuna who seemed somewhat proud was twitching her pure white wolf ears.
She is Setsuna; a warrior of the ice wolf race. She has white wolf ears and a tail, with white skin as well. A beautiful girl in her first half of her teens who was almost completely white. She was kidnapped by a human and sold off as a slave, and I bought her. We made a contract so that in exchange for a.s.sisting her revenge and saving the ice wolf race, she would reveal her true name.
A true name is the name that is engraved into the souls of all living beings apart from humans, and if you use that name while using contract magic, you are able to manipulate your target at will. To a demi-human, giving your true name to the other person is equal to giving them your everything.
Right now, every single fragment of Setsuna's soul has become mine.
"Kearugsama, please don't watch me so intently. I feel a bit embarra.s.sed." (Setsuna)
Setsuna hides her face, but those lips made me feel curious. This morning, to increase her level limit, using those lips I…
"Ah, be careful." (Kearuga)
Even though she's a little girl, Setsuna has an unusual seductiveness. I'm looking forward to tonight. Leaving that alone, I'll need to do something about Freya. For the time being, she is my attendant.
"Freya, come over here." (Kearuga)
"Yes, Kearugsama" (Freya)
I stop holding Freya, put the insides of the potion bottle inside my mouth and kiss her. Confirming that Freya swallowed the potion, I used【Recovery Heal】.
I did that to make it look like I cured her with a potion mouth-to-mouth instead of using magic because actually making a potion that sobers someone is a pain.
Like how I showed Setsuna a forged appraiser, I'm hiding my cla.s.s and skills that are related to healing magic. One day, the hero of healing Keare I left at the castle will be revealed to be an imposter, so I can't let anyone know that I'm a healing magician.
"Thank you very much, I feel considerably better. As expected of Kearugsama's medicine." (Freya)
Freya who was red in the face leaks out a hot breath. Freya is my convenient tool, so it'll be troubling if she can't demonstrate her abilities when it's important.
"Freya, Setsuna, get on the raptor. We're going back to Ra.n.a.litta." (Kearuga)
"Yes, let's return. It'll almost be the time for our third meeting with the merchant won't it." (Freya)
"Yeah, I'll obey Kearugsama's orders." (Setsuna)
Seeming sad, Setsuna looked over her shoulder to the ice wolf village, but shook her head and faced forward again. She has already become mine, and has resolved herself to part with her friends.
For a while, we will be able to earn money from the strange disease. In around ten days, the source of water will be cured and the strange disease will calm down, but I can earn plenty of money until then. Soon, it'll be the
I'll spend time in Ra.n.a.litta until I earn enough money, and we'll move to another town after that. While thinking about that, I make the raptor start running.
~At the Dioral Kingdom's royal castle~
"This is, possibly, truly"
"In that case, what's the true ident.i.ty of the imperial guard captain that left the castle?"
One man was restrained inside the underground prison. He continued to receive ill-treatment as if it was torture, and has traces of being beaten up all over his body.
Apart from the man, there were people unfit to be inside the underground prison. High officials from the army, high ranking n.o.bles, and the king of the Dioral Kingdom. The shock given from the discovered facts was to that extent.
The man restrained in chains is the hero of healing, Keare. He was being used as a convenient tool after making him an opium addict, but one day he regained his sanity, killed a guard and escaped.
Although Keare himself was immediately caught, while the castle was in chaos trying to capture him, the imperial guard captain became confused and on top of killing princess Flare and her guards, he set fire to the princess's room before escaping.
The crime the imperial guard captain committed could not be atoned for by not only killing him, but ma.s.sacring his whole family and followers with him. The person himself is missing, but his blood relatives have all been publicly executed.
And the hero of healing who started hesitating to use【Recovery Heal】after being captured. To the soldiers, he was a criminal that killed their comrade, to the citizens, he was considered as the ringleader that caused the death of princess Flare who was loved by everyone. Without being treated like a human, he continued to take resentment and abuse.
However, because of a certain thing, the situation completely changed. No matter how much medicine the hero of healing Keare takes in, no matter how much pain he is given, he obstinately chooses not to use【Recovery Heal】. Earlier, when they tortured him until he was about to die, they used an elixir to heal him which got rid of the drug, healed his throat, and he started shouting out that he was the real imperial guard captain, and had his appearance changed by the hero of healing, Keare.
At first, everybody thought it was just nonsense. However, no matter what they did, he didn't stay quiet, so they let someone who knows the imperial guard captain well talk to him and even used an appraiser on him. This man that was seen as the hero of healing was, without a doubt, the imperial guard captain himself. Yes, the truth was finally revealed.
"In that case, in the night of that tragedy. The true ident.i.ty of the imperial guard captain that left the castle might be…"
The Dioral King who was heartbroken after losing his daughter that he loves let out a groan. And then, Keare, the hero of healing… no, the imperial guard captain opened his mouth with eyes burning with hatred.
"That guy is the true hero of healing, Keare. Unforgivable, I absolutely won't forgive him. I'll kill him. I'll definitely kill him!" (Imperial Guard Captain)
The imperial guard captain strongly grips his hands into a fist, enough so that the nails penetrate through the skin.
He beat me down to h.e.l.l, killed all my blood relatives, and killed the lovely princess Flare who I yearned for more than anything.
What is he saying that I did. For the sake of this country, for the sake of princess Flare's wish, I let him work and use his power efficiently.
Despite all that, that lunatic stole everything. There's no way I would be able to forgive this!!
"I see, so that's what it was. The one that killed Flare was the hero of healing, Keare…. Imperial guard captain, I'm not going to apologize to you. That's natural isn't it? You made a mistake, got defeated by a lowly hero of healing, which made a chance to swap places." (King)
The king's words were bitter, but it was a fair argument. Losing to the low-leveled hero of healing that doesn't have a combat orientated status or skills is a failure that would obviously put a mark of incompetence to the honored imperial knights. The imperial guard captain couldn't anything against that and kept silent. Even while keeping silent, he was desperately racking his brain to break down the situation. As it is now, the only thing that awaits him is death. While looking down on him, the king opens his mouth.
"However, it's a fact that Flare had trusted you and valued you highly. Above all, you resent the hero of healing more than anyone. I will give you a chance to redeem yourself, and achieve your revenge. Capture the real hero of healing Keare. You absolutely cannot kill him, a simple death is too halfhearted. I will bestow upon you the authority for that." (King)
While still being restrained by the chains, the imperial guard captain put his knees on the ground and lowered his head.
"Yes, your majesty. Using all of my power, I will definitely do it." (Imperial Guard Captain)
While covering his face, he was laughing. He can fulfill his revenge on that hateful, hateful, hateful man. If I don't do that, I'd probably go mad. If I don't torture him with these hands, I'll become weird. I'll never hand this duty to anyone.
Besides, although I purposely didn't say it out loud, I've thought of one possibility.
What I thought of was the fact that princess Flare might still be alive. No matter how hard I think about it, a question is left behind of why he lit the room on fire. That was performed to hide something.
The imperial guard captain loved princess Flare. He was too scared to say it out loud, but the emotion he felt was love, and l.u.s.t. No matter how hard he tried, she was an unreachable existence. However, if princess Flare who was thought to be dead was fake and the real one had become his puppet, I can take her. (TL Note: Don't quite get the second sentence. 恐れ多くて口には出せないが、いだいていた感情は恋であり、肉欲。 [恐れ多くて] can mean awesome/awe-inspiring, but I don't know how that would fit in this sentence)
That was something he felt was so charming it couldn't be helped. I want it, I can't help but want it. Princess Flare's smile, that body, that voice, all of it would become mine.
Revenge and desire; the man dyed in both of those began to move. The hero of healing Keare… no, Kearuga still hadn't realized it.
Author's Note: Volume 2 starts now!