237. Childhood Friend – Reunion

“Th-that is…”

“Prince, please step back.”

As Sir Lloyd Agnak stumbled to answer, the Holy Knight, Sir Manon, intruded without a hint of awareness, stepping forward to separate the prince from his royal guard.

The prince frowned.

But what could he do, bound by the various rules of the Cross Church? He endured the rudeness of the old Holy Knight, who lingered like a watchdog, and spoke.

“I’m fine. I would like to hear what Sir Lloyd and they have to say, if possible.”

“They are criminals! There’s no reason for the prince to mix words with them. How could they have known the prince was here? Sir Lloyd is clearly in league with them; leave this to me and quickly withdraw to protect your royal self!”

“But they haven’t even drawn their swords. There’s no need for such an overreaction, Sir Knight, please assess the situation. And Sir Lloyd—”

“…Yes.”

“I have trusted you deeply as my royal guard and swordsmanship instructor. Please clarify your relationship with them.”

“…I don’t know them.”

“Sir Lloyd! You needn’t worry about Count Simon’s revenge! This person here is a Swordmaster and has offered to help us.”

At Brian’s words, the prince, the Holy Knight, and Sir Lloyd’s gazes turned toward Reb. Clearing his throat, Reb regarded the prince with due respect.

[ Achievement: First Encounter with the Prince – Gained slight favor from all princes.]

[ Achievement: Meeting Cleo de Frederick – Gained slight favor from all nobles serving the Frederick Royal Family. Gained slight favor from Cleo de Frederick. ]

After that, everything proceeded smoothly.

As Sir Lloyd revealed that he was the last heir of Baron Agnak’s family, and Brian discussed the questionable past events surrounding Baron Agnak’s dominion and the Cross Church’s dubious maneuvers, a look of elation spread across the face of Prince Cleo de Frederick, whose rich brown hair and green eyes had been filled with resignation.

When Reb casually mentioned Cardinal Michael’s tale, the prince’s smile became hard to hide.

“Prince! Do you really believe the words of those criminals? They’re trying to sow discord between the church and the royal family; don’t be deceived by their falsehoods, act wisely.”

At that moment, Sir Manon interjected. He believed the prince, who always followed the church’s rules without question, would change his stance, but Prince Frederick—

“Shut your mouth.”

Cut off the Holy Knight’s words.

“I know well how the church views our royal family. I will not overlook this matter, so Sir Manon, you may return now. No, please go back.”

“W-what do you mean the prince would say such a thing? And according to the decree of Kranchar de Frederick the First, founder of the Jerome Holy Kingdom, the prince must be under the protection of the Holy Knights…”

“Article 13, Clause 1! The Cross Church must not tarnish the authority of the Frederick Royal Family.”

Cleo de Frederick spoke quickly, as if he had long awaited this day.

“Article 13, Clause 1, Attachment 1. If the external or internal activities of the Cross Church lead to the degradation of the Frederick Royal Family’s authority, the members of the Frederick Royal Family shall have the right to veto the above 12 articles. Based on this, I hereby refuse the assistance of the Cross Church concerning Article 6 on royal ceremonies.”

“B-but that hasn’t been proven yet! How can you conclude that the authority of the royal family has been undermined based solely on those people’s words?”

“Those people? Are you talking about me?”

Reb hastily interrupted.

Emphasizing his foreignness with a slow southern accent, he pressured them, daring to dismiss the Swordmaster’s testimony.

As even Reb’s ten disciples widened their eyes, Sir Manon, outmatched in both strength and reason, fell silent.

His face flushed red as he turned away, and Reb and the prince shook hands.

“Thank you. I will be returning to the palace now; would you care to join me? I will inform the king of this matter.”

“I’m extremely grateful for the chance to meet the king, but I have pressing matters to attend to. If you could just take us to the inner city, I will finish my work and come find you.”

“In that case, I will lend you a mansion. I will assign you a steward; just speak with him, and you will be able to access the palace. I’ll also look for a way to remove the mark.”

The prince spoke meticulously.

Thinking that there might be a chance he wouldn’t come, he acted preemptively, and since there was no reason to refuse, Reb smiled and agreed.

How could the proceedings be this smooth?

Reb felt he was riding the flow desired by the one who gave it to him. And he thought it would continue to be so…

“You bastard. You’re in my way.”

Having descended from the mountain with the prince and entered Lutetia, Reb arrived at an inn. There, a burly young man rushed at him, swinging his fist without warning.

[ Forced Shutdown: Murder of Lena Ainar 2/3 ]

This was Leo Dexter, who remembered that Lena Ainar had been killed in a previous session.

*

“When are we going back home?”

“Let’s look around a few more days. Isn’t it nice here?”

“I suppose so…”

Lena Ainar responded playfully.

She wanted to return to Abrival Castle quickly but couldn’t rush Leo. Lingering on her words was the best she could do.

Because her fiancé is the magnificent Swordmaster. Someone she would never be able to catch up with, even if she died and came back to life…

Crushing disappointment filled her heart, yet Lena Ainar managed to put on a bright face.

Smile.

If you smile, you’ll feel better.

That was her little trick.

By lifting the corners of her mouth, she found it naturally brightened her mood.

“Yeah! Who cares if it’s a few more days? I like this inn, too.”

Though she said it with forced joy, it wasn’t a lie. It was quite an expensive inn with good facilities and delicious food. She especially liked the bed.

Now the only thing left for her to do with Leo was that. She thought about learning how to cook, but… honestly, she lacked confidence.

At that moment, Leo unexpectedly pulled her along. “Huh? What’s going on?” she asked, but Leo’s answer came a bit late.

“Let’s take a walk.”

“Suddenly? A walk sounds nice. But do you know that sometimes your responses are really slow? You space out… I don’t think you used to be like that.”

– Whack!

Lena confidently slapped the back of the Swordmaster. Leo, walking ahead, showed no reaction.

Moments like this made her heart flutter.

Fortunately, Leo finally said, “Ouch! That hurts.” late into the mood, averting what could have been a suffocating walk.

Just then, Leo halted abruptly. Staring blankly at the entrance far away, he quickly turned and embraced her tightly.

“Huh? Why are you doing this again?”

She was used to Leo’s sometimes contextless actions, but this time felt different.

His arms wrapped around her trembled. His breath turned ragged, chest rising and falling, and the chin that touched the back of her neck pressed down hard.

What’s this?

Though she couldn’t see it, Lena couldn’t help but think such thoughts. Growing irritated, she pushed Leo away and wanted to say something…

But clear eyes, with sharp gazes, stared at her. With a face full of deep emotions, he gently caressed her cheek.

“I love you.”

“What, what are you suddenly saying?”

“…”

Leo’s gaze was invitingly hot. So hot it made her blush. So blushing that she felt laughter bubbling up.

Though she had heard the words “I love you” countless times, somehow this felt like the first real confession she had received. Lena Ainar gazed at him with sparkling eyes and pulled Leo’s neck toward her.

“Shall we go inside?”

“…Sure. But wait a minute, go ahead first. I’ll be right up.”

It hadn’t even been five minutes since they set out for a walk that Lena returned to the inn, while Leo Dexter took a deep breath, watching her cheerful retreating figure.

An attempt at regulating his emotions.

However, as he reminisced about events from his last session to this one, he could no longer contain his anger. Slowly recalling memories from different scenarios and piecing things together, Leo turned to find someone to vent his frustrations on.

“You bastard. You’re in my way.”

– Whoosh!

Leo Dexter’s fist sliced through the air. Reb, swiftly avoiding the punch, took a step back and said,

“Sorry.”

– Whoosh!

“I’m saying I’m sorry. You know I wasn’t in my right mind back then…”

– Whoosh!

“I said I’m sorry!”

– Bam!

Finally, Leo’s fist landed squarely in Reb’s solar plexus. Reb was also a Swordmaster, and in a one-on-one, there were few to rival him, but Leo Dexter was much stronger.

Firstly, there was a massive difference in their builds.

Reb would need to rise on tiptoes just to reach Leo’s chin, and due to Leo’s broad shoulders, Reb’s size was just enough to be a cozy fit for a girl.

This was intensely humiliating for Reb, but that was the reality.

Moreover, Reb was just a boy from a remote rural valley.

He simply reached his achievements through accumulated experience, while Leo Dexter’s talent and swordsmanship instincts had been honed through long training. The count of his “Monster Hunting” achievements was also different.

Leo Dexter had three from that session, while Reb came in with two from the beggar siblings session and then captured Oantahu, getting one more for a total of two, thus widening the gap.

The results showed.

Had they fought with swords, things might have been different, but Reb couldn’t avoid the punch that came down like lightning.

Hitting his solar plexus, he fell down awkwardly, clutching his chest, while Leo couldn’t help but snicker in frustration.

The reason Leo Dexter was acting this way was…

“How dare you kill Lena? I said I would take my revenge.”

“…I did.”

– “Grrr… I-I’ll kill you. I’ll definitely, definitely get my revenge…”

It was during the 13th session in the Childhood Friend route.

Reb, now the Apostle of Barbatos, had killed both Lena Ainar and Leo Dexter in turn, leading to changes in the 11th Engagement scenario, which had been discarded. The next engagement scenario, being the 14th session, had become a blur due to Minseo losing his grip on reality.

There was a gap in the middle.

So, for the first time as the newly minted Swordmaster in this 17th session, Leo Dexter remembered that his “previous session” ended with him being killed by the Apostle of Barbatos in the changed 11th session.

No wonder his temper flared.

In the process of mechanically following his past actions and just regaining his senses upon meeting Reb, the memories of his last session were still vivid.

Furthermore, things had not gone well in this (his engagement) session either.

Though he had become a Swordmaster, Lena had given up her dream, and he had come this far with her in her sorrow. Comforting her in a mechanical manner.

Leo spoke bluntly.

“Is saying sorry all you’ve got? After committing murder, do you think you can just walk away saying sorry?”

“…I’m back alive.”

“Do you want to really die?”

So what’s supposed to happen now? Sure, I messed up, but was I the only one to blame? Also, when did all this happen? This bastard was only thinking about his own session.

Though Reb felt a twinge of anger rise, he suppressed it. Swallowing down a sigh that wanted to escape so as not to fuel the anger of someone already fuming, he apologized again.

Thanks to the hit he took, or perhaps as other sessions slowly came back to him and he started understanding how sorry Reb felt, Leo took a breath. Yet the anger hadn’t fully dissipated, so he issued a decree of dismissal.

“I know why you came here, and I know why I came here, so just leave. I don’t want to see your face. Come back tomorrow.”

“…Yeah. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Shaking off his bottom, Reb stood up. But, there was a warning he needed to give, so he called out to Leo, who was about to turn away.

“By the way, be careful. Uh… In the last session, Lena got pregnant. On the way back to Abrival Castle.”

“…What?”

“She might already be pregnant. Let’s just keep an eye on this. Based on timing, I think she got pregnant around this time, so from now on, we should pay attention to contraception…”

“Shut your mouth.”

Leo Dexter turned around, glaring ominously.

“I know all you think you know, but I feel sick just hearing you speak. Lena is with me, not you or Minseo. And if we’re going there, I’ve already been engaged to Leah, you know.”

“That’s not the point.”

“I know. I get what you’re saying… Damn it.”

Leo Dexter gritted his teeth and walked away. Reb was left standing there for a moment, dazed.

The ‘Leos’ right after the scenario began are generally like this. Filled with resentment and blame, emotional and full of a sense of victimhood.

Especially Leo Dexter exhibited this severely. His personality played a part, but in contrast to other scenarios, being engaged to Lena had a significant impact.

Luckily, it was a relief that every session began with the ‘Lenas’ talking to him… If Leo Dexter had woken up just now with no Lena Ainar around, a fistfight wouldn’t have been the end of it.

Reb held his aching solar plexus and made his way to the mansion lent by Cleo de Frederick, thinking that this guy was surely different from Lean de Yeriel.

Well, that guy is his little sister after all.

Truly beautiful and deserving of affection, our little sister…

Suddenly recalling his sister, she was in the southeast. Lean de Yeriel had set out on her journey quite slowly for some reason and had only recently arrived in Lutina.