* * *
“Imperial 7th Knight Order! We have completed our mission and report to you, Commander!”
“…….”
“Four knights killed, fifteen wounded.”
“What were the results of the suppression?”
“No casualties among the reactionaries, and no survivors!”
“……Adjutant, in situations like this, you are supposed to include the Ailant people in the report as well.”
“Ah! We captured one alive and killed all the rest. He was as big as a mountain, so subduing him gave us some trouble.”
The commander closed his eyes and remained silent for a moment.
The gray-haired man eventually spoke, his face visibly exhausted.
“Withdraw now. Tell them they may deactivate the magic circle preventing the collapse.”
“Pardon? Are we not going to pursue the escapees?”
“The orders issued to us this time were to eliminate the reactionary faction’s stronghold. Until we receive another official order, refrain from doing anything unnecessary and remain on standby.”
The adjutant stared blankly at his superior.
His commander occasionally made decisions that he simply could not understand.
But until now, he had always dismissed them by assuming there must be some deeper reason behind them.
……CRUNCH.
Hmm?
Then something strange caught the adjutant’s eye.
A tiny hand protruded from between the rubble lying in a pool of blood.
It twitched.
“Commander, I must correct my report! We have found one additional reactionary survivor!”
“……?”
The commander stopped at those words and turned around.
“Look! There is a hand moving beneath the rubble!”
“…….”
“Judging by the size, it seems to belong to a child. How in the world is the child still alive……. Huh?”
At that moment, the adjutant doubted his own eyes.
His superior had suddenly rolled up his sleeves and begun clearing away the rubble.
“Commander?”
“…….”
“Commander…… Commander?”
Eventually, the commander carefully pulled a red-haired girl from beneath the rubble.
Then he uncorked a potion and began pouring it over her.
“Commander? Why are you wasting such a valuable potion on an Ailant reactionary……?”
“Adjutant, this child is an Imperial citizen.”
“Pardon……?”
“You saw him earlier as well, did you not? The man who had lost his daughter and was desperately searching for his missing child.”
“What? But that man’s daughter is already—”
“……This child is that Imperial citizen’s daughter. Do you understand?”
What the hell is he talking about?
The adjutant’s eyes widened.
“Commander…… What in the world are you……?”
“That man is mentally ill and firmly believes his daughter is dead. Therefore, from this moment onward, I intend to adopt his daughter.”
“…….”
“This girl is an Imperial citizen. And I will give her my family name.”
The adjutant’s hands began to tremble.
“Commander…… No, Sir Lampard!”
“…….”
“Please reconsider! I know you have no children of your own, Commander, but even so, this is……!”
“……Adjutant, your daughter turned two this year, did she not?”
“Pardon……?”
“I sincerely wish to congratulate your daughter on her third birthday.”
“……?”
“It would be truly unfortunate if she were to suddenly die before reaching the age of three, would it not?”
“Ah……?”
The adjutant felt as though every drop of blood had drained from his body.
Has his superior finally gone insane?
Was this truly the same great knight who had spread the Empire’s prestige across the entire continent?!
“Try to understand, Adjutant. Sometimes the weak must extend even hypocritical kindness if they wish to survive.”
“…….”
“This is all because I am a weak human being. Please…… try to understand.”
The commander embraced the Ailant girl whose little finger had been severed and repeatedly murmured that he was sorry.
He almost looked like a child begging for forgiveness.
* * *
It really was gone.
【Pacifist(-)】
That damned Trait.
‘I never imagined it would be removed in such an extreme way…….’
Amid scattered chunks of flesh and pools of blood, Aileen rose from the corpse whose upper body had been reduced to mush.
The madness gleaming in her wide eyes made her look strikingly similar to the face I remembered from her boss illustration…….
“It is finished. You can move now, Sir Setanta…….”
Lian turned his head toward me, his face gaunt.
It seemed even he had been deeply shaken by Aileen’s behavior.
‘Still, the Pacifist Trait was successfully removed, so I suppose this is…… a good thing?’
She had nearly become a useless SSR, but at least we had avoided that disaster.
Whether I should actually call this fortunate was another question…….
“…….”
Aileen still said nothing.
She shook the blood from her ironwood sword with a few flicks and moved over to a corner.
The stench of blood filled the abandoned house.
Silence settled over us for a moment.
『My body…… My bodyyyyy-!』
Then the Hero’s scream suddenly rang out.
“The Hero?”
I raised my head toward the center of the magic circle and saw a plump little rodent.
‘That is not even an ordinary rat. It is a cute little hamster.’
GRAB!
I seized the pudgy rodent in my right hand.
It was pleasantly plump and soft to the touch.
『What did you……! What did you do to me, Setantaaaaaa-?!』
SQUEEEEEAK-!
It was squeaking like a rodent.
Yet somehow, his words were being translated and echoing directly inside my head.
“Charles. You are a rat now.”
『You piece of garbage! Destroying the world once was not enough, so now you have done this to me—!』
“You almost died, and I barely managed to save you. Hurry up and thank me.”
I tightened my grip on the struggling little bastard and held him up in front of the Hero’s corpse.
“And say goodbye to your corpse while you are at it.”
『C-corpse?』
『C-can you…… not put me back into my original body?!』
Hmm?
Come to think of it, if Dark Magic could turn the corpse of a rat into a living rat…….
Could it also turn a dead human back into a living one?
“Mr. Lian, can you resurrect a dead person with the same ritual we just performed?”
“……That is impossible.”
“Why?”
“The human body is far too complex and far too large. Small animals are the absolute limit.”
“I see.”
“Even that was only possible because we offered the holy relic as the price. And other than me, I doubt there is anyone capable of performing a ritual this advanced…….”
Did he just casually brag that he was an unprecedented genius?
Well, it was literally written in his Traits, so I decided not to argue.
『Setantaaaaaa!』
『You piece of shit! You are the one who killed me too! And that knight lying there in that horrific state was killed by you as wellllllllll-!』
SQUEAK!
SQUEAK, SQUEEEEEAK!
“What? I did not kill that one. And if we are being precise, the ones who killed you were the Empire’s Imperial Knights.”
I stated the obvious truth to the struggling Hero.
“Your cause of death was…… being crushed beneath falling rubble, remember?”
“…….”
At that moment—
Aileen’s eyes twitched and turned toward me.
“Ah. I was talking to Charles.”
“…….”
“Can only I hear him? Is it because he is my Familiar?”
Judging by everyone’s reactions, that seemed to be the case.
“More importantly, when is Mr. Perdi going to join us? Where is the big guy?”
He was also a highly capable SSR.
More importantly, he had been one of the Heroes from my initial pull, and—
“I will hold off the Imperial bastards for as long as I can, so you two escape through there!”
……It felt as though I owed him something after what he did at the end.
So I absolutely had to bring him with us—
“Perdi will not be coming.”
“……What?”
“I sent a crow to check earlier……. It appears he was captured.”
Lian continued with a dejected expression.
“They are going to execute him…… tomorrow evening.”
THUD!
Aileen slammed her foot against the floor.
“We have to save him…….”
The prosthetic hand gripping her ironwood sword trembled violently.
With her bloodshot eyes and the way she muttered under her breath, she looked like a completely different person.
『There! That woman has finally gone back to the face I remember!』
『Look, Setanta! Everything you saw from her until now was nothing but an act!』
SQUEAK, SQUEAK!
The Hero-rat wriggled and squealed in my hand at the sight.
“You damned Imperial bastard.”
SMACK!
I lightly flicked his rump with my index finger.
SQUEEEEEAK-!
The Hero let out a tremendous shriek.
“Sir Setanta, if your Familiar’s body is damaged, it must be restored using the master’s life force……!”
“Hmm?”
“So I would recommend keeping the punishment of your friend to a minimum…….”
Lian explained earnestly, looking genuinely worried.
To summarize, the Hero was currently in an undead state where he would not die even if his body were crushed.
However, repairing that body would consume my own life force, so I needed to treat him carefully whenever possible.
‘I see. Then I need to make sure the Hero-rat does not get crushed during combat.’
SQUEAK-!
I gave his plump backside one more pinch.
Then I decided to let his insolence slide for now.
* * *
After resting for a while, we began preparing in earnest for Perdi’s rescue operation.
“We need an ally. I do not like it, but we will have to meet Finley…….”
Lian spoke with a pale complexion.
It seemed he had pushed his stamina nearly to its limit, and deep dark circles had formed beneath his eyes.
“First, I will cast Perception Dampening on all of you, and then we will enter the capital.”
“…….”
“Then we will meet Finley and ask for his help. I sent a crow to him earlier, so he should have realized what happened by now.”
“……I wonder what Finley is doing these days.”
Finley…….
That was the name Aileen had mentioned back in the confessional, was it not?
“What kind of person is this Finley?”
“He was once a compatriot who shared our desire…… to fight for Ailant’s independence and reconstruction.”
“Ah, so he was an old comrade.”
“Although we parted ways long ago for various reasons…….”
Judging from Lian’s explanation, they had probably split into radical and moderate factions after disagreements over how to proceed.
“Even so, I doubt he will completely turn his back on us. We once stood together and looked toward the same goal…….”
He gave a bitter smile.
Whatever had happened between them in the past did not appear to be a pleasant memory.
.
.
.
[【Perception Dampening】 is currently applied to the entire party.]
We headed toward Finley’s residence.
『Guards! These are the ones! Arrest these filthy Ailant bastardssss-!』
Throughout the entire walk, the Hero kept squeaking and struggling.
‘This damned rat!’
SMACK!
I gave the plump backside sticking out from the side pocket of my storage pouch another smack.
SQUEAK!
The Hero shrieked once and finally went quiet.
‘Phew…… I suppose he does not have the Magic Genius Trait for nothing.’
There were a few dangerous moments along the way.
Fortunately, perhaps thanks to Lian’s Perception Dampening magic, we managed to pass without being stopped for inspection.
How long had we been walking?
“Well, well! If it is not all of you! What a collection of familiar faces!”
The instant we reached our destination, a gentle-looking blond man greeted us with a broad smile and guided us into the dark interior.
Contrary to my concerns, he seemed surprisingly welcoming.
Hmm.
Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered seeing a character who looked exactly like this in the original concept art.
He had never appeared in the actual game, so I had assumed he was a character scrapped during development.
I never expected to meet him like this.
“So, how have all of you been? Ah, there is one face I do not recognize.”
“My name is Setanta.”
“Yes, I have heard about you…… I heard the Underground City was annihilated. You must have been through quite an ordeal.”
As I briefly shook Finley’s hand, Lian stepped forward beside me.
“Mr. Finley! I believe you already know why we came here……!”
“Hmm?”
“At Perdi’s execution ceremony today, we intend to rescue him……!”
Instead of Aileen, who had been staring elsewhere since earlier, Lian brought up the matter.
“Pfft!”
Suddenly, laughter burst from Finley’s mouth.
“Mr. Finley……?”
“Ha…… Hahahaha!”
His eyes turned cold as he laughed for a long while, as though he could no longer contain himself.
“Haha…… So you gathered what few compatriots remained underground and managed to get every last one of them wiped out?”
“Fin……?”
“You abandoned fighting back because you wanted the survivors to live peacefully among themselves…….”
“…….”
“And this is what became of you after crawling beneath the Empire’s feet? You ended up like ants crushed beneath their boots……. Haha, hahahaha……!”
BANG!
Enraged, Aileen slammed her hand against the table.
“……Finley.”
“Aileen? Your expression has changed considerably since the last time I saw you.”
“The only reason I am not killing you where you stand is because you are one of the few compatriots I have left…….”
“Do not make excuses. Even if you fought me seriously, do you truly believe you could kill me?”
Finley shrugged once before sitting down on the edge of a chair.
“Do you remember what you said the last time we met, Aileen?”
“…….”
“You called me a ghost.”
He tilted his chin slightly.
His mocking gaze swept over Aileen.
“You said that anyone so shackled to the past that they cannot even properly live in the present is no different from the dead…….”
“…….”
“And yet now, are you not the one with eyes far more like a ghost?”