Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

121 – Let’s Bolt

Unlike my worries, Aria

seemed to be doing alright in her own way.

She was just unleashing a tirade a moment ago, after all.

“Brother…? Is it really my brother?”

“Yes, and I’m relieved to see that you don’t seem to be hurt─”

I was about to add that I was relieved, but

unfortunately, I couldn’t

continue the sentence.

“… *Hngh*”

“…Aria?”

From her jewel-like eyes,

tears like glass beads began to spill.

Without a single hint of warning.

“Why are you crying, Aria?

Is something perhaps ailing you─”

Still, to outward appearances,

There was no reaction.

But at that moment, I was almost certain.

Something was wrong with her.

Otherwise, she, who was always

so confident and vibrant,

wouldn’t suddenly burst into tears for no reason.

Despite Charlotte’s objections,

I’d never felt so thankful for having brought the Saintess along.

And the instant I turned around, about to

call on the Saintess for help,

“Saintess, would you mind taking a look at my sister…?”

Something tugged

at my sleeve from behind.

No, “tugged” wasn’t quite the right word.

It was too faint a touch to be called a tug.

A grip with the strength of a newborn’s. I turned my head involuntarily, and saw

“Sorr…y…”

Aria, still shedding tears like dew,

weeping piteously, came into view.

And as if that wasn’t enough,

she kept muttering

apologies.

I didn’t know what she was sorry for.

I didn’t know why she was acting like this all of a sudden.

But my hand moved.

To comfort her as she continued to sob.

“Aria.”

“Hic… sorr…y…”

“I’m fine, really.”

“H…hic…”

“It’s alright.”

I stroked her hair,

whispering reassurances.

Because, truthfully, I didn’t even know what she’d done wrong.

‘It’s not like she’d do anything that bad to me in the first place…’

“H…hic…Sorry…”

“What are you so sorry about?

“You have done nothing wrong.”

“I…”

“…Yes, take your time.”

Her lips, having heard my words,

trembled ever so slightly, but surely.

As if debating whether she could even say it.

I gently stroked her hair then,

just to ease the tension,

nothing more than that.

“…”

Each time I stroked her hair,

she flinched, subtly.

It strangely reminded me of

watching a cat.

One of those strays wandering the marketplace.

“…What are those two doing, Lady Shino?”

“Haha… Indeed.”

For just a moment, like that,

while stroking her hair,

a voice thick with discontent reached us from behind.

The voices of the two I had failed to attend to,

lost as I was in Aria.

“Ah… Saintess, perhaps you could heal my sister…”

“Unnecessary. Your sister is perfectly fine now.”

“…Saintess, has something untoward perhaps─”

“Now now, it’s all well and good to chat, but…we don’t have much time, do we?”

“…Huh? What are you saying, brother…?”

“We forced open this room’s door~ We’ll be caught soon, you know?”

Indeed, how many servants

roam about this house?

It is highly likely that

one of them will come to this room.

And then we’ll be caught red-handed, without a doubt.

“…Let’s leave for now. We can talk later.”

“Alright, so how do we─”

Crash!

Regrettably,

her words were lost.

Because I had just

smashed the window beside her.

“Wh-What… what?!”

“We did rescue Aria, after all.”

“No…even so, to be so…brutally…”

Their gazes shifted, as though regarding me

like some kind of madman, but

it didn’t particularly matter.

I was used to such stares,

and besides,

I didn’t want to linger here,

not even for a moment longer.

Besides, this house practically

belonged to the Duke anyway,

so wouldn’t it be alright

to break it a little?

Especially considering we were once

his children, after all.

‘…Let’s get out of here, quick.’

Even so, I was still getting nervous,

just the same.

*

When Brother first appeared,

for a moment, I thought it was all a dream.

I thought it was a phantom born

from my own desire to escape this place.

But it wasn’t.

Brother really had come here.

He’d come to rescue

the me who’d been kidnapped so suddenly.

Why?

‘I…I haven’t ever helped Brother…’

That thought flashed

through my mind

at the same instant

my tear ducts finally burst.

Brother was going to such lengths for me,

breaking into this house.

He was always putting in such effort

for me, since long ago.

But I was the one

who never did anything for him.

On the contrary, I hadn’t listened

to his advice and met Father,

disappointing him yet again.

I even recklessly spread rumours,

landed myself in this difficult situation,

and in the end, I still…

Borrowing my brother’s hand…

I felt like I could die from the guilt.

Tears were spilling, drop by drop, against my will.

I tried so hard to stop them, but

these tears, flowing as they pleased,

showed no sign of ceasing, and

to me, like this,

my brother said it was alright.

“It’s alright, truly.”

‘…A lie.’

As if it could truly be alright.

He surely doesn’t even know

*why* I’m crying.

“I’m sorry…”

I truly was sorry.

Because this was all I could say to him right now.

Even until this very moment, as I leave the mansion.

*

Allen Reinhardt,

among his fellow knights of his age,

a man undeniably called a genius with the sword.

He constantly asks himself, again and again.

A question that remains a mystery to all who wear armor and wield a blade.

This is not something with a fixed answer.

It’s not a specific, fabricated question,

and those who hold swords each give different answers.

Meaning, it’s not particularly

helpful for one’s own advancement.

But, nearly all knights

carry this question deep within their hearts.

‘To you, what is a knight?’

This is the very question to which

all knights give their own, different answers, and

right now, it was the words

violently shaking Allen’s heart.

‘…Why did *I* want to become a knight?’

At first, it was a sense of duty.

A sense of duty to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Then came a small measure of satisfaction.

Since truly taking up the sword,

my skills had soared.

I could easily crush

the swordsmanship of my peers.

If I kept going like this,

wouldn’t I reach Father someday?

The way he slaughtered dozens of monsters

with that massive sword.

Couldn’t I get closer?

Thinking that, I continued to

hone my abilities.

Then, one day,

I saw him.

‘First, let’s work on horizontal cuts…Jennison?’

Something was off.

He, who always shirked sword practice,

was in the training grounds from morning.

At the time, I just thought it was a whim.

Some child trying to pick up a

sword lightly.

That’s how he looked to me then.

‘..He’ll give up soon enou…gh..’

“….”

At that moment, he swung his sword.

No, to be precise…he danced a sword dance.

A dance of seamlessly

flowing forms, and

laced within them, very

lethal killing strokes.

A truly beautiful sword dance,

the likes of which I’d never seen.

I wanted to applaud then and there, if I could.

“..Not going so well.”

Nevertheless, he left.

Abandoning his wooden sword,

without so much as a backward glance.

The moment he

completely left the training grounds,

only then did I realize I was

I noticed then, the blood was flowing.

‘..It went wrong? Is that..?’

How could this be?

A wretch who never properly held a sword,

Whose training was always lax.

How could he, who dedicates nothing,

Surpass even I, who devotes everything to the blade?

‘At this rate..even Father..

Will give the seat of Head to that one..!!’

I could not accept it.

No, I refused to accept it.

The moment I admitted this truth,

All my time spent until now would become nothing more

than foam on the water.

‘..Do you want to possess power?’

I threw myself into training with an even fiercer bitterness.

Even when every muscle in my body

Ached with agony,

Even when the training was so harsh my fingernails threatened

to tear away,

I did not stop.

I had to prove it.

That my time had not been in vain.

And that I was, without doubt, superior to that wretch.

But it was all for naught.

For that one, he brought ruin upon himself.

‘..Where have you been brawling again?’

‘….’

‘Tch, pathetic.’

He was utterly pathetic.

The sight of him inviting his own destruction.

And at the same time,

A feeling of superiority surged through my entire being.

‘Indeed..I am far better than you, in the end.’

The one who had once filled me with

Feelings of inferiority,

Was now beneath my heel,

And the thought of it nearly sent me soaring.

I doubted if this was not all some elaborate dream.

“How… how could you do that to brother?!”

“…It was necessary for the sake of the family.”

And as always,

the dream was bound to shatter.

“…Father made him…

do that on purpose?”

The ugly underside of the one

I idolized was revealed,

and at the same time, confusion began to fill my head.

“Then…he was…”

The one I always dismissed

was actually sacrificing himself for our family?

All under father’s orders, no less?

From the moment I learned that truth,

the hand holding my sword began to tremble.

Something felt terribly wrong,

a vague feeling that I shouldn’t be doing this.

A knight, yes, but first and foremost a swordsman.

A swordsman whose hand trembles, unable to grip their sword.

I had to find a solution.

By any means.

“M-milady has vanished!!”

“Th-there’s someone by the window!”

“I-isn’t that… Young Master?!”

“Young Master is taking milady away!!”

Do you know the answer?

Regardless, for now,

I had to move.

For the sake of everything.