58 It's stuck deep at the moment.

Let's think this through.

The man in front of me is named Raheit.

I'm told that in the real world, his body is already dead and he is now a child.

I have never seen him in his true form, and neither has Lakra.

However, I have heard information about his appearance based on the report from Archbishop Ucka.

Of course, Lakra also heard about it, because if he was working with Archbishop Ucka, there was a high possibility that he was in contact with Lakra as well.

His appearance was a perfect match, and the scarlet bracelet could be seen.

But why would this man be in Tarz at this time?

Ilias, what's wrong?

Oh, no, I was expecting a woman.

What the hell is that? Oh, yeah, Archbishop Maja is a woman, too.

It seems that he misinterpreted me very well.

There is no confirmed threat of Raheit at this stage, we must not make a scene here.

Let's calm down, we can't afford to upset him and make him wary of us.

(Ugh, the memories of me and Shosho-sama are being painted over in a terrible way: ......)

Lakra is crying inside me with a whimper, and for the time being, I can assume that she is not in this virtual world.

Let's try to organize the situation by imitating his way of thinking.

First of all, Raheit's goal is, of course, the book about the Demon King that Dokora brought to this country.

Originally, he would have manipulated Archbishop Ucka with hypnotic magic and sent Lakra to work behind the scenes in the dark side of Mejis.

But Lacla is not here, so they would have to use someone else. ...... Oh, that's right.

The plan was that Lacula would be able to take the book, but in this world without her, the people Archbishop Ucka would choose would be competent, which would make the book difficult to take.

That's why he came here in person.

I don't exist in this world, but as long as the unidentified King of Garnets is buried in the frame of the Iliad-Ratzel, it is deceptive.

And he is who he is, after all.

The absence of Lakra has certainly changed history. 　

It's impossible to recreate it completely.

He's already been in contact with you, and it's time you got the knowledge from the book.

It is safe to assume that most of Tarz's knowledge is already in hand.

All we have to do now is to make sure that his contact with Raheit will not endanger him.

After all, it is doubtful that I will be appointed as his bodyguard in the future.

People's opinion of me has risen, but the opposite is true for those who originally appreciated me.

Sir Ragdoll and the rest of Ragdoll's troops, His Majesty, and Cyra were among them.

As for Saira, she seemed to be liked as a promising new knight, but for the others, the difference was probably due to the length of time they had been together.

The advantage of being close to him is the reason why I am here now.

The tour of the village went by much faster and more uneventfully than before.

(Ugh, it's the same with Raheit setting up the wards. ...... He's good at it.)

He also took into account the possibility of the book being in the village and set up the detection wards, a task that would have taken several days with Lakra's slowness.

I'm sure Rahite has some sort of seduction spell.　(Yes, I contacted the Shosho at night to get information!

I don't think he's going to use seduction magic, man to man. ...... Well, you might think that's not so bad.

The hypnotic spell Lahite was using would be more effective and convenient.

After the first day's work, I rented a room in the village.

I would stay in the room next to his, listening and watching, and if anything happened, I would cut him in.

Then there was a visitor in his room, a Raheit.

I didn't expect Raheit to act the same way as Lakra. ...... Which one should I rate higher or lower?

"Oh, Mr. Rahite. What's wrong?

"Sorry for the late hour. I couldn't sleep and was walking around a bit when I saw the light from your room. ...... I hope I didn't disturb you.

I hope I didn't disturb you.

No, thank you. I was just working on something I wrote down today.

You're a very dedicated person, aren't you? May I have a look at it?

Yes, please. Have a seat on the bed.

"Mr. Iliad!　Cut it out already!　You'll ruin my memory!

But you can't just jump into the middle of an innocuous greeting.

It's not like we're recreating the exact same conversation.

I listened to the conversation for a while, but there was no sudden development, and Raheit left the room.

(It's funny, because I failed the seduction spell and this is where I got the worst treatment from the Shosho-sama: ......)

If the seduction spell doesn't work on him, then it's possible that the hypnosis spell did as well. Rahite left the room after realizing his failure without being noticed, or so it would appear.

(Ugh, my memory is protected from here on out, but I'm not sure what to make of this: ......)

The next day, the tour of the village went on without any change.

The next day, the tour of the village continued unchanged, but when Raheit entered a church, he spoke to me.

"Ilias, are you interested in a man like Raheit?

"What?　No, of course not!

I almost grabbed him by the chest, but I held on.

By the way, I never grabbed him in this world.

It was partly because I was trying so hard to maintain a relationship with him, but also because this was my second time, and I was less surprised.

It's okay if you're not, because apparently Ilias was aware of him.

He was aware of me, and I recall him saying that he was sensitive to distance in relationships.

But if that's what he thought, should he rather have been on board?

...... No, not at all.

Lahite has a good face, but I don't like him.

I can't help feeling that we don't get along well, even before I have a preconceived notion that he is an enemy.

It's only a matter of time before they find out you're lying.

"I was just making sure you were as strict as Archbishop Maja. Apparently not.

"Yeah, I was more cautious than friendly, if you ask me. I was just too stiff.

I thought he usually said outlandish things, but now that I'm dealing with him in a hidden way, his sharpness is frightening.

But Lahite smells strange, so it's worth being careful.

I see.

I wonder if he has already sensed some kind of odor in Rahite.

You'll be able to find a lot more information on the web.

But what do you mean by "fishy"?　I don't think he was acting suspicious. ......

It's hard to say, because I have a vague sense, but he's probably a bad guy.

"......

This may be the first time he's ever explicitly called someone he's met a bad person.

It probably goes without saying that his contact with Raheit in the real world was after his misdeeds had already been exposed.

However, although he had expressed his opinions about people he met, he had never called them evil people so clearly.

"What should I do?

"Don't be too cautious, they'll probably sneak around in hiding to do bad things, so it's better to keep them at bay. I'll talk to Marito about it when I get back. I don't think we need to worry about it right now.

With that, he walked over to Wolfe, who was observing the village.

The threat of Rahite is nothing to worry about.

I suppose he was trying to warn me when he turned the conversation to me.

What can I say, you're more reliable than usual.

It's true, he usually doesn't show any such pretense, and just goes off on his own ......?

I'm not sure what to make of it.

It's not that I'm not a fan of his work, but I'm not a fan of his work.

I'm not sure what to make of this.

I don't remember him ever calling me a brainiac or a monster.

Do you want to be called that?

Of course not.

"But now that you mention it, ...... I don't feel like we're too far apart. ...... Oh, by the way, Iliad-san hasn't done any real harm to Shosho-sama, has he?

"No, I haven't given him any harm in the real world either .......

It's a good idea to take a look at the following tips to make sure you're getting the most out of your trip.

...... Yeah, well, that's about as light of an exchange as you can get.

But in this world, there is no such thing, although I have seen them fight in front of me.

I don't know if that much of a difference in behavior makes a difference, or how violent I seem to him in the real world. ...... If I remember, I'll be a little more gentle with him.

The tour of the village ended without any significant event.

Rahite will be working for Archbishop Maja for a while.

He has been placed in a difficult position to reach, and neither he nor I can approach him without interacting with Maaya.

If we are to make any kind of move, we will need His Majesty's help.

It's a strange feeling to be so close to a church I've frequented so much.

I wish I could discuss more things with him, but that's not possible.

Raheit's goal is the book, the existence of which I am not supposed to know yet.

I need to act only as far as the suspicious party, the one who cares about what he said about the bad guy.

What a hassle. It would be quicker if you could just slash him.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it.

If Lakra is here, the dark side of Mejis will be sent to this country.

If Lakra is there, the dark side of Mejis will be sent to this country, and its existence will be exposed by the murder of Gazen in this country.

But since those elements do not exist, the only thing to do is to keep Raheit in the dark until he does something that can be judged as black.

However, the tension continued to linger as Rahite remained motionless.

"You are hereby assigned to guard the dignitaries from this day forward.

Finally, without incident, he was summoned by His Majesty and ordered to escort him.

One of my concerns was that I would be promoted to his bodyguard, but it seems that I have successfully accomplished that.

I thought it would be difficult without a battle with the dark side, which would have threatened his life. .......

Rather than take this in stride, should I ask about the questions that arise?

Thinking about what I would have done before is mentally very abrasive.

"Your Grace, not that I have any doubts about his worth, but very few people in Tarz know his true identity. Wouldn't an escort bring out his peculiarities?

"That's a good question, he's only one of the candidates for the position. But there's something not quite right with the Yugoslavs.

"You mean the one called ...... Raheit?

Thank you for being so perceptive. I've been consulting with him, and I've had my country's dark side watching Raheit. It seems to me that he has other intentions, and that he may be harmed in some way.

This is probably all we can get out of him.

Should we go further or not? .......

Can't you give us the details?

There's no guarantee that you'll be able to return to your normal routine once you know.

That's all I need to know. I'm a knight, I don't want to leave my friends behind and live in peace.

...... Are you all right, my friend?

Yes, I'm fine.

So let me tell you something. You remember Docola, the one you defeated? That bandit had a book in his possession that we took and deciphered. It contained writings on necromancy and demon lords.

His Majesty explains the contents of the book in general terms.

He doesn't reveal anything about the author of the book, but only tells us that the Demon Lord will come back to life.

I only pretended to be surprised, I had practiced in the mirror.

The purpose of Rahite is to retrieve the book, and we have confirmed that it is the book stored in Medis. However, there was no coordination with Maja, the archbishop of the Tarz branch, and she was investigating on her own. Maja must have known about the existence of this book and the possibility that Dokora brought it to her, but there has been no movement.

...... Are there allegations against Archbishop Maja?

"That would seem to be the only reason for the ostensible lack of cooperation. But that's not the only reason, Rahite's contact came while we were placing surveillance on a high-ranking official who entered the castle on his orders. As we continued to monitor him, there was a break-in at the treasury.

This is most likely a hypnotic spell, as it would be difficult to penetrate the interior of the castle to investigate the home country, and there is no way to set up a detection ward.

So they started to use hypnotic spells to puppet the people coming in and out of the castle to investigate.

What about the dignitary?

I checked, but his memory is foggy. Perhaps he used hypnotic magic. We're keeping him in the dark for now, but for someone from the land of the Medis to use such magic on a high-ranking official of the TARDIS is a dangerous act that could lead to liability issues. I don't think a single priest is doing this on his own.

"So we've come to the conclusion that either there's someone in Mejis acting on his own, or there's someone else behind Raheit's back.

The two of them together are really fast.

I'm sure they've already caught the shadow of the Demon Lord, even if it's not certain.

You can't even tell who the enemy will be if they are puppeted by hypnotic magic. But those who have high magic power and are prepared for it can deal with it. If you're close to him, he'll be able to notice the change himself.

Indeed, in that sense, I am the right person for the job.

In this way, I succeeded in recreating myself into the position of his bodyguard.

How did you manage to get this far?

(Yes, there have been many changes, but you have successfully gained the trust of Shosho-sama.

"Yes, there have been many changes, but I have gained your trust.

It's been a lot of work, but I'm somewhat relieved that it's all over.

I honestly feel that the initialization of a relationship is not something I want to experience more than once.

This time around, I've done nothing to prepare for war, and after war is declared, I'll either wait for it to die out unilaterally or give up.

But if we can get close to him again, if we can get information from him that is close to the same relationship we have with him in the real world, then we can safely go to the next round.

The next time you go to ......, you'll be safe.

Something is fatally wrong.

In this virtual world, he has the same knowledge and experience as in the real world, and he knows enough to destroy the Taze.

All we have to do is to explain the situation to him after the war with Garne starts, and get him to tell us how to destroy the Taze.

There should be no mistake so far.

According to him, it is unlikely that he will cooperate with you in the fourth round.

He had lived on Tarz, and he would not want to betray the Tarz that had taken care of him.

So he could find out how to turn his sword against Taze in the fifth round, and although he would resent being betrayed, it wouldn't be too hard to convince him.

The man in this world definitely has as much information as the man in the real world.

They have had almost the same experiences, there is no doubt about that.

Same experience ...... same relationship ....... 　

......!

I suddenly felt nauseous, grabbed a nearby cleaning bucket and vomited.

(Iliad, are you okay?)

"My God, ...... am I ...... going to have to betray him in this world that is almost ...... unchanged?

The second and third time around he was somewhat distant.

I felt like he was a stranger, even though he looked the same.

But the fourth time around, he was just like him in the real world.

Together they had defeated the bandits, taken care of Wulfe, and spent time together up to this point. .......

He betrayed him, abandoned this world and left for the next.

I can't believe I'm going to do that.

What's the difference between that and betraying him in the real world?

I swore to protect him ...... for his sake ...... and for his sake .......

The words he told me, the looks he showed me, the thoughts he directed at me in this world.

There is no difference between him and ...... the real world, they are the same, the same.

I'm sure you'll be able to understand why.

I vomit uncontrollably.

I've worked hard in this virtual world for him in the real world.

As a result, I have to betray him myself.

In the real world and the virtual world, worlds that differ only in their names but nothing else.

The one I have sworn to protect, I will .......

------------------------------------

I came back to see the results of the sixth round.

There was some movement on the Wolfe side, but it was the Iliad that we should be concerned about.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I'm sure it's a good idea.

"I knew this would happen, given the Iliad's earnestness.

Saburo's goal is to break the heart of the Iliad.

He wanted Ilias, who was fighting for the real world, to betray all of it by recreating the same environment as the real world.

Ilias has never played a game that spins a tale.

He is incapable of recognizing that the life of the game world exists only within the game itself.

In addition, it is a world where everything is the same as the real thing, far beyond even modern games.

At the start of the fourth round of the war, Ilias revealed the situation to Shiro, the fourth "I".

He told him everything, apologized, and tried to end it all in the fifth round.

As a result, Ilias was killed by Shiro.

With Ilias's strength, he would have been able to defeat a powerless otherworlder, but he must have been given a hard time.

If the current me had done the same thing to Shiro, I wouldn't even be considered an enemy.

It's not a matter of forgiving or not forgiving.

Saburo used Shiro and the original to break Ilias' heart in a spectacular way.

He had betrayed the one he had sworn to protect as a knight, and Ilias's pride in chivalry was completely shattered.

When you enter the next round, the memories you have experienced will be compressed into results.

Therefore, although he would inherit the result of being killed by Shiro, the pain he experienced at that time would not remain.

However, Saburo offered a way to go beyond that framework.

Yes, a way to have the information recorded as the name of a holiday or festival.

In the fourth round of the Iliad, before Garne's demise, he wrote down all of his feelings as a warning to himself for the next round, and entrusted them to the next round.

The effect was so great that Ilias' heart was broken right at the start of the fifth lap.

You've also graciously inherited the words that Shiro hurled at me.

You shouldn't put nearly a thousand holidays a year in advance, really.

The sixth round of the game was immediately resumed, and we are now on the seventh round.

So, now that you've said it, are you sure you want to go to ......?

"The Iliad is a lost cause. Pull him up.

--Oh, this is really disgusting.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to do it.