Chapter 25 - What they believed (1)

Chapter 25 – What they believed (1)

Translated by : betterdays

Proofread by : ch17175

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-Yeah that’s right… you were the problem.

The Doppelganger clenched its fist. Asher walked out of the bushes with a cold bloodlust present in his eyes and pulled out his sword.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

Asher wanted to expose the Doppelganger and let it be found out by the others. He predicted that it would run away afterwards. And that in that timeframe of the Doppelganger trying to make it’s escape, he would intercept it.

It was his plan, and so far it was going along as he hoped it would.

– God damn it! It’s all your fault!

“Don’t blame me for your deeds as a Demon.”

Asher gave strength to the hand gripping the sword. The Doppelganger grinned.

– Oh, you’re going to kill me?

The Doppelgänger’s physical ability fell behind Charon, but made up for it with magical ability with it’s demonic mana. However, Asher was a swordsman who had the physical ability to overwhelm Charon as well as years of experience in fighting with the Demons.

However, Asher was no fool and he knew it would be difficult if the Doppelganger read his memories. He felt that he had a strong mentality, but if the Doppelganger somehow escaped, things would turn for the worse.

– I was wondering how you knew so much, but it’s great that you came out to me foolishly on your own two feet. It seems you know of us quite well.

The Demons were eradicated and hunted down when the Demon Lord was slain over 50 years ago. People didn’t forget, but rather chose to forget over time.

But a child under the age of 20 knew them. The Doppelganger’s eyes expanded as it roused the Demonic mana in the air around it.

– Show me your memory.

All of Asher’s memories slowly entered the Doppelganger’s brain. Asher watched the Doppelganger quietly with an indifferent expression. He knew it was inevitable so he let the Doppelganger have its moment of realization. The Doppelganger burst into admiration.

– Oh, wow. What a complete trash of a swordsman. I knew humans were bugs, but you are… you are completely hopeless.

“Hmm.”

The Doppelganger was sorting through Asher’s first life memories and was probably seeing just how much ridicule he faced when he first picked up the sword. Even the Demon species would know just how garbage Asher’s talent was in terms of his learning with the sword.

‘It must be feeling confused… right about now.’

Asher thought, as he was predicting the Doppelganger to start realizing it was looking through the memories of an entirely different person than the young man standing in front of him.

– …you.

The Doppelganger’s voice, which was reading through Asher’s memories, hardened.

– You- You- It’s not possible! It can’t be! How?!

“Are you done yet?”

– You! You!

The Doppelganger backed away in dismay. Asher shot forward and grabbed the Doppelganger’s head. Asher consequently, as he gripped the head of the Doppelganger, pummeled it head-first into a tree. The tree cracked apart and exploded with a roar.

– KYAAAA!

“I may have never met you until now. But, since I’ve met your kind countless times, it’s always impolite if I don’t give you my greetings.”

Asher released his hand from the skull of the Doppelganger and straightened his index and middle finger. Asher then stuck his two fingers into the sockets of the Doppelganger’s eyes and ripped the eye out mercilessly

“Nice to meet you again. Demon.”

***

“So what happened?”

Reika asked with a crumpled face. Asher replied calmly.

“I already explained it perfectly well. You have a knack for picking up things at a quick pace like you do with the sword. I’m sure you’ll understand what happened soon.”

“…how the hell can I possibly understand all of… this?”

Reika grabbed her head and ruffled her hair in confusion.

“It’s just too crazy!”

It hadn’t been more than a day since pandemonium had erupted in the Belturia Territory. Charon had brought Reika out to the carriage and then went back to get Asher. Suddenly, he had come back hours later looking like a disabled person along with Boros who looked extremely fatigued and in rags for clothes.

It was quite a sight to see in terms of the castle’s appearance. The soldiers inside were groaning, and the Lord’s room was smashed to pieces. Reika had rushed to find Asher, and when she found him, she couldn’t understand his explanation at all.

“So let’s sort out the events.”

“Try me.”

“…Balbaca was a Doppelganger?”

“That’s right.”

“And Boros is now the new Lord of the Belturia Estate.”

“That’s right. It seems you understand well.”

“I don’t understand what happened in between though!”

Reika gnashed her teeth.

“You said Balbaca was a great hero! But how could he be a Doppelganger? No, let’s just say you’re telling the truth about that. If so, then when did the Doppelganger take his place?”

“Well….”

Even Asher could not possibly know that.

“First of all, A Doppelganger is a Demon, right? Didn’t they all get eradicated and pushed out of the continent?”

“That’s what I thought.”

But it wasn’t the case. And this was an incredibly frightening development.

‘The Hero, Ian the Brave.’

He had been the one to purge the Demon Lord. If so, then why were the demons back on the continent? Reika felt her head ache, as she rolled her eyes and ruffled her hair once more.

“I’m going crazy….”

“Let’s talk to Mr. Boros for more information.”

“Of course I have to talk to him as well. I have no clue what’s going to happen from now on with my father’s relationship with the Belturia Estate.”

Reika spoke with an exhausted face and continued.

“I got it for now. But, I have one more question Asher.”

Reika pointed her finger to the person whose head was lying in her lap, unconscious.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Charon was passed out on her lap, and his blank and murky eyes did not shake or move in the slightest. Reika shuddered as she looked at Charon, her knight who appeared to be brain dead.

“Why is he acting like a retard?”

“I don’t know.”

Asher also heard the conversation Charon had with the Doppelganger. He could try and guess, but that was about it.

“It’s a problem that he’ll have to solve with himself.”

At that moment, a knock rang out from outside the carriage door. A woman in the blue opened the door.

“Ms. Reika, are you there?”

“Oh, yes.”

“The Lord is requesting to see you. Would that be all right with you?”

“Yes, that will be alright with me.”

Reika followed the maid. The lady’s composure slightly faltered when her eyes laid on Asher.

“Sorry, I forgot to mention… it would be you… and Asher… together….”

“Hm, Asher as well?”

“Maybe there’s something to talk about.”

Asher replied to Reika as they stepped out and followed the maid.

“Let’s just follow along for now.”

***

“I’m sorry.”

Boros was waiting for them, as he sat in the Lord’s office which had also crumbled to a certain extent from the repercussions of the fight with the Doppelganger.

“Are you all right Mr. Boros?”

“Not right now sadly, Lady Reika.”

Boros smiled bitterly. He was aggrieved, confused, and yet he still had work to do as the sole successor of the Belturia Nobility. He glanced at Asher.

“You must have heard the story roughly from Asher.”

“Huh…?”

Boros casually addressed Asher as if he were an equal and Reika briefly exclaimed in surprise. Boros asked back nonchalantly.

“Yes, Is there a problem?”

“No, no.”

Reika shook her head.

“Yes, I’ve heard the story from him as well.”

“You have my sincerest apologies Lady Reika. You came here to establish political relations with my family and had to see something truly…. unsightly.”

“What exactly happened?”

“My father was long dead, and he was replaced with a Doppelganger. It’s as simple as that.”

“Since when….”

“Well I’m not sure, but I think it was about twenty years ago. My father had been starting to act weird since about then.”

Boros murmured in a depressed tone.

“I’d been calling him… no, ‘it’, my father for twenty years.”

Boros laughed to himself. In the gloomy atmosphere present, Reika quietly shut her mouth. Boros soon stopped laughing and opened his mouth to speak once more in his melancholic tone of voice.

“First of all, I’m sorry. I don’t think the political marriage will work.”

“What?”

“The marriage was arranged by my Father. But it was a Doppelganger, not my actual father. So it was clearly a ploy made by Doppelganger for some reason, and I have no intention of trying to find out why it wanted it..”

Boros was not crazy enough to play with fire. That Doppelganger may have been lewd and aggressive with it’s actions, but it was a Demon. Demons were cunning as they were brutal, and there was clearly a reasoning the Doppelganger arranged the marriage. However, now that it was dead, Boros wanted nothing to do with it.

“Ah….”

“For that reason alone, I’ve decided to call it off. Once again, I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be.”

Reika’s face brightened up immediately. She didn’t want to be married away to a noble family and be treated like a chess piece, so there was nothing better for her to hear at that very moment. There was only one point that left her feeling unsettled however.

“But what was the Doppelganger scheming?”

“That’s a question left unanswered for us as well. I’ve been kept in the dark about the movement of the Empire’s politics and Worldly changes, so I’m doing my best to figure out what could have possibly been the motivation behind it.

Asher was listening with his mouth shut at the conversation.

“So what are you going to do now?”

“First of all, we have to open trade again with the outside. And I’m also going to send a representative to the Empire to inform them that a Doppelganger had been in place of my father and acting as the Lord for the past twenty years. If anything, the Emperor, himself, at least has to know of what happened.”

Reika asked carefully.

“What will happen if news spreads about this?”

She was careful to ask, but she was curious what would happen if the Empire knew that the Great Hero, Balbaca Belturia, was murdered and replaced with a Doppelganger for the past twenty years. The aftermath would surely not be small. Even if the Emperor let the other nobles know of what happened, it would not go farther than nobility, as it could be dastardly for the public population to know of such a thing.

Boros nodded.

“Of course. This may be happening in other Noble households. Not just our territory.”

“…Oh my god.”

“I’d have to see you off, but… I think it will be hard for me to do so, because I can’t afford to leave the territory right now. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m not so ignorant that I would take you away from your time needed to organize your territory in a dire time.”

The Belaturia estate was on the verge of collapse. Boros had to put all his strength and willpower into holding it together. Reika got up from her seat.

“Oh, do you mind if I talk to Asher for a moment?”, Boros quickly asked.

“With Asher?”

“Yes.”

“…I see.”

Reika wondered what it could be, but she walked out of the room without much hesitation.

Only Asher and Boros were left in the room.

“I’d like to thank you for now. For getting rid of the Doppelganger.”

Breaking the silence, Boros opened his mouth. The nobility of the Empire would never speak with a commoner on equal terms, but Boros felt Asher was a person worthy of such trust and respect.

“Thanks to you, I realized that my father was truly not my father, but rather a Demon.”

Boros hadn’t noticed the presence of the Doppelganger for over twenty years. If it weren’t for Asher, it was questionable as to whether he would ever find out the truth later on.

Under such chaotic circumstances, Asher not only noticed the Doppelganger’s interference but also revealed it’s identity. It was no exaggeration to say that he was the savior of the estate.

However, Boros’ gaze that rested on Asher’s figure, contained complex emotions.

“Do you remember when you pointed out the key fact to exposing the Doppelganger? The memories of my father and I, and when we had met the heroes…”

Boros had never shared that experience with anyone other than his father, and it was shocking that a young man, not even at the age of twenty, knew the events that had happened that day to such a degree that not even Boros could recall so clearly until told.

It was incredible how Asher had pointed out the discrepancy in the memories between Boros, The Doppelganger, and what had truly transpired that day.

“You somehow knew what happened in the past. You, who is younger than me, somehow knew something so detailed that even I couldn’t remember clearly.”

At that time, Boros had been too young to fully and clearly remember what had happened on that day. However, only the people who were there, would be able to remember it.

“So I want to ask….. Who are you?”

Boros’ gaze of suspicion rested on Asher’s eyes.

***

The question addressed the elephant in the room. And it was an expected question from Asher’s point of view.

Luckily, Asher already had a prepared answer that would solve everything to a certain degree.

“Oh my gosh.”

Boros was impressed with Asher’s reasoning.

“You are a disciple of the Swordmaster, High Count, Van Ester.”

“Yes, he has been observing and noticing that the movements and events happening right now in the world have become strange. And has his disciple he told me, prior to coming here.”

“As expected of Mr. Van Ester. But that’s so surprising! I know you are his disciple, but I can’t help but be shocked that he had told you of such things in a relationship focused around learning the sword.”

“That’s just how strange the world has become these days.”

“So, he was right to be worried….”

Boros smiled bitterly.

“If Asher is a disciple of Mr. Van Ester, then all my questions are naturally already answered.”

It was a lie though. However, Boros had no way of knowing. Van Ester had never told Asher about that fateful day when Boros was with his father Balbaca and had met the other heroes.

And there was only one reason for that. It was because he was there too.

However, it was most comfortable to wrap up the situation, like this. It was fortunate that he would not have to worry about having to explain his reincarnation to someone.

The reputation of a Swordmaster in the Empire was absolute. They deserved that much respect.

‘The position of the disciple that I have given you. You’re free to use it however you wish.’

Asher recalled Van Ester’s words that he had left him, but he couldn’t help but feel this might be a bit troublesome to explain if it reached Van Ester’s ears.

“I see, I’m sorry for the unnecessary doubt I placed on you.”

“No, it was more than reasonable to do so. So, may I ask? What are you planning to do now?”

“…….”

Boros looked down at the village outside the window, remaining silent. Looking at the bustling residents, he clenched his fist with determined eyes.

“I’m not a mere successor anymore, I’m the Lord now.”

The Doppelganger impersonating Balbaca had disappeared. Naturally, Boros, the successor, became the rightful Lord of Belturia Estate.

“I have to take care of them properly as their Lord.”

Boros rose from his seat and lowered his knee as he bowed his head in Asher’s direction.

“Once again, I must thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

No noble should even kneel down to anyone but the Emperor. It was an implicit law of the Empire. And now, Boros, a noble, kneeled to Asher, a commoner.

There was only one reason for this.

“You are the savior of the Belturia Estate. Our estate will forever call and praise your name.”

Boros uttered in a steady and calming voice.

“You are the hero of our estate, Asher.”

The emperor’s authority was meaningless to the original Great Hero, Balbaca. Asher shook his head.

“I’m not a hero.”

“No, you’re that kind of person. No matter what anyone else says, you are the hero and savior of this estate. This is not overpraising, but simply stating the truth. As long as this estate remains standing, your name shall forever be ingrained in its history.”

“…….”

It was too much for even Asher to know how to react. However, Boros had a firm and resolute face that looked as if he would not allow Asher to reject his words.

“Because of this, I will do whatever you wish for, as long as it’s within my power.”

“….Then there is one thing I need right now.”

It wasn’t what Asher had originally hoped for. But the world was a dangerous place right now and he had to keep an eye on the happenings of the affairs going on within it.

“You said you had run an information agency.”

“Yes, it’s not that big, but I did indeed create one personally.”

“The agency.”

Asher spoke quietly.

“Can you lend its use to me?”

“The… information agency?”

Boros tilted his head curiously.

“Why is that?”

“It’s because I have personal matters to attend to, and I need it’s capabilities to achieve what I want.”

“Yes, I don’t need it anymore anyways… I see.”

Boros nodded.

“Yes, I’ll lend it to you.”

Chapter 25 – Fin