CH 60

I go back to class for the lesson. I start second period, but it’s hard to talk in between breaks, so I don’t talk about anything that people might want to hear.

After such a morning class, when the lunch break comes–

“Kuh …… I have to hurry up ……!”

“M-Me too! Ryuuze …… has a lunchbox ……!?”

Makina and Jack are rushing out of class today. As for Ryuuze…

“Okay! Let’s eat, Lars! I’m going to eat my mom’s lunch starting today!”

“Oh, I see. Did you finish moving in?”

“Yeah. We’re going to vacate the manor in a little while? The dining room is a mess, though! In the meantime, I’m already living with my mom in the residential area.”

Ryuuze laughed as he said this. I thought he’s very cheerful, even after what happened to Brao. Then brother came in.

“Hey Lars, so the meetings over?”

“Yes. You can sit over here, Luciel, can you move over here? He’ll be sitting next to Nora.”

“Yes, please, big brother.”

As Luciel snuggled closer to me, I could feel her eyes on me. As I was spreading out my lunch, brother sat down on a chair and said to me.

“Thank you. So, what was it about?”

“Hmmm, it’s about how Verna-sensei is going to become a teacher here. Also, I was asked to come to the capital”.

“What ……”

Rattling ……

Immediately after, the tension in the casual class is palpable and everyone gathers around me with chairs and food. I was wondering if they wanted to hear …… or if they didn’t want to listen so closely, when Nora and Luciel started crying.

“Lars-kun, you’re leaving ……?”

“I haven’t even thanked you for saving my life yet ……”

“W-Wait a minute!? Don’t worry, I’m not going to the Capital!”

“You’re not?”

“Seriously …… I think you’ll be able to do well in the Capital.”

Ryuuze, who witnessed the power of my magic, tilted his head as he bites on an omelet. I soothed them and explained the process.

“So, until I graduate from the academy, I’ll be with everyone. Well, I’m the kind of guy who would bring down Ryuuze’s father, but keep taking care of me.”

“Thank God! Everyone was talking about how you would definitely go if something like that happened, so I was really surprised.”

“Really?”

It seems they were talking about that before I arrived. Makina, who is aiming to become a knight in the capital, and Helena, who is aiming to become a dancer and actor in the capital, were very excited.

“If you had said you were going …… I might have followed you? Kyaha♪”

“I probably wouldn’t take you because I don’t want to trouble his majesty, though ……”

“That’s mean!?”

“But I guess I’m happy to get to be in the same class with Lars, who is such an amazing wizard? Teach me about things, okay.”

“Yeah, It’s already known, so I’ll teach everyone, okay? Let’s all get the jobs we want.”

” ” “Oh!” ” “

“You’re a very close class. I’ve always had a tendency to study first, after all.”

“Yeah! I’m sure Dedite-kun is very proud that Lars-kun is his brother. I’m glad his my first friend!”

“…… Yeah, that’s right!”

“…… Brother?”

The brother laughs at Nora’s words. When I tried to talk to him, I felt something was wrong, the door turns! And then it opens with a resounding bang, and a gasping Makina walks in. I can see Jack behind her, slumped over.

“Hah …… Hah …… I’ve come to listen!”

“No, I’m just finishing up ……”

“Eeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhh!?”

“Maybe you want to tell it one more time! I want to take another request with Lars-kun ……”

Everyone laughed at Makina’s sigh of disappointment, while Kudelica made a mysterious request, and Luciel and Makina checked it out. 

The lunch break ended with me giving the same explanation to Makina and Jack, and thinking that Luciela hadn’t shown up.

I was honestly happy that Ryuuze and my classmates treated me the same way they always did, though I thought they would be a little more respectful as I had tricked Brao.

“See you later!”

“See you tomorrow!”

“Later♪!”

“Let me know when you’re going to the guild ……!”

So it was after school, but instead of going to the guild today, I went straight home with my brother. Nora said she had to help out at the orphanage, so it was a rare day for the two of us to go to school alone. And then…

“Lars, you’re amazing, he’s become strong enough to be invited to the Capital.”

“No, but I know that I was wrong this time and reflecting. I guess I was in a hurry …… or maybe I should have waited until I was much older.”

“Hm. I don’t think so. If you had waited until you were an adult, or even until you graduated, I think you probably wouldn’t have become friends with Ryuuze-kun? It seems to have started with teacher, but if Lars had stayed out of the way, he might have continued to be a jerk.”

“Brother …….”

Not surprisingly or not, brother is a smart guy. I’m sure he was saying this out of concern for me, but I couldn’t leave out the possibility that he was.

“Well, I won’t do anything rash anymore. I’ll talk to brother and dad and mom.”

“You should do that. There’s might not be much I can do about it.”

“I don’t think so, though? I think you’ve got a great head on your shoulders.”

We laughed and walked up the hill. I think I’ll go to Verna-sensei’s house, but I feel a little sad that I won’t be passing this way on my way to school. And the mansion.

As I enter the house with these thoughts in mind, I run into Nina with a large package in her hands, who is about to leave.

“Dedite, Lars! Grab Nina!”

“What!? Brother, go that way!”

“Okay!”

“Oh, both of you, please let go!?”

Nina can’t run away quickly with a large load. As we were holding her back, my mom walked up to her, turned her towards her and started talking.

“Why are you saying you’re leaving!”

“As I told you, I was a spy for Brao. After I leave here and returned to my parents’ house, you can sue me. Now that Lars-sama is out of the hospital, I don’t think he’ll need me anymore.”

Nina said and tried to shake us off.

“I asked you to help me accuse Brao.”

“Because I thought it was the right thing to do …… I can’t pretend that the last ten years didn’t happen because of that ……”

“But you were threatened, so you had no choice. Five years ago, you stopped Brao from telling you what to do, and I think it’s over ……”

“It’s not true, Lars-sama …… A sin is a sin. I have to atone for my sins.”

Nina started laughing and crying, but still, she said. As I was looking for something else to say–

“Hmph!”

“What?”

Mom hugged Nina tightly, and then…

Pang!

And then she slapped Nina’s cheek with all her might! Nina’s cheeks were swollen and red, and I could tell that Mom really meant it. Then she gently hugged Nina again and–

“It’s okay …… it’s okay. It’s all over now, okay? The only thing you could use against us was the sale, and you weren’t involved in Dedite’s poisoning, right?”

This time my father put his hand on Nina’s shoulder, smiled gently and said.

“You just saw the scene accidentally and they said they would kill your parents if you didn’t keep quiet …… Brao was demoted. There’s nothing to bind you anymore. It’s good that it’s over. We’re the ones who want you to stay.”

My brother and I looked at each other, nodded, and said in a deliberately loud voice.

“Oh boy, I wonder who’s going to clean our room when Nina’s gone.”

“I bet Mom won’t know where our clothes are either.”

“You guys!”

“I-I …… is it okay …… for me to stay here …… with all the people I love …… “

“…… It’s okay. As long as you want to be here.”

“I, I ……. *Sob*”

Nina cried loudly as she hugged mom, and mom patted her gently on the back as one would a child.

After she calmed down, Nina bowed to us and stopped from leaving, saying that she would take care of us again when we returned to the lord’s mansion.

“Ah, Lars-sama.”

“What is it, Nina?”

“You’d better clean your room yourself.”

“Ehhh …… I’m a yabuhebi ……”

(T/N: “yabu hebi da” means “a snake in the bush”), a short form of “yabu wo tsutsuite hebi wo dasu”, which means “to poke at a bush and drive out the snake”).)

The end result was that the red-eyed Nina gave me a hard time, and we all had a good laugh.

–This is how all my attempts at revenge came to an end.

Some of them led to good things, like my family, and some of them brought Ryuuze to a state of near misery. For all the trouble I caused, I vowed in my heart that I would always help everyone in trouble. I hope that this will be my way of atoning for my sins.

And now that my father was back as the lord, what would my life be like from now on? I slowly drifted off to sleep in a mixture of anticipation and anxiety.

I don’t know if you’ll agree or disagree with my treatment of Nina, but what did you think?

It was a good last episode! My work doesn’t become …… (^_^)

I’ll continue!

Thank you for reading!

[Afterword Theater]

“The end is so-so, I guess”

I wanted to wrap up the story a little sooner, in about a book’s length, so there were a few extra stories.

“Well, it became a popular word, so it’s okay, right?”

It turned out to be horrible ……