Vol 2 Chapter 35 (2/2)
The pressure he felt co himself on the shoulder with the brunt of his blade, was souild members or powerful monsters
That being the case, he couldn’t see any situation where he could safely escape thisleisurely
(… In that case)
He just had to not run away
The youth put his hand into the bag at his waist and took out a stone
The worst possible outco out the information he wanted to stay hidden
The youth had chosen to take his own life
“Oh come now~”
Before he was able to say the incantation and fill it withwere sliced straight through The fire ele unleashed by the stone disappeared
“G—ah—”
A stunned utterance caers
Not yet
Enduring the chill that assaulted his body and the scorching pain in his hand, he atte with his other hand However, that didn’t work out either
When the youth shi+fted his attention behind hiirl
“Oh, nice, Katie”
“…”
“You—”
The youth tried to shout so had also already been taken froer had any means to resist
Claude, who’d caused the youth to faint through a restraining hts and tied the youth up, turned to see Katie staring fixedly at him
“… What’s up?”
“Claude, strong”
“Mmm… well, I knohat it looks like but I was just a bottohts”
Claude said it as a joke, but Katie’s gaze seemed to say she wasn’t convinced at all
Katie, who’d belonged to the Thieves Guild, had seen the hts and army many times
Even ah
“… So, why did you tell me to wait on standby?”
“Hm? Oh~…”
Claude, looking a little hesitant, scratched his head and opened his mouth
“I don’t knohat you and Bard have done until now”
“… Mm”
Just by seeing the way they carried the they were, he could tell that they’d done dangerous things
“But whatever you guys did do, you two are now part of the branch’s personnel You don’t have to do things like this anymore”
“…”
“You don’t have to go back to what you were doing”
Claude looked ahead as he said that, looking as though he were seeing some other place
The h his mind was the war that he and Hector had participated in
Grief bore grudges, grudges invited hatred, people turning inhu each other
The reason he’d asked her to wait this ti someone who’d escaped from that
Self-aware of that, Claude sh in attes
“Whaaat, do I look a cooler now?”
“… A bit”
“A bit huh~”
“But”
Seeing Claude smile so bitterly, Katie continued
“I want to fight too Same with bard Because e’re part of the team”
They had a right to fight for the place they could belong
Her eyes shone with strength as she spoke, her s with aspiration
Just then, she lacked any of the fragility she had when she’d first come to the branch
“… Really? You’re strong, Katie”
No, she probably grew stronger
Katie san to fall into self-hate
“If ent head on, you’d probably win, Claude”
“Ah, that’s not what I meant…”
At a loss for how to respond properly, Claude looked up into the air
The serene sky see even further
“… But alright”
With neither self-hatred nor self-deceit, Claude just sether with her back to Lunéville