Chapter 285 (2/2)

「Ripley, right now we have to…」

Arnold tried to calm Ripley. They walked together, trying to keep up.

They heard a loud roar resonate through the air, along with terrified scream, as if someone had just died. Somewhere in the distance, a house was covered in flames, and from somewhere else, they heard another scream.

Still, walking through all of this, Kain and the others finally arrived at the Elarc Defense Chivalric Order Station. There were already many people gathered at the nearby park, which had been designated as an emergency shelter. Many of Ripley’s friends were there, and they ran towards each other, greeting each other with a tight embrace.

「I’m sorry that you had to go through all of this trouble.」

「No problem, please don’t worry about it.」

Saying this, Kain smiled at Arnold. Then he turned around, starting to walk away in the opposite direction. Arnold, who had thought that Kain was going to stay as well, called out after him in panic.

「Huh? W-wait, where are you going? It’s dangerous out there!」

「We’ll be fine.」

Seeming to understand the situation, Arnold pulled back his extended hand, balling it into a fist.

「…If we meet again, I’ll treat you a meal.」

「If we get the chance, I’d be happy to join you.」

Saying this, Kain and Ein walked away from the shelter. As they walked in silence, Ein talked to Kain in a low voice.

「Hey… do you really like the princess that much?」

Kain’s attitude towards Ripley before had been clearly unusual. It must have been because of what Ripley said. To Ein, it was just a bunch of meaningless nonsense, and she didn’t really care if that was what all of the other townspeople thought as well, but… Kain had definitely seen it in a different way.

「Umm… no, it’s not anything like that.」

「Okay.」

Ein nodded. She had no intention to ask anything more than that, so she ran along in silence, trying to end the conversation.

However, what Kain said next stopped her from doing that.

「I just thought that… a true utopia doesn’t exist, after all.」

「A utopia…?」

As Ein listened with a puzzled expression, Kain stopped in his tracks, turning around to face her.

「Yeah. I had heard that the Canal Kingdom was a beautiful kingdom where no one ever discriminated against each other. So, I thought that once this civil war is over, that the kingdom would return to such a state… But, that’s just what I hoped.」

A kingdom where even ordinary girls refer to people as “mixed-blood” was far off from what he considered to be a “utopia.” Therefore, prejudices like these must have been prevalent even before the civil war started, even if people were just reluctant to express it directly.

However, the civil war had succeeded in drawing out the darkness that dwelled in the bottom of everyone’s hearts. It was revealing their true selves.

So the result was that there was discrimination all along. At the very bottom of the word “equality,” that was all there was. Maybe, at the beginning, it sprung out of a seed of darkness that someone brought in, but now, there was no going back. That was all he knew.

「But… Ein, you too… Even the Mazoku saved that child, but… speaking as though all Mazoku are the same…」

It appears that the “resentment” part of Kain’s “despair and resentment” partly had to do with Ein.「It’s idiotic. There’s no point in listening to the words of people who can only see things in black and white. They’re less valuable than a goblin’s nails. Don’t let yourself get upset by something so stupid, it’s a waste of time.」

「W-what!?」

Kain looked discontent with the fact that his worries were seen as nothing but ‘a waste of time.’ Ein turned him back around and slapped him on the back.

「After all, we’re about to get ourselves involved with people even more idiotic. You better start working on hiding your emotions.」

「I guess you’re right, but…」

Talking to each other, Kain and Ein continued on their journey towards East Elarc.