c10 (1/2)

In the dead of night, at the conclusion of his conversation with Fel open

The one entering was Yakagi Suimei, the friend of the Hero and the one Fele from another world

This ordinary-looking boy from another world bowed at the entrance, and then slowly approached

Although the iave off was identical to the one he’d felt from Suimei when they’d firstthat the King had never seen before This clothing was uniforhest quality

Visibly unaccustomed to such situations, Sui

“As summoned, I have come before you, Your Majesty”

“Thank you for answeringyourself is appreciated, but tonight, it’s just the two of us There’s no need to be so formal Please relax”

“…”

“Is that unacceptable?”

“…I understand”

Surprised at the request, Sui his head

His expression, however, was still somewhat stiff

At this, the King opted not to juht into the

“Sui you have on? You don’t wear this normally”

“That is correct This is soinally, it was so, one of the very few items I have with me”

“The style seems rather different from Hero-dono’s”

“In our world, it’s considered formal wear, and is worn on occasions such as this”

His words caused the King to again consider the clothing Suimei noore The jet blackran to the neck The stark contrast drawn by the two reinforced the feeling of an elegant design

“Hmm It fits you rather well”

“Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty”

As Suimei replied, he adjusted his collar and sleeves without shi+fting his posture This action brought with it a familiarity that erased his for of importance, he bowed his head

“Although this coize for my rudeness these last few days”

A truly respectful apology

—Sui On that day, having learned that they had no way of returning hoitated That said, such a response was only natural given the circumstances

On that occasion, Suius in the first place!” and things of that nature Indeed, they had been words that had truly hurt the King

Sui people The King, atte tothat Suiize

“Oh, no, that’s unnecessary No hars at the time were only natural We had one-sidedly pulled you into our world only to infor you hoize; please raise your head”

“Understood Then…”

The King’s honest words prompted Suimei to lift his head once more From his expression, it was clear that he felt it wasn’t a matter of as to blame; either way, he felt the commotion caused by his actions had been inappropriate This was apparent from the aard look on his face

With this, the preamble to their conversation had ended

Suiht I ask what you called me here to speak about…?”

“Yes There are things that I wish to ask you”

“…I understand”

Suihtly pale face was colored with puzzle for a hts revealing the followed up with a question

“There are a few things I wish to ask you regarding Felmenia”

“Felmenia-san…? If I re Reiji and Mizuki ic? What about her?”

“That is the one She mentioned to o”

Faced with Suie of who Felht up what he had heard from her

Those words brought a weak, bitter s unpleasant had been discovered about him

“Ah… hahaha Yeah, I’d heard that ere free to roaone for a walk to settle myself Was I somehow incorrect about that?”

“No, there was nothing inappropriate about that Indeed, I’d given explicit orders to that effect No, it’s not that incident that concerns me”

“Then what, ht I ask?”

“This”

“?”

Confusion ritten all over Suimei’s face It must be noted, however, that that expression was not born of his true feelings Havingabout her, it was clear that he had understood fro, but fully intended nonetheless to play dumb Indeed, froun this show of ignorance To have been suivings If the King were Suimei, he’d have made some preparations beforehand Given his powers, he would likely have readied himself to make a forceful escape if necessary Since the other party was a e who had defeated Fel could do; escape should be simple for Suimei

With that in mind, the fact that he had not done so sees up nicely by si the fool

Accordingly, though he knew that continuing would be dangerous, the King had no choice but to press forward

“What I want to know is: what exactly did you do to Felmenia?”

” ‘What did I do?’ I can’t say I understand what you mean”

“Suimei-dono, you very well knohat I mean Please be honest—”

“Forgivewould be wise?”

As if to drown out the King’s voice, Suiestion” in stark contrast to the polite tone he’d been using

Understanding the warning implicit in Suimei’s words, he nevertheless continued, “Suimei-dono I want to know”

Seeing the King persist despite having recognized his warning, Suimei abandoned his reverent posture and rose to his feet

With a wave of his hands, a cloak appeared from out of thin air and settled on his shoulders

Although he didn’t quite understand what had just happened, but it was evident that this was Suie of their world lacked the capability to comprehend, a spell of Suimei’s repertoire

Appearing on his face next was an expression that entle expression was replaced with a sharp look which carried with it a proud air that the King had only seen in other es

Typically, this audience room would be filled with people ould have berated Suiance, but at this moment, there were none

Seeing the King’s gaze captured by this first glihed

“—Honestly That girl’s shown no trace of having kicked the bucket, so I’ree”

“So that’s really…”

“Yes, it’s as you iirl e first arrived, so I searched for the first opportunity to shut her irl shouldn’t be able to speak a word, so how did you figure things out, Your Majesty?”

“I took the proactive role in questioning her Whenever she failed to respond, it signified that I had guessed correctly”

At this succinct explanation, Suihtenment

“So that’s how it is; I co her can be circu a word”

His words were delivered casually as if reaze sharpened and focused on the King

“Then why did you call me here? I am, after all, the man who holds that woman’s life in his hands Since you know as uards to protect you… That this is dangerous should be incredibly apparent”

This was indeed readily apparent, and had been the danger inherent in this suer posed, he’d nonetheless called Suimei forth without any countermeasures in place Thus, Suimei’s question was understandable; nevertheless, it had been necessary for the King to call him here

“—There is undoubtedly cause for concern, but it is also the truth that Suiht here at my command That is reality Furthermore, that I have pushed our world’s unreasonable problems on the hands of all of you, who are not of our world, is also reality”

To bare his fangs at SuiAn utterly unreasonable plan of action

“…”

“Suin place and having failed to stop iveness Moreover, to ask you to heed a request on top of all of that is indeed rude of me Nonetheless, I ht?”

“Why do you want to know so badly? It’s nothing to you if you don’t know, right?”

“Perhaps what you say is correct, however, but if I were to avert , and were she to lose her life in the process, it would be too late for regret”

“—Even if it’s sohty as that woman?”

“Just so She is ht that I do my best to protect her”

Those words again elicited a sigh from Suimei

“As long as she does not speak, there is no threat to her life, none whatsoever Alright, with that, we’re done here, right?”

“No, not yet”

“I believe there’s nothing else worthy of discussion?” Suie look on his face

Things had taken an unexpected turn Even though the topic at hand had concluded, there was still more to ask?

“Suinorant of your situation As the one responsible for having brought you to this world, I wish to know What kind of person are you? What do you plan to do from now on? I desire that you be frank with me If at all possible, I would hope that you would be open with me”

These words truly came from his heart

When it ca as he and Felmenia kept quiet, then that would be that Those who knew of his circus would return to the status quo: he would have summoned the Hero and sent him off to battle with the Maou

However, to act in such a ould be to discard all responsibility as the one who had brought the thenore any proble only on his own needs, even if they possessed the power to free him from this situation, such a path could only be described as irresponsible Instead, he hoped to understand Suimei’s plans, and thus to provide whatever support ithin his ability to offer; that was only reasonable

However—

“…Of course, I do not intend to force a response Prying into so that Sui If this is truly so that you do not want to speak of, then do notsaid, I still ask that you understand”

The King bowed his head fro that a ruler of a nation should never do However, in order to protect the beliefs that he held dear to hiht else

As he raised his head a ht of Suimei, utterly taken aback

“Why would you do sorace yourself to such an extent?”

Froree of his surprise was evident

With that, Suined hi

“No, rather, please forgiveYour Majesty wishes this person of hu to answer, then please, ask freely”

—Suimei continued to stand His posture would likely be seen as disrespectful by others, but froe in his tone, it seemed that this was his true self This was neither the confused, lost Sui by the side of Reiji and Mizuki when they had been first suhty, blunt persona he had shown just a i Suiician

For that reason, this was the greatest respect that he could show

Suian his line of questioning

“What kind of person are you?”

“In icians We are scholars who delve into the mysteries of the world More colloquially, we are existences roughly equivalent to the es of your world”

“Magicians…”

He mumbled the word he had just heard Due to the influence of the hero sue” had been mentioned quite frequently of late However, this term struck him quite differently Perhaps because it had been Suimei who had said it, the nature of the word had been conveyed: that it described soe” (“魔術師” is the tericians of Suimei’s world, while “魔法使い” is used by the people of the other world In the vernacular, they , but here, the author is likely eest the difference between their roles in the respective worlds, “師”“user” Furthermore, the “術” in “魔術” is used to describe techniques or skills)

The King immediately followed up with another question

“Why, then, do you want to keep this all a secret? Putting us aside, you haven’t even allowed Hero-dono or Mizuki-dono to know”

“You’ve already heard this from Reiji and Mizuki, but our world is different frorowth In our world,that’s been forced into the underworld, having been targeted by every icians aren’t so that exist in my world Were we to appear once more in the open, ould undoubtedly be wiped out by those powers for non-compliance For that reason, as far as the public is concerned, there is no such thing as a ician”

As he finished speaking, he added a final remark, “That’s why I’ve hidden what I really am; caution is necessary”

“From what you’ve said, it seems that not only could you not allow Reiji-dono and Mizuki-dono to know, you had to spare no effort to keep Felmenia silent because she’d discovered your true nature?”

“Yes At that time, I wasn’t entirely certain how much she kneould ensure her silence was a ly, I intentionally exposed uessed that she’d have set a trap for ole no intentions of settling the matter ords, I took appropriate action That was my decision at the time, anyway”

So’s interest

“Golem?”

“That’s correct A rather for to its aic”

“Mage Slaolem, huh”

When it ca ins Within the palace, the only golems were those created by Slaolems, it could only be him

Slaolems were masterfully crafted, powerful existences For her to have brought so like that out, Felmenia’s hardline attitude prior to her defeat was quite clear

However

“Be that as it one that far, don’t you think you went a bit overboard with your response?”

Progressing immediately to battle from such a situation seemed rather hasty, there should still have been some room for discussion

Even if Fels, he couldn’t help but ask that question

In answer to his question, Suiely serious look

“I won’t deny that I somewhat lost ic and we ician’s etiquette When faced with a wild dog – sorry, a prideful young girl – raising her nose at me, to fail to punish such ferocious conduct would be unthinkable That said, with regards to what happened afterward, well… I have to ad been forcefully brought to this world”

Suihed

“…Seriously, what a naughty brat”

“Magicians are just such people People who consider only what they stand to gain, without the least interest in anything else, who never spare a ht affect those around the how unrestrained Your Majesty has allowed Felht to complain”

“That’s true”

Certainly, even though he ell aware of Felmenia’s intentions, he had washed his hands of the matter He definitely did not have the ic use could be used for an uncountable nuh Suimei clearly possessed the power to realize his desires, he had chosen to avoid causing proble up in his rooate the palace, venturing through the storehouses, offices, and treasury – places that housed priceless objects – he had not done a thing

In contrast, Fel of the response that had coies presided in the other world, but given the danger posed by the golem trap, even if Suiht to complain

While he was thus reflecting, Suimei suddenly turned to face a nearby pillar

“There’s no way—” the King thought to himself as Suimei suddenly broke the silence

“…So that’s how it is I was pretty ht beforelike that to you again”

Those words didn’t seem to have been intended for him— no, they had clearly been intended for soure stepped out from behind the pillar

“…”

Felmenia stepped out from behind the shadow of the pillar, a look of astonishment on her face

Sui to face the King once more

“…How long have you known?”

“To that, let me ask in turn: ould you ever assume I wouldn’t notice?”

“…”

That was a good point Sui he would always renorant, it was better to work off the assus out

“Suimei-dono About this—”

“You don’t need to say anything When you told me it was just the two of us at the start of our discussion, that was clearly a lie, but when you consider that it was for the sake of that woman who is a precious subject of yours, then it’s not like I can’t understand”

“I’m sorry”

The King offered a frank apology That Felmenia had been hidden in the shadows at his side was not because she’d been guarding him, but because he orried about her Were Felmenia present at the scene, then perhaps Suimei would have been less than honest about her circumstances Were she not in attendance, however, then she would have renorance as to the details of her circumstances Thus he’d ordered her to hide herself

The result? Suiinning, had nonetheless said what he had said

Her face ashen, Felmenia called Suimei’s name

“S-Suimei-dono…”

“Whatever it is you want to say, there’s no need to look like that, is there? It’s like you’re cowering; if you’re a ician, then you should face even death with your back straight and head held high Aren’t you older than me?”

“Ah…”

Felmenia closed her mouth at his acerbic tone, unable to respond to his words

Since Sui her question, she spoke