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“How about you stop trying to destroy the country altogether and hand over the demonic essence you’ve collected?” (Zagan)
Maybe now he would be willing to listen to me. That was what I thought, so I tried making the suggestion I had given up on before.
Goddess Lune should be resurrected by me. That way, the destruction of the royal capital could be kept to a minimum, and even if something went wrong, I would definitely use the magic barrier so there is no way I would die.
In response to my suggestion, the man glared at me with his eyebrow raised as if in distress.
“From the moment you asked to speak face to face, I had an inkling that you would try to persuade me. However, my resolve shall not waver. No matter how much you people have tried to eliminate discrimination, it’s already too late. The hatred of being persecuted just for having the dark attribute and the sorrow, pain, and anger of those who have been murdered will never go away. No matter how much you try to persuade me, I will definitely destroy this country.”
As expected, after considering the countless lives that have been discriminated against and killed throughout the past several hundred years, there was no way the revolution could be stopped just because he approved of a small number of people with other attributes.
“There’s no use even if you kill me. I’ve already used the Star Fragments, and the magic bag containing the demonic essence is not on my person.”
“Rest assured. Not once have I ever killed a person, nor do I intend to, going forward.”
“…Although you have the same dark attribute as we do, you are fundamentally different, aren’t you?”
“It’s thanks to my father who loved me. I left home before I was ten years old, but until I left, he protected me by making sure that no one would notice me and even worried about me until we separated.”
“Thus, why you never harboured hatred to the point of wanting to kill someone. How envious.”
His tone was mocking, but was it directed at me? Or toward himself?
Taking someone else’s life is honestly really easy. I, for one, can cut off a head just by swinging my dagger. But the responsibility that must be shouldered for that one moment is much too heavy. The grief and rage surrounding the person who robbed a life of their remaining days—I have never harboured hatred so strong that I can kill others while still shouldering that burden.
“However, that’s why I can rationally make a decision. Even if you revive the Evil God and destroy the country, you’re just making the cycle of revenge continue. The more you kill, the more the dark attribute will be hated and discriminated against. That’s why, I will definitely thwart your ambitions.”
It does not matter if the overflowing hatred will not stop pouring in. We will stop it for you in exchange for all of you not piling on any more sins than you already have.
So that you can atone for your sins and happily live in this country that one day will no longer discriminate against dark attributes.
To fulfil my original purpose, I took out the improved magic barriers from within my magic bag. Six discs, remote controls, as well as an instruction manual. It was too big to place on the table, so I put them all together and handed them over to the man.
“Take this.”
“? …What is this?”
“Magic barriers and the manual. You’re going to forcefully wake up the Evil God that has been naturally resurrected up till now, so there’s no way of knowing what problems will occur. If you try to control it, you might die from mana depletion. If you deem that it’s dangerous, spread this barrier out as much as you can and cut off your flow of mana.”
When I gave a simple explanation, the man accepted it despite the deep furrow of his brows.
“Why would you give me this thing? Using control magic on an evil god could certainly cause mana depletion. But keeping us alive doesn’t benefit you.”
“I said it before. To me, you guys are also existences that should be protected.”
As soon as I said so, his eyes widened while he stared at the magic barrier. His lips trembled as if he tried to say something quickly but then hung his head without saying anything.
As I observed him, the guy placed his hand over his eyes and let out a big sigh. A few seconds later, he raised his head.
“…That particular side of you seriously ticks me off.”
He sounded like he was about to cry, and his expression was distorted as if he was trying to ridicule me but failed. It would be tactless of me to point it out, so I merely nodded.
When I brought the cooled tea to my lips without replying, the man finally put the magic barriers into his magic bag after letting out several more sighs. Then he slowly stood up.
“As our conversation seems to have ended, we will now take our leave. Thank you for the delicious tea and cake.”
“Similarly, I appreciate your willingness to comply with the discussion. There’s also one last thing I would like to ask. What’s your name?”
I asked because it felt weird to keep thinking of him as ‘the middle-aged man’, but the man raised his eyebrow in dismay.
“You’re asking me that now? Well, the fault lies in me for not giving my name till now, so that’s fine. …My name is Klage.”
“Klage, huh? I’ll remember it.”
Perhaps because he left his seat, the dark attribute members who were talking with my friends gathered around him.
I thought it would be strange to see him off while seated, so I stood up as well. The moment I did, a tentacle wrapped around me and lifted me up. I obediently stayed still and then with a thump once again, I settled right into Luca’s arms.
“Good work, Zagan. Was everything fine? Were you told anything weird?”
“I’m fine, there was no problem.”
“I see, that’s good. That’s seriously good. I love you, Zagan.”
After Luca happily rubbed his cheek against me, he planted kisses all over my face. I could feel the Dark Organisation members staring hard, but I gave them no mind.
While I mindlessly received Luca’s love, Noel and the others returned after sending the Dark Organisation members off.
“Luca, we sent them off.” (Noel)
“Thanks, and sorry for leaving it to you. Everyone else too, good job. I’m sure you’re all tired from being so tense. Let’s rest for a while before we depart.”
“Appreciate it. I’m super tired…” (Nina)
Nina responded with a worn-out look. Even for someone who was being attentive, she looked too tired. I wonder what happened? My friends also seemed to have their own doubts so they approached Nina.
“What happened, Nina-san?” (Bennett)
“It does not seem like they said anything to you, since you stood quite a distance away.” (Camilla)
“Ahh, yeah. It’s nothing. I just feel kinda tired.” (Nina)
It seemed she didn’t want to talk about it. If it were me, I would choose to keep quiet and wait, but of course, the girls were different.
“Nina, you shouldn’t keep it bottled up inside like that! You promised before!” (Noel)
“Come on, I’ll be kind to you, so puke it all out!” (Miranda)
They were trying very hard to make her spit it out no matter what while holding both of her hands and stroking her back. Perhaps due to being surrounded by our serious friends, Nina opened her mouth in dismay.
“Uhm, it’s not really a big deal… I was just thinking, if only they had kidnapped my brother when he was a newborn, I could have probably reunited with him and had tea with him today and my mother might have still been alive. These thoughts kept running through my head, and I knew it wasn’t their fault, but I wanted to blame them for not saving my brother. I was desperately trying to suppress the urge to scream… Ahh, geez, I’m seriously no good!”
Noel immediately hugged Nina, who had raised her voice in a shout, followed by Miranda and Bennett.
“Good, well said! All you have to do is spit out the bad things.” (Miranda)
“I’ll forever be by your side from now on, so everything will be okay, Nina.” (Noel)
“I’ll accept as much of my beloved Nina-san’s worries as I can!” (Bennett)
“Ahh, geez! Everyone is so kind! I love you all!!” (Nina)
When Nina hugged them back with a shout, bright laughter could be heard from the girls. I was relieved that the matter was resolved without it becoming a big problem.
As I watched Noel and the others hugging each other tightly, Camilla and Cindy approached me.
“How was it on your side, Zagan? It was fortunate that we met them here, but do you think we were able to prevent them from running out of mana?” (Camilla)
“Time-wise, you couldn’t have explained about the gods, right? We need them to resurrect the Evil God for us to save the gods, but it pains me to think that we need to make use of their wrath. It’s also dangerous… I wonder if I should have handed over the MP potion that Camilla-chan made while I was at it.” (Cindy)
Indeed, they would have many points of concern. Thus, I explained everything to them in turn.
Starting from the fact that Klage also read the newspapers, about glasses guy and Sophie, about how it felt like I could persuade him to hand over the demonic essence too, but got rejected, and finally, about the handover of the modified magic barrier that might be needed in the royal capital since he did not have a change of heart about trying to resurrect the Evil God.
“He is the leader of the Dark Organisation and cherishes his dark attribute comrades. Therefore, even if it were charity from the opposition, he would use it without hesitation if his comrades are in danger. As for the MP potion, there is a high possibility that it would get consumed for the sake of gathering demonic essence so I think it’s good that Cindy kept it.” (Zagan)
“Hmm. Despite knowing that discrimination is gradually decreasing, it did not overturn his intention to revive the Evil God. If so, it would probably not have made any difference even if you told him about the gods.” (Cindy)
“Yeah, so there’s no need for Cindy to feel bad about it. Besides, once we reach the royal capital, we’ll do our best to take you to the Dark Organisation. You don’t mind, right Luca?” (Zagan)
When I confirmed things with Luca, he smiled at me.
“Of course. Protecting the people of Soleil is the royal family’s duty, so I won’t let them die. It’s still unforgivable that they tried to kill Zagan though, so I’ll make sure they properly apologise after everything is over. To that end, I need them to stay alive.”
“Zagan-kun… Luca-kun… Thank you.” (Cindy)
It is too early to say thank you. We still do not know what will happen.
But for the time being, I have handed over the magic barriers. I was also able to warn them about the danger of mana depletion, so it is excellent in terms of results.
In the game, the Dark Organisation members would definitely have died. However, I myself had overcome my predetermined death. I have done everything I could have done, which is why their future should be able to change too. I have no choice but to believe in that and keep moving forward toward the end.