Inside the banquet hall where the Idogyo attack took place.
"..."
Mikhail, who had come to his senses, sat up from his exhaustion and placed a hand on his throbbing forehead.
"What happened?"
There was no memory of anything after defeating the Archbishop of Slander.
Perhaps it was a side effect of pushing my strength to the limit, but the memory that remained in my darkening vision was Ricardo's back.
-It's over now.
-I can still fight more...!
-You can't kill me anyway.
-Kill me... You can't possibly...!
-Yes, I like getting rid of the aftereffects.
"Ugh..."
My body ached so much that it felt like it was going to break.
Most of the academy students inside the banquet hall had evacuated outside under Shalltear's command, and the only ones who witnessed the entire scene were Yuria, Hanna, and the student council president.
Unlike himself who had collapsed, the student council president, Hanna, and Yuria were all intact and under the protection of the Knights.
Mikhail decided to ask them later about the truth of the incident and let out a deep sigh.
“Is it over…?”
It was a tough fight.
Meeting someone you can't reach.
It was the first time since my days in the slums that I had a foreboding feeling that I might die.
The battle against an opponent using cursed magic was not as easy as he thought and had many variables.
Above all, enduring the slaughter while fighting was terrifying. It was different from the Archbishop's dark sparring, which exuded a deep, murderous intent and attempted to suffocate him.
Mikhail, looking at his own weakness, gritted his teeth and blamed his lack of skills.
If only he had been a little stronger, he could have protected everyone. If Ricardo hadn't stepped forward, there might have been casualties. Michael clenched his fist, suppressing the anger welling up inside him.
'shit...'
'Again... this time too...! Is it that guy? Damn it.'
Mikhail pounded his fist on the floor, venting his frustration. He was furious and trembling at the thought of having received help from a murderer.
A man who tormented Yuria and felt no guilt about murder. With that much power, he should have been able to help others. Mikhail was furious that he had once again accepted help from someone who was running wild for personal gain.
Amidst the feelings of regret, Michael began to question Ricardo's whereabouts.
Because Ricardo was nowhere to be seen inside the banquet hall.
Mikhail raised his head and scanned the banquet hall. He saw the knights carrying the corpse of a pagan, and then he looked at the center of the collapsed ceiling, but the man was nowhere to be seen.
Michael clenched his fist at the sight of Ricardo, who was nowhere to be found.
Because I thought you were hiding again.
Ricardo caused the incident and fled. Michael clenched his fists at the sight of Ricardo disappearing and avoiding any negative testimony.
"Richard…!"
While my thoughts were going through a tangled mess.
"You're Cadet Mikhail, correct?"
A knight with brown hair was walking towards Mikhail.
The old-fashioned man was holding a notebook and pen. Seeing the imperial emblem engraved in gold on the sword hilt, Mikhail knew the knight before him was a member of the Imperial Knights.
With excellent swordsmanship.
An imperial knight who must graduate at the top of his class from the academy.
Malik opened his notebook and began asking Mikhail questions.
"I have a few questions for you to answer for my report. Could you help me?"
Malik asks Mikhail what happened at the banquet hall, how the pagan made the surprise attack, and who he is.
-What is the exact time and date?
-I think it's around 7:20 PM.
-What is the size and number of the enemy?
-...I don't know about that either. I was in a state of panic.
-Hmm... I see.
Mikhail suddenly felt a sense of disconnection with the knight's questions. While the questions were intended to ascertain the truth of the case, they weren't unusual, as they left out the most crucial question.
Mikhail felt a sense of disconnect in the fact that no one was asking about 'who' had fought them, how the battle had progressed, or who had contributed the most.
Mikhail spat out a question to the knight who was silently asking questions due to the rising discomfort.
"Why don't you ask about the battle?"
"hmm?"
"You're only hearing testimony about the situation. Why aren't you asking about who fought whom, how the battle was going, and the most important things?"
"ah."
The man closed the notebook with a 'thud' and answered Mikhail.
"That has already been investigated."
"yes?"
"Red hair. You know?"
"..."
'Ricardo.'
As soon as he heard the keyword 'red hair', Ricardo's face immediately came to Mikhail's mind.
The man who contributed most to this incident, the murderer who perpetrated the merciless massacre. And the man who stepped back and offered no direct assistance. The moment I heard his name, I realized the knight before me had heard a false testimony.
Ricardo was a guy who lied all the time and whose thoughts were unknown.
Ricardo must have said something like this.
'I did it all.'
That was Ricardo's usual line, the kind of response a man without humility would give. Michael, who believed the incident with Yuria in the dungeon last time had been covered up thanks to Ricardo's brazen testimony, assumed Ricardo would say the same thing this time, too.
but.
"That guy said, if it weren't for you, Mikhail, everyone would have died. He said you were the one who contributed the most."
"Huh...? What does that mean?"
"It's just as I heard."
A stupid answer came out.
Because I wondered if what I was hearing was true.
"In the battle against the man known as the Archbishop of Slander, you, Michael, worked together with Shalltear to achieve victory."
"The remnants of the heretics also joined forces with the Academy students and defeated them. In the process, the wanted criminal Hans, a former Academy student, was seriously injured and fled."
Mikhail looked at Shalltear with trembling eyes, then at Yuria and Hanna.
Mikhail looked at them with trembling eyes, trying to find an answer, as if to imply that they wanted to know what this meant, but everyone who met his eyes had a trembling expression and avoided eye contact.
Shalltear had a helpless expression, and Yuria had a gloomy expression.
Histania Hannah was looking at herself with an expression that seemed to indicate that her anger was rising.
Mikhail spat out a retort to the Imperial Knights, saying, "That can't be true."
I think you're mistaken.
“There’s no way Ricardo would say that,” Michael said in a weary voice. “He must have mistaken it with someone else’s testimony.”
“Wait a minute… I didn’t do anything like that. The fight with the Archbishop was mostly….”
"The testimony is already over."
"You must hear my testimony too."
"No. Since I received all the testimonies from Yuria, the three princesses, Histania Hanna, and Ricardo while you were unconscious and collapsed, any further testimony is meaningless."
The knight cut off his words and turned around.
Mikhail said, extending a trembling hand toward the departing knight.
“Then Ricardo…!”
"Ah... that guy?"
Malik answered with a small smile.
He smiled and answered, thinking that the boy in front of him was going through the same experience he had felt before.
"He said he was going back because he couldn't stay out overnight."
"yes...?"
"Anyway, just know that."
Malik chuckled and walked to the banquet hall to try to contain the incident.
***
A peaceful mansion today too.
After finishing the friction with the pagans and successfully completing the quest, I was feeding apples to the young lady at Hamel's mansion.
"Oh, go ahead."
"no."
"ah...!"
"Apples don't taste good. I like chocolate better."
"I don't raise that kind of thing. Open your mouth."
"Uh... ah."
The girl, biting into a crunchy apple, nodded and answered the question about the taste.
"Isn't it delicious?"
"No. No chocolate apples?"
"There is no such thing in the world."
"Eeeeek...! Make it!"
"I will try."
"yes."
A girl rubbing her sleepy eyes and welcoming the warm morning sunlight.
The young lady, who greeted the morning at Hamel's mansion for the first time in a long time, was having a hard time shaking off the fatigue from the night's carriage ride.
For a girl who loved sleep, lack of sleep was a formidable enemy. Sitting in bed, the girl dozed off, feeling lethargic.
It's been three days since the quest 'Protect Yuria' ended.
The young lady didn't know yet that I could use magic.
I kept it a secret, wanting to surprise the young lady. I wondered how she would react when she discovered that the idiot who couldn't even use a fireball was actually a master of magic.
And I haven't even checked the quest reward yet.
Information about vitality.
I was planning to check it right away after completing the quest, but I was so busy that I put it off.
I'll have to check this evening.
I spent some time putting apples in the girl's mouth and pondering the nature of vitality.
vitality.
The force that moves life.
'hmm...'
Honestly, there was one thing I expected, but I hope it wasn't that...
Because when I see the word vitality, only one thing comes to mind.
I hope it wasn't what I was thinking, but if it wasn't, I couldn't think of anything else.
'life.'
'What more can I do but die?'
I fed the girl an apple with a light heart and waited for dinner to come.