“Of course — I have no objections,” Rio said readily.
“Thank you very much. Fortunately, the attendants dispatched to every area of the city have started to return, so the mansion won’t be lacking personnel any longer. There’s no need for you and your friends to trouble yourselves anymore. I will arrange for a room where you can rest immediately.” There was no way Rio and his companions could return to their room at the inn in this situation.
Rio decided to obediently accept Liselotte’s offer. “...I understand. I will gladly take you up on that.”
Chapter 3: A Discussion and a Request
After Rio met up with Celia and Aishia, Liselotte led the three of them to a guest suite inside the mansion.
The guest suite consisted of a spacious living room, three bedrooms, and even a small kitchen and bathroom — making it a little more extravagant than the suite at the inn they stayed at. She also offered to assign them their own personal attendant, but they immediately turned down the offer politely.
At present, Rio was preparing tea while the two girls gathered at the living room sofa. Once Rio was seated, he looked at Aishia and Celia. “Now, I’d like to confirm what information the two of you have and exchange some of my own. If there’s anything you’d like to report or anything you’re curious about, please make sure you speak up.”
“Okay. But that’s easier said than done. I don’t even know where to start. It was all such a disaster,” Celia nodded with a slightly unwell expression. Having witnessed the damage first-hand, she must have been worried about those from the Beltrum Kingdom.
Rio sensed what Celia was feeling turmoil over and took the initiative to broach the subject. “...Then, there’s one thing I’d like to report first.”
“What is it?” Celia asked. Aishia listened silently.
“It is most likely... No, almost certain that my identity has been revealed to Princess Flora,” Rio confessed uncomfortably.
Celia looked shocked. “...Huh?”
“Princess Flora has an idea of who I am, with almost certain accuracy,” Rio repeated, as his words were of the utmost importance.
Naturally, Celia was panicked. “W-Why?! Is that okay?”
“I can’t be sure, but it’s fine... I think. Unless my judgment was wrong and Princess Flora has the type of personality to spread rumors everywhere, that is,” Rio replied in near self-mockery. Celia, however, was awfully confused and thought an explanation was in order.
“W-Wait! Hold it! Why was it revealed in the first place?”
“The kidnapper that had history with me said my name in front of Princess Flora. He didn’t give enough information to completely declare it was me, but it seems like Princess Flora is strongly convinced of her own judgment...” Rio explained with a bitter smile.
“Did you confess to her? That you’re Rio?” Celia asked fearfully. She was curious about the man Rio had a past with too, but Flora was more important right now.
“No. I made a vague comment to go along with her, then explained it as being two different people.”
“W-What does that mean, exactly?”
“I accepted the fact I had another name — Rio — then informed her that my name was now Haruto and asked her to forget that Rio is another name of mine.”
“...What did Princess Flora say to that?”
“...She apologized and accepted it as her misunderstanding, while crying,” Rio replied with difficulty.
“I... see... Okay.” Celia looked terribly frustrated, but accepted that answer nonetheless.
Rio frowned at the resurfacing memory of Flora’s crying face. “...Do you think it would be dangerous to believe in Princess Flora?”
“No. Princess Flora wouldn’t spread that needlessly. That’s what I believe,” Celia offered with a fleeting smile. She had spoken to Flora numerous times herself on a personal basis, so she knew fairly well that she didn’t have that kind of personality. Not to mention that she felt extremely guilty about what had happened to Rio...
For a moment, Celia hesitated over whether to tell Rio what Flora felt, but nothing would change in the short-term even if she did. Imagining how her former student must have felt hurt Celia’s heart, but she didn’t want to give Rio unnecessary knowledge to make him worry more right now.
For some strange reason, I felt happy when I saw Rio talking to Princess Flora and Roanna... I’m no good, honestly. Celia sighed deeply. It was extremely difficult to repair a relationship that had warped to that extent.
“...And there’s also another thing I’m late to report on, but I’ve been able to identify one of the heroes I was searching for,” Rio said after a brief pause.
“Oh, really?” Celia said in surprise.
“Yes. I heard it yesterday, when I was having a meal with Liselotte and Duke Huguenot. I’m assisting a little more in the investigations for the incident this time, but once that’s done I’m thinking of visiting Miharu... The people that were summoned from another world. It may be dangerous to remain in this city, too.”
“I see...”
“By the way, it should take about two to three weeks for me to go to Miharu and back.”
Celia nodded. “Got it.”
“In that time, I think you and Aishia should wait somewhere. I know it hasn’t been long since you fled the Kingdom of Beltrum, so I’m very sorry for making you go through this... Aishia, you too. Sorry,” Rio said regretfully.
“Don’t worry about it. There are some things I want to think about too.” Celia gave a fleeting smile and shook her head.
“I’m fine too. Leave it to me.” Aishia gave an earnest nod.
“Thank you.” Rio smiled at Aishia, before looking closely at Celia. “That’s all from me, but do you have any questions?”
“...Umm,” Celia opened her mouth quietly after a pause.
“Yes, what is it?”
“What happened between you and that man who abducted Princess Flora? You said you had a past...” Celia asked Rio hesitantly, watching his expression.
“...” Rio made a troubled face, wondering what to reply with.
“Ah, of course, if you don’t want to say then you don’t have to tell me anything, okay? I was just a little curious, that’s all,” Celia said in a fluster.
Rio steadied his resolve and responded calmly. “No, it’s just that the past we have isn’t exactly a fun story to listen to. Do you still want to hear it? If the Professor wants to hear it, then I’ll tell you.”
“...Yeah,” Celia nodded slowly.
“Okay,” Rio assented. “Lucius is the target of my revenge. Before I became an orphan in Beltrum, I had my mother killed right before my eyes by this man, and it is possible my father met a similar fate by him too.” He tried to state the truth as flatly as possible.
Celia paled with a gasp. “I-I’m sorry! For asking about something so painful...” She had expected a certain degree of tragedy from Rio’s behavior, but the truth was so shocking she reflexively apologized.
“No, I wish there was a better way of telling you, but I had always intended on telling you the truth if you asked, Professor. Don’t worry about it,” Rio laughed uncomfortably.
“R-Really?” Celia peered at Rio’s face.
“Yes. Once you had found out a glimpse of the relationship between Lucius and I, it’d only be natural to feel curious, and I didn’t want to lie to you if at all possible,” Rio said, the smile at his lips a little sad.
“I... I see. Did you know about this, Aishia?” Celia’s voice squeaked in shock as she looked at Aishia.
“I knew,” Aishia confirmed in a flat tone.
“I see...” Celia seemed a little relieved at that, sighing quietly in acceptance.
“If possible, I hope you can keep what I have just said between just the three of us,” Rio said. Not even Miharu nor Sara and the others knew. It wasn’t a topic one would want spread around.
Celia paused for a brief moment, then nodded deeply. “...Yeah, I got it. B
ut can I ask one more thing?”
“Yes?”
“Do you hate him, Rio?”
“...I don’t think I could forgive him, but my emotions are a little different from hatred or disgust. I can’t explain it all that well,” Rio contemplated with a slightly troubled look. His feelings were no longer definable on a scale of hatred or disgust anymore. The notion of killing Lucius had become a fixed concept within Rio’s mind. He saw nothing but his goal of killing. That was his resolute decision.
“What does...?” Celia cocked her head dubiously.
“I can’t forgive him, but constantly cursing him would grow tiring. It may sound contradictory, but my feelings are much more indifferent than that. It’s just that I’ve already reached an answer within myself, like I’ve decided to face this without running... I cannot explain it with logic,” Rio said, smiling as though he was over it. Celia watched Rio’s confident nature, but still cocked her head dubiously.
“Okay... I see. Fine, then. Thank you for telling me.” Celia smiled gently and nodded.
Of course, it wasn’t because she had completely understood Rio and agreed with him. As someone who had never been in a similar environment, there was no way for Celia to see through the particulars of Rio’s feelings in the first place.
However, Celia knew Rio. She knew what kind of person he was, which was why she could trust him. While she wasn’t without worries or anxieties, she trusted Rio unconditionally and believed that that was the way to respect someone.
Rio looked awkward, but still relaxed his mouth into a smile. “I should be the one saying that. Thank you very much.”
“Not at all. You can come to me anytime if you want to talk about anything, you know?” Celia peered at Rio’s face.
“Yes. The same goes for you, Professor. About your future,” Rio nodded and said in return.
“...Yup. I’ll spend some time thinking about it.” Celia also looked a little awkward as she nodded bashfully.
◇ ◇ ◇
Afterwards, Rio and the girls spent some time in the room relaxing after the tense encounters that had taken place that day. They drank tea together, took a nap, had a meal, and before they knew it, it was nighttime.
It was at that time that Natalie, the attendant, visited the guest suite they were staying at.
“Sir Haruto, I apologize for disturbing you after your dinner, but would you have a moment? My master wishes to speak with you,” Natalie said.
“Understood,” Rio replied immediately, and headed towards Liselotte. Celia and Aishia remained in the guest suite.
“Lady Liselotte, Sir Haruto has arrived,” Natalie announced with a knock after leading Rio to the meeting room.
“Come in,” Liselotte’s reply came immediately.
“After you, Sir Haruto.” Natalie opened the door and gestured for Rio to go inside.
“If you would excuse me,” Rio gave a single bow and entered the room. Other than Liselotte, Duke Huguenot, Flora, Hiroaki, and Roanna were also in the room. Furthermore, Aria was also present. As soon as Rio appeared, Flora reacted by shaking her body with a flinch.
“Thank you for coming, Sir Haruto. I apologize for summoning you so late,” Liselotte said in welcome. She must have been exhausted at this point, as she didn’t look all that well.
“It’s no problem at all.” Rio shook his head in a friendly manner.
Liselotte gestured for Rio to take a seat. “Please.” And so, Rio took a seat at the round table set up in the meeting room.
“We really have been greatly indebted to you, Haruto. I’m not sure how we could ever repay you enough,” Duke Huguenot said with a somewhat apologetic laugh, already seated at the table.
Rio shook his head with a faint smile. “There is no need for that. How are your injuries?”
“All well, thanks to you. It appears I will have no hindrance to my daily life.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“This may be repetitive, but we truly want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Considerations for your reward are underway, but first let us discuss the incident in detail.”
When Duke Huguenot indicated his intention to give a reward, Rio paused for a faint moment before assenting. “...Understood.” Thus, the topic promptly shifted to discussion of the incident.
“Umm, Sir Haruto,” Flora said.
“What is it?” Rio responded without delay.
“Thank you very much, with regards to what transpired,” Flora said, bowing her head deeply to Rio.
“I’d like to extend you my gratitude once more too. Thank you very much for saving Princess Flora.” Roanna immediately bowed her head to Rio as well.
“It was no problem at all.” Rio didn’t seem to want the conversation to drag out, as he omitted any unnecessary preamble and briefly shook his head.
Meanwhile, Hiroaki had remained silent the entire time up until this point. “...It seems you were sure busy this time.”
“Are you in better health now too, hero? I had heard that you fell unconscious after releasing your power...” Rio asked while examining Hiroaki’s face.
“Who knows. You say that, but all I did was exterminate a couple of those cockroach-like monsters before spending the rest of the time sleeping. The one who had the biggest spotlight defeating minotaurs and rescuing Flora was you, wasn’t it?” Hiroaki said in a blunt, sulking tone. His words almost sounded like he was jealous of Rio’s achievements.
...What’s that about? Rio couldn’t understand why Hiroaki was in a bad mood, so he tread carefully.
“I highly doubt that to be the case...”
“No no, your stocks are only soaring higher. There are rumors about you circulating everywhere in the mansion. It’s almost like the birth of a new hero. Right, Flora?” Hiroaki said, suddenly addressing the princess.
“Eh? Ah, y-yes.” Surprised, Flora nodded along on the spur of the moment.
“See? Told you.” Hiroaki shrugged his shoulders, unimpressed.
“Sir Haruto, your tea.” Aria approached Rio and quietly placed tea on the table. Beneath the teacup was a piece of paper with writing on it.
Rio narrowed his eyes when he spotted the letter under the cup. He wondered if it was Aria’s writing; it was written in excellent penmanship. After witnessing the attendants praising your contributions, combined with the fact his own efforts fell short, he has been left in a bit of a sulky mood. The fact that Princess Flora has taken an interest in you has also been another source of his bad mood. We apologize for the trouble.
There was no need for Aria to be the one apologizing at all. It was more likely that Hiroaki had been the one to demand his presence at their meeting, and there was no way for anyone to deny him.
I see. Rio understood what Hiroaki must be feeling and thanked Aria courteously. Meanwhile —
Bah, what is this? This dull, dull feeling... Like having a newbie join and receive clear favoritism from their superiors right away. Nothing kills the mood more than this... Hiroaki’s eyes must have been clouded with envy, as his thoughts were completely unreasonable.
It was true that giving preferential treatment to a newbie with no achievements whatsoever could only be interpreted as favoritism. It was an action that would antagonize the senior figures that had supported the organization until now, in some way or another.
However, it was a different story when that newbie had already shown more outstanding results than the senior figures, objectively proving their worth and capability. Any good organization would give such talented figures a befitting amount of appreciation.
If anything, it would be a problem if an incompetent person was valued more highly than a talented person. Organizations were not formed from machines, after all. If incompetence was praised and talent ignored, the talented people would naturally feel discontent. There were plenty of other opportunities to be had by talented people, so only the incompetent ones would inevitably remain in the organization.
Of course, the
re were some cases of organizations placing higher value on areas other than visible results, but he wasn’t a psychic. There was no way he could see through that; he wouldn’t know unless it was indicated as such. Not to mention that Rio was a person outside of the organization. For Liselotte and Duke Huguenot, he was their savior and the largest contributor to the relief efforts, making him someone they wanted to get closer to by all means. He had achieved results that were objectively impossible to fault, so it was only natural for him to be praised. Or rather, they would be distancing themselves from Rio if they didn’t, which would make Liselotte lose face.
That was why Hiroaki’s discontent towards the warm hospitality being shown to Rio was simply being misdirected. Or rather, if he was envious, then he should have used that envy as a driving force instead. But Hiroaki lacked the spirit for that.
Ah yes, the neutral side character that appears later than the main character while being stronger too. The one that has to ruin the overpowered uniqueness of the main character, right? What a drag.
Hiroaki disapproved of Rio from whatever point of view he could think of. In his head, he was being logical, but the fact his evaluation was based off his emotions meant it was anything but.
“Hah,” Hiroaki sighed dramatically.
Liselotte watched him with a somewhat fed up look in her eyes. She was the one who wanted to sigh, after all. Even Duke Huguenot was frowning a little, ill at ease.
Roanna’s face was slightly panicked, having realized the situation wasn’t good. Flora’s entire attention was focused on Rio, so she didn’t have any room left to care about Hiroaki right now.
However, Hiroaki’s value as a hero was far too great to just ignore. It would be a problem to have him sulk forever over such a trivial matter, not to mention annoying.
I believe it would be best to proceed with the discussions.
Beyond Memories Page 4
