Chapter 120: Repayment

Before the rifle’s trigger could be pulled—

“Aaaagh!?”

The hostage-taker screamed behind the man holding the rifle.

“What!?”

When he turned, he saw his companion neatly impaled on an earthen stake rising from the ground before collapsing into pieces.

“M-Magic!? Why!? The anti-magic barrier should have stopped it!”

“Because you didn’t extend the barrier underground. I raised the earth beneath him and shaped it into a spike. An anti-magic barrier can’t stop that.”

The hostage was gone, and the boy raised his gun again.

“Die!”

The man recovered and pulled the rifle’s trigger before the boy could aim.

“I-Impossible!”

But the boy activated his magic first. An earthen wall appeared in an instant and stopped every bullet.

“Damn it!”

His shots blocked, the man immediately ran toward Emma to take her hostage again.

It wasn’t a bad choice, but the person before him was Noah Willard, an anomaly in this world.

The enormous earthen wall blocked Noah’s view of the man running toward Emma—or should have. Noah raised his pistol without hesitation and fired.

The bullet passed through a tiny hole in the wall and struck the man squarely in the head.

“…Ah.”

He fell before reaching Emma.

“…Sigh.”

All five were dead.

The earthen wall crumbled, and Noah approached Emma, who lay on the ground.

“Are you all right, little lady?”

With the moonlight behind him, the boy extending his hand looked like a story’s hero, and the rescued girl like its heroine.

…

………

Watching the climax of the play, I gave my honest opinion.

“This play looks remarkably familiar.”

“Does it?”

“Yes. It looks so familiar that I feel as though I experienced it myself.”

“Perhaps you imagined it?”

“Didn’t the play plainly use both my name and yours?”

“Yes, it did.”

Second Princess Emma answered without the slightest hesitation.

“Sigh…”

The play before us recreated the first time Second Princess Emma and I had met several years ago. She had insisted on seeing it before we departed for Wa.

“Still, you really remembered what happened back then.”

“I could say the same to you. We spoke briefly afterward and parted, then met again as soldiers. You called me a dirt clod from the start, so I thought you had forgotten… Do we need to confirm this now?”

“We do. I want to explain why I insulted you in a fit of anger.”

“…Why?”

“Because you appeared before me as a soldier as though nothing had happened.”

“Hmm?”

“You’ll understand if you watch.”

Second Princess Emma pointed toward the stage. The play had continued while we talked.

‘I don’t really need anything.’

‘That won’t do! You saved me from danger to both my life and my chastity. I can’t let you leave without repaying you!’

‘I didn’t do it for a reward…’

‘I won’t give in until you ask for something!’

‘Why is the rescued person cornering me? …All right. Then could you save me?’

‘…Save you?’

‘Yes. The Friez Kingdom is behind this. War is approaching. As you can see, I’m an earth mage—a dirt clod. I’m a member of House Willard, but they treat me coldly, and I may be driven out.’

‘That’s terrible!’

‘I’m preparing so that I can survive peacefully on my own even if war begins. So, if you’re willing, would you protect me from House Willard and from the war, sometime far in the future?’

‘You’ll let me save you?’

‘Yes, if you want to.’

‘Of course! I’ll devote everything I have to you!’

‘Thank you. Then goodbye, Second Princess Emma. My name is Noah. If I ever become simply Noah rather than a member of House Willard, make sure you save me.’

‘Of course!’

The actor playing me left the actress playing Emma, and the curtain fell.

“In the end, you never let me repay you. You weren’t expelled from House Willard. If anything, you may become its head.”

Second Princess Emma muttered beside me.

“Well, that’s how things turned out.”

“I chose to rise through the ranks despite being a woman so I could save you! Then you acted as though we had never met and introduced yourself normally! When you entered that room, you glanced at me and immediately turned to General Newsbeck. You ignored me! I won’t forgive you!”

“…Yes.”

I had no good answer. Perhaps I really was at fault.

After the rescue, Second Princess Emma had repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting through merchant contacts, but I had refused because I didn’t want attention. Then I had appeared before her and ignored our promise without even greeting her properly.

Considering that she had also belittled me when we met again, perhaps the fault was six to four against me—or, honestly, entirely mine.

“I drank until I forgot you! I told myself that I helped you because you were merely someone I drank with. I even said it aloud!”

“You can keep forgetting me. Let’s think of ourselves again as people who only shared drinks.”

Still, receiving affection from the beautiful Second Princess Emma didn’t feel unpleasant. Yet something in me stubbornly rejected accepting that affection, and I didn’t know why.

“So, could you move away?”

Obeying that inexplicable feeling, I complained about Emma leaning against me from behind with her arms around me.

“Aren’t you too close, Second Princess Emma?”

“I’m not holding back anymore.”

“Could you start holding back again?”

“I’ll hold this against you forever.”

“Even if you say that, I didn’t ask for this situation.”

“That day determined the course of my life. Then you ignored it. But you still saved me.”

“Then, as your lifesaver, may I ask you to move away?”

“You don’t truly want anything from me. Deep down, you don’t especially care whether I’m near you or far away.”

“…”

“That’s fine. I’ll do as I please. While the war darkens your heart, I’ll melt that darkness away. That will be my repayment.”

“…I’ll look forward to it.”

I didn’t think I was especially depressed, but I accepted her words all the same.