Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 50: Friends
What am I doing?
I knew exactly what would happen if I did this.
This was a disgraceful act for Lord’s knight.
I might even be expelled from the military and lose my ability to achieve my goal.
But… was I supposed to just look away?
Like I did back then? Just stand there, crying helplessly, as the powerless were slaughtered?
I have power now. I could save lives just by taking action.
A mountain of rubble. A heap of iron.
The scent of gunpowder and smoke mixed in the dusty wasteland.
And standing alone amid the wreckage was a single giant knight.
The evacuation had already been completed. The only ones left were Kenya and the Asgardian forces he had stopped.
“Almost completely annihilated…? But… it was just one unit?! That’s impossible!”
Major Nez turned pale as he surveyed the battlefield.
It wasn’t a massive battalion today, but even so, there had been about twenty KOG units.
And every single one had been disabled, deliberately spared, and left unable to fight.
“This is absurd. What kind of strength is that? Even for a knight of Lord, this is beyond reason.”
Nez was at a loss for words.
But his shock only deepened when the next figure appeared.
“Could you take me to him? He is my knight, after all.”
“Huh!?”
From a vehicle that had stopped in front of him stepped out a young boy, dressed in pristine, elegant clothing that did not belong on a battlefield.
A face that no citizen of the Empire could fail to recognize.
The de facto second-in-command of the nation.
A second prince of the ruling family that dominated the world.
“L-L-L-Lord-sama?!”
…
“Haah… now what do I do? There’s no way I can explain my way out of this…”
The battle was over, and Kenya’s KOG stood motionless for a while.
He had no idea what to do next.
Then, a car approached.
Kenya instinctively tensed, watching as the vehicle stopped in front of him.
From it, a lone boy stepped out, carrying something in his hands.
The vehicle drove off, leaving only two people behind—Kenya and…
“Lord?!”
“I’ve ordered the entire army to retreat. No one will attack. Come down, Kenya. Let’s talk.”
That one sentence was enough to put Kenya at ease.
He trusted Lord’s words and did as he was told, descending from his KOG.
“Lord… I’m sorry.”
“No, this is my fault. I knew your nature and still sent you to the battlefield. I expected some level of resistance, but I never thought my brother would go so far as to order the massacre of children… Has he fallen so low?”
Lord reached into the bag he had brought and pulled out a piece of fruit.
“There was a time when I could still respect him… Here, eat. Putting something in your mouth will help you calm down. It’s my favorite.”
It was a plump, purple fruit.
“Huh? Grapes?”
Few people would name grapes as their favorite food.
Ad
Kenya liked them well enough, but he didn’t have any strong attachment to them.
Still, the unexpected choice eased the tension in his heart.
“These are good grapes.”
“Oh? You can tell? They are top-quality, but…”
“Nah, I have no idea. I just know they taste good.”
“Haha, I figured. But you know, we don’t really know much about each other, do we? You didn’t even know I liked grapes or why. And yet, we entrust our lives to each other.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s why, today, I’ll tell you something I’ve never told anyone. Why I love grapes.”
“Why you love grapes? …So, basically, your past?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you ever wonder? Why, despite being royalty, I turned out so… ‘good’?”
“You’re really saying that yourself?”
“Compared to my sister, anyone would seem like a saint.”
“Pfft. Yeah, fair enough.”
Kenya chuckled at the dark joke.
Leaning against his KOG, he bit into the grapes, chatting casually with Lord—like old friends.
Ad
At some point, all of Kenya’s wariness had faded away.
And as he relaxed, Lord’s usual composed tone softened as well.
After a while, Lord’s expression grew serious as he turned to Kenya.
“Alright. Let me tell you about my past. About who I really am…”
He took another bite of his grapes and stared at them as he spoke.
“I used to be… a grape farmer.”
◇ Lord’s Past
“Lord, can you help with the harvest?”
“Okay!”
This was the edge of the EU.
The Asgardian Empire’s borders weren’t far from here.
“You’re already eight, huh? You still have a long way to go before you can drink wine, though.”
“I like grapes just as they are! Wine is bitter!”
“Oh dear… I suppose children wouldn’t understand yet.”
A young boy cheerfully stuffed grapes into his mouth as he helped his mother harvest them.
Ad
His mother’s name was Scarlett.
She adored her son, and her son adored her—a simple, happy single-mother household.
The world was peaceful. The sky was blue. The weather was nice.
And on such a beautiful morning, what could be better than napping in a sunny field?
Lord and his mother basked in the pleasant warmth.
Until that day.
…
“Begin the invasion!”
The largest empire in the world suddenly launched an attack.
The sky darkened as a massive black shadow loomed over the land.
The Empire’s newest KOG units advanced toward the EU.
The Asgardian Empire had spent recent years dealing with internal conflicts and resistance movements.
But now, it had been completely unified and had fully assembled its forces.
Its target: The European Union (EU), the largest federation in the world.
And thus, the Great EU War began.
A war so devastating that history would remember it as the largest conflict ever fought.
…
“Scarlett!”
“Brother!”
Lord’s mother, Scarlett, had an older brother—Daniel, a general in the EU Army.
Fierce battles raged daily near the borders.
But the situation was grim.
The EU had KOGs, but they severely lacked skilled pilots.
The Empire, in contrast, had spent years training elite pilots.
Though the EU had financial backing from the Asian Union, pilots weren’t something that could be trained overnight.
And among the Empire’s forces, the Holy Knights—its ace pilots—achieved remarkable victories.
The most exceptional among them would later be known as the Holy Knight Commanders.
“You need to run! We’re holding the front lines for now, but we don’t know when the border will be breached!”
“No. I’m staying. I’m your sister, after all.”
“But… Lord—”
“If the worst happens, I’ll use the final measure. And for that, I need to stay close to the front lines.”
Scarlett handed Lord a ring.
It was too big for him to wear yet, so he put it on a necklace and wore it around his neck.
“Mom, what’s this?”
“I’ll tell you someday. It’s a charm to protect you.”
Seeing this, her brother nodded.
“…Yes, that’s truly a last resort, but… understood. At least come to the base. If things get bad, I’ll force you to escape if I have to.”
“Alright.”
And thus, the battle began.
A relentless cycle of victories and defeats near the border.
But gradually, the front lines began to collapse.
“Damn it!”
In the lodging where Lord, his mother Scarlett, and his uncle stayed, his uncle’s angry voice echoed.
“At this rate… we won’t last a week—no, not even three days…”
Daniel, Scarlett’s brother, was sacrificing sleep, moving miniature figures across a map, simulating battles over and over again.
Ad
No matter how many times he tried, the frontline in this region was bound to collapse at this rate.
And if this area fell, the rest of the border defenses would soon crumble as well.
What awaited after that was nothing but hell.
Frustrated by the continuous defeats and the uncertain future, he couldn’t help but raise his voice.
“Brother…”
“Ah… I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”
“Uncle Daniel? What’s wrong?”
“I’m just thinking about something… Sorry, Lord.”
At that moment, Lord climbed onto Daniel’s lap.
“What’s this?”
(Maybe a change of pace will help… Perhaps I’ll even come up with a good idea.)
With that thought, Daniel carefully explained the map and the miniature figures to Lord, hoping that the process might spark an idea.
“That’s right, impressive. You understood in one go? This represents the enemy, this is our side, and this is the place that absolutely must not be breached. This is a battle to hold the line.”
“Then, what about this?”
“This? That’s where the enemy’s base is. If we take it, we win… but that’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Huh? Well, see, the enemy is here, right? We can’t reach the base without getting past them.”
“But if you pull back here, won’t the enemy pieces move forward? Their goal is the base, right? Then, if you send a separate piece around this mountain and come in from the side, you’ll reach the base. The enemy will have to rush back to defend, right? If you chase them at that moment, you can trap them from both sides.”
“Enough, Lord! Stop bothering your uncle. It’s time for bed!”
Scarlett took Lord’s hand and started to lead him away to bed.
“Wait, Scarlett.”
“Uncle?”
“Brother?”
Daniel had been about to laugh it off as a child’s nonsense, but as he searched for reasons why the idea wouldn’t work, he couldn’t find any.
He had been so focused on defense that he had ruled out the possibility of going on the offensive due to their overwhelming disadvantage.
“No way… but if that happens, the enemy will have no choice but to retreat… Letting them cross the border on purpose? Even if I thought of that, it’s terrifying… But still…”
Daniel continued to mutter to himself.
No matter how much he thought about it, this was the best strategy.
Considering the terrain, the enemy wouldn’t notice the movement of a separate detachment.
And devising a trap that involved allowing the enemy to cross the border… That was practically offering one’s heart on a silver platter. Unthinkable.
But precisely because it was unthinkable—this plan just might work.
“Lord… you…”
He turned to look at Lord.
A boy who barely understood war.
The boy simply smiled at Daniel.
A pure, innocent, carefree smile.
Yet behind that innocent smile, no one had noticed—
The devil was grinning.