Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 7: Toward a New Story
After returning from his visit home, Ren carried many different emotions within him.
He was happy, of course. At the same time, the journey had left him with a stronger sense of responsibility and a clearer understanding of the problems he would eventually have to face.
That same evening, Ren was speaking with Lessard in the baron’s office when Weiss entered with a solemn expression.
“My lord, I have completed the examination.”
“Everything matches the boy’s report. The horn is unquestionably Asval’s.”
Weiss had never seen Asval himself, but the horn brought to the mansion, the Star Agate found beside it, and Ren’s account left no room for doubt.
Lessard leaned back on the sofa and burst into laughter.
“I have decided that nothing Ren does will surprise me anymore. From now on, I shall simply laugh.”
“L-Lessard-sama… I’m sorry.”
“There is no need to apologize. We should be grateful it washed ashore near the Ashton village, where there were few witnesses.”
“That is what confuses me,” Ren said. “Why did it reach my village?”
Lessard spread a map across the low table.
“It most likely travelled through an underground river.”
Blue lines marked the rivers running throughout the Clausel territory.
“The snowmelt from the Baldor Mountains feeds several rivers in that area. The underground waterways near the hidden route you and Fiona were trying to reach connect with rivers inside our territory.”
“That explains how the horn could have travelled this far, but reaching my village so conveniently still seems strange.”
“I agree. It feels almost deliberate. Nevertheless, it happened.”
Lessard shrugged.
Ren could not help thinking about the relationship between Asval and the Ashton ancestor.
(Perhaps their connection drew the horn there.)
The idea sounded too fantastical, yet Asval had possessed power that made it impossible to dismiss. It almost seemed less as though the horn had drifted randomly and more as though it had deliberately returned to the Ashton village.
Weiss sighed.
“I was enjoying the stories of your homecoming, boy. I did not expect the evening to end with a legendary dragon’s horn.”
At dinner, Ren and Licia had taken turns recounting their journeys. The cheerful story of Ren helping repair village roads and walls had been followed by the revelation about the horn like an explosive thrown onto the table.
“Where is Licia-sama now?” Ren asked.
“Examining the horn with great enthusiasm.”
“That sounds like her.”
The more difficult matter was what to do with it.
“Because Asval was undead, the horn is probably inferior to what it was in life,” Weiss said. “Even so, its value is beyond estimation.”
Putting it on the market would be dangerous. The material was too extraordinary, and the circumstances surrounding Ulysses and Fiona meant that its sale could provoke political conflict.
Ren considered the problem, then clapped his hands.
“What about asking Marquis Ignat for advice?”
“I had the same thought,” Lessard replied. “He owes you a tremendous debt. I doubt he would refuse to assist us.”
“Then perhaps I should use the invitation Edgar gave me.”
Ren still found Ulysses difficult to approach because of his memories of the game. However, they had exchanged several reports through House Clausel after the Baldor Mountains incident, and Ren no longer avoided the marquis as strongly as before.
Lessard shook his head.
“Keep the invitation.”
“Why?”
“It proves Marquis Ignat has formally recognized you as his guest. Save it for a time when you truly require his personal aid.”
Weiss agreed.
“We already have an appropriate opportunity to discuss the horn.”
Lessard produced an ornate invitation sealed with gold wax.
“There will be a party in the imperial capital this summer.”
He described it as an ordinary gathering where nobles from every faction exchanged pleasant words while concealing their true intentions.
“Marquis Ignat will attend?” Ren asked.
“Yes. He wishes to meet me, and he arranged the gathering through a nobleman with whom he is friendly.”
“The party was organized merely so he could speak with you?”
“That appears to be the case.”
Lessard rarely visited the imperial capital. Ulysses had therefore created an occasion he could not reasonably decline.
Ren had learned that Ulysses was far more principled than the game had led him to expect. Despite his immense influence, he treated even a baron such as Lessard with proper respect.
When the discussion settled, Ren remembered another question.
“There is something I wanted to ask you both.”
He explained what Roy had told him about the Ashton ancestor and repeated the words Asval had spoken during their battle.
“Do either of you know anything about an adventurer among my ancestors?”
Lessard shook his head.
“I have never heard of such a person. Weiss?”
“Nor have I. Yet Asval’s words and Roy-dono’s story clearly seem connected. What troubles me is that a person capable of surpassing Asval should have vanished completely from history.”
“Exactly,” Lessard said. “Such a feat should have guaranteed lasting fame.”
Neither man remembered finding anything relevant in the mansion library.
“After the Given incident, I investigated your village again,” Lessard continued.
“Because you wanted to know why he targeted such a remote place?”
“Yes. I found nothing unusual. Remote villages often lack proper historical records, and the Ashton village was no exception.”
“Did the village pharmacist know anything?”
“I asked indirectly, but she did not.”
With no written documents and only Roy’s fragmentary oral tradition, the investigation seemed impossible.
Weiss crossed his arms.
“Unless the ancestor’s name was intentionally removed from history.”
“Who could erase someone powerful enough to defeat Asval?” Ren asked.
“In Leomel, only the emperor or the Seven Heroes would have possessed that authority.”
The possibility transformed the conversation into something far more serious.
Lessard mentioned one final place where records might remain.
“The Imperial Library.”
Ren immediately thought of the Forbidden Library, a restricted section mentioned in The Legend of the Seven Heroes but never accessible to players.
Lessard gave a quiet laugh.
“Now I understand something else.”
“My lord?” Weiss asked.
“You remember who is permitted to enter the Forbidden Library.”
Weiss’s expression changed.
“Viscount Given served as an aide to the Minister of Justice.”
Access was limited to the archive’s keeper, the emperor, the future crown prince once one was chosen, the Minister of Justice, and a small number of authorized aides.
Ren finally saw the likely connection.
(Given discovered something about the Ashton family inside the Forbidden Library. That may be why he went to such lengths to seize an insignificant frontier village.)
It was infuriating to feel so close to an answer while remaining unable to reach it.
“Then Given’s true motive may still be recorded there,” Lessard said.
“And if the Ashton family descends from someone who surpassed Asval,” Weiss added, “it is understandable that Given took an interest in Ren. He may even have believed the boy carried the blood of the Hero Ruin.”
(That seems extremely unlikely.)
Ren thought of Vayne, the protagonist of the game. He could not claim that a collateral line of the Hero’s descendants was impossible, but the likelihood seemed close to zero.
“Even if the answer exists,” Ren said, “we have no way to enter the Forbidden Library.”
Unless Ren—or someone he knew—eventually gained legitimate access, the truth would remain beyond reach.