Chapter 76 – Friends, Allies, and Enemies (22)

Friends, Allies, and Enemies (22)

A cold house.
There are only two hard wooden chairs and a round table split in half for furniture. The overall size is about 6.6116 square meters. It’s too small to be called a house, and just the right size to be a room.
The walls are riddled with small holes, as if someone had torn off the furniture. There are no other significant items, but the place feels a bit sullied.
The floor is cast with the shadows of the trees outside, creating a blue ambiance.

I sit on a chair, leaning against the wall.
Chloe, opposite me, is inspecting a piece of paper with a straight posture.

“…….”

There is no conversation.

It’s chilly.
Perhaps ‘silent’ is the better word. It’s been several minutes without any exchange of words. The sound of breathing is barely audible.

But that doesn’t mean there’s no progress.
My plan is moving forward steadily.
Chloe, silently reading the evidence I thrust upon her, is proof of that.

The space is a bit uncomfortable, but the simplicity somehow puts my mind at ease.
Maybe it’s because it feels similar to the houses I used to live in.

This is a deserted house near where Rahi lives.
The reason I’m here is simple.
After being struck by my trump card, Chloe’s face turned pale. I followed her as she tried to flee, and this is where we ended up.

I gave her a few more pieces of information while she sat at the table looking at the paper.
A brief exchange with the Demon Army.
Falsified deployment and injury records.
Various wiretapping materials.
And even useless information like autopsy reports.

Everything points to Rapi as the culprit.
Well, the most crucial piece is the detailed report shared with the Demon Army.

Originally, I intended to use it as the final blow, but unfortunately, I had to reveal it from the start.

I thought it would be meaningless if not used as the decisive blow.
It’s so detailed that she would naturally think it’s fabricated.

It seems she had heard about it roughly, so there was no problem.

But how long will she keep her mouth shut and just look at the papers?
I’m starting to feel an itch to speak.

Chloe puts the papers down on the floor. The ones she’s read on the floor, the unread ones on the table. A simple yet practical method.
Looking at the table, there were no papers left.
That means she has read all the materials I provided.

So, I broke the silence.

“You’ve finished reading.”

“Yes.”

“Do you accept it?”

I’m asking if she’s willing to accept the truth about Troka.
That’s what I mean.
Even after coming this far, she might still be in doubt. Of course,

It was a short response, devoid of denial or anger. The tone suggested a calm acceptance of everything laid before her.
She was willing to acknowledge it.
That was the implication.

“It was buried underground. All of it was down there, in that basement. Some lunatic tried to take it, but I managed to stop them and took it myself.”

Documents hidden in the Myluman basement.
I brought information that Chloe had failed to discover.
And it was an outsider who did it.

“You should have been able to find it. But since you believed Troka was behind everything, you probably didn’t think to look. You didn’t find it, which is surprising since it was so close… really.”

I spoke in a tone of reprimand.

In fact, when I passed through The Great Forest, I thought this information would have been discovered. After killing the Demon King, when we parted ways, I subtly leaked the information to her.
Of course, what came back was nothing but slander about Troka.

Still, I thought she might have heard it at least once.

But no. I could be wrong about this part.
The elders are not the kind of people to let Chloe go about uncovering the truth. They would have surely tried to block her in some way.
Sure, Chloe could have resisted… but if the elders exerted their power, they could have stopped her. After all, it wasn’t Troka’s words they spread, but their own version that favored them.

“Ahem. Anyway. How do you feel about discovering the real truth?”

“…Are you trying to mock me?”

“Well, to some extent.”

Her reaction was calmer than expected.
Others might have pinned me to the ceiling or something.

“I’m curious how much Rahi explained to you in detail.”

She gave me a puzzled look at that.

“I can’t say in detail, but it’s part of the procedure to open the letter. I thought it would be better for you to know as much as possible.”

“…What exactly is your goal?”

Oops. Did I speak too cheerfully?
Things seem to be going better than expected.

The greater the disparity between what she knows and the truth, the more significant the emotional shift will be. That increases the chances of her opening the letter.
It’s a bit difficult to explain this.
Is there a better way?

“I get that Troka… was that kind of person. But then… why didn’t you reveal it?”

Fortunately, it seems I don’t need to explain.

As for her feelings…
Let’s not delve too deeply.

“I don’t know either. That guy told me to keep my mouth shut, and what can a weakling like me do? I just had to follow along.”

He didn’t tell me to shut up directly like that.
He begged me to keep it a secret, on his knees.

“Whether it was some shitty sense of justice or he was corrupted by the power of some crazy bitch, the truth is what it is. The sinner is Rapi, the good guy is Troka. And the stupid one is….”

Looking back now, the time when Troka started working excessively for this other world was when he went to Myluman alone.
Troka became strange after meeting me, parting with the master, recruiting Aeon, and heading to Myluman. I wasn’t with him during that time, so I don’t know what he went through. When we met again, he was just showing me his crazed, fanatic side.

Whatever it was, it must have been because of the goddess. According to Cecilia, the goddess is endlessly merciful to the people here, so it must be something like, ‘Troka, who doesn’t matter if he dies, should be the one to sacrifice.’

“Ha, what a joke. To think that the friend you cherished so much was actually the cause of your entire family’s death.”

Her face contorts more and more.
It’s pale enough to say that the color has drained away. Her skin is already fair, but now it’s as white as the snowfields of Frontis.
She seems to have a lot to think about.

Well, on the other hand, she seems to be trying to maintain her composure.
Oh, maybe not. Her legs are shaking violently.

It would be strange if she wasn’t disturbed.

The friend she held most dear turns out to be her family’s enemy…
Even if she’s let go of her family since they’re already dead, the aftermath will surely remain.

And then there’s Troka.
Now that she’s realized the truth, the refuge that Chloe had in hating the person she thought was responsible for all the wrongs in the world has disappeared. She’s the one who has to accept all the truths as they are.

The various sins attributed to Troka.
And the various crimes committed against him by the party.
Troka, who endured all that trying to protect Chloe.
And Chloe, who tried to kill him and hated him.

I’m looking forward to what comes next.
Before I return home, I’ll have to check in at least once.
I’m so curious about what Chloe will become in the future.

Oh, right.

“What’s going to happen to the newspaper now?”

But more than that, the newspaper.
How will they resolve the disgrace falsely attributed to Troka based on baseless rumors and subjective inferences? If left as is, the public will come to recognize Troka as a truly heinous criminal.

“…I, I’ll figure something out.”

I wonder if it’s possible to correct it.
Judging by that expression, she seems like she’ll try to fix things somehow.

I’m not sure if it’s possible.

“I don’t care. I hate that bastard anyway. His personality, or whatever you call it. Just think hard about the situation you’re in now. Reflect on it, really chew on it.”

There’s no need to provoke her further right now.
This should be enough for her to open the letter.
If I push her too hard and she explodes… that would be a setback. I’ve made enough mistakes, it’s time to learn from them.

With that, I head towards the door.
I sneak a glance back. Chloe is staring at the paper she’s placed on the floor with empty eyes, still unable to escape the truth.
Her face seems even paler than before.

Then I close the door,

And open it again.

“Right, don’t forget to open the letter. Troka’s last will, who didn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself for you. You can at least read that much, right? You remember every single one of your friends’ last words, so adding one more to the list shouldn’t be a problem.”

She’ll have to open the letter if I want to go back.
She might have already opened it and failed. Maybe she even threw it away somewhere.
But by saying this, she’ll probably try to find it again.

Chloe lifts her head at the one-sided announcement, but I don’t meet her gaze as I immediately turn away.

Now I’m heading back.
My business in Myluman is done. It ended more easily than I expected.
Time will take care of the rest.

Until then, I’ll take a rest.
There will surely be plenty of fierce battles in the Dragon Kingdom. If I want to maintain at least a minimum level of health when I return home, I need to start taking care of myself now.

My steps are clear and light as I leave.

“…”

They were definitely clear and light steps.
Until I saw the newspapers scattered everywhere.

I walked out of the forest and for a long while after.
When I arrived in the city of Myluman, those newspapers were everywhere.
In front of restaurants, near lodgings, the newsstands were of course filled with related content, and even the park benches had newspapers on them.
They seemed as popular as a best-selling book. If there was a bestseller list, that newspaper would surely be at the top, maintaining the number one spot for years due to its popularity.

The people on the streets were also bustling, gathering to chat.
It was a crowd I hadn’t seen before. They all had newspapers in their hands.

The snippets of conversation I overheard were all about the hero.

That guy, he’s never been this popular before.

He probably wouldn’t be happy about it, though.

But could an article with such a massive impact be made to disappear as if it never existed?
Yesterday, it might have been possible to announce that the newspaper’s content was false, just barely. If it had been only a day, they could have claimed a typo or something and made the necessary corrections.

But now?
Now that the newspapers have spread among the civilians and quite some time has passed.

“…I don’t know.”

Well, Chloe will have to figure it out.
The only thing left for me to do is to find and retrieve the opened letter. I shouldn’t bother thinking about anything else.

The place I need to go now is the Dragon Kingdom. Perhaps this long and arduous journey is finally drawing to a close.

Yeah, it’s been long.
Really long.

An end is in sight for what seemed like a never-ending affair.
It’s a strange feeling.
To think that I won’t see this world again in a short while.

Well, that’s assuming things go well with the Emperor.

Looking up at the pale sky, I moved my feet towards the lodging.

But who has the letter…

Ah. Right.

Chloe.
I have to meet her one more time.
I don’t exactly know where her house is.

…Damn it.