Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance Chapter 93

“Neumann, damn it!”

 

Gray glared at Neumann with bloodshot eyes, a mixture of anger and impatience.

 

“You’re just going to abandon me because I’m being a little harsh?”

 

Gray stalked after Neumann, who was getting further and further away. He’d been the first to turn his back on Neumann in his confrontation with Lucian, but that fact didn’t matter to him.

 

“Who’s been looking out for this half-wit all this time?”

 

Neumann, a marquis whose father was the Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Gray, the son of an ordinary aristocrat, were brought up together by their mothers. At first, they were childhood friends, but as they grew older, their relationship slowly changed.

 

Neumann was crushed by his imposing father and sister, and grew up vulnerable in the face of authority. Gray was endlessly jealous of the differences that came with age.

 

“He’s the one who’d die for me!”

 

Gray’s admiration for his friend morphed into inferiority, and Neumann’s trust in him slowly turned into the blind dependence of a breathing man.

 

In that respect, Gray disliked Neumann, but he liked him. He was amused that his friend, so much better positioned than he was, was so easily swayed by his words.

 

“Damn it! If only I’d held my tongue then!”

 

Gray was confident when he turned and left Neumann in front of Lucian. For a long time, he’d been convinced that Neumann, lonely and sullen, would inevitably come back to him, not that he’d avoid him.

 

It wasn’t until Neumann rescued a girl from the streets of Verotanis that he realized he was wrong.

 

“I’m not going to be replaced by some worthless commoner girl!”

 

Neumann, who had thought he’d be immune for the rest of his life, broke out of his cage, and while he took control, apologized sincerely, and built a new relationship, Gray felt his world crumble around him.

 

“He shouldn’t have done that.”

 

As Neumann walked past Gray, even after he had made amends with Lucian, the people who had stuck with him turned their backs on him at once, seeing the relationship between Neumann and Gray. It was all his karma, but Gray would never admit it.

 

Ignoring his ugly side was what he did best.

 

“You’re not supposed to do that…”

 

At the first tryout, after running into Bella for the first time in a long time, Gray approached her with a familiar greeting.

 

“Sis!”

 

“Ah.”

 

Bella’s eyes narrowed as she looked back at Gray, and his steps slowed. This was the same Bella who had greeted Neumann so warmly when they had run into each other as children, but now there was not a hint of a smile on her face.

 

“Gray Dolta.”

 

“Sister…?”

 

“We’re not close enough anymore for you to call me sister?”

 

“What?”

 

“Stay away. From me, from Neumann.”

 

With that, Bella turned coldly away, and Gray couldn’t believe his eyes. He doesn’t know what she realized, but it was clear that a deep line had been drawn around her and Neumann that he couldn’t cross.

 

“Neumann, you shouldn’t have done that to me. If you had apologized, I would have accepted it!”

 

Sweat formed in his clenched palms.

 

 

***

 

 

“During the Verotanis incident, that mongrel said something like this: He used the cub to get me.”

 

The drawing room of the imperial palace, where most of the people who had attended the meeting had returned. Orgen turned his head at the Duke’s words.

 

“A cub? You mean Lucian?”

 

“It would seem so, given the circumstances. Do you recall that I told you about the incident that led to my meeting with Eileen and Cordelia?”

 

“Yes. You said you met a demon then, too.”

 

The Duke spoke again, his gaze fixed on the wood grain of the table.

 

“At this point, I’m beginning to suspect that the reason Lucian left the manor that day was because of that demon called Urzar, and if it killed Lucian, it would have killed Theresia as well… Certainly, losing them both at once would have driven me insane.”

 

“That’s still just a hypothesis.”

 

“It’s also a hypothesis with a fair amount of merit.”

 

The Duke tore his gaze away from the knife and looked at Orgen.

 

“And if that hypothesis is true, then this Nox thing has been preparing for the cataclysm for a very long time.”

 

At his serious gaze, Orgen tapped his fingers lightly on the table and asked the Duke.

 

“Are you afraid?”

 

The duke shrugged.

 

“Of course not.”

 

His voice was clear, confident.

 

“I swear to the Goddess, they will fail this time.”

 

“That’s the first thing I’ve heard you say in a long time. Are you going to go get a drink?”

 

Orgen replied with a cool chuckle, and the duke quickly turned away.

 

“I have a mission to accomplish.”

 

“You boring bastard! I’ll drink with Elling.”

 

The Duke left the parlor, wishing Elling’s liver well, which had fallen victim to Orgen again today.

 

 

***

 

 

“You confessed, didn’t you?”

 

“Ugh!”

 

The shores of Contra.

 

Cordelia asked Felix as they stood there, repairing the damage done to the terrain by a massive catastrophe that had swept through and changed the landscape. Felix’s shoulders slumped as he helped Cordelia magically build a dike to hold back the rising waters.

 

“That’s what you call this?”

 

Cordelia glanced up to see his violet eyes fluttering, then returned to her work.

 

“I’m asking now, because it’s a sight we may see again and again.”

 

Felix’s jaw dropped, and then he heard the call for a break. Felix jerked his chin toward the cleared shoreline.

 

“Do you want to take a walk?”

 

“Sure.”

 

The two of them slipped through the rubble and walked along the shore. A few hours ago, the place had been nothing more than a ruin, with the appendages of the buildings that had been blown apart.

 

“I confessed.”

 

Felix said, scratching the nape of his neck as if embarrassed, and Cordelia said simply.

 

“And the answer?”

 

“Not yet…”

 

“Hmm.”

 

One of Cordelia’s eyebrows rose and fell at an angle. She didn’t need to probe further to know what Eileen was thinking. Her sweet but reckless nature, cautious and wanting to take charge of everything, would have made it difficult for her to give a definitive answer in a situation like this.

 

‘But that look in his eyes.’

 

Cordelia, however, had noticed that Eileen’s eyes had been a little more alert when she looked up at Felix since the ball, and she’d picked up on it a little earlier than Eileen had.

 

“I didn’t ask because I was hoping for anything, I just thought that’s how it would be with you two.”

 

“That’s not quite the reaction I was expecting.”

 

At that, Cordelia looked back at him as if she’d just heard a funny story.

 

“So you thought I’d be mad at you for taking Eileen away from me? I want her to be happy more than anyone.”

 

That was the only desire Cordelia had for Eileen.

 

Felix’s eyes widened a little, then narrowed. The sun broke through the clouds and touched Cordelia’s hair. He laughed out loud, dazzled by the light and his heart.

 

“I said something stupid.”

 

Then he looked around. The ruins were eerie, but there were a lot of people trying to undo them. This wasn’t just a Contra problem. This was a reality that could happen anywhere in the Empire.

 

‘Perhaps many things to come will be worse than this. Would we be able to hold our nerve through it all?’

 

Felix’s dark eyes scanned the room for a moment.

 

“I’ll try.”

 

“Of course you will.”

 

Snorting, Cordelia turned and headed back toward the ruins. She still had time to rest, but she didn’t feel like resting anymore. Cordelia used her elemental powers to drain the standing water, and Felix filled it with sand. The work went on until the sun had set, but no one whined.

 

 

***

 

 

The sunset rushed in through the window, turning the room red. A man was humming in the light. He was crossing out an X on a piece of paper on the table, as if he were grading it, and he was obviously very excited.

 

“You must have had a good day.”

 

The man’s smile deepened at the old woman’s question.

 

The man drew another X on the map of the Empire in front of him. Red ink ran diagonally across the <Contra>. The man looked at it with pride, then, as if his work was done, he set down his pen and stretched languidly.

 

“Well, then. I’ve got something good coming up.”

 

He stretched and looked up at the ceiling, where the holy flame of Regia’s demon-slaying torch shone brightly.

 

The man, Urzar, dressed as the Marquis of Eldium, stood still for a moment, staring up at Regia, his cheeks turning as red as the sunset that filled the room. Closing his bleary eyes, he whispered, “I can’t wait to see her.”