Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 47

“Then rest well. I’ll see you again next time.”

Dominic left after only mentioning that Hilde was quitting.

Hey, you should give me more details before leaving!

“Hilde is quitting…”

But why?

No, I shouldn’t just lie here – I need to stop Hilde right now.

Though my whole body was wrapped in bandages and my waist and limbs were still sending pain signals telling me they weren’t fully recovered, I should still be able to move.

I loosened the bandages enough and got out of bed.

And right at that moment, someone opened the door and came in.

“Excuse me… Oh?”

I made eye contact with Hera from the administration department.

“W-what do you think you’re doing!”

After briefly processing the situation in a daze, she angrily approached and pushed me back onto the bed.

Even though I had been unconscious for three days straight and was badly injured, the force from a complete civilian like her wasn’t much to worry about.

But her clear display of anger so unlike her usual self was so disconcerting that I found myself retreating without realizing it.

“Mr. Eugene, you’re a patient! The doctor said you need more rest! Where are you trying to go?!”

Honestly, her plain self getting angry was a bit cute.

“You must know too, right Miss Hera? Someone says Hilde is quitting being a hunter.”

“Who told you that? Anyway, there’s no need for Mr. Eugene to get involved, so please lie back down. Sir Crowty and others said they would persuade Miss Hilde.”

Come to think of it, that makes sense.

Of course they would grab onto her pant legs if an exceptional talent of the century suddenly says she’s leaving.

“But still, I should…”

But it doesn’t make sense for me not to be involved in persuading Hilde.

What happens to this world if the protagonist leaves the stage by any chance?

I tried to get up again, but Hera held my shoulders down.

This time I was going to shake off her hands for sure, but when our eyes met, I pathetically let myself be laid down again.

“Please… Mr. Eugene, you need to rest!”

Hera was on the verge of tears.

“What? No, I just…”

“Sniff… don’t… go… Don’t go…”

The atmosphere felt ominous.

“Waaaaaah!”

Hera started crying like a child.

“Uh, no, um, whaaaat?”

Though my mind went completely blank in panic, I somehow managed to comfort and soothe Hera.

Having calmed down a bit, Hera stopped crying.

“I’m sorry…”

She apologized.

“There’s no need for Miss Hera to apologize…”

I waved my hands dismissively.

“Well, at first I thought Mr. Eugene had really died this time…”

“What?”

“Mr. Eugene has always been like that. Like someone who would be fine dying at any time…”

“…”

“Ever since I first started working here, it always felt like Mr. Eugene could disappear far away at any moment. So just seeing you always made me anxious…”

…Well.

Thinking back to when I first met Hera, it must have been quite shocking for her.

About 3 years ago, I had returned from a really intense battle.

Being in quite a mess, I stopped by the administration department and met Hera who had just joined, but I completely ignored her plain appearance without realizing she was that Hera from Blue Paper Moon and hurriedly reported to Crowty – then belatedly started vomiting blood from the Beast’s poison that was spreading.

I still vividly remember Hera’s face looking like she would faint right then seeing that sight.

“Anyway… Mr. Eugene should rest well. We’ll handle Miss Hilde’s situation somehow.”

Wiping away her tears, Hera said with a determined face.

“Mr. Eugene’s problem is trying to do too much alone. It would be better if you relied on others around you more.”

I couldn’t say anything.

And even after Hera went back outside, I couldn’t get out of bed.

“…Hilde is quitting.”

Left alone again, I stared blankly at the ceiling while thinking.

Just why did Hilde suddenly say she would quit being a hunter?

Could this be some story branch point unique to Hilde that I don’t know about?

I shook my head.

That’s too irresponsible a thought.

No matter how I look at it, I must have done something wrong.

There must have been something that broke her will, but I just failed to notice it.

And I had already failed greatly regarding Hilde’s growth before.

In Hilde’s tutorial, I took too much initiative trying to minimize civilian casualties, and as a result ended up robbing Hilde of her chance to truly awaken as a hunter.

It’s the same this time.

As Prophet Ryu said, bringing her to the battlefield was the right decision.

But was Hilde able to truly shine on that battlefield?

She certainly grew.

But she couldn’t break free from being my support.

From the start, I sniped the enemy commander making the progression very different from the game, and at the end, just like in the tutorial, I recklessly defeated the boss alone trying to save citizens.

Even though if Hilde doesn’t grow, many more people will die in the future.

That was definitely a mistake… no.

In the end, that’s just logic saying we should sacrifice current lives to save many future lives.

I have no right to decide who gets sacrificed.

The only life I can freely handle is my own.

“Sigh… isn’t there something good? Something that could help Hilde grow…”

Let me think carefully.

What was the reason the protagonist wanted to become stronger in Blue Paper Moon?

What made Noah continue fighting as a hunter?

Was it just a sense of justice?

…No.

Of course, unless you deliberately chose strange options, Noah had quite noble character as his default.

However, his reason for continuing to fight wasn’t just because of personal beliefs.

There was a powerful motivation that supported him and made him determined to become stronger, a reason to deliberately walk a difficult and dangerous path.

“Ah!”

Love interests.

Of course, Blue Paper Moon had love interests.

Not just one or two – sometimes fights between love interests over Noah even led to wars.

If you went the playboy route, traces of the protagonist’s disgraceful womanizing remained in the normal ending.

Then what about Hilde?

Would Hilde have love interests too?

Of course she would.

She’s clearly the protagonist too.

It doesn’t make sense for love interests to disappear just because the gender changed.

Love interests must exist in this world for Hilde too.

The first that comes to mind is naturally her childhood friend Jarkoff from the Bluebeard family.

Childhood friends have always been orthodox love interests regardless of genre, whether novels, manga, or games.

Though I dismissed it before, maybe even Crowty could be a love interest in Hilde’s story.

While there’s quite an age gap, such marriages are common here.

No, come to think of it, isn’t Crowty quite decent as a serious love interest candidate?

He’s good looking, has a strong background setting as a duke’s second son, and his job gives many chances to get involved with the protagonist.

The so-called older mature male love interest…

“Ugh…”

No matter what, imagining Crowty as a love interest just doesn’t work somehow.

Anyway who else was there…

“Ah, maybe Oscar too?”

Oscar, Great Mage Ozwald’s apprentice.

Though he only appeared briefly in the male protagonist version, here he made quite an impact from his first meeting with protagonist Hilde.

Especially his handsome face has enough legitimacy, and even that characteristically fiery temperament could work as character appeal in its own way.

“Hmm…”

So is my job now to help Hilde get involved with these male love interests?

“…Don’t feel confident about this.”

I haven’t had a partner myself for decades, how could I possibly do something like that?

If I act carelessly, who knows what mistakes I’ll make.

Even I might end up in quite embarrassing situations…

I rested quietly in bed while pondering future plans.

*    *    *

Two days before Eugene woke up.

“Old man, what does it mean to be a hunter?”

Oscar asked Ozwald.

“What else, they’re humans who fight Beasts.”

Ozwald said.

“No, that’s not what I mean…”

“I know what you want to ask.”

“Then…”

“My answer is the same. They’re humans who fight Beasts. There’s nothing else to explain.”

“Why?”

“…I was a hunter when I was young too. The only reason was wanting to test my magic skills. But were those you saw today fighting for the same reason?”

“Of course not.”

“Right. They each must have had their own reasons. They must have had their own reasons to fight without running away in that place crawling with hundreds of Beasts.”

“But wouldn’t notifying the Order be the priority over that? Isn’t that the rational decision?”

“What about the people who would die meanwhile?”

“Huh?”

“Your words aren’t wrong. In fact, those two being the fastest would have made going to the Order the right decision in that situation. But then who would stop the Beasts? Who would save the people left in the city?”

“…”

“I told you before. You’re smart but know nothing. Do you understand what I meant a bit now?”

“Tch.”

“Besides, that’s not all you wanted to ask about.”

“What?”

“He’s bothering you. You won’t be able to see Eugene for a while since he’s in critical condition. My, he’s become quite remarkable. He was just a naive rookie 10 years ago… you should learn from him.”

“Th-that person is a hunter and I’m a mage. Then what about that girl… Hilde was it, tell me where she is.”

“What are you planning to say if you go?”

“Y-you don’t need to know, old man. I’m not planning anything weird so don’t worry. And if you won’t tell me I’ll find out myself.”

“Hah, this kid.”

Ozwald told Oscar where Hilde’s hospital room was.

Oscar immediately walked to where his master had directed.

When he knocked and entered the room, he saw a girl sitting on the bed looking out the window.

Her black hair fluttered gently in the wind blowing from the window.

“…What brings you here?”

She turned her head toward Oscar.

Her clear blue eyes looked straight at him.

“…”

Somehow Oscar felt a strange feeling and couldn’t answer right away.

“If you have nothing to say, leave.”

“Ah, n-no that… I came to… apologize.”

“Apologize?”

“That thing. That… I wasn’t trying to disrespect your Senior. I was just surprised…”

“I know. Is that all you wanted to say?”

“…Well.”

“You’re from a noble family too, right?”

Hilde suddenly asked first.

“Huh? Y-yeah…”

“I’m from the Grimm family. And you?”

“The Vale family.”

“Sorry. Don’t know it.”

“Makes sense since we’re just rural barons. I don’t know the Grimm family either so it’s fine. I don’t know anything about other noble families anyway.”

“How foolish.”

“What did you say?!”

“Heehee.”

Hilde laughed for the first time.

For some reason, just that made Oscar lose his words again.

“Sorry. I wasn’t trying to mock you. Is it strange for me to talk like this… Ah right, I had something I wanted to ask you too.”

“Wh-what is it?”

“Did you want to be a mage from the start?”

“Huh? Um… yeah. I knew right away when I first learned about magic and magical power. That I would become a mage.”

“Me too. I always thought I would become a hunter too since long ago.”

“Then isn’t that good?”

“…I wonder about that.”

“What?”

“I… couldn’t do anything.”

“What do you mean couldn’t do anything? Didn’t you fight there too? Together with that Senior person?”

“But I couldn’t fight until the end. Senior fought knowing he could die.”

“Damn it, what’s the point if you die?!”

Oscar shouted.

He could still vividly see the rivers of blood and dead things he had seen in that city, and hadn’t been able to sleep properly.

The thought of this beautiful girl before him turning into such chunks of meat made him want to vomit.

“You said you became a hunter earlier! If you die that’s the end of being a hunter or whatever! Besides, didn’t you do really well? Or are you saying you should have died fighting beside that person?”

“…Maybe that would have been better.”

“What?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to say this much. Without realizing…”

Hilde’s expression turned mechanical.

“Thanks for coming.”

Then she turned her head back to the window.

Oscar hesitated before clicking his tongue and going outside.

Though he wanted to talk more, when she put up an invisible wall he couldn’t dare reach out further.

Usually he wouldn’t have cared about such things, but talking with Hilde gave him a strange feeling.

“Damn it…”

He had no idea how to sort out the complex emotions swirling in his chest.

What Hilde had said kept lingering and circling in his mind.

Saying it would have been better to die together – that was definitely wrong.

Moreover, his master often regretted that Hilde had such amazing talent that she could have become a great mage too.

Even ordinary people dying was horrific, so what kind of disaster would it be for such a genius to die pointlessly.

And then a natural question followed in his mind.

“Just what was that Senior person…”

That bothered him.

He didn’t seem that impressive on the surface.

Just what about that ordinary person made her like that?

“Is he really that amazing?”

Even his master Ozwald had highly praised him.

Of course, he did fight bravely.

Oscar couldn’t deny that heroic sight.

But even with good character, if you lack ability and talent, those limits are clear.

“It bothers me…”

And for a mage, curiosity is an absolute revelation.