Chapter 10: Outside Story (1)
The day of the Subjugation Campaign dawned.
This Subjugation Campaign began at the western border of the kingdom.
Countless families including Hasgard gathered, displaying their military might.
Not only nobles, but adventurer parties, mercenary bands, and the Order as well.
Any group confident in their combat ability had gathered without exception.
Days prior, the kingdom's soldiers had invaded the monster territory and agitated them.
The method was for the enraged creatures to cross the western border, where the Subjugation Campaign participants would slaughter them.
Since humanity currently 'mistakenly believes' its only enemy is monsters, it was a festival both to manage population numbers and to announce the kingdom's prestige.
"Hehe... Daywin. You've become quite the horseman now. Back in September, 6 years ago, you kept falling off and worrying this eldest brother of yours."
The eldest Hasgard glanced at me.
He was talking about Daywin's childhood, before I had possessed him.
He speaks like some kind of historian.
Don't go reciting exact dates like that.
It gives me the chills.
"By the way, Daywin."
He suddenly dropped his smile and lowered his voice.
"Did you really... bring an Academy student? Surely there were better escorts available...."
"Brother, didn't you know? This is someone the youngest has been sponsoring recently."
The middle Hasgard said to the eldest, puffing himself up.
It was a tone that seemed to boast about knowing even the minor details about the youngest.
Why he competes over things like that, I'll never understand.
"Mmm... I think we'll need to split off around here."
Shortly after, the eldest Hasgard announced in a low voice.
Just as he said.
From here, each of us would lead our own troops and set off to subjugate monsters.
"Well then, Daywin. If it gets dangerous, let me know right away. I'll come running."
"Youngest! Don't forget your brothers are nearby!"
Hearing those words made me feel it freshly.
I....
Really not much is expected of me....
"It does seem like they don't have high expectations of you...."
Esther, riding behind me on the horse, quietly voiced it.
"Though I'm the same.... Everyone here is so remarkable... I still don't know if I'm truly needed...."
Esther muttered in a voice barely audible.
She looked not just lacking in confidence, but swallowed whole by anxiety.
If this were the Esther from the game, this would be the moment she'd be excited, saying 'It's time to show what I can do!'
It seemed the tsundere was never coming back.
As I was feeling sorry for her, from far in the distance, goblins came charging, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Goblins.
The enemy of this Subjugation Campaign.
Not a particularly dangerous opponent that needed urgent subjugation, but their chieftain had been killed specifically to enrage the goblin tribe for this Subjugation Campaign.
It was enough to make one feel sorry for being human.
"Esther, we're going to follow my second brother."
"Hm... weren't we supposed to split up now?"
"My second brother is quite reckless. We should help him out a bit."
"Ah, okay."
"So then, Esther—I'm counting on you."
As I spoke, my expression must have shifted without my realizing it, because Esther stared at my face intently.
"Ah... okay."
The Subjugation Campaign.
Today.
I could not forget today.
I had thought it would dull with time, but every time summer returned, the regret and sorrow accumulated.
This day in my past life.
The second brother died.
***
010
The day of the End-of-Term Ceremony.
Before the start of the Subjugation Campaign.
"Lucia, I'm going to the Subjugation Campaign, so I'll be away for a while."
At those words, Lucia lifted her eyes, ringed with dark circles.
Lucia.
3rd year, Swordsmanship Division.
One of the 5 Heroines.
A girl whose day and night were reversed.
And a member of a criminal guild operating in the pleasure district of the marquisate.
"Lord Karma is going to the Subjugation Campaign?"
"Of course I'm not going to kill monsters. What I kill has always been people, same as usual."
The man called Karma grinned.
With his head shaved as if to flaunt his clean hairline, he spoke with his green eyes glinting strangely.
"Lucia, have you heard of the Hasgard Earldom?"
Hasgard.
Lucia had heard that name not long ago.
—They say his name is Daywin Hasgard.
Not just heard the name, but had even made eye contact and had a conversation with him.
The strange person who had said he would give a scholarship to her—a girl whose grades had hit rock bottom from falling asleep in class every time.
There was no way she had forgotten that name yet.
"...I know it."
"You do? Unexpected. I figured you'd naturally not know of a backwater noble. Are you acquainted?"
"No."
Strictly speaking, they could be said to be acquainted.
But Karma's atmosphere felt unsettling somehow, so she just answered dryly.
"That's a relief then. The target of this job is the second son of Hasgard. Someone's asking to have him killed during the Subjugation Campaign."
Guild leader Karma tossed the words out as if it were nothing.
Lucia felt her heart drop at that, but she forced herself to keep her expression from twisting.
Second. Which son would that be.
"Who commissioned it?"
"Are you going too? Tell me if you are."
"...Lucia has supplementary classes at the Academy."
She had been exempted from supplementary classes thanks to that Hasgard, but she lied without a flinch.
"This job, you see—it's quite interesting. Hasgard is apparently the name of a war hero who distinguished himself in the war against the Undead long ago. They say he became an earl in one stroke thanks to those war merits. My guess is... the client might be a follower of the NecRomancer."
"Why bring up something from a hundred years ago now...?"
Snap─
The moment Lucia finished speaking, Karma snapped his fingers.
"That's what makes it interesting. If the client really is a follower of the NecRomancer, why 'now' of all times? If it were out of hatred or revenge, wouldn't they have tried to kill him long ago? Well, as long as I get paid, that's all that matters to me."
While Karma was running his mouth, Lucia recalled something that had happened at the Academy.
A conversation she had overheard by chance while passing by the Principal's Office.
—As you said, Raword was born with a once-in-a-generation talent. However, I have no intention of giving up on the other students.
—Those 5 students may just be underachievers right now.
—Please have a little more faith in the students.
Lucia had overheard Daywin's voice persuading the Principal.
It was a powerful voice filled with confidence and conviction.
At first, she hadn't intended to eavesdrop.
But the moment she heard Daywin's voice, Lucia's feet stopped before she realized it.
She wanted to listen a little longer.
Those words that believed even in a gutter life like hers—one entangled in a criminal guild—she wanted to hold them in her ears just a little more.
She had been so captivated by Daywin's words that she missed her chance to slip away from the hallway.
Sloppily enough for someone who was an assassin to nearly get caught with a tail.
I don't know which son he is.
I don't know, but.
"What if I... don't go?"
"Hm?"
"I have a bad feeling about it."
"...About what?"
"It could be a trap."
"Well, that's possible. But it's a big enough job to be worth the risk."
"If it's about the fee, I'll work more. Even if I have to cut my sleep further."
"Hm? That's strange. This is your first time acting like this."
Karma tilted his head, then soon wore a cold expression.
"Of course you can't not go. Given the other party is an earldom, the reward is no joke."
"That's exactly why I'm saying it's dangerous."
"Haah... Lucia, do you even know how much money is at stake in this job?"
"That... I don't know, but...."
"No matter how many other jobs you take on in its place, you know they can't compare to a job like this."
"But if I work several times harder...."
"Even if you work several times harder, you're nowhere near covering the share for your siblings too. Your siblings who know how to do nothing but eat and excrete. Who is it that takes them in and raises them?"
The moment her siblings came up, Lucia had no choice but to fall silent.
"Want me to put you all out on the streets? 3 young girls in a pleasure district—without my protection, I wonder if you'd last a day?"
"......."
"Pulling your weight for 3 people in your current situation is nowhere near enough. Unless you quit that worthless Academy and work all day. But you don't want that either, do you?"
Karma lowered himself to meet Lucia's eyes.
"Ahh, Lucia. Don't make that face. It makes me look like the bad guy again. I genuinely want to treat you all well. As long as you don't needlessly defy me like this."
"It's not like I want to be here either...."
"Yeah, yeah. It's no one's fault. If we're really placing blame, it would be your parents—who went and bred a litter at my guild then up and died. If you need someone to resent, that's the easier target, Lucia."
He gave Lucia's shoulder a light shove and walked past.
"If you understand, step aside."
Once Karma had brought her siblings into it, she could no longer resist.
The fact that he was taking care of her young siblings was true.
Lucia couldn't take responsibility for her siblings alone.
They would end up begging on the streets, literally.
And that, in the 6th District of the marquisate—which boasted the worst security imaginable.
She also knew that if she angered him further, he would lay his hands not only on Lucia but on her siblings as well.
Always.
That had been his way.
Lucia stared at the fist of Karma swinging rhythmically in time with his swaggering steps.
That hand was what kept her from escaping the guild.
And that hand would kill the second son of Hasgard.
...Even so, I can't pretend not to know.
Since she had been exempted from the summer break supplementary classes, she now had time to move.
More than enough time to tail Karma and head to the Subjugation Campaign.
***
Back to the present.
The Subjugation Campaign, begun in the middle of a green forest.
"Hm?"
The second, Roman, came to his senses and checked behind him.
Daywin, who was supposed to lead his own troops separately, had begun following him.
Did he see the goblins in person and get frightened.... The impact of a monster you've only read about in books versus one right in front of you is a different thing altogether.
Fear.
That seemed reason enough for Daywin to abruptly stick to Roman's side.
It's his first time, so that's understandable. I was surprised at first too. Right, Daywin. Just stay behind me.
Roman nodded and pulled the reins.
His troops soon reached the goblin forest.
No matter how weak a monster was compared to humans, from here on was their territory.
A forest packed densely with enormous trees.
Roman, anticipating goblins lying in ambush above the trees, swallowed hard.
"From here, we reduce our speed and approach slowly. Those with shields, come forward! Prepare for ambush!"
To block the arrows that would rain down from the trees, soldiers bearing tall shields filled the vanguard.
Thud!
As the frontline soldiers raised their shields and changed formation—
Whoosh─
The goblins hiding in the trees released their arrows.
Their intent was to throw things into chaos before the formation could be completed.
"Behind the shields! The front line must not break!"
Roman's soldiers moved according to their training.
They had anticipated the goblins would seize the high ground and fire arrows, so despite the chaos, they quickly formed up.
Crack! Thwack!
The frontline shield-bearers endured a volley of arrows.
...Why are there so many?
But something was off.
Thwump!
An arrow grazed past the side of a shield and lodged itself in a soldier's arm.
The soldier's brief cry grazed past, and Roman clenched his teeth.
The Subjugation Campaign was literally a festival, not a war.
Casualties from accidents occurred occasionally, but it was meant to include an element of entertainment.
And yet.
Too... many. Something feels wrong....
Roman Hasgard hid himself behind a shield.
The resistance was fiercer than expected.
There was no way to even know yet how many goblins there were.
Even if they pushed through this offensive, there was no telling how many more were swarming within the forest.
Something doesn't feel right. Something's... wrong.
At the same time.
Daywin quietly turned his head and met Esther's eyes.
"Esther, have you ever heard of the Hasgard family?"
He posed to Esther the same question someone had posed to Lucia.
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Esther thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"Actually... no...."
"I figured. Our story wouldn't even be a sub-story or side story to the protagonists."
"...Pardon?"
"It's nothing more than a rumor no one cares about. A rumor that can be erased and forgotten—one that simply passes by."
Daywin began a seemingly out-of-place story.
"I'm sorry, Patron. I... don't quite understand."
At Esther's words, Daywin simply laughed it off.
"Forget it. As I said—it's just a rumor."
The Hasgard family had absolutely no connection to the main story and was not even mentioned.
The descendants of a forgotten hero were unnecessary to the protagonist and the Heroines.
But 1 extra remembered.
An extra who had survived until the end of the world remembered that inconsequential story with a bone-deep ache.
The past-life Daywin had awakened remarkable Divine Energy, but had simply skipped the Subjugation Campaign because it was a bother.
He had spent the time alone at the manor, leisurely and at ease.
That day—which should have been peaceful and relaxed—he could never forget.
—Daywin, listen without panicking.
The eldest brother, who had always been bright and full of energy, faced Daywin while holding back tears.
—Roman has left us. It was an accident at the Subjugation Campaign.
Diar bit down as if to shatter his own molars and suppressed his boiling insides.
If Daywin had come to the Subjugation Campaign, things might have been different.
If the youngest, beloved by the goddess, had been there, he might have twisted the tragedy.
Both Diar and Daywin knew that fact.
The eyes of the eldest brother, who had lost his vitality, looked as if they were ready to unleash resentment at any moment.
He thought it meant understanding was now over.
If only you had been there.
If only you hadn't held back your strength.
If only you hadn't lived so pathetically.
—Daywin.
Anticipating the bitter words that would follow, Daywin squeezed his eyes shut.
He wished time would stop just like that, but regrettably, Diar spoke.
—I'm truly glad you didn't come.
He pulled Daywin tightly into his arms, and spoke with desperate sincerity.
The eldest hadn't tried to calculate what future might have changed had Daywin come.
Far from blaming Daywin for not coming to the Subjugation Campaign—
—I'm relieved you're safe.
He was relieved.
Even as Diar was being dragged into a maddening torrent of grief, he wished that his one remaining brother alone would be somewhere peaceful.
One eldest son was enough to stay behind in hell.
"Esther, I have never in my life been so ashamed."
Daywin wished he had been resented instead.
It was only then that he had decided to live properly—but by then it was too late.
Roman's death was only the beginning of the tragedy.
From that point, Hasgard slowly walked the path toward ruin.
─Having finished his thoughts, Daywin reached his hand toward the sky.
The moment he sent a prayer to the heavens—
Boom!
A vivid pillar of light piercing through the clouds enveloped Daywin.
"Patron...?"
Esther shielded her eyes with the back of her hand at the sudden flash.
The pillar of light receded, and the Daywin who revealed himself had changed to a startling degree.
Pure white.
Daywin was clad in gleaming white armor.
The symbol of a Holy Knight who had set foot on the battlefield bearing the will of god.
The power once held by the last Holy Knight.
Hmmm─
A ring of light floated behind Daywin's head.
The Halo.
Proof of being chosen by the goddess.
From here on is a story unrelated to the protagonist.
A story belonging only to an extra.
While the protagonist is in the spotlight, the extra moves busily behind the stage.
No one there turns their gaze.
No one there pays attention.
There are no choices and no bonds formed.
Not a single footprint can be left toward the goal of preventing the apocalypse.
He knows.
But.
I cannot pass by this event.