In a Female-Dominant World with a 5:1 Gender Ratio, I Saved a Girl as a Kid, and She Said She Wanted to Be My Bride—Who Would’ve Thought She Was a Princess… - 60 END

Chapter 60: The Mask Is Torn Away and the King’s Decision

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(Alto’s POV)

“Y–you bastard…! You’re just a commoner! And you! You filthy traitorous woman—aaah!!”

Leonardo’s roar shook the throne room. But it was no longer a human voice. A low, distorted noise was mixed in, a dissonance that made the very space itself creak.

Bokoo… Gjuju…

From Leonardo’s back, pitch-black, viscous magical power erupted like sludge, transforming into several tentacles that began smashing pillars and pulverizing the floor around them. The beautiful duke’s son’s face became covered in geometric cracks, twisting into something grotesque.

“Hii!?”

“W–what is that…? A monster!?”

The royal guards lost their footing, collapsing where they stood, and even His Majesty the King clung to the throne, trembling. It was only natural. The thing before them was no longer the Leonardo they knew. It was the end result of a “runaway program,” ravaged by the system and stripped of all control.

『—Warning. Ego collapse confirmed for target “Leonardo.”』

『Due to administrator-authority overload, an area-wide “initialization format” is about to begin.』

The system announced this inside my head. Leonardo himself could no longer stop it.

“Your Majesty the King! As you can see!”

I shouted to the king behind me without retreating a single step.

“The ‘chosen power’ he spoke of is nothing but a calamity that could destroy this entire country! Do you still intend to make that thing king!?”

“U–ugh…! B–but then, what should we do…!?”

The king was panicking. Then there was only one thing to do, show him.

“Liliana, stay behind me.”

“Alto…”

“It’s fine. That thing isn’t my enemy anymore.”

I dismounted from the reborn Sleipnir and began walking toward Leonardo on foot.

“Aaaaallltooo…! Disappeaaar! Disappeaaaar!!”

Leonardo’s left eye emitted an intense red glow.

Zugagagagagaga!!

Countless black tentacles rushed toward me like spears. It was an unavoidable saturation attack combining physical and magical damage, but—

“Too slow.”

I could see it. The trajectory of every tentacle, their construction formulas, the energy branch points.

Hyun, hyun, paan!

With minimal movement, I dodged them and at times knocked them aside with my bare hands. At the instant of contact, I reverse-calculated the spell and neutralized it. To me now, this wasn’t combat. It was debugging.

“W–why!? Why can’t I hit you!?”

Leonardo shouted in panic.

“I’m an administrator! I am the world itself!”

“No. You’re just a ‘user.’ And a badly infected one, at that.”

In an instant, I stepped into Leonardo’s inner range. The Absolute Barrier deployed around him…. Its complex strings of characters floated across my retina.

…Here it is. The security hole.

I concentrated golden magical power into my right hand. This wasn’t physical destruction. It was a custom-built program designed to forcibly strip away only the parasitic “administrator authority” from the system called Leonardo.

“I’m taking that authority back. …It’s a toy far beyond you.”

Bajiiiiiin!!

My palm slammed into Leonardo’s chest, the core of his magic core.

“G–ha…!? W–what did you do…? My power… It’s draining…!?”

A shockwave pierced through him. From Leonardo’s back, something like a black shadow screamed as it burst out. It was the remnants of the Demon King. It dispersed into mist midair, losing its form and vanishing. At the same time, the red color in Leonardo’s left eye rapidly faded, returning to its original blue. The tentacles collapsed, turning into nothing more than mud.

“Ah… Ahh…”

Leonardo crumpled to his knees. Staring at his own hands, he muttered in a trembling voice.

“My… Magic… My chosen power… it’s gone…Nothing… There’s nothing…”

“You just returned to normal, Leonardo.”

I looked down at him.

“From the start, you were just a man who was a little good at playing with fire. …Live as who you really are.”

Leonardo lost consciousness as if his strings had been cut and collapsed onto the floor. Silence fell. The throne room was as quiet as if water had been poured over it. I turned on my heel and faced the king on the throne. My clothes were caked in mud. My body was battered. Yet no one dared look down on me as a “commoner.”

I met the king’s gaze directly and spoke.

“Your Majesty. This is the truth.”

I pointed to the fallen Leonardo.

“He drowned in power and sold his soul to a monster. …Do you still acknowledge him as the next king?”

The king gripped the armrest of the throne with trembling hands, then slowly shook his head.

“…No. I will not. I cannot place such a monster upon the throne.”

At those words, the knights exhaled in relief. The king then looked at Liliana and finally, at me.

“Young man… No, Alto, was it? …You are the one who saved my daughter?”

“I simply took back someone important to me.”

I took Liliana’s hand and guided her before the king.

“Liliana is not a tool. She is a human being with her own will. …Your Majesty, please respect her wishes.”

Liliana gathered the hem of her dress and performed an elegant yet resolute curtsy.

“Father. …I will no longer be anyone’s doll. I will choose my own life.”

After a long silence, the king let out a deep sigh and seemed to smile faintly.

“…You’ve grown strong, Liliana. …It seems the royal birdcage was far too small for you.”

The king gave a glance to the captain of the royal guard. The knights sheathed their swords, releasing all hostility toward us.

“Alto-dono. …You have my gratitude. For saving the country… And for saving my daughter.”

The king bowed his head to me, a commoner. A murmur rippled through the room, but the king paid it no mind.

“However, the law is the law. Princess abduction and injury to a duke’s son… To overlook these requires sufficient justification.”

“…Are you going to arrest me?”

“No.”

The king stood from the throne and declared loudly.

“As of today, the princess’ engagement with Leonardo von Falkenberg is annulled! And…”

The king pointed at me and grinned.

“Alto shall be treated as a ‘hero’ who saved this kingdom. …Surely no one objects to that?”

A hero. I gave a wry smile at the word. I never intended to become anything so grand. I just wanted to ride my bike with the girl I liked.

“…Well, it doesn’t sound bad.”

Liliana and I exchanged glances and laughed. Her smile shone like the sun. And so, the long flight and the battles came to an end. But this was only the beginning of a “happily ever after.”

After all, there were still bugs left in the world that needed fixing.

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