Vol 1 Chapter 37 – Exactly【Vol 1: The Beastkin Hero Arc】

At the sight of an unmistakable comrade arriving from the sky, the corners of Null’s mouth lifted. For them, it was the arrival of reinforcements, but Allen was inwardly irritated.

He had trusted the Fox Beak town vigilantes and left Acht in their care. Obviously, Acht had managed to escape. That alone wouldn’t have been a major issue, but the little girl tucked under Acht’s arm was giving Allen a serious headache. Asmodeus had been taken hostage.

Skillfully manipulating his flames, Acht glanced at everyone on the battlefield one by one before landing in silence. Allen had defeated him in an instant on the snowy mountain near Fox Beak, though that was only because Acht had let his guard down. Just how strong would he be if they fought head-on?

Meanwhile, Asmodeus looked at Allen from under Acht’s arm and smiled sweetly.

“Now that I have arrived, you can rest easy, Allen.”

“…No, how exactly?”

She was literally nothing but a liability in this situation. Reluctantly, Allen prepared to activate Leonhardt’s power once more. Strangely enough, however, Acht showed absolutely zero hostility.

“So everyone except Vier got taken out, huh? Guess I was a little late.”

Acht reached down to where Eins was buried deep in the ground and hauled him out of the dirt. He checked the extent of his comrade’s injuries while dusting him off. Eins’s face was red and swollen, but his chest rose and fell steadily, meaning his life wasn’t in danger.

“Everyone’s alive. So it’s true… I knew it.”

Acht looked at Allen with an expression of sudden realization. While Allen inwardly tilted his head in confusion, Acht turned to Null.

“Null. Do you know what Allen Norsh is calling himself right now?”

“…W-What are you suddenly spouting? Acht, this isn’t the time for pointless questions… Hurry up and kill them. Allen and Leonhardt.”

Null spat out the words with hatred as he coughed through the poison.

“Just answer the question.”

“Tell us, Acht. Everything you know.”

Vier stepped in between them.

“…Vier, brace yourself. It’s a name we know very well. We owe a massive debt to the person who uses it.”

Allen had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. When he glanced at Asmodeus, she placed an index finger over her lips and gestured for him to stay quiet. Did that mean things weren’t going to take a turn for the worse?

“…”

Vier stared at Allen with a dumbfounded expression, while even Null contorted his face in sheer disbelief. The only one still completely lost was Allen.

“—Noir the Mercenary. There’s no way you’ve forgotten that name. He’s the man who saved us when our personalities were supposed to be erased during the final adjustments.”

“…N-No way, that’s…”

“…I see. As expected of the Obsidian Knight, you are…”

Null couldn’t contain his agitation, while Vier looked down deep in thought. Inwardly, Allen’s head was spinning.

(What about Noir? He saved them?)

As far as he could remember, he hadn’t done anything of the sort.

“Hey, Obsidian Knight. Mind showing us the 【Cursed Brain of Domination: Brain Order】 as proof? You have it, don’t you?”

Prompted suddenly by Acht, Allen finally remembered. He recalled the existence of that disgusting ancient artifact. He had decided to take it with him simply because there hadn’t been any particularly good loot in the ruins he had gone out of his way to clear.

“Boyo-chan. Can you handle this?”

“…Ribbit.”

A large toad wiggled its way out from Allen’s collar and hopped onto his shoulder. The jade-colored frog, whose eyes sparkled like aquamarine gems, puffed up its body and regurgitated the requested item from its massive mouth. Rolling onto the ground was a brain encased in crystal. It was the ancient artifact he had completely forgotten about—the 【Cursed Brain of Domination: Brain Order】.

“…Look, he’s been trying to help us this whole time. Null, the fact that you can feel hatred and sorrow right now… Even the other emotions—the very fact that you feel a sense of camaraderie towards us—is all thanks to the Obsidian Knight.”

Hearing Acht’s words, Vier finally spoke up.

“…Null, you know my illusions force the target to constantly relive the event they find most painful and regretful, right? His dream was of that day eight years ago. He is still agonizing over the fact that he couldn’t save us.”

The gaze from Vier, who was smiling faintly, felt so incredibly awkward that Allen averted his eyes and looked over at Asmodeus. She silently mouthed at him to just play along.

He had only recovered the 【Cursed Brain of Domination: Brain Order】 because there was no other decent treasure around. Furthermore, during the tragedy of Dawn Belt eight years ago, the only thing he found painful was running around exhausted from a lack of sleep. It had nothing to do with failing to save them. Of course it was sad that he couldn’t save them, but that was his absolute limit at the time. He wouldn’t have been able to rescue them before sacrifices were made anyway.

This was awkward. It was incredibly awkward, but the best way to resolve this peacefully was to just agree with them. Breaking out in a cold sweat, Allen finally spoke.

“—Exactly. Not a day has gone by where I haven’t thought about you artificial heroes. I’ve lived in constant regret. If only I had rushed there sooner. If only I hadn’t handed you over to Helmis. Things wouldn’t have turned out like this.”

“…”

“When I realized the Empire’s intentions, I set out for the ancient ruins to at least stop it before you were turned into perfect weapons.”

Allen spoke to Null using all the acting skills he had cultivated over the years. It was a deeply convincing performance that practically overflowed with earnest emotion. It wasn’t clear if it actually reached him, but Null closed both eyes and let out a thin breath.

“…I… see… By faking your own death, you knew the Empire would forcefully push forward with their plan to invade the Demon Continent. And you predicted we would be deployed for that plan, waiting for an opportunity to save us.”

“…Exactly.”

“…”

After a long silence, Null released the tension from his entire body and sprawled out on his back, looking up at the sky.

“…You didn’t make it in time the first time, but you made it in time for the second. For protecting the hearts of my comrades, I thank you.”

“…”

“You can go now. I promise I won’t hurt Leonhardt. Consider it my thanks for protecting my friends.”

Null muttered this as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders, as if the fog clouding his heart had finally cleared.

“But Helmis Glengaia is strong. Even if all of us artificial heroes attacked him at once, we couldn’t win.”

Opening his eyes slightly, he saw the back of the hero riding upon a magnificent black dragon.

“—As the former World Knight, I refuse to lose to him.”

Unable to keep his eyes open against the wind pressure of the dragon taking off, Null closed them. He watched the black dragon soar away, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.