“F-fire!”“H-hurry, draw water from the well!”Because of the sudden fire that broke out at dawn, all the villagers grabbed whatever buckets they had at home and headed for the well.“Hey, that well’s blocked!”“Loen cleared it! Hurry!”The villagers lined up in front of the well, quickly drew water, and ran toward the village chief’s house, which was on fire.“Chief, why are the flames—!”“……”Fwoosh-.The log house, wrapped in flames, was slowly collapsing.The village chief gripped his cane with a trembling hand and stared at the burning, collapsing house.'Something’s gone wrong.'Even if Duron had killed Loen and come out, he should have come out long ago.The house was already on fire, but there was no sign of Duron coming out.Could he be planning to burn to death together with Loen.'…I can’t let Duron die too.'It was bad enough to have lost Amy; to lose his son-in-law as well because of that bastard Loen?After a moment’s hesitation, the village chief clenched his teeth and shouted.“Hurry, hurry and put out the fire!”“Yes, sir!”Splash-.While the villagers were pouring water from the well onto the blazing house—“What’s going on!”At some point, even Ciel, Loen’s maid, and Freya had arrived.“Tch.”Ciel stared blankly at the burning, collapsing house, then immediately ran into the thick smoke.The village chief reached out a hand to stop her, then dropped it.“……”Even though Ciel was the maid who followed around the heinous Loen, the village chief did not hate her.On the contrary, she was the grateful person who had always transported and brought the supplies Lord Kaizel sent to the village.He didn’t want such a person getting hurt by running into the fire, but he lowered his hand because he thought she might be able to rescue Duron.She might save Loen as well, but that couldn’t be helped. If he wanted Duron saved, he had to accept that too.“Kh.”Just as Ciel was sweeping away the searing heat with mana and about to enter the burning house—Boom-.The roof of the burning log house suddenly blew off, and Loen jumped out, breaking through the thick smoke.Thud-.Leaping down from the second floor, Loen landed safely on the ground.On his shoulder, he was carrying a man they had never seen before.“Lord Loen!”Ciel and Freya rushed over to Loen and checked his condition.“Are you all right?”“……”Instead of answering, Loen set the man down from his shoulder onto the ground.Leaving aside who the man was, at least it was a relief that Loen didn’t seem to have any major problems.He didn’t look like he’d inhaled much smoke, and his clothes were intact as well, so it didn’t seem he’d been burned.Maybe it was thanks to the artifact.After confirming Loen’s condition, Freya asked.“What in ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ the world happened here?”Freya looked around at the chaotic scene.The village chief’s house burning in the middle of the night.The mysterious man Loen had carried out on his shoulder.“Duron, are you all right! Duron!”And the village chief hurrying over to the man whose hands were soaked in blood to check his condition.“……”Loen silently looked down at the village chief and the man.In his eyes there seemed to be some mixture of anger, sorrow, and regret.“Ah…”From that, Freya realized what was going on.That man, bearing a grudge against Loen, had launched a night attack.The fire in the house had also been set either to kill Loen, or to destroy the evidence.The village chief might also be involved in this matter.His attitude toward Loen today had been a little strange, after all.Once she finished thinking it through, Freya forced herself to move her lips.“Loen, could it be that what happened tonight is…”But she couldn’t finish her sentence.“No.”Cutting her off, Loen let out a sigh and said.“Nothing… happened.”***That morning.We packed our belongings right away and left the village.As we were leaving, the villagers came out to see us off.“……”Dejected villagers.Because of the fire that had broken out at dawn, they were afraid of what kind of report I might make once I returned to the main castle.The child of a great lord had stayed in their village and nearly burned to death, so it was only natural they’d be terrified.On top of that, that child was the infamous Loen, so they couldn’t help but worry about what kind of retaliation might come later.I spoke to the villagers, who were trembling in fear.“Don’t worry. Nothing that happened this time will be made known.”The fire that had broken out at dawn, and even the village chief and Duron’s night attack on me—All of that would be glossed over.“Loen, but…”Freya had apparently figured out the rough outline of what had happened.She tried to say something, but I immediately stopped her.“That’s enough.”This was the conclusion I reached after thinking about it all night.'…Even if I report this incident and have those two punished, will that actually make me feel better?'Aslan might be a good person, but she was merciless when it came to enforcing the law, so Duron and the village chief, who had tried to harm me, would have little chance of surviving.The crime of attempting to kill a noble was at least a capital offense. And they would die under horrific torture.Their night attack on me was infuriating, but I didn’t wish for that kind of ending.In the first place, it was Loen who had caused this.'What happened last night was ultimately just reaping the seeds Loen had sown.'Maybe this was a burden I had to bear for gaining a new life in Loen’s body.And—'From the beginning, their night attack didn’t leave me with the slightest scratch or pose the least threat.'The warning stone had alerted me to the surprise attack in advance, and even in my sleep I was always protected by the Aegis shield, so I didn’t have to worry about being stabbed with a blade.And with Transmutation magic, I could always open a path and escape no matter what situation I was in, so there was nothing to worry about.Even if they had poisoned the food, it wouldn’t have been a problem. I had the Silver Dragon Armor, immune to all poisons.No matter what means they used, I had been safe.'In the end, Loen caused this, and I didn’t actually suffer any real damage.'That was why I chose not to pursue what had happened yesterday.The only thing that still bothered me was the origin of this incident.In other words, I still couldn’t understand why Loen had harmed Amy.“……”When I said I would gloss over this, the village chief and Duron silently bowed their heads.I didn’t know what they were thinking right now.Whether they were grateful I’d spared their lives, or disappointed they hadn’t managed to kill me.Whether they were secretly sneering at my spineless judgment, or sharpening their blades of revenge once more.But there was one thing I was sure of.'Inside, they would be carrying considerable anxiety.'Even if I said I would gloss over it, there was no guarantee I would keep that promise.With just a word, Loen had the power to wipe out an entire village.Having to keep living under that anxiety… would be the minimum punishment I laid on them.“Let’s go.”Just as we were about to leave the village together—A little kid darted out from among the villagers and handed me a bundle.“Big brother, take this.”It was Jimmy, the village chief’s grandson and the son of Duron and Amy.Inside the bundle was leftover food from yesterday.“……”Thinking that Jimmy’s scruffy appearance was because he hadn’t received proper care from his mother Amy made my heart ache a little.But had Jimmy never heard any curses about me from the village chief or his father Duron?It was a bit strange how warmly he treated me.Maybe he was simply too young to know, or maybe, for his education, they hadn’t spoken of me at all in front of him.For now, I accepted the bundle Jimmy held out and said.“Thank you.”“It’s nothing. Ah, Loen. Come a little closer for a second. I have something to tell you.”Something to tell me?I didn’t know what it was, but I bent down and brought my ear close to Jimmy.Then Jimmy whispered quietly in my ear so no one else could hear.“Before she passed away, my mom said she was grateful to you. She told me to make sure I told you, but I’m a little late.”“……”Grateful, huh.Jimmy added.“You can’t tell anyone. Mom said it was a secret. She said Grandpa and Dad wouldn’t understand even if they heard it anyway.”'Is that so.'I didn’t know the exact circumstances, but maybe Amy’s death had been something she herself wanted.I still didn’t know Loen’s precise intent in directly carrying it out, but hearing Jimmy’s words made me feel a lot lighter.At the very least, it seemed he hadn’t killed her out of malice.“Thank you for passing that on.”I patted Jimmy’s head and straightened up again.Then we left the village straight away.“Let’s go.”***Three days later.After leaving Morefit Village, we arrived at the main castle of House Dvralis and at the Wall, the center of the western front.“Haa.”After laboriously climbing over a high hill, a massive city spread out below.“It’s been a while.”With a smile, Freya looked down at the view below.Under the setting sun, golden fields stretched out, and a gigantic triple-layered wall rose high enough to touch the sky.Around that wall lay the home of hundreds of thousands of humans.This was the border separating the land of the Demons from the land of humans, and humanity’s final bastion.The main castle of House Dvralis. The ‘Wall at the End.’I too smiled as I looked at the majestic, heart-throbbing sight.In the very late stages of the main quest, the final war to block the hordes of monsters had been fought here.It felt strange seeing the ruined game-scape overlapped with this lively, vibrant scene.If this Wall at the End were to fall and the city be destroyed, just how many people would die.And when that happened, would I be able to treat those who were dying as mere NPCs.“……”Silently gazing down at the city, I turned my eyes to Ciel and Freya.Ciel and Freya.They were also NPCs in the game… but I no longer saw them as just characters.At the very least, the people I’d seen in this world so far had all been living human beings.As I stared at them blankly, Freya tilted her head.“Is something wrong?”“It’s nothing.”We looked down at the city for a moment, then entered through the Wall.The checkpoint guarding the edge of the city.When our party stood in front of the checkpoint, the guards’ eyes went wide.“Lord Loen? Ciel? You really did arrive early.”“That’s how it turned out. May we go in?”“O-of course. Lady Freya, you’ve come as well. Welcome to House Dvralis. An escort…”“Is unnecessary.”Who would dare attack Loen in the main castle of House Dvralis.Crossing the drawbridge over the Seine River, which the guards were protecting, we entered the city center.A bustling marketplace. Streets that felt like the middle of a festival.Even though the city faced the land of the Demons directly across the wall, it was filled with energy.That was proof of how firm the trust in Aslan’s rule and House Dvralis was.After walking down the street for a while, we heard people murmuring as they saw us.“Loen? It’s Loen.”“Isn’t he supposed to be in Union?”“It’s vacation. Shh, keep your voice down. He’ll notice.”I thought I’d grown used to this sort of reaction, but it still felt a bit off to be treated like this even in a place that was basically home.No, if anything, since this was the place where Loen had been most active, his infamy would be even greater.People also whispered when they saw Freya walking behind me.“What’s she doing here…”“Didn’t they break off the engagement?”“Looks like they’re getting back together. They were close since they were kids.”“Seriously? Then House Dvralis and House Gunhilde are going to be in-laws?”We heard this and that, but Freya didn’t show much reaction, as if she’d been prepared for at least this much.Following the main road leading up to the castle, we soon reached the main gate of the outer wall.Rumble-.Even though we hadn’t knocked or called anyone, the massive stone gate rose as if it had been waiting for us.Beyond that gate stood an old man in well-maintained armor.House Dvralis’s head steward. Fernandez.Unlike an ordinary servant or hired help, he had the intense fighting spirit unique to warriors as he bowed to me.“Welcome home, Lord Loen. Duke Aslan is waiting for you.”

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