Chapter 388
Bertus and I were drinking tea on the terrace after a long time.
two relics.
I already knew that I was the owner of Tiamata. At the time of Saviolin Tana’s warning, I had a premonition to some extent.
Bertus seemed to be about to say something, but hesitated a bit, as if the words were stuck in his throat.
My fingertips are shaking.
This baby you.
Think of that again!
“… … .”
Perhaps thinking that speaking itself is already losing, Berthus grinned and said nothing.
“Well, okay. That’s not going to be important. That you were chosen for two holy objects. That would be important.”
okay.
Let’s get that out of our heads.
I think something really dizzy will come out soon, but I’m tired of being dizzy this way.
If it’s enough to get two sacred objects selected, you’re a great guy like Lagann Artorius, but why the hell did you dress as a girl?
I don’t want to hear that!
Bertus stares at me with a serious expression.
“There are many things I want to ask you, Reinhardt.”
“… … That, yes.”
“This is not that!”
“Oh, didn’t you say anything?”
Bertus and I couldn’t get serious after that incident!
“shallot.”
But when the name was mentioned, I had to calm down.
“Is that what you did?”
know and ask
You can’t get away with it. He didn’t ask specifically what he did. I guess you don’t even need to do that.
“okay.”
“Yeah, it’s good that you don’t gossip meaninglessly.”
You already know everything about my and Charlotte’s actions. Bertus mixes black tea with milk and stirs gently with a teaspoon.
“Reinhardt, I can no longer touch you. You’re not an idiot either, so I think you know that much.”
“… … .”
Not one, but two relics.
Killing me or harming me is nonsense. My existence has become so important that the option of touching it has disappeared. Even if I’m on Charlotte’s side.
The scary thing about Bertus is that.
You don’t say how much you know.
Do you even know that you saved Charlotte’s life, or do you even know how to do it, how much do you know about Charlotte’s current condition?
They don’t reveal it at all, and then suddenly say that they know the middle ground of the truth as if it were obvious.
It confuses the listener.
That’s why I don’t know how much to say, and when I talk, I end up saying things Bertus doesn’t know.
It’s like a snake-like speech.
“Reinhardt, you can be on Charlotte’s side, but being my enemy is another option. She may be on Charlotte’s side and not on my side, but being on Charlotte’s side doesn’t necessarily mean she’s on my side.”
Bertus stares at me quietly.
“Are you going to be my enemy? Let’s just make sure of that.”
What will happen if you say I will be your enemy?
Bertus wouldn’t say anything about it. You can leave me alone for now, or you can use some number.
“I have no intention of doing that.”
“Yeah, that’s what I want too.”
It has changed from before.
I’m not just a Royal Class student, I have two relics. Unless you know Ellen has two, I’m the only person in the world to have two relics.
Just as I don’t want to have Bertus as an enemy, Bertus can’t help but want to have me as an enemy.
Bertus takes a sip of milk tea.
“By the way, Reinhardt, do you know that?”
The boy’s expression turns cold.
“The race for the succession to the throne has already ended.”
Bertus declared with a cold expression.
“Charlotte can’t be emperor.”
I didn’t think it was surprising.
Bertus defeated one of the greatest threats to the Empire, the revolutionary forces.
And that’s not all.
While Charlotte couldn’t even take care of herself properly, Bertus took care of a lot of things.
Compared to Charlotte, who was daunted by just overcoming the aftereffects of the abduction of the Devil’s Castle, Bertus must have tested his abilities several times. Continue where I don’t know.
Charlotte can’t do anything.
Bertus kept showing me something.
The succession to the throne would have slowly declined in such a situation, and would have completely passed to Bertus after the Revolutionary Incident.
Of course, it wasn’t known to the outside world, but Bertus’ exploits would be known as much as the emperor.
The dice have been rolled, and the results are already out.
“Of course, apart from all that, the fact that the demon king’s soul resides alone means that there is no way for Charlotte to become the emperor of the empire.”
did you know there
The demon king’s soul and Charlotte’s soul cannot be separated. As long as Bertus knew this, Charlotte’s life would be lost if Bertus made a joke.
“Reinhardt, you may not believe me when I say this, but I do not want to kill my brother.”
Since he had said such things with an overly cold expression, it was even more difficult to believe the words that were hard to believe just by hearing them.
“What do you think is the reason?”
Because they are brothers.
That will never be the reason. Having a reason must mean that it is better not to kill Charlotte after all.
There is only one reason.
“… … Is it because of me?”
“okay.”
If Charlotte is harmed, I will become Bertus’s enemy. I made up my mind to do so, and since he knew what I had done, Bertus would know that too. And Bertus came to tell me that he didn’t want to have me as an enemy.
“If an outgoing madman like you became my enemy, I’d feel a chill on the back of my neck too.”
The school bully Reinhardt became the bully hero Reinhardt. The scope and scale of what can be done will change.
To put it bluntly, if Lagann Artorius were alive, no one in the world would have treated Artorius lightly, and no one would have wanted to become his enemy.
Killing Charlotte makes me an enemy.
So Bertus says it’s good for him not to kill Charlotte. Because the existence of the country has become a stumbling block.
“But, I can’t help but kill Charlotte.”
“… … why?”
“There is no reason to keep him alive. Charlotte’s existence itself already affects my imperial authority. So, if Charlotte is alive, after I’m confirmed as the next emperor or after I ascend the throne, people around me will be clamoring to kill her hundreds of times a day. I’ll be hearing that in my ears for days, months, and years, and if I just refuse to do it, my aides won’t understand me. And servants prefer a cruel ruler to one who has withered away. because that’s for sure You can’t distrust her aides for keeping Charlotte, who was a powerful contender for the imperial power, alive for no good reason, can you?”
A powerful heir to the imperial throne threatens the imperial authority by itself if he survives after being eliminated. There is a good chance that there will be an uprising of supporters to appoint Charlotte, and if Bertus makes a mistake, there could be a movement to appoint a new emperor.
There would be no reason to keep Charlotte alive, and Bertus would inevitably have to kill Charlotte against his will.
don’t want to kill but it must be killed
Charlotte said the same thing.
If you don’t become emperor, you will have no choice but to die.
From the beginning, the fight between the two was a fight between becoming emperor or dying. At the two crossroads, they couldn’t decide the other person’s life or death with their own will.
If you survive, you must kill your opponent.
However, if Bertus kills Charlotte, the country will make an enemy.
“This is a pain in the ass. I don’t know if you die fighting the demon lord, but if things work out well and you kill the demon lord and become the hero of mankind, and I become the emperor, you don’t know what you’ll do to me out of your mind. But if the demon king kills you, who would have become a hero of mankind after death… … . There must be no Emperor or Nabal, probably. What would happen if the emperor killed Lagan Artorius, who had returned alive? That’s right, it’ll be like that.”
I don’t care about excessively bloody sounds.
For me to kill the demon lord and calmly say that it is best for me to be destroyed like Lagann Artorius.
Of course, if I were a real hero, I might be afraid of Bertus stabbing me with a sword, but I’m physically incapable of fighting the demon lord.
Bertus must kill Charlotte.
But if you do kill it, something very dangerous happens.
“So, even if you end up killing Charlotte, it can’t be helped, so understand… … . what. Are you saying that?”
At my words, Bertus shook his head.
“I can’t understand you saying that.”
As if that wasn’t the case, Bertus gave a fishy smile.
“Didn’t you say there was no reason?”
“… … It did.”
There is no reason to keep Charlotte alive.
Therefore, his aides will insist that he must kill Charlotte to solidify the imperial power, and Bertus has nothing to refute.
“So, you need a cause.”
reason, justification.
“The cause I don’t have to kill my brother.”
Even if Bertus becomes the emperor, the justification not to kill Charlotte. A cause her entourage could not demand to kill Charlotte.
Bertus stirred the teacup and gave a fishy smile.
From the matter of Charlotte’s soul, it eventually comes back to the political issue.
A girl who must die no matter which way she goes.
Charlotte de Gradias.
“You want to save my brother’s life?”
Last time, you rescued Charlotte from the darkness, so this time, will you try to rescue her from a political situation where you have to die?
At Bertus’s question, I nodded without lying.
“yes.”
“Somehow?”
“Somehow.”
Bertus laughs.
“Marry my brother.”
Dettomorian’s prophecy.
“There is no other way.”
That it had foreseen this situation, I now realize.
and.
I couldn’t help but know what kind of personal request the emperor was trying to make to me.
However, a question arose.
“Then, wouldn’t Charlotte’s cause as the heir to the imperial throne become stronger as well?”
Despite what he said, Bertus had no reason to save Charlotte.
It’s because she doesn’t want to have me as her enemy, but marrying someone who has a holy relic gives her strength.
“I guess so.”
Bertus must have some thoughts. He would never do Charlotte any good.
However, Bertus didn’t tell me what he was thinking.
Or do you really feel pity for Charlotte?
* * *
Bertus was already confident of victory, and knew he couldn’t do it until it was overturned.
And I know that.
Even if Bertus didn’t exist, he didn’t know if Charlotte would be able to become emperor. Charlotte, who has become one with the demon king’s soul, learns that she has become the owner of an ominous power unless she can fully control the power of darkness.
By itself, apart from all other matters, Charlotte cannot become emperor.
That’s why Bertus already doesn’t recognize Charlotte as a competitor. However, if he kills Charlotte under the pressure of his aides, the country will become an enemy.
That’s what Bertus is saying.
That I’m a little afraid
I am the owner of Alsbringer and Tiamata.
If Charlotte marries me, I will rise in status, but Charlotte will be safe.
If the fight with the demon king becomes visible in the future, my existence will inevitably be revealed.
The hero of mankind, the hope of mankind.
This modifier will stick to me.
And if Charlotte becomes my wife, the Empire can’t touch Charlotte any more than it can touch me. Whether or not Bertus becomes emperor, there will be no talk of killing Charlotte until I die.
Even the emperor would know that. So he tried to ask me that kind of favor, but then stopped. I had a heavy presence to ask for a personal favor, so I couldn’t ask for something for personal reasons.
Charlotte will know this too.
If you want to save Charlotte, you have to get married. Now that Alsbringer is in my hands, my justification has become stronger.
That’s why Bertus has been talking. I don’t know what to do if a guy with not one but two holy relics turns around.
But is it okay to decide that regardless of Charlotte’s will?
What was Bertus’ intention?
– Kaang!
“What are you thinking about?”
“… … uh. no. just.”
“hand.”
Ellen picked me up after I was pushed farther back.
what am i supposed to do
I had promised countless times that I would protect Charlotte somehow, but now I have to do it. If she doesn’t do that, she can’t be saved.
Is that really correct?
