I had decided to forget it. I had sworn not to let it bother me. Yet, whenever I had a spare moment, my mind descended into turmoil.
‘I went out of my way to bring us to a restaurant just so I could try acting normal around Belsus.’
Perhaps it would have been better if we hadn't come. I pointlessly scraped the leftover sauce on my empty plate with a fork. Belsus, who had been gazing up at the sky through the window, slowly turned his head.
His strong jawline softly refracted the lamplight. If the contours of his profile were moonlight, they seemed to brilliantly cleave through the sea.
Strangely, my heart rate began to accelerate; it was undoubtedly due to anxiety and tension.
The moment his deep gaze settled on me felt as long as an eternity.
"I still don't understand... why you treat me so well."
It was the same thing Belsus always said, but it no longer sounded the same to me.
I was vividly feeling the weight of his words. A weight as heavy as the sky pressed down on me.
Is he really just a character to me?
"I am grateful to you."
Belsus didn't even wait for an answer to his previous question, aimlessly repeating words that sounded more like a soliloquy. His way of speaking was bizarrely peculiar like this sometimes.
"...Why say that now? I owe you a lot too, so I think the feeling is mutual at this point."
"For staying alive."
During the ensuing silence, a waiter approached, set down our dessert, and left.
Belsus didn't even glance at the sugar confection serving as dessert; instead, he toyed with the white parchment paper placed beneath it. After folding the paper intricately several times, an origami flower took shape.
"You really like doing things like this, huh."
Belsus rested the white paper rose on his left palm and offered it to me. I accepted it reluctantly, placing it neatly on the side of the table.
Why does Belsus keep giving me things like this? I never saw him act this way in the game.
"...Do you have anything else you want to say to me?"
Unable to bear the silence, I blurted out words that might end up putting me at a disadvantage later.
The corners of Belsus's eyes crinkled softly, swaying like a dark reed bed.
"I've always had things I wanted to say."
"...Like what?"
"I wanted to ask if there is anything you desire from me."
Something I desire? Well... for you to become the No. 1 Hunter.
I could frankly voice even such a burdensome request to Belsus. I had even told him once before that I would make him the Emperor.
Historically, an Emperor had never reigned over this continent. Belsus might have taken my words as a joke, or perhaps he immediately thought of the prophecy regarding the Emperor of the Tower.
However, the words caught in my throat as I tried to say them.
For the first time, I felt afraid of Belsus. Afraid of the Belsus who would obediently execute whatever I asked of him.
I have no idea what kind of feelings he holds for me.
"Just... keep doing what you've been doing so far. That's enough."
I tried to speak with my usual relaxed attitude, but the end of my sentence trembled slightly. Did Belsus notice?
The heavy gaze fixed on me. It was familiar, yet it now made me indescribably anxious.
Even the phrase "just the way you are is enough" was something I hesitated to readily spit out now.
There was no need to use my Reading ability. In fact, using Reading would be akin to exposing the fact that I was flustered. We both knew the exact moment the other used it.
Reading was the best means to understand Belsus's heart, but to think I couldn't even use it as I pleased anymore.
Caught in these unfamiliar and uncomfortable dilemmas that I desperately wanted to ignore, unable to do this or that, I finally caved.
Let's just escape this atmosphere.
All I had to do was feign ignorance. Ignorance of my strangely pounding heart and the anxious urge to bite my nails.
I decided to stop digging for the truth and voluntarily close my eyes, relying on the consideration Belsus offered me.
"...About what I discussed with Paladin earlier."
I reverted back to being Belsus's master.
Skillfully changing the subject, I flashed a grin at Belsus to divert his attention.
"Things went according to plan. Someone broke Hunter Jeyaroe out of prison."
It was a topic Belsus couldn't possibly ignore. As expected, his expression changed instantly.
"Now, let's go retrieve the man who will become your backer."
I had anticipated this for a while now. Someone was bound to break the NPC named Jeyaroe out of prison to exploit him.
Take, for example, the closest candidate: Princess Cherina, born as a Hunter and thoroughly despised by the Demihaad royal family.
If this were just the original game, Cherina wouldn't have been able to do anything even if she knew of Jeyaroe's existence.
However, Cherina currently had the Puppeteer by her side, and the Puppeteer could manipulate dolls. Cherina herself couldn't do it since she was secretly an Archer who learned the bow.
When Belsus first found out that Jeyaroe was alive in prison, he had consulted with me.
>"I must go rescue him. Even if he does not remember me at all... or even if he is ashamed of me and refuses to acknowledge me as his disciple, just like before."
Belsus had bared his shameful past with a stoic expression. Without reacting, I merely nodded quietly as if listening to someone else's story.
That alone seemed to give Belsus comfort, as the tension in his brow gently melted away.
>"It's too dangerous for you to break into the prison yourself. I know it's hard, but please wait. Trust me. Even if you don't step in, Hunter Jeyaroe will end up leaving that prison."
>"How?"
>"Someone else will break him out. We'll intercept him then."
That was why I thought we'd have to snatch Jeyaroe from the Puppeteer... I never imagined the Puppeteer would hand him straight over to the Holy State of Venaro.
'Why give him up to the Thief?’
Soon, I reached the conclusion that Jeyaroe might not be as useful a card for the Princess as I initially thought.
No matter how estranged the Princess was from the current King, Jeyaroe was someone who served the previous dynasty. Even if there wasn't a single person from the former Mobizanen dynasty left alive, Jeyaroe still wouldn't turn to the Princess's side.
‘Maybe the Puppeteer tried to win him over and failed.’
But if that was the case, they could have just killed him. To go out of their way to hand him over to the Thief, essentially doing a favor for a competitor...
If so, the Puppeteer and the Thief were allies at the very least. Or perhaps... something even closer.
Being the only woman among us, the Puppeteer tended to avoid the others, but it seemed she had opened up to exactly one person: the Thief. I had also heard that they always worked together whenever they ran into each other in random dungeons.
Setting aside the potential alliance between the Puppeteer and the Thief, my thoughts circled back to the original topic.
‘Securing Jeyaroe will make it vastly easier for Belsus to reclaim the throne.’
Assuming, of course, we overlooked the fact that Belsus would have to suffer immensely as usual.
In Belsus's original victory route, he would eventually be captured by the Royal Knights and imprisoned. Then, right before his execution, he would rescue Jeyaroe and break out of the prison.
‘Get captured on purpose to break out with Jeyaroe? No way. Absolutely not. Over my dead body.’
I had agonized over this for a long time, steeped in self-reproach. What could I even do here? A Farmer couldn't even set foot in the Demihaad Royal Palace.
Then, I changed my perspective.
‘What if... I just don't do anything?’
I maliciously planned to solely target the other transmigrators instead.
"I acquired intelligence that Hunter Jeyaroe is in Venaro. It's not certain if he's still alive. We need to hurry."
Belsus didn't ask how I obtained such information, or if that man from earlier had told me. In his eyes, I could only see a profound trust in me.
"You've worked hard. Seeing how incredible you are, I can only say I am extremely lucky."
"...It's not like I broke him out of prison. I just picked up on a rumor."
"But you predicted it."
Letting Belsus's flattery go in one ear and out the other, I quickly cut to the chase.
"Can you go to Venaro?"
Belsus said it was no problem, of course. Yet, a moment later, he asked,
"Are you coming with me?"
"Of course."
It wasn't even something worth contemplating, so I answered immediately. But as the thought caught up to me a moment later, my heart sank slightly.
Did Belsus actually assume he would leave me here and cross the border alone?
For the first time, the thought of Belsus leaving me crossed my mind.
---
Bard noticed Archer, whom he ran into in a small dungeon, putting magic stones into a separate pocket.
"Are those for the Farmer?"
When he asked, Archer didn't really deny it and just chuckled.
"Because he's a pitiful bastard. Got wrecked by the Doctor, couldn't even make it to the 4th dungeon, and probably fell way behind."
However, Bard had been thinking constantly.
Why do I get the feeling... that the Farmer gained something from that fight with the Doctor?
He just couldn't picture an image of the Farmer taking a loss.
Bard recalled the scene. The plants that had densely packed the room.
After Heean was revived, Belsus seemed to realize his mistake and glared at Bard when he saw them. But perhaps because it was a sacrifice made to save Heean and there was no other way, he had let it slide.
For instance, what if there had been another change in those plants?
After all of them shared Heean’s curse together.
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