Volume 2 Chapter 101 Quest： Solar Fantasy III
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Two swirling feelings in his heart.
Rationality?
Or the ‘rightness’ of being human?
It’s easy to choose rationality.
If he chooses the ‘rightness’ of being human, he will have to fight Oswald.
Does he have the resolve for that?
Is there a reason for it?
Kian questioned himself.
”That’s all I have to say. Now it’s my turn, Kian. ──Once again, will you become my Knight?”
”…Are you recruiting me again?”
”Yes. You probably guessed that when I called you out, right? I want you as my subordinate. If you’re really worried about Her Excellency Maribel, then it would be good for you to watch over her. How about becoming my Knight and assisting her together?”
”I’m not interested in politics. At least, I don’t want to run around for a country I can’t do anything about.”
”Haha, come to think of it, you’ve always thought that way from the start.”
After laughing heartily, Oswald suddenly fell silent, and after a moment, he spoke again.
”Well then, let’s talk about something that concerns you, the Exile. If you agree with me, I want you to stand by my side. There should be benefits to it.”
”What is it?”
”Before that, I want you to come down here. It’s something I don’t want to discuss too loudly. Look, I’m having the soldiers step back.”
Oswald said this and signaled to the Head magician and the Knight to step back several meters.
Then he himself walked up to the edge of the water moat.
He tossed the Holy Sword of the Sun aside.
He spread his arms toward Kian.
”See, I’m unarmed. I want to talk to you up close in this state. Is that not okay?”
”It’s a trap, Kian.”
Owl whispered quickly, but Oswald had an atmosphere that suggested he might even take off the armor he was literally wearing.
”You should have a debt of gratitude for how I’ve treated you these past few weeks. Isn’t it reasonable to grant me this small request?”
”Understood.”
”Kian!”
”──Sir Kian, are you in your right mind?”
Both Owl and even Natra looked at him with expressions of disbelief.
But Kian nodded once.
”I’m sane. There’s no way we can have a proper discussion at this distance. It’ll just be empty words.”
The priority is Maribel and Christy’s freedom and lives.
To maximize that, if he can speak honestly, they should talk.
At this distance, political policies, Maribel’s free will, no matter how much they talk, the situation won’t change.
The timer dawn will come.
”Natra, come down. Make a staircase with ‘Wall’.”
”You really will go?”
”Yes”
”…Your resolve is firm, it seems. I understand. I will follow your lead, Lord.”
”Kian, are you betraying me?”
He turns to the cold voice.
There, Owl stood, eyes blazing with killing intent.
Kian shook his head.
”I will never betray Christy and Her Excellency Maribel. I will definitely save both of them. Mr. Owl, please be ready to take both of them away in case of emergency. If I am killed by Oswald, my chances of winning against him would be less than 30%.”
”I will protect your life, Lord.”
Natra, under the Kitsune mask, sends a sharp gaze to Owl while saying that.
”────”
Owl stared at Kian and Natra for a while, then,
”I understand. I believe you, Kian”
Saying that, he stepped back.
* * *
Stepping down onto the cobblestones beyond the moat, he could even see the individual hairs on Oswald’s neatly shaved eyebrows.
From this distance, he could even discern his subtlest facial expressions.
The chances of Kian detecting a blatant lie would be high.
”Kian, Owl is out of the picture now. Come to my side without hesitation, betray him.”
”I apologize, but I have no interest in abandoning the woman I care for. I will protect Christy’s life at the very least.”
”…Hmph, so you were always that close to the witch, huh. I felt a strange intimacy between you before.”
Oswald said this in a tone that lacked interest, but he quickly changed his expression to a serious one as he stared intently at Kian.
”You are just an adventurer, are you not? I don’t understand why you would risk your life to protect them.”
”So, Her Excellency Maribel was indeed going to be a puppet ruler, then.”
”Besides that, I have nothing else to do with that little girl. I will use that princess to create the country of my dreams. Princess Maribel and I share some ideals, but I have no intention of respecting her will. You saw it yourself, her ugly struggles for power with McCutchen. If she’s going to be playing such a pointless farce, I’d rather just take complete control and properly guide Izerland.”
”What about Christy and Liam?”
”If you wish, I will exile them from this country and let them go. Christina should just return to her family. However, I cannot allow her to be near Maribel. That princess is too smart and too active for her age. Leaving such a movable piece within her grasp would be dangerous. And Owl, I will kill him. I will absolutely kill him. No matter what you say.”
”I see. Mr. Owl is aside, at least you won’t take Christy and the others’ lives.”
”Ah”
He managed to get a promise from him.
If Oswald viewed Kian as a person of importance, he wouldn’t dare take Christy and the others’ lives.
However, as Oswald declared, their freedom, power, and future would be taken from them.
Christy too.
Maribel too.
Their actions in this country from now on would be severely restricted.
As for Maribel, she would be nothing more than a bird in a cage.
And with Oswald as her owner, she wouldn’t even be able to take a leisurely stroll like she did during McCutchen’s time.
It would be a death by confinement.
”I have no interest in the minute differences in political views between me and Maribel. I intend to take her freedom no matter what.”
”Can’t we compromise?”
”There’s no room for that. Even if there were a compromise, why should I listen to what Maribel, who has no power, has to say? If she said she’d grant my wish in a way only she could, I might consider it, but that’s impossible for her, right? At this point, everything we have is just too different.”
──Do humans stop to assist the ants walking at their feet?
──Even if we share the same goal of crossing the river, it’s unthinkable for a human to consider the will of an ant and follow it down there.
Oswald says that.
Kian was trying to find a compromise, thinking he could somehow persuade Oswald, but to him, he was not willing to offer Maribel and the others anything other than their lives.
’See, just as I, this one, said, it was pointless, right?’
(Seems so. When it comes to judging people, you’re a step ahead of me.)
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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